The First Word #23: Negative Search Results Leads to Old Friends

    Last week I spent five days in Salt Lake City. I had grand visions of the records I would locate, the great new leads I would discover, the holes in my research I would fill. I spent hours before the trip combing the online catalog, creating a list of films and books to look at when I finally arrived at the shining front doors of the genealogical Mecca. But the research gods had other plans for me.
    I spent the first few days searching through those books and films for Thomas C. Mitchell and his wife Angeline. For a long time they have been my favorite research subjects, but lately they have been more trouble than they are worth! I’m sure you have some ancestors like that too. (Maybe even some living relatives, but that’s an entirely different subject.) In particular, records of their marriage elude me.
    I flew into Salt Lake City very early on Wednesday morning, so when I arrived I had a nice breakfast to get my energy up. I went to the library for a few hours and started looking through the books on my list. After lunch I dove into the films. Over the next couple of days I scrolled through film after film and read through piles and piles of books. Much to my chagrin, I never found a single new record about them, let alone any clue to their marriage. I am beginning to think that Thomas and Angeline got married in the backyard by someone who had the audacity to not record their nuptials!
     The trip wasn’t without any discoveries, I did find something new completely by accident. I found out that one of Thomas and Angeline’s daughters, Mary, was married four times, the last time in Iowa. I stumbled across this tidbit of information while searching the FamilySearch.org digital records database. I don’t know for certain yet, but I believe that Angeline’s maiden name is Higdon. In this document, Angeline’s maiden name had been spelled differently (“Hoegdoen”) but by searching creatively for “Thomas C. Mitchell” with spouse “Angeline” (omitting her maiden name), I spotted this record in the list rather quickly. This piece of information didn’t do much for my main research plan except that it gave a little more weight to my theory.  I have also pieced together a Hidgon family group from the correct time and place that might be related to Angeline, but  I have not found a record yet that links her directly to them.
    Thursday night I took a break from research and I found myself wandering through the dusk to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s rehearsal night, which they open to the public. If I were to imagine what Heaven sounds like, that would be it! As I left, the temple to the east of the tabernacle was lit up and beautiful and I stopped for a photo, which I promptly posted to my Facebook page.
    After three days of finding next to nothing, I found myself extremely frustrated. I decided not to go back to the library and instead focus the remainder of my time on a couple of writing projects I had underway. I spent a lot of time at a local Starbucks using their internet connection, writing and of course, on Facebook. The temple photo I had posted on my Facebook page garnered a comment from a friend Craig who happens to be friends with Julie, another old friend of mine from college who it turns out now lives in Salt Lake City! Julie and I hadn’t reconnected on Facebook yet, so in seeing Craig’s comment on my photo she immediately sent me a message and we arranged to have breakfast together. It also caught the attention of Danny another long lost friend from college who stopped by to see me on his way through town. It was really great to see them and catch up.
    Despite all of the frustrations of not finding the ancestors I intended to find on this trip, I did keep a log of all of the films and books I looked through. The next time I’m planning a trip to the library, I can refer to my log and see exactly what titles I already searched in and more importantly, for what names. This log will keep me from repeating my research, as I have found myself doing on previous trips. Even if I didn’t find Thomas and Angeline, I now know more accurately where to continue my search. More importantly, however, my trip turned out to be more of a weekend to reconnect with the living, instead of with the dead.

The First Word #22: Betraying the Heartland

You all know me as a genealogist. I also work full time as a chiropractic assistant and have learned a lot about health, diet and nutrition. Consequently, have recently made some radical changes to my diet and have very quickly seen positive results. Basically, I have decided to cut out all grains (with the rare exception of some rice), most dairy and extra sugars from my diet. If you are interested in reading more about that journey, I am writing a blog about it at 1yearsjourney.blogspot.com. Interestingly, genealogy and health have come together a few times in the last few weeks and it has been interesting to see how they intersect.

I come from a long line of farmers. I have researched most of my family lines back to their arrival in America from some far off land. It turns out most of them were farmers who happily pursued the agricultural life their fathers had followed before them. My ancestors planted, tilled and harvested the food that they ate. They did not process their food, with the exception of canning in glass jars, they ate whole foods: vegetables, fruits, beef, eggs and chicken they raised themselves, without the use of pesticides, growth hormones or antibiotics. But as the business of agriculture grew, it centered more and more on processed grains and less and less on healthy, whole food from small farms. Today a large portion of our population gets over 60% of their food from boxes and cans. Sadly, most children today don’t even realize that food comes from somewhere other than the grocery store!

