Back in 2016, I blogged about a family story my maternal grandmother told me about a church, Our Lady of the Snows, in what was then Austria-Hungary. It was a remarkable story that, as an adult, I wanted to investigate.
As I always recommend, I looked through the paraphernalia I’ve collected from family over the years and found the postcard pictured above. On the back was a cryptic handwritten message in blue ink to my grandmother that said, “Where Anna used to walk when she went on pilgrimage.”
I assumed Anna would be my maternal great-grandmother who I lived with in childhood. I had no idea she had gone on any pilgrimages. Unfortunately, the postcard was not signed nor did it state where the church was located. The only clue was the postmark – I was aware my great Aunt Barbara and my Aunt Anne Marie, named after her grandmother and mother, had gone to what was then Yugoslavia, to visit. I have no handwriting samples from my Aunt Barbara, though I do from my Aunt Anne Marie. The writing didn’t match Anne Marie’s and so I guessed it was written by Barbara. What I don’t understand is why she would not have written “Where Mom use to walk…” instead of using her mother’s given name. Since both are deceased I’ll never know for sure; possibly, since it was a postcard that anyone could read, she wanted to disclose no personal information. She was a private person who never shared any genealogical information with me when she was alive.
In my blog about the story, I asked readers if they could identify the church. No one responded. I’d already asked family and they had no idea, either. I searched online but turned up nothing.
Last week, I began corresponding with a Croatian genealogist who promptly wrote that it is called Marija Bistrica and it is about a 12-hour walk from my family’s ancestral village of Dubranec. My great-grandmother was quite a fast walker in her 80s so I can picture her climbing hills quickly to reach the site from her home.
Lidija, the genealogist, provided me a link to the site and at one time, the church was called Our Lady of the Snows. The “miracle” at Marija Bistrica does not match the story that my grandmother told me of her village church but it does involve a war in which she told other tales.
I was also informed that the village church was nearly destroyed in a devasting earthquake two years ago. That saddens me as 400 years of my maternal lines are buried there.
I have been blogging lately about ways to overcome your brick walls and I’m adding to my ever-expanding list what just happened to me – contact a genealogist or historian in the area you are researching. I could have had my answer seven years ago had I just reached out to someone knowledgeable about the area where my ancestor’s resided. Now I’m planning my own pilgrimage to this sacred site!
Last week I began the saga of how I finally broke through two brick walls; I had two baptismal certificates but could find no information on what had become of the individuals. My goal has always been to find closer family and return the certificates. You can catch up on the story by reading Part 1 here.
TALK IT OUT
I shared what I had found with my family and my concern I didn’t have the right man. My husband said, to his knowledge, none of his family had ever lived in northwestern Indiana. This conversation led to a list of places he knew his family had lived – Fayette County in the 1820s, the Elkhart/South Bend area since the 1830s, Porter and Lake counties since the 1850s. I clearly remembered he had some relatives in the late 1800s in the Muncie and Bloomington areas but Garrett, nope, never heard of that. Only, I had, but didn’t remember!
In the conversation we had about people moving about I recalled a letter his grandmother had received from someone about a motorcycle trip that they had taken to North Dakota. I decided to go back through the old letters to find out who that person was. While doing that, I solved my brick wall. . .
TRANSCRIBE
The envelope I found (shown above) shocked me as it was written to his grandmother who was living in Garrett in c/o Wm. Johnson. I immediately showed my husband and he said, “No way.” I then discovered I had a letter written from Garrett to a “Dear Sister” in 1911.
After transcribing the letter, I analyzed it for further clues. The problem with the letter, however, was that there was no envelope, it was signed by “Anna and Dickie” and written to “Dear Sister.” Most of the letters in the collection were written to Elsie Johnson Harbaugh, Oskar’s half-sister, so that was likely who the sister was. The marriage license for Oskar was to a woman named Anna Blair, so the writer may have been Anna but who was Dickie? No Oskar, Willie, or William is ever mentioned in the letter.
RESEARCH OTHERS LISTED
Clearly, the letter was not written by Oskar as the letter writer stated:
1. “I have six brothers, all married.” Anders and Thilda’s sons were Johan, Carl, Oscar, Charlie, Willie, and Andrew. Those are 6 boys, however, the letter writer would not have included himself in the count of people he had to write to and why would he inform his half-sister of his siblings as she would have already known that information?
2.“I have one brother in Chicago, has lived there, for more than six years, ever since he was married, he is an electrician.” I had no idea where most of the children from the first marriage lived. Their sister, Ida, lived in Chicago with her husband, Charles Johnberg, in 1920. The couple married in Porter County, Indiana in 1917. They would not have been in Chicago together in 1912 when the letter was written.
3. “also one sister and two other brothers that are single.” The sons from the first marriage had four full sisters–Anna, Ida, Selma, and Nellie, who had probably died by the time the letter was written, and three half-sisters–Helen, Elsie, and Ruth, so this did not fit with Oskar or one of his siblings being the letter writer.
4.“I live right across the street from my Mother, or I don’t know what I would do.” The mother of the sons died in 1891.
It was time to research Anna Blair who married William Johnson in Garrett, DeKalb, Indiana in June 1911. From the 1920 US federal census, William was shown working in Garrett as a brakeman on the railroad. The letter mentions that Dickie worked on the railroad. William was living with his wife, Anna, son Eugene, and brother Andrew, who likely was the Anders Teodor I had a baptism certificate for. Next door to the couple is Fred and Josephine Blair, likely the parents of Anna Blair. Researching Anna further showed that indeed, her parents were Fred and Josephine Blair. Anna did have six married brothers with one who lived in Chicago and was an electrician. In 1911, she also had a sister and two brothers who were single. Her siblings were William, Franklin, Fredrick, John, Andrew, Leo, Oscar, Claude, and Hattie. She also noted that she lived right across the street from her mother which the census supports. So, Anna Blair, wife of William Johnson, was writing the letter probably to Elsie, William’s half-sister.
