Vacation on a budget

Paula Stuart-Warren  Travel  1 Comment

Are you getting some “wish you were here” postcards or watching your neighbors hook up the boat and trailer and feeling like you are missing out on some vacation time? Many genealogists interpret vacation as going somewhere to research, attend a conference or institute or order a bunch of birth and death certificates. How about a few ideas for something to do that is different from your everyday life and yet have a history, genealogy, technology, or family connection? I recently received a post card from Germany where my oldest granddaughter was on an exchange program. It’s not possible budget or time wise for me to go to Germany so I will be taking the three youngest grandchildren to visit Germany in Minnesota — New Ulm in Brown County.

To find more opportunities, check out city, county, and state tourism sites. 

    Isanti County, Minnesota history destroyed

    Paula Stuart-Warren  Historical Societies  2 Comments

    Grab a box of tissues because you will need them after you read this. The Isanti County Minnesota Historical Society’s building was totally destroyed by an arson fire early this morning. According to the Princeton Union-Eagle newspaper, it’s a total loss. Documents, artifacts, publications, and more are gone forever.

    Check here to see the many items we will never again have access to. Read all the way to the bottom of the page. I don’t have any known ancestral connections to Isanti County, but my heart is breaking for those who do.

    Bottom line is that history has been destroyed due to some selfish person or persons. Why? What did they gain from this? It’s a loss of individual, family, community, county, and state history.

    4th of July: Freedom and Family

    Paula Stuart-Warren  Family  Leave a comment

    The 4th of July was a big day in our neighborhood when I was growing up. It meant family and neighbor time. Some years it meant patriotic singing, led by my Dad’s booming voice. It meant hot dogs and hamburgers cooked by my Dad, Bill, and our neighbor ,Ernie Lindberg. For many years the biggest fireworks production in St. Paul was at Highland Park on Montreal. We didn’t travel to see them as our backyard on Bowdoin Street was a perfect venue for lining up the lawn chairs and watching, with sparklers in hand. As the older Lindberg sons hit their teens, somehow we had our own fireworks displays in a city where that wasn’t allowed. But we reveled in it.

    When my parents moved out of their house, one place they lived was a condo across from Central Park in Roseville, Minnesota. We would just walk out their patio door and watch the fireworks from Central Park. The grandchildren loved that view. Of course, we had sparklers. I miss those days.

    One year my husband and I were in Washington, DC on the 4th. Talk about a busy place but what a place to be on the 4th! The music, parade, but most of all for me, the feeling of history and freedom was everywhere.

    Yes, it’s a day to celebrate and remember. But I also remember the Native Americans who suffered and were forced to gave up their freedom in this beautiful land. Let’s not forget their sacrifice.

    Family Tree Finders

    Paula Stuart-Warren  Federation of Genealogical Societies, Vendors  Leave a comment

    I have known Jan and Warren Mitchell for years. Last weekend at the Minnesota Genealogical Society’s Winona Genealogical Program they were among the vendors. They gave me a gift, some Family Tree Wine Glass Charms! I think I need to have a party now. These cute charms hook around your wine glass so that you know which is your glass. I wonder who would choose the marriage license, library, birth certificate, tree, or maybe the skeleton in a casket. I think that there might be a fight over who got the skeleton. I have no stake in their company but just thought I would tell you about my gift.

    Jan and Warren and their company Family Tree Finders will be among the vendors at the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference for the Nation’s Genealogists in Springfield, Illinois this September 7-10. They also carry a variety of genealogy related cards.

    Century Farms in Minnesota

    Paula Stuart-Warren  Century Farms  1 Comment

    The Century Farms program in Minnesota began 35 years ago in 1976 and a list of them is now online. Depending upon which website or news article you look at, it’s of 8,000-9,000 farms that have been recognized as a Century Farm since the program began.The application forms through the 2009 designees are at the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul.

    A farm must meet three requirements to be designated a Century Farm and complete the application:

    • be at least 100 years old according to authentic land records [Yep, the ones genealogists love to use such as deeds, land patent, abstract of title.]
    • have been in continuous family ownership for at least 100 years (continuous residence on the farm is not required). [Family means cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, grandchildren.]
    • the size must be at least 50 acres.

