Genealogy Success Team Update

I've made more progress on my family tree since Jenny and I started our Success Team than I'd made in the six preceding months combined. It has to do with accountability. I don't want to waste Jenny's time by telling her I couldn't finish the goals I set during our last meeting, so I get them done. Thanks Jenny, and go team!

Working toward accomplishing my 2011 New Year's Resolutions, I have a five-pronged approach to each week. This week my list consists of:

BLOG: Follow Lisa Alzo's 15-minutes a day plan. I missed Lisa's program at FGS 2011, but read about it on Diana's blog post. Like Diana, I'm pretty busy. But as Diana mentioned, I'm sure we can all squeeze in 15 minutes a day to do something more important than reading Facebook status updates.

LEARN: In a never-ending quest to add to my overall genealogical education, this week I'm going to finish reading one of the books I bought at FGS 2011; "Finding Your Chicago Ancestors; A Beginner's Guide to Family History in the City and Cook County" by Grace DuMelle. I'm not a beginner to research in this area, but the book has more than beginner information. I've already found several new resources.

ORGANIZE: What genealogist doesn't need to be better organized? I recently created an "at-a-glance record inventory" in Excel. This week I will add comments to the Mueller page.

You probably know about the yearbook collection on Ancestry. I'm interested in Englewood High School. The oldest yearbook on Ancestry for that school is 1940, far later than I need. A Google search shows records for EHS at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago. Time to start a list for a road trip.

PRESERVE: I'm a huge fan of Find A Grave. This week I want to make 15 new contributions. I also need to upload another CD of family photos for my scrapbook project.

RESEARCH: Ah yes, the real reason I play the genealogy game! This week I hope to locate the church my Mueller/Schmitt family attended in Chicago and request records from them. I'd like to answer several questions:

• In which Swiss village was Jacob Mueller born?
• When did he immigrate to the United States?
• Did Elise have four children with Jacob or only two?
• Is there a record of (Elise's son) Otto's divorce? Of his suicide?
• Where did (Jacob/Elise's daughter) Alma live after Jacob died?
• What happened to Alma after (her stepbrother) Otto' death?

My French translation comfort level is decreasing. I've been away from the records for too long. So my last task for this week is to transcribe and translate at least one French vital record for an ancestor in Moselle.

This should be a fun (and productive!) week for genealogy. What's in your wallet on your genealogy to-do list?

A Child Lost ~ Freddie Lavine

From the July 1, 1883 issue of the Chicago Tribune, page 10, "LAVINE- Freddie Lavine, beloved son of Nellie Lavine, June 30, aged 1 month and 29 days. Funeral Sunday at 2 o'clock from 1088 West Madison-st. to Waldheim Cemetery."

I started at FamilySearch and clicked on USA, Canada, and Mexico under Browse by Collection. The 1,431,659 records in the Illinois, Cook County Deaths 1878-1922 database looks promising. I clicked on that and chose Advanced Search. I entered Lavine in the last name field; and death, Chicago, and 1883 on the next line. Freddie's was the first record in the search results:

Although his death certificate doesn't include Freddie's parents' names, the place of death (1088 W Madison Street) matches the address in his obituary.

Since the obituary mentions only Freddie's mother, I went to Ancestry in search of a census record. The results were interesting:

Nellie's husband is John W Lavine, a 45 year old cigar manufactor. John Jr can't be Nellie's son, she's only nine years older than him. I wondered how long John and Nellie had been married. Back to FamilySearch. This time I started with the Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1920 database.

The subjects of the first three records were members of this family. Here's what I learned; Nellie McLaughlin and John W Lavine were married by a Catholic priest in November of 1878:

John Jr. married a few years after the 1880 census was taken and Nellie remarried after her husband died:

Of course I don't really know that Nellie's first husband died. Perhaps they were divorced. Let's check death records to be sure. Back to that first database (Illinois, Cook County Deaths 1878-1922) at FamilySearch. I put John W Lavine into the the first fields and Chicago on the second line. Once again, the record I need is the first one. But when I clicked on it and then on View Image, I saw this:

I've had this experience on FamilySearch before. It's a little frustrating, but fortunately there is a work-around.  See the image number? It says image 1517 of 1773. I changed the image number to 1518 and learned the cause of John W Lavine's death.