GET CREATIVE WITH NAMES
But I still didn’t know who Dickie was! Anna and William’s son was named Eugene in the 1920 census. Was Oskar-Willie-William-also being called Dickie?! I decided to further research Eugene.
An Indiana birth certificate shows that the son was named Eugene Richard Johnson. Dickie was probably the child’s nickname based on his middle name. Perhaps Oskar liked the name and Anna was using it for him, too. I’m beginning to think it was a family tradition to just pull a name out of nowhere and begin using it.
As I continued to research the family to discover what became of them, as I was hoping I could find a living relative to return the baptism certificate to, I discovered that Anna was listed as a widow in the 1930 US Federal census. I have been unable to find a death certificate for Oskar, though, through newspaper research, found that he died in 1929 in South Bend, Indiana. He had left railroad work after representing his fellow employees and was unsuccessful in negotiating with management to remove armed guards from the trains in Garrett. At the time of his death, he was working as a welder in an automobile plant. At age 41, he died of a heart attack. Anna returned with Dickie to live in Garrett. It was there she had Oskar entombed in a mausoleum in a Roman Catholic Cemetery. Oskar’s baptism certificate was for the Lutheran faith. The cemetery was established for Roman Catholics in the late 1800s, however, it did accept other Christian denominations for separate burials. Don’t discount a burial in a cemetery of another faith! Remember, if there was no pre-planning the dead don’t get any say in where they are laid to rest. Interestingly, Oskar lies in the mausoleum which I’ve been told by the present owners, is not their responsibility and they don’t know who actually owns it. It is also a mixed burial site, meaning anyone of any faith is buried there. The records for the mausoleum are also missing so I can’t find who paid for the burial. I also can’t enter it as when we tried to visit it was locked. The present owners of the cemetery, the Roman Catholic Church, do not have a key and didn’t know that the door locked. Sigh!
The tombstone and findagrave.com memorial for Oskar is listed as Wm. O. Johnson. So, the records were now showing that Oskar Wilhelm Johannesson in 1886 became Willie Jonshon in 1900 and by 1911 William Johnson. In 1917, his wife was referring to him as Dickie in family correspondence but the 1920 census shows him as William Johnson. When he was buried, his wife had his tombstone engraved as Wm. O. Johnson. I’m guessing the O was for Oskar.
I have located and reached out to Oskar Wilhelm – Willie – William – Dickie – Wm. O.’s sole living grandchild as I would like to finally, after 44 years, return the baptismal certificate to a closer relative. So far, the grandchild hasn’t responded.
Research shows that I’ll be keeping Anders Teodor – Andrew’s baptismal certificate as, after Oskar left Garrett, Anders returned to live in Porter County, Indiana. He never married and was killed by an automobile as he walked along the side of a road in 1933, shortly after the only known picture of him was taken with his siblings. This also explains why Oskar wasn’t pictured; he was likely dead. The photo was probably not from circa the late 1920s but circa the early 1930s.
My distant cousin William Shakespeare wrote that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet;” I believe that applies to solving a brick wall with whatever name the individual wanted to be called by. Anders Ludvig Johannesson became Gust Johnson; Oskar Wilhem Johanson becomes William “Dickie” O. Johnson. For all these years I had the clues to solve the puzzle but it took experience, FAN research, a 111-year-old letter, a 105-year-old envelope, and online databases to crack the mystery.
I will be taking the next two weeks off for the holidays. Hope whatever you celebrate is merry and bright – see you in January 2023!
The genealogy gods have given me an early holiday gift. My story has lots of twists and turns yet eventually, after years, I solved two brick walls. Perhaps what happened to me might help you find a missing ancestor or two. This blog is in two parts due to its length; the second post will be available on December 17th.
MY BRICK WALL BEGINS
My story begins in June 1978 in Gary, Lake, Indiana where my in-laws lived at the time. Hubby and I had just purchased our first home and my in-laws were downsizing as they faced retirement. We were encouraged to come up from Florida where we were living and take anything they were getting rid of.
As family historians, I’m sure you’ll identify what I fell in love with and agree I made the right choice; my in-laws thought I was nuts! All I wanted was a battered cloth suitcase that was housed in their basement, along with an old wooden and rusty metal trunk. The suitcase had no interest to me, it was its contents that I found exciting – it was filled with old photos, certificates, and letters. The trunk was empty but there was something about it that made me want to have it. Hubby said the trunk belonged to his immigrant great-grandparents, but he wasn’t sure which side, maternal or paternal, had owned it.
There actually were two trunks, one large and one small. My in-laws felt that hubby and his sister should each take one. It was decided we’d get the largest because we had a garage to store it. His sibling had no interest in the photos or letters, so they became ours. Now at the age my in-laws were at the time and having recently downsized, I better understand their dismay at our reluctance to take much of their belongings out of their hands. To appease them, we ended up with my hubby’s old bedroom set for our guest room, an antique doll carriage that was destroyed by Hurricane Elena a few years later, and a record player. Hubby’s uncle loaded his pickup truck and my father-in-law drove it all down to our new home. While the guys were unloading the furniture I was sorting through the contents of the suitcase.
Of course, none of the photos were labeled. Some of the documents were in a different language I couldn’t identify but guessed it was Swedish. The letters were mostly addressed to Elsie Johnson, who I knew was hubby’s deceased grandmother. He was quite attached to her and unfortunately, she had died just a few years before I entered his life, so I never had the pleasure of meeting her.
