Relatively Speaking Relatively Speaking
WARDian Relativity:
Genealogy in the 21st Century
02/15/2001 2
What is Genealogy?What is Genealogy?
• Genealogy is ‘the history of the
descent of a family’
• It’s about collecting and
preserving family history
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Why is genealogy interesting?Why is genealogy interesting?
• Everyone, no matter how humble the
family, has a history and a pedigree
• It is unique to each individual except
direct siblings
• It helps us understand who we are and
where we came from
• Grandparents love to tell stories about
what it was like for them growing up
• It makes history realAmos Jackson, 1824-1917
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What is a Family Tree?What is a Family Tree?
• Pedigree chart
• Events
• Relationships
• Siblings
Typical Pedigree Chart, from Genealogical Research Associates (used without permission)
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What’s this twice removed stuff?What’s this twice removed stuff?
• ‘Xth relation’ indicates number of
generations between individuals and
common ancestor
• ‘Removed’ is difference in generation
between two individuals if not the same
• ‘Cousins’ might be nieces or nephews
• ‘Brothers’ or ‘Sisters’ might be in-laws
• ‘In-laws’ sometimes included step-kin
• ‘Missus’ didn’t always mean married
‘Half 6th cousin three times
removed of the husband’
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What is an Ahnentafel?What is an Ahnentafel?
• Ahnentafel is a German
word meaning 'ancestor
table'. Used by genealogists,
it's a way of numbering the
ancestors of a given person.
The starting person is given
the number 1. Their father is
number 2 and mother number
3. To find the father of any
person, double their number. Beth’s Ancestor Report, in Ahnentafel format
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How far can we go?How far can we go?
• X generations
• To Civil War, Revolution, etc
• To each arrival in America
• Until we are stuck
(generally in the 1600’s)
Our earliest ancestors
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Where do we start?Where do we start?
• Living relatives & friends
• Family records
• Photo Albums
• Church records
Receipts found in the family Bible of Henry H. Haggard
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Where else can we look?Where else can we look?
• US Census
• Local Records
• Archives
• Immigration records
• National Archives
• Web sites
• Any place or organization that
an ancestor might have been
involved with1909 Subpoena involving one of Henry Haggard’s daughters
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What’s an Index?What’s an Index?
• Most original records were unsorted paper lists, often handwritten
• Searching required reading every line of every page in every book
• Volunteers make sorted indexes of every name that appears and the page
number
• Usually comes in book form, such as ‘Index – Missouri, Dent County
Marriages 1913-1943’
• Often ‘informally published’ by local historical societies - many written
out in longhand, later copied, bound, or microfilmed
• More recently, some are entered and computer sorted
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The US CensusThe US Census
• On microfilm in archives
• Generally includes Head,
Spouse, children, others
• May include state of birth of
each person & their parents
• 1790- Today
• 1930-on still restricted
• 1890 census destroyed by fire
• Many special census
Sample from a microfilm of the census of 1850. Entries are all handwritten, film quality varies. Originals no longer exist.
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Local RecordsLocal Records
• Generally must physically visit
county unless microfilmed and
archived
• Births, Marriages, Deaths, Taxes
& Wills
• Cemeteries
• Newspapers/Obituaries
• Churches
• Library/Historical SocietyTypical county history. Many were prepared
during the Nation’s Centennial, or that of the town
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Immigration RecordsImmigration Records
• Passenger lists
• Citizenship/Naturalization
records
• Port of entry records
I have no idea who these people are
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National ArchivesNational Archives
• National Archives
& Records Administration
• www.NARA.gov
• NATF Form + copy charge
• Military Service Records
• Military Histories (Official
Record of each unit)
• Pension Records
• Pension Land Grant Records Civil War Payroll records of Amos Jackson (from the National Archives Trust Fund)
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Genealogical ArchivesGenealogical Archives
• LDS Family History Library
• LDS Family History Centers
• Reynolds Collection, Ft. Wayne
• St. Louis City/County Library
• Local Historical Societies
• State Archives
• Museums
The LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City, UT, houses the world’s largest collection of genealogical
records
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Some research sleuthing techniquesSome research sleuthing techniques
• Comb the neighborhood for
relatives in the census
• Follow related branches; look
for in-laws living with family
• Understand the political and
economic situation
• Make some guesses
• Remember the difference
between a fact and a rumor
Frank and Fred Williams at the Williams Feed & Grain, Timewell, IL - circa 1942
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Some research roadblocksSome research roadblocks
• Not everyone was counted
• Some records are just wrong
• County boundaries changed
• Name and spelling changes
• Many records hard to read
• Many records lost, damaged, or
miss-filed (as good as lost)
• Some family stories are lost,
confused, or ‘improved’ Patent issued to John Knouff of Wilmot, IN in 1917 for a ‘Grindstone Attachment’
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Leaves, moss, and birds’ nests in the treeLeaves, moss, and birds’ nests in the tree
• Pictures
• Locations
• Stories
• Documents
• Artifacts
• Family histories
• War histories
• Personal biographies
Mary Grace Ward & Levi Bennett Ward - 1906 wedding photo
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What can we do with all this stuff?What can we do with all this stuff?
