Researching Old Ship Logs

Paula Stuart-Warren  National Archives, Research  Leave a comment

How cool is this! Volunteers are combing old ship logs to learn weather details for The Old Weather project. It is a way to fill in the gaps of our climate knowledge.  It also tells the story of the humans involved in the shipping industry and the human enjoyment and suffering of those on the ships.

“Mariners have long kept meticulous logbooks of weather conditions and descriptions of life onboard, and the National Archives in Washington, D.C., has pages and pages and pages of them recorded by sailors on Navy and Coast Guard vessels. Along with the basic weather observations, the logbooks contain amazing stories of adventure, survival and mystery. A bouquet of dried flowers was sandwiched in one logbook. Another log describes a 1,600-mile overland journey to bring reindeer to some stranded whalers. And then there are the logs of the USS Jeannette. Its journey began in San Francisco in 1879, an ill-fated attempt to find an open-water passage to the North Pole. Two months later, the Jeannette was surrounded by ice north of Siberia.”

Read the full article here: http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/09/03/ship-logs?from=environment

Minnesota and beyond: seeking families and descendants of 46,000 adopted children since 1865

Paula Stuart-Warren  Adoption, Newspapers  1 Comment

I love neighborhood newspapers. The Park Bugle serves the St. Anthony Park, Falcon Heights, Lauderdale, and Como Park areas of St. Paul, Minnesota The September issue I picked up this week carried an article with joyous news of importance to many people. It concerns the families of children adopted through two organizations located here in Minnesota. 

The Children’s Home Society is celebrating 125 years of service. It has joined with Lutheran Social Services in a celebration being billed jointly as “Family Reunion: Celebrating 275 Years of Adoption.” The event takes place on Sunday, September 21st.

One special part the article states is “Everyone is welcome, but organizers are issuing a special invitation to
families and descendants of the estimated 46,000 children who have been adopted through the two organizations since Lutheran Social Services opened in 1865. They’ve set up a special website www.adoption275.org for adoptees and their loved ones to “Share Your Story” through photos, memorabilia and memories.

Read more about the two organizations, their history, and more about adoption in Minnesota http://www.parkbugle.org/family-reunion/.

Please share this notice with others who may have a connection to the children adopted via these organizations. The stories need to be shared.

Genealogy Immersion January 2015 in SLC

Paula Stuart-Warren  Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, SLIG  Leave a comment

Check your calendar. I bet it’s pretty empty for next January. Why not sign up for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy that takes place 12-16 January 2015. SLIG is moving to a different hotel with more classrooms and more space in each room. It has on-site restaurants, a Starbucks takeout area, and places to sit and talk with fellow students.

If you register today (and before 31 October 2014) you save $50 off registration. Join the parent of SLIG, the Utah Genealogical Association, and you save even more if you register now rather than after Halloween.

I am once again coordinating the United States Records and Research course. 2015 is Part I and Part 2 is offered in even numbered years. These do not need to be taken in any specific order and some genealogists return for a refresher when a number of years has passed! Plus the session content and the syllabus are always being updated by the instructors.

This course offers greater understanding of records, learning more unusual resources, one-on-one consultations at the Family History Library, a computer lab session, and some surprises. 

 Click here for the full intermediate course lineup. 

To learn more about SLIG: http://www.saltlakeinstituteofgenealogy.com/

And here: http://www.infouga.org/cpage.php?pt=42

War of 1812 Pensions: 362,206 more pages funded for digitization!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences/Institutes, Preserve the Pensions, War of 1812  1 Comment

During the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference in San Antonio, last week, there was a special event that helped raise the funds to digitized 362, 206 more pages of the War of 1812 pension files.

Digitize and make them searchable, free, and printable to anyone forever. What a nice phrase.

The FGS 2014 Celebrity Fun Walk was extremely successful. If you hadn’t heard about this, it was a fun event with many donations given on behalf of these four amazing individuals. The power of the four genealogists who woke up before sunset to walk from the convention center to the Alamo was amazing. The power of the community donations was wonderful. With all that was raised on behalf of Judy Russell, Josh Taylor, Kenyatta Berry, and Ed Donakey, plus the matching funds and other items, the total is almost $85,000.