ASK OLDER RELATIVES FOR INFORMATION
That evening I showed the items to my father-in-law and asked him who was in the photos and who were the people named on two baptismal certificates (one shown above). He said he had no idea; the items had all been his wife’s. No knowledge is also helpful so that became clue number 1. He also informed me that the trunk was not from his side of the family. Little hints are helpful; I made a note to ask my mother-in-law.
I asked my mother-in-law via phone if she was able to tell me who was the Johannesson family. She didn’t know of an Oskar Wilhem, Anders Teodor, Gustaf, or Matilda Christ. She knew her great grandfather, who had died before she was born, was Gust Johnson so possibly this was somehow related to him. She believed the trunk was used by Gust when he emigrated with his first wife and some of their children to the U.S. sometime in the 1800s but it might have been from her maternal grandmother’s side instead.
PRESERVE THE ITEM Back in those days, I knew little about acid-free paper savers, archival boxes, or the danger of putting photos in plastic albums. Luckily, I didn’t use a photo album and since the photos were jumbled together in the suitcase, I didn’t have to keep them in the order they were originally found. I sorted them out as best as I could by any clues I discovered, such as a year imprinted on the side of newer photos or the ages of children I could identify. I placed all the letters in a small cardboard box that was intended to store clothing patterns. That allowed me to place them nicely on a closet shelf. I used a regular file folder to house all the certificates I found. The photos went into another pattern box. Although this was not a perfect method, it was better than having them remain in a rotting suitcase in a basement.
At the time, I didn’t even know my mysteries had a genealogical term – brick wall. Since I was too busy to research any of the items, with just starting a career and going part-time to graduate school. Someday, I planned to identify the individuals named in the certificates and letters and hopefully, return the items to a closer relative.
REVISIT ITEMS YOU ALREADY OWN
Fast forward to losing most of our belongings in a hurricane, making three moves, gaining two kids, getting master’s degrees, changing jobs, and dealing with aging parents, I finally, in the Summer of 2005 took the time to scan the items found in the suitcase. By this time genealogy resources had changed dramatically as there was the internet, software programs, laptops, cell phones, home photocopiers, and scanners. I decided to scan the items after experiencing two near-hurricane misses. We had lucked out not losing the items in 1985 because they had been stored on a high closet shelf that the flood waters hadn’t reached. In 2004 and 2005, we experienced close calls with several storms and lost a large oak in our backyard during one of them. The tree fell away from the house but if it had gone the other direction, the closet I was storing those items, along with additional items I had obtained from my maternal and paternal lines, would have been destroyed.
ASK MORE RELATIVES FOR INFORMATION
Looking at the items again, with my years of genealogical experiences gained, I quickly realized I had my husband’s maternal uncle’s birth certificate. I mailed it back to him. Never got a thank you but he did loan me a family history book that helped me with a surname study on the Harbaughs I had begun. I since found a reprint copy of the volume so I could have it for reference. I was also able to deduce that Oskar and Teodor were children of Anders “Gust” Johannesson/Johnson. Unfortunately, nothing online at the time provided me with what had become of them after the 1900 US Federal census and the uncle had nothing more to add.
By the 2000s I also knew I was not preserving the items correctly, so I placed all the paper items in acid-free sleeves. I then placed them in binders so that I could continue to store them on a shelf and remove them quickly if I had to evacuate. The beauty of storing the letters this way was now I could read them without having to handle them, thus, keeping oil and dirt from my hands off them and limiting the unfolding of the items from their envelope which might tear or damage them further.
PUT INFO INTO CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
I used the WW1 letters extensively as I wrote an eBook on the Harbaugh family but there were some letters and empty envelopes that didn’t fit the period I was then researching. I placed those items in a separate binder and when I scanned them, saved them separately, by year if available, or by type of letter as some were for a small business the family was running and others were from friends. A few I couldn’t categorize as I wasn’t clear who the letter was written to or who had written it. This category may seem to confound but, in my case, was the key to solving my brick walls 17 years later.
KEEP YOUR TREE PUBLIC
Back in the early 2000s, I had a small tree on FamilySearch.org and my ever-growing tree on Ancestry.com. I uploaded the Ancestry tree to MyHeritage.com, FindMyPast.com, and Geneanet.com, which is now owned by Ancestry. My hope was that some far-flung relative would reach out to me or, I’d be able to view other public trees and find the identity of Oskar and Teodor. This has worked in some cases but not with Oskar and Teodor. Currently, there are only 8 trees on Ancestry, including mine, for Oskar and 12 for Teodor. The trees seem to all have copied me. Findmypast.com has many Oskar Johanson’s but none that match the birth info I have on the baptism certificate. Likewise, MyHeritage.com has 136,618 trees for Oskar Johanson but none with the birth info I have. Although keeping my tree public didn’t solve this brick wall, it did help connect me with a distant relative who happened to have a photo that he shared.
CAST A WIDER NET – CONTACT MORE RELATIVES
What did happen with Oskar and Teodor was a second cousin of my husband did contact me about a different line and he eventually sent me photos on CD he had scanned. Most of his photos were labeled and some matched mine, even though it was for a different line. How is that possible you may ask? Because all of these folks lived in the same small town of Baileytown, near Chesterton, Porter, Indiana so what are all relatives of my husband, at the time the photos were taken, the people in the photos just knew each other as neighbors. There was a wedding photo that included the neighbors who had attended who just happened to be related to my husband, too, but not all the people in the picture were related to the cousin who sent the photos. How cool!
L-R Men are either Anders or Charles, 1st, 2nd, and 4th woman are Anna, Ida, or Selma, 3rd woman is Helen Johnson Chelberg. Photo Courtesy of Scott Chelberg
The photo above is dated circa the late 1920s, it was helpful in validating that the children from Gust and Anna Matilda did stay in contact with their step-sibs (Helen) after their parents’ deaths. So, I was now confused as to why living relatives today had no knowledge of them. What had become of Oskar, Teodor, and their siblings – Johan, Carl, Anna, Ida, Selma, Charlie, and Nellie that I had no paperwork on?