.

John's occupation is cigar manufactor, the same occupation that appears on the 1880 census. I didn't have much luck finding him in the 1900 census. If this was my family, I'd look in the newspaper to see if there is any mention of the shooting. The death certificate doesn't mention a coroner's report, and I don't see one listed for the right date, but I'd also look into that.

I located John Jr's mother in the 1870 census. I wonder if the English-born woman on this page is John Sr's sister?

As for Freddie's mother Nellie, there are too many possibilities to determine which is the "real" Nellie. Even the 1910 census made me wonder. Lavine and Campbell together and Walter's birthplace seems like a good match:

My belief that Walter is Freddie's older brother increased when I found his birth record:

Where do we go from here? There are many steps I'd take if this was my family; limited time prevents me from investigating further. I added Freddie and John Sr to Find A Grave. I hope that one of my readers will know where Nellie is buried and share the information. I'd like to reunite Nellie and Freddie, wouldn't you?

Note: I have no connection to this child. As I said in A Child Lost ~ Introduction, my goal is to reunite children with their parents.  If you are a LaVine descendant, I hope you'll give Freddie a special place in your family tree.

My own family tree work-in-progress is online at Living in the Past Lane.

Countdown to FGS 2011

Our trip to Springfield starts the day after tomorrow and ends with a family visit on Grandparents' Day.

I've graduated from counting the hours to counting the minutes. (I stopped counting all the stairs I've climbed to add just one more must-have item to the suitcase.)

Syllabus, handouts, and maps are printed. Charts, trees and documents are organized. Created a list of Find A Grave photo requests for cemeteries we'll pass along the way. Made a list of the geneabloggers (with photos when available) that I want to meet in Springfield.

Clothes are spinning in the dryer. Road trip grocery list is written and waiting by the door. Tomorrow I'll visit the library for audiobooks to entertain us during the 500+ mile trip (and back again).

Now my attention returns to my ancestors. For the rest of the day (with a few tiny exceptions) I will peruse their folders, pictures, and documents. I'll make notes of what I hope to learn in each workshop as it pertains to each person in my family tree.

In a few days I'll be rubbing elbows with nearly 1800 people who are as intrigued by their ancestors as I am by mine. I couldn't be more excited about this trip. This could be my best conference yet!

Success Team Update

For the past few months my Saturday morning routine has included a hot cup of coffee and a spicy genealogical chat with Jenny.

Jenny is vacationing, so (sigh) I'm on my own today. We worked hard on our lists last Saturday knowing we would have two weeks to complete them. These were my goals:

BLOG: Create one A Child Lost and one F.A.G. blog post. Catch up blog reading.

I chose my next Child Lost and put a rough draft together. I posted about my experience at Darien Cemetery here. And I've been diligently reading all the fun and interesting and educational blogs I follow. I am caught up! [on target]

LEARN: Review FGS classes and write rough draft questions. Read The Twitter Book by Tim O’ Reilly and Sarah Milstein.

Not only did I review the classes, I downloaded my syllabus and bound it for travel - yay me! I changed a class too, substituting Twitter for the 1940 census. I'll start writing the rough draft questions this weekend. I continue to read The Twitter Book in my "spare" time. It's a great read and has already changed the way I use Twitter. [on target]

ORGANIZE: Clean up the Mueller hanging file. Create checklists for each document type encountered.

Good gravy, what a mess! As you can see in the photo below, I sorted all the papers so I can work on like-items. I created a spreadsheet (are you laughing Jenny?) for the document types. [on target]

PRESERVE: Verify that all direct line ancestors appear on F.A.G. If photos exist, add them. Sponsor Daddy and Harold Mueller. Add the EASY photos from Darien Cemetery.

Hmm. I may have to pick up the pace on this task. I haven't checked for all my ancestors. [behind schedule] I sponsored my dad's memorial, but decided against sponsoring his dad's for the time being. [check] I'm about a quarter of the way through the photos from Darien Wisconsin. [behind schedule - eek]

RESEARCH: Look for Jacob’s confirmation record on the Swiss film at the FHC. Add specific genealogy searches to eBay.

