To the class members who attended "Pitfalls in Research" also known as "Potholes on the Genealogy Road" I am enclosing a link to the handout I promised to put online.
Hopefully your family hasn't fallen into this group of published family genealogies.
I enjoyed meeting you all. I wish you great success in your research.
See you next year at the Colorado Springs Family History Expo.
Anjou Genealogies
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Microsoft OneNote and Family Research
If you were to look in my office you would see several notebooks over flowing with papers as I try to maintain some resemblance of order.
I began experimenting with Microsoft OneNote 2010 several months ago to see if it could help me to tame my research.
I have found it to be very useful as I work on a Surname Project for the Beasley Family. I can track different families and have the information all in one place and I no longer need to haul large notebooks around. You can search for names or a subject and find documents, emails and notes very easily. There is a clipping tool that you can use to cut from the web and insert into OneNote.
Being able to create a Notebook with as many sections and pages as you like is great!
If you still love paper copies you can print out your OneNote file if needed.
Using SkyDrive allows you to access your files from any computer is a benefit. If I'm at the local Family History Center and I need to look something up. I can access it online and continue on with my research. I also have the app for my tablet where I can access the same files.
I created the following forms that have helped me keep track of records that I have searched at a glace. I have created them for OneNote 2010 and OneNote 2007. Feel free to use these for your personal use.
I have created links that will take you to SkyDrive where you can download a copy.
OneNote Research Checklist 2010
OneNote Research Checklist 2007
I also created a Research Log that you may find useful.
Research Log 2010
Research Log 2007
I am also including a blank file to help you setup a OneNote Notebook for Family Research.
Family 2007 & 2010
There are so many uses for OneNote and Family History Research the "sky" is the limit on what you can do.
I hope you will try it out. Please let me know how the forms work for you.
I will be adding these files for 2013 in the near future.
I began experimenting with Microsoft OneNote 2010 several months ago to see if it could help me to tame my research.
I have found it to be very useful as I work on a Surname Project for the Beasley Family. I can track different families and have the information all in one place and I no longer need to haul large notebooks around. You can search for names or a subject and find documents, emails and notes very easily. There is a clipping tool that you can use to cut from the web and insert into OneNote.
Being able to create a Notebook with as many sections and pages as you like is great!
If you still love paper copies you can print out your OneNote file if needed.
Using SkyDrive allows you to access your files from any computer is a benefit. If I'm at the local Family History Center and I need to look something up. I can access it online and continue on with my research. I also have the app for my tablet where I can access the same files.
I created the following forms that have helped me keep track of records that I have searched at a glace. I have created them for OneNote 2010 and OneNote 2007. Feel free to use these for your personal use.
I have created links that will take you to SkyDrive where you can download a copy.
OneNote Research Checklist 2010
OneNote Research Checklist 2007
I also created a Research Log that you may find useful.
Research Log 2010
Research Log 2007
I am also including a blank file to help you setup a OneNote Notebook for Family Research.
Family 2007 & 2010
There are so many uses for OneNote and Family History Research the "sky" is the limit on what you can do.
I hope you will try it out. Please let me know how the forms work for you.
I will be adding these files for 2013 in the near future.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Surprise Surprise I Found Them on the 1940 Census
Monday,
April 2, 2012
I decided to try the 1940 Census tonight. Hopefully things
would have slowed down some since this morning. I found that FamilySearch
had the state of Kansas online so I decided to look for my father, grandfather,
grandmother and also my great-grandfather all who were living in Kansas City.
No words can express how grateful I am for the stevenmorse.org website. The journey in locating these family members was made very easy with the help of this site. I was able to locate my great-grandfather [William McLeod] after just viewing 17 of the 38 images for the ED group I was told to look at after filling in the blanks on the stevenmorse.org website. Looking at the map feature on the website helped in adding all the streets listed around where the house was.
