I just got a link to an article this morning that I wanted to share here. The Ohio Genealogical Society is looking for the gravesites of Revolutionary War vets. Volunteers and members of the county chapters are walking cemeteries looking for those who served in the Rev War in order to document the names and locations for future reference. The article mentions that many graves that have been found, have no mention of their service and some are calling for them to be memorialized in some fashion.
I was excited to hear that they were planning a documented (and I hope published) collection of the names and locations because that would be a great reference for those seeking the resting sites of their ancestors. But I was also excited about the effort because the brother of one of my ancestors (another Bromagem, this site is becoming Bromagem central! LOL) was Rev War vet and I have long suspected he was buried in Ohio but just haven't had the time to try to find him. It was one of those things on the neverending "to-do" list. But now I feel like if I can't get around to it, he won't be lost for long now that the Ohio Genealogical Society has taken the initiative. I think it's a great thing, and how wonderful would it be if more states would join in.
So here's the link to the article, take a look. http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/07/13/z-apoh_revolutionarywargrave.ART_ART_07-13-09_B5_S5EF7EE.html?sid=101
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Another strike out
So as some of you may know, my ProGen assignment for last month was to create a research plan for a brick wall problem. The problem I chose for the assignment was to find the parents (and siblings too, if possible) of Mary J. Braden Bromagen. I've spent so long working with the Bromagems over the past year or so, and still have small issues to work out, and was hesitant to completely step aside from that subject so choosing to look for the family of James Bromagem's wife seemed to be the right choice. Considering that I had absolutely nothing on her early life, prior to their marriage in Indiana in 1855, I thought it would be a fun subject to get into as well. Fun isn't really the word that I would choose at this point to describe the search.
So I got the research plan together and was really anxious to get started. I was going to continue gathering vital records on Mary's sons, particularly the death record for her eldest son, George, since she was still alive when he died and they had been living together not long before his death-she could potentially have been the informant on his death certificate and would therefore have provided first hand information regarding her maiden name and place and date of birth. However, things got sticky the day after my plan was finished. I received the death record for her daughter, Lillian, and it gave an entirely different maiden name for Mary, Hawkins. The informant was Mary's son-in-law and usually I wouldn't give much credit to information provided by an in-law of all people, but in this case I knew that Charles had a close enough relationship with Mary and dealt with her pension office affairs and would have known personal details of her life. So I thought there might be something to what he wrote on her daughter's death certificate. I entered Mary J. Hawkins into the ancestry.com search and sure enough I got a hit. In 1835 William Hawkins married Mary J. Braden in Harrison Co, IN. The name of the bride and the date of this marriage fit in perfectly with someone who could be related to my subject, possibly even her mother. So now I need to go back and redo a research plan that will include an investigation of this couple to find out if this is indeed a relation.
If it is Mary's mother though, why then would her maiden name not appear on her marriage certificate as Mary Hawkins? Could William Hawkins not be her father? Or was there a divorce and Mary was given her mother's maiden name? These are all premature questions of course. But they are things to keep in mind for the future. I've been scouring census records looking for Bradens with a daughter matching Mary's stats in the 1850 census, and while there are possibilities, none are in the target area of Randolph County, where Mary and James were married in 1855. I also checked the census records for 1840 and 1850 for Mary and William Hawkins' family in Harrison Co. It looks like William had died by 1840, or was at least out of the picture because Mary J. was on her own with a child in Harrison County in the 1840 census. Another thing to keep in mind.
I hit another snag in the road today though. After reading my newest NGS Magazine this morning, I was reminded that sometimes women returned to their parents home to give birth to their first child. The pension paperwork stated that their first child, Eliza, was born in Wells Co, IN in 1856 so I thought I would look for Bradens and Hawkins in Wells Co in the 1850 and 1860 census. I wasn't able to find any leads there though. I thought I had one, but when I followed it in 1860 it turned out not to be correct.
So for now, I just need to keep gathering records on the children and then get everything together and see what I have. Then I'll get a new plan together to investigate my leads. It's a little frustrating being in record limbo now though. I want to keep moving on but once again, the long distance aspect is getting in the way. Very frustrating!
So I got the research plan together and was really anxious to get started. I was going to continue gathering vital records on Mary's sons, particularly the death record for her eldest son, George, since she was still alive when he died and they had been living together not long before his death-she could potentially have been the informant on his death certificate and would therefore have provided first hand information regarding her maiden name and place and date of birth. However, things got sticky the day after my plan was finished. I received the death record for her daughter, Lillian, and it gave an entirely different maiden name for Mary, Hawkins. The informant was Mary's son-in-law and usually I wouldn't give much credit to information provided by an in-law of all people, but in this case I knew that Charles had a close enough relationship with Mary and dealt with her pension office affairs and would have known personal details of her life. So I thought there might be something to what he wrote on her daughter's death certificate. I entered Mary J. Hawkins into the ancestry.com search and sure enough I got a hit. In 1835 William Hawkins married Mary J. Braden in Harrison Co, IN. The name of the bride and the date of this marriage fit in perfectly with someone who could be related to my subject, possibly even her mother. So now I need to go back and redo a research plan that will include an investigation of this couple to find out if this is indeed a relation.
If it is Mary's mother though, why then would her maiden name not appear on her marriage certificate as Mary Hawkins? Could William Hawkins not be her father? Or was there a divorce and Mary was given her mother's maiden name? These are all premature questions of course. But they are things to keep in mind for the future. I've been scouring census records looking for Bradens with a daughter matching Mary's stats in the 1850 census, and while there are possibilities, none are in the target area of Randolph County, where Mary and James were married in 1855. I also checked the census records for 1840 and 1850 for Mary and William Hawkins' family in Harrison Co. It looks like William had died by 1840, or was at least out of the picture because Mary J. was on her own with a child in Harrison County in the 1840 census. Another thing to keep in mind.