    The Sesquicentennial Farms program honors families that have “owned their farms for at least 150 years, are at least 50 acres in size and are currently involved in agricultural production.” This program began in 2009.

    Back in December of 2009, I blogged more about Century Farms, website, and publications. Click here to read that post.

    Click here to see the Farm Bureau’s lists of Century and Sesquicentennial farms in Minnesota. A search may be done by name or county.

    Only 3 more days to save $50.00 on FGS Genealogy Conference

    Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences, Federation of Genealogical Societies, FGS  Leave a comment

    If you still haven’t registered for the FGS genealogy conference, do it now! Why? 11:59 Friday evening, July 1st, is the end of the discount period. That means your online registration must be completed by 11:59 p.m. (your computer time) or a regular mail registration must be postmarked no later than that time.

    Click here to see the full details. 

      The FGS registration team for the 2011 conference welcomes your registration after July 1st, but they want to make sure you know about the discounted registration opportunity.

      Even the St. Paul police need genealogists

      Paula Stuart-Warren  Ancestry.com, Cemeteries, Minnesoa Historical Society  1 Comment


      On Wednesday evening I saw an article at Twincities.com that told of a tombstone being found in St. Paul and that the police had been unable to determine where it belonged. It read “Marie Olsen 1879-1932.” The article stated police had done a search of birth and death indexes but had not found her. I called the phone number that was in the article and left a comment that I had found at least two possibilities for this Marie doing some online searches.

      Additionally, I wonder what birth index they checked? The statewide Minnesota birth indexes at Ancestry.com and the Minnesota Historical Society’s website do not include 1879 era births. If she was born in Minnesota, there might be a city, township, or county level birth record. However, most births in that time period were not registered. Marie may not have been born in St. Paul or even in Minnesota and a death record might provide that clue as would censuses. 

      I checked the Minnesota death indexes at Ancestry.com and on the Minnesota Historical Society’s (MHS) website. One possibility at Ancestry.com was a woman listed “Marie Andrew Olsen” who died in Ramsey County on November 21, 1932. Then I found a “Mrs. Marie Andrew Olsen” on the MHS website with a death date of November 21, 1932 in Ramsey County.

      My next check was the 1930 census at Ancestry.com using the name Marie Olsen, born 1879 and with a spouse Andrew and living in Minnesota. I didn’t hit pay dirt this way so searched for a Mar* Olsen, born 1879, husband Andrew, living in Minnesota. I tried several different search strategies but didn’t spend much time on it as I have some work deadlines to tackle.

      The online newspaper article was upated at 11:17 P.M on Wednesday and this was added: (yes, it really did say ancestory instead of ancestry). 

      “A Pioneer Press search of ancestory.com Wednesday found a woman named Marie Andrew Olsen died in Ramsey County on Nov. 21, 1932. It could not be determined where she was buried. In addition, a city directory showed that in 1931, Andrew A. Olsen, a carpenter, lived with his wife on Bradley Street.” 

      Next steps? Just several ways to continue the search:

      • Visit the Minnesota Historical Society and check city directories to see if a wife is listed in 1931 and what her name is.
      • Then check the next few years of directories to see if this Andrew no longer has a wife if the wife had been listed as Marie or Mary.
      • While at MHS obtain a copy of the death record for just 35 cents to see if the cemetery is listed.
      • At MHS also check the St. Paul Pioneer Press and St. Paul Dispatch on microfilm for an obituary or death notice for Marie that will hopefully list survivors.
      • Bring those survivors forward in the city directories and other records to maybe find living descendants.
      • If that didn’t yield some people to contact, I would also check at the Ramsey County Courthouse to see if a probate was filed for either Marie or Andrew.   

      Blogtalk Radio this Saturday features Paula Stuart-Warren and Josh Taylor

      Paula Stuart-Warren  Blog Talk Radio, Federation of Genealogical Societies  Leave a comment

      As some of you may know, I came on board in January as co-chair of the Federation of Genealogical Societies 2011 Conference that is being held September 7-10 in Springfield, Illinois. This Saturday you have a chance to listen to me and my co-chair, Josh Taylor, on FGS “My Society” talk radio.

