October is Family History Month

It's Family History month and I plan on spending it trying to make sense of all this!

In previous posts and for my 2011 Genealogy Goal I told the story of Una/Viola and Mary/Martha, my grandmother and great-grandmother who were proving to be very elusive to me. When I set my ONE goal for the year, to find Mary, I felt that I was being a little lazy. I don't feel lazy about this any more.

I finally have some promising evidence that is pulling the pieces together and a family is starting to form. Actually, at this point I'm in information overload mode! I have 28 pages of probate records, from Illinois, including documents from two of the heirs contesting the will. The best part...the papers list the daughter's married names! I also have two sets of marriage registers, from Nebraska, that list the father and the mother with a maiden name. All of these pieces are allowing me to tie two generations together. I am waiting on additional documents before I feel comfortable enough to unveil my family, but I'm certain I have them.

This journey to find these women and their family has brought several points home for me. We get fixated on what we THINK we know and where we THINK a person should be based on one piece of information we have or one story we were told. That doesn't help and we need to keep an open mind:

• Families did move around, but seldom was it random and seldom was it solo. There was a reason, a person or a thing that motivated them.
• Just because a person was born in Ohio then married and died in Illinois doesn't mean she didn't live in Nebraska at some point in her life.
• If you find someone that fits your person, in every way, don't automatically dismiss them because you think they couldn't have possibly lived in California. Check it out further.
• Sometimes you have to eliminate families from the picture before you can move on.
• And most of all...you intuition knows more than you think it does!

I am looking forward to the month of October and discovering more of my family history, particularly on this line. Stay tuned, if the remaining documents I am waiting for confirm what I've found I will have Una/Viola Mary/Martha's story ready for the holidays.

Amherst Nebraska 1907 via Google Earth

I recently spent some time watching the updated Google Earth videos, offered from Lisa Louise Cook at Genealogy Gems as part of the premium membership.  What is particularly exciting about the updated videos is they are iPad compatible!  Lisa updated them in QuickTime or some format other than Flash.  Thank you so much Lisa, I hope others with webinars and videos quickly follow your lead!

In Video #6 we see how to use and create historic overlays in Google Earth.  I've had a 1907 Plat Map for Amherst, Nebraska for some time and in the upper right corner, you see the name Mary Evingham.  That is my great grandmother who I know next to nothing about.  In addition to this plat map, I also have the Warranty Deed showing her purchasing the land in 1906 and the Warranty Deed showing her selling the land in 1919.  I've found Mary and daughter Una on the 1910 census living in Amherst and as there are no other Evinghams listed in Amherst, I'm confident this is my Mary Evingham.

I used the historic overlay option in Google Earth to add the 1907 map to today's view of Amherst.  What was once three undivided acres in 1907 now has five homes on it.  I can also see that the Union Pacific Railroad ran through Amherst at one time, but no longer does.  I did some searching on the Buffalo County Nebraska GenWeb site and found this photo of the train depot.

Mary and her daughter Una lived in Fairbury, Illinois in 1900.  A 1897 map of Fairbury shows a railroad line.  They may have arrived in Amherst from Fairbury at this very depot.  The railroad line also shortens the distance to Newark, New Jersey. Una married my grandfather who was born, raised and died in Newark. I've pondered how they could possibly have have met in 1915 living so far apart. After my grandfather graduated from college, did he take a trip west by train and make a stop in Amherst?

I'm going to spend more time with Google Earth and map overlays, it's very interesting to note the changes that take place over the years.  I will also spend more time with the Fairbury, Illinois map, something on that map caught my eye that warrants further research.

Resources and Timelines in the Hunt for Martha/Mary

As I continue to spin my wheels while trying to find my Great Grandmother, Martha/Mary Evingham/Smith (this family line picked up and discarded names at will), my frustration level inches ever higher.  Once I received my Grandmother's (Una/Viola) death certificate listing her mother and father's names I thought for sure that was the break through I needed.  No, the brick wall is now another generation taller.

I added Martha and Joseph to my online tree at Ancestry and waited for the "shaking leaves" to appear.  That's how it happens on the commercials, right?  I am still waiting. Not one, single hint has appeared.  My searches are to no avail, my queries posted on message boards remained unanswered.  Time to go back to the drawing board.

I began listing the resources available to me.  Some I had already contacted using my Grandmother's name, but now that I have Martha/Mary and Joseph I need to revisit.  I also need to revisit the Genweb site for Livingston County, Illinois and, well, I actually need to revisit every source and/or website that I visited looking for Una/Viola.  This is the point where I realize just how important a research log is...I don't have one, so I really have no idea what sites/resources I did visit/review when looking for Una/Viola.  Take note budding genealogists, that is a lesson in what not to do!  Illinois will be my starting point as that is where Una was born, Nebraska and New Jersey will follow.

I started going through the images of documents and photos I have for this family and started asking myself "what is it I really know about them?".  I was struggling with the "big picture" and making sense of the Illinois, Nebraska, New Jersey maze.  A timeline came to mind as a tool to help me visualize the information I had.  I was hopeful that getting my information into the proper sequence would shed some light on where and when I needed to focus my research.

The timeline showed me I had documents and details for my grandfather, Joseph, a few details about Una/Viola, very little on Martha/Mary and nothing on great grandfather Joseph.  I will not let this deter me, I feel better having the information written down. My next step will be to add these timeline items to a digital timeline that will show me the current events at the time.  This might also be a good time to bring Google Earth into the picture.  Illinois, Nebraska and New Jersey are not right next door to each other and moving from one to another seems so random to me.  If I'm missing a significan clue, perhaps seeing that migration route will bring clarity to my search.

Now that I have a defined direction I feel much better, no more stumbling around.  Famous last words! :)