• Build a database
• Write a family history or
biography
• Build a family web site
• Post your tree on the web
• Brag about your (in)famous
ancestors
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A Ward Family StoryA Ward Family Story
In about 1928, the Central Lake farmhouse
burned to the ground after Mary Ward
unwrapped a new set of dishes and the
wrapping paper caught fire from the stove.
The rest of the summer, the family lived in a
tent on the farm. When winter set in, the
family rented a house in town. Levi Ward
worked as a laborer rebuilding the nearby
YMCA lodge (which had also burned
recently), and saved bent nails & other odd
scrap to use in building a new house, which
they returned to about 1930.
Stanley R. Ward, at the new farmhouse near Central Lake built by his father - July, 2000
Tent on the farm after the farmhouse burned, c. 1928. Note the 1925 Chevrolet touring car
02/15/2001 21
Another Ward Family StoryAnother Ward Family Story
The well on the Central Lake farm went
dry in about 1932. A Dowser came up
from Bellaire, MI, and walked the farm
with a dowsing rod balanced across his
shoulders, waiting for one side or the
other to dip. The spot which the rod
repeatedly dipped toward regardless of
the direction of approach (about 50
yards from the old well) was selected to
dig and drill. Water was struck at this
spot, and at a shallower point than the
old well.
An electric pump has replace the original, but the
‘new’ well on the farm still flows – July, 2000
02/15/2001 22
A Pioneer Story A Pioneer Story
William Fuller, living at the mouth of the Miami river near present-day
Cincinnati, was kidnapped by Indians in August, 1791 and held in the
Upper Wabash valley.
He escaped after two years, killing Tecumseh’s half-sister in the process
of his escape. He was pursued by Indians all the way to Detroit,
where he was hidden by friends.
His eventual return to his family, who had given him up for dead, was
nearly four years after his capture.
From an account in theLawrenceburg, Ind.. “Independent Press”, Jan 16th, 1852
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A few things we have discoveredA few things we have discovered
• We started out knowing only the names of our grandparents
• We now know of over 1600 direct or indirect ancestors
• One was a founder of the first traveling circus in the US in the 1850’s
• Another was granted a US patent on a piece of machinery in 1917
• One worked on the first oil wells discovered in PA in the 1870’s
• One was a well-known writer (Lloyd Cassel Douglas, 1895-1951)
• Three founded Mennonite churches
• One was born in Ohio in 1777, when it’s control was still disputed
between the British and the French
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Our family’s ethnicity Our family’s ethnicity
• Earliest documented ancestor was born in 1624 in Germany
• Nearly all ancestors on paternal side are English
• Nearly all ancestors on maternal side are German
• One Welshman, one Scott, one Irish, and three were ‘Indians’
• Three direct ancestors were the result of rape, two by Indians
• We are eligible for membership in the DAR
• We are eligible for membership in the Welcome society
• We have spoken with a living tenth cousin three times removed
02/15/2001 25
The great warsThe great wars
• Every single family branch was
in the US prior to the Civil War
• Three branches known to be in
the US prior to the Revolution
• 2 in the Revolutionary war
• 8 Yanks, 1 Rebel in Civil war
• 2 in War of 1812
• 1 in Black Hawk war
• 1 in Winnebago war Amos Jackson spent the winter of 1861 at Camp McKim, MD
(from the letterhead of the commander, 6th MI Regiment)
02/15/2001 26
Known ImmigrationsKnown Immigrations
• William Gehman, 1680 in PA, predates the ‘Welcome’
• Lord Haggard, ~1685 from England
• Anthony Jacob Knouff, 1743 in PA, on the ship ‘Brawley’
• Owen Seaney, 1720, Wales
• Jacob Lambarth, ~ 1720, Wurtemburg, Germany
• Hans George Mack, 1735 in Germany
• John Merker’s father, ~1825 from Prussia
• Joseph Williams & family, ~1855 from England
• Duane Albert Ward’s father b.~1845 in England
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Web SitesWeb Sites
• www.FamilyTreeMaker.com
• www.Genealogy.com
• www.FamilySearch.org
• www.MyTrees.com
• www.EllisIslandRecords.org
• www.NARA.gov
• www.WardsOnline.net