UNDERUSED WEBSITES: Family search Wiki

Underused Website Series: Family Search Wiki

The Family Search Wiki (FS Wiki)is a goldmine of information.  It has a page for just about every city, county, state, country, across the globe.

Like wikipedia, we can all sign up to add info to the wiki pages, but where the FS wiki is different is that the info we (GQ Public) submit is monitored and vetted for accuracy by LDS missionaries and LDS members like Peggy Clemens Lauritzen aka Miss Peggy. So, it's way better than Wikipedia, and the FS Wiki is all about genealogy research and history of the areas.

State Page: KANSAS

If you start at the state page, you get info on the state, when it became a state, how to find records for that state, even a big button that says online records (for that state). How about STEP by STEP instructions on how to search that state?  It's in the wiki!!!

Kansas county map

There is a map of the state, with LINKED counties, so you can then go to the county page and find detailed info on that particular county. Now if you're not sure where the county is on the county map, don't fret, under the county map is a list (Alphabetically no less) of not only EVERY CURRENT COUNTY, but a list of the extinct, renamed, or ceded counties for each state. 

Each state page could have hundreds of links to other pages...talk about a rabbit hole!

County Page: BARTON

 Each county page has some history about the county, how it was named, when it was formed, even the address and phone number of the county court house.  We all know what we can do when we find an address or phone number right?  Road trip, or at least call to see what they have available for public searches.

County record Dates

The best kept secret on the county page is the "Known beginning dates for major records"  This helps anyone researching an area to know when ht records were available.  For example If I'm looking for a birth record from 1884, in Barton County, Kansas--I can go to the wiki, and see when the records for births were available, and there were no birth records prior to 1892, and the state didn't require birth records until 1911, and it wasn't mandated until 1917.  With a quick trip to the Wiki, I have just saved myself HOURS and HOURS of searching for birth records in Barton County Kansas, for 1884, and I don't need to bother any face book groups either, because I now know, they don't exist.  I can focus my research on church records for birth and baptisms, or maybe  a bible record, but there are no birth records.

The county page will also tell you when the county was formed, and what county it was formed from, so if I'm looking for a record in Barton County before 1867, I would have to look in Marion County, as Barton was created in Feb 1867 from Marion county.

There are cities, towns, townships, unincorporated communities, most with links to that location's wiki page.

There's a resources section that gives you links to websites online, (more underused websites) to find specific records.

City Page: Great Bend

Each city page, gives demographics about the city, history,  GPS coordinates, as well as notable people from there.


I'll close for now, as this has gotten quite long, and I've only reviewed one state, one county and one city page, from the USA, and I haven't even started talking about other country's wiki pages, or the other 1000's of categories in the FS Wiki.


So go check it out, its FREE, and you may find info about a location you didn't know, or better yet, you'll break down that brick wall, because you'll find the correct county to search, because that county didn't even exist during the time frame you're searching...

Happy Hunting

(images were used with permission from Family Search - Danielle Batson)

UNDERUSED WEBSITES: DIGITAL PUBLIC LIBRARY of AMERICA

Underused Website Series: Digital Public Library of America

The Digital public library of America has a wealth of information with a click of your mouse.

As of the writing of this blog the main page says "Discover 34,425,540 images, texts, videos, and sounds from across the United States" 

Over 34 MILLION records, FREE, at your finger tips, in your pjs, drinking wine, morning, noon and night!!!

They even have a family research section (which is what we will focus on here)

Photos 

162,609 results for family photo

DPLA Photos 

Here's a clip of some of the photos found on DPLA.  There is a link in the description which takes you to a page with detailed information about the photo, (think citation)

Family Bibles 

2,753 results for "family bible"

There's a family bible section with images from old family bibles.  How cool is that??