I found my father [George], grandfather [Arthur Cofrank] and grandmother [Theresa Cofrank] on another ED that I was shown. My grandfather Arthur Cofrank was #14 which means he fell in that spot where extra questions were asked. Of course the answer to these questions were not correct, but that was no surprise. Maybe my grandmother answered the questions or it might have been my grandfather but he didn't want anyone to ask about his past so he would make up different answers.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Tennessee Confederate Civil War Pension Applications
If you have any ancestors
who served during the Civil War from Tennessee you really need to check
out Tennessee Confederate Pension Applications, Soldiers and Widows,
1891-1965 on FamilySearch. I found some records listed for men who enlisted in Alabama and Georgia but who applied in Tennessee for pensions also.
This collection has digital images of pension applications filed by Confederate veterans and their widows. Tennessee began granting pensions to resident Confederate veterans in 1891 and to their widows in 1905. When you access this group of records it will show you application numbers only. But don't be discouraged I have located an index to these records at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.
The index is listed by counties and then by surname. It will give you the Soldiers Name, County, Pension # and Unit or Widow. Once you find the name and have the Pension# all you need to do is go to that number set in the Tennessee Confederate Pension Applications and begin your search. Because it is by number group it may take a few tries to locate that file within the group but don't give up it's really worth it!
The file for William Miller was 24 pages in length and it took from 1905 to 1911 to finally receive his pension. Reading this file you can only imagine how frustrating it must have been for him. Listed as deserting but he was really captured and sent to prison at Camp Morgan in Indianapolis, Indiana.
William Miller was born 15 Aug 1836 in Madison County, Tennessee and married Octavia Ralph on 2 Oct 1870 in Lauderdale County, Tennessee. He died 13 Oct 1913 in Lauderdale County, Tennessee two years after finally receiving his pension.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Where Are Catherine and her father Peter Kaiser?
Catherine was the daughter of Peter Kaiser/Keiser/Kiser and
Elizabeth. She was born 17 Feb 1824 in Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
Peter and Catherine are listed in the household of William Kaiser/Kiser
in Woodville, Sandusky, Ohio 1850 Census. William Kaiser is the son of
Peter and Elizabeth Kaiser.
Peter
Kaiser died 25 Oct. 1862 and is buried in Hessville Cemetery, Sandusky
Co, Ohio. I can not locate him on the 1860 Census in Ohio. He is not
listed with his son Williams Kiser in Washington, Sandusky, Ohio. No
death record has been found for him in Sandusky, Ohio. Did he die
somewhere else and was brought back to be buried next to his wife? I do
have photos of his headstone and his wife's Elizabeth. I can not
locate a marriage record for Catherine Kaiser in Sandusky and I am
wondering if she died prior to 1860 or did she move somewhere else? Did
her father Peter go with her? My hope is to locate some kind of a record
on Catherine in hopes of finding out what her mother Elizabeth's last
name was. There is reference that her mother's last name was Uharcum but
I cannot prove or disprove it.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
When Will I Be Blessed By The Luck of the Irish?
Friday,
March 16, 2012
Little is known of Michael Hunter
who was born in Ireland about 1837. For over 30 years off and on I
have searched in vain to find some clues to this man. From family stories we
know that Michael worked for the Railroad and latter in life he ran a saloon.
I located a Michael Hunter on the 1870 U.S. Census in Richmond Twp. Nemaha Co. Kansas, pg 58A Line#34 Hunter, Michael, 33, m, w, RR Laborer, B: Ireland, Parents foreign birth. I feel pretty good that this is my Michael Hunter but there is no real proof that it is.
Michael Hunter married Mary Adeline Spinks on 21 April 1871 in Gallatin, Daviess, Missiouri by a traveling Catholic Priest J.J. Kennedy. This marriage changed what religion my family would be from Methodist to Catholic and many of the family are still practicing Catholics.
The marriage record for Michael and Mary Adeline Spinks was located in the records for the Catholic Church. Immaculate Conception (St. Joseph, Missouri) FHL Film # 980544
"Hunter - Spinks April 21st, 1871. In Matrimony Michael Hunter of Ireland and Adeline Spinks of Ohio. Witenesses Joannes O'Leary . J.J. Kennedy." [Note: Michael listed his birth as Ireland, but all the other marriages listed on that page told where in Ireland they came from. WHY wasn't my Michael kind of enough to share that information?]