Thursday evening I looked through the entire film hoping to find a birth, baptism, or confirmation record for Jacob. No luck. But, as you may recall, this was a long shot. My surname-related searches are now on eBay. [check]

That makes an un-terrific mix of "on target", "check" and "behind schedule". Maybe a B- for the week so far? I'd better quit chatting and get back to work!

Written in Stone

Some words last a lifetime. Others fade before the ink is dry. But when something is written in stone, we expect it to transend time; to be with us forever. That's why grave markers are made of stone. They are supposed to provide eternal remembrances of our loved ones.

On a recent road trip, Husband and I stopped at a pretty little cemetery in Darien Wisconsin. We took 94 headestone pictures. I was moved by the War of 1812 star below. There are pioneers and farmers and heroes buried here.

The condition of some of the headstones was troubling. This stone is almost completely under ground and so weathered it is illegible.

The marker above was the most sunken, but others follow close behind.

Some stones are sinking vertically, taking information they contain with them.

Those are signs of aging. But vandalism is also an issue in this cemetery as it is in so many others.

The top of the headstone below was broken off and lying face-down in the dirt. It was hidden under the branches I'm holding over to the right so Husband can take a picture of the part still standing. I'm so proud of the commitment he has made to Find A Grave.

Once we found the missing piece, we could see Abner Long was buried here. There are other Long family members in this cemetery too.

At least the broken pieces below are all present and standing.

This cemetery really is lovely. The grass is mowed, flowers are on several graves, caretakers are evident. But no one can stop the ravages of time. Lichen, wind, and rain wreak havoc on these beautiful old stones.  

Written in stone. Only temporarily.

A Child Lost ~ Lillie Geng

From the June 30, 1896 issue of the Chicago Daily News, "GENG-LILLIE, at the residence of her parents, 712 Burling-st., beloved daughter of Charles and Annie Geng (nee Kerwer), Monday, June 29, at 6 p.m., at the age of 4 years 11 months and 14 days. Funeral Wednesday at 2 p.m."

I started by looking for Lillie's death certificate at FamilySearch:

Using the Tombstone Birthday Calculator, I estimate Lillie's birthdate as 15 Jul 1891. I didn't have any luck finding a record of her birth on FamilySearch, but her parents' marriage certificate was there.

The family remained at the address that is on Lillie's death cerificate. Here they are in the 1900 census:

After seeing Annie lost two of her children before 1900, I almost hoped this possibility for her husband's death wasn't him. I wasn't certain until I looked at the Address Conversion Tools at Chicago Ancestors. There I located the family's 1900 address (712 Burling Street) had been renumbered in 1909 to 2679 Burling Street; the same address listed on Charles' death certificate:

At least now I know Charles was buried at the same cemetery as his daughter. Annie/Anna lived a long life. I hope it was happier than these documents suggest. Lillie and her parents are buried at St Boniface and at my request, another contributor linked them on Find A Grave.

Note: I have no connection to this child. In A Child Lost ~ Introduction, I shared my hope of reuniting these children with their parents. If you are a Geng descendant, I hope you'll give Lillie a special place in your family tree.

Headstone Photos from Oakwoods

Ancestors on both sides of my family are buried at Oakwoods Cemetery on Chicago's south side. It's one of the oldest cemeteries in the city, established in 1854 before Graceland, Rosehill and Calvary.

The architecture and landscaping alone make this cemetery a historic treasure. There are some truly breathtaking monuments in Oakwoods, among them the Confederate Mound. A number of Chicago's elite are buried here along with politicians and ministers, athletes and gangsters.



The Confederate Mound

I have wanted to visit my ancestors' graves at this cemetery for as long as I can remember. It's hundreds of miles from me however and I may never have the chance. So I asked for help at Find A Grave and at RAOGK. No luck.

Then one day it occurred to me there might be a local teenager or senior citizen who could take pictures of the headstones I wanted so much to see. So I wrote a letter and sent it to Oakwoods...

"May 23, 2011

Dear Ms. Nowak,

This morning I had an idea I hope you can help develop.

I am a genealogist and several of my family members are buried at Oakwoods. Since I am unable to visit the cemetery in person, I would like to get photos of their headstones. 

