New Site, New Blog!

After taking some time off to go after my goal of certification, I finally decided to set up a shiny new website, complete with a brand new blog. I'm still finishing up a few little cosmetic things, but the posts will be coming along shortly. So go check it out at NMGgenealogy.com. Hope to see you all there soon!

Maybe it's not a wall exactly, but just an opaque fog

So my last post was a complete downer. Not surprising really since I've been so lost with my genealogical progress lately. The problem of how to beat the stagnation that's taken up residence with my career trajectory is one that has just left me completely befuddled. But in venting about things, it helped me to brainstorm a bit. Maybe the solution actually can be found in the statement that I thought was the epitome of my problem; how to acquire the additional skills necessary to be successful in a certification application. If I look at those skills, one by one, I can try to figure out where I'm lacking. It makes a lot more sense to try and look at things that way rather than trying to guess what I need and try to fill each of those rather ambiguous holes. So I thought it might be helpful, for myself and for others as well, to just take another look at what is involved in the application portfolio. I've looked at it before, many times, but never with my eyes on what I need to do and whether I feel confident with each individual part.

To start with, for those unfamiliar with the CG credential, it is a credential awarded by the BCG or, Board for Certification of Genealogists. The credential is given upon completion and acceptance of a portfolio of work which shows a variety of knowledge, experience, and work which exhibits an adherence to the the BCG standards as mentioned in the BCG Genealogical Standards Manual and as such, to the The Genealogical Proof Standard. In all honesty, the GPS could be given its own blog. It's a subject which people can talk about and tear apart and dissect for ages. In fact, I'm currently taking a course where we are studying a new book specifically about the GPS right now (so you can probably expect posts on that coming soon as well). At its core however, the GPS is basically just a set of 5 elements through which you can show that you have sufficiently proven your conclusion. If you have gone through the process and worked within the GPS, you should have:

~ done a "reasonably exhaustive search" within the sources available
~formed citations for each piece of information that you have derived from the sources
~correlated all of your sources
~resolved any conflicts that turned up as a result of your search through sources
~written up your findings

I fully expect to see some comments either saying that I'm wrong here or building upon what I've written, but really, that's about the most concise way I can sum it up, as I understand it.  And with that, since the GPS and all of its intricacies aren't the subject of this particular post, I'm moving on :)

So that is what your portfolio should exhibit. Now on to the nitty gritty...

The Dream Crushing Wall

I'm going to take a little time to vent here and try to work out some feelings I've been having lately. I realize this is not a technical post, per se, so feel free to skip this one or go read a magazine or something until a new post pops up.

For the past year or so, truth be told probably a bit longer than that, I've been feeling like my career trajectory has become stagnant. I just haven't been making much progress towards getting those two magic little letters after my name and it seems like the "CG" will only be available for me to use in my dreams at night. For a time, I thought perhaps writing and getting my name out into the world that way would be the ticket. But the problem is, the writing doesn't happen by itself. Imagine that! And try as I might, it hasn't been coming easily for me. More importantly, without a larger client base (or really, any client base at all) the pool of cases available for me to use as topics is minuscule. What's more, there are even less of the more complex type necessary for a creating an interesting article. So...I can't write anything worthwhile when I have something to write about, and it's a rare thing to have something interesting to write about in the first place. Thus, the wall. Stagnation. Any number of dream crushing metaphors come to mind as I imagine my goal getting farther and farther away. Or at least it's not getting any closer and that's a problem. So how can I reverse this? Short answer, I have no idea. I could say I could try harder to get the writing thing going and surely something will materialize out of that. But that almost seems to be counter productive since that hasn't been working for me. Why go back to something that's not working? I think I need a new plan of attack. Since I've moved to Maryland, I offered to do some little jobs for people and got a huge response. But it was just that -- little jobs. Nothing of real substance there. But maybe there is something in just going to the Archives and poking around in things that sound interesting. Getting acquainted in things that generally mean nothing to me today. Sounds like it could be beneficial to my knowledge base, but how could that help get me closer to my goal? No idea. I'm spent. I don't have a clue how to proceed. I can do the research. I can process the results and do the evaluation. But I don't know how to finish acquiring the skills I need to be successful in a CG application. I don't know how to move forward and build a career for myself. It's one thing to say you want something but it's quite another to be able to make that happen. You can't just say it and make it so, you have to do it. I understand that. But what if there's no road map? What do you do then? Make your own?  Ok, I'm down for that. But how? Ugh. I need to figure this out. I don't want to be stagnant anymore.

Down the rabbit hole...

It happens to us all. I know because I see all all of your facebook posts from time to time (lol). It's not just me, but I'll probably be the first to admit it. You get a kernel of something that smells like a lead and just keep following and following. Unfortunately, blindly following leads can end up with things exploding in your face.