On that same roll of microfilm FHL #980544 there were also Baptismal records included.The first entry is for Mary Adeline Spinks Hunter. She was Baptized six months before the birth of their first child. The next two entries are for two daughters that did not live very long because they do not show up on the 1880 Census with the family in Waterville, Marshall, Kansas.
1872 BAPTISM: MO, Daviess Co, Gallatin (Catholic Church). FHC# 980,544 pg.17.
Spinks-Hunter. Mary Adeline Born - Baptised June 16, 1872. Parents Isaac
Spinks from Ohio and Mary Spinks from Ohio. Sponsors. Michael Hunter. Rev.
J.J. Kennedy.
1872 BIRTH: MO, Daviess Co, Gallatin (Catholic Church). FHC# 980,544
Hunter, Mary Ellen Born Dec 21, 1872, Baptised Dec 31, 1872. Parents Michael
Hunter from Ireland and Mary Spinks America, Sponsors, Thomas Curly and
Catherine Mulligan. Rev. J.J. Kennedy.
1874 BIRTH: MO, Clinton Co, MO. Christening Record 10 Oct 1874.
"Elizabeth Hunter B: 21 Sep 1874 Chr: 10 Oct 1874 in Plattsburg, Clinton Co, MO"
My great-grandmother Anna Hunter was born 18 July 1877 in Richmond, Ray, Missouri but there was no record of her birth on the microfilm.
As mentioned above I found Michael Hunter and family in Kansas in 1880.
1880 CENSUS: Kansas, Marshall Co, Waterville FHL# 1254388 pg 200B Nat Arch #T9-0388
"Hunter, Michel, married, white, 40 yrs, B:Ireland, Occ: Laborer, Father B:Ireland, Mother B:Ireland, Mary Hunter, wife, female, married, white, 25 yrs, B:KY, Father B:KY, Mother B:KY, Occ: Keeping House, Annie Hunter, dau, female, single, white, 2 yrs, B:MO, Father B:Ireland, Mother B:KY"
Through my wanderings on the internet one day I came across a random article in "The Kansas City Journal"
1882 NEWSPAPER: "The Kansas City Journal" (Missouri) Saturday, May 13, 1882 - Wyandott and Vicinity. http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/KSWYANDO/2002-09/1032413318
The Wyandott Amateur Dramatic club will give an entertainment at Dunning's Opera house on the 23d. Following is the play, "William Tell, and the farce of John Smith." The proceeds to go to Michael HUNTER, of Kansas City, Kas., who is sick.
Michael Hunter appears in the 1884 Kansas City Missouri City Directory. I have tried to locate a publication date for this directory without any success.
1884 DIRECTORY: KS, City Directory - Public Library Kansas Ctiy, MO pg. 261
"Hunter, Michael, saloon 281 James, KCK"
We are not sure exactly when Michael Hunter died. The family story continues with Michael asking his best friend Martin Franey to marry his wife and take care of his daughter Anna. Martin is listed in the 1884 Kansas City, Missouri City Directory.
1884 DIRECTORY: KS, Kansas City - Public Library Kansas City, MO pg.197
"Franey, Martin bartdr. M Hunter 281 James KCK"
We do know that Michael Hunter had to have died by the 21st of May 1884 when Martin Franey and Mary Hunter were married. How long did Mary wait before she remarried I have no idea.
1884 MARR: KS, Wyandotte Co, Marriage Licence. Marriage Book 4 pg 18.
"I, Francis M. Hayden do hereby certify that...on the 21st day of May 1884, of
Kansas City,...join and unite in Marriage the above Martin Franey of
Wyandotte, Kansas age 32, and Mary Hunter of Wyandotte, Kansas age 29"
Because Michael was listed in 1884 City Directory there is a good chance he lived until 1883 but we have no information on his death.
On several of our trips to visit family in Kansas City, Kansas we have tried to locate information on him with no success. I contacted the City Clerks Office but sadly Kansas did not start recording birth and death records until 1911. We went to The Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph to try and locate records but the records for the Armourdale area where we were told that the Catholic Church for that area records were lost in a flood. We also contacted the Catholic Cemeteries in the area with no success.