Are you familiar with www.findagrave.com? As of this morning, there were 8286 interments listed on the web site for Oakwoods. Specific to my idea, there are 326 photo requests.

I’m wondering if there is a local teenager or perhaps a retiree who might be willing to take headstone photos at Oakwoods. A volunteer would be the most popular choice, but I don’t think it would be unreasonable to ask for financial contributions for the photographer’s time and trouble. I would be willing to pay someone out of state to take pictures and clean up a gravesite for ancestors I can’t visit in person.

This is important enough to me that I would be willing to help in whatever way I can. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Warmest regards,"

After a few weeks and no response, I called. Talked with a lovely woman there who said the General Manager position had recently undergone a transition. She suggested I call the former GM. I did. Another lovely woman who offered some wonderful suggestions. Unfortunately none of them worked. So I called the cemetery again. This time I talked with a gentleman who offered to take the pictures himself. I followed up with a letter, a list, some charts, and $50.

"July 6, 2011

Dear Mr. Davis,

Thank you for talking with me yesterday about my desire for photos of my ancestors’ headstones.

Your willingness to help me obtain these photos is very much appreciated. Toward that end I have included a list of names and dates specific to Oakwoods.

I was a little taken aback by the $10 per headstone charge, but relieved when you asked that the check be made out to the American Diabetes Association. Both Jacob and Elizabeth (Schmitt) Mueller died of diabetes, and their son Alfred died of diabetic complications. Unfortunately, my budget won’t allow me to pursue all ten photos this week. I would be most grateful for the five I numbered on my list and for those I have enclosed a check in the amount of $50.

If possible, I would prefer to receive the headstone pictures via email as jpg files. My email address (on my calling card enclosed) is livinginthepastlane@yahoo.com.

You mentioned privacy concerns related to the plat cards for these individuals. I have also enclosed relationship charts so you can see I am a direct descendant of Jacob and Elizabeth. Their son Alfred (my great-grandfather) and Otto were brothers. I have received copies of many plat cards or plot maps from other cemeteries during my 30 year genealogical quest. I have never posted them online or shared the contents with anyone. The information they contain is about my family and I protect it accordingly.

In my first letter dated May 23 (copy enclosed), I mentioned the web site www.findagrave.com. If Ms. Comer hasn’t yet seen this web site, would you please make her aware of it? The number of photo requests fluctuates (currently at 271), but the oldest request is from 2006. I’m sure there are many others who would appreciate the prospect of obtaining photos of their loved ones’ graves as well. If this is a service the cemetery might consider offering in the future, I would be happy to share that news.

Thank you again for all your help. It’s unlikely I will be able to see these graves in person, so your help, and that of Oakwoods in general, means a great deal to me.

Warmest regards,"

Within days, Mr Davis sent the following email with two pictures attached:

"Hi Ms. Aanenson
Thank you for your contribution to the ADA, here are the findings for the 5 inquiries you made to Oak Woods cemetery. Next of kin is in parenthesis.

1. Jacob J. Mueller, Age 66  (son Otto) buried in section F5  lot 227  (see photo) his wife Elise is buried to his left also listed with headstone. (see photo).
2.  Otto V. Mueller, Age 44 (sister Alma) is buried in F5 -227 next to Jacob's right side, there is no headstone for him.
3.  Alfred Jacob Mueller, Age 62 (son Harold) is buried next to Otto, there is no headstone for him also.
4. Elizabeth Mueller, Age 76 (William) is buried in section R1 lot 571  Dec. 25, 1901.  (see photo).
5. Frida Youngberg, Age 74 (daughter Myrtle) is buried in section F7 lot 593 Oct. 12, 1937. There is no headstone for her.

Respectfully,

JAMES DAVIS
Planning Advisor
Oak Woods Cemetery
1035 E. 67th Street
Chicago, IL 60637"

Charles J Youngberg and his wife Freda (nee Tolf)

Jacob K Mueller and his wife Elisabeth (nee Schmitt)

A Child Lost ~ Lillian Harriet Rapp

From the June 30, 1896 issue of the Chicago Daily News, "RAPP-LILLIAN HARRIET, beloved daughter of Peter and Belle Rapp, June 29, 1896, aged 6 months. Funeral to Oakwoods July 1, 1896, 2 p.m., from parents' residence, 344 24th-st."