A PROJECT LEADS TO THE ANSWER
To be honest, I didn’t spend much time researching the lines after I scanned the documents as I was busy starting my genealogy business and working full-time as an educator. During the pandemic, I began taking the time to update my family lines. When we relocated last summer to Indiana and I joined the Indiana Genealogical Society, I decided it was time to upload biographies of my husband and my Hoosier relatives to a project the society was promoting. If it wasn’t for that project, I would still have not known what happened to Oskar and Teodor.
As I prepared to write the bio for my husband’s great grandfather, Anders Ludvig “Gust” Johannesson/Johnson, I knew I had to find additional info as for most of Gust and his first wife, Tilda “Anna Matilda” Christ Johansdotter’s 10 children, as I only had two death dates. It was time for more intense research.
LIST ALL YOU HAVE
The info I had on Oskar and Teodor was the baptism certificates naming their parents, the 1920s photo, Oskar’s entry in the 1920 US federal census as “Willie Jonshon” and I thought, little else. Boy was I wrong.
I had tried in the past to find him in 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940 US federal censuses and been unsuccessful. Then it hit me – Oskar was not going by Oskar Wilhelm by 1900, he was called Willie. I began looking for him as William Johnson.
In the 1920 census, I found a William Johnson living in Garrett, Indiana with a wife and child that might have been Willie. I now live just a few minutes from Garrett so I immediately thought this couldn’t be him. My side of the family was from this region, not my husband’s. Besides, after Oskar’s father’s death, his step-mom and step-siblings had all stayed in northwestern Indiana; Garrett is in the northeastern section. How could I determine if Oskar – Willie – was the married William living across the state?
Indiana marriage records were helpful; the Garrett William was born in Miller in the same year noted on the baptism record but he had a father recorded as A. Johnson, a mother L. Swanson, and a birth date of 26 November. The baptism certificate clearly gives his birthdate as 26 January and his parents as G. and M. Johanson. I could reason that the A. Johnson might stand for August as others in my husband’s Swedish lines often used the nickname Gust instead of the formal August. It was time to list all the information I had on Oskar’s parents.
Oskar’s father’s baptism record in Sweden clearly shows he was named Anders Ludvig, with no August or Gust anywhere. That’s the name he used when he emigrated, too. I never found a first marriage record but he was married second as Gust and that’s how he was recorded in his first US census, in 1900. His death certificate informant was his second wife who gave his name as August and not Anders. So, like Oskar, Anders Ludvig Johannesson/Johanson/Johnson changed his name and eventually became Gust Johnson. Perhaps his second wife did not know his given name; maybe he decided to be called Gust after his birth month, August. Who knows? I likely will never discover the reason. Oskar’s marriage certificate for a father named A. Johnson was now consistent with later records for his father.
Unfortunately, Oskar’s mother died prior to vital records so I have no idea where he came up with the name L. Swanson, though there is a Svenson listed as a witness on his baptismal record. His stepmother’s name was Lovisa, later changed to Louise, but her maiden name was Carlson. Oskar’s birth mother had died when he was 5 so perhaps, he was not able to remember correctly her given name and was thinking about his stepmother’s first name instead of his birth mother thus, he gave her first initial.
Where the November birth month came from is also a mystery.
The marriage location, birth month, and mother’s name made me continue to question whether I had the right man or not. Stay tuned, you’ll learn the answer next week.
Two weeks ago I blogged about the discovery I made regarding submitting a short biography to my state genealogical society about my pioneering ancestor’s life. I’ve had several readers request ideas on how to get started.
First, relax! You aren’t writing a book so there is little time involved. I think the hardest part is to decide who to select to begin with. For my project, I decided to start with my husband’s lines and select the ancestor that was the earliest pioneer in the area. I then wrote a bio on his wife, their daughter that is my husband’s direct relative, the daughter’s husband, and so on down to his parents. I then did the same for my lines. But that was just me! You can pick anyone you like and go in any direction. Sure, typically in genealogy it’s best practice to go backward in time from present to past but if you already have the research done it makes no difference in who you select to highlight.
Second, if you are submitting the bio to a website then make sure you understand and follow their directions. If you aren’t sure, send a query before you waste your time and theirs.
If the site has a form filler, as mine does, it’s simple to bring up your tree and just type in the info that the form requests. I have two screens on my computer and can definitely use a third (hint, hint hubby!) so this makes the writing easy. If you have one screen only, you could toggle between your tree and the site or borrow a laptop/iPad/kindle to bring up the tree on that device. You can also do a screen print of the ancestor’s information and print but let’s keep that as a last option since we really don’t want to be killing trees for this project.
Next, you are writing in the third person which means you don’t use the word “I.” This is a biography and not an autobiography, which is about you. I’ve written earlier this year about writing your memoir. Biographies are all in the past tense because the person lived then and not now.
Keep it short and simple! Begin with the person’s start in life, such as “James Edward Jones was born on 1 May 1800 in what is now Trumbull County, Ohio. He was the third son and fifth child of Harold and Margaret Ann Hodge Jones.” It’s easy to switch to the next bio by just shuffling the facts presented. Here’s an example: “On 1 May 1800, in what is now Trumbull County, Ohio, James Edward Jones, the third son of five children, was born to Harold and Margaret Ann Hodge Jones.”
