Formerly at a3genealogy.com — this is the official a3Genealogy blog home.
This blog specializes in genealogy and historical research education. No revenue or funding is generated from this blog. Educational Purposes Only
I suggest to beginners to collect their data, but don’t just pull document after document to prove your ancestor’s existence without understanding what the data is telling you. What is your ancestor’s story? It is written between the lines, hidden within one word, or in one obscure date.
I recently pulled no less than 30 pages of Swedish records on a Samuelsson family that I was following. I copied birth, marriage, household examinations and death records for a period of about 50 years. Then, I paused!
Write That Report
The best way to analyze your data is to write about it. Begin writing for yourself or your client, not when the project is finished - since it will never be finished – but when you believe you have sufficient data to tell a story. Then, you will find your holes, which will keep you focused toward finding “the rest of the story.”
Analyzing Data
With magnifying glass in hand, I realized that my Samulesson’s marriage record revealed that he was a soldier in the Swedish military and had served in both France and England. It was buried between his homeplace and date and marriage date. Just “aft. sold P. France, Lon England…”meaning formerly soldier. . Why not find out what was going on in the 1850’s in Sweden that would warrant such a service?
I mistakenly assumed two children as being one: Anna Charlotta and Alma Charlotta (Samuelsdotter). But in analyzing church records and various household examinations, it was clear that these were two different daughters born within two years of each other. With this knowledge, I was able to find the death record of Anna Charlotta and her losing battle with smallpox. She was born and gone, before her sister Alma ever entered this world but who was given Charlotta as her baptismal name also. With the quality of the microfilm copies on Genline, it was easy to mistake Alma for Anna and not realize that they were two individuals not one. But, by reviewing all the documentation, the one household examination with Anna’s birth date was uncovered. Was smallpox in an epidemic stage in Sweden in 1860?
By analyzing data, you not only can prove a hypothesis, you are able to uncover social history and culture and make your story more interesting. Sure the dates are useful, but it’s the story we are after.
Happy researching and analyzing. Hoping you uncover your story!
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCM)
Our ancestors, including women, were not as boring as the picture we paint. Some joined the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, as early as 1810 and traveled as far as Africa and China to meet the mission to "spread [of] the gospel in Heathen lands."
By 1910, the ABCM was operating 102 missions with over 600 staff in Africa: Angola, Zulus of South Africa and Rhodesia; four different regions in China; the "Papal lands" of Mexico; and many other countries. Earlier dedicated workers built missions to serve the Cherokees of Tennessee and Pawnee Tribe of Nebraska, for example; and built indigenous Hawaiian missions.
Researching ABCM Staff
Genealogists and family researchers will want to rifle through the voluminous letters that have been salvaged, indexed and made available on microfilm. There are even folios accounting for the missionaries from the field. Although the ABCM had a Congregationalist base, it was made up of an inter-denominational society, including Methodist, Presbyterian and Reformed churches.
How Ancestor's Served
ABCM maintained at least ten medical missionaries to include medical dispensaries and hospitals, and facilitated over 450 boarding schools for both boys and girls, and colleges for native students.
Women in the Mission
Woman's Boards of Missions were organized in 1868 to promote work with women in the mission field. The originals are held at the Houghton Library of Harvard University. By 1890 sixteen female agents served in twenty-eight missionaries.
Recently, while researching a North Dakota Norwegian immigrant who disappeared in 1918, it was proven she traveled to China for the ABCM. The 18 year old was easily traced from the time she was processed in Ellis Island in 1906 to her completion of business school and her first job in North Dakota. But by 1919, all traces of Helen disappeared, until her found passport revealed China and Japan as her destination to fulfill her American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions employment. I found pages of my subject's correspondence on a local copy of the microfilm collection held at the University of Kansas, Lawrence.
Not Just Americans
London Missionary Society and the Netherlands Missionary Society also served in far away lands (i.e. China). There were also at least four ordained native ministers and over one hundred (100) native workers who worked under the ABCM.
For More Information
For local collections, visit the WorldCat catalog offered by your public library.
Papers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions: Missionary Index
El Quinto Censo General de Población y Vivienda 1930
1930 México Census
With reaching 40 million Americans of Mexican origin in the US, there has been an increased interest in Mexican American and Mexican family research. But, until now it has been a struggle to research south of the boarder. With the recent release of 1930 Mexico Census however, Mexican family researchers have been given a wealth of information.
Great place to start!
The 1930 Mexico National Census, covering 90 percent of the population, is the most comprehensive genealogically rich Mexican census available online. On 16 Sept, Ancestry.com announced the addition of the 1930 Mexico National Census (El Quinto Censo General de Población y Vivienda 1930, México), a collection of over 13 million records to it's searchable database.
An African American victim of a 1928 lynching. From Library of Congress
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Many of us end up researching victims of those who were lynched or murdered by mobs. Today's executions or yesterday's lynches and other killings, leaves descendants, like that of Troy Davis (executed victim in Georgia on 21 Sept, 2011) with a series of court papers, prison records and newspaper articles to
uncover their ancestor's past. It reminds us that our ancestor's are not just "cold dates"; that our family search "is not only discovering a history but also uncovering a human journey" even when that journey illuminates an ugly part of our country's history and the blemished life story of our ancestor. (See What is Genealogy?)