Here's a copy of Lilly's death certificate from FamilySearch:

She was Peter and Belle's 8th child according to the December 1895 Chicago Illinois Birth Register below. The baby's name was recorded as Ellen, but her date of birth, parents' names, the street address, and the couple's ethnic heritage are good indicators that this is the right child:

Lilly's poor mother. She had a baby nearly every year after her wedding,

but lost two-thirds of her children before 1900:

According to the Family History Library film # 1894003, Belle (Peterson) Rapp died 03 Jan 1934 and was buried in Oakwoods January sixth. Film # 1953316 shows Peter Axel Rapp died 12 Mar 1938 and was buried in Oakwoods March fourteenth. Peter, Belle, and Lilly are together now on Find A Grave.



A Child Lost ~ Mabel Champion

From the May 15, 1882 edition of the Chicago Daily News, "CHAMPION-At 550 W. Erie-st., MABEL CHAMPION, aged 1 month and 14 days. Notice of funeral hereafter."

I started at FamilySearch and entered Mabel Champion, checked "all events" and entered the years 1882 to 1892. Three records appeared. Mabel's death certificate was first.

I broadened my search by looking for any Champion in Chicago. I filtered the results by date and gender. Mabel's birth certificate was on page two:

Mabel's parents are John and Mary. She was their first child. Mary's maiden name is listed on this birth register:

The Champions are near the bottom of the page. Mary's surname looks like Fodey. I returned to FamilySearch and found the couple's marriage certificate:

At first I wasn't sure if this Champion family was Mabel's. This census says Mary's parent's were born in Ireland...

and the 1880 census says they were born in Illinois:

But other clues on the 1900 census were helpful, especially the month and year young John Champion was born:

Hmm. Am I the only one bothered by John being identified as the first child born to this couple? Regardless, Mabel's page on Find A Grave is now up to date.

Note: I have no connection to this child. In A Child Lost ~ Introduction, I shared my hope of reuniting these children with their parents. If you are a Champion descendant, I hope you'll give Mabel a special place in your family tree.

My own genealogy work-in-progress is online at Living in the Past Lane.

A Child Lost ~ Annie Bacon

From the July 7, 1890 issue of the Chicago Daily News, "BACON-ANNIE, infant daughter of John and Margaret Bacon, aged 5 months and 25 days. Funeral from 2124 LaSalle-st., Thursday at 10 a.m., to Calvary by carriages."

First I did an Advanced Search for Annie's death certificate on FamilySearch. Her name, date and place of death, and name of the cemetery confirm this is "our" Annie:

I added her to Find A Grave and ran a quick check for her parents' marriage certificate:

Then I looked for the couple on Find A Grave. Margaret's entry includes a transcription of her obituary. She has a daughter named Catherine. No Illinois birth record match for Catherine on FamilySearch.

In the 1892 Chicago City Directory, John A Bacon, policeman resides on Portland Ave. And here's a possibility for the family in the 1900 census:



Did you notice Margaret had five children, but lost two? Here's the other child:

Catherine, Mary and Elizabeth still live with their parents in 1910:

In the census above, Elizabeth is called Bessie. Her middle initial is G, just like in the marriage certificate below. So we know Elizabeth is the daughter mentioned in Margaret's obituary.



But how do we know this family is Annie's family? If these were my ancestors, I would search for more documents with the address mentioned in Annie's obituary. I'd also like to see a reference to her in either parent's obituary.  

Since this is a rudimentary search, I hypothesize that Annie's family moved often. While there are multiple addresses, the same group of family names appear together frequently enough to believe John and Margaret are Annie's parents. I added John's death to Find A Grave and linked Annie with her parents. If you know more about this family, I hope you'll add a comment below.

Note: I have no connection to this child. In A Child Lost ~ Introduction, I shared my hope of reuniting these children with their parents. If you are a Bacon descendant, I hope you'll give Annie a special place in your family tree.

My own genealogy work-in-progress is online at Living in the Past Lane.