Interment records St Joseph- Washtenaw County

http://www.interment.net/data/us/mi/washtenaw/stjoseph/index.htm

Jackson County Michigan meeting

Jackson County Genealogical Society monthly meeting is this Tuesday, Dec. 6th, 6:30PM, at Jackson Dept On Aging cafeteria. Phil Rosenberger will talk on adoptions, searching for adoptees, and life at the Kellogg Sanitarium. Would love to see you there!!

Check this out

Welcome to the Detroit Society for Genealogical Research

www.dsgr.org

Detroit Society for Genealogical Research, Inc. Est. 1938, works in conjunction with the renowned Burton Historical Collection at the Main Detroit Public Library to research, preserve, and transcribe

Classes to check out

Michigan Genealogy Crash Course: Find Your Great Lakes Ancestors | FamilyTreeUniversity.com

www.familytreeuniversity.com

Michigan's unique position as the Great Lakes state means that it has a long and colorful history. Whether your ancestors passed through Michigan or stayed for

Bad software

6 Bad Things About Today's Genealogy Software
http://www.beholdgenealogy.com/blog/?p=875

Quesitons about the Grandparents

Where and when were your grandparents born? (both sets) What do/did they look like?  What were their occupations?  How did they come to meet and marry?

 

This is a important question, because this moves us on to the next generation.  Family members did not always come from where you thought they did.  My fathers family was in Ohio when he was born, but they were regionally from Michigan. My mom was born in Michigan, but her family was originally from Ohio.  Both families moved a great deal prior to getting settled in one place, but would eventually locate where other family members had already located.

Asking questions about appearance may not seem like much, but they may provide clues on ethnic origins.  It will explain many of the features and characteristics of our current generation that we may not understand today.

Jobs were so important to understanding our nations transition from a Agrarian society to a urban setting.  In my own family they had been farmers for generations, but then in the early 1900's they moved to cities and started working factory and railroad jobs.  They moved from living on large pieces of land.  They located in apartments and city houses.  Many things had changed from living a farmers life.

It is important to understand where your grandparents met, because it will offer clues on other family members.  Did they meet at church or school?  Maybe a place they worked or someone that lived in the neighborhood.  Were they friends with other family members?  All of these are important facts for our continued genealogical journey.

Family Interview continued

When and where were your parents born?  What are their full names?  What do/did they look like?  What were their occupations?  How did they come to meet and marry?  

Again the plan here is to the more interesting information about our families histories.  Understanding if they were born in the same town they live in now.  Were they born overseas and where?  Understanding what there full names will help in looking for future generations, because of the use of common naming patterns.  Understanding if names were changed and why.

I am always struck the looks of ancestors two generations ago and the resemblance to the people of today.  My father is short, but if you look at my grandpa and all his brothers they are very tall.  

Where did they work?  The jobs of yesteryear are often ones that do not even exist in today's world.  Were they laborers, farmers or work for the railroad.  Occupations and the accumulation of wealth often explains the lack of a paper trail.  People that did not have a lot of money did not normally have very good paper trails.

Where did they meet shows the closeness of neighborhoods.  Did they meet at church or school?  Were they a friend of another member of the family?  All important items for putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

Michigan State Archives

A big chunk of the previously-missing death records from the "Death Records, 1897-1920" database have been posted at the Seeking Michigan web site.

More coming in the next few days, check it out!

Good advice

Sometimes we need to forget we are a genealogist and

• think about census taking as if it were our job
• pretend we were the clerk that couldn't understand your ancestor
• imagine we are a semi-literate frontiersman collecting taxes
• imagine you are a non-English speaker with a fear of the government who sees the census taker coming
• think what it might have been like to have 4 small children, little money to spare, and barely able to afford a burial plot, let alone a tombstone

Remember, the research is about our ancestors and the people who created the records that we use--not necessarily about us.

 

Good advice from Michael Neill.

Online genealogy classes for begineers

Big news! We've created a whole new series of courses for beginners. These First Steps classes are designed to help you build a solid foundation of good research skills. Click on the link below to learn more about our newest class, "Using Birth Records" (but hurry—it starts on Monday!).