Check out the Preserve the Pensions blog for more details and photos. 

The campaign isn’t finished yet. There are many more files to be digitized. About 61,000 pages were digitized last month but that’s only into the H surnames. Urge your fellow genealogists, historians, authors, military experts, and others to contribute. The Illinois and Indiana genealogical societies are once again providing matching funds for donations made through them. Check their society websites for details.

Registration Savings on North Star Genealogy Conference in Minnesota

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences/Institutes, DNA  Leave a comment

Sunday, September 7th is the last day to register and save money on the 2014 North Star Conference. This is the Minnesota Genealogical Society’s annual conference. The featured speaker for 2014 is Judy Russell, JD, CGSM , CGLSM , who is known as The Legal Genealogist.  Judy will present four lectures during the October 3-4 event. Several other speakers will also present sessions, including some woman named PaulaStuart-Warren.

Lunch is included in the registration price, and each attendee will receive tickets for door prize drawings. The location is Colonial Church in Edina, a Minneapolis suburb. The church  has plenty of parking and free Wi-Fi.

The full conference brochure is here. Register on the MGS website http://mngs.org/

On Thursday evening, October 2, MGS and the DNA Interest Group host Judy Russell for “DNA Goes Genderless.” This requires a separate registration.Visit http://mngs.org/ for details.

Judy’s description of this presentation: “Until 2010, genealogists could only use DNA to help prove ancestry if they could find sons of sons of a male ancestor or daughters of daughters of a female ancestor to test against each other. With the advent of autosomal DNA testing, DNA has gone genderless: it’s now possible to test a male descendant of a man or woman against a female descendant. Learn more about this exciting addition to the toolkit of 21st century genealogists.”

My first great grandchild on Labor Day!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Family  Leave a comment

It will always be a special family joke that my first granddaughter gave birth to my first great grandchild on Labor Day!

Lucas arrived this morning. I feel giddy. I had no trouble sleeping through it all. I had the phone on silent and slept 12 hours upon my return from the FGS genealogy conference in San Antonio. I woke up to many missed phone calls and text messages. Those messages included photos of Mommy, Daddy, and Baby. Then I opened Facebook to see the first photo had already been posted there by the Daddy. I had instructed her that the baby could not arrive while I was out of town. She waited!

I am guessing my granddaughter won’t be working at the paying job on Labor Day.  However, this was a much better paying Labor Day for her. 

I have added the details to RootsMagic already. That’s a genealogy software program that I have started to use. I know that family who read this won’t know what that means. What an honor to add the newest generation.

So anxious to see and hold the latest addition to our family.

Next up: FGS Conference in San Antonio

Paula Stuart-Warren  Ancestry.com, Federation of Genealogical Societies  Leave a comment

I have a two week break from presentations right now but I have plenty to keep me busy and earning a living.

Next up on my travel schedule is the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in San Antonio, Texas from August 27-30. I have given up editing and writing the conference blog but it still exists and is filled with helpful information that you need in advance of this event that will draw people from all over the U.S. and from some other countries. Click here to view the conference information and to read the blog. Be sure to save time for the Exhibit Hall!

Juliana Smith has written a post on Ancestry.com’s blog that reinforces the benefits of attending such conferences along with many tips that will help you prepare for the upcoming FGS conference. Click here to read her excellent post.

Update on stolen Chaska Moravian Church Records

Paula Stuart-Warren  Church records  Leave a comment

A few days ago I blogged about the volumes of records being stolen from an area church. Sometimes the media doesn’t get the whole story. Then there is me who assumed the story was correct. I wasn’t about to call the church and bug them when I know they are already being overwhelmed. Maybe I should have.

Another local TV station (KSTP) reports  “[Pastor] Eder says the Moravian Church is very much into their history. The stolen book, volume three, dates back to 1902. Two other volumes of records are stored in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.”

That answers some questions yet it still means one important volume was stolen. 

New book for German researchers: Hanover Military Records Guide!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Germanic Research  Leave a comment

I received this press release today. Sounds like a MUST HAVE if you have Hanover ancestral roots!

