June is my only daughter’s birthday month. She was born in June and I remember well her naming story. Looking through a women’s magazine, I spotted an ad for Ivory Soap. It was not this exact one (below) but I could not find “the real” one. It showed a baby in a bubbly bath and the words were something like “Jane Elizabeth enjoys her Ivory soap bath.”  Well!  Husbnd’s mother was Esther Mary, so we quickly fell in love with Jane Esther and that’s what she became. And that’s how we found her name.

My name is Donna Ruth; I was named after my Aunt Ruth. Four years earlier, Aunt Ruth had a daughter she named June Ellen, after my mother, June.  And the Donna part? From a 1942 novel by Daphne du Maurier, Frenchman’s Creek. How do I know? I asked mom!

My dentist used to be Frank Vedelago. His partner dentist in the same building was Stephen Carnell. They were brothers! Deciding to go into dental practice together but with separate practices in the same building, they realized that with two Dr. Vedelagos there would be confusion. So they tossed a coin and Stephen took their mother’s maiden name, Carnell. And his children all went by that surname too. 

Years ago, in one of my classes, a young woman had a seriously difficult family history problem. The family looked every bit Italian, dark hair and eyes and beautiful olive skin. But the great-grandfather’s name was Lars Swenson. What? (This was obviously before DNA.) On his deathbed, Grandpa Lars told the truth: When he was a newly arrived immigrant, he got drunk, was rolled and his money and papers stolen. Realizing the situation, and seeing another fellow drunk in the corner, “Lars” took that fellow’s papers and became in name, if not in fact, Lars Swenson. And on the point of death, he could not remember his real, Italian, surname. True story.

How did your parents pick your name? If you have folks to ask, ASK! And realize, when researching your family tree and come up against a seemingly impossible brick wall, remember that our ancestors were survivors……..and that’s why we’re here today.

Picture this scenario, if you will please.  James Brown is 55 years old and a Methodist circuit rider in very rural Wisconsin in about 1870. He felt “called” and loaded up his saddle bags on Old Nellie and set off to preach the gospel.  When Grandpa James was 75, and was a widower and getting somewhat feeble, he went to live with his daughter in St. Louis, Missouri. He had kept all his saddle-bag-books of his sermon notes and the baptisms and marriages he performed.  When he died, Daughter gathered up all his stuff (at his insistence) and carted them off, along with him, to her home in St.Louis. Years pass, James’ books and papers get “lost” in a box somewhere. Finally in about 1995, a granddaughter, who is very interested in her family history, stumbled upon the box and is delighted beyond words! Records written in her gggg-grandfather’s own hand! 

After the gggg-daughter enjoys and extracts information from Grandpa Brown’s records, she realizes the importance of them. They must be preserved and made available, she reasons. Ans she’s right. So she gives them to her local genealogical society and they publish abstracts from the records in their (Missouri) periodical. Obviously, far from Wisconsin! 

Why am I sharing this scenario/story? Because if James Brown was YOUR ancestor and you never knew where he died, and, more importantly, what happened to his religious records, you would be so happy to find out, wouldn’t you? 

The above image is from a family surname periodical, the Adams Agenda, this issue published in 1979. This publication contained mostly Adams-surname information but there were other goodies. I know you cannot read it, but catch this: “Genealogy of Capt. John Johnson,” or “Norris, Hackett, Prescott & Allied Families.” Or “Some Descendants of Philip Sherman.”

While a surname-oriented periodical might not be your best “bingo,” I know there is a St. Louis Genealogical Society which has a periodic publication. Might/could have James Brown’s Wisconsin records be published there, in St.Louis, Missouri? And, most importantly, would you think to look there for that information?

I really urge you to learn about PERSI (Periodical Source Index) and use it. This is where you’ll find indexed all the genealogy-related periodicals that the Allen County Public Library (aka Fort Wayne) could/can locate. Click to the FamilySearch.org/WIKI and ask for PERSI. Self-education will bring great rewards, I guarantee. 

Some time back, Joan Mamanakis of the Cheney Historical Society gave me a box of papers. Seems these had just been left on the Society’s doorstep and so Joan had no idea where/who they came from. They were all sorts of business and personal papers of a family that had lived in Cheney. I tracked down a descendant and passed most of the box full on to them. One letter I just had to share, the letter to new-father Frank Parker from most likely his father. Since Father’s Day is  upon us, I thought it was a timely piece. 

This was a hand-written letter to “Frankie” (Frank Parker) and unsigned and undated.

