Genealogy Jottings

Author Archive

For Christmas distribution this year, I am finishing up my last biographical sketch of my great-grandparents. I began this project several years ago. Each calendar year I have done exhaustive research on one person or couple, collecting information and photographs. At the end of the year, I have written and illustrated my findings and sent them around to relatives. I am missing only one person, my paternal grandmother Grace Riddle’s unknown father.

I began this project when I realized that the memories of this generation of family members, who lived between 1845 and 1976, would be forgotten unless someone recorded them. I never met any of my great-grandparents personally, but I had heard stories of them as I grew up. Our photo albums held their likenesses. I knew I could be the one to memorialize their lives when no one else has. My project preserves some of the history of our family’s survival through difficult times from the Civil War through the Vietnam War.

With this step complete, next year I hope to go on to begin writing about the previous generation of sixteen great-great grandparents. I will not have the oral history and photographs available to me that I did with my great-grandparents. Consequently, I will need to take a slightly different approach. But there are stories here, too, that I can create from documents left behind by these forebears. Among others, these will be the stories of Jane and Caleb Reed, who moved in covered wagons to the Illinois wilderness, of the blacksmith Thomas Sherman and his yet-to-be-found German wife, of elderly Karen and Nikolai Bentsen who left Norway to follow their children to America.

I do not know how many miles lie ahead on this road, but I am happy to have reached the first milestone on the journey. I will never run out of ancestors to study, so the quest continues until I must hand if off to another. In the meantime, my only question is, who will I write about next?

Because I live near a large city, I frequently have the opportunity to hear nationally-known genealogy speakers. Just this fall, I attended day-long seminars by Dr. Michael Lacopo (sponsored by the Palatines to America), and David MacDonald (sponsored by W.I.S.E., the Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England research group). The genealogy speaker’s market has exploded in recent years, and most of the well-known genealogists make their way to Denver sooner or later.

For those genealogists who live in more remote area, the pickings are not so rich. To view similar presentations, they must attend genealogy conferences. The National Genealogical Society (NGS) and the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) host large annual conferences around the country. A consortium of societies and vendors sponsors the technology-focused RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City each year. Some state societies hold large conferences as well.

Potential speakers pitch topics to the event organizers. The subjects selected for the conferences often focus on development of professional skills or research in the conference locale. There may be a group of presentations on a current hot topic, like DNA.

The speakers for the upcoming FGS conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana were announced recently, and I was surprised to learn that Thomas McEntee will not be among their presenters. He is well-known in genealogy circles as the organizer of all the genealogy bloggers out there, including me. At this year’s RootsTech conference, he spoke on Twitter for genealogists and inspired me to try it. He has a lot of good ideas about how to use technology in genealogy.

Those in the Denver area will get to hear Thomas McEntee next year even though he will not speak at FGS. The Computer Interest Group of the Colorado Genealogical Society has invited him for their one-day spring seminar on May 25, 2013. I am eager to learn more from him, so I plan to sign up for this seminar. I am lucky to live in the midst of a large genealogy community that provides these opportunities. I wonder who FGS selected to speak next year when they passed over Thomas McEntee. Would it be worth a trip to Indiana?

Every genealogist has his “brick wall” ancestors. You know the ones. No matter where you look, it seems you cannot find anything about their origins or fit them into a birth family. The family tree ends with them. The reasons for this vary from illegitimate births to immigration from unknown places.

My husband and I have our share of “brick wall” ancestors—Catherina Wohrmann, Katherine Stillenbaugh, John Davis Riddle, and Daniel Sherman, to name a few. We look at evermore obscure records trying to find them and still come up empty. So we sigh, give up on them for awhile, and look again when a new record set becomes available or we find a new clue. We have looked for these people for 20 years and wonder whether we will ever discover their origins.

This week local genealogist Pat Roberts spoke to the Germanic Genealogical Society of Colorado about breaking down brick walls. She, too, has had elusive ancestors, but she never gave up on them. Finally this summer she found some success with one and discovered an entire line of German ancestry in the Mohawk Valley of New York. She described her research process and gave us a checklist to use to develop an exhaustive research plan.

Her presentation serves as an inspiration to all of us. I will definitely make use of the checklist she provided next time I tackle one of these ancestors. Maybe I, too, can break down a brick wall like Pat did.

Last night I went trick-or-treating, not for myself, but rather to accompany a group of small children. We walked down one block, crossed the street, and went up the other side. By then they had enough candy to last them awhile, so we returned home.

As I pushed the youngest trick-or-treater in his stroller, I was struck by how much the Halloween celebration has changed since I was a child. Of course the youngsters with me did not want to hear about Halloween in those olden days, but someday they might. I should write down and preserve those memories.

Holiday celebrations make up a big part of our lives. We owe it to ourselves to remember our traditions and how they evolve. While kids still go trick-or-treating as they did when I was young, I did not see the huge numbers of children staying out for several hours, unaccompanied by adults, that we saw when I was a child. Costumes are more elaborate now, but they lack the face and vision-obscuring masks we wore. Halloween parties have become popular whereas I do not recall ever attending one as a child. The holiday remains the same, yet different.

