April 1, 1946 - Dick Goodrich and John Kenfield “incorporated Bemidji Airlines on [this date], referring to it as the Paul Bunyan Playground Route. Daily two hour flights, costing $10.00 per passenger brought businessmen and tourists back and forth from Minneapolis and Bemidji, with one stop at St. Cloud. Bemidji was one of the first Minnesota regional cities with airline services.”
http://www.lakesnwoods.com/BemidjiHistory.htm
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Valuable Information Can Be Found on Death Certificate, Part II
While the coroner provides some of the information on a death certificate, other information is provided by an informant, usually a family member or friend: date of birth, place of birth, spouse’s name, father’s name, mother’s maiden name, current residence, etc. These are the fields that can qualify or disqualify someone as your ancestor. Wrong father’s name, wrong place of birth, wrong birthdate can mean he or she is not your relative.
However, information from the informant is often wrong or missing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found the father’s name or mother’s maiden name listed as “unknown” on a death certificate. And this is when the informant was a spouse, sibling or child of the deceased. It can be so frustrating, especially when you’re specifically looking for the mother’s maiden name, which is often difficult to find.
My grandpa’s death certificate said his mother’s maiden name was Bradshaw (the informant was his wife, my grandma). Once I started looking for my great-grandmother, however, I discovered her maiden name was really Branshaw. But that was only after her father had immigrated to the U.S. (Wisconsin) from Quebec, where the family name was actually Branchaud. Apparently my great-great-grandfather felt the need to simplify or Americanize his French surname.
Do you know your mother and father’s birthdates and your paternal or maternal grandma’s maiden name?
Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com
For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com and click on “Family History Research.”
However, information from the informant is often wrong or missing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found the father’s name or mother’s maiden name listed as “unknown” on a death certificate. And this is when the informant was a spouse, sibling or child of the deceased. It can be so frustrating, especially when you’re specifically looking for the mother’s maiden name, which is often difficult to find.
My grandpa’s death certificate said his mother’s maiden name was Bradshaw (the informant was his wife, my grandma). Once I started looking for my great-grandmother, however, I discovered her maiden name was really Branshaw. But that was only after her father had immigrated to the U.S. (Wisconsin) from Quebec, where the family name was actually Branchaud. Apparently my great-great-grandfather felt the need to simplify or Americanize his French surname.
Do you know your mother and father’s birthdates and your paternal or maternal grandma’s maiden name?
Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com
For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com and click on “Family History Research.”
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Valuable Information Can Be Found on Death Certificate, Part I
Death certificates provide a great deal of information for family history researchers besides cause of death (COD), although COD itself can sometimes be quite interesting. I once pulled a death certificate for a client where a widowed farmer in his late-70s was thrown against a barn and then trampled to death by a bull. According to his obituary1, his badly crushed body was found by his sister. The farmer had been driving cattle into her farmyard.
For family history researchers, other data fields on a death certificate provide the information they’re most interested in. COD, place of death and date of death are provided by the coroner; a source and information you can trust. Place of death and date of death can lead you to an obituary, which may give you additional information that will be discussed in a later blog.
Often, the name of the cemetery or the name of the town where the burial took place is also on the death certificate. Again, information you can usually trust. Check findagrave.com to see if a photo of the deceased’s gravesite is on the website, or if any other family members are buried in the same cemetery. Sometimes county websites will include local cemetery maps and burial listings, in case you’re interested in visiting or taking a photo of your ancestor’s gravesite.
Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com
For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com and click on “Family History Research.”
For family history researchers, other data fields on a death certificate provide the information they’re most interested in. COD, place of death and date of death are provided by the coroner; a source and information you can trust. Place of death and date of death can lead you to an obituary, which may give you additional information that will be discussed in a later blog.
Often, the name of the cemetery or the name of the town where the burial took place is also on the death certificate. Again, information you can usually trust. Check findagrave.com to see if a photo of the deceased’s gravesite is on the website, or if any other family members are buried in the same cemetery. Sometimes county websites will include local cemetery maps and burial listings, in case you’re interested in visiting or taking a photo of your ancestor’s gravesite.
Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com
For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com and click on “Family History Research.”
1Cannon Falls Beacon; “Florence Township Resident Killed by a Bull”; Nov. 7, 1941; Front page.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Validation: Using Birthplaces to Qualify Ancestors in the Census
“The Farmington Telegraph, in June (1869) said:
IMMIGRANTS.—Regularly, twice each day, a car load, and often two, of immigrants from the various countries of Europe, pass through this village on the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad. A few stop here, but the larger portion are bound for the northern part of the State. Full ninety per cent of these immigrants are Scandinavians, the remainder Germans and Irish.”1
Was the ancestor you’re searching for born in the U.S. or in a foreign country?