History of US Lynchings
There are not clear statistics of the US lynchings prior to 1882. However, during the Civil War, the Reconstruction Era, and up to the depression era at least 4743 people were lynched according to newspaper accounts, court records and church records. Perhaps the tension of the Civil War brought this activity into popularity, or the fear of losing power, or the anger toward sympathetics and abolitionists, but US lynchings affected every southern state. The open lands of the new frontier, even California, was not spared. Matter of fact, all but Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont recorded lynches.
Although over 90% of the victims were African American, there were also white victims, mostly transplants from the northern states. The majority of the victims in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi were carried out by lynch mobs. Of course Florida, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky also had notable numbers. Lynching victims were not limited to men. A woman in California was lynched as early as 1851.
Name Search
A comprehensive listing of lynched victims is not available. However, the following will get you started:
Internet Search:The Finding Josephine blog post "Was My Ancestor Lynched?" lists several places to look for names.
If you are searching for your ancestor’s possible involvement in a lynch mob or information on an ancestor’s demise, you may wish to begin with a simple internet search. There are many reprints or news articles with names, and histories.
Five Strategies for Finding Your Lynched Ancestor
1. Historical American Lynching: One of the better search sites for names, states and reason for being lynched is the Historical American Lynching (HAL) Data Collection Project. You must download the HAL Excel File, but you may search by name or state. This information is based on the NAACP Lynching Records that can be located at Tuskegee University.
2. Collections: Check with a local college/university collection. Be sure to ask the check the catalog of dissertations and search under the popular keywords. These dissertations may not be in the normal library catalog. A doctoral thesis, of let’s say within sociology, may take a more personal social approach analyzing activities using names and citing court records. In 2008 the University of Washington name 3000 known US lynch victims collected as a research project. This list of names is available.
Maria Delongoria wrote a dissertation, Stranger Fruit: The Lynching of Black Women, where she lists names of “Black Female Lynching Victims” between 1886-1957 on pages 160-164.
3. The Laws: Check to see if any anti-lynching laws were put into place, or special sentences. By reviewing these hearings, you may find the reason why a new law was implemented, and you may even find your ancestor’s name attached to it. I usually start with a database like Lexis Nexis for these types of legal searches.You may find the names of those incited lynch mobs, as well as victims.
4. Local Newspapers: Local black newspapers kept relatively good records of lynching activities in their area. Rural black news may be reported by the largest town’s paper, but this news was often carried by word of mouth, so I suggest double checking the accuracy. Church news, like the Star Zion of the AME Zion church, also reported these activities.
5. Lynch Mobs: If your lynched ancestor was a white sympathetic, or part of a lynch mob, be sure to check the Democratic paper. Remember the Democratic party was labeled rebels and Republican were considered progressive Most southern towns had both a Democratic and a Republican paper; (their views can be easily identified). Those involved in lynch mobs were often hailed as heroes in the Democrat's paper.
Originally printed 27 May 2010, Five Strategies to Finding Lynch Victims, in response to the blog post Was My Ancestor Lynched?, by Dionne Ford. The Billie Holiday’s song Strange Fruit [1] is also linked on her blog post. Like the lyrics of this song, Dionne's post on the Finding Josephine blog and the subsequent comments, remind us that this too, albeit ugly, is a part of our history.
Expanding Your Research
In each class, workshop and presentation I encourage genealogists and family historians to create a minimum of three questions for each document/evidence/newspaper clip, etc. they touch. In a recent presentation, I was asked to give an example. The idea is: each document leads you to not only answers, but your next set of questions.
Here is an example (a reprint from 2010) from a one sentence newspaper article. This lengthy sentence gives us a plethora of clues, hints and information. So many more keywords, questions and research ideas could come from this one sentence, but let's start with a few.
"Colored Man Held to Answer As an aftermath of the recent melee which took place in the Dunbar club, a society of colored men of Tonopah, Dewitt Morris was bound over under $5000 bonds to appear begore [sic] the grand jury on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, it being alleged that he shot his brother, Schuyler Morris, in the leg during the heat of excitement.” Nevada State Journal, Reno, 11/12/1915
Key Words
Before we ever get to the reason Dewitt was so excited he shot his brother, this one sentence article needs to be dissected. To put it briefly, this sentence gives us a peek at Tonopah and its “colored” community in 1915. Let’s not make the mistake of stereotyping or over generalizing, but there are tons of researchable topics in this one sentence. Let’s just review some of the key words:
There was a melee, which indicates there might have been an opposing side to the “society” or they were attacking one another.
There was a Dunbar Club. Who owned it? Who frequented it? Was it the known meeting place for “melees.”
There was a “society of colored men of Tonopah.” Was membership based on social standing? Were they recognized by the community and periodically mentioned in the paper?
Tonopah in 1915 must have had a way of sustaining “social clubs.” What industry or resources were in the area? Was this common behavior for Tonopah’s citizens?
"Colored" Men of Tonopah
Melee Madness
The melee madness was summarized in an 118 page court document. Dewitt (Dee) Morris owned the Pullman Saloon (with a piano player) and he also owned other rental property. The shooting occurred at the open house “masquerade ball” of a new rival “joint” called the Dunbar Literary Club where supposedly the U.S. State Senator was going to attend. Membership was .50¢ per month. Fighting began over a blackjack misdeal, at the masquerade ball, and there was excessive drinking. The newspaper heading was misleading, since the court order was due to Dee hitting another fellow over the head with the gun resulting in its accidental discharge. Schuyler was shot, but was expected to recover.
Dee’s obituary in 1944 fills in a bit more. Tonopah was a “silver ore” town when he arrived as a “pioneer Negro resident.” He belonged to the Masonic lodge and owned another saloon in Tonopah at the time of his death. Even a photo was given.
The Rest of the Story
Discovering some of this background information, or as Paul Harvey used to say, “the rest of the story,” helps us to unravel the social environment of Tonopah in 1915 by giving us a glimpse of the lifestyle of some of the people. This allows the researcher to write not just events, but also circumstances, giving life to our ancestor’s stories. There’s so much more to learn about Tonopah and the life of Dewitt, and by investigating keywords on each document, the researcher can create a clearer picture.
Those on a President's political staff or even on the
household staff were not the only one's who served the Presidents. There were favored dressmakers, barbers, and
other skilled persons who were documented in newspaper articles, presidential
papers, journals and diaries. Have you checked for your ancestor?
One of the a3genealogy brainstorming games we
play to bring down colonial and Revolutionary war era brick walls is entitled
"6 Generations of George Washington." How was this ancestor
associated with Washington? But a
relationship can often be highlighted with our ancestor's and any era-specific
President, especially if your ancestor resided in the same region, state, or
community. Of course, sometimes, the relationship can be quite obscure, subjective,
and unfounded and best kept as a game.
Where to Start -
Crossed Paths
Of course not all of our ancestor's were favored tailors,
barbers, or vitners of a President, but many researchers overlook the possibility. A good place to start is by creating a
timeline: could paths have crossed?
William Florville - A
Barber
Young Abe and William Florville crossed paaths in a wooded
area. This chance meeting created a life long relationship. Even President Lincoln
had to control his thick head of curls and needed to groom his beard and the
barber Billy was just the person for the job.
William Florville (Fleurville), a free-Haitian, was Lincoln's
barber for 24 years. Florville's
Barbershop was a "loitering" spot for Lincoln and other political
members.
Springfield, IL Street Plaque
More information on Willaim Florville and President Lincoln
can be found at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library (Illinois
Preservation Society). Other ancestral discoveries may be made among the stacks
at the various Presidential libraries. You may find correspondence and confirm
ancestral relations associated with a President.
Political Movements
and Campaigns
Be sure to create a timeline of your ancestor's residence
during Presidential elections. The local
newspapers are usually a-buzz on activities of local political parties and
Presidential supports. War time elections
produced a surge of local interests pieces in the newspapers, many naming
citizens by name.
In Rutherford, NC,
much was found on J.B. Carson, the editor of the Rutherford Star, a leader in
the Civil War era Republican party. As
much was written on the Democratic leader, Randolph Shotwell in the Western Vindicator of Rutherford. But the news did not stop there. The Rutherford Star and the Western
Vindicator used their white-space as warfare.
Over the 1864-1868 period, articles were splattered
regarding those involved in the Lincoln
party as well as Lincoln's opponents of the Democratic party, even naming active and supportive members of the Ku Klux
Klan who pledged their allegiance to the party.
Perhaps your ancestor was one of the infamous arrested in the KKK raid
of 1869.
A Political Campaign
The Abraham Lincoln Council Union League of America (ALCULA)
followers, like Wiley (Tobe) Morris, led committees in towns across America
to gain supports even in the south. In
the Rutherford Star, a list of organizers led me to locating ancestor's and
extended family members thought to have left the area.
African Americans and
Presidential Service
Like Florville other African Americans also played a role
serving presidents allowing researchers to discover unknown information on
their ancestors. In a recent visit to Springfield
Illinois I discovered the Elizabeth Keckley
who contributed to the life of Mary Todd Lincoln (exhibit at The Lincoln Museum
and Library).
The National Archives Archives.gov featured the dress maker
Ann Lowe, "who had designed gowns for the matrons of high society
families" including that of Jacqueline Bouvier.
E. Keckley, LOC
Elizabeth Keckley - A
DressMaker
Mary (Todd) Lincoln, a socialite and southern belle, surely
needed dresses designed, tailored, and made for conversation. Her dressmaker and confidant through the
years was Elizabeth Keckley, African American.
More can be leard from the Documenting the American South Series.
Ann Lowe - A Dress
Maker
Jacqueline Bouvier’s ivory 50 yards of ivory silk taffeta silk
wedding gown was draped and designed by Ann Lowe, an African-American
dress-maker born in Grayton, Alabama
required and took more than two months to make.