      It’s as simple as booting up your computer and listening to the show Saturday, June 18th. It’s on at 2:00 p.m. EDT, 1:00 p.m. CDT, Noon MDT, and 11:00 a.m. PDT. The show is one hour long and once you are logged on to the blogtalk radio site you can also participate in the Chat Room, make comments, and ask questions. That’s also the place where you’ll find links to online information that we talk about. We also welcome your input on the importance of attending these FGS Conferences.

      Josh will be talking from the East coast and I will be at home in the Midwest. The full highlights will be published on the FGS Conference News Blog and on FGS’ Facebook page tomorrow. Among the things to be covered will be what to expect if you are coming to an FGS conference for the first time, one speaker will be featured, some not yet publicized door prizes will be announced, and we will talk about special new features of this year’s conference. One of the FGS Member Societies will also be featured.

      Mark it on your calendars, visit the FGS website. and click on the blogtalk radio detail. Our fellow FGS board member and show host, Thomas MacEntee, has posted an easy to follow set of directions there so that you may join us on Saturday.

      Sentimental Sunday: Thinking about on-site family history searches

      Paula Stuart-Warren  Family, Research, Research trips  Leave a comment

      I love to sit at my computer checking Ancestry.com, Facebook, NewspaperArchives, American Ancestors and a bunch of other websites. Today I was thinking about some other research ventures that involved on-site researching. I find it exhilarating to touch original records, get my fingers dirty paging through an old volume of court records, view an original will, or whatever the sought after record might be.

      City directories at the St. Paul Public Library: discovering other people with the same surname (Cook) as my maiden grandaunts living at the same address in St. Paul. I had never heard their father or brother’s names before.

      Civil court records at the county courthouse: finding my father’s divorce papers from his first wife. Yes, she did run off while he was overseas during WWII. There were no children. 

      Correspondence with a distant cousin: finding out that our mutual ancestral surname was not Dow and was not English or Irish, but was Daoust and French-Canadian.

      Family History Library in Salt Lake City: reading deeds from Arkansas on microfilm and finally connecting some Warren relatives of my father-in-law’s. 

      Genealogical society meeting: shared something about a 1st cousin twice removed and a fellow attendee ended up giving me a box full of clippings and stories about MY cousin who had lived in the same town with her aunt.

      Newspapers at the Minnesota Historical Society: finding the 50th wedding anniversary story about Nils Christian Carlsen and Betsy Peterson, a set of my maternal great grandparents.

      Newspaper clipping file at the St. Paul Public Library: finding the clippings about my mother-in-law’s cousin Eddie Green that told us he was an associate of John Dillinger’s.

      File at the public library in Clarksville, Arkansas: seeing the names of other people also researching my father-in-law’s family.

      Civil war pension reading at the National Archives in Washington, DC: viewing the complete pension files of ancestors and siblings. 

      Area Research Center in Wisconsin: seeing the signature of my own great grandfather in the papers of the St. Andrew Society.

      Cemeteries in Wisconsin: seeing the stones for my German ancestors in Fort Atkinson and Watertown.

      Illinois adoptions: more access soon

      Paula Stuart-Warren  Adoption, Illinois  Leave a comment

      “Illinois Department of Public Health officials are bracing for a flood of requests in November when a new law will allow thousands of adult adoptees to obtain their birth certificates. The law passed in Illinois last year could give some adoptees the names of their birth parents for the first time. Birth parents can remain anonymous and have their names redacted from any released birth certificate by filling out a form by Nov. 1.”

      This is from an article posted by the Chicago Tribune this evening.  A year ago I blogged about an earlier Tribune post that allowed those born before 1946 easier access to their original birth certificates. This new round takes place beginning this coming November and those born after 1946 will now get that same access unless the birth parents notified the state otherwise. The article states, “If biological parents fail to do so, the state will assume that the information is fair to release.”

      The article quotes Chicago radio personality Steve Cochran who is an adoptee himself who has made contact with his birth mother. At one time Steve was on radio station KDWB-FM here in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Wouldn’t this be a great type of legislation to spread from state to state? There are a few other states that allow some access to the original record.