If you have information about James’ early life add it. You might not and that’s not a problem; just write next whatever you’ve discovered. It might be a marriage and children that follow. Look at census records to determine the career and location. Review the property records you’ve found and include where the family resided. Perhaps a big event occurred during the individual’s life, such as war, famine, pandemic, etc. that should be included. If the ancestor made a significant accomplishment in his community or the world make sure to note it. Most of our forebears did not so don’t feel that the individual isn’t worthy of memorializing.
End your biography with information from the death certificate, if available, obituary, family Bible, or community death index. Note where the person is buried, if known. If a significant contribution was made to the world, then note that as a reminder to the reader of the valuable service that the person made. One of my husband’s ancestors, Samuel August Samuelson, was injured during the Civil War, continued to fight for the Union with a gunshot wound and broken shoulder, was taken as a POW, and overcame his disability to farm 439 acres. He met an untimely death, being killed on his sleigh by a train that was not following safety guidelines. His community was in an uproar and legislation was enacted at the state level because of the accident that killed him. Due to the unfortunate accident, we’re all a little safer around train tracks these days.
Most of our ancestors, however, were simple, hard-working folks who paid their taxes, voted, and left few other records. I believe they should be remembered, too, for doing the best they could during the trying times in which they lived.
Next week, I’ll begin a two-part blog on how I broke through a 44-year brick wall.
It’s that time of the year again; the dreaded question of what do I get my ancestor-hunting family member for the holidays? Here are 10 gift ideas:
1. Clear Research Bag – I love mine as I can keep everything I need for boots-on-the-ground research in one place. Guards like it, too, as they can readily see you are not bringing in a dreaded ink pen, red especially, into their precious collections. Available on Amazon.
2. Genealogists like to take notes, make lists, research plans, and remember hints that are discovered that don’t quite fit with what they’re currently working on. These notebooks, available in two sizes, are perfect for jotting down ideas and odd finds. Available on Amazon and in a larger format.
3. For the home office, a desk organizer is so helpful! Fill it with the right stuff – mechanical pencils so no sharpener is needed, red pens for underlining important info on lineage society Apps, a transparent ruler to keep those lines straight, plastic clips to hold papers without worrying about rust, a magnifying glass for those hard to read old documents, calculator to determine age, and post-it notes for flagging finds in books. Yes, all are available on Amazon but it’s less expensive at Staples.
4. I’m really trying to save trees but sometimes you just have to print. A ream of acid-free paper, print cartridges, and a packet of sheet protectors are definitely useful. Throw in a binder and your gift is complete.
5. I love my Dymo label maker. I can print out an address quickly for snail mail connections. I’ve labeled binders and file folders so everything can be found easily. In the past, I even used them for citations, then placed the label on a notebook page so when I went to the library, I could take notes under the citation. I use tech now but if your genealogist is old school, a Dymo is a good way to get them started using tech as it’s simple to install and use.
6. Renew their online subscription to a loved genealogy company – in alpha order, Ancestry.com, Findmypast.com, Fold3.com, GenealogyBank.com, MyHeritage.com, Newspapers.com, etc. Go to their website to obtain an eGift Certificate. Many of these companies allow you to purchase now and extend the existing subscription to a future date but check that out before you purchase.
7. Boots-on-the-ground research is still necessary. Get family members together to chip in cash to contribute to the genealogist’s dream archive visit site. In the U.S., it may be Salt Lake City, Utah, Fort Wayne, Indiana, the National Archives in various locations, or perhaps an in-person conference. This gift will just blow them away.
8. Techie, are you? Then use your skills to video record an interview with your genealogist. Flip the tables – they’re always asking you and now it’s time for you to ask them. You can refer to my blog article here for question ideas or make it more personal – ask them “When did you begin your interest in family history?” “What has been the most difficult line you’ve researched?” “If you could meet one deceased ancestor you’ve discovered, who would it be and why?” “What ancestral home location would you love to visit?” “What ancestor just confounds you?”
9. If you’re artsy, then make a gift. My oldest decorated a mug so I can enjoy a cup of tea while I research. I’ve also been gifted over the years with t-shirts and my business logo on the bag noted in item 1. I’d even appreciate a gift basket of healthy snacks. Get creative!
10. Your time – the cost is nothing but the gift is priceless! Sure, you could care less about Great Uncle Waldo who discovered gold in them there hills but your genealogist family member would just love to tell you all about what they discovered. Humor them and schedule an hour or two after the holidays to listen and learn about your ancestors. You might surprise yourself and realize that this gift of heart was also meaningful for you.
Next week, tips on writing a short ancestor biography. Stay tuned!
After building your family tree you most likely have lines that you haven’t researched in a while. With every research hour you put in, you gain expertise. It’s time to go back to the far-flung branches and recheck your initial work.
Sounds like a pain, right?! Nope, I have a fun way to do it.
Since relocating to Indiana I’ve discovered that my state’s genealogical society supports a biography project. It’s called Once A Hoosier. I was surprised to see that not one of my husband or my pioneering ancestors had been included. How did that occur? Well, no one submitted a biography. If you check the location of your pioneering ancestors you’ll probably discover what I did. That means it’s time to get busy!
First, make sure your ancestor qualifies. In Indiana, the ancestor must have been born before 1950, is deceased, and lived in Indiana for part of his/her life or been buried there.
The society makes entry simple as they have a form filler to add the pioneer’s name, vitals, children/their spouses, and a space to type in a biography. You aren’t writing a book here so it’s not intimidating which makes this fun. It’s also a wonderful way to memorialize your ancestors. Most importantly, it’s a great way for you to check your records.
The form filler has no place to add citations. This could be problematic but I’m looking at it positively. We should always check out sources so, if you find an ancestor listed and you’re not able to find a source for the “fact” that was written, you can always contact the submitter for more information. This should be our best practice anyway. Not adding citations to your bio is also saving you time from having to type in a citation. As long as you can support the fact with your personal records, you’re good to go.