I have a brick wall ancestor, just like everyone else. I have tried working on a game plan for breaking that wall but I live in a different state than that of my ancestor so it requires the long-distance method of ordering microfilm (when and where available) and relying on finding someone close to the scene who could help with locating necessary records. So inevitably, I put the problem on the back burner and tend to work on it sporadically over time. I haven't really looked at the state of things in quite some time but last week I found something that was very interesting to me. Someone on ancestry.com had "transcribed" a will for one William Hawkins of Guernsey County, OH who died in 1855 and the will named a daughter, Susan Braden, and a granddaughter, Mary Jane Braden. My brick wall ancestor is a woman named Mary Jane Braden and evidence suggests she was born in Ohio in March of 1838. That alone probably wouldn't be enough to draw most people in but the other teaser is that I have a document from one of her close family members identifying her as Mary Jane Hawkins and I've never been able to figure out why in the world the person used that name because he would have known from her own mouth what her maiden name had been. I have not been able to find a good candidate for Mary in the 1850 census yet and she was married in Indiana in 1855. She would have been 17 at the time of this marriage which doesn't exactly leave much room for her to have been married prior to the 1855 marriage and she didn't have another marriage after that one. So, the Hawkins document had always been a mystery.

So I started falling down the rabbit hole, chasing after Susannah Hawkins and Samuel Braden who were married in Guernsey County, OH in 1830 -- in my eyes, a good fit for a daughter to be born 8 years later. The Hawkins relative who had transcribed the will had found a Susan Braden who died in 1852 in nearby Richland County, OH and whose husband appeared to have been remarried in that county and then moved on to Noble County, Indiana with some of the children from his first marriage. Noble County isn't far from where my Mary Jane had her 1855 marriage so this would have accounted for Mary, who was born in Ohio, to be married in the Indiana border county. Things were really sounded great. Here's what I had found so far:

- an Ohio will bringing together a Mary Jane Braden and a Hawkins connection
- the same will offering parents for said granddaughter
- a same name couple found in a nearby county on Ohio census
- death of the mother, and the father remarries and moves to Indiana, near where the known 1855 marriage for my confirmed ancestor occurred

The clincher would be to find Samuel's probate in Noble County and see that he had a daughter named Mary Jane, and even better if it had her with her married name. This would have been the capper for my proof. Unfortunately, no probate file exists for Samuel in Noble County...but there was an obituary.

>BOOM!!!!< 

And that's where my bubble burst. This Noble County Samuel had indeed been the same Samuel from Ohio who married a Susannah who died in 1852. But it wasn't the Guernsey County Susannah Hawkins. It was a different Susannah, from Richland County, Ohio whom he married there in 1835. Either this is not the right Samuel, who married Susannah Hawkins in 1830, or this is the right Samuel and Susannah died less than 5 years after their marriage and Samuel would have to have moved to Richland County and met his future bride-to-be there very shortly thereafter. I'm not a fan of that last possibility but the number of Samuel Bradens to appear in the 1840 census (the first one after the Braden-Hawkins marriage in 1830) in Ohio make up a very short list and an even shorter list who were living in Guernsey -- 0 in fact. And going back to 1830, there were 0 then, too.

In any case, the bubble has been burst and I'm now pretty much back where I started. Well, with one exception. There was still a Mary Jane Braden from Ohio included in her grandfather Hawkins' 1855 will, which still brings together those two surnames that seem to surround my Mary Jane. Grandchildren were most often found in wills when one or both of the parents were dead and if her parents were dead, she could have gone anywhere; with a relative in another county or another state, or with a guardian. So I still have a lead to pursue here by finding Guernsey County, OH guardianship records, if they exist. If I can find a Mary Jane Braden listed with a guardian, I'll have a new name to look for as she should have been living with that person from the time of her parents death until, presumably, the time of her marriage. It's not much, but it's a lead afterall and that's something I didn't really have before.  I don't feel too badly about falling down this particular rabbit hole because in order to fully come up with a GPS-based conclusion you have to rule out all other possibilities before being able to say you have definitive proof for your conclusion. But I am a little down that it didn't work out. Everything seemed to fit so nicely at first. Truth be told, a little too easily and maybe that should have been my first warning. Life doesn't usually follow the easy path and people don't just fit right into slot all the time. This was my reminder.

Are You Guilty?

Do you do this? Perhaps you should get the tape and find out more...

http://bcgcertification.org/blog/2013/05/bcg-ed-fund-leary-distinguished-lecture-elizabeth-mills-on-can-trousers-beds-and-other-trivial-details-solve-genealogical-problems/

Indexing Conundrum

I've been trying to work on a few leads for my Dellibac project lately (you can read more about that here or by clicking on the Dellibac tag) so I started a page by page search through familysearch.org for the Kankakee County, IL probate records for 1880-1881 to try and find an estate for Alexis Dellibac. Alexis, husband of Felicite nee Gaudreau, is thought by family members to have been the father of Moise, our current brick wall. None of this collection currently has an index, it's simply a browse page by page option, so as I was going through the pages I started to feel like I was wasting an opportunity to get at least a small part of the collection indexed since I had to go through them anyway. So I started writing down names and page numbers. Just a very simple index. I'm slightly more than halfway through the 1880-1881 book now but I'm finding some interesting things.