First Steps: Using Birth Records | FamilyTreeUniversity.com

www.familytreeuniversity.com

National Black Genealogy Summit

Still time to register for the National Black Genealogy Summit, Fort Wayne, Indiana 20-22 October. (Walk-in registrations will be accepted, but register ahead of time --frees up time for research in the Genealogy Center!)

Court house visit

If you are going to visit the court records office in a rural courthouse, considering finding out what days are days when court is in session. Offices are usually busier those days, and if possible, going on off court days may make things easier.

Migration site

Great site.  www.migrations.org

Genealogy class Detroit Public Library

Saturday, October 8 · 10:30am - 4:00pm
Location: Detroit Public Library (Explorer's Room)
5201 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI

Detroit Society for Genealogical Research

After a 15 minute business meeting to elect the proposed slate of officers and to approve the 2011-2012 budget, we will begin our program on Beginning Genealogy. 10:45 - 11:15 - Getting Started on Your Family History (Sue Cromwell); 11:30 - 12:00 - Researching in Church Records (Rev. Cory Randall); 12:00 - 12:45 Break for Lunch; 12:45 - 1:15 - Census Records Research (Jim Jackson); and 1:30 - 2:00 - Newspaper Research (Karen Krugman). After the last presentation, DSGR members will be available to assist you in your research in the Burton Collection records.

Google Tips

Google Search Tips for Genealogists | TechTips | FamilySearch

www.familysearch.org

The Google Genealogist shares some tips to utilize the latest tools from Google to find your family history.

Input needed

Folks I need your input.  Do you have things you come across while searching your family that you have questions about?  Please post them on this site and I will respond with answers that will help you as well as other readers.  I look forward to your comments. 

For the New genealogist

We're looking for our next Family Tree Firsts blogger. Maybe it's you! Click the link below to find out more.

Genealogy Insider - We're on the Lookout for a Family Tree Firsts Blogger!

blog.familytreemagazine.com

Continuning the family interview

When and where did you meet your wife/husband?  How did your meeting come about?  Was she/he your first love?  Can you describe the proposal, the wedding ceremony, the honeymoon? 

The stories that make genealogy interesting are those that brings our relatives lives alive.  These are not normally going to be found in a book or online.  They come from the memories of our relative both oral and those that have been documented.


Learning the events that led up to our parents marriage adds the important parts to our genealogy.  Getting the specifics of where they met.  How long the courtship lasted and such always provide interesting stories.  Learning of previous loves is always a interesting feature of the family interview.  


Then finally all the dealing with the wedding.  Who was in the wedding? Who attended?  What church were you married in?  Did you have a reception?  For future generations this is genealogy gold.  This is why we do the research we do.  We want to learn about our families lives.  Through understanding them our own lives start to make more sense.

Genealogy Timelines

Historical Timelines | Luxegen Genealogy and Family History

Using a Timeline - Historical events help determine why our ancestors chose to migrate from the homeland to a new country.

Excellent search helper

just installed 16,234 new US and surname genealogy links from Karen and the Linkpendium volunteers at http://www.Linkpendium.com/ Linkpendium now indexes 9,467,172 genealogical Web pages. THANKS to all the volunteers who are submitting links -- everyone, please make sure we include your favorite sites!

Linkpendium

Andersonville Civil War

Folks here is a new civil war site dealing those soldiers from the North that spent time at Andersonville.  It also talks about the Sultanna disaster that was bringing many poor souls back up North when it sank.

http://www.civilwarprisoners.com/

Using that GPS for genealogy

Mapping and Geolocation | TechTips | FamilySearch

www.familysearch.org

You need at least three pieces of information to identify an ancestor: a name, a date, and a place. I often see individuals listed in pedigrees by genealogists with a name and a date, but often the place is something really general like Michigan or United States. Since almost all genealogical records ar...

Revolutionary Thought

Genealogy Tip of the Day

Not every research problem can be solved by an internet search. Some sources are only in their original form and require onsite access.

Genealogy- Putting together the flavr of family

When and where were your brothers and sisters born?  Did they marry?  Have Families? (Follow up for the details) What were they like?  Do you have any favorite memories of them? 

