Online Video Features Elizabeth Shown Mills

NGS is proud to announce the presentation to our members of the newest in the NGS Online Interview Series:

Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG, FNGS, FUGA

Arguably the most influential genealogist of our time, Elizabeth Shown Mills was for many years, with her late husband, Gary B. Mills, Ph.D., the editor of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly.  She edited Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians and authored Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace as well as many other works valued by genealogists.

The video provides an opportunity to meet Elizabeth “up close and personal” as she shares her thoughts on our work and her own personal experiences as a researcher in these five short features:

• Genealogy Is History, Up Close and Personal
• The Importance of NGS
• Family Traditions: My Choctaw Princess
• We Are All Cousins
• The Search

Now showing for Members Only:

• Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG, FNGS, FUGA
• David E Rencher, AC, CG, FIGRS, FUGA
• Willis H. White, CG

Also showing:

• Thomas Adams, 2009 Rubincam Youth Award Winner
• Helen F. M. Leary, CG (emeritus), FASG, FNGS
• Paths to Your Past
• American Genealogy: Home Study Course
• NGS Conferences-What to Expect 

Log in and go to NGS Videos http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/ngs_videos 

Coming attractions:

• Thomas  H. Jones, CG, CGL, FASG, FNGS, FUGA
• Leslie Anderson, MSLS,  Alexandria Library
• National Archives and Records Administration
• Laura DeGrazia, CG

The NGS Online Interview Series was produced by the award winning team Kate Geis and Allen Moore.

How Are We Exciting Young Genealogists?

Our recent video about Thomas Adams, recipient of the Rubincam Youth Award, proves that genealogy is truly a family affair. Upon learning that he won the award, the first person he told was his great-aunt, Rosalie T. Adams, who was instrumental in helping him discover information about his great-grandfather and grandfather.

NGS wants more young people to experience the excitement of discovering their roots. We're looking for stories about genealogy projects that families are doing together. Perhaps you're planning a road trip with research stops, recording oral histories at family gatherings, or showing your children how to sleuth for records at the library or county clerk's office. Maybe you're working together to compile and illustrate an ancestry chart, or even visiting your forebears' old stomping grounds. Now's the perfect time to engage young people in the joys of genealogy and immerse them in living history.

How are you getting the next generation interested in family history?  Share your experiences in the comments section below!

Memories made on family vacations

In The (San Bernadino) Sun, Jim Matthews wrote a wonderful perspective on the real value of family vacations while attending his wife's family reunion. The excerpt below provides but a glimpse of his insights and inspired poetic expression.

"Family reunions are about hearing the stories describing our ancestors, recent and older, and understanding the sweep of history is drawn through a succession of short lifetimes. You realize through the years that blood, family ties, and community friendships, which frequently end up binding families through marriages and churches, are like drops of water in the rivers we fish on these reunions: you really can't appreciate your place in the scheme of things without the perspective of family history, just as one pool or riffle doesn't define a whole watershed."

To read this beautifully written article in its entirety, click here.

Buzzy Jackson Shakes Her Family Tree

The Old Community Center in Truckee, California, will be the site of a July 25 ice cream party, book reading and signing, with a portion of proceeds from book sales benefiting the Friends of the Truckee Library, to celebrate the release of Buzzy Jackson's new book, Shaking the Family Tree…Blue Bloods, Black Sheep and Other Obsessions of an Accidental Genealogist.

In her new book, Jackson (see photo) investigates her roots and dives headfirst into her family gene pool: flying cross-country to locate an ancient family graveyard, embarking on a week-long genealogy Caribbean cruise, trekking to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and even submitting her DNA for testing to try and find her Jacksons. Through her research, she connects with distant relatives, traces her roots back more than 250 years and in the process comes to discover — genetically, historically and emotionally — the true meaning of “family” for herself.

To read this entire article,  "Book Bash for hometown author Buzzy Jackson in Truckee" from the Sierra Sun, click here.

Tales of an Heirloom Civil War Hat

Terry Crowley of Lake Havasu, Colorado, goes out of his way to tell his great-grandfather's stories to anyone who will listen, and every July he does it while wearing a special family heirloom – a hat worn by his great-grandfather during the Civil War. The hat, Crowley said, has seen many battlefields, possibly including the battle of Gettysburg, which marks its 147th anniversary this July.

Crowley’s great-grandfather, Jebediah Oakes, fought with the Fourth Alabama regiment and was one of only 202 soldiers still alive at the end of the war when General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, according to Alabama National Guard archives.

To read the entire article about Crowley and his great-grandfather in the Havasu News-Herald, click here.

Bastrop, Louisiana, History Club Preserves Morehouse Parish History

The Family History Club has provided a valuable service to Morehouse Parish over the past two decades by collecting and preserving historical and genealogical records. The club’s library of historical books and ancestral records have recently moved into a new, larger genealogical room at the Snyder Museum in Bastrop. Here one can find a treasure trove of information for the purposes of research and human interest.