First, I'm finding some interesting things being recorded in the probate book. I think most of us have enough experience to know that probate books are not make up entirely of estates alone. The jurisdiction of the probate courts tends to vary from state to state, but usually they include at least estates and naturalizations but often you'll also see cases of insanity, adoption, and cases of moral charges, such as rape. All of these things have turned up in the book I'm currently looking at but a new one for me also turned up; Applications for a Certificate of Good Moral Character. Unfortunately, the two cases I've seen so far do not say what justifies the receipt of such a certificate, but apparently it involves someone nominating someone else to the court and presenting evidence that the presentation of the certificate is warranted. The court will then make a decision as whether or not they agree and if so, a certificate is awarded. I suspect we can find more information in the Illinois statutes, but so far I haven't been able to find an available version online to check. If I come across one though, I'll be sure to post any additional information that may be found.

The second issue I've encountered while going through this probate ledger is a much more common occurrence -- dealing with clerk handwriting. What do you do when the clerk's writing habits cannot help you to determine which letter is which while transcribing? Here's my example:

John Perry was nominated for a certificate of Good Moral Character by William Potter. As he appeared to the court, he gave his name with a middle initial. But is it an "H" or an "N"?

*

Based upon other names I've seen in the ledger, this looked like how the clerk wrote the letter "H" in the past.

**

But just a few pages back, I saw this:

***

It's clear that the clerk was not consistent in his writing habits. So using past examples to help determine whether John Perry's middle initial was "H" or "N" is going to be difficult. The "H" used for his middle initial is comparable to both the "H" used for the name Hamilton, as well as the "N" used for Northman. But the name Nathaniel is shown without the bottom loop so he has at least two ways of writing his upper case "N"s. So since John's Perry's initial is shown with that loop, I'm probably leaning more towards "H" as his middle initial. I even checked for John in Kankakee County in the 1870 and 1880 censuses on ancestry.com. The only John Perry enumerated in Kankakee Co. in 1880 is a one year old child living with his grandparents. In 1870, there is an adult John Perry in Kankakee County, but no middle initial is shown. Thwarted again, lol!

But what are your thoughts?

[* "Illinois, Probate Records, 1819-1970," images, Familysearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 2 July 2013), Kankakee [County], 1880-1881, volume 8, page 339 (stamped). From Kankakee County Clerk's Office, Kankakee.
**"Illinois, Probate Records, 1819-1970," images, Familysearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 2 July 2013), Kankakee [County], 1880-1881, volume 8, page 315 (stamped). From Kankakee County Clerk's Office, Kankakee.
***"Illinois, Probate Records, 1819-1970," images, Familysearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 2 July 2013), Kankakee [County], 1880-1881, volume 8, page 317 (stamped). From Kankakee County Clerk's Office, Kankakee.]

Great, and important tip!!

Just saw a great new tip posted on the awesome blog, Genealogy Tip of the Day --

Do You Have It All?

It's just a reminder that some records generate additional paperwork that may not be included if you send away for the record, see the record in part of a digitized collection, etc. Marriage records and probate records are some examples. Do you know how many different types of marriage records there can be? If you send away for a "marriage record", do you know what you will get back vs. what else there could be? Typically, whenever I send in a mail request what I get is a copy of the marriage license itself. Not really much information there. But it's up to you to know what could be available for that county. You could be missing valuable information from the affidavit, the bond, the license application, and even a return. The affidavits and bonds could name other family members to help you trace the family line back and build your FAN club. The license application could tell you where the person thinks they were born and who their parents were. The returns usually include the name of the person who married the couple and if it turns out to have been a religious figure, that could lead you to their denomination/their church which could then lead you to other family church records, grave sites, etc. All of this is missed when you don't make yourself aware of what is available and are simply satisfied with the xeroxed copy of the license. Get out there and find what is available to you!

Now coming from Maryland

So today is my first day back to the blog in several months...truth be told, far too many months. But life became complicated there for a little while.  I'm finally feeling settled again now and ready to get back on the horse. There is also a new idea for utilization of the blog. It may become the home for the Parke County, Indiana probate database, at least temporarily. We are currently trying to figure out a way to keep all the information together on the inparke Genweb page, but in the meantime we are going to try and keep things here where I can continually update the list. So if you check out the site one day and there are a bunch of names, don't worry!  They're just dead people :)

Another topic that I'm hoping to cover here in the near future is my first trip to the Maryland Archives in Annapolis, MD. I live about 10 minutes away from the state archives and am dying to get over there and check it out. I'm thinking I'll put out a call on the Transitional Genealogist (mailing) List for anyone who might need something from the archives. That way, I can get a little experience using the archives and others can get the records that they might need. In doing so, I might also stumble across some interesting finds to post about here, too. So if you need something, let me know!

So that's the update; or more accurately, the return :) Feels good to be back!

Back from the Dead...

...well, sortof    :)

I'll spare you all the ultra boring details of what's been going on, it's probably too much for me to remember it all anyway and I'd rather not revisit it all anyway.  For the sake of time and my sanity I'll just say, "ugh!"

