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Making the Most of Your Research Trip – Cemeteries – Part 3

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 17 Aug 2016.

Today’s blog is all about cemeteries! Actually, I’ll have to split the blog as I have too much info!

I like to get an early start when I visit cemeteries in the summer as it gets HOT during the day.

My first stop of my recent research trip was Green Hill Cemetery in Waynesboro, PA. Opened in the late 1800’s, by 1923 it had accepted re-internments from Union Cemetery when the church who owned Union sold the property and the new owners didn’t want the bodies.

What saddens me about that decision is the property was sold from one church to another. Union meant what it said – it was the “Union” of all of the burials of the 3 churches in the town – at that time it was Evangelical Lutheran, German Baptist and Presbyterian. From histories of the area I read on GoogleBooks, I learned that in the mid 1800’s there was only one church in town and that all 3 denominations used it on a rotating basis. Due to structural problems and it needing repairs, one of the churches decided to rebuild on their own. The other two continued together. By the 1920’s, the two combined churches had split and the property was sold to the church who had first separated. How weird is that?! That church’s former parishioners had been buried in that space for years but the church didn’t want the bodies of the other denominations so part of the real estate deal was to have the seller get all the bodies moved. (I’ve seen this happen so many times – I’m glad I selected a City Cemetery for my own final resting place. I want a public referendum for a change!)

The selling church tried, but as was the case with the families I was researching, no local family members would have seen the newspaper notice that they needed to claim the bodies. Any body not claimed was dug up and re-interred at Green Hill in a combined location. The stones were placed on a hill, laying flat, supposedly in the same order in which they were originally placed. They are in horrible condition!

I met with the Cemetery Director and he provided me a map of the location where the old stones were kept. My dilemma was twofold. I had the names from church records that two family members were buried at Union but on Find-A-Grave, Billion Graves and the cemetery itself (I had called twice before) only one of the family members names were recorded as re-interred there.

Since I was using these people in my Kinship Determination Paper for my Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG), I’m hesitant to use the real names I was researching so I’ll be using some assumed names to make this understandable.

Adam Apple was in the church records as buried next to his grandson, Bart Bear. Find-A-Grave has a photo on the memorial for Bart Bear but no mention of Adam Apple. Neither are on Billion Graves. The cemetery records have only Bart Bear listed. I was told twice by cemetery personnel that they believe their database is complete as it was based on the original Union Cemetery records they had received from the church. Those records were supposedly housed in the Alexander Hamilton Free Library and the cemetery had a copy of those records since 1923.

To complicate the story, Bart Bear had a sister, Barbara Bear. The only way I knew about Barbara was from a family genealogy text that had gotten the info from a sibling of Bart and Barbara. Barbara supposedly had died as an infant, in between census years. The text has no year of birth or death. The church has no record of her. Neither does the online resources or the cemetery. Where was she buried and when?

Bart and Barbara’s paternal grandfather – I’m calling him Alex Bear, and his wife Amanda Bear, are also missing from every source I’ve consulted. Alex’s will was indexed but is missing so all I know is that it was probated in 1874 in Franklin County. I suspect he died towards the end of 1874 as the probate was in late November but I don’t know that for sure. He may have been buried in Union as they still accepted internments at that time.

My mission was to answer the following:

Why was Adam Apple not listed in the cemetery records but was in the church records?
Why was Barbara Bear not listed in the cemetery records or church records?
Was Alex and Amanda Bear buried in Union or Green Hill?
BONUS QUESTION: Was Adam Apple’s wife (name unknown) buried next to Adam?

I also wanted to see Bart Bear’s tombstone.

When I met with the Cemetery Director I explained why this information was important to me. I also explained that I had visited the Alexander Hamilton Free Public Library the evening before and they couldn’t find any records for Union Cemetery. Of course, the Cemetery Director was basing his information on what he had been told as he wasn’t even born when the reinternments occurred. He did admit that he had original records from Union Cemetery but due to their delicate nature, they were not be copied. I understand and asked if I could simply view them. This took quite some negotiation. I was given all the standard reasons I could not see them – the transcriptions that were placed on the cemetery database were complete, the paper the original was on was so thin it was too delicate to handle, the writing was very difficult to read and I wouldn’t be able to read it, and he wasn’t supposed to share the information as it contained family information for others that had not given permission to view the records.

