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

02/15/2001 3

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

02/15/2001 4

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)

02/15/2001 5

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’

02/15/2001 6

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

02/15/2001 7

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

02/15/2001 8

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

02/15/2001 9

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

02/15/2001 10

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

02/15/2001 11

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.

02/15/2001 12

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

02/15/2001 13

Immigration RecordsImmigration Records

• Passenger lists

• Citizenship/Naturalization

records

• Port of entry records

I have no idea who these people are

02/15/2001 14

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)

02/15/2001 15

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

02/15/2001 16

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

02/15/2001 17

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’

02/15/2001 18

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

02/15/2001 19

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

02/15/2001 20

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

02/15/2001 23

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

02/15/2001 24

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

02/15/2001 27

Web SitesWeb Sites

• www.FamilyTreeMaker.com

• www.Genealogy.com

• www.FamilySearch.org

• www.MyTrees.com

• www.EllisIslandRecords.org

• www.NARA.gov

• www.WardsOnline.net