Moving on, while I've been away from the blog for a while, I haven't necessarily been away from my work and I'll try to get back into the groove of writing things down here as I go along.  

One new thing that has happened and will directly effect the content here is my moving to Maryland this fall/winter.  We'll be moving within the next few months so I'll have an all new state to explore and I'll be close enough to my old stomping grounds in Washington, D.C. to be able to get back to all the treasure troves of information there.  I'll have to be sure to document it all here when the time comes.  I've never done anything in Maryland but I did track one of my husband's lines to a family of Quakers in Maryland so potentially I could have at least two new things to talk about in those topics.  

Hmmm, I might actually want to start working getting a Maryland research guide for myself together...or one of Maryland Quakers...or Quakers in general...or all of the above!  Oh goodness, I have a lot to do, why am I still writing this!  :)  Stay tuned!

Writing Research Plans - the Dellibac Example (part one)

Ok, so most of you know that I've been working on trying to isolate where my French-Canadian immigrant ancestor, Moise Dellibac, came from and hopefully be able to identify his parents in the process (or vice versa). The previous post with my Dellibac brainstorming can be found here . This is my first attempt at working with French-Canadian ancestors so much of the work is new. But anyone who has done any ethnic research knows that the very first step in working with immigrant ancestors is to start with any records they left in the US. You can't just jump ahead to their home country and hope to get lucky. So since Moise settled in and died in Kankakee County, Illinois that's where I've started.

To help myself, and maybe even others who need help staying on track and developing and following a plan, I've decided to start researching the Dellibacs by the book. That is, following the formal practices I learned in courses like ProGen and intensive tracks at the Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. The first step in this process was to conduct a record survey of what is available in my target areas. Since I'm starting with Illinois records first, I focused on the counties of Kankakee, where Moise died, and Iroquois, where he is first found in US census enumerations. My results can be found here and here.

The next step in the process is to start the research plan, taking into account all of the resources uncovered in the record survey. The plan MUST begin with a clear definition of the research problem or objective. In this case, my objective is to find Moise Dellibac's father/parents. I've determined that my primary objective is to find his parents. With that information, I can presumably figure out the area they were from.

Once you have your objective clearly defined, you can start building your plan of attack. For help in this area, I am especially grateful for chapter 14 of ProGen by Elizabeth Shown Mills, "Problem Analyses and Research Plans" written by Helen Leary, CG, CGL, FASG. On page 269, Helen describes the process of writing a research plan as being developed in three stages : analysis, refinement, and logistics. Once you've gone through all three stages, you'll have a final plan which will include lists of all the records that are searched at every repository you go to, every piece of information you're looking for at each of those repositories, and any additional information or anomalies involved in one or all of those record searches (ie. is the county you're working on a burned county and if so, how will you get around that problem). Also, if you need to report your findings in a particular format you would put that in your plan as well.

Finally, if you are crafting your plan for a client you're going to have time constraints and you need to make that known in your plan as well. This will greatly effect your plan because you may not be contracted for enough time to allow you to access and view all of the records and resources you uncovered in your record survey. Instead, you'll have to conduct an analysis of your survey and pull out which records you think will be most helpful; meaning, which resources would be most likely to produce the desired results to allow you to solve the research problem you stated at the beginning of your plan. If all goes well, these records will win the game for you. If not though, you'll have to go back to your record survey and devise a new plan, then request additional time from your client.

...on to part 2...

Finished the first research report for my Delibac project

I've finally put together my research report for my Delibac family project. The objective is for me to find out where exactly in Quebec Moise Delibac came from and if I can, try to find out who his parents were. The family assertion is that he is a son of Alexis Delibac and Felicite Gaudreau but up to this point, we had no concrete evidence for this. Here is my initial post on the problem/s I am hoping to work out.

I'm not a computer person so I did my research report on paper, and need to type it up and get it on the site. But I was thinking that maybe instead of typing up my research report, instead I would try to work up something like a tips and a template post, where I would give some tips and instructions from what I've learned in the past, and then post examples from my own report to show how I incorporated those tips. That might be more help to people than seeing a report for my own personal project. So I'm going to try and tweak my report this weekend and get my alternate idea up here soon. Keep your eyes open!

Don't be a surname searcher, be a thorough researcher!

Here's the situation: You're going through probate packets and come across two receipts signed by someone named Delinda Christian

Receipt One



Receipt Two





Now, setting aside an assessment of the varying handwriting styles, if it had already been established that the decedent left behind a widow named Delinda Christian and you see this name appearing on receipts you might be willing to say that they're all receipts for the same person, especially if all you're looking at are the names on the pages. That name isn't very common, it must be receipts for amounts due to the widow by the estate, right? Here's the valuable info you would miss out on by being merely a name scanner


Receipt One

Receipt Two


You have now learned that the decedent, John Christian, had two Delinda Christians in his life; his wife and his daughter. This is also pre-1850 information which means if you were to go to the 1840 census looking for John, all you would find for his household are tick marks so you would have no idea what the names of his family members would have been. Not only is this a great example of the importance of probate papers in reconstructing families, but it's also a great reason to go beyond being just a name scanner. The first step is actually reading the information and understanding it in context. Then you also need to understand why the document was created and what else might be available to you that would help you to build your case. For these other two points, the how and why of the sources you're using and how to become aware of all of your sources, a couple of excellent articles have recently been posted online so check them out for more information on how to make the most of the information you're given in those sources. Don't be one of those people who just pick up books and turn immediately to the index, look up a name and then close the book and move on to something else. Dig deeper!

