Ambitious project

The Family History Library of Salt Lake City has announced plans to digitize and index information from the 2 million rolls of microfilm they have accumulated, including birth, death, parish and census records. The staff estimates that records from 110 nations will be included in this project. This is an ambitious project, to say the least! The 1880 census index project by the Church, for example, took 12 years to complete, with thousands of volunteers, but has been useful for millions of researchers.

If you have an opportunity to volunteer indexing time on any local project- do it!!!! "Pay it forward", as popular culture says. One example would be the Minnesota Historical Society Minnesota Birth Records project- they hope to have all birth records from 1900 to 1934 online by June 30,2006 and ask for volunteers to work three hour shifts weekly for three to six months. The online index will be generated through an Excel spreadsheet and free parking is provided.

October is Family History Month

October is nationally recognized as Family History Month and it seems prudent to make a goal for the month. Over 2500 local genealogical societies are registered and it is believed that over 80 milllion Americans are researching their families at present.

We could make a goal as simple as helping one other beginner in their own research, reading one of the books that you have purchased or gotten through inter-libary loan throughout the month, tackling one of the long-overdue filing projects stacked up on your desk (guilty as charged!), making the call to Great-Aunt Ethel to get the details about her childhood that you've meant to record for years now, or even writing a simple letter of inquiry to the local church of your great-grandparents about the location of the cemetery or the church records.

Let's each be able to say that we have made a difference in the realm of genealogy during October!

Farm Directories

I used the most extensive farm directory that I have ever used today and wanted to remind researchers of the potential information from these sources. I used Benton, Meeker, and Todd Counties, Minnesota Farm Directory 1913-1914 for my research on the Vohs line, linked to the Pillens and Pilgers. The entry included his name, his wife's name, all of their living children's names (Wow!), the sections he was farming, how many years he had been in the county and the township and county he resided in. Again, never overlook the possible clue in a less well-known source!

72 hours

We spent almost 72 hours to the minute this week without electricity in our neighborhood in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis, due to the tornado damage. What an experience for my children, who are pretty used to warm food, clean clothes, reading late at night, computers, TV and music playing pretty much around the clock. It does make you appreciate what your ancestors did with candles, daylight and fireplaces more than you usually would.

I was so impressed with all of my neighbors getting out to help one another clean up yards, cut down the damaged and fallen trees and limbs, seal up damaged roves before the next rain started, and hauling it all of the debris out of the yards all day on Thursday. We heard chain saws for twenty-four hours straight! Again, it brought to mind the old fashioned barn-raising days in the communities of yesterday, when everyone helped everyone and was helped in return.

Black Hawk War

Most researchers outside of the Midwest may not even know what the Black Hawk War is.

I do, as both a historian and as a genealogist, because one of my ancestors was called up and marched with a young Abraham Lincoln, who was elected captain, and the Illinois militia, to serve in the conflict back in 1832. Abraham Johnson, my ancestor, served out of Morgan County, Illinois,. The Governor saw Black Hawk's return with his people to the state of Illinois as an invasion and wanted defense for the white settlers. Black Hawk wanted his lands back. Once the militia arrived, Black Hawk and his followers removed themselves, though no shots were fired by Lincoln nor my ancestor- they turned around and walked back home. Altogether 70 settlers and soldiers died and many of Black Hawk's band died.

The National Archives has preserved a roster of the Illinois men called to serve in the militia. There is also an online index of the veterans at: http://www.sos.state.il.us/GenealogyMWeb/blkhawk.html

MICHIGAN FACTS

Time for us to get to some more of the Midwestern state genealogical resources- today, the spotlight is on Michigan.

Michigan was part of the Northwest Territory, until it became a state in 1837. However, statewide vital record registrations did not begin until 1867. You can use censuses and property records to fill in the gaps. Over 90,000 Michigan men joined the Union during the Civil War, so you may want to check those records if your ancestor could have served. Remember, many older, married men with children believed in the cause and left home to demonstrate their willingness to defend the Union and abolish slavery.

Carol McGinnis has published Michigan Genealogy: Sources and Resources to aid you in your search. "Cyndi's List" is always a good starting point, as is "Roots Web", in my opinion. Many other web sites are worth checking out, depending on which counties you need to focus on. Use your usual checks for reliability and make sure researchers have sources and have used accurate documentation in building their databases.

Wipikepedia

Have you tried Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia yet?

If you haven't, you are in for a treat, as these articles are all generated by digitally-connected, educated readers, who share their expertise. At present, there are over 719,000 articles in over 80 different langauges, ranging from the more common universal languages, such as English, German, and Spanish to Latin, Esperanato, Hebrew, Korean, Chinese, Kurdish, and Tatar. It's a fount of universal donations from multiple sources internationally generated since 2001. One of the pages' goals is to have a less biased entry for all of the topics by having a global readership, adding, editing and refining the entries.

The genealogy entries, for example, range from a general overview, to genetic analysis, modern research and organizations, reliability of sources and sources of records, which have links and basic descriptions at every step of the way. While I could not find a reference or link to a pedigree chart or a family group sheet in the basic overview and accompnaying articles, I have the opportunity to add that information to the encyclopedia, if I so choose.

Passion about your Genealogy

You know that diasters like Katrina remind us of how we are ALL connected, one way or another, through blood relations, through marriage, and through our friendships. My own extended family is scattered across the U.S. and I'm sure that yours is much the same. We all know someone, if we aren't personally affected, that is surviving the greatest natural diaster the country has ever faced. Many pertinent questions remain, as to the speed of local and national assistance given, preparations for the scope of this diaster and others, delivering the needed supplies and personnel in a timely fashion now, the bizarre human behaviors we witness on the news, as some attempt to capitalize on human pain and misery, and the triumph of the selfless workers who respond, as I hope we all would if this had occurred in our own backyard. I've seen and heard their passion, as I have seen and heard during other historic events in my lifetime.

Can you have passion about your genealogy? About finding your family, near and far? About pushing through the "brick walls"? About documenting what you have found? About networking and sharing? About helping "newbies" to be successful?

Handwriting? ! # % ^ *

We've all struggled with the primary documents that hold the key piece of genealogical information that we plain and simple can't read, because of the handwriting. Now before you lose your calm, cool, collected analytical research mind, here are a few pointers:

1) Compare the letter(s) or word in question to others on the document, to help you decipher the puzzle

2) Abbreviations and contractions, such as Wm. for William, Chas. for Charles, Danl. for Daniel, and Jno. for John are common, as well as the more well-known Jr. and Sr. (Although you may find in your early American research that Jr. and Sr. in a particular locale may not actually be father and son; it was used to distinguish them separately in the records, assigned based on their ages, because their names were the same.)

3) Trace the letters yourself

4) Use any of the research guides that have been published to help with just such difficulties, such as Reading Early American Handwriting by Kip Sperry

5) Ask someone else to take a look- often a pair of fresh eyes or someone else can "see" what you can't at the moment and I know I'm always ready to lend my best guess to someone else