Casefile Clues

Clippings from a cousin

2010-02-08T13:10:00.001-08:00

I am going through an envelope of clippings and other items from a
first cousin of my great grandfather that I forgot I had. Will post
updates if there are any major discoveries.

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Michael John Neill
Weekly How-to Column Casefile Clues
http://www.casefileclues.com

What Makes Casefile Clues Different

2010-02-08T08:09:00.000-08:00

I think there are some things that make Casefile Clues different from other genealogy how-to publications in the marketplace.

Casefile Clues is written by a genealogist for genealogists. As a result, focus on research is our top priority and I'm usually aware of what works and what doesn't. Our proofreader also is a very highly experienced genealogist. Neither of us are new to research. I've been researching my family history long before I ever started writing ( I was 13 when I began my family research). For me Casefile Clues and my writing began as a way to hone my research skills and share my research experiences with others.

Casefile Clues accepts no advertising and isn't selling anything either (other than back issues). Consequently there are no advertisers I have to worry about keeping happy. I don't have to mention certain products or services every so often, nor do I have to plug specific websites, books, etc. If I mention a site, book, etc. it is because I actually used it, not because someone told me to. Not having sponsors is very freeing.

In many ways Casefile Clues is a one-person show, but there are exceptions.* I don't have anyone with minimal genealogical experience looking over my shoulder, approving content, making suggestions,telling me what to do, telling me what to write about, etc. Decisions about content, style, etc. are made by me. There isn't anyone else from whom I have to get approval, permission, etc. when I decide to write about something. Some genealogy "how-to" magazines have non-genealogists making content and editorial decisions. That's not the case at Casefile Clues. *The exception is the fact that Sue H. is a great help as my proofreader and she is a great asset (interestingly enough, we've never met in person). We also get help from R. M. which is greatly appreciated.

Casefile Clues is reliant on reader support to spread the news. I know there are several who have helped us by telling others about the newsletter. That is greatly appreciated.

We've got some interesting things coming up over the next few months. Join us and get in on the fun.

Do You Ear--Issue 28

2010-02-08T08:03:00.000-08:00

I'm getting lots of good reader comments on issue 28--the can you "ear" article. It contains lots of food for thought regardless of the time period or location you are researching because almost all of us utilize written records at some point in our research.

Subscribe now and I'll start your subscription off with issue 28. More interesting things are on the way.

Issue 28 is out

2010-02-07T16:35:00.001-08:00

Issue 28 has been sent to the distribution list. Let me know if your issue has not made its way to your inbox.

1,000 Fans on Facebook-a Subscription Offer

2010-02-05T17:53:00.000-08:00

As this is written, Casefile Clues has 1,000 fans on Facebook. This is really exciting. Based upon my subscriber list, I know there are fans who don't get the PDF version of the weekly Casefile Clues newsletter.

In honor of crossing this milestone, we're offering Fans the chance to subscribe at the old annual price of $15.00 this weekend. This offer ends Saturday (6 February 2010 at 11:59 CST). The offer can be accessed by clicking here to make a credit card payment.

If you need other payment options, email me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com

Thanks for all the support guys...I appreciate it.

Casefile Clues Back Issues 21 and on...

2010-02-04T10:51:00.000-08:00

I've had a few requests for back issues after issue 20. To save myself time, I've created these links to PayPal for payment processing. Remember PayPal allows me to process major credit cards. If you need alternate payment options, email me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com.

21-25 click here
21-26 click here
21-27 click here
other sets, let me know at mjnrootdig@gmail.com

Thanks!

Postcard for future article

2010-02-04T08:55:00.000-08:00

The letter on the flip side of this post card will be part of what will be used for a down the road column, but I thought I'd post it here while I'm working on a translation of the back.

The postcard was most likely written in 1874 and was written by John Ufkes of Basco, Illinois.

The card was addressed to his brother-in-law Herman Harms. One has to love how the name of the town and county are spelled. Harms obviously got the letter and apparently kept it when he moved to Nebraska in the 1880s.

This postcard and a letter from John's wife written in the 1880s will be discussed in an upcoming column....which I'm really excited about.

