A Cousin's Request, Stone Errors, Wet Basement, Divorce Report, Situation Wanted, Udder Book, Hoeing Taters, Day of Your Birth Stories

Bits of this and that from my section of genealogyland

Our recent social media postings.

A Cousin’s Request

My cousin texted me out of the blue and asked for a copy of the family genealogy yesterday. I chatted with him for a bit as given the number of relatives we share this could be a monstrous task.

The short version of the conversation was that he really wanted was a genealogy of the descendants of our great-grandpa’s siblings. This has never been compiled to the best of my knowledge but I have spent some time finding them and figuring them out. None of the relationships have been difficult to prove or establish. This is not genealogy research in pre-1700 Virginia or Colonial New York. These are the descendants of seven siblings born between 1867 and 1885 or so and lived most of their life in rural Illinois where records are not perfect, but easy enough to find to establish connections. The DNA matches are consistent with the paper trail.

And then I reached a dangerous conclusion.

It would be perfectly fine if the genealogy were incomplete and if I didn’t bathe it in citations.

I’ll compile what I can and may just go down to the time period that covers the generation of the parents of my cousin and myself. That will be enough for anyone seeing it to figure out where they connect.

My cousin isn’t wanting an academic treatise.

Then I’ll send copies to a few local societies and libraries and move on to the next project--an compilation of our common ancestors.

But if someone says they want “the family history,” chat a bit and see what they are actually interested in.

Stone Errors

Have you encountered a stone with an error that someone tried to fix?

This is the stone of my great-grandparents at the Bethany UCC Cemetery in Tioga, Illinois. Her first name was Ida. She was not named Ada at all. Every record I have on her (every census 1880-1930), civil records of her two marriages, church record of her marriage, birth certificates of all her children, baptismal records of her children, her death certificate, her obituary, and numerous gossip column newspaper references refer to her first name as Ida.

I visited the stone with Ida’s daughter, my grandmother, and she confirmed the error.

I note the error in my records. I transcribe the stone as inscribed.

Do you have a stone where they’ve tried to make a correction?

The Really Wet Basement

Don’t let this happen to your genealogy stuff. Prepare for various disasters...large and small.

My basement flooded and I drug up what I could into the garage. Fortunately we got the pump working and the damage was less than it could have been. I was not very organized dragging stuff into the garage.

My genealogy stuff and books were not in the basement...I know better than that.

This is just your reminder. Also reminds me that when things have to get moved/saved quickly items get broken, can become disorganized, lost, etc.

Divorce Record Report

This “Divorce Record Report” was found via the full-text search at FamilySearch. It’s the image of the card, but the information provided on the card is secondary--as it’s not the marriage record or the divorce decree itself. Saying information is secondary is not the same as saying it is wrong...it simply means that the information was copied from another record.

From a practical standpoint, the county of the divorce is likely correct...it’s possible the date is off. I’d transcribe this as written and use the card as the source until I found the divorce record and marriage record.

It turns out the date of marriage is correct, but the location is wrong. It was not Quincy, nor did the marriage take place in the county for which Quincy is the county seat. I have their marriage record. That would be the best source for marriage date and place--not this item.

Newspaper Divorce Details

Always look in the newspaper for mention of a divorce. Many older newspapers--particularly 1880s or so through the 1950s/1960s--would publish details that today they would not.

Local court records should be accessed as well--just make certain to know where the individuals were living at the time and what court in that area heard divorce cases.

Feel free to post questions in the comments. The image is from Pueblo, Colorado, in 1921.

Situation Wanted

The 1921 Pueblo Colorado's newspaper account of Clara Rampley's divorce indicted she lived in Kansas for a time. This 1915 reference in the Wichita Eagle indicated she was at least in Wichita in November of 1915 and looking for work.

The Udder Book

Researcher walks into the courthouse and asks for the Udder Book. Clerk has no idea what the Udder Book is and thinks the researcher means the “Other Book,” but that doesn’t make any sense either, so he asks the researcher what he means.

“I need the Udder Book. It’s the Udder Book. A professional genealogist told me to milk the records.”

————–

Well, I thought it was funny.

And it’s a good reminder that researchers need to metaphorically milk the records.

Day of Your Birth Stories

Were you told any stories about the day of your birth? All I was told was that it was really hot the day before and my parents went to the Tastee Freeze for an ice cream cone and that night Mom went into labor.

All I was told about my brother’s birth is that when Mom went into labor she got me in the car, took me to Grandma’s and dropped me off for her to watch me, and drove herself to the hospital. That was in October so I’m assuming Dad was in the field due to harvest. There were no cell phones to call my Dad and Grandma didn’t drive.

A few years ago, I checked the weather the day before I was born. It was warm but not unseasonably so for the time of year.

Don’t forget to record those memories--or what you were told. Details you know of your own birth are from what you were told...not from what you remember actually happening.

Hoeing Taters

I am surmising that “hoe ‘taters’” meant be a general farm hand and not just do nothing but “hoe taters,” but I could be mistaken. A little reminder that phrases used in newspapers may not mean literally what appears on the page.

Four mentioned in the tater crew bit were related. Arsulus and Charlie Rampley were first cousins. Charlie’s sister was married to Ross Gillham and John Loft (actually Luft) was married an aunt of the Rampleys.

I think the Barnett is “Orve” (actually Orville).

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