Footnote on my Footnotes

Search for Sources, Not Just Surnames

Thanks to Michael Hait for pointing out these excellent blog posts!

Research Challenge!

While I was in Salt Lake City, I had a few minutes here and there to do a little searching around in the book collection. I found something that struck me as a possible lead so I took a quick photo of the page with my iphone so I could come back to it and do a little background searching once I got home.

The book was an index to baptismal records from St John's Church in Portsmouth, NH from 1795-1884. The entry was for the baptism of 5 year old Charles Henry Thomas Stevens Hudgen in 1833. His parents are listed as Lewis Hudgen and Hannah Stevens. Hannah's parents were sponsors and were named Charles and Lydia Stevens.

The reason I was interested in this listing is because my oldest known immigrant ancestor is Charles Thomas Stevens of England, and later, of Portsmouth, NH. His wife was Lydia Jacobs. He is believed to have been born around 1754 and his emigration to America is currently unknown but it was before the 1790s, when he appears to have been married and settled in New Hampshire. He died in the 1840s at nearly 90 years of age and is buried in the crypts at the Old North Church in Boston. Charles and Lydia had several children, but up to this point only 2 have been identified by name; Charles T., born about 1815, and Mary T. Stevens Lovejoy, born about 1807. So the belief is that this Hannah Stevens Hudgen could be one of the previously unknown children of the immigrant Charles and that means another lead to finding out more about him. He is one of my brick wall ancestors in that I know next to nothing about his early life.

So, obviously I wanted to find out more about this Lewis and Hannah Hudgen of Boston. First place I turn to is the 1850 census. No luck there. Then I figured that if little Charles Henry was 5 years old in 1833, he would have been born about 1828 meaning the family should have been together in 1830. So I go to the 1830 census. No luck there either. Nor for the 1840 or 1870 census. I start searching for Charles across all census years in Boston and in all of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, no luck. Hannah, no luck. Lewis, no luck. Then I go to the Massachusetts Archives vital records search looking for either Lewis or Hannah's deaths (the search begins in 1841, too late to look for their marriage or for Charles' birth), no luck there either.

So where in the world is the Lewis Hudgen family that would have been at least a group of 3 at the time of the 1830 census, and who were living in Boston at the time of their son's baptism in New Hampshire in 1833?

Dellibac Record Survey, part 2 - Kankakee Co., IL

After doing this for Iroquois County already, I had high hopes for what was out there on Kankakee County. Unfortunately, I didn't make much headway here. There just didn't seem to be as much that was readily available for Kankakee County, which was a bit surprising. In any case, here is what I found-

-county records begin in 1853
-birth records begin in 1877 (the Kankakee Valley Genealogical Society website says 1878) and there is an index to the birth records on the KVGS website
-marriage records begin in 1853 with the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index available on the IRAD website
-death records begin in 1877 with an index on the KVGS website
-all of the above are available from the Kankakee County Clerk's Office
-land records begin in 1851 (2 years before the official formation of the county in 1853) and are available from the recorder of deeds
-probate records begin in 1853 and are available from the Circuit Court Clerk and are also online (without an index) at familysearch.org
-the Kankakee County Clerk has naturalization records
-the Kankakee Public Library has some newspapers stretching back to the 1850s on microfilm, but none are French language
-they do have a collection of "newspaper clippings about some of the French Canadian people who settles the Kankakee Area"

-a search of Chronicling America did turn up a couple of French language newspapers in the area, but none are locally held. The nearest partial holding library is the state library in Springfield.

Important Interruption from the Dellibac Debacle...

Ok, I wasn't planning on interrupting the Dellibac research series but I just can't hold this one in, especially after just leaving SLIG's Advanced Methodology class.

So let's say that you are doing a little online searching and come across an abstract of a record that appears to be for your ancestor. It is an abstract, so it contains the name of the subject and also his wife. The year is also given, along with the book and page number of the original record. What do you do now? Jot down the name of the wife, enter it into your database and call it done? How about adding the year and place where the record is found so that you can place your subject in that time and place? That's getting all the information out of that source, right?