“We have a vast collection at the museum,” said Fay Bowe, who is a charter member of the club. “To me, history is very important because it is ongoing. Morehouse Parish history is so interesting to delve into.”

To read the entire article from the Bastrop Daily Enterprise, click here.

Early NY Paper Reveals Family Murder

by Jan Alpert, NGS President

Some gems of information take a little tracking, but that makes the discovery all the dearer. Here is one that recently rewarded my efforts:

                                                           MURDER

On Saturday evening last, in Painted Post, Steuben co, a Mr. Birst [Borst] killed a Mr. Wagon [Wygant], by literally beating out his brains. Wagon kept a tavern and had been drinking freely as also had Birst. A scuffle commenced, during which both parties became much exasperated. The women interfered and Birst was put out doors, where he remained nearly an hour, using the most provoking language. Wagon finally tore away from his family — Birst retreated a few rods— the scuffle was renewed, and Wagon was soon taken up nearly lifeless. His skull trepanned but he died the next day. Birst is in custody. We have these particulars from a gentleman direct from the scene, and they are a striking commentary on the folly of intemperance.

Finding a copy of this newspaper article has been on my research list since last November, when I was at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. There I found reference to a murder in Painted Post, New York in an Index to the Newspapers Published in Geneva, New York edited by Gary B. Thompson in 1981. Today I found a wonderful website, http://library.hws.edu/archives/newspapers with a copy of the article from The Geneva Palladium, 1826, Ja 4, 3:3. At that time I noted the source as The Geneva Palladium, Vol. 10, January 4, 1826 (every Wednesday morning) Geneva, NY (Ontario Co.) p. 3 column 3 (from the Geneva Gazette), showing that the item was originally published in the Geneva Gazette.

The names in the article are both spelled incorrectly, so I enclosed the correct spellings in braces. This spelling variation added a sleuthing challenge, but it is understandable because the article is being reported in another town that is not familiar with the families mentioned. Henry Borst is my ancestor, and I first learned about the murder on page 307 in the Historical Gazetteer of Steuben County, New York by Millard F. Roberts, Syracuse, NY 1891. John Wygant had designed a replica of the “Painted Post” about 1824. The Steuben County history reports, “He was killed some years after in a broil with Henry Borst, who fractured Wygant’s skull with a stone, for which Borst suffered legal punishment.”

Only a family historian can tell you what was omitted from both articles, that Henry Borst’s daughter, Polly, was married to George Wygant, the victim’s son. This missing fact helps explain why “the women interfered” and tried to break up the fight. I imagine the family felt the effects from the devastating murder for several generations. However, the family and descendants lived in the community for at least another fifty years, and this story was not passed down in family folklore.

A few years ago I found a copy of the badly decayed court documents in Steuben County, New York, but they did not include details of Borst’s conviction or sentencing. Although not online, the same newspaper archive listed above has the following entry in the index: “Steuben County—Courts, H. Bust [yet another spelling] sentenced for manslaughter, Geneva Gazette, 1826, Je 28, 3:2.” I have just written to the Geneva Public Library for a copy of the article.

The Warren Hunting Smith Library at The Hobart and William Smith Colleges has a subject index found at http://library.hws.edu/archives/newspapers covering the surviving issues of the two Geneva newspapers, the Geneva Gazette and the Geneva Palladium, between 1806 and 1839. Not all of the issues are available online. If you have ancestors in western New York during this time period, it is worth a look. Note that the names of the individuals were not indexed; however, I found the entries under “Murder” and “Steuben County—Courts.” If you find any nuggets, feel free to post them to the UpFront blog.

Where’s Waldo? The Case of My Missing Grandfather

by Joseph F. Martin

I was stunned! Stunned to discover from my grand aunt Mary Martin that my paternal grandfather had disappeared. What? Why would he disappear? Where did he go? This was bewildering. Her sister Josephine Martin had married Francis W. Adams in Detroit. They then moved to Chicago where my father was born the following year. A few weeks after his birth, Dad’s mother died. Frank Adams took the sterling silverware set they received as a wedding gift and walked away. Disgusted with Frank Adams, Mary Martin destroyed all photos of him, so not one remains. What happened to my grandfather? This started a challenging and prolonged search for my missing grandfather.