Grains grown today are not the same as the grains my ancestors grew. They have been heavily modified by both selective breeding and later by genetic engineering to resist calamities such as pesticides and drought and to produce more product. But the actual nutritional value of the product has gone down significantly. I recently watched the documentary King Corn which was quite interesting in that these two young men learned by analyzing hair samples that for the most part we are all mostly eating nothing but corn. So they went to Iowa, planted one acre of corn and learned about the whole farming process from start to finish. These two young men had been friends from childhood somewhere on the east coast but learned that they both descended from great-great-grandfathers who came from the same small county in Iowa. While they were waiting for their corn to grow they visited the cemetery to locate their ancestors’ graves and they sought out any relations still living in the area. They also discuss the ways corn has changed since it was brought to America.

Their family stories are similar to mine. My husband, kids and I just returned from visiting my remaining family in Ohio where I grew up. My grandfather owned an 80 acre farm outside of Perrysburg, Ohio where he grew corn, soy beans and wheat as long as he was able to farm. As a child I would happily ride along in the tractor while he tilled, planted or harvested. There was a very large garden on their farm where they grew fresh vegetables, some of the only fresh vegetables I ate as a child since my parents moved me into the city and most of the time we only ate canned vegetables and processed foods. My favorite thing to do was to take a salt shaker and head into the garden where I would eat fresh, juicy tomatoes right off the plant with a little salt!

Times have changed. In those days my grandparents ate a pretty good diet of food they grew on their farm. But as food got cheaper and easier to just buy at the store, we started buying food at the store. We buy all kinds of processed food to add convenience to our lives. My grandma used to make her own egg noodles, now we can spend no time at all doing that and just buy them at the store. Grandma even used to make her own ketchup from those garden tomatoes! Now, a bottle costs about $2.00 and you spend no time making it. The less time spent making the food leaves more time for other important things, like more hours at a higher paying job so you can afford to travel more or do more genealogy! Whatever your situation is, I've been doing the exact same things. But to whose benefit? What are we really gaining by not spending time doing these "old fashioned" activities? I'm not sure what we are gaining but I'll tell you what I see all around me: we are losing our health. The top diseases in this country, cancer, diabetes and heart disease, are all caused by lifestyle choices, meaning what we are eating and how much we are exercising.

So when I was back in Ohio last week, my family tried their best to accommodate our new and "weird" ways of eating. But I want them all to know that our "weird" way could be changing and saving their lives too! I felt a little bit like I was betraying my ancestors by no longer supporting their way of life, of the way they lived and survived that I might be here today, by exclaiming that the grains they grew are bad for us! It is an ironic situation, but in just three weeks I had already seen huge changes in myself. I’ve been doing this for eight weeks at the time of writing this article and the improvements keep coming. I am hoping it isn't too late for me to change my familial pattern, to not develop cancer or diabetes or heart disease. I want to be around, in a healthy state of being, for a long time. I have too many ancestors to research!

The First Word #21: We All Hold on to the “Banners in the Rafters”

March Madness and is over for the year and if I understand correctly, UConn deserves congratulations. I don’t follow March Madness, but what I know of the tournament, is that anytime during the month, when I try to go out to dinner at a restaurant with a TV, there are generally crowds and loudness and cheering. (Personally, football is my favorite sport and I can’t wait for August every year.) Even if it isn’t my sport, I know that it is a great honor to make it to the championships appropriately named “the sweet sixteen,” “the elite eight” or “the final four.”

In any sport, when the home team wins the big championship, they put up a banner somewhere in the stadium, like “1991 State Champions” (as in my high school) or “Super Bowl XXXII Champions” (go Broncos). These banners are hung in the rafters where all spectators can see. Even when your team is having a terrible season, you can look up in the rafters and remember when your team won the championship. You can remember your team’s heritage, as it were. You can look back and remember the good times, remember the spirit, the stories, the excitement, the teamwork, the connection to other fans cheering for the same team. Like a photo album full of pictures, you have a reminder of times gone by that were important to you and your team.

The thing about heritage is that it signifies where you come from, what you were born into, what your team is about. You can identify yourself with someone or something that came before you. By looking at your heritage you can understand who you are and why things are the way they are. For example, I come from a long line of hard-workers, mostly farmers. I know most of us do, but I don’t have any doctors or lawyers or presidents (that I know of) in my past. No actors (I debunked that one) or writers or politicians. I don’t have any preachers or even anyone that was educated beyond the basics that I know of.