Correspondence  

3,485 results for Civil War AND family letter

Imagine fining a letter your ancestor wrote back home 

Local Maps

75,920 results for county OR town OR city AND map

Looking for Sanborn fire maps--they are here. Old city maps, topo maps, flood maps, 

Year books 

22,777 results for school yearbook

Don't have a subscription to Ancestry to see the yearbooks, try DPLA

Military Records (includes Photographs and Service records)  

15,027 results for soldier* OR regiment AND military

Civil war photographs

103,641 results for "enlistment card" OR "draft card" OR "military service record"

A variety of military documents

Oral Histories

34,510 results for "oral history" interview

Various oral histories from all over 

Family History and Genealogy books

350,466 results for genealogy

tons of books to peruse about genealogy (family histories, phone book listings, wills, more photos, cemeteries)

 And I even found a video library with videos on using DPLA for family research, making gifs and a sundry of other videos.

 We have just scratched the surface of this website.  I can see me spending hours and hours just scrolling thru the vast amounts of reference material and information on this site.... and its FREE!!  Book mark the website DP.LA (yes thats the website address)

Dont forget to read the Terms of Service 

Happy Hunting!!

P.S.  just did a search for Newspapers in the regular search box (not on the family search tab)  and here's what came up over 1 MILLION newspapers!!!

1,020,362 results for newspapers

The First DEBE Family in OHIO

These are my 3 x great grandparents Jacob and Margaret Debe.  The spelling has varied and seen as DIBBI, DIPPI, DIPI, DIBBE, but It is now DEBE.

 

Jacob Debe

Margurite Gise Debe

Here's a great story behind how I got these images:

Located in Massillon Ohio Cemetery. 

When I got the location if his grave, I parked near the section, and started to count back to the row he was reported to be in.  1...2...3...4...5.....10...11 and BAM!!! I was at the fence.  Where were the rest of the rows???

My daughter and I wandered aimlessly looking for this Tombstone. We found ROHR, KOONTZ, KING, SNYDER; all family via this man's daughters...but no Jacob.

So We started getting cold and needed a drink so we started walking back towards the car, when I stopped and spoke to my grandfather....

I said : Alright DEBE!!!!! we drove all this way to visit you, and you are hiding.  I need you to STAND UP and wave to me, as I cant seem to find you!!!

Well my daughter asked what i was doing, so I told her, I need help finding him so I'm asking him to help. She rolled her eyes as most teens do, and turned to go to the car

We got back to the car, put on jackets, and got a drink and when I turned around to start my search again...there he stood in all his glory right in my path!!!

The rows started at the fence, and I had totally missed him as I was focused on counting, 1...2...3....
We had parked RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS GRAVE!!!!


So next time you are looking for someone--address them directly, and who knows what will happen!

UNDERUSED WEBSITES: USCIS

I've been pretty active on Face book, and have noticed many people are unaware of the vast websites available for research. So I'm going to do a Blog Series of underused websites and discuss the records you can find.   

Underused Website Series: USCIS

USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Service) has early 1900 to current record sets, and listed below are the 5 record sets they are opening up for the public to order.

They are:

• Naturalization Certificate Files (C-Files), Sep 27, 1906 to Mar 31, 1956
• C-Files Image Gallery
• Alien Registration Forms (Form AR-2), Aug 1940 to Mar 1944
• A-R2 Forms Image Gallery
• Visa Files, Jul 1, 1924 to Mar 31, 1944
• Visa Files Image Gallery
• Registry Files, Mar 1929 to Mar 31, 1944
• Registry Files Image Gallery
• A-Files, Apr 1, 1944 to May 1, 1951
• A-Files Image Gallery

Ordering these files can be a bit of a maze...but here is the basic info:
If you don't have the "file" number, you need to order a file number search--cost $65.

You need to have the right "file" number to order the file from one of the 5 groups above.  The cost is $65 to order the file.

So each file you want can run up to $130 per file ($65 for the file number search, and $65 for the actual file.)

 Here's a flow chart from USCIS website

USCIS FLOW CHART

Immigration/Naturalization records before these dates, will more than likely be found at the local court house (where your ancestor lived) or possibly in the district court house for the area. 