About Casefile Clues

2010-02-03T04:06:00.000-08:00

Every week Casefile Clues brings you one or more of the following:

Sources--Some weeks Casefile Clues focuses on a specific source or type of record, discussing how that source can be accessed, researched, and interpreted.
Methodology--Some weeks Casefile Clues works on one of Michael's problems. Many times these problems are "in progress," and Casefile Clues reflects that by explaining what was researched, why it was researched, and where to go next (and why).
Case Studies--Some weeks Casefile Clues focuses on a specific record on a specific person and analyzes that record, discusses what it says (and what it does not) and where to go next based upon that person and the specific record.
Citations--Casefile Clues includes citations of sources and records. Articles can easily be read without them, but we include citations for those who prefer to have them and we do try and model citations in the style of Evidence Explained.
Reasons--Casefile Clues tries to give you insight into why certain research avenues were pursued over others. Often the genealogist simply does not have time or money to locate every piece of paper available. Sometimes it is necessary to go with what likely will give us the "most bang for the buck."
Readable--We work very hard to make Casefile Clues readable. Columns are not "fluff" or generic "how-to" pieces.
Coverage--Casefile Clues covers all American time periods and records. All families discussed come from the ancestry of Michael's children who lived in a variety of states and countries. All examples are from actual families on which Michael has worked or is working. If you are subscribing when Casefile Clues begins discussing Philip Troutfetter, you'll see that you just can't make this stuff up.

Upcoming

We have several topics coming up over the next several months:

Continuation of our "hiring a professional" series.
Discussion of whether Michael should get pension, bounty land, and service records on three War of 1812 veterans.
Continuation of Michael's search for the parents of Ira Sargent, born ca. 1846 in Canada and dropped off by the UFO into Illinois in 1880.
A continuation of our series on the Frame/Apgar-Demar family of Chicago, including name changes, "evaporating husbands," and more.
Work on Sarah [---] Willis Hudson Rush Turberville who died in Orange County, Virginia, in the 1760s.

Join us and get in on the fun! An annual subscription to the weekly Casefile Clues is only $15. Casefile Clues is delivered weekly to your email inbox as an attached PDF file. Casefile Clues is unique and won't break your genealogical piggy bank!

The Baby is Thick and Fat: Clues in 1880s Letters to Nebraska

2010-02-02T13:34:00.000-08:00

This originally appeared in the Ancestry Blog on 24 February 2008

The Baby is Thick and Fat: Clues in 1880s Letters to Nebraska

Local gossip. Worries about money. News about the children. The content of the letters is not all that extraordinary. But when they are written by your relative in 1887, they take on additional significance.

A cousin sent me digital copies of three letters written by my ancestor Lina Ufkes in the late 1880s. Like any record, they need to be fit into my ancestor's life. And they need to be analyzed for additional clues.

Written to Whom?

It would have been easier if Lina had specifically named the letter’s recipients, but the greeting on each letter is "Dear brother-in-law and sister"--no specific salutation. To determine the likely recipients, I had to look at the families of both the writer and her husband.

Lina Ufkes had no sisters of marriageable age in the late 1880s. This eliminated her family. Her husband, John Ufkes, had only two living sisters in 1887--one in Nebraska and one in Germany. Since the letters mention relatives known to have been in Nebraska in 1887 and indicate that greetings should be passed on to them, it seemed reasonable the Nebraska sister was the intended recipient.

In addition, the individual who sent me the letters obtained them from her grandmother who had cared for an unmarried son of the Nebraska sister (from whom she suspected her grandmother got the letters).

From all this I came to the conclusion that Lina was writing the letters to John and Antje Ufkes Harms who were living in Franklin County, Nebraska in 1900s. My reasoning and conclusions about the letter’s recipients are included in my transcriptions of the letters, and in my genealogical software package.

Getting a Date

Of the three letters, only one is dated (20 September 1887). One of the undated letters mentions the birth of a son, Bertus, on the 10th of March--"a thick and fat baby." This same letter also mentions the recent marriage of the pastor (unnamed) and the engagement of the pastor's sister to a neighbor, Tonjes Goldenstein. By learning the dates of these events, I was able to narrow the date of this letter to 1887 or 1888. One letter remains undated.

Who Is Mentioned?
Lina mentions several people in her letters. I already suspected who several of them were, but in order to reduce the chance of incorrect conclusions, I referred to information already known about Lina and John's family. In the letter mentioning the birth of her son, Lina actually mentions all her children. Son Johann (age eleven or twelve) is helping his father on the farm; Trientje, Lina, and Hinrich are going to school. Gerhard is too young for that, but does attend Sunday School and son Eilt has been sick for the past month.

In the apparent second paragraph of this letter, Lina asks the Harmses to send greetings to “Uncle Rolf” and to “Eilt and Trientje and Hinrich Habben.” The last three individuals mentioned are nephews and a niece of John Ufkes, children of his sister Christena Ufkes Habben. They were easy to figure out. Her husband was named Rolf and is apparently the “Uncle Rolf” mentioned in the letter.