In the early 1970s before “Roots” hit the television screen, before the internet and online databases, before how-to research books, and before I knew about the Family History Library, I started looking for pertinent records about my grandfather. The marriage certificate from St. Catherine Church in Detroit stated that Frank’s parents were Francis Adams and Elizabeth Williams, and Josephine’s were Anton Martin and Margaret Miller. Fr. John M. Brokaw presided, and [Nicholas] John Martin and Genevieve Shabnaw were the witnesses.1 The Affidavit for License to Marry from Wayne County told me that Frank was 28 and was born in Pennsylvania, and Josephine was 24 and was also born in Pennsylvania. The document noted that Frank had served in the “war against Germany” from Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and he signed the Affidavit.2  The Archives of the Archdiocese of Detroit found a record for a dispensation for my grandparents because it was a “mixed marriage,” thus verifying that Frank was not Catholic.3

Young and inexperienced, but also enthusiastic and determined, I wrote to Lehigh County for a birth record. Nothing found! Then I wrote to the surrounding counties. Nothing found! Not to be thwarted, I wrote to all the remaining counties in Pennsylvania – a total of 67. Nothing found! Once again, without all the resources available today, I was not aware until years later that Pennsylvania did not require birth records by law until 1906, although some scattered counties had kept records earlier. But Frank was born in 1893. What should I do next?

My request to the Illinois Vital Records Office brought Josephine’s death certificate. She died at Cook County Hospital on 9 March 1922 from chronic bronchitis, which she had for fifteen years, complicated by empyema and acute endocarditis. She and Frank were living at 3030 W. Madison, and she was 25 years old. Her brother Nicholas Martin was the informant, and following an autopsy she was to be buried in Detroit.4  While I was delighted with this document, it did not move forward my search for my grandfather. Since he disappeared in Chicago, I decided to look for other records in the city.

The Cook County Clerk’s Office sent a copy of my Dad’s birth record from February 1922, which showed he was born at Cook County Hospital. Interestingly, there was no name written on the line, “Full name of child.” Frank was 29 years old, and Josephine was 25. This time Frank’s place of birth was recorded as Scotland,5 not an encouraging bit of information for a novice researcher. A couple of years later a Chicago researcher located a Supplemental Report of Birth for my Dad with his name, Joseph William Adams. The record stated that his mother was deceased, and his father’s whereabouts was unknown. It was signed by Mrs. John A. Raab, née Kathryn Martin, sister of my grandmother.6  The Martin family did not know where Frank was.

Another family story from my grand aunts, Mary Martin and her sister Theresa (née Martin) Barron, was that Frank Adams was a member of the Masons. The Catholic Church condemned Masonry back then, but might the Masons have records that could identify his place and date of birth? In the 1980s I wrote to lodges in Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to request available records. I contacted the York Rite, Free and Accepted, Scottish Right, and Knights Templar, and I searched the Masons listed in the 1919-1920 and 1920-1921 Detroit city directories and the 1923 Chicago city directory. I wrote to the Grand Secretaries for the Free and Accepted Masons in all three states and also to the 32nd Degree Masons. While I turned up a few Frank Adamses in these searches, no one had information about my grandfather.

By this time the 1920 U.S. census became available. Again, in the years before online indexes with scanned images, I paid a researcher to check the Soundex for Frank Adams in Detroit. Remember Soundex? Dorothy Thompson in Chicago visited the National Archives branch and located his card and then mailed a copy of the census page. Remember mail? Francis Adams was a lodger at 46 Sylvester in Detroit, living with the family of Stanley and Margaret Moore, their four children, plus five other lodgers. He was 26 years old and was born in Pennsylvania, and his parents were both born in England. Frank was a machinist at an auto factory, and he was the only one in the house born in Pennsylvania.7  This seemed to confirm his place of birth since he likely gave the information.

Next I decided to locate his World War I military record. Using the microfilms at the Allen County Public Library for World War I draft cards, I searched Lehigh County without success. Then I checked Berks, Carbon, Bucks, Northampton and Crawford counties. Nothing found. I searched the Detroit draft records without success. The National Personnel Records Office in St. Louis located fifty-five Francis Adamses, but none matched my grandfather. Genealogist Alfreda Davidson checked the Pennsylvania State Archives for the World War I Veterans’ Military Service Discharge Papers, the World War I Muster Rolls for the Pennsylvania Reserve Militia, and the World War I Veterans’ Service and Compensation File. She did not locate any record for my Frank Adams. In July 1917 the Allentown Morning Call in Lehigh County listed hundreds of men whose names were drawn for the draft.8  My grandfather was not among them.

By then Ancestry.com published the World War I Draft Registration Cards on its web site. I headed to the local library for a search that should be easy. But Lehigh County did not have a record for him, nor did the surrounding counties. Much to my chagrin, he did not appear in the entire state of Pennsylvania, nor in Michigan, nor any place in the country. He must be one of the few men who did not register for the draft; or perhaps he enlisted, which would explain why he had no draft card. In 1999 I searched the World War II draft cards at the Chicago National Archives, and in 2000 Gary Toms in Kansas City and Dorothy Clark in Philadelphia checked for the same record in those NARA branches. No record for my grandfather was found.