Please don't spend money at the USCIS website for any dates outside those that are listed. 

  Spend a few moments reading all the FAQ's on the USCIS website, which will answer most of your questions!

Happy Hunting!!

Which WITCH?

Which Witch?

Margaret Scott memorial

The other day I was building out my "cousin bait" tree on ancestry, and I thought I found a connection to the Salem witch trials and Margaret Stephenson Scott, the only "witch" accused from in Rowley Ma.

I researched her in depth, gathering all the info I could find, well because I felt a connection with her.  Being an outcast of the community due to her age and not being remarried after her husband died. Her children had left the area and she was all alone.


I'll be doing an in-depth blog post, on where I took a wrong turn later this month, so stay tuned.


I feel I've gotten to know this woman, and while she is not a direct ancestor (at this time) who knows, I may eventually find a connection as I "go deep and wide" on my family tree.  Basically I add all children and their spouses and children, even adding 2nd, 3rd and 4th spouses, step children, and adopted children.


I was sad, when after 3 days of solid seaching, finding, and downloading information on this woman, I found documentation that she was not the mother of my 9th great grandmother.....

UNTIL....

I found the great grandson (my 6th great grand father) of a 9th great grandmother married a woman whose great great grandmother (my 10th great grand mother) did something even more shocking than being accused of being a  witch.


Stay tuned for that saga in an upcoming blog post.


Until next time, Keep digging up roots,

Linda

My DNA Journey (part 3)

So Im adopted (part 3)

I told my dad's sister about my thoughts of Lee being my real dad, and she stated, he was so happy when I came home from the hospital, and she had never seen him so happy.  It helped to add and bolster my idea of him being my real father.


I talked her into taking the DNA test.  I am the manager of her test and after 8 weeks at Ancestry, the results were in...

She and I were NOT related...Lee was just my adopted dad, and not my blood... square one again.

Now,  I've been doing genealogy since I was 17.   I have always loved puzzles and mysteries, and I was going to solve them. At 17 I had a few mysteries to find

1.  Who was my real parents
2.  Where are my adopted mom's girls (4 in all)

All I could research was my adopted line, and so I poured my heart and soul into it.  I used FTM, back when Broderband owned it.  I had all the disks, I used ancestry, roots web, message boards, etc.

I had a good tree at this point, and I had a major brick wall.  It was Margaret Schneider, wife of my 2nd great grand father.  Her marriage certificate had her name and my 2nd great grand father Jacob Debe on it. That was it.  No parents names no siblings, nothing.

So I searched, and searched and searched.  I looked through every single page of every census in Massillon, Ohio and there was no Margaret Schneider. This woman was my brick wall.

This became #3 on my list of mysteries.  I figured I would never find out about her or her family.  The line had stopped.  I searched for over 20 years and nothing.

 UNTIL.....

Remember my dad's sister who took the DNA test?  Well I got an email in 2016 from a DNA match on her DNA.  I looked at the DNA matches on ancestry, and found the only name they matched on was Schneider.  Schneider?  My 2nd Great grandma on my adopted tree?  So I looked further and all she had on her tree was a Philip Schneider, no Margaret.

We emailed back and forth, and I told her I had a Margaret Schneider, and that her last name was where the DNA matched.  She stated Philip had a sister named Margaret.  OK, my hope is building...

She looks through her handwritten papers given to her from a family member, and a few days later she tells me she has found an entry stating Philip's sister Margaret married a man named Jacob Debe.

The brick wall came tumbling down...I found my Margaret's family (adopted or not) I had been searching for her for 30 years, she was my family.

I only wish my dad were alive to know I broke down the brick wall.

So I continue researching in 2017, with a new found hope to break down more brick walls, as I build a list of other relatives to test to move further in my research.











will be linked after articles post


part 1
part 2

Acronyms of the Genealogy world

SAY WHAT???

I'm compiling a list of Genealogy acronyms.  Some may be familiar to you, others you may exclaim "SAY WHAT?"


