The Genealogy Squad: another milestone

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  ,  Leave a comment

45,000+ family historians can’t be wrong. Four administrators, designated helpers, and 45,000 other people willing to ask, share, and it’s one of the best groups on Facebook. We learn, we question, we grow. Part of the “About” for this group states “The mission of the Genealogy Squad Facebook group is to provide a positive space for the sharing of appropriate and reliable methods and resources to assist a global community of genealogists at all levels. We focus on answering questions and solving problems, while demonstrating best practices in all aspects of genealogical research.?” Questions and brick walls are from all over the world. Those who respond are from all over the world. Whether your genealogy questions or quandaries are from the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland or the ocean shore in Oregon, someone knows the answer or where you can look to find more details. It’s all amazing. The promise of a kind atmosphere is true. It’s a place for help, not complaints. It’s a place for thinking, not demanding. Join the smart crowd today. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2307834602793759

In December, the admins made this announcement: 

 

 

 

 

Legacy Family Tree Genealogy Webinars for 2022

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  , ,  2 Comments

Excellent news for genealogy education in 2022! The 2022 Legacy Family Trees and MyHeritage Webinar series is now open for registration. It’s the 13th year of these and the array of topics is astounding. What’s included? Presentations include specific countries, specific U.S. states (this time I am doing one on Michigan), DNA, technology, methodology, organizing, and many others. 

All live webinars are free and their recordings are free to watch for the first seven (7) days. To register for these, click here. for the website. BUT with a full webinar membership ($49.95 for a full year) you get these additional benefits:

  • Access to 1) all the existing 1,600+ classes in the library, 2) plus the 180+ webinars that will be added during the 2022 season, 3) plus any additional bonus members-only webinars (hundreds of these so far) – all available for the duration of your membership
  • Access to all 6,100+ pages of instructors’ handouts plus the new handouts of the 2022 season
  • Chat logs from the live webinars
  • Chance for a bonus subscribers-only door prize during each live webinar
  • Advanced navigation of videos with playlists and chapters
  • Exclusive section for all webinars you’ve registered for
  • Option to bookmark your favorites
  • Additional 5% off anything at FamilyTreeWebinars.com

Using my affiliate link to become a member helps to support my blog and website. I receive a small percentage of the $49.95 fee.  http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=1739

For more details and some special new items for 2022, check the press release. 

Fellowships for Great Migration research for Mississippi family historians

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  ,  Leave a comment

A press release from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History on December 27th tells about a research opportunity. Individuals working on their own family history rarely have a chance to do research supported by a fellowship. This project will help to document the Great Migration of African American Mississippians to the north and west in search of work, to hopefully escape racial prejudice, and an effort to establish a better family life. This migration began shortly before the first World War. In part, the news release states:

“The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) will award fellowships of up to $2,000 to support individuals hoping to locate information related to their family history using resources available at MDAH. The fellowships are a part of a year-long initiative in 2022 to expand understanding of the Great Migration and its impact on Mississippi and the nation.”

For more on this opportunity for a $2000 stipend that will be awarded to ten researchers:  https://www.mdah.ms.gov/news/mdah-launches-family-genealogy-fellowships. 

FamilySearch New & Updated FREE Collections this Week

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized    Leave a comment

Each week, FamilySearch releases a list of new and updated collections and notes on indexing of these. This week a variety of records from around the world are represented. I think Mexico wins as far as the number of collections. Argentina and Brazil are close! The U.S. is represented but in lesser numbers than other countries. 

 

A few examples:

To view the long list of new and updated collections: https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/new-records-20-dec-2021

 

 

Jan 1 deadline Donn Devine Scholarship for Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP)

Paula Stuart-Warren  Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh, GRIP  ,  Leave a comment

From the GRIP Directors:

“The Donn Devine Memorial Scholarship is awarded to an applicant who emulates Donn’s spirit of volunteerism by giving back to their community. GRIP would like to reward that spirit to a person who has never been to GRIP by giving them one of the 18 virtual week-long courses available in the summer of 2022. Please see more information about how to apply through the link on the Scholarship Page (along with other scholarship information and links.)”

To see more about the two different weeks for GRIP in 2022 and the detail on the 18 courses: https://www.gripitt.org/courses/

 

 

 

U.S. National Archives News on the 1950 census release.