As I enter bios I’m fact-checking each of my citations. My husband, obviously by our surname, has a lot of Swedish ancestors. As I was writing a bio for his second great-grandmother Anna Elisabet “Lisa” Torstensdotter Erickson I questioned several pieces of information I had found for her. I had a Swedish baptism certificate and census records that never listed Elisabet as one of her names. Instead, Lisa was recorded. I checked with a Swedish genealogist to make sure I was understanding the records and discovered a lot about Swedish names. You can read more about Swedish names here. Unless you read Swedish, click Google Translate in the upper right-hand corner of the screen for English. Thank you, Annika Höstmad of Find A Swede Genealogy, for translating Lisa’s baptismal certificate and sharing this site.
We really don’t know what family called each other. After careful analysis I discovered where the name Elisabet came from – one immigration document that originated in the U.S. Elisabet was a well-used name in the family so I suspect that she may have formally been named Anna Elisabet but went by Lisa so the parish minister recorded Anna Lisa on the baptism record. Perhaps when she came to America she felt obligated to provide her formal given name. I can identify with that as it’s happened to me; I use my family’s pet name but after September 11th, I had to have many governmental records changed to reflect my formal given name on my birth certificate. So, I have an aka on most of my records now. In Anna Lisa’s case, in 1797 there were no formal governmental records so we’ll never know for sure what her given name was. I included that info in her bio.
If you’re wondering how you can get started on a bio project, simply do an internet search of the location where your pioneer ancestors resided. If a program isn’t offered or charges you and you don’t want to pay for that, then search for a larger regional society that may offer the program. I’ve discovered besides at the state level, that several Indiana counties also accept bios, too.
If you discover that your ancestor resided in a location that does not currently take bios, no worries. You can still write one up. Use any format you like or take one from a society that does offer the program. Then, .pdf it and save it with your ancestor’s records. Easy Peasy!
As I write, we’re experiencing our first snowfall of the season. Grab a cup of cocoa and enjoy reading blogs this weekend.
In late September my husband was contacted via Facebook by his first cousin who he had not seen in 50 years. We were not Facebook friends with this line so the message wasn’t expected. In August, after relocating, I wrote on Facebook explaining why we had suddenly pulled up roots in Florida and relocated to Indiana. Another cousin who is a Facebook friend told the cousin which is how my husband got the message. You know family, always playing telephone!
The cousin asked us to let her know when we had settled in our new home so we could come for a visit; the family lives about an hour and a half from us. We made that visit the first weekend in October which was timely, as the family was relocating to Florida for the winter the following week. We had lived in Florida for almost 50 years and never knew that they were coming down for 6 months each year for the past 13 years.
It certainly could be awkward to reconnect with someone you haven’t seen in years, even if there had been no falling out. In our case, we simply moved away from where the majority of the family lived and raised a family, working, and maintaining a home, life just got in the way of keeping up a long-distance relationship. When my husband’s parents were alive they would keep us updated on family events but since they passed we just lost the connections. By the time Facebook came to be, it had been over 10 years since we had any information on the extended lines.
Yes, Facebook and other social media are very good tools to keep in touch with relatives but I’m just not into it. I don’t enjoy learning vicariously about friends and family. I go on it maybe twice a year to catch up. I much prefer text, phone, and face-to-face contact, even if that means Zoom or another service. If you want to reconnect, a message on a social media site is a great way to do that, however. After the initial few messages going back and forth and the exchange of emails and/or phone numbers, someone needs to be brave and make the phone call.
The call doesn’t need to be long, in fact, it’s better if it’s not. After exchanging pleasantries, get down to basic updates, such as we are fine and love (fill in the blank). Being positive is a good way to begin. I’m not saying don’t share bad news. If you’ve just been given a terminal diagnosis and want to reconnect quickly, by all means, share that.
In my case, I asked what a good time for our visit would be and was told any time after 10 AM. I said 11:30 AM would work for us and so the meeting was set. We arrive a few minutes early. I knew that lunch would be prepared for us but I wanted to bring a little something. If you don’t know the family well enough bringing a gift could have been problematic. I decided on a box of chocolates made by a local company. Alcohol, flowers, a desert, or memorabilia that belonged to that line could all work.
Let the person you’re visiting take the lead in the initial hellos. Some families are huggers and others aren’t. Some may still need you to mask up. Whatever the host family requires makes you a good guest.
We started with a handshake and smile that evolved quickly into hugs. Then we got a tour of their beautiful home on a lake. My husband has spoken of this lake for our entire relationship but I’ve never been there. He spent his preschool summers there. It was where he first fell in love with a nameless older girl who was about age 6; he tried to catch a perch with his bare hands for her birthday present. He loved climbing up on a chair to play on an old pinball machine in the family-owned store. The beach house had an upstairs with mattresses strewn on the floor for the children and he loved hopping from one to the other. There was an older man who made funny faces when he thought; my husband imitates him to this day.
Like most visits as an adult, hubby was surprised the lake was as small as it was. It seemed like an ocean to him at age 3.
After the outside/inside house tour, we grabbed a plate and sat at the table for some eating and reminiscing. You can ask if anyone objects to the conversation being recorded or not. I did not record. I also did not take photos. You could also take notes. Since we are living nearby we agreed we’d meet in the spring when I returned to their area to research. Perhaps then I may record and photograph.
The family knows I’m a genealogist so it wasn’t surprising that the talk turned to ancestors early on. I had to laugh when a second cousin remarked that one of his cousins who were not present had done a fantastic amount of research. Yep, I agreed, I sent it to him.
I should have brought my laptop to have my tree readily available but I didn’t. I promised to send two of the second cousins’ info about the Civil War and various other lines we discussed. Keep your promise!