Can we say, BIG WRONG? If you are lucky enough to find some online information like this, the first rule of the genealogy club is (don't talk about genealogy club, no that's not it) GET THE ORIGINAL! This is an abstraction. That doesn't mean they've pulled everything that may be important to you out of that document and served it up on a platter for you. Their requirements for information that was important enough to include are probably not the same as yours and the only way to truly know what is included is to see the document. Also, being able to actually have it (or an official record copy) in your hand so you know it exists without having to believe some nameless, faceless website is a big plus too. There is no way for you to reliably weigh your evidence unless you know exactly where that document and the information that it contains came from and you have no way of knowing that if you just stop the process at a website. And the biggest problem that can arise from this is that the guy with the same name in the online listing may not even be the right guy. The only way you'll know, is to check the original.

You're really are short-changing yourself by taking the quick and easy way here. You may be excited about seeing that name on an online database but don't let that cloud your brain. Get the document. Check your facts. And for goodness sakes, cite the source where it came from.

[venting off]

Start of the Record Survey for Dellibac Research

So if you've visited the site lately, you may have noticed that I've started a series of posts on the Dellibacs. I'm trying to answer the question of where (exactly) did Moise Dellibac come from. To find the answer, I've decided to start the research from the very beginning and document my work and progress on the site.

To begin with, I gave a bit of background in a previous post; the starting point information, that is. You can find that here http://genealogist-in-training.blogspot.com/2011/12/thinking-of-trying-something-new.html . The next step is to compile a record survey of what records are available for me to consult. Since Moise Dellibac lived in two Illinois counties, Iroquois and Kankakee, over the course of the period I'm tracking him (about 1855-1893) the records survey will have two parts, one for each county.

Moise's first U.S. appearance is in the 1855 Illinois State Census, where he is living with his family in Iroquois County. So my records survey section will begin in Iroquois County.

Iroquois:

To start with, I consulted the familysearch wiki for Iroquois County to get a basic jist of what's available. You can use the wiki as a starting point for just about every state and county, and even other countries. You can find the wiki here . Here's what I found for Iroquois County, IL

-birth records begin in 1878

-marriage records begin in 1866; earlier records were burned in a courthouse fire in 1866 but a reconstructed list was made by using entries from the Iroquois Journal newspaper and the St John the Baptist Catholic Church records. These records were then entered into the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index available on the IRAD website

-death records begin in 1878

-land and probate records begin in 1834; land records and original land purchases, from the 1830s to the 1880s, are available on FHL film and indexes are available on the Iroquois County Genealogical Society and GenWeb websites (there are no Dellibacs listed)

-various Catholic church records are available on FHL film and also as published abstracts, but it is currently unknown which church, if any of those available, were for the French speakers (more research on this is going to have to be done to find out where they may have gone to church if in fact they attended in Iroquois Co at all)

-Moise was probably in his late 30s-early 40s at the time of the Civil War, and as far as I can tell, he could not read or write in English, and chances are looking pretty good that he didn't speak English either so it's not very likely that he would have enlisted. However, it would be worth checking some of the ancestry.com military databases to check for him or any of his siblings, especially younger brothers, might have enlisted

-As an immigrant, the possibility of Moise going through the naturalization process is there. Iroquois naturalization papers are in the office of the County Clerk and IRAD also has the dockets (though they begin in 1873). The IRAD records begin too late for Moise, as he would already have been living in Kankakee County for some time by then. The Iroquois County Genealogical Society has indexes for the petitions and final papers beginning in the 1850s, which is the right time, but no Dellibacs are listed.

-Chronicling America has several Iroquois County newspapers listed, but very few that stretch to the 1850s, and none are in French. There are three however, that are is the right time range and are available (mostly partial holdings) on microfilm in the Watseka (town seat) library: 1- Iroquois County Press 2- Iroquois County Journal 3-Iroquois Republican

While I was in Salt Lake City last week for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG), I was able to steal away a few hours for some personal research. I took advantage of the time and started scouring some Iroquois Co. films looking for Dellibacs. I also checked a few Kankakee films, with a bit more success, but I'll save that for the Kankakee County section. Here is what I was able to check for Iroquois County:

-Iroquois County Grantee Index, 1835-1857 (no Dellibacs)
-Iroquois County Marriages, 1851-1878 (Moise and Anastasia not found)
-Iroquois County Naturalizations (Moise not found)
-Land Ownership Maps-Iroquois and Kankakee Counties, 1860 (Moise was not found but there was a notation for a "Canadian Settlement" on map #117. If Moise's Kankakee County land description can be found, it would be a good idea to return to this map and see if it falls within this area)

This is not a comprehensive list of what is available for Iroquois County, just the ones I thought would be the best to hit in the very limited time I had available. For a full list of what is available for the county, go here

So that's the rundown of what I've found so far for Iroquois County, IL. Next up, Kankakee County, IL records survey

Kindof a funny new development

Alright, so I've been working on the initial records survey for a project focusing on finding the origins of Moise Dellibac, and hopefully proving his parentage in the process. My first step here is usually to scour the web for info and resources and that includes checking the website of the local genealogical society. The earliest confirmed location in the US that I've found for Moise is in Iroquois County, IL and as it happens the county has their own society with a pretty informative website . In the database section, they have included indexes to several collections of county records. So, like the diligent family historian that I am, I figured I should probably check all that could apply to my Dellibac family. For the most part, I came up empty which isn't really surprising since it looks like they were only technically in Iroquois County for perhaps the first few years of the 1850s before their home became part of Kankakee County. But I did come up with one rather interesting hit. Of all the records that they could have shown up in on this site, the potential father of Moise (the man who has been believed to be his father by the descendants of Moise's daughter, Josephine) appears in the Index for Criminal Cases. That's right. They don't appear in the tax list, they don't appear in the marriages section, or the online grantee-grantor index, not even the probate or civil court records. The criminal case files. The online index doesn't give any specifics about what Alex Dellibac was being charged with, but there are two continuous case numbers given in the index so I'm hoping there may be some interesting information included within at least one of those files.