The people I came from are hard workers. I find myself to be a hard worker too, sometimes to my own detriment, but it’s in my gene pool to be a hard worker, to do a job until it’s done, to do it as best I can, to even take on too much just because the work needs to be done and no one else stepped up to the job. In job interviews I’ve had that ever so popular question “What do you think is your biggest strength?” I always answer with “I’m an extremely hard worker.” Most bosses appreciate that quality and I feel like I have lived up to that answer pretty well. I may not be some things, but I think most will agree with my need to work hard.

Despite having said that, there are times when I feel a little lost, distanced from where I came from. I come from a small family and on top of that I have even fewer family members that I have kept in touch with, and those are far away in Ohio. Of those relatives, many are getting older and don’t want to travel to Colorado. So, it is easy for me to get lost and “forget” where I come from. During those times, I can still turn to my genealogy, read old documents (death certificates, land records, obituaries, etc) to look at my family’s “banners in the rafters”. To “normal” people that might seem a little odd, a little morbid even, but it grounds me, brings me back to my heritage, reminds me of my “team”. And I’ll bet many of you feel the same way.

Just remember to not to only look into the past for your validation. What’s happening in your life right here, right now? As genealogists we are trained to look backward, into our history, to research and analyze, to collect and corroborate. But what about today? What things are happening in your life today, this week, this month that you should look at, enjoy and document for future generations? Just think what future generations will thank you for with what you can record from within your own lifetime! Don’t forget to enjoy the “now” while also holding on the “banners in the rafters.”

The First Word #20: Taking a Turn at the Wheel

I’ve written about this and spoken on this before; helping out, volunteering, giving back to the genealogical community. We’ve all benefitted from the work others have done, either from compiled indexes, records look-ups or from service in a genealogical society. This year it’s my turn at the helm of the Boulder Genealogical Society, to pay forward what I’ve reaped in the past.

I was honored to be asked to be President of BGS over a year ago. (Well, to be honest, I was coerced, but that’s neither here nor there.) I have been a member of BGS since May of 2001, so after ten years, “they” (the nominating committee) finally caught up with me. I suppose it is time I had a turn at the wheel. I had been dodging the job for several years now by being “too busy” with things like being Quarterly Editor, Webmaster and the like. All joking aside, I believe that each and every one of us should spend some time filling a position in the society. Try it and see what you can give back over the course of a new year.

The new year season is a fun time for me. I am always excited by the new possibilities and changes each new year brings. It is always fun to think ahead to what might be new and exciting but also to look back and be grateful for the times that have passed. It is also a good time to take stock in your life and make some plans for improvements, always growing for the better.

I am glad that some things are behind us –– sad events like the Fourmile Fire and the passing of our dear friend Birdie Holsclaw. I am also looking forward to the genealogy projects I will get to work on (and maybe even finish). I am also looking forward to raising money for the Birdie Monk Holsclaw Memorial Fund through the sale of books from Birdie’s personal library. Looking forward at my term as President, I am exciting by the new possibilities and I hope to keep the BGS team moving forward and upholding our societal objectives:

• to promote an interest in genealogical research
• to collect, preserve and disseminate genealogical and related historical, biographical and heraldic data
• to encourage adherence to scientific principles of accuracy and thoroughness in research
• to champion advanced ethical standards
• to discourage and oppose incompetent and disreputable research
• to foster careful documentation
• to promote scholarly writing
• to provide instruction in the use of efficient mechanics

The past year brought a lot of hard times for our society but I believe there are always silver linings to every bad situation. Even though I dearly miss Birdie, I have gained a deep appreciation for what she represented to me in my life––a mentor, friend and cheerleader. I know that even though Mary Ann Looney (the Immediate Past President) lost her beautiful mountain home in the Fourmile Fire, it meant that I didn’t inherit a large box of presidential papers when the presidency passed to me!

This year, consider improving the genealogical community by filling an empty position in BGS, volunteering your time on one or more of the various BGS projects, writing an article for the Quarterly or sharing your personal research experience with us by giving a presentation to the society at a monthly meeting.

There are many ways you can give back. It is because of the time dedicated by other willing volunteers that much of your research and genealogical education has been successful. Don’t forget to pay it forward! After all, as Bernard M. Baruch said “We didn't all come over on the same ship, but we're all in the same boat.”