I keep a folder of recollections of events from my life. Someday I hope to organize them into a memory book for my descendants. We have a couple of ancestors who did that, and now I savor every detail of those long-ago days. It is time for me to dig out that Reminiscences folder and add a page about Halloween.

I find that I make more progress with my genealogical research when I focus on one familyline at a time. Recently I am feeling almost disoriented because I have not been following my own advice. All year, I have tried to find the discipline to study only the Finns, but I keep getting distracted.

Earlier this month, I went to Salt Lake City for a research trip. After one day with Finnish records, I needed a break from that difficult task. I spent the remainder of my time at the LDS library investigating my English and Scots-Irish lines in the American Midwest.

I resumed some Finnish research once I returned home, but a week later I attended the semi-annual Palatines to America seminar in Denver. This took my attention away from the Finns again as I spent an entire day learning about German research from Dr. Michael Lacopo.

What a harried month! The Finns, the English, the Scots-Irish, the Americans, the Germans! No wonder my head spins. I need to get everything I collected this month filed and put away pronto. Perhaps then I can get back to the focused research tool that works for me, the laser, not the shotgun.

My mom’s Finnish cousin from Minnesota visited me yesterday. She brought along some old photo albums that she had found in her mother’s cedar chest. She did not know whether they had belonged to her mother or to her grandmother (my great-grandmother, Ada Alina Lampinen Mattila).

Filled with heavy black pages, the books overflowed with photographs. Sadly, virtually none of them had been labeled. This cousin sought to find out whether I could recognize anyone.

It became pretty much a futile effort. Faces of long-dead Finns stared out at us from the pages, but aside from noticing a strong family resemblance, we could identify only a few people.

Then we came to a photograph of two women and three children taken at a studio in Wiborg, Finland. Underneath, someone had written, “Our Grandmother”. This really caught my attention. Whose grandmother was she? Paternal or maternal side?

Using every analytical tool I know for old photographs, I inspected this photo. I decided that even if the album belonged to Ada Mattila, she did not write the caption. She would have written in Finnish, not English. The writer must have been one of her children, so “Our Grandmother” was either Ada’s mother (Anna Meittinen Lampinen) or Ada’s mother-in-law (Liisa Myllynen Mattila).

The Mattilas lived near Wiborg/Viborg/Viipuri, but the Lampinens came from further north. This must be Liisa Mattila, probably with a daughter and three grandchildren. Which daughter? She had eight of them.

There is no date on the photo, but the clothing looks turn-of-the-twentieth century. I know that Liisa’s daughter, Ida Mattson, was widowed with three small children about that time. Ida and family then emigrated to the U.S. in 1908. Could they have posed for this photo before they left?

That is my best guess. Until I learn otherwise, my new treasure will be identified as a photo of my great-great grandmother Liisa Mattila; her daughter, Ida Mattson; and her grandchildren Elsa, Yrgo (George), and Martha.

This week my husband and I spent three days at the massive genealogy library in Salt Lake City. To prepare for this trip, I had scoured the online catalog for call numbers that might relate to the Finns I am studying this year. The LDS church has not yet digitized all of its Finnish collection, so I can either order microfilm and fiche to be sent to Denver (at $5+ per roll), or I could make this trip to look at as many rolls as physically possible in three days.

Upon arrival I sat down at a microfilm reader on the international floor of the library. Yet even though I thought I had devised a suitable research plan, I felt overwhelmed as I stared at the materials I had brought along. I scarcely knew where to look first.

Finally, I decided to begin with land, court, and guardian records because I cannot get those online at home. The first rolls of film I pulled were all in Finnish or Swedish (of course, but I cannot read either language). To boot, they were not indexed. Dead end for me at this point.

In growing frustration, I looked again at the lists I had brought. Maybe I could try looking at communion books. I had no idea what information they might contain, but at least they seemed to be organized by head of family.

Looking at these call numbers, I realized the communion books are on fiche, not microfilm, and I did not know where to find them in the library. A helpful staff member finally located the appropriate spot, but she told me, “No one ever uses these.” I sat down at the fiche reader anyway. When I asked where I could make copies of anything I found, she replied that she did not think I could.

I sighed and began searching the fiche. Slowly, I deciphered how these unfamiliar records were kept. I found them extremely difficult to read, not only because of the script used. Whenever someone left the family, through marriage or death, for example, the record keeper drew a line through the name. Still, I did locate my Mattilas in the two volumes kept from the 1870’s through the 1890’s. I also found numerous entries for Myllynens, but I do not know which of these might be mine. I copied down all the families onto the legal pad I carried.

While I worked, a group touring the library came by. Their tour guide told them, “Here is the microfiche, but no one ever uses it.” Except me. Still, late in the day, another library patron sat down to look at some of the fiche. As we bemoaned having to make all hand-written notes because we could not make copies of the records, another staff member wandered by. “Oh, but you can!” he informed us. It turns out that their snazzy little microfilm-copying machines have a fiche-printing feature.