It's just funny to me. In all of my initial searching during this first step, I get a hit in the criminal case files for the county. Yeah, that sounds about right for my family :)

Great new resource for Quebec research

So as I'm beginning a new research project for my Dellibac ancestors from Quebec, I woke up this morning to the following posts from the Eastman's Genealogy Newsletter and Dear Myrtle about a new website for the Quebec Family History Society:

The Quebec Family History Society Launches New Website
Quebec Family History Society Launches New Website

Being a complete newbie to Quebec research, I was unaware of this group so I decided to poke around the website a bit. For the most part, I saw a lot of advice to come in to take advantage of the collections in the research room, with some brief description of a small number of what is available, and names of contacts to look up in case on-site research is unavailable. So initially I wasn't really too impressed. But then I found this page on the site, Research Tips . The page is broken down into topical categories such as Immigration, Quebec Church Records, Land Records, Court Records, Census, Military and Notary. Within each category are a selection of useful bites of information to help you understand what you might be able to find in each categorical grouping, as well as where you might find what you're looking for. In the Quebec Land Records section, the first tip tells you that there are three different land registration systems in Quebec and then gives a brief discussion of usage for all three. The tips section also tell you that the Cadastre system is the only one currently used in Quebec, so if you're looking for more modern subjects, chances are good that you're going to want to consult the Cadastre records. As the three systems did not replace one another, depending upon what time period you're looking at, there could be more than one set of land records for you to consult - one for each of the land registry systems in usage at that time and in that place, up to three sets! Why couldn't we in the US be so lucky!

There is a great array of information available on this page alone, which makes me wonder what may be available to those who decide to become a member. On the "Join Us" page, there is a run-down of the member benefits, which include discounts on research services, free lookups in commonly used collections, free issues of the member periodical, Connections, and various on-site benefits including discounts on registration fees for their workshops and events. The membership fee for an individual is $65 (not sure if that's Canadian or US) but that's right up there with the membership fees of the NEHGS, so that's one of the larger membership fees I've seen. Usually, I alternate my memberships to help with the cost issue so I'm not sure if I'll be able to swing this one anytime soon. But they do offer some nice benefits, and it would be nice to learn more about research in the are by reading their journal, so who knows. Either way, they've already set me up with a good deal of useful, beginning information on how to navigate records for Quebec so if I can ever find out where exactly my Moise Dellibac came from, perhaps these tips will help me find the most information possible.

Great tip from Michael John Neill

Are you a regular reader of the blogs of Michael John Neill? If not, you should be and here's one example why:


Can the Minister Help with Two Places at Once?

Thinking of trying something new

Ok, a while back ancestry.com was running a promotion where they would allow access to a handful of World Collection databases for free. One of those databases that was open was the Drouin Collection. For those who aren't familiar with this, it's a set of Catholic church records from primarily Quebec (though I understand there is a sprinkling of records from Ontario and other denominations included on the original film though not in the ancestry collection). The records stretch as far back as the 17th century and go all the way into the 20th. It's a huge, huge collection of the births, marriages, and deaths of French Canada and this was the first time I was able to take a look at any of it since I don't have a subscription to the World Collection, and my French is a little rusty. What happened though, is that my interest turned towards my Dellibac French Canadian ancestors and now I'm thinking I might try and run with it. There are some issues though that have been and/or will prove to be a bit sticky....and I'm not just talking about the fact that it's been more years than I prefer to count since I took high school French. Here's what I know so far:

The Run-Down-

Moise Dellibac first appears in the 1855 Illinois state census living in Iroquois County. He appears to be the head of a fairly young family with himself aged 30-40, a female aged 20-30 (presumably his wife, Anastasia Mombleau), and two males under 10. In 1860, the family is found in Kankakee County (which was formed from part of Iroquois County) with "Moyse" aged 35, his wife age 27, and three boys Frs H 4, Henry 2, and Charles 3 months, all born in Illinois. Illinois took another state census in 1865 where "Moses" is shown in Kankakee County, as of 40 and under 50, a female of 30 and under 40, and three boys 10 and under. In 1870, they are again in Kankakee County; Moise 45, Anastasie 38, F Xavier 15, Henry 13, Charles 11, Moise 4, Narcisse 2, and Josephine (my Great Great Grandmother) 1 month. The last census appearance for Moise is in 1880, where the family is again in Kankakee County. Moise is now 61 years old and his wife "Nestage" is 50. They have 6 children living with them; Xavier 24, Henry 22, Moses 14, Narcisse 11, Josephine 10, Carine 7.