The First Word #19: Having an Evacuation Plan Means More Than Grabbing Some Binders

We have all been affected by the Four Mile Fire in some way or another. Whether directly, such as Mary Ann and Doug Looney’s loss of their beautiful home in Sunshine Canyon, or indirectly, like those of us who waited and prayed for our dear friends in the mountains. Having a natural disaster hit so literally close to home was a wake up call for many of us.

There is a group of us who go out for coffee after BGS meetings and discuss genealogy and other happenings in our lives. We’ve been doing it for many years now and have loosely dubbed ourselves “the coffee clutch.” Among us is Mary Ann Looney, so those of us in the group got even more detail about what it is like to have to evacuate at a moment’s notice. I know that all of us sat there thinking about our offices, binders, computers, photo albums and other paper items and wondered what would we grab if we had to leave in a moment’s notice.

At this moment in time, I would be, how shall I say it … well, screwed. My family history stuff is everywhere, in binders, folders, filing cabinets. Some of my documents have been scanned and are on my computer but less than half of them and definitely not a fraction of all of the photographs I just inherited. There are items spread over each of the 3 floors of my house! So, what are we to do?

I’ve decided to look at the bright side of Mary Ann’s loss. I’m not trying to make light of her situation, but how fortunate to have this glaring example of why we need to be more organized! (Probably Mary Ann would say that she’d rather have her house than teach the rest of us a lesson, but, let’s work with the hand that was dealt.) I know we have all heard about the importance of backing up our data or having a plan for distributing our research but here are my ideas:

• Disseminate your research to cousins, aunts, children each time you get a portion researched so that they have copies you can reclaim should something terrible happen.
• Create a website or blog documenting your research so that it is “out there” rather than in just your computer which could be destroyed.
• Scan all of your documents, photographs and other papers so they are on your computer or external hard drive that is easy to grab if you need to.
• Back up all of your data and store off site. You could put everything on CDs and give them to your genealogy friend or a relative who lives in a different town or state. Better yet, put them in a safe deposit box. I prefer to back up my computer with an automatic online backup service such as Mozy. Then you don’t have to remember to do the back up and the files are stored in “the cloud.”
• Have all of your genealogy in a centralized location, maybe in binders that are easy to grab if necessary. (I’m thinking a fire-safe filing cabinet or better yet, offsite at a bank vault, but that might be a little impractical.)

These are just some of my thoughts brought on since the Four Mile Fire. I know that I am going to try to digitize as much of my paper items as possible over the next several years as time permits. I’m definitely going to write more of it up and send copies to interested parties, so that my research is “out there” where I can get to it someday. I’m also thinking I may put those irreplaceable photo albums in a fire safe. (Seth, put a “large fire safe” on my Christmas list.)

First Word #18: The Loss of Our Genealogical Mentor and Friend: Birdie Monk Holsclaw, 1948 - 2010

When I began attending meetings of the Boulder Genealogical Society, I didn’t know what I was doing. I had only really began researching my family history a few months before but I knew that I needed help and guidance in order for my research to be effective. So when I found the Boulder Genealogical Society, I was elated. Upon meeting Birdie, she almost immediately took me under her wing,very quickly became my mentor and friend.

After meeting with Birdie a few times to work on various projects, I really felt like I was the center of her attention. She wanted to know what I was working on, was quick to give me tips on how to get through some brick walls and was always, even at the end, sharing her discoveries in technology and the internet. One day, when we were looking at some of my research, I was sharing with Birdie my love of obituaries, showing her how many I had collected and we were discussing them in detail. Her words would change my genealogical life forever: “You should do a program on this. You can do that.” From that simple statement was born the program “An Obituary Obsession”, which to this day is one of my most popular programs with genealogical societies in the area. I had never even thought about being a speaker until Birdie mentioned it. It was almost as if she had given me permission to see a door that had opened up for me.

We worked on many projects together. Some of the most fun and productive times we had were those spent editing the Quarterly together. She and I would meet, most of the time at Buffalo Wild Wings in Longmont, not only because we both liked the food, but because they stayed open until 2 am. We were often there until after midnight, not only proofreading and editing, but also sharing research breakthroughs and ideas, and of course Birdie would show me some new gadget or website that she thought would be very useful for genealogy. We would sometimes have lengthy discussions over the proper use of a comma, or the proper placement of quotes, over definitions of words and if we’d used the right one. She taught me the difference between a dash, an en-dash and an em-dash. (And if you don’t know what they are, she taught me to use the Chicago Manual of Style to find out.)

