Genealogy Jottings

Archive for February, 2022

Since the pandemic began, we have cancelled two annual vacations. Only once during the past two years have we spent the night away from home, and that was on a camping trip. Now we have begun to look forward to a couple of genealogy getaways scheduled for later this year:

1. Palatines to America National Conference. The 2022 PalAm conference will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in Denver on June 16-18. I am already registered. I need not fly anywhere for this because Denver is within easy driving distance. Conference attendees will hear two full days of lectures on German research by Dr. Wolfgang Grams from Germany and Daniel Jones, AG, from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Other events will include a banquet and a bus tour of “German Denver” hosted by well-known local historian, Dr. Tom Noel.
2. Upper Midwest Research Trip. My husband/tech advisor and I will take a road trip later this year to visit many of the states where our ancestors lived during the 19^th century. We will drive through the towns they knew and visit repositories that might hold information we cannot find online. Special stops will include Vesterheim, the National Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa; the Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana; the Lincoln Log Cabin historic site in Coles County, Illinois; and the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve in Kansas.

Trips like these require some advance preparation. Already we are getting in the mindset to do some networking with other German researchers at the PalAm conference. We are putting together maps, lists of records to seek, and cemeteries to visit for the Midwestern driving trip. We are hoping to accumulate much new family information and break down a brick wall or two.

After waiting so long to take another genealogy trip, taking two in one year presents a real treat. I want to make the most of each opportunity. Planning well ahead is the key to genealogical success this year.

On this President’s Day weekend, I like to think about my connection to one American President in particular, Abraham Lincoln.

My family lived near his more than once:

1. 1650’s, Hingham, Massachusetts. My Lincoln and Dunbar ancestors settled in this community 20 miles south of Boston. The Dunbars arrived from Scotland about 1653. The President’s ancestor Mordecai Lincoln was born in Hingham just 4 years later in 1657. The population of this early town was small then, so perhaps the Dunbars and the Lincolns knew one another.
2. Early 1800’s, Nelson County, Kentucky. My Reed and Kirkham ancestors moved to Nelson County from Pennsylvania after the Revolutionary War. Nelson is the parent county for Hardin County, where Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809.
3. 1829, Coles County, Illinois. My Reeds became original settlers in Coles County when they moved north and settled there in 1829. The President’s father moved the Lincoln family to the same county the following year. Although the future President was nearly grown by then, he moved along with his family, and Illinois became known as the Land of Lincoln.

Common places may not be the only link I have to President Lincoln. I believe I am related to him.

People from the English town of Hingham, Norfolk, England founded Hingham, Massachusetts. Both the President’s family and my Lincoln family were from Hingham in England.

I have not done the research myself, but I think our most recent common ancestor was Robert Lincoln, jr. (1525-1556) who lived in Hingham, Norfolk, England. He was my 12^th great-grandfather and the President’s 8^th great-grandfather. This makes us 8^th cousins, five times removed.

Some of Robert Lincoln’s descendants migrated to the New World, including both the President’s family and mine. Although the family relationship is very distant, I enjoy being able to claim it.

Richard Ryan (1852-1925), an ancestor of mine, was raised in the La Salle County, Illinois household of his aunt and her husband, Rose and William Sullivan. The Sullivans had a large family of their own with eleven children. Some of these offspring have been difficult to distinguish from one another.

According to U. S. census records, the Sullivans had several daughters, including Elizabeth, Rose, and Sarah. Other records refer to Nellie and Sadie, nicknames that must have belonged to two of these three girls. Which nickname went with which daughter, and what happened to the third girl?

One of the three probably died young because only two are mentioned as survivors in obituaries for the parents and siblings.

A cursory internet search confirmed my hunch that Sadie was a common nickname for Sarah. Additional census records and family obituaries confirmed that Sadie was Sarah Sullivan (1873-aft. 1941).

That left Nellie’s identity in question. Was she Elizabeth, or was she Rose? Nellie is usually a nickname for girls named Ellen or Eleanor, not Elizabeth or Rose. I needed more information to figure out who Nellie was.

I began collecting more evidence:

1. The girls’ brother Thomas A. Sullivan passed away in 1941. He was survived by a sister, Mrs. William Ahern. Elizabeth or Rose?
2. The Illinois marriage records include a record for Rose Helen Sullivan, daughter of Rose and William Sullivan, marrying William Ahern in 1918. Rose Sullivan became Rose Ahern.
3. Find A Grave provided the Illinois cemetery markers for the Aherns. Their inscriptions identified them as William and Nellie Ahern, who passed away in 1960 and 1961.

So it was daughter Rose who was known as Nellie. Why? Perhaps the family needed a nickname for her when she had the same proper name as her mother. Her middle name Helen may have become Nellie.

The nicknames found in some records have now been applied to the proper Sullivan sisters. Sadie was Sarah, Nellie was Rose, and Elizabeth remains unaccounted for.

Some of my ancestors present unique research difficulties. When a class focusing on the problem becomes available, I try to participate.

This wintery month, I am lucky enough to find two:

1. British Isles-Family History Records. Until last summer, I did not realize I had any recent Irish ancestry. Then I learned that a branch of my family came from Ireland in 1849. I needed a crash course in Irish research, and my local Highlands Ranch Genealogical Society came through. This month, a Family History Library volunteer spoke to us on the British Isles records they have available. His presentation was sprinkled with history, especially of Ireland. Armed with his wonderful syllabus, I am ready and eager to get started.
2. Wanted! Dead or Alive: Researching Criminal Ancestors. I hope this upcoming webinar by American Ancestors will give me some new ideas for learning about some unsavory ancestors—the one who served time in Michigan for larceny, and the group of Illinois counterfeiters who were said to believe in homemade money.

Instead of requiring attendees to appear in person for these presentations, both groups offered them online. The American Ancestors class was always planned that way so that people across the country could participate. The local genealogy society was forced to switch to Zoom at the last minute when a snowstorm moved in.

Regardless of the reason, I am glad to have the option to get some continuing education from the comfort of home. Next up is RootsTech (www.rootstech.org), a free virtual convention scheduled for March 3-5.