We also caught up on what everyone had done in the time since we last met. Photo albums were passed around.
We were in for a surprise as one of the second cousins was going to take us out on his pontoon for a ride around the lake. We learned that there had been three stores during my husband’s time there; his aunt owned the one he recalled. I asked how the family came to the lake and was informed that the first cousin’s uncle on an unrelated line to us had discovered a cottage there and decided it was a wonderful place in the 1950s to spend the summer, away from the heat and congestion of the Chicago area. Other families came to visit and as property became available, more families made purchases. I learned my father-in-law encouraged his sister, a widower with two young children, to purchase a cottage and then one of the stores. Both sides agreed to help her out which is how my husband came to spend his summers there.
My husband and his older male first cousin laughed at how my husband loved Alley Oops and being held high by the cousin so my husband could dive off him into the lake. Good times! By the time my husband was 6 the cottage and store had been sold. So, how did these first cousins have property there now?
We were told that for 15 years after the sale the family frequently recalled the wonderful times they had there and wanted the same experience for their young children. It took them a year but finally, a cabin came up for sale. They’ve owned a place on the lake since 1976; as other lots/cabins became available they made additional purchases so now they and two of their children have a summer place. The daughter of the aunt who originally bought there also owns a place, along with one of her children. But there was more. . .
As we toured the lake I learned that they hadn’t been aware that there was even more distant kin that was neighbors. Right before the pandemic, a neighbor was having a garage sale. The female first cousin went to check it out and somehow, the conversation turned to funny family names. She remarked that she didn’t think they could top her husband’s cousins’ names – Milnut and Elzine. The garage sale folks were stunned and replied that they, too, had cousins with those names. They also had a number of other cousins who owned cabins around the lake. I’d say, a quarter of the lake cabins are owned by two lines who had become united through a marriage in 1941. And none of them knew they were related until one cousin met another at a garage sale. Weird!
When we returned home I immediately checked to make sure I had the garage sale man’s name in my tree and I did so I was able to let all of them know how they are related. I also was able to explain how Milnut (really Milnett Rosinda Emelia) and Elzine (really Edna Gladie Elzene) were related to all of them.
By reconnecting with a known line, we were able to connect with three other lines that had been disconnected probably prior to the 1960s. It is indeed a small world and finding all of this family in one location was a pleasant surprise.
Now comes the hard part, staying in touch! Make it a point to reconnect every so often. You’ll be glad you did.
Genealogy At Heart’s second blog article today is a book review of More Psychic Roots: Further Adventures in Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997). You can read here about my first blog today which covered Henry Z. Jones, Jr.’s Psychic Roots: Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1993).
Again, here’s my disclaimer – I’ve read both books several years ago but not for the purpose of a book review. After my October 1st blog, October Genealogical Coincidences Part 1, was posted, I was contacted by a reader who requested I write the book reviews. I thought that was a wonderful way to end my series. I received no monetary compensation for these reviews, however, I did receive a free copy of both books.
Although Further Adventures is the sequel, the books may be read in any order. There are nearly 300 more uncanny genealogical experiences highlighted. Unlike Psychic Roots, the stories in Further Adventures were obtained from family historians who had either read the prior work or seen an episode of Unsolved Mysteries that featured Jones and several genealogists whose stories had been highlighted in the first book. Jones refers to the self-reporters as “grassroots” genealogists who bravely shared their odd experiences. He acknowledges that there are those who mock others who have had strange incidences occur, likely because the events happen unexpectedly and can’t be reproduced at will. He reminds the reader that many unexplained phenomena were once considered supernatural but as science progressed, are now understood.
Further Adventures is subdivided into different types of occurrences, such as dreams, researching at the archives, visiting a bookstore/cemetery/ancestral locale, mistakenly ordering the wrong material, or looking in an unlikely location, such as reading the first book, recognizing a surname, and finding a distant family contact with whom to connect. In the back of both books is a surname index. One of the surnames that I research, Harbaugh, was found in the sequel; I was familiar with the ancestor but not the contributor who has a different last name. I also recognized two stories included by one of my blog readers, Linda Stufflebean. Perhaps, you too will recognize a connection.
Further Adventures contains more than just odd reports, there are solid genealogical practices noted. My favorite is a story of a father and daughter’s attempt to find a remote cemetery location of an ancestor. They were thrilled to report to a family member that they accomplished their goal only to be asked by the relative, “Why didn’t you ask me?” Clearly, the importance of doing family interviews could save us time and travel.
The book also reminds us of the need to examine records in the counties surrounding where our ancestors once lived. This is definitely a sound practice. The value of documenting sources, staying abreast of current practices, and double-checking all evidence is emphasized.
Another recommendation is to trust our intuition. That little voice that nudges you to examine a hunch just might be correct. Flexibility in our research plan, a positive attitude and a sense of humor can lead to discovering the unexpected. As Jones points out, our immigrant ancestors gambled “their lives on the unknown” and took a great risk. Getting out of our comfort zone by picking a book at random might just lead us to a new discovery.
I especially like the idea “that when you help someone else, the favor is always repaid in full measure – maybe not by the recipient, but from somewhere a bonanza falls into your eager hands!” p. 186. I can attest to that.
This work does focus more on ghostly encounters and unconventional techniques, such as automatic writing, than the prior book. It was emphasized by a contributor, however, that serendipity does not come without research.
Although DNA was not as prevalent at the time the book was written, there is a broad mention of it. The work of philosopher Emmanuel Kant regarding gaining a priori knowledge is attributed to perhaps genetic programming we do not yet fully understand. LaVonne Harper Stiffler’s work on genetic connections of adoptees to their birth parents was also explored.