Birdie truly cared about the Boulder Genealogical Society. I know when she was busy and couldn’t make a board meeting, she would give me strict instructions to bring up certain points on a topic up for discussion, or to begin new discussions. She wanted to be involved in many of our committees and projects. She taught me how to look at the bylaws and standing rules and assess them for needed changes. She taught me about parliamentary procedure. She made boring things fun and important at the same time.

My personal story about Birdie’s influence is not unique. On Birdie’s FaceBook page and at her memorial service, I read and heard many other stories like mine. “Birdie convinced me I could speak.” “Birdie always shared the latest technology with me.” “I served on a Board with Birdie and she was serious and fun at the same time.” And yet Birdie made me, and many others like me, feel like the most important person in the room. She just had that way about her; always present and giving you her undivided attention.

Birdie’s illness and passing really got me thinking about how much I’ve learned from her and how important it is to be a mentor. She was a natural mentor and collaborator, always interested in what everyone had to say, what they were working on, how they were going about it. I don’t know how Birdie managed to stay on top of things and even ahead of the game when it came to everything she talked about. She always seemed to know about the newest, latest and greatest things before anyone else did. Hers is an example we should all strive to follow, from the way she presented herself in meetings to the way she interacted in personal conversations, from her seriousness to her humor.

The last time I saw Birdie I had the chance to learn one last thing: to say to the people you love the things you need to say. When Birdie came in to meet that last time, she gave me a big hug, told me she loved me and that she was glad I was able to come. Of course, we got online right away to look at a project she was working on. Oh Birdie, you will be forever missed and never forgotten.

First Word #17: Haiti Got Me Thinking

Have you ever found yourself up against a brick wall? I don’t mean in your car, I’m talking about in your research. If you haven’t then you haven’t been doing this very long and believe me, you’ll know what I’m talking about when you find one. It is that dead-end that you can’t seem to get past in your research. I’m at a brick wall in one of my lines. Well, several, but one in particular that I’m working on in earnest. I’ve written about my Mitchell ancestors before. I had a fun time trying to locate their tombstone in the Wellsville, Missouri cemetery. Now, I’m trying to locate the marriage of Thomas Carroll Mitchell and Angeline Higdon.

I know where they “should” be. They “should” be in Barren County, Kentucky sometime before 1850. I found them in the 1850 census married with no kids, in their early 20s. The box that says “Married within the year” was not checked. So I am guessing they were married approximately 1847-1849. The records for Barren County, Kentucky exist for that time frame. I looked at them the last time I was in Salt Lake City, in 2005 and did not locate my ancestors. And to top it all off, I have found very little indication as to who either of their parents are!

Well, that is a bummer to say the least. Don’t you just hate it when your research does not go according to plan? Sometimes we jokingly say that our ancestors were brought here on the “Mother Ship” rather on a sailing ship across the ocean. It would seem at times that our ancestors just “showed up” suddenly in the records and where they came from or who they descended from is a complete mystery!

The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti got me thinking about some of the possibilities for these unexplained or difficult-to-find answers. I’ve watched news stories regarding the orphans in Haiti. It was estimated in one NPR article I read that more than 20,000 children lost their parents in the disaster. In many cases relatives or neighbors are caring for the children. In other cases, they are fending for themselves. One group of boys formed a group and live together in a park. They do odd jobs to earn a little money and they wash out their clothes every night. They share what little food they have to survive. The article went on to say that slowly social workers are making their way through the crowds to document who’s living where and to offer services to children such as these boys. There is much concern over how to keep track of all of these children as well as to try to stop such unsavory things as child trafficking, kidnapping and unlawful adoptions.

What if something like this terrible disaster (or even a small disaster) happened to our ancestor? Fire, flood, tornado, earthquake, hurricane, illness–the possibilities are numerous. If our ancestors’ parents were killed in some terrible way, who took them in? And were there any records to indicate where that child came from? If suddenly there’s another child in a family and the age doesn’t necessarily line up with previous information, this may be a possibility. Records may indicate “adopted” but more likely, the child(ren) were just absorbed into the family, especially if they were taken in by relatives. It is quite possible that no records were created that document times such as these. Also, the children could have taken on their adopted family’s name. This alone could bring you up against a brick wall in your research.

As I watched numerous news stories about these Haitian orphans and thought about how the chaos would affect genealogical research in years to come, it caused me to reflect on how similar situations would affect our ancestors. I am going to keep this in mind in the future. One thing you can do is read newspapers for the area and time your ancestors lived and note any disasters that may have occurred. This may break down some of those walls.