I was confused. Why did Lina refer to Rolf as “uncle” when he was clearly John's brother-in-law? Did she make a mistake? Was the translation done? It turns out both Lina and the translator were right. It was I who very nearly jumped to the wrong. Rolf Habben did marry John's sister, Christina; but she was his second wife. His first wife was the sister of John Ufkes’s mother. This was why Lina referred to Rolf Habben as an “uncle” instead of a "brother-in-law." This is a good reminder to never attempt to “fix” a document by correcting it while transcribing.

In a future column, we’ll discuss a few other items Lina mentions and indicate how those items were researched. In the meantime, getting the letters was a real treat for me and analyzing them caused me to revisit some research that I had not looked at in quite some time.

General Suggestions

Here are some tips regarding family correspondence:

~ Review the family structure of the letter writer, including extended family and family by marriage. Some individuals may only be mentioned by first name.
~ If the letter is in a foreign language, consider getting more than one translation, particularly if the handwriting is difficult to read.
~ Try and place every person in the letter--even those that are not relatives.
~ Do not “correct” the document. Comments about potential errors can be added separately where they clearly do not appear to be part of the document itself.
~ Never give up hope. I had been researching Lina for more than twenty-five years before I learned of the existence of these letters.
~ Try and track down your own extended family for such materials. These letters were sent to me by a relative who descends from one of my great-great-grandfather’s sisters.

Pullman Collection

2010-02-02T07:53:00.000-08:00

Records from the Pullman Collection http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ssghs/pullman.htm are being "pulled" for three of my wife's ancestors and one uncle. I'm hoping to hit "paydirt" on at least one of them. Two of the files contain precise dates of birth, so maybe those will provide some additional information. We'll have a brief update on the blog and a detailed update in Casefile Clues when the papers have been received.

Working with a Professional Update

2010-02-02T07:32:00.000-08:00

One of the ongoing series in Casefile Clues is the series on working with a professional. We've ironed out the details of the search with the researcher and will be including future articles in this series outlining the process and the results. In this case, the research was hired out because it was cheaper to hire the research by a local person familiar with local facilities than to travel to the area and do it myself. Given the nature of Cook County records, there would have been ordering and waiting for records that would have necessitated being in the area for at least three or four days.

The following items from the Cook County, Illinois, area (highly summarized here) are a part of the research contract:

William Frame name change petition
Real estate documents for three Chicago area addresses
Pullman Collection research on several family members

The family being researched was not wealthy, but did own a small home on Chicago's south side. The reasons why these specific sources were targeted have been discussed in an earlier issue of Casefile Clues. Future installments will discuss the contract and the terms.

Two items have been partially researched with some success. Updated details will be published in future issues of Casefile Clues.

Issue 27 is out

2010-02-01T08:54:00.000-08:00

Issue 27 "Analyzing Andrew Trask" is out. Check your inbox and email me if you do not have it.
Subscribe today and I'll start your subscription with this issue.

Wrapping Up Andrew Trask

2010-01-31T12:21:00.000-08:00

Research on Andrew Trask is not complete yet--as will be clear from the article. However the research on him stopped a while back so the article could be complete.

Andrew sold some of his land and allowed the buyer to only pay half the amount and mortgage the rest. The mortgage was recorded directly after the deed. Some research will continue on the mortgagee to see if he is a potential relative.

Topeka, KS, 24 April 2010

2010-01-30T20:36:00.000-08:00

I'll be the featured speaker at the 38th annual Topeka Genealogical Society Annual Conference, which will focus on searching for female ancestors. The conference will be held in Topeka on 24 April 2010. Casefile Clues readers are welcome to attend! More information is available at http://www.tgstopeka.org/conference.html

Upcoming Topics

2010-01-30T15:32:00.001-08:00

The first of the year has been busy for a variety of reasons and the schedule I had planned for Casefile Clues got slightly altered.

Here are somethings we are working on for future issues:

An update on my "hiring a professional researcher" article. We'll take a look at parts of the contract, my expectations, her expectations, etc. I'll discuss why certain records were or were not included. And we'll discuss times (briefly as we've done some of it before) when to hire a professional, when to have a consultation, and when a "lookup" may be all you need.
An update on Ira Sargent---one reader re-subbed her quarterly subscription because she wanted to know what happened to Ira. Well, I don't know all that much more about him than what has been written about him and his family in earlier editions of Casefile Clues. My road trip to Rockford, Illinois, where his likely father died, hopefully will come off in the next month or so and I'll have a report to make.
An update on Andrew Trask--our focus in issue 27. I've followed up on some of the suggestions in that issue and have made some headway on this native of Massachusetts born in the 1810s.
A transcription of one War of 1812 pension. Two sets of records I received have "issues" and I need to get them again so I can compare the two sets of copies---then they will be discussed in an upcoming column.
Ira Sargent was put in an Illinois state mental hospital. I have information on the process, just need to get it started. Maybe some Casefile Clues readers will nag me until it gets done (grin!).
Occupational records on members of the Frame and Demar families from the Pullman Car Company in Chicago. Those may answer some of the questions discussed in previous issues on those families.
A discussion of a will from the 1760 era in Virginia.