By the end of the day, I felt exhausted from this research. I did not have much to show for the hours of work except for a list of people with my Myllynen surname and a slight familiarity with a new record set. Discouraged, I gave up on the Finns for the rest of my visit. Maybe their records will be indexed someday. In the meantime, give me the good old American stuff. At least I understand how our records are kept, and I can read them.

I spent the next two days happily working on the U.S. floors of the library.

Several years ago, I adopted a genealogy mantra I first heard from genealogist Pat Hatcher, “Until you look, you don’t know what you’ll find.” Her point was to look at every potential source, never casting aside something just because you do not think it likely you will find anything of interest. You may be surprised at what you find when you take the time to look.

I try to follow this guideline in all things genealogical, not just in research. This week I applied this philosophy to my decision on whether or not to attend this month’s Germanic genealogy meeting at the Denver Public Library (a 45-minute drive one way for me). My first reaction when I discovered that the speaker would be someone I had heard just a year ago speaking on the same subject was to skip this meeting and work instead on getting ready for my upcoming trip to Salt Lake City. What benefit could I get from spending a morning listening to the same old thing I had heard before?

But then I remembered my mantra, “Until you look…”, and I wondered what I would find out if I took the time to drive over for this meeting. Our programming chairman must have scheduled the same speaker again so quickly for some reason.

I found that this speaker had thoroughly updated her presentation. It was totally different and packed with new information. I came home with several useful new genealogy tools to use. Here is a one she showed us, a tutorial on how to read old German script: https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/lesson/german-script-tutorial/91 Not bad for a morning’s work.

Soon we will travel to Salt Lake City to visit the LDS genealogy library for three days, and we want to make the most of our time there. No using the online catalog or other online resources when that can be done ahead of time from home. I have a long list of Finnish records—microfilm and books—to view when I arrive. In case I run out of Finnish research before my time is up, I also plan to take a research plan for my Reed family in colonial New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

I want my husband to be able to use his time efficiently, too. He does not have the preparation time that I do, so I decided to lend him a hand. He has expressed curiosity about his German ancestor Catharina Woermann, and I looked at our database to see what information we still need about her. I put together what I thought looked like a days’ worth of work. He looked at it, and then to my surprise, he said he had already collected most of the information I thought he needed.

Sure enough, he pulled out a large file folder stuffed full of primary sources on Catharina Woermann’s family including baptism records, marriage records, and death certificates. I have spent all week analyzing them and doing the data input. Turns out, he views Catharina as one of those “brick wall” people because he knows nothing about her origins in Hanover.

Now, how can I help him with this? I did determine that he needs a few more American documents, and he could look for those in Salt Lake. A death record for Catharina. Additional information on her daughters, Elizabeth and Anna. I am preparing a list.

Beyond that, Catharina’s St. Louis marriage record gives us the name of her father, Gerhard. My husband has no information about him or any of his other children in either the U.S. or Hanover. It seems like a vague place to start, but one of the papers in the folder did mention the name of a Hanover village. With a name and a place, he might be able to pick up this line and move ahead a bit with his research. At least he is ready now.

Every weekday I devote several hours to genealogy. I spend time researching online and in repositories, writing, attending genealogy meetings, and taking field trips. I used to do a lot of Society volunteer work, but I cut way back because I do not find it as rewarding as working on my own family tree. The logistics of volunteer work have also become prohibitive with long drives required to reach likely volunteer venues like the Denver Regional Archives or the Denver Public Library.

Even after eliminating a lot of the genealogy volunteer work that I did, I still find time management a challenge. I try to stick to a research plan and schedule, and that helps. An experienced genealogist told me long ago to focus on one line at a time, and I follow that advice. This year I have surrounded myself with all things Finnish. At the end of the year, I will prepare and give a biographical sketch of our Finnish immigrant ancestors to members of my family.

But sometimes I make an exception to the research schedule when a good opportunity arises. Last month we found ourselves with time to visit Norwegian homesteads. I put aside the Finns for a while and pulled out the Norwegian information. When I returned home, I had documents and photos to enter in the database, and I have done virtually no Finnish research in September.

Now I am planning another trip, this one to the genealogy library in Salt Lake City. Time is at a premium during a repository visit like this, and one does not want to spend it looking through the library catalog when you can do that at home. Whenever I go to Salt Lake, I comb through the catalog ahead of time and then arrive at the library with lists of films and books to view.

This preparation used to be pretty simple, but recently a new element has come into play. The LDS church is rapidly digitizing its collection and putting in online. When I go to Salt Lake, I do not want to spend time viewing films that I can look at from home. Searching the catalog now requires me to check every item to see whether it is available online. Those that are not will make it onto the list of films and books to view when I visit the library.

We will spend three days in Salt Lake. I plan to work first in the Finnish records because many of those have not yet been digitized. I just finished compiling those lists. I also keep a running list of books and films I need for other family lines, and I will certainly take that along. But what if I need more to do? And what will my husband work on while we are there? I still need to make some more lists. This all seems time-consuming, but I hope I am managing my genealogy time effectively.