A cemetery in California adapts to the 21st century

Paula Stuart-Warren  Cemetery, Family, Slaker  1 Comment

The 700 acre Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California, is joining in on saving water. According to an article in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Rose Hills once required 293 million gallons of potable water a year, as much used in several cities. The article further states:

“On Wednesday, the cemetery put an end to irrigating lawns with drinking water. Thanks to a change in state law prompted by the drought, Rose Hills will use 100 percent recycled water on its sprawling grounds and in decorative fountains by the end of the year, saving enough drinking water for 2,000 to 3,000 homes.”

Rose Hills is a pretty cemetery. It was lush and green the last time I visited in 2002. This visit and even pictures are the work of a woman I met while teaching at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. Shirley Calton became a good friend and scoped out the burial locations in advance of taking me to the cemetery.

I am happy to see that a way has been found to keep it as green as possible. This article caught my eye because many of my Slaker collateral line relatives are buried there.  My Great Grandmother Emma Slaker, wife of James Stuart is my connection to these Slakers. They all began their U.S. life in Wisconsin with later time in Illinois and Minnesota. The Slaker brothers Louis and Fred moved their families to Southern California early in the 20th century.

Read the full August 18th article here.

 

 

Minnesota websites for genealogical & historical research: Part 6

Paula Stuart-Warren  Minnesota  Leave a comment

This is Part 6 of my ongoing series of posts about great online resources from historical societies, archives, libraries, and other places around Minnesota. Don’t forget to check the websites of these organizations for lists, catalogs, and finding aids that tell you about the other extensive research resources that need to be used in person.  You will be astounded at all that is available both online and in these places.

 

City of Minneapolis Archives: The Minneapolis City Clerk’s Office, with the assistance of the Urban Scholars summer internship program, has digitized many historic images and materials.  This is an ongoing project. https://www.flickr.com/photos/mplsarchives

 

Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota, Lutheran Church Archives: finding aids for congregational histories, biographical files regarding clergy and church leaders, and microfilmed church records (ending about 1930). https://gustavus.edu/library/archives/LCA/

 

Minnesota County Maps: www.dot.state.mn.us/maps/gdma/maps-county-alpha.html

 
To view Parts 1-5 scroll down the right hand side of this page to Categories and click on Minnesota.

 

UW-Superior acquires massive shipyard collection

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  Leave a comment

The Jim Dan Hill Library at the University of Wisconsin-Superior now has a unique collection. The university won a $50,000 National Maritime Heritage Grant to preserve thousands of documents from Fraser Shipyards, Inc. of Superior.

According to the Duluth [MN] News Tribune, among the “3,000 technical drawings, 8,500 aperture card negatives and several boxes of correspondences and reports” are the “working design documents and blueprints of such well-known vessels as the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

Don’t get too excited yet. The collection will take about 18 month to fully catalog the entire collection that spans 125 years of the company.

Interested in more information? Read the full story in the August 16, 2015 Duluth News Tribune.

The University has more history of the company and details of some available material here.

Minnesota Genealogical Society North Star Conference Sept. 25-26

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  Leave a comment

Two days of superb learning, talking with others interested in family history, door prizes, and more. David Rencher, Chief Genealogical Officer of FamilySearch is the keynote speaker. Other speakers are presenting workshops and lectures during the two days.

Full details are on the Minnesota Genealogical Society website. Register soon to guarantee your spot. Click on the Register button and you will see a link to the full brochure.

Later in September, all registrants will receive the link to the online syllabus of handouts for each session. Don’t forget to print out the ones for the sessions you plan to attend.

I will see on September 25-26 right here in the Twin Cities. I am presenting 3 sessions.

 

Free webinar Aug 12: Your Society Can’t Afford to Do A Seminar? Here’s How!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  Leave a comment

Your Society Can’t Afford to Do A Seminar? Here’s How!

Education is the core of our societies. A seminar could bring new members, volunteers, and funding for projects. In this webinar, I will share ways be successful financially once guidelines are established and followed. It could bring recognition from the community if done correctly. Most groups can truly afford to bring in a well-known and knowlFGS-color-logo-with-Redgeable speaker and plan a great seminar. We’ll cover these and other angles in this presentation. Do the job carefully, make notes, learn from issues, and be ready for a profitable sell-out event. It’s ok to make a profit to support the society’s education efforts and to pay your speakers adequately for their hard work. The webinar and handout include many practical tips.

 

The Federation of Genealogical Societies offers free webinars. I am presenting the one mentioned above on Wednesday. August 12, 2015 at 8:00 pm EDT, 7 CDT, 6 MDT, 5 PDT. This presentation also includes a free four page detailed handout for those joining the webinar that evening.  Registration information is on the FGS blog The Voice at http://goo.gl/IisBor

FGS also offers these webinars for free a few weeks after the date. Then the webinars are archived as a special benefit for FGS member societies to view anytime on the FGS website

 

I can see future genealogists assuming there is an error

Paula Stuart-Warren  Minnesota  Leave a comment

An error in what? How about a elected town mayor that is only 3 years old. I figure that 75 years from now, some family historian or someone writing history of the town will assume that the official records are in error. There couldn’t be a 3 year old mayor. He must have been 33 or 43 and someone made a mistake in the records. As good family historians, we learn never to assume.