Of course, I had an answer for each point. I acknowledged that whoever transcribed from the original most likely did their best but that it was always advisable to have someone check your work as humans inadvertently make mistakes. I would not handle the paper – he could and it could be placed on the desk with the minimum amount of handling. I have taken classes in reading old handwriting and told him one of my most recent client transcriptions was extremely difficult as the writer had turned the paper 90 degrees and written in cursive from the middle of the 1800’s, on a boat, during the Civil War, over what had previously been written. Not only had I transcribed it successfully the article was published in the Florida Genealogist in June and I could show him a sample of that work.

The sticking point became the appropriateness of my viewing the records of other internments. My rebuttal was that the gravestones had been photographed and were online. I brought up Find-A-Grave on my phone and showed him Bart Bear’s information. I reminded him that the Union reintenrments consisted of families that had NO KNOWN LIVING RELATIVES in 1923 and that HIPPA and confidentiality were not the law at the time the bodies were moved. He reluctantly agreed.

Bringing back a small business envelope he removed several folded pages. I was so disappointed. All were written in the same handwriting – this was not original records. This was a derivative from another source, uncited. Geez. Now I understood why Adam Apple wasn’t in the cemetery records. Whoever copied the current cemetery record from the original most likely had overlooked him and who knows how many others, probably Barbara Bear, too. I explained that to the Director. He had no idea where the original records were housed. He assumed, if the library did not have them, that the church did. REMEMBER: When researching, staff you will meet with may not have the knowledge of records that genealogists do. They don’t understand the difference between original and derivative. Educate briefly while you’re there – it’ll save time for another researcher who comes along later.

Personally, I believe that the church has the originals somewhere in their archives and that the current office staff has no knowledge of that. If the cemetery book was donated to the Alexander Hamilton Library it most likely would have been listed as one of their holdings, which it is not. Now that library was not organized so the possibility remains that they do have holdings that aren’t catalogued. I know they don’t know the valuable resources that they have as I had planned to see at the Library of Congress a rare book written by one of the individuals I was researching and it was just sitting in the stacks – same edition – like it was just a regular old book for check out. I didn’t say anything as I figured it’s safer on the shelf than letting the staff know and having someone pilfer it and sell it on Ebay. (I’m not saying the library staff has no scruples, I just don’t want that scenario to occur. Someone had already ripped out indexes of several books that were in the stacks so I think it’s better to keep my lips sealed). But, back to the cemetery…

Interestingly, next to Bart Bear on the “original” derivative cemetery records it was clearly written as “unknown.” I first suspected that the unknown individual may have been Adam Apple as that would confirm the church records that stated Adam was buried next to Bart. I gave the Cemetery Director a copy of the church records I had received (which he didn’t have – go figure!) and wrote a note on it that I believed that space had been Adam’s.

The records did not list the other individuals I was seeking. They could have been accidentally omitted or they may never have been buried there. Who knows?! I was on to visiting the gravesite.

Next time, I’ll blog more about being in the cemetery.

Making the Most of Your Research Trip Part 2

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 11 Aug 2016

By the second day of my research trip in Pennsylvania I was much more familiar with the area and had a better sense of how long it would take me to get from point A to point B, thus I could organize my day efficiently.

Before any trip I plan extensively from home so I don’t waste time and miss resources while I’m on the road. Sometime I get lucky and connect with “boots on the ground” folks who are willing to provide me needed information immediately. In those situations, I like to take a minute to visit in person when I arrive to personally thank them for their help. That was on top of my agenda for the day.

I rose early and didn’t want to wait around for repositories to open so I drove to nearby Greencastle where a Dunkin Donuts had just opened. I bought a box of donut holes with the intention of bringing them back to Waynesboro and giving them to the office staff of a church who had so graciously emailed me copies of original records. Those records took me back a generation and I was very greatful!