Paula Stuart-Warren  census  ,  Leave a comment

Yesterday’s news from the U.S. National Archives (NARA) is full of details on the April 1, 2022 releases of the 1950 census, digital availability, indexing, and other details. The first two paragraphs of the news: 

WASHINGTON, DC, December 14, 2021 — With the scheduled April 1, 2022, release of 1950 Census records a little more than three months away, the National Archives is completing efforts to digitize those records and using technology to make them more accessible than ever.

“Employees from across the agency have worked on digitizing and indexing the records and developing and testing a new, dedicated 1950 Census website,” said Project Manager Carol Lagundo, who leads the 1950 Census project at National Archives. “It’s taken innovation and creativity to keep this project on track throughout the pandemic and to continue to meet our project milestones. We hope the public will benefit from our hard work.”

I encourage you to read the full details on the NARA website. It includes information on how users can help. https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/1950-census-access

 

The Foundlings: A Genealogical Crime Mystery. My review.

Paula Stuart-Warren  Reviews  3 Comments

I have several stacks of books in my apartment that beg to be read and long lists of books to purchase and read. Some are historical and genealogical in nature, and others are for relaxation time. I have now added several more books to my list. A few weeks ago, my mail included a review copy of The Foundlings: A Genealogical Crime Mystery. Author Nathan Dylan Goodwin has created a new devotee of his main character, Morton Farrier, Forensic Genealogist. This is the ninth book about this clever family man and genealogist. Now I have eight more to read. These books can be read in any order and that always makes me happy.

When I first saw this title on Twitter, I thought maybe the title, “The Foundlings,” had a mistaken “s “at the end of the work. Oh, it’s plural all right. Written by an English author and set in England, I wondered if it would be an easy read. After a few pages, I realized I was so into the story that the setting and a few phrases commonly used in England didn’t matter.

Abandoned babies, DNA connections, Farrier’s own family connection, concerns with painful information discovered, and a story that easily changes between the current time and a few decades back. Another connection to Farrier’s own family arises and I was more intrigued. Then there’s a fourth abandoned baby, a new and loved baby, and a connection to a bird. I had a few tears, some laughs, and read more pages one afternoon than I had planned. All of these twists and turns are fully connected.

The ending? Not to be shared here, but I like the way the issues were addressed. Author Goodwin handles facets of DNA testing and the way the outcomes can affect families in a clear way in the story. He does not preach, but the story itself provides enough explanations.  

Suggested book? Definitely. Yes, these books are available in Kindle editions, but I am still a lover of a book I can easily hold. 

Check out the author’s website for ordering details no matter where you reside. https://www.nathandylangoodwin.com/

Native American Research: Update on Indian School Records Collaboration

Paula Stuart-Warren  Native American    Leave a comment

Minnesota Public Radio posted today “The U.S. Department of the Interior and the Minnesota-based Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition have signed an agreement to collaborate in the search for records of Indian boarding schools.” The article next states an online archive of the records will be started late in 2022. Apparently the Coalition had requested records in 2016 via a FOIA request and Native American Boarding without success. I am sure the number of recent articles on the atrocities related to the schools has spurred the DOI to cooperate. 

I will give the DOI a partial break, because Bureau of Indian Affairs records related to the schools (mostly government run, but with some religious connections) are not all in one place, not all are indexed, and records, correspondence, photos, and other material are scattered throughout various record groups at just the locations of the U.S. National Archives. This will not be an easy task. Other records are in state repositories religious archives, and college and university libraries. I repeat, this will not be easy, quick, or fully successful work. I am hopeful that cooperation is truly meant and all the children who attended, who died, and who are “lost” to their families can be documented. 

The full article is here

MyHeritage SuperSearch Notification: Arsene Daoust

Paula Stuart-Warren  MyHeritage  , ,  2 Comments

My Great Great Grandfather was known to me as Samuel Dow. I never met him, but I need his answers to so many questions. One of his daughters, Violet Dow, married John Thomas Cook and they resided in a few places in Minnesota and North Dakota, ending up in Saint Paul. Research was daunting as there were few records for Samuel Dow. I knew they had been in Superior, Douglas County, Wisconsin. Censuses, city directories, a brief obituary, that daughter’s marriage record, and other records clearly listed him as Sam or Samuel Dow. Some readers may have read or heard this story before. About 30 years ago, courtesy of a Dow cousin, I located a 1c3r (First cousin, three times removed) who was living in Southern California. She was a daughter of Sam Dow’s youngest sister. They had resided in Chicago. We had a lovely conversation, but the elderly woman did not provide many details. At the end of the conversation, she asked if I knew that wasn’t their real name. That was a stunner and it turned out the actual surname was French-Canadian and Sam, Violet, and others in the family were born in Canada! Censuses, city directories, church, and other records in the Province of Quebec in the area of Montreal provided a weaving timeline showing Sam was born as Anselme Daoust, was sometimes known as Arsene Daoust or Dow, and also as Sam or Samuel Dow. I generally search for all the name variations and am never surprised by others. On November 25th, I received an email from MyHeritage SuperSearch Alerts for Arsene Daoust.