Next I located a teacher of handwriting analysis. I was most curious what she would say about Frank from his signature on the Affidavit for Marriage. Her analysis indicated that he was a good talker and related well to other people. He was open emotionally but inwardly reserved. His writing demonstrated a tendency to boasting and dishonesty. Frank was probably too open to his own unconscious parts, and he led a tough life. He appears to have been troubled with guilt and was unhappy with or distant from the Adams family. He might have been “clawing” his way along in order to move ahead in life.9  The troubling part was his tendency to boasting and dishonesty. Did he tell the truth on his marriage record? Did he lie to the census taker? Could this explain why it has been so difficult to locate records for him? Was his name really Francis W. Adams?

In short, Frank probably took off because he had a dead wife, a newborn son, no job, and no money to pay to raise his son, to pay hospital expenses, or to pay for Josephine’s funeral. Anton Martin, Josephine’s father, and Theresa Martin, her sister, traveled from Detroit to Chicago to accompany her body back to Detroit and to pick up my Dad from a neighbor lady who was caring for him. In 1923 with no sign of Frank, Anton Martin petitioned the Probate Court of Wayne County Michigan “in the matter of the adoption and change of name of Joseph William Adams, a minor.” The Court approved the adoption and change of name to Joseph William Martin.10  My father’s copy of his adoption papers does not mention Frank Adams at all. Anton Martin (my Dad’s grandfather) and his daughters Theresa and Mary (my Dad’s aunts) raised him and paid for his education. Today at eighty-eight Dad says, “I am my own Grandpa.”

In the years of searching for my missing Grandpa, I approached the task by focusing on the areas where I knew Frank lived – Detroit and Chicago – and looked at city directories, church documents, and census records. I looked for every available record, and in the process I found valuable documentation for other family members, including World War I draft cards for several other men in the Martin family and some marriage records from Lutheran churches. While writing to the Masons for information, I learned much about Freemasonry, its history, and the types of lodges it maintains, while at the same time I investigated what the Catholic Church required in 1921 for a dispensation for marriage. In addition, Cook County Hospital where my Dad was born, I located the reference card for my grandmother Josephine, which noted that she arrived at the hospital in a Checker Cab! Finally, I found it most rewarding to deal with other family historians who were quite generous with their time in assisting me and in responding to my questions about other resources I could explore to find my grandfather.

After forty years of research I have not found my grandfather. I have found records for over 100 men with the same name! He does not appear in death records in Detroit or Chicago, nor in Michigan or Illinois records. I have not found his parents in Pennsylvania, England, Wales, or Scotland. The 1920 census is the only enumeration where he appeared. From dates and ages on available records, I conclude that he was born between January 1st and February 10th in 1893, but even the Social Security Death Index does not identify him.

Five years ago my nephew Michael Martin gave me a unique Christmas gift. He purchased the book Where’s Waldo? With some clever lettering and taping he changed the title in several places to "Where’s Frank?" Frank is in the picture somewhere, but I have just not found him yet.

Footnotes:
1  Adams-Martin marriage, 12 July 1921, St. Catherine Church, Detroit, Michigan, certificate supplied 28 June 1976 by Fr. Jerome Griffith citing no book or page number; held in 2010 by Joseph F. Martin.
2  Affidavit for License to Marry, License no. 215921, Wayne County Clerk’s Office, Detroit, Michigan.
3  Marriage Dispensation, 10 July 1921, Chancery Register, Archives of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, held in 2010 by Joseph F. Martin.
4  Josephine Adams, death certificate no. 6481 (1922), Bureau of Vital Statistics, Cook County, Chicago, Illinois.
5  Birth certificate, no. 6811 (1922), Bureau of Vital Statistics, Cook County, Chicago, Illinois.
6  Supplemental Report of Birth, Report of Name of Child, Joseph William Adams, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Cook County, Illinois, no. 6811, 31 August 1938.
7  Stanley Moore household, 1920 U.S. census, Wayne County, Michigan, population schedule, city of Detroit, E.D. 391, S.D. 145, sheet 14B, dwelling 199, family 283; National Archives micropublication T625, roll 811.
8  “Here Are the Men Who Will Be First to Be Summoned by the Draft, The Allentown Morning Call, 21 July 1917, p. 1+.
9  Francis Adams, handwriting analysis, 9 March 2000, Joliet, Illinois. The name of the analyst is private.
10  Probate Court for the County of Wayne, Juvenile Division, record no. 99552, 28 March 1923, Henry S. Hulbert,Judge of Probate.

Joseph F. Martin is a De La Salle Christian Brother and Assistant to the President at Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois. Author, educator and lecturer, he is a native of Detroit, a member of the National Genealogical Society, and an alumnus of the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research at Samford University. His published articles have appeared in NGS Magazine, Rodziny, Heritage Quest, Polish Eaglet, and the Quarterly of the Illinois State Genealogical Society.