Jones’ final chapter is a mini-memoir of his relationships gained through his careers as an entertainer and a genealogist. It is here where the reader learns the root of Jones’ personal philosophy and genealogical practices. A touching tribute to his longtime collaborator, Carla Mittelstaedt Kubaseck, concludes the book.
I think it is fitting to house both of Jones’ works on my bookshelf next to Mills’ Evidence Explained. How does one cite the illogical occurrences that led us through a brick wall? I will ponder that on another day. For now, I appreciate all of the contributors, and especially, Jones, for revealing their strange encounters. I am also very thankful to have experienced many of my own coincidences and synchronicities. Personally, I don’t particularly care how they occur, I just hope they keep on coming!
With the extra hour you gain from this weekend’s time change, Genealogy At Heart has a 2-for-1 special today! As I conclude my synchronicity series I’ll be reviewing two books that are filled with genealogical coincidences. The first blog will cover Henry “Hank” Z. Jones, Jr.’s Psychic Roots: Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1993). The second blog today is Jones’ follow-up, More Psychic Roots: Further Adventures in Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997).
Here’s my disclaimer – I’ve read both books several years ago but not for the purpose of a book review. After my October 1st blog, October Genealogical Coincidences Part 1, was posted, I was contacted by a reader who requested I write the book reviews. I thought that was a wonderful way to end my series. I received no monetary compensation for these reviews, however, I did receive a free copy of both books.
Psychic Roots is a compilation of professional genealogists’ stories of their odd experiences while performing research. Most occurrences happened when the ancestor was a family member, however, some transpired while research was being performed for clients. One of the book’s strengths is its reliance on input from professional genealogists, many renowned such as current or former fellows of the American Society of Genealogists, such as Henry Lines Jacobus, Helen F. M. Leary, John Insley Coddington, and Francis “Jim” Dallett. GRIP co-founder Elissa Scalise Powell is also included. Jones contacted 300 genealogists requesting they share any unusual experiences encountered while researching. Over 200 replied and many of their responses are contained in the book, including a few who had no strange occurrences at all.
The book begins with a tale of how Jones got bitten by the genealogy bug as a youth. Like many of us, genealogy was Jones’ second career. Some of you may recall seeing him on the Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, in Disney’s Blackbeard’s Ghost, or on various television situation comedies before he left entertainment for family history.
Jones is a fellow of the American Society of Genealogists. Psychic Roots was not his first authored work. He is well-known for The Palatine Families of Ireland (1965) and the two-volume The Palatine Families of New York – 1710 (1985) for which he received the prestigious Jacobus Award. It was a result of those works that Psychic Roots came about; Jones could not let go of his passion for the emigrating Palatinates and he desired to explore why he was called to spend much of his life investigating them. Upon reflection, he recalled the many strange occurrences that led him to research findings.
Jones stresses “scientific methods” or as today, we would follow the guidelines in the Genealogy Standards. He delved into other disciplines to better understand the unexplainable events he had experienced. His research took him to the works of author Horace Walpole, who purportedly coined the word serendipity, psychologist Carl Jung’s collective unconscious, chemist Dr. Louis Pasteur’s view of chance, physician Dr. Jonas Salk’s intuitive thinking, physicist Wolfgang Pauli’s study of non-physical and non-causal events in nature, physicist Albert Einstein’s belief in intuition, and NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell’s ESP studies. He attended lectures by individuals, such as Ramond Bayless and Dr. Elizabeth McAdams, who investigated psychics. Jones examined Dr. Raymond Moody and Dr. Elizabeth Kubler Ross’ works on near-death experiences. He also looked for precedence in the field of genealogy and found it in “Randall-Pease-Hutchinson-Warner: A Study in Serendipity,” an article published in The American Genealogist by Winifred Lovering Holman in 1957. He includes a bibliography for further reading.
The types of nonrational experiences are explored in depth by chapters, divided by synchronicity, numeracy, intuition, and genetic memory.
The title, Psychic Roots, is a bit deceiving. If you’re expecting woo-woo, spine-tingling creepiness you aren’t going to find it here. You are more apt to have a belly laugh. This is one area that I think makes the book so successful; when dealing with sensitive situations, appropriate laughter can be useful and some of the stories are hilarious.
I found this book is much more than just the uncanny experiences of genealogists. There are many other discoveries to be made in Psychic Roots. For example, I found it interesting how Helen Leary researched; she did not use Write as You Go. No spoiler alert here; you’ll have to get a copy to find out her method.
Henry Jones reinforces other tips that genealogists can find helpful, such as researching the FAN Club, although that term wasn’t used at the time the book was published, collaborating with colleagues, and boots-on-the-ground research. If you attended Thomas Jones’ 2023 National Genealogical Society lecture, “It Gets Even Better Offline,” he stated in one of his examples that “This incident also illustrates how serendipity can play a role in genealogical research and in my experience there are more serendipitous findings in genealogical research offline than there are online.” The tales in Psychic Roots support that belief.
I could relate to many of the stories as I’ve found myself in similar frustrating situations when hitting a brick wall. One memorable account related how a researcher, in desperation, began speaking to a photo of the son of the man she was unable to find information about. Her family thought she was losing touch with reality until a few months later, after repeated requests directed at the photo, the information she sought was found. If only I had a photo of my Thomas Duer! Jones believes that both thinking and feeling about your ancestor, along with immersing yourself in their customs and societal norms is what leads to successful finds.
The book is a quick read and difficult to put down. While reading it I did have one strange occurrence. Somehow, my new smartphone decided to change my keyboard to Deutsch. I have no idea how that happened. It could have been a fluke or, it could have been Jones’ Palatine families wanting to communicate. Who knows what odd situation will happen to you when you pick up a copy! Let me know, I’d love to hear from you.