Not a lot of traffic so I arrived back in Waynesboro 30 minutes before the church office opened. That was fine, though, as I had previously identified on a map the location of where 3 of the people I was researching owned a business in the mid 1800’s on Main Street. I had a copy of the map in my phone download so I could bring it up and orient myself to what the present area looks like. Since the business day hadn’t begun I was able to park easily and snap photos of the lots. All of these lots had been verified by deeds (remember, I had first gone to the Court House and had from home, rented Family History Library films).

I also like to take photos of the view from the lot. Why? This gives me a sense of what the ancestor may have seen from their land.

Of the 3 lots, one still viewed mountains off in the distance. I could imagine the Rebel Army swarming down on the night of 3 July 1863. How did I know that had happened? Before the trip I had read several histories of the area available on GoogleBooks. I also had the Civil War claim of one of the individuals and two newspaper articles by eyewitnesses of the events of that evening. The day I visited, thank goodness, the view was not threatening!

I still had time before the church opened so I drove by two other churches . I took pictures of those places, along with closeups of the visible cornerstone. This told me that one of the churches was indeed built at the time the ancestor lived in the area. The other church cornerstone clearly showed a later date. This was important because it confirmed that the church bought the lot from another church that had previously used the space for a cemetery. The bodies had been removed to another cemetery in the 1920’s. Two known people I was researching had been reinterred due to that real estate sale.

Stopped by the church office, dropped off the donuts conveyed my appreciation and was off to visit cemeteries. Check back for more!

Making the Most of Your Research Trip Part 1

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 7 Aug 2016.

I’ve been blogging about my recent genealogical hunt in Pennsylvania. After packing essential research tools and visiting the County Courthouse I was off to the Franklin County Historical Museum. Problem was, due to my rental car delay, I arrived later than I anticipated and with only a half hour until closing, I didn’t want to spend the $5.00 research fee and have to return the following day and pay again. I opted instead to drive about 20 minutes to nearby Waynesboro where the Alexander Hamilton Free Library was open until 7 p.m.

Lucky for me, there was a parking space right in front of the library and I had coins for the meter in my research bag. Whenever I enter a new library I always ask where the genealogy section is housed if there was no map online. The sweet librarian pointed to stairs and told me there were “a few rooms.” More than one, seriously?! I like that! The room at the foot of the stairs was awesome, too:

After climbing the stairs I discovered the Civil War room was to the left and the church/cemetery/county histories and genealogies were to the right. A third, smaller room held file cabinets of clippings and donated genealogy records.

What I found strange was that there was NO staff member or computer to access the holdings upstairs. It was also extremely HOT. If there was air conditioning it wasn’t working. (And I’m from Florida so when I say it was hot, it was really hot!)

I quickly walked through the Civil War room. Although the family I was researching lived in the town during that time and had been affected by the War, the materials were not specific to the area. Several series of volumes were placed on the shelf in mixed up order and my OCD tendencies kicked in – I just wanted to put them in sequence. Time was a wasting so I moved on to the next room.

I would love to tell you that this room was in better shape but it wasn’t:

Messy libraries make me nuts! I decided I would just start at the northwest corner of the room and read the shelves. By reading, I mean I don’t just read the books that have their names on the spine. I pull out books that don’t and sure enough, within minutes I found the following:

It’s hard to see in the pic due to the small size but the book was once owned and signed by Clarence Harbaugh. I was researching the Harbaugh family. Although I wasn’t focused on Clarence I did have him in my tree so I took the book to a nearby table and took a picture with my phone. Now I had Clarence’s signature so I could add it to media in my tree. If I ever extend the project I’m working on then I have a good start for another generation!

I had a list of areas I wanted to check – city directories, town records, historical maps and the cemetery and church records I was told were housed there. I was disappointed to find the oldest City Directory was only from 1905, much too late for my family. The church records were missing the index. It was a derivative and I already had the original from the church emailed to me earlier so no loss for me but sad for anyone else who needed that. Since I couldn’t find a burial location for the father of my Generation 1 individual, I really was hoping to locate a cemetery record from a cemetery that no longer exists. I had been told on the phone twice that the library had the Union Cemetery records but I couldn’t find them. I did find an 1843 tax list and the folks I was researching were listed so that was a happy dance.