I hit another snag in the road today though. After reading my newest NGS Magazine this morning, I was reminded that sometimes women returned to their parents home to give birth to their first child. The pension paperwork stated that their first child, Eliza, was born in Wells Co, IN in 1856 so I thought I would look for Bradens and Hawkins in Wells Co in the 1850 and 1860 census. I wasn't able to find any leads there though. I thought I had one, but when I followed it in 1860 it turned out not to be correct.
So for now, I just need to keep gathering records on the children and then get everything together and see what I have. Then I'll get a new plan together to investigate my leads. It's a little frustrating being in record limbo now though. I want to keep moving on but once again, the long distance aspect is getting in the way. Very frustrating!
Virginia Historical Society Event
In this month's Virginia Genealogical Society Newsletter there is an announcement for the Virginia Historical Society stating that there will be no admission charge on any day between June 6th and August 30th. Usually there is a $5 admission fee for adults, except on Sundays so this would be a great time to check it out if you haven't already. The Virginia Historical Society is located at 428 North Boulevard in Richmond, VA. They are open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10am-5pm and on Sundays from 1pm-5pm only the galleries and shops are open.
Free Book Download and Maureen Taylor
In the new volume of the NGS Magazine (April-June 2009, v. 35 no. 2) there is an announcement about an offer made available by F + W Media. If you go to their website, www.fwmedia.com and sign up for their e-newsletter you can receive a free download of Maureen Taylor's "Photo Detective" from Family Tree Magazine. Maureen Taylor is known as an expert on combining photography and genealogy so if you have an interest in finding out more about dating old family photos and how to find out who is in those old photos, you should check out the free download, as well as Maureen's website at www.maureentaylor.com and her blog at http://photodetective.blogspot.com
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
New blog resource for those working TN, KY, and VA
I stumbled across a set of blogs last night that have some helpful information for those working with Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, research and even a bit of North Carolina too. The link is http://arleneeakle.com/ and it's one woman's genealogy site with separate blogs for each of the three states, as well as a blog on genealogical evidence. Clicking on the link will take you to the home page and if you look to the right side there are the links to get to the blogs. There are some interesting and helpful threads in each of them so it's definitely worth checking out, especially for those working in the states of interest.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Finally back to the blog
Well after an extremely long and frustrating house/apartment-hunting trip to Illinois, I am back home and ready to get to work on a bunch of new projects. First though, a little catching up with the blog.
Did anyone go back and take a look at a brick wall obstacle in their files? Come up with a new plan? I got my research plan on a problematic ancestor together while I was away and I can't wait to get started. More on that later.
Also, before I left I brought up the possibility of doing some special spotlight-type posts such as book reviews, photo days, search questions, etc. I received a few emails on the subject and there was some interest in the search question days as well as book reviews. So I'll see if I can figure out a plan for integrating those things into the page. The search question idea that was brought up to me sounds good but it would rely upon submissions from the readers, not just my own research issues. So if you've got an issue that you would like to see presented to the site, then start emailing me about it. Once I get an idea of how to get these ideas off the ground, I'll start putting them up. I have a few ideas for the first book review too so hopefully that will be something to look for in the next few weeks. This is still such a new blog so I can't wait to start giving it a bit more direction. Should be great!
Did anyone go back and take a look at a brick wall obstacle in their files? Come up with a new plan? I got my research plan on a problematic ancestor together while I was away and I can't wait to get started. More on that later.
Also, before I left I brought up the possibility of doing some special spotlight-type posts such as book reviews, photo days, search questions, etc. I received a few emails on the subject and there was some interest in the search question days as well as book reviews. So I'll see if I can figure out a plan for integrating those things into the page. The search question idea that was brought up to me sounds good but it would rely upon submissions from the readers, not just my own research issues. So if you've got an issue that you would like to see presented to the site, then start emailing me about it. Once I get an idea of how to get these ideas off the ground, I'll start putting them up. I have a few ideas for the first book review too so hopefully that will be something to look for in the next few weeks. This is still such a new blog so I can't wait to start giving it a bit more direction. Should be great!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Something to think about...
Hey all, just wanted to let everyone know that I haven't forgotten about the blog. I was out of town last week and am getting ready to head out again this weekend for a couple of weeks. I'm hoping to come back with some new ideas but I wanted to leave you all with a little something to think about.
This month's assignment in my ProGen group is to return to a problem in your research and reassess your approach. Take another look at the facts, make a timeline or list of what you know and what you don't, and make up an official research plan, just as if you were preparing it for a client. So that's something that I'll be working on for the next couple of weeks and I thought it might be a good exercise for you all to work on or to think about as well. I hear professionals exclaim over and over again that with all of their client work they no longer have time to work on their own files, so this might be a good exercise for us, as transitionals, to keep from forgetting about your own work.
Good luck and I'll be back in a couple of weeks, hopefully with new thoughts and ideas to share!
This month's assignment in my ProGen group is to return to a problem in your research and reassess your approach. Take another look at the facts, make a timeline or list of what you know and what you don't, and make up an official research plan, just as if you were preparing it for a client. So that's something that I'll be working on for the next couple of weeks and I thought it might be a good exercise for you all to work on or to think about as well. I hear professionals exclaim over and over again that with all of their client work they no longer have time to work on their own files, so this might be a good exercise for us, as transitionals, to keep from forgetting about your own work.
Good luck and I'll be back in a couple of weeks, hopefully with new thoughts and ideas to share!
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