Of course, the OCRd newspaper item was a bit garbled as many are, and I checked the actual image on MyHeritage. I knew it mentioned my own ancestor because from city directories I recognized the address on Centre Street and the company it mentioned for the other man was the same company that employed Sam/Arsene. GTR is the Grand Trunk Railway. Violet was not born until 1875 so this predates my own Nana Violet Dow Cook. 

The Montreal Daily Witness, Monday, 4 August 1873, page [?] column 5

Native American Research Part 3: Indian Boarding Schools: Children Forcibly Removed from their Homes

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized    3 Comments

Native American genealogical research, consulting, and presentations on the topic are a major interest and part of my business. For some of my Native American individual, tribal, and law firm clients, I have spent time investigating records related to Indian boarding schools. This involved the reading of letters from parents to the school begging for their children to return home. I saw letters from the school personnel telling of the actions of children as young as 5 and 6 and how they were punished. I saw notifications of the death of a young child in the school infirmary. Alone, no mother or father present, and a sudden burial at the school. Many of the school burials are in unmarked graves. I would estimate that 95% of what I read was painful. The schools were designed to change these children to become mainstream Americans, aka whites. Hair was cut, traditional clothing was tossed away, English was the only language allowed, and other cultural changes were forced on them. Some of the relatively older children were sent out to become farm workers or housekeepers, generally without parental knowledge.

Here’s an overview for my home state of Minnesota. https://www.mnopedia.org/native-american-boarding-schools

Students may not have attended a school in their own state but were sent several states away. Many tribes are represented in the records of an individual school no matter where it was located.

 Records do not still exist for every government or religious school boarding school that was attended by Native American children. Some children attended a day school or the area’s public school and some records do exist in connection with those. The items detailed below show a bit about some of those boarding schools that did exist, some records, and a few ways to find more.

  • https://augustana.on.worldcat.org/v2/oclc/28416652 Oahe at Augustana University, Center for Western Studies, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Oahe Industrial school, Hughes County, South Dakota. 1878, 6 folders. Account book, school register, financial records, student records, student work, and printed material.

  • https://orbis.library.yale.edu/vwebv/search?searchArg=Holy+Child+Indian+School+records%2C+1887-1894&searchCode=GKEY%5E*&setLimit=1&recCount=50&searchType=1&page.search.search.button=Search. Holy Child Indian School, Harbor Springs, Michigan. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Records at Yale University. Includes 2 manuscript notebooks with enrollment records of the Holy Child Indian School in Harbor Springs, Michigan, 1887-1893. There is also a manuscript notebook with examination records of students, 1887-1894. Matters recorded include student names, communicant names, ages, home villages, dates of entrance, attendance, and grades.

  • The U.S. National Archives (NARA) website is a gold mine of finding aids, record descriptions, and articles related to government run (Bureau of Indian Affairs) boarding schools. I did a search on the main page search box for “Indian boarding school” with the quotes and received 69 hits. The next search was for Indian “boarding school” with the word Indian outside of the quotes and received 28,041 hits. That’s the tip of the proverbial iceberg because within other records found in Record Group 75 (Bureau of Indian Affairs) school records, correspondence, lists, and more can be found. NARA has a list of the BIA schools https://www.archives.gov/research/native-americans/bia-guide/schools?

  • Many of the records of the schools held at the regional locations of NARA have been filmed and now digitized by FamilySearch. Not all those once filmed are available online. A couple examples from FamilySearch.org:
  • The Library of Congress has some records, but mainly photographs related to schools and students. Check state historical, archives, and libraries for records and photographs. Many diaries, journals, personal papers, and notebooks of the schoolteachers, superintendents, physicians, and missionaries can be found in libraries, archives, and historical societies often contain names and other details.

  • Check WorldCat and ArchiveGrid for more on such material, published books, and other items. Searches on these often provide links to the institutions that hold the material. This includes many state-level historical societies and archives.