Subscribe now and get in on the fun. Suggestions are always welcomed.

Andrew Trask and His First Wife

2010-01-30T15:19:00.000-08:00

Andrew Trask, our focus in issue 27, is an excellent example of a person where all the spouses should be researched.

In Andrew's case, his first marriage took place relatively shortly after his migration across the country. Because of that, it has the potential to contain clues to his origins "back east." His second marriage, a few years later in a different location, doesn't have quite that potential. The reasons why and how I know both guys are the "same one" are discussed in issue 27.

Subscribe now and get in on the fun. Issue 27 has not been sent yet and subscribers who join before it goes out will have their subscriptions begin with that issue. I have some ideas on Andrew Trask that are being followed up for future issues.

Success with Google Books

2010-01-30T14:00:00.000-08:00

I've just copied an email from a reader in Florida who shared with me her research experience with Google Books.

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Must tell you, Michael, after receiving the current newsletter. I read it bright and early Fri. morning and started trying to make some "hits" but no luck until I put the names of my great grandparents in the search.

Well, I had no idea where they came from in Ireland. I only have info on the US side of the family. Up came the partial message that was placed in the Irish immigrants advertisements in the Boston Pilot. I got the Vol. # and name of the book. Our library had only 4 volumes and I needed # 7. That afternoon we went to the library in Bradenton, looked up vol. 7 and there was the ad, giving the parish name and city in Ireland. I wondered how I was ever going to find out where they came from. Well, now I have a starting place to continue searching. In one short day from getting your newletter I was able to find out something about the Irish relatives. Now to look at the FHC film.

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Hopefully others have had good luck as well.

Success with Google Books

2010-01-30T13:41:00.000-08:00

A reader reported a great success with Google Books after issue 26 which discussed some search strategies and results I had with Google Books. I'll post her email here after I get the ok from her. If anyone else wants to share their Google Books experiences, let me know, or just post it as a comment.

Down the road, I'll be analyzing some of the items I found in Google Books and hope to have even more information and ideas to discuss.

To Our New Facebook Fans

2010-01-29T07:03:00.000-08:00

Don't forget that Casefile Clues is actually a weekly genealogy newsletter you can receive via email as a PDF file.

An annual subscription is $17.

Back issues 1-26 can be purchased for $13.50.

Purchase them together for $28.00 via this link.

Putting Casefile Clues Blog on the Fan Page

2010-01-28T13:08:00.001-08:00

This is just a test to see if things sent to the Casefile Clues Blog are being automatically sent to the Casefile Clues Fan Page. That will save me a little time.

Issue 27 is in the works

2010-01-27T07:04:00.000-08:00

Putting together several documents on man (born 1810s in MA), in MO 1840s, then IL, to see where the holes are and what the opportunities are. One shouldn't jump into the New England research too early. Interestingly enough, the man who officiated at his first wedding was the grandfather of poet T S Eliot.

Get Issues 1-26 and a Subscription for $28

2010-01-27T07:01:00.000-08:00

Site users who are not subscribers can get issues 1-26 (all the back issues) and an annual subscription (52 weekly issues) for $28 via this link. Email me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com if you need alternate payment options.

Issue 26 has been sent

2010-01-25T22:08:00.000-08:00

Issue 26 on using Google Books has been sent to subscribers. Please check your email.

Feel free to let others who may be interested in Casefile Clues know about it. If you share ideas from the newsletter with others, either on email lists, Facebook, or your blog, please let them know where you got the ideas--that helps in more ways than you know and helps us get regular newsletters to you.

Google Books is a wonderful source and we'll be discussing some of the finds in later issues of Casefile Clues.

Subscribe now at http://www.casefileclues.com/subscribe.html and I'll start you off with issue 26.

Thanks.

Issue 26 in Process--Sample Illustration

2010-01-23T09:39:00.000-08:00

Issue 26 is being wrapped up. The image in this blog post is one discussed this week's issue when I focus on Google Books. This illustration comes from a DAR lineage book digitized by Google and which came up as a result from a search. It provided me with some leads that warrant followup.

Subscribe to Casefile Clues today and receive 26 when it gets sent out as a PDF file in a few days.

Valentine Hess Contest Update

2010-01-21T15:50:00.000-08:00

Just an update: I am going through these submissions--thanks!

I am just a little behind this week and will have an update by the first of next week.