“Pre-statehood residents of Minnesota were primarily American Indians and French and British immigrants. After 1858 settlers in Minnesota generally came from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and New York. After 1860 thousands of immigrants came from Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Canada, and Denmark.”2
The 1860 Census was the first to ask where each person listed in the census was born (state, territory or country). Beginning with the 1880 Census, people were not only asked where they were born, but where their mother and father were born. Don’t be surprised if there are discrepancies in this response, too.
“Pre-statehood residents of Minnesota were primarily American Indians and French and British immigrants. After 1858 settlers in Minnesota generally came from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and New York. After 1860 thousands of immigrants came from Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Canada, and Denmark.”2
The 1860 Census was the first to ask where each person listed in the census was born (state, territory or country). Beginning with the 1880 Census, people were not only asked where they were born, but where their mother and father were born. Don’t be surprised if there are discrepancies in this response, too.
My great-grandfather, Ormel Lawrence, said his father was born in New York in the 1880 Census, in Maine in the 1900 Census, and in England in the Wisconsin 1905 State Census. His father, Thomas B. Lawrence, was born in New York according to his death certificate and every census where he is listed as head of household.
The 1895 and 1905 Minnesota State Censuses list one client’s great-grandmother as being born in Norway. The 1900, 1910 and 1920 Censuses list her as being born in Sweden. According to her death certificate, obituary and church baptismal records, she was born in Norway. Her husband was born in Sweden.
Tracking birthplaces for individuals or families listed in the census is another important step in validating whether or not they are part of your family. As demonstrated above, errors can happen, and other sources, such as death certificates, obituaries, and naturalization papers, should also be used to validate that information.
Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com
For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com and click on “Family History Research.”
Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com
For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com and click on “Family History Research.”
1McClung, J.W.; Minnesota as it is in 1870; page 288; 1870; St. Paul, MN.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lhbum&fileName=01092/lhbum01092.db&recNum=287&itemLink=r?ammem/lhbum:@field(DOCID+@lit(lhbum01092div96)):%2301092288&linkText=1
2https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Minnesota_Emigration_and_Immigration
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lhbum&fileName=01092/lhbum01092.db&recNum=287&itemLink=r?ammem/lhbum:@field(DOCID+@lit(lhbum01092div96)):%2301092288&linkText=1
2https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Minnesota_Emigration_and_Immigration
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Validation: Using Birth Years to Qualify Ancestors in the Census
Women will be obliged to give their correct age in the coming census. The new law says:"Women who refuse to tell their ages or indulge in inaccurate statements thereof, as well as all other persons refusing to reply to questions or making false statements, shall, on conviction be fined one hundred dollars."
Manitowoc Daily Herald, Manitowoc, Wis. Saturday, May 27, 1899 P.21
Manitowoc Daily Herald, Manitowoc, Wis. Saturday, May 27, 1899 P.21
In general, the censuses asked how old a person was as of his or her last birthday, not the specific year he or she was born (the exception was the 1900 Census, which asked for the month and year of birth). The phrasing of that question has predictably led to a number of errors in birth year listings in census indexes. Add to that human error, or as implied above, human vanity, and you can see why birth year listings vary slightly from census to census.
One of my clients’ great-grandmothers, coincidently from Wis., had a different birth year in every census. She got younger every time, so that by the 1930 Census, she would have been 15 years old at the time of her marriage.
Birth years may be off plus or minus a year or two from census to census and still be the right person. However, if a birth year has changed by more than seven to 10 years since the previous census, even though the name might be the same, it is most likely not the same person.
Check the names and birth years of the other family members listed. Are they similar to what is listed in previous or future censuses? Reviewing birth years in the census is another key step in validating your family members.
Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com
For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com and click on Family History Research.
1http://www.2manitowoc.com/
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Validation: Using the Census to Track Names and Confirm Relatives
The census is usually the easiest place to start family history research, especially if you know where your family lived during a specific time period. On the other hand, not everything in the census is going to be correct or the same from census to census, so you will need to find other documentation to resolve conflicts and prove this is the family or individual you’re looking for.
Names
Names, both first names and surnames, can be misspelled or just plain wrong in the census, and yet it can be the correct person or family. Check the rest of the names and birth years in the family. If they are the same (or similar) to those listed on previous or future censuses, you probably have the same family.
