I just want to congratulate all the genealogy bloggers who made it onto the Family Tree Magazine's Top Genealogy Blogs list.
(I didn't make it into the list, but maybe I will next year.)
Monday, October 5, 2009
Genealogy and History Thoughts Column 18 - An Important Lesson: Never Assume ...
After looking at the title of this article, you're probably thinking, "Shouldn't that be given?" Probably, but my intention for this article is not to lecture others but write about how assumptions can cause problems in genealogy research. Why? Well, I made an assumption about a record, and I've just recently learned and realized that my assumption was wrong. So, by learning how I made a mistake, I'm hoping other genealogists will learn from my mistake.
As you probably remember, I recently received a copy of the pension file for Benjamin Oswalt, and since the file came, I've taken a look at the records. I once believed that I could not find this Benjamin Oswalt in the censuses after the 1850 census, so, when I asked my grandfather to take a look at a probate record for our ancestor, Benjamin Oswalt, did not expect my grandfather to find a Benjamin Oswalt in the 1870 census (see below the paragraph). (The Benjamin Oswalt in the probate record died in 1861 in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, and is the father of Adam Oswalt, according to Adam's death certificate.) This Benjamin was living in Kansas, and had been born in Michigan, and my grandfather, mentioned that he had found this census record will doing research for our ancestor. Of course, I took a look at the census record, and told my grandfather, that that Benjamin could not be connected to us because he was living in Kansas and was born in Michigan, despite the fact that he was the exact age as the Benjamin Oswalt I believe to be Adam's brother. Well, that is what I thought until Benjamin's pension file came ...
(Image taken from FamilySearch's Record Search)
When I looked at the pension file Benjamin's widow, Elizabeth, applied for, I noticed the names of the people who gave testimony on her behalf. I recognized some of the names, but there were a few names that I did not recognize. I already knew from previous research, that Elizabeth remarried, but when I looked at the Michigan death records and marriages that are online, I discovered that the one of the witnesses was probably the sister of Elizabeth's new husband. To try to confirm, my theory, I decided to look for Elizabeth's new husband and the witness in the census records. The search for Elizabeth's husband brought me back to the census image above. Lo and behold, Elizabeth's future husband was living next door to the Benjamin Oswalt I had earlier dismissed. Knowing that the future husband was from Saint Joseph County, Michigan, I realized that the fact that there was a Benjamin Oswalt living next door to him was probably not a coincidence since the Benjamin Oswalt I was looking for was from Saint Joseph County, Michigan. So, even though Benjamin's birthplace is listed as Michigan, I believe I have found the correct Benjamin Oswalt, and I believe it is possible that the census taker put the wrong information down.
So, what is the moral of the story? Well, almost ignored a census record and other possible leads into researching my Oswalt family. The census record indicates that Benjamin had some wealth, and it might be possible that he bought some land in Kansas. Of course, I won't know until I pursue this avenue, but I almost missed this opportunity because I believed it wasn't the right person. Just because a record doesn't necessarily fit all of your known facts about a person does not mean that it isn't your person. If you do write off a source, you might miss another possible lead. So, I guess it is better to have an open mind about possible sources when doing your own research. Now, I've just got to trace this new lead, and figure out why Benjamin was in Kansas about six months after his marriage. Please stay tuned for further posts on Benjamin.
And as always, please feel free to leave comments on you what you think about this article.
As you probably remember, I recently received a copy of the pension file for Benjamin Oswalt, and since the file came, I've taken a look at the records. I once believed that I could not find this Benjamin Oswalt in the censuses after the 1850 census, so, when I asked my grandfather to take a look at a probate record for our ancestor, Benjamin Oswalt, did not expect my grandfather to find a Benjamin Oswalt in the 1870 census (see below the paragraph). (The Benjamin Oswalt in the probate record died in 1861 in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, and is the father of Adam Oswalt, according to Adam's death certificate.) This Benjamin was living in Kansas, and had been born in Michigan, and my grandfather, mentioned that he had found this census record will doing research for our ancestor. Of course, I took a look at the census record, and told my grandfather, that that Benjamin could not be connected to us because he was living in Kansas and was born in Michigan, despite the fact that he was the exact age as the Benjamin Oswalt I believe to be Adam's brother. Well, that is what I thought until Benjamin's pension file came ...