Dear Frankie,

Being as how we fathers has been through the mill and you ain’t, here’s some powerful good advice that’s been writ and prepared for an expectant father or papa.

1.     Never take the little chap and whirl him around by the heels until he’s a month or 6 weeks old, cause you might hit his head against a chair and break up the furniture.

2.    Never hold him up high and let him look down on your cause he might lose is lunch and you’d gain one.

3.    When you put the three corners on him be careful you don’t stick your fingers. If you stick him, he’ll let you know about it, if you stick yourself he won’t need to.

4.    When he gets colic use a board and not your hand. You won’t have to get up so often.

5.    If you want the baby to suck its  thumb just help a little by putting its thumb in your mouth and it will soon learn.

6.    Don’t let them kid you it’s a He for it might be a She.

7.    When you have to get up in the middle of the night to fix the baby’s bottle then you’ll begin to wonder.

 If it’s true that one picture tells the tale, this postcard image most surely does!!

I well remember Saturday afternoons when I was about ten years old, watching cowboy movies on our tiny little black-and-white-screen TV. To enhance the experience, I would sneak several pieces of white Wonder bread and smash them into a “golf ball” and gnaw on that as I watched my horsey-heroes. (Have you any parallel memories?)

In an old scrapbook, my friend’s mom had clipped and glued in this bit titled “Raising A Few Questions About Those Old Cowboy Movies.”  Hope they give you a laugh as they did me! 

 
** How come the people helped by the Lone Ranger never realized who he was until he handed them a silver bullet, hollered at his horse, and rode off?  (Jay Silverheels was a full-blooded Mohawk.)
**When some guy got killed in the bar whatever happened to the horse he left tied to the post outside?
**Why did everybody pay for their drink and never wait for the change?

**When out in the sandy desert for days, what did the horses eat?
**How did the heroine manage to ride across the plains for a week and still have beautiful clean hair and a low-cut blouse and not ever get sunburned?
**How did the cavalry scout always know which Indian tribe made which arrows?
**How come when they hung bad guys at the rate of several every week, they still had to build the scaffold the day before?

My first favorite TV show was Flash Gordon…..anybody remember? And Ming, ruler of the Evil Empire?  So what were YOUR first favorite TV shows or movies?

Old newspaper stories sometimes make us laugh and sometimes cry. But they are always so interesting! Bet you have a collection of family newspaper stories……. here’s one for you:

 On Friday, the 15th of July, 1921, this little bit was published in The Spokane Daily Chronicle:

“AUNT IS SEEKING THELMA MAY SPRY”

“If Thelma May Spry, aged 17, can be found here, she will have the opportunity of going to the home of her aunt, Mrs. A.C. Seybert, 420 East South Street, Warren, Ohio, to live. A letter asking that the girl be found was received by the police today. According to the information sent by her aunt, the girl was placed in an orphan home here at the age of 12. At one time she stayed with a family named Craig on Fourth Avenue. A good home awaits the girl if she can be found, the letter says.”

Well! My interest being piqued, I did some quick looking in our Washington Digital Archives website. 

On the 1910 census, taken 13 May 1910, in Minot, North Dakota, I found Ora Spry, widow, age 26, servant in the household, with children Thelma, age 6, and Sylvester, age 3, both children born in North Dakota. 

On the 1920 census, taken 8 Jan 1920, for Crab Creek, Lincoln County, Washington, Thelma was born in North Dakota (parents in Virginia/New York) and was the “ward” of the Smith family. 

 I learned that Thelma Spry, of Multnomah County, Oregon, married Alfred B. Scott, also of Multnomah County, on December 20, 1922, in Clark County, Washington. 

Poor dear Alfred died on 30 Jun 1930 in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington. Cause of death?  “Accidently burnt…clothing catching fire, while asleep, from cigar.”

Certainly looks like Aunt Mrs. Seybert, of Warren, Ohio, never found her niece. Sad. Never did learn what eventually became of Thelma Spry Scott. 

Any descendants out there? 

Bob Taylor is the founding guru behind The Family History Guide. This fantastic, and FREE, website, was begun in 2015 and is still growing and expanding and offering more and more help to us genealogists. 

From a RootsTech presentation by Bob Taylor, I learned about The Family History Guide:
     * Bob began as a Family History Consultant and realized folks had questions…. often the same questions repeated, so he devised a way (a website) to help answer those questions.
     *The Family History Guide is free, with no ads, and is privately funded.
     * The Guide is offered in over 100 languages! (Doesn’t that show how serious Bob is?)
     * If you printed out all the many and various help pages from the Guide’s website, “it would equal a California redwood in height,” Bob quipped.
     *The Guide offers about 200 video tutorials with links to 1000 more. 
     *The Guide offers a blog, a Facebook page, and a “Tip of the Day” feature.