The important element of identifying the location of birth for the siblings is to put together the migration pattern of the family.  In my own family my grandmothers family moved from Northwest Ohio, Northeast Indiana, Northeast Ohio and then finally to Southeastern Michigan.  The motivation was the time period and the constant need to find employment.  In this situation it was not driven by family already being located in the area.  Each of my G Aunt's and Uncle's was born in a different location.  Meeting their spouses all along the way.


The importance of marriage is when you are looking to trace the siblings lines.  Learning about these families help in understanding the fabric of the family.


Understanding more about siblings helps in understanding more about your own family line.  This to me is what makes genealogy fun.

Genealogy- Confirming the location

Where were you born and when?  Do you remember any stories that your parents shared with you about your birth?  Do you have your birth and/ or baptismal certificates?

It is important that you get all the information when determining where people were born.  Remember in rural locations the family home was a common place or the local midwife.  Remember to people would go to the closest city which did not always mean in the same county, state or country.  I did research for a client who had family in Vermont and could not locate them.  They happened to live along the US Canadian border.  Guess what the family filed all their records in Canada.  
When interviewing for stories in large families remember memories are going to vary a great deal from the youngest child to the oldest.  You will get surprises from the people that you would not have felt when you started would have had the most information.  Interview everyone that is willing.
In many cases the best source for birth records prior to a civil record would be the church.  Remember that baptismal certificates often indicate the date they were baptized not the day they were born.
Tomorrow more insight into the questions.

Genealogy- Analyzing the question

What is your full name?  Do you know why your parents chose that name for you?  Were you named after an ancestor?  Someone famous?  Do you have a nickname? 

Why you say is it important to get the full name of the ancestor?  Well for one thing it was very common to get the middle name of many of our  ancestors from surnames on the maiden side of the family.  In my genealogy I had a middle name that was used repeatedly.  It turned out that two generations down the line it ended up being a surname.  This is very common.
Knowing why someone used a particular first name may offer clues to past generations.  Naming traditions were very common in many ethnic backgrounds.  The first born son was named after the fathers father, the first born daughter was named after the fathers mother, second son was named after the mother's father, second daughter after the mother's mother and so on down the line.  Please understand that our families were not real creative in coming up with regional names.  A relative uncommon name like Magdalena can be popular when naming traditions are involved.
A common name to someone famous does not indicate that your ancestor is related to that person somehow.  It is common today to have research done to prove relationships to people that are famous.  Proof is not always there.  
Finally pay attention to nicknames.  My own grandmother was named Babe for the first five years of her life, because my great grandparents could not decide on a family name.  Surprisingly these names appear many times in public records.  Checking several sources will help in finding the true name.  
So when doing your interviews be sure to ask questions that will offer solutions to problems that may be created as you do your research.

Genealogy- Putting together the questions

Questions to ask

–What is your full name?  Do you know why your parents chose that name for you?  Were you named after an ancestor?  Someone famous?  Do you have a nickname?

–Where were you born and when?  Do you remember any stories that your parents shared with you about your birth?  Do you have your birth and/ or baptismal certificates?

–When and where were your brothers and sisters born?  Did they marry?  Have Families? (Follow up for the details) What were they like?  Do you have any favorite memories of them?

–When and where did you meet your wife/husband?  How did your meeting come about?  Was she/he your first love?  Can you describe the proposal, the wedding ceremony, the honeymoon?

–When and where were your parents born?  What are their full names?  What do/did they look like?  What were their occupations?  How did they come to meet and marry? 

–Where and when were your grandparents born? (both sets) What do/did they look like?  What were their occupations?  How did they come to meet and marry?

–Who was the oldest person you can remember in your family as a child?  What do you remember about them?  Do you remember visiting other relatives or family friends as a child?

–Did you serve in any wars?  If so, which war?  Which branch of the service were you in?

–Are there any items, traditions or customs in the family which have been handed down from generation to generation (these could include everything from naming traditions to jewelry to recipes)?

   

I will be putting more questions together in the next few days.

Genealogy- Preparing for the interview

•Gathering Oral History

–Decide where to start

•Start with the family historian.

•Interview the older members of your family.