Here are three of many examples of wrong name, right family I’ve come across in doing family history research:
In the Mecklenburg church records and on a Hamburg passenger list, a client’s great-grandfather’s sister is named Frederika. In one and only one census, she is listed as Bridget, with Frederika’s birth year. Everyone else’s names are the same as they were on the other records.
Born in 1858, my great-grandfather Augustus Kniss is listed in the 1860 Census as Albert Kneiss. His name is correct in the 1870 Census. Comparing the two censuses, his birth year stays the same and his siblings’ names stay the same. In looking back at the 1850 Census, his father’s and older siblings’ names and birth years are the same as in the 1860 and 1870 Censuses.
Another client’s grandfather appears in the 1900 Census (the first census he is in) not only listed under the wrong first name, but listed erroneously as a she. In the 1905 Minnesota State Census, he is listed under a totally different name than in the 1900 Census, but at least he is listed as male. By the 1910 Census, he is listed under the name he went by for the rest of his life. His birth year (1900) is consistent throughout the censuses, as are his father’s and siblings’ names and birth years. His mother, on the other hand, is listed under a different though similar name in every census.
Names
Names, both first names and surnames, can be misspelled or just plain wrong in the census, and yet it can be the correct person or family. Check the rest of the names and birth years in the family. If they are the same (or similar) to those listed on previous or future censuses, you probably have the same family.
Here are three of many examples of wrong name, right family I’ve come across in doing family history research:
In the Mecklenburg church records and on a Hamburg passenger list, a client’s great-grandfather’s sister is named Frederika. In one and only one census, she is listed as Bridget, with Frederika’s birth year. Everyone else’s names are the same as they were on the other records.
Born in 1858, my great-grandfather Augustus Kniss is listed in the 1860 Census as Albert Kneiss. His name is correct in the 1870 Census. Comparing the two censuses, his birth year stays the same and his siblings’ names stay the same. In looking back at the 1850 Census, his father’s and older siblings’ names and birth years are the same as in the 1860 and 1870 Censuses.
Another client’s grandfather appears in the 1900 Census (the first census he is in) not only listed under the wrong first name, but listed erroneously as a she. In the 1905 Minnesota State Census, he is listed under a totally different name than in the 1900 Census, but at least he is listed as male. By the 1910 Census, he is listed under the name he went by for the rest of his life. His birth year (1900) is consistent throughout the censuses, as are his father’s and siblings’ names and birth years. His mother, on the other hand, is listed under a different though similar name in every census.
Locating and tracking names through the census is one of the first things you should do when trying to find an ancestral individual or family. Keep an open mind. Look for consistency in family members’ names, birth years and place of birth. This is one of several steps you should take to help you validate your findings.
Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com
For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com and click on Family History Research.
Monday, January 16, 2012
The Importance of Validating your Research
Validate: to confirm truthfulness of something: to confirm or establish the
truthfulness or soundness of something1
truthfulness or soundness of something1
How can you tell if the Andrew Johnson you found is the Andrew Johnson you’re looking for?
If you’re trying to find an Andrew Johnson that lives in a primarily German area of Wisconsin, he will probably stand out from all the Johann Schmidts and Friedrich Kemps that live in the community. On the other hand, if you’re searching for an Andrew Johnson in an area full of Swedes and Norwegians, you better have more information than just his name.
If you’re trying to find an Andrew Johnson that lives in a primarily German area of Wisconsin, he will probably stand out from all the Johann Schmidts and Friedrich Kemps that live in the community. On the other hand, if you’re searching for an Andrew Johnson in an area full of Swedes and Norwegians, you better have more information than just his name.
In family history research, finding the correct family connection is imperative; otherwise you’ll end up adding complete strangers to your family tree. Once you start down the wrong road, it’s often difficult to get back on course.
Validation
There are a number of validation steps you should take that will help you prove or disprove that you have found the right person or the right family. Never just accept what someone else tells you or has in their online family tree. Find documentation.
As an example, someone else’s family tree on Ancestry.com includes my great-great-great-grandfather Johann Ernst Theodore Landt and all of his children; however, his spouse is listed as someone other than my great-great-great-grandmother, Johanna Frederika Carolina Schroeder.
I’ve tracked my maternal grandma’s family back to this generation through the census, birth records, death certificates, obituaries, cemetery records, passenger ship records and German church records. I know this is my family and I can prove it.
Make sure you have proof before adding someone to your family tree.
Make sure you have proof before adding someone to your family tree.
Discover your roots and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com
For more information on my Family History Research services, visit TheMemoryQuilt.com
and click on Family History Research.
and click on Family History Research.
1http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/Search?q=validate&FORM=IA10HR
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