     At RootsTech, Bob Taylor explained: “We want no barrier to learning….learning should be easy, efficient and enjoyable. Think of The Family History Guide as a learning library.”

I have taught many of you in my classes over the years that “if it’s free, take two!” Well, this is free and you can take hundreds!

 In the Summer, 2022, issue of American Ancestors, publication of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, there was an article aimed at Memorial Day. Written by David Allen Lambert, Chief Genealogists at NEHGS, the article was titled “The Final Hour: U.S. Military Gravestones.”

Lambert began the article thusly:  “Most American cemeteries include a veterans section. These lots typically feature standard white marble gravestones……which the U.S. government provides at no cost for any honorably discharged veteran…..a tradition that began about a decade after the Civil War.”

“Soldiers from earlier wars had gravestones, of course, but these were placed by families. Not all of the Civil War dead were identifiable and many wooden headboards in military lots are marked as unknown. Some Union or Confederate dead were identified based on their uniforms, buttons or insignia.”

Realizing that the wooden headboards were deteriorating, on March 3, 1873, Congress passed an appropriation of a million dollars ( nearly 28 million today) to replace the wooden headboards with more permanent marble or granite markers.

Lambert ended the article with:  “Nearly 150 years after its original appropriation, the U.S. Veterans Administration continues to assist with marking or re-marking graves of American veterans from the Revolutionary War to the present. For assistance with ordering (or replacing) a gravestone for an honorably discharged U.S. veteran, contact the veterans’ agent in the town or city of burial.’
Websites you might wish to check (Google):
*US Civil War Roll of Honor, 1861-1865*Roll of Honor: names of Soldiers who died in Defense of the American Union*US, Burial Registers for Military Posts, Camps, and Stations, 1768-1921*US Records of Headstones of Deceased Union Veterans, 1879-1903*US Headstone Applications for US Military Veterans, 1925-1949*American Battle Monuments Commission database*Interment.net*Find-A-Grave*Billion Graves

TRIVIA:  Know why Union gravestones have rounded tops and Confederate markers have pointed tops? The “wag” is that the Confederates “wanted no damn Yankees sitting on their graves.”  True? Have no idea. 

To a genealogist, nothing is more fun than struggling to read old newspapers…… in great expectation of finding bits and pieces about an ancestor’s life. Consider these; first from The Spokesman Review, 5 Nov 1921:

“A nail two inches long has been removed from the lung of a 15-months-old baby at the Deaconess hospital. The child, who is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Leo Dahlin of Nine Mile, swallowed the nail October 29, and the mother did not discover the trouble until X-rays four days later disclosed the nail. 
At the time the child choked until it was black in the face, but when Mrs. Dahlin was ready to start for town the trouble seemed to depart and the baby appeared normal. Later the lungs of the baby began filing with mucus and the mother brought the child to Dr. T.E. Hoxsey. On October 24 the child’s condition seemed alarming and an operation was decided upon. Dr. O.M. Rott, a throat specialist, assisted Dr. Hoxsey.

An incision was made in the neck through which the windpipe was cut. By inserting a powerful magnet the nail, which was two inches long, was drawn out. The parents of the baby report that it is well on the road to recovery.

POSTSCRIPT:  Our Washington Digital Archives shows a marriage for Leo Dahlin, age 21, born in Minnesota to Swedish parents, marrying Mabel Nason, age 17, born in Spokane, to New Brunswick born parents.   Then on 1 May 1941, Leo Dahlin, Jr, marries Phyllis Wade. Was Leo, Jr., the son who survived this operation???

Josh Taylor was the ZOOM presenter for the Bainbridge Genealogical Society in January, 2023. I virtually attended his talk and these are my notes:

CONTENT – ACCESS – TECHNOLOGY  — 3 points he covered

What’s out there at present? So much! One could spend hours and hours every day and  never run out of places to search.  MAYBE in the future we can ask something like SIRI, “who is my great grandfather?” and expect an answer. Not quite yet today. 

UGC – User Generated Content—– This is all and everything that WE post anywhere on the internet. It’s there “forever.” And not always safe on our own computer. In the future, we’ll have all these good things PLUS MORE.