I moved on to the file cabinet room but there was nothing on the family I was researching. I still had an hour before closing so I went downstairs and asked the librarian where I could find the Union Cemetery records. She looked on the library holding database but couldn’t find it. There is a volunteer genealogist but he wasn’t available and staff didn’t know his schedule. I decided I’d try again the following day as I had emailed twice and left two voice messages but had never gotten in contact with him. The librarian signed me on to a public computer as a guest since I didn’t have a library card and I happily spent the next hour checking out the remaining newspapers that had been digitized. Due to the fragile nature of the originals I was only able to view the digitized copies. Better than nothing! They aren’t available at Newspapers.com, Chronicling America or Genealogy Bank so it was very important for me to see. I did find two references to the family I was interested in – jury duty and an advertisement for a sale. Very nice finds!

The library was supposed to close at 7 but the computers shut down at 6:45. I was almost done with the newspapers but would have to finish the next day.

Soon after I had eaten dinner and checked into my hotel I checked my laptop to see if my phone’s pictures had synched. I don’t carry the clunky laptop when I research anymore but I do take it with me on extended trips as it’s easier to manipulate the photos on the laptop then my Kindle, especially when my old eyes are tired after a long day researching.

I save the photos of places to a Word document and place a caption under each so I don’t forget why I took the picture. I also save pictures of book pages and place the individual pictures in a created folder. For example, I usually take a picture of 1) the index which I then flag with a stickee, 2) the pages that the index pointed me to and 3) the title page. Using the stickee helps me flip back and forth from index to the page I’m directed to quickly. To create the folder to save the pic, I use last name, first name of the individual found and what was the find. In this case, Weaver.Christin.1843TaxList. In the folder I place the picture of the index, the title and 2 pages where I found info. All of the finds are then slipped into another folder labeled with the repository name and date of visit (This would be HamiltonPublicLibrary.WaynesboroPA.14Jul16.. That way, when I get home and merge the pages together to pdf, I can add to media on my tree and note where and when I found the source. I’m old school and like to cite the location of the find in my notes.

Stay tuned for more hints in Part 2.

Researching at the Courthouse

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 3 Aug 2016.

Last blog I mentioned two rules I use to make a research trip rewarding – KNOW BEFORE YOU GO and PACK EFFICIENTLY. Just back from researching in several states and in various libraries and archives so I’m going to share what worked for me at the different locations I visited.

My first stop in Pennsylvania was the Chambersburg (Franklin County seat) Courthouse. I had called ahead to verify the times the facility was open and that the old deeds and wills I needed were available. I knew the cost of the copies and how they accepted payment (cash/credit/debit). I knew which building (there’s an old and new courthouse) and what department and the floor I needed to go to. I also asked where I should park. This allowed me to save time and money when I arrived.

I had also previously identified what the deed dates I was interested in finding by using an index on Familysearch.org. I had ordered the film for the actual deeds but when it arrived in June, it didn’t contain them. Sometimes the films are mislabeled and you don’t get what you expect. One of the films did have a deed but it was of such poor quality I couldn’t read most of the page no matter how I tried to play with it. I was hoping for a better copy. I also knew exactly what Will Book and page I needed based on an index I found on Ancestry.com.

Since the area was just north of the Mason-Dixon line I wondered what the family I was researching’s views were during the Civil War when they lived in the area. I had a hunch but hunches are useless without a document to back it up so I also wanted to check out if any voter’s records survived.

So, in this complex of one stop, I had 3 missions – a will, deeds and voter’s records.

My necklace did set off security which was odd since it didn’t at the airport. Next time, no jewelry! When I entered the Recorder’s Office I introduced myself to the clerical worker and ask for directions to secure what I need.