Where the problems begin-

Moise's death: Anastasia was living alone as a widow in 1900 and most family members show that Moise died in Illinois (probably Kankakee County) in 1896. This information is unconfirmed and unsourced. An attempt to find a death record was attempted earlier this year, but there is no record of a death for him at the county courthouse for anytime before or after 1896 and he is not listed in the pre-1916 death index for the state.

When they came over: Through the range of all of these enumerations, the children are listed as having been born in Illinois but both parents were born in Canada. No passenger list has been found for either Moise or Anastasia (with her maiden name or as Moise's wife). No marriage for Moise and Anastasia has been found either in Kankakee or in the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index. This doesn't necessarily discount their marriage however, since the marriage records of Iroquois County for the period covering the 1850s and early to mid-1860s were burned in a courthouse fire in the late 1860s. They could have come separately, perhaps with their parents or siblings and then married in IL or come together as a newly married couple from Canada and started their family once they got here. Either way, there is no marriage record found and no passenger list for either of them.

Names: Also, the names are an issue when searching for this group. Moise is often found as Moses, Dellibac can be spelled any number of ways (including Delibac, Delliback, Deliback, De Lubac, etc.). Anastasia is found with all manner of weird spellings, both for the full given name as well as for a shortened version, like Nestage, sometimes with a random "z" thrown in for no reason. When trying to search for her family, to look for relatives who may have lived nearby, Mombleau could be Monbleau, Mombleaux, Montbleau or Montbleaux, etc. Also, let's not forget that since they were French Canadian, there may be what's known as a dit name that I'm not aware of. I've heard these French call names in several of the NGSQ articles that are case studies for primarily Louisiana families but since I haven't researched anyone of French ancestry before, I've never had to figure this part out. But this may be an issue here and without knowing what that dit name might have been, I don't really know what name they could be under, especially where the passenger list search is concerned.

Possibilities-

Anastasia is found in Kankakee County in the 1900 census living alone as a widow. She is shown as the mother of 10 children, 5 then living, and her immigration year is given as 1848. She is still there in 1910, no immigration year is given, and thanks to familysearch.org I can see that she died in Minnesota in 1919 (her son, Moise/Moses was living there at the time of the 1920 census so presumably she had gone to live close to family right before her death). While this record has been indexed on that site, very little information is shown and it is undetermined whether information was included on the original and just not transcribed onto the website or if the pertinent information regarding birth was omitted by the informant. Either way, I need to order the record just for confirmation of her death, if for nothing else. But that still doesn't help me too much with figuring out when they came to the U.S. and where in Quebec Moise had come from.

For Moise's place of birth, it may be helpful to track down the marriage and death records for the children. However, several of them died between 1855 and 1900 so I will definitely need to comb the death records to find out who died when and then go into the marriage records to find out when the girls married and who they married. The marriage records might end up being the most helpful since place of father's birth was on the marriage registers in Kankakee County around this time. Though Josephine's marriage records (she married a couple of times) don't get much more specific than Canada or French Canada, she was one of the youngest children so it would be worth going after the vital records for the older kids to compare. For all of this, the fact that the family was Catholic might end up helping me pinpoint all of the vital records, if I can find out which church they attended and then whether the records are still extant.

Also, though no death record was found for Moise, he may have had a probate case opened up. When I was in Kankakee earlier in the year, just for a brief look around, I was able to take a look at Dellibac land transactions in the deed books for the years around that questionable 1896 death date for him. There was some activity in that pre-1900 time frame to suggest that something might be going on, but I would like some additional time to see if a probate file was opened. If not, more time to go into what was happening with the land to help me narrow down when he could have died.

Another big thing with this group is that they were constantly living near extended family members. A family group with an older Dellibac is shown directly below Moise on the IL census enumeration sheet of 1855. Alex and Felicite (Gaudreau) are presumed to be Moise's parents by family members, though again, no one has presented any sourced information on this. His first appearance on census enumerations also happens to be the sheet of the Iroquois County IL census of 1855, which could be an indicator that they might have come over together though, like Moise, no passenger list has been found for him. A Joseph Dellaback is also shown on that 1855 census page in close proximity to Moise and Alex as a male age 20-30 with a female the same age. He cannot be found on schedules after that.

So I think that's the full round-up of info for now. I'm not sure if I want to jump into this, it's going to be a lot of work, and I'm not sure how successful I'll be since there are a few things here that will be new to me. But I really would like to be able to at least narrow down when Moise died a little better, and find out when he might have come over, whether it was as a married man or single and he married in Illinois, where in Quebec he came from, and whether Alex and Felicite were really his parents.

...And this all snowballed from one free week of access to one of the World Collection databases on ancestry.com. Kindof hard to think that if all this happens from one database, what would happen if I had full access to the collection? Yikes!