One new exciting thing—ICR  technology —  Intelligent  Character Reading

Think how this new tech was used to index the 1950 census; no it wasn’t perfect but WOW. Think of the challenges… reading differing handwriting over the years in a record group. But this will only get better! The computer will learn how to read how to do this better and better. They do it by comparing examples with examples. And some languages-records are easier for ICR than are others. And a formulaic record group will be easier to learn.  BUT will they be 100% accurate? No. That’s where WE come in….. we will do the checking. ALSO, the “big players” will be able to utilize this (expensive) technology easier than will be small local societies.

CONSTANT INNOVATION:  Increase accessibility; mobile first; software flexibility-multiple platforms; Data storage; data access; security.  Mobile is where the future is so we must learn how to deliver content to these platforms in a way people can read/use it.

All this technology will be costly, to develop it, tech support it, user friendly software and maintenance and upgrades. These must be considered when thinking about what the future holds.

DATA TRENDS:  Central storage (Amazon, Google, etc),  Universal access, digital images,  cost effective,  permanent storage, retrieval costs.  We will have to learn HOW to deal with this overwhelming amount of data!  Today, smaller libraries/archives are being able to digitize their own records…..cost coming down. Also, the quality of the image is getting better, ie, B&W vs. color. (Color enables more damaged parts of a document to be read, vs. B&W.)

CONVERSOIN & UPGRADES:  What about websites that are not updated? How to “keep” in all aspects, these old websites full of data.  Or, how many groups have data stored in un-accessible media formats (floppies)?  Especially family-saved files on these drives!  WHAT IF Ancestry or FS go belly up? This must be considered in any discussion on data storage. WHAT if your favorite personal program doesn’t upgrade?

LEGISLATION & REGULATION:   At every level (industry, federal, state) there are different rules for privacy. A young person today is going to have a hard time getting records that we old-timers got records.  What about copyright? Digital rights? Orphan works? (Items with no known copyright data?) Who owns the right to YOUR great-grandmother’s diary? Depends on who owns it today………

 COVID:  These (any virus emergency) will create new problems……. Some libraries used that down time to scan records……… some just shut down. And now the request for info overwhelm helpers! (Some archives are going toward the museum aspect which frightens us.)

GEOGRAPHY:  If you geo-code a place it doesn’t matter what it was called then; think how this tech might tell you if an ancestor lives or lived nearby.  Pair a 1920 listing with a geo-coded place. Cool. (Today every time we take a photo on our phone, it’s geo-coded!)

ACCESS VS SEARCH:  It’s easier to scan than to index and make the material usefully available. Think of all the zillions of items that are already digitized…..photos, post cards, etc.

NEW DIGITAL ARCHIVES:  Facebook – Twitter-Linkedin – Intragram – Google+ – Instagram – Flickr – DNA How much of our genealogy have we posted to these sites? What and which should be saved?? (New baby:  good;  breakfast; worthless.) What would happen if Find-A-Grave or Flickr (or any!) decided to quit…what happens to all their images and data???

The Human Face of Big Data, PBS, 2016—— during the first day of a baby’s life, the amount of data generated by humanity is equivalent to 70 times the information held in the Lib of Congress.  So where will this info live?

CONSIDER:  How is big data applied to family history? If we could add all the data from anything and everything pertaining (example) Irish emigration or Irish families? We do this on a tiny level when we do personal research; we look at these records. But imagine if new tech could analyze all these points???!!!   Example:  All city directories, all state censuses, add 1890 vet’s schedule, vital records for time period, census for 1880 and 1900….and you could in theory recreate an 1890 census. Be 100% accurate? No, but good help for clues.  

Some of these are happening (local societies recreating 1890 census for their area) and some are in the future. (Example:  somebody analyzed 100 years of menus for NY City to see what was served where and how often.)

Tools that make family history accessible……………… these tools are getting better and better!

Education becomes critical………. To assist us to interpret and understand the materials.  (Do beginners really understand some of the facts and factoids they find????)

We need opportunities (online and in-person) to learn are vital…… societies are vital!

 Must think of what data we’re keeping today, where we’re keeping it, how we’re keeping it. And will it be available 50 years from now?

Organization and technology helps us to learn and connect.  How do we access and use it?  And who will help us understand what we found???

 “I’m excited and terrified all at once because I know there is so much opportunity out there!”

“For the types of materials we’ll be able to use and the ways we’ll access those materials.”

 “BUT NO MATTER WHAT, we will never be able (nor should we) just click  green leaf and think we’ll find/have everything there is to know right there in one place.”