Directed to a computer I was able to pull 5 deeds in 5 minutes. The printer was a little slow so while it was still printing, I asked about finding the will.

This is not the first time I tried to find the will – I’ve been to the site before and I hired a researcher to also try to find it. Again, I was told it was lost. This time, I whipped out my business card and asked to speak with the head of the facility. I explained to this gracious woman why it was so critical that I find this document and asked if I could go into the basement where the originals were stored as I believed that the will had been misfiled. She informed me policy prohibited anyone but employees from going into the basement. I showed her an email I had received from the state archivist that showed, according to their records, the will was located in the basement. I suggested that the box of wills be brought upstairs and I would go through them to make sure that it wasn’t misfiled. She agreed and sent an employee to bring up the box. All 3 of us went through the box and sadly, it was not there.

Had I been allowed in the basement, I would have gone through every box but that wasn’t going to happen as I had pushed it to just have one box brought upstairs. There is still some hope as the missing document was placed on the “missing list” that a county archivist maintains and if it is discovered, I will be contacted.

The deeds also turned out to not be for the person that I was researching but that’s okay, I have additional information on a related line and the one poor copy I had from the Family History Library microfilm was readable and what I needed. Two down, one to go!

It was a short walk from one building to the next (and through security again – this time my jewelry didn’t set off the alarm!) to the voter’s registration office. The clerk told me that by law, only 10 years of records needed to be maintained so none were available for the years I wanted. She suggested that I go to the historical society as she wasn’t sure when the law was passsed and perhaps, they had older records. That was my next stop and just around the corner! Stay tuned…

Visiting the New England Historic and Genealogical Society

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 18 Nov 2015.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of researching at the New England Historic and Genealogical Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

New England Historic & Genealogical Society, Boston, MA Nov 2015

If you’re planning a first visit, here’s some tips I found useful:

The library is SMALL but filled with tremendous resources that you might not find anywhere else. Don’t let the size fool you! Obviously, the holdings are fantastic if you have New England relatives but there is also a sizable collection of Long Island and New Netherlands. My most awesome find was from Indiana, though, so don’t discount other areas!
COST is free if you’re a member (about $90.00 a year) and $20.00 if you aren’t. Click for Info on Joining! I highly recommend being a member for the following reasons : First, if you’re planning on spending a few days, it’s cost effective. Second, as a member you get a lot of perks you wouldn’t get with a day entrance fee – those wonderful journal articles that the society puts out, discounted fee on accessing a genealogist, training opportunities and so on. Third, you’re helping the society keep the materials available to everyone.
BE PREPARED (Yay, Boy and Girl Scouts!) Seriously, know what you’re trying to find before you get there so you don’t waste valuable research time. You can do a search of the card catalog online at http://library.nehgs.org/ . If you haven’t registered, which you can do even if you don’t join the society, it’s easy and if you save the search items, you can email them to yourself so you have it on your phone and tablet when you arrive. It saves results with the FLOOR listed so you know exactly where you need to look. Emailing saves a tree, time and having to juggle more stuff in the stacks! (HINT: Many of their holdings are digitized so you can peruse the text online and focus on books in the library that you can’t view from home.)
To get familiar with the library you can watch their video, which I did, but if you’re short of time you’re fine if you don’t watch it. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page for the video. (HINT: Start on the 7^th floor which is reference because those are the books you can’t easily find elsewhere.)
Getting there is simple – I took a cab from Logan Airport because I had my heavy bag that I couldn’t check into the hotel since I arrived too early. It was $23.00 without tip. Another option is to take the subway, called the T, which is super easy to navigate, inexpensive and available right from the airport to Copley Square. It’s a short walk. There are also parking garages close by if you drive which I would recommend against. I learned to drive in Chicago and I drive in New York City but I never ever drive in Boston. Those narrow streets and congestion intimidate me!
Lockers are available but they are very small and my large purse didn’t fit. The website says NO SUITCASES so I packed light, stuffing everything in the bag, thinking I could get away with a purse. I mentioned this to one of the employees and she laughed and said they wouldn’t have minded the suitcase. Oh, well. Since the flights were overbooked and there was no space in the overheads it all worked out anyway. Across from the lockers is a coat rack so I hung my coat (Wicked Boston cold last weekend, it was 89 degrees when I left Florida) and put my bag on the floor in the corner. No one messed with it.
Check the website for hours and days opened, especially with the holidays approaching. I arrived shortly after 10 AM. There were few patrons researching and no one in the stacks so I was able to accomplish a lot in a little time.
When you arrive there is a welcome counter to your left where I was given a map. They will check your membership before permitting you entry. Once you’re checked, you will be directed to the elevator.
I was greeted by a wonderful genealogist on the 7^th floor – she welcomed me, was willing to help me get started and was open to answering any questions I might have. She had a client so another genealogist took over for her. He was very professional, too, and gave me the wireless access. I always bring just my Kindle as I find it’s a light, space saving alternative to a laptop. With access to my online tree I can fact check right in the stacks. The internet was spotty, though.
The stacks are narrow and dark. There is a small counter in the midst so you can put your finds on the counter and snap a picture of the page. You can also use their copy machine or save to a thumb drive but my smart phone’s camera is good with low light so I could happily click away. I like that approach because I tend to look at many volumes and it wastes time to carry them to a copier, wait for the copier to warm up, and you know the rest. Read an interesting article in Family History Daily that recommends the use of other devices. View here for other ideas but I’m good with my phone.
BRING PENCILS – they don’t allow pens. I did print a concise list of the books I wanted to see and wrote my notes, mostly negative findings, on the margin to transfer to my tree notes later. Here’s an example: “No Adams, Cole or Dennis.” To me, that means those are the surnames I checked out but there were no references in the index to them. That way, I know later if there was another surname I overlooked and I’ll not have to recheck the source in another library for what I’ve already checked.
BRING A MAGNIFYING GLASS or have an ap on your phone. I miss my young eyes, I really do!
BRING POST IT NOTES. You can quickly flag pages to take pictures of findings without having to flip back and forth to the index and they’re reusable.
Once I finished with the 7^th floor I moved to the 5^th. No warm and fuzzy welcome there – two young ladies didn’t even look up from the desk when I entered. What’s cool about these stacks is there is a light switch from the aisle you can turn on to get more overhead light. Very useful!
After you’ve checked out your pre-identified books you may have additional time to look over the stacks. That’s how I discovered my most intriguing current genealogical mystery. Hmmm – why would my husband’s grandmother be enrolled in school at age 7 by someone named Frank? Have NO ONE named Frank in that line. It could be Frank’s name is an error or the record is for someone else in the area with the same name as hubby’s grandma (not likely, though, since I’ve been over the census numerous times without finding another with her name and she has an unusual first and middle name!). Immediately texted hubby and asked “Who’s Frank?” He didn’t know so now I’m on a hunt to discover more. The book was a transcript of school enrollment for the late 1800’s in Indiana. Must find the original record to make sure Frank is correct!
Food and directions – ask at the front desk on the first floor. The first person there was a volunteer not from the area but she was so sweet she phoned someone to help me. I ate at a pizza place inside the YWCA but there’s many places to get a quick bite. I only stopped there because I was freezing and it was half way to my hotel so I could eat and warm up for a bit.

S I’ll definitely come back after my portfolio has been submitted and spend time trying to uncover more of our New England ancestors. So much to look at and so little time!

My finding at NEHGS also confirms what professionals emphasize – you have to look high and low to find proof. I can’t explain why I found my husband’s several times great grandfather from New York’s place of burial in Salt Lake City and his Indiana grandmother’s school enrollment in Boston. What’s strange is I looked for the burial records in numerous places in New York and never found them. I never looked for school enrollment records in Indiana so I can’t say that they don’t exist there, I just find it odd to find it in Boston. My point is check as much as you can about everyone everywhere you go. I also find it interesting on Who Do You Think You Are celebrities fly from place to place to trace their families. Lucky for them, their family records are ALWAYS where they lived. Clearly mine are not!