I was able to contact Msgr. Martin Foreschl who had been transcribing the records of J.J. Kennedy. He had put these records in a data base on a computer and he mailed me a copy of his findings. On this paper it stated the following:
PARENTS: taken from a letter Msgr Martin Froeschl - 107 N Jefferson, PO Box 201 Oregon, MO 64473
"Husb Pars: Peter & Ellena ---- Wife Pars: Isaac & Mary ----"
I was so excited to receive this information but I have yet to locate and Peter and Ellena with a son Michael in Ireland. Ireland is a big place you would think with the surname Hunter is wouldn't be that hard.
I do not know when he arrived in the United States. Did he travel with family? Did he serve in the Civil War?
There are several Micheal Hunters who came over from Ireland. I found one that is a possibility but who knows if it is really him.
1863 IMMIGRATION: Possible match - 1863 - April 20th arrived - Ship Franics B. Cutting [Ancestry.com]
"Michl Hunter, 23 yrs, male, lab, Irish, Destination-New York, Sterage" Listed next to him Michl Shannon 22 yrs, Irish, Hugh Doherty, 27, Irish, John Gaffney 24, Irish, Martin Lloyd 20 yrs, Irish.
My only thought is to try and trace the people that came over on the same ship or trace those listed on the 1870 census and 1880 census who were working on the railroad. Or try and read a year and half of Kansas City newspapers in hopes of find an obituary for him. All of these seem over whelming and would take a lot of time.
So for now I fear the Luck of the Irish is not within my grasp. Happy Saint Patrick's Day
I located a Michael Hunter on the 1870 U.S. Census in Richmond Twp. Nemaha Co. Kansas, pg 58A Line#34 Hunter, Michael, 33, m, w, RR Laborer, B: Ireland, Parents foreign birth. I feel pretty good that this is my Michael Hunter but there is no real proof that it is.
Michael Hunter married Mary Adeline Spinks on 21 April 1871 in Gallatin, Daviess, Missiouri by a traveling Catholic Priest J.J. Kennedy. This marriage changed what religion my family would be from Methodist to Catholic and many of the family are still practicing Catholics.
The marriage record for Michael and Mary Adeline Spinks was located in the records for the Catholic Church. Immaculate Conception (St. Joseph, Missouri) FHL Film # 980544
"Hunter - Spinks April 21st, 1871. In Matrimony Michael Hunter of Ireland and Adeline Spinks of Ohio. Witenesses Joannes O'Leary . J.J. Kennedy." [Note: Michael listed his birth as Ireland, but all the other marriages listed on that page told where in Ireland they came from. WHY wasn't my Michael kind of enough to share that information?]
On that same roll of microfilm FHL #980544 there were also Baptismal records included.The first entry is for Mary Adeline Spinks Hunter. She was Baptized six months before the birth of their first child. The next two entries are for two daughters that did not live very long because they do not show up on the 1880 Census with the family in Waterville, Marshall, Kansas.
1872 BAPTISM: MO, Daviess Co, Gallatin (Catholic Church). FHC# 980,544 pg.17.
Spinks-Hunter. Mary Adeline Born - Baptised June 16, 1872. Parents Isaac
Spinks from Ohio and Mary Spinks from Ohio. Sponsors. Michael Hunter. Rev.
J.J. Kennedy.
1872 BIRTH: MO, Daviess Co, Gallatin (Catholic Church). FHC# 980,544
Hunter, Mary Ellen Born Dec 21, 1872, Baptised Dec 31, 1872. Parents Michael
Hunter from Ireland and Mary Spinks America, Sponsors, Thomas Curly and
Catherine Mulligan. Rev. J.J. Kennedy.
1874 BIRTH: MO, Clinton Co, MO. Christening Record 10 Oct 1874.
"Elizabeth Hunter B: 21 Sep 1874 Chr: 10 Oct 1874 in Plattsburg, Clinton Co, MO"
My great-grandmother Anna Hunter was born 18 July 1877 in Richmond, Ray, Missouri but there was no record of her birth on the microfilm.
As mentioned above I found Michael Hunter and family in Kansas in 1880.