–Make a Game Plan

•Start with setting a appointment.

•Write down questions to work off.

•Bring along family chart and things that you have found so far that will jog memories.

–Tips for interview

•Read information on doing proper interviews.

•Consider writing or emailing questions

•Use the Phone

–This by far can be the hardest. 

 

 

•Asking the correct questions

–Do your research.

•Make sure you know how the person being interviewed fits into the family.

•Use your charts as a guide.

–Use open ended questions.

•Get the person to tell stories instead of yes or no answers.

–Try to elicit facts.

•Be sure to find out the how, why, where, when and what

 

Tomorrow we will work on the questions to ask.

Genealogy Talking to the relatives

Visit Family members homes or via the phone to locate information.

–Be respectful of their wishes.

–Best way is to get them involved in the hunt.

–Remind them you are looking for personnel history.

–Make sure to have your questions ready.

–Use a family check list to complete your hunt.

•Clues from Family Sources

–Photographs

•Names and dates

•Photographers mark

•Clothing and houses

–Postcards

•Pictures may offer clues to where they lived.

•Comments on the back may offer clues.

–Vital Records

•May be stored in a variety of places.

•Just the fact they were saved makes them important.

•Birth, marriage & death certificates, baptismal certificates, naturalization papers, wills, patents, military enlistments, discharges.

•Clues from Family sources

–Diaries, Letters & Journals

•Here is where you learn the stories of your families past.

•These are the important facts that document the events of their lives.

–Family Bibles

•The births, marriages and deaths that are documented are invaluable.

•Traditionally given at the time of a marriage of a couple.

•Documents many facts that you may not find somewhere else.

–Scrapbooks

•Will include obits, wedding & anniversary announcements, graduation and other events of their lives.

Saturday I will add more.

Genealogy Help for the support

Just wanted to thank those other sights that are sending their folks my way.  Please check out their blogs as well.

www.jessica journal.blogspot.com

I will continue with contacting those relative tomorrow.

Genealogy Contacting the Relatives

   Now that we have gathered the information we have at home the next step is to put it in a context that we can understand where we need to go.   This step involved putting together all the names that you know starting with you.  This can all be put on what is know as a Pedigree chart.  Typically these are what is known as a five generation chart.  Start on the left side of the sheet.  Then work your way to the right and fill out as many blanks as you are able.  The top part of the charts is your paternal line (father's side) and the bottom portion is the maternal line (mother's side).  Be sure to fill out the categories of birth, marriage and death.  Please identify the date as follows. ex 4 September 2011.  Include the location of the event. (Toledo, Lucas, Ohio)  Don't worry about filling it all out if you don't have it all.  Reference where you got your information.  A genealogy without proof is fiction.
   Evaluate the blank spots.  This give us the areas where we need to find more information.  At this stage of the search it is now time to contact relatives.  Start by making a list of people you know.  As you go through the contact process be sure to ask for names with others that may be able to help.  Be aware that often the people you think will help and those you don't think will help do.  Information comes from the most unlikely places.  The stories from the oldest to youngest can vary a great deal.  Prior to making the calls, make a list of questions that will help you keep on track.  Tomorrow we will go over a list of questions.

Genealogy- Why Start?

Are you thinking about researching your Family?  Most people face this question at the beginning of their search.  Many start after they retire, but for me it began when I turned thirteen years old.  Some people are just curious about there families past.  For others it becomes a search for medical history.

  One of the first steps in preparing for the search is to look to see what you have on hand.  For me it was a large box that was handed to my mother when one of our relatives died.
  Things to look for include obituaries, family bibles, discharge papers, birth announcements, etc. etc.  Much of this information will not make sense in the beginning, but make sure to keep it.  The family bible often given as a gift when a couple got married was the safe in olden times.  Don't just look at the family information on the inside, but leaf through all the pages.  Here if you get lucky you will find funeral cards, obits or military discharge records.
  Make sure to organize this information for later use. One of the largest challenges for any genealogist is keeping things organized.  This should start from the beginning.  The next step is to contact relatives.