Lind Street Research Publishes a New Guide for finding German Military Records
for the former Kingdom of Hanover

INVERNESS, ILLINOIS, August 1, 2014 – Teresa Steinkamp McMillin, Certified GenealogistSM and German research expert, is proud to announce the publication of Guide to Hanover Military Records, 1514–1866, on Microfilm at the Family History Library. Military records for the former Kingdom of Hanover in Germany can include a soldier’s date and place of birth, his father’s name, and widows’ pensions. This publication is the only English-language guide to this gold mine of information for genealogists. With this guide, a researcher can quickly determine all available records for a regiment and time period and know where to find them in the Family History Library’s (FHL) microfilm holdings in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The records in this collection span 130 rolls of FHL microfilm and go beyond simply listing names of soldiers. In addition to the typical details in the muster rolls, transfers to and from other companies provide clues to additional muster rolls to review. The many other types of records in this collection include regimental journals, pension data, marriage consents, field church books, and even horse muster rolls, including physical descriptions of the horses and the names of the soldiers who rode them, and much, much more.

Easy to use, this guide is organized chronologically and includes brief historical overviews at the beginning of each major section. The book explains the history of the former Kingdom of Hanover and includes a detailed explanation of how to use this guide, demonstrated with examples.
This guide book is a must-have for anyone researching ancestors from the former Kingdom of Hanover in Germany.

“McMillin has produced a thorough, detailed guide to the soldiers’ records, geography, and military history of the Kingdom of Hanover. Her book is the key that unlocks the puzzle of which microfilm your ancestor’s military record is found among the 130 Hanover military microfilms at the Family History Library.” — Ernest Thode

“Until now this collection has hardly been touched by family historians, mostly because of the difficulties associated with locating the…microfilms. It’s an incredibly helpful work.” – Baerbel Johnson

“The 400+ pages of this guide will save any genealogical or historical researcher dozens of frustrating hours trying to find valuable information in this collection. Although painstakingly detailed, it is ridiculously easy to use.” — Michael Lacopo

Teresa Steinkamp McMillin, Certified Genealogistsm has had a life-long passion for genealogy. In 2006, Teresa founded Lind Street Research, a company dedicated to helping clients trace their German ancestry. Since then, she has helped many people discover their family history. Teresa also writes family history books and is a popular speaker for local and national genealogical societies, sharing her knowledge with the genealogical community. 

Visit www.hanovermilitary.com for more details
Contact:           Teresa Steinkamp McMillin, CG
                        [email protected]
                        847-338-0041 
 

Teresa S. McMillin, CG
www.lindstreet.com

CG or Certified Genealogist is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by board certified genealogists after periodic evaluation.

KARE 11 reports Chaska Moravian Church books stolen

Paula Stuart-Warren  Church records  1 Comment

It’s been a tough news day here in my area. One horrific story has been the shooting and death of a suburban police officer. That has affected my thinking all afternoon. My heart aches for his family and fellow officers.

Then I checked the local news channels websites to see if the suspect had been found and so far that news is negative. I saw another story that caught my eye. Definitely not as horrific, but still sad. A local news channel (KARE) has reported that thieves broke into a Minnesota church and among other items stole the church record books. These books from the Chaska Moravian Church are a big part of the history of the church and the area in Carver County, Minnesota.

KARE11 reports “Sometime in the late evening hours of Monday, July 14th, Reverend Eder discovered thieves broke into the church office and took a locked safe containing $50, but even more valuable to the church were four handwritten ledgers containing birth, wedding and death records dating back to 1920. The leather bound books contained important genealogy information of members from the early years all the way to a baptism performed two weeks ago.”

I just checked several catalogs including those of the Minnesota Historical Society and the Family History Library and didn’t see any evidence that these record books were ever microfilmed. The Moravian Church Archives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania does appear to have something from the first two record books. That means two of the stolen items are the only locations of the valuable information. Now I wonder if it is microfilm, photocopy, index, abstract, or what else? The inventory is not clear.

Read the full KARE story here plus the video of the newscast announcement.

Some record abstracts are posted on this website. Debbie Moe did an even greater service at the time by providing this information.

Update to police officer death: the suspect has been apprehended.