When working on your genealogy, it is best to stick with known acronyms and not make up your own.  One should also spell out the abbreviations in the notes in case others don't know what it means, and in case you, yourself forget what the abbreviation means.









So take this test short quiz (don't worry its not graded) to see which ones you know.  I'll explain them all below the quiz.  There is a longer list of acronyms at this website:

AFN

BSO

COD

COL

COLL

DOB

DOD

DOM

GED

NBR

NEE

NMN

SIC

answers are below




XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AFN	Ancestral File Number
BSO	Bright Shiny Object	A distraction
COD	Codicil of a will	or is it cash on delivery
COL	COLored	or is it collections
COLL	COLLege	or is it collage
DOB	date of birth
DOD	date of death
DOM	date of marriage
GED	Gedcom	or General education diploma
NBR	neighbor	Number
NEE	maiden name
NMN	No middle name	no married name
SIC	thus, as written	ill

Now this list is not all inclusive, nor may the acronyms mean what I have here, remeber I took it all from one website.

The one that really bugs me is the NMN, as many use that for maiden name, but I grew up with a parent who didn't have a middle name and  they always put NMN for her middle name.  Am I right? It depends on who you ask.


What this tells us, is depending on your education, where you grew up, how old you are, etc, etc, different abbreviations mean different things to everyone.  So, rather than have your ancestor guessing at what you meant, take a few extra moments and spell it out, or at lease leave a key to decipher your "shorthand".


How many times do we read old census records or wills and say to our self "SAY WHAT??"

A genealogist is born

Can you help me find out about my Grandfather?

The following story is true, but the names are changed to protect the living.

One night, I was at work, and it was slow, so I was doing some genealogy work on my pc (shhh don't tell the boss)

Well the boss (let's call him Leroy), walks by, and we start talking about genealogy, and how I found my birth family last year.  Well he starts telling me about his family, and how he has all this info on his mom's side, as he grew up knowing her family. Then we get to his father, and well his dad (Lucas), didn't really know his dad (my boss's grandfather).  He asked if I thought I could find out anything about his grandfather.

I was up- to the task, so I asked for his dad's name and date/place of birth and his grandmother's name (his dad's mom).  He wrote it down and away I went.

Within minutes, I had Leroy's dad's birth information, including Leroy's grandfather's name (Charlie). I found both Leroy's grandfather Charlie and his brother, Clifton (with same parents) had ww2 draft records. I then looked on the census records, and found Charlie and Clifton with their parents, Moses and Jane.

Marriage records were searched, more census records, and more names, Frank, Henry, Paul, Lewis, George and Peter.

Within a few hours, and of course between doing my work, I had my boss's family back 10 generations. His family owned property back then, and most all had served in some war, from WWII  back to the civil war and the revolutionary war.  

I took the info to my boss, and he was floored!!!  He asked "you got all that from my dad's name and date of birth?  I told him yes, and while I didn't create a tree for him, I only had my paper notes, I did share the documents I found with him.

Leroy is going to talk to his dad, to see if he is at all interested and may get me to help him further if he needs it.


  Below is the line from Leroy to his 7x great grandfather...

Leroy
Lucas
Charlie  ----- Clifton
Moses
Frank

Henry
Paul
Lewis
George
Peter



I hope Leroy continues the search, and not only shares it with his father, but also his children, so they can know their heritage and that they come from a long line of men, who fought for the country they call home.

Don't Be a Cow About It!!!!

Everyone in this cycle of the genealogy Do-Over is busy writing down what their plans are to help keep them on track.  Everyone is posting their documents and one really struck my fancy....

Thanks to Melissa Elder of Thornbury NZ, for her funny but honest approach to her Ethics and Practises (yes those down under spell it that way, and not how us "yanks" (people from the USA) spell it.

Here are screen shots of her Code of Ethics and Practises and are pretty spot on.

Here's hoping we can see more from Melissa, as she has a great way with words.