Genealogy Class Begineers Moncolva (Toledo)

The Monclova Community Center will have genealogy expert Derek Davey teaching a six-week course .
Class participants will also have the change to go to the Allen County Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana at the end of the course with Derek. Class size is limited.
When: beginning Friday, September 30 from 10 a.m. – 12 noon

Monroe County Michigan

This is all via the NEHGS website.

Spotlight: Monroe County, Michigan, Databases
by Valerie Beaudrault

Monroe in History, Michigan

The city of Monroe is the seat of Monroe County, located in the southeast corner of Michigan’s lower peninsula. The Monroe in History website is the result of a collaborative effort among three entities: Monroe County Community College, the Monroe County Museum/Historical Commission, and the Monroe County Historical Society. Its purpose is to be a resource “students and researchers can use in their studies, and to foster interest in local history.”

Historical Photographs
The photographs in this collection are from the Monroe County Historical Museum Archives. They are organized into categories: agriculture, bridges, churches and church buildings, clubs and teams, commercial buildings, government services, industry, lake and river, military, monuments, newspaper specials, people, residences, schools, streets, and transportation. To view a photograph, first click on the category link to open a new page with links to the individual photographs. Click the "Back" link to return to the page with links to the photographs. The large jpeg image may be downloaded to your computer, if you are not able to view the PDF files by clicking on the link. You must have a photo-editing program to print the images.

Civil War Letters
The letters and other written materials in this collection are from the Monroe County Historical Museum Archives. The writings of thirteen individuals are represented here. Sometimes there are several letters authored by a single individual, other times there is only a single letter. The letters are available in two formats. They may be opened as PDF or as jpeg image files. The documents may be downloaded and printed.

Index to Images and Letters
An index to the complete collection of images and letters has been provided on the website to enable you to quickly find items. Click on the links in the index list to open them.

Genealogy Collection, Monroe County Public Library, Michigan

A number of resources are available on the library’s website. In addition to Monroe County resources, there are a couple from the bordering area of Ohio. Scroll down to the section titled ‘Resources Available @ MCPL’ to access them.

Bygones of Monroe
This section contains transcriptions of articles from Monroe County area newspapers. The ange of subjects covered by the articles include social gatherings, such as the Annual Muskrat Banquet (where nearly 1,800 muskrats were eaten), obituaries, reports of Civil War era activities and actions, and Circuit Court reports.

Laurent Durocher Account Books
This resource is the alphabetical index to the account books of Laurent Durocher, who was active in the founding of Frenchtown, which became known as Monroe. It covers a thirty year period, from May 1, 1812, to February 24, 1842. The volume begins with family vital statistics information. The remainder covers Durocher’s “merchant business, banker, postage, tavern business and legal work.”

War of 1812 Veterans Buried in Monroe County
The list of fifty veterans of the War of 1812 buried throughout Monroe County was published in the April 17, 1951, edition of the Monroe Evening News. It was prepared from cemetery and war records and local histories.

Indexes
There are a number of indexes on the website, including:

Itemizer Surname Index; a surname index to the Itemizer, a Monroe newspaper that covered the societal happenings of the area, for the years 1877 and 1878.

Marion Child’s Interviews: Monroe resident Marion Child conducted interviews with elderly county residents during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The index is organized by topic and copies of the information may be ordered from the library.

There are two obituary indexes. One is an alphabetical index to the Monroe Commercial for the period from 1870 through 1873, plus 1878. It contains the name of the deceased, date of the obituary and page and column numbers. The other is an alphabetical index to the Wood County Sentinel newspaper, which was published in Bowling Green, Ohio. It covers the period from 1867 through 1876. The data fields include name, city, death date, age, obituary date, and page and column numbers.

There is an index to St. Mary’s Catholic Church baptism records for the period 1830 – 1839. The data fields in this index include the name of the individual being baptized, both parents’ full names, date of birth, and page number.

The Mount Carmel Cemetery is located in Toledo, Ohio. It is one of Toledo’s oldest Catholic Cemeteries, dating back to 1845. This database is an alphabetical surname index, which contains the section and lot number as well. The cemetery records have been microfilmed.

In addition you will find a list of Monroe County cemeteries and local newspapers, as well as information on tombstone carvings and their meanings.