The northern town of Dorset, Minnesota in Hubbard County has elected a young man of only 3 years old as its new mayor. James Tufts has replaced a 16 year old as mayor. James’ brother Bobby was a former mayor. James is 2 days younger than Bobby was when elected. That means James is the youngest mayor ever in the state of Minnesota.

It’s not a spoof. But it is a different type of election in this town of 25 people.  Read the full story here and remember to never assume a record is complete or correct. Back up the research with other information.

 

 

Open time slots for genealogical consultations

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  Leave a comment

I just finished a big project and now have some open hours for genealogical consultations. Due to the project, I had to turn down several people I met at conferences and seminars. A consultation can be done in-person, by email, regular mail, or by Skype or Google Hangout. You don’t have to live in the St. Paul and Minneapolis metropolitan area.

The open hours are in the last half of both August and September. The later fall and winter months have hours, too. I also enjoy working side-by-side to guide clients in a library, historical society, archive, or courthouse.

It’s a good way to have another set of eyes help you plan further research, figure out ways to solve a research problem, or to get some professional advice that you are going along the right path.  Maybe you don’t know where to find specific records or that they even exist at all. Perhaps you are having difficulty figuring out Great Grandma Annie’s maiden name. I also provide advice on organizing, becoming a professional genealogist or lecturer, and even just listen to frustrations in name changes.

You get to say how the two-hour consultation is framed. We can even do a bit of online searching and help plan your trips to various libraries, archives, and historical societies.

Email me at PaulaStuartWarren at gmail dot com if you wish more details.

The very best newspaper website for my genealogy is . . .

Paula Stuart-Warren  Newspapers    1 Comment

I see that question pop up every few days on Facebook genealogy pages, on various websites, and I often get asked that when I present lectures at seminars and conferences. The answer? The best one for your family history research is the one that has the newspapers for your ancestral areas!

I am not trying to be flip, but that’s really the correct response. How do you know which one that is? Many sites require a subscription to read the actual articles, but it is possible to see what they have before you click on the subscribe button and give your credit card number.

No matter whether you pay for the subscription or locate a free site with digitized newspapers, be sure to see if they have what you need. Do this even before you take up the offer of a trial subscription. Then check to see the dates that the digitization covers. If you are looking for a 1909 obituary, but the town newspaper on the website, stops at 1890, you need to look elsewhere. Many larger city newspapers printed local news columns or tidbits from around the state, so it could have something you need even though the paper is  not from the ancestral home town.

Reading the Terms of Use for membership or subscription is a must to see whether you can copy an obituary or wedding notice to put in your family history, post on social media, or share with others. The guidelines are strict.

Some tips before paying:

Newspapers.com: Click on the Browse tab and look at the offering by country and then by state or other jurisdiction. For this one, be sure to look at the All Access membership from Ancestry.com. That one includes access to Newspapers.com, Fold3.com, and Ancestry Academy. and of course, Ancestry.com. Ancestry.com and Fold3 do have some newspapers.

NewspaperArchive.com: Click on Browse US Papers or Browse All Papers to see what is included for various localities.

GenealogyBank.com: Scroll down the page to Search U.S., Newspaper Title by State to see what this site has for your ancestral localities.

An archive solely for a specific newspaper: If you are looking for the Hometown Dispatch and it does have an online archive, it will generally be just for that specific title. It may not go back as far as you need and could offer a combination of fee and paid articles.

This post does not include all subscription websites. Your public library may offer access to some of these and others with digitized newspapers. Our library cards become more valuable all the time.

In a future post, I will cover some of the websites that have free access to digitized newspapers. Another post will cover places to determine what does exist in microfilm or digitized versions for your ancestral localities.

 

 

 

Time to make hotel reservations for the 2016 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences/Institutes, Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy  Leave a comment

Hotel reservations opened a few days ago for the January 2016 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. SLIG is so popular that the room block quickly filled on most nights! Never fear, the SLIG team was able to increase the room block.

The hotel is the Hilton Salt Lake City Center. The property features comfortable meeting space, large networking areas, and four-star comfort. They offer spacious lodging rooms with stunning views, a compact refrigerator, work desk, and a safe large enough to fit a laptop. Additional information and a list of all amenities may be accessed at Hilton.com.  All rooms are non-smoking.

Best of all, you can take the elevator downstairs to your SLIG course classroom. Some local students stay right at the Hilton, too. I sense they are avoiding the drive home along with having to cook dinner or do the laundry!

For more info visit the Utah Genealogical Association website.

Not registered for SLIG? Some courses are already full, like DNA, but others still have room. It’s a great week to add to your genealogical knowledge.