(Image taken from FamilySearch's Record Search)
When I looked at the pension file Benjamin's widow, Elizabeth, applied for, I noticed the names of the people who gave testimony on her behalf. I recognized some of the names, but there were a few names that I did not recognize. I already knew from previous research, that Elizabeth remarried, but when I looked at the Michigan death records and marriages that are online, I discovered that the one of the witnesses was probably the sister of Elizabeth's new husband. To try to confirm, my theory, I decided to look for Elizabeth's new husband and the witness in the census records. The search for Elizabeth's husband brought me back to the census image above. Lo and behold, Elizabeth's future husband was living next door to the Benjamin Oswalt I had earlier dismissed. Knowing that the future husband was from Saint Joseph County, Michigan, I realized that the fact that there was a Benjamin Oswalt living next door to him was probably not a coincidence since the Benjamin Oswalt I was looking for was from Saint Joseph County, Michigan. So, even though Benjamin's birthplace is listed as Michigan, I believe I have found the correct Benjamin Oswalt, and I believe it is possible that the census taker put the wrong information down.
So, what is the moral of the story? Well, almost ignored a census record and other possible leads into researching my Oswalt family. The census record indicates that Benjamin had some wealth, and it might be possible that he bought some land in Kansas. Of course, I won't know until I pursue this avenue, but I almost missed this opportunity because I believed it wasn't the right person. Just because a record doesn't necessarily fit all of your known facts about a person does not mean that it isn't your person. If you do write off a source, you might miss another possible lead. So, I guess it is better to have an open mind about possible sources when doing your own research. Now, I've just got to trace this new lead, and figure out why Benjamin was in Kansas about six months after his marriage. Please stay tuned for further posts on Benjamin.
And as always, please feel free to leave comments on you what you think about this article.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Late Saturday Night Fun: Childhood Memories ...
I'm late again in posting a response to the newest Saturday Night Fun, but since I wanted to participate, I'm going to post my response. For this challenge, Randy has challenged genealogy bloggers to post their most vivid childhood memory.
So, what is my most vivid childhood memory? Well, that is a tough one because I have so many vivid memories. I guess the best thing to do would to be list the earliest memory that I have.
My earliest memory is probably of being in a crib. I was standing up in my crib, so I had to have been at least old enough to stand on my own. (I was probably around a year old.) It was at night time because my room was dark, and I could see my parents' bedroom from the crib. My mom was standing in the doorway of her bedroom, and was ready to go to bed. She asked, "What are you doing up?" (She could see my room from looking out of her bedroom.) I just remember that she didn't look very happy, but that probably was due to being tired.
Of course, I don't remember anything else other than it was like a detailed snapshot of a moment. Most of my early memories consist of dream-like images, and thus, I almost feel as though I am recalling something like a dream except for the fact that these memories were too vivid to be dreams and were too life-like. (If that makes any sense.) I don't know why my earliest memories feel dream-like, but I guess that is how my brain preserved my earliest memories. Has anyone else experienced the same thing with their earliest memories?
So, what is my most vivid childhood memory? Well, that is a tough one because I have so many vivid memories. I guess the best thing to do would to be list the earliest memory that I have.
My earliest memory is probably of being in a crib. I was standing up in my crib, so I had to have been at least old enough to stand on my own. (I was probably around a year old.) It was at night time because my room was dark, and I could see my parents' bedroom from the crib. My mom was standing in the doorway of her bedroom, and was ready to go to bed. She asked, "What are you doing up?" (She could see my room from looking out of her bedroom.) I just remember that she didn't look very happy, but that probably was due to being tired.
Of course, I don't remember anything else other than it was like a detailed snapshot of a moment. Most of my early memories consist of dream-like images, and thus, I almost feel as though I am recalling something like a dream except for the fact that these memories were too vivid to be dreams and were too life-like. (If that makes any sense.) I don't know why my earliest memories feel dream-like, but I guess that is how my brain preserved my earliest memories. Has anyone else experienced the same thing with their earliest memories?
81st Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!
The 81st edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on:
Enjoy!
"The guest host is Kathryn Doyle of the California Genealogical Society and Library blog, and the topic is:What's your favorite genealogical society?Kathryn's COG will be the inaugural edition of the all-new GenSo Blog Carnival, which will focus strictly on genealogical societies and will begin in January 2010. She'll provide more details about the GenSo Carnival in her post, so stay tuned for more."
Do you belong to a society?
Tell us why! Or if not, why not?
Enjoy!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
New Poll Created!
I haven't posted a poll in a long time, but I've decided to do one to find out which article topics my readers are interested in reading. The question for this poll is, "Which article topic are you most interested in reading?" The choices are:
- Trippstadt, Germany Civil Death records
- World War One ancestor
- Irene Havens
- Genealogy and History Thoughts Columns
- New Civil War Pension File
- Other topics in genealogy/history
Google Analytics Report For September 2009
Well, another month has gone by, and that means that it is time for another Google Analytics report! Here are the results for September 2009:
The top ten countries, in number of visits, are:
The top ten countries, in number of visits, are:
- United States - 221 visits
- Canada - 33 visits
- Brazil - 30 visits
- United Kingdom - 12 visits
- Unknown (not listed) - 6 visits
- India - 5 visits
- Netherlands - 5 visits
- Germany - 3 visits
- Argentina - 3 