1880 CENSUS: Kansas, Marshall Co, Waterville FHL# 1254388 pg 200B Nat Arch #T9-0388
"Hunter, Michel, married, white, 40 yrs, B:Ireland, Occ: Laborer, Father B:Ireland, Mother B:Ireland, Mary Hunter, wife, female, married, white, 25 yrs, B:KY, Father B:KY, Mother B:KY, Occ: Keeping House, Annie Hunter, dau, female, single, white, 2 yrs, B:MO, Father B:Ireland, Mother B:KY"
Through my wanderings on the internet one day I came across a random article in "The Kansas City Journal"
1882 NEWSPAPER: "The Kansas City Journal" (Missouri) Saturday, May 13, 1882 - Wyandott and Vicinity. http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/KSWYANDO/2002-09/1032413318
The Wyandott Amateur Dramatic club will give an entertainment at Dunning's Opera house on the 23d. Following is the play, "William Tell, and the farce of John Smith." The proceeds to go to Michael HUNTER, of Kansas City, Kas., who is sick.
Michael Hunter appears in the 1884 Kansas City Missouri City Directory. I have tried to locate a publication date for this directory without any success.
1884 DIRECTORY: KS, City Directory - Public Library Kansas Ctiy, MO pg. 261
"Hunter, Michael, saloon 281 James, KCK"
We are not sure exactly when Michael Hunter died. The family story continues with Michael asking his best friend Martin Franey to marry his wife and take care of his daughter Anna. Martin is listed in the 1884 Kansas City, Missouri City Directory.
1884 DIRECTORY: KS, Kansas City - Public Library Kansas City, MO pg.197
"Franey, Martin bartdr. M Hunter 281 James KCK"
We do know that Michael Hunter had to have died by the 21st of May 1884 when Martin Franey and Mary Hunter were married. How long did Mary wait before she remarried I have no idea.
1884 MARR: KS, Wyandotte Co, Marriage Licence. Marriage Book 4 pg 18.
"I, Francis M. Hayden do hereby certify that...on the 21st day of May 1884, of
Kansas City,...join and unite in Marriage the above Martin Franey of
Wyandotte, Kansas age 32, and Mary Hunter of Wyandotte, Kansas age 29"
Because Michael was listed in 1884 City Directory there is a good chance he lived until 1883 but we have no information on his death.
On several of our trips to visit family in Kansas City, Kansas we have tried to locate information on him with no success. I contacted the City Clerks Office but sadly Kansas did not start recording birth and death records until 1911. We went to The Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph to try and locate records but the records for the Armourdale area where we were told that the Catholic Church for that area records were lost in a flood. We also contacted the Catholic Cemeteries in the area with no success.
I was able to contact Msgr. Martin Foreschl who had been transcribing the records of J.J. Kennedy. He had put these records in a data base on a computer and he mailed me a copy of his findings. On this paper it stated the following:
PARENTS: taken from a letter Msgr Martin Froeschl - 107 N Jefferson, PO Box 201 Oregon, MO 64473
"Husb Pars: Peter & Ellena ---- Wife Pars: Isaac & Mary ----"
I was so excited to receive this information but I have yet to locate and Peter and Ellena with a son Michael in Ireland. Ireland is a big place you would think with the surname Hunter is wouldn't be that hard.
I do not know when he arrived in the United States. Did he travel with family? Did he serve in the Civil War?
There are several Micheal Hunters who came over from Ireland. I found one that is a possibility but who knows if it is really him.
1863 IMMIGRATION: Possible match - 1863 - April 20th arrived - Ship Franics B. Cutting [Ancestry.com]
"Michl Hunter, 23 yrs, male, lab, Irish, Destination-New York, Sterage" Listed next to him Michl Shannon 22 yrs, Irish, Hugh Doherty, 27, Irish, John Gaffney 24, Irish, Martin Lloyd 20 yrs, Irish.
My only thought is to try and trace the people that came over on the same ship or trace those listed on the 1870 census and 1880 census who were working on the railroad. Or try and read a year and half of Kansas City newspapers in hopes of find an obituary for him. All of these seem over whelming and would take a lot of time.
So for now I fear the Luck of the Irish is not within my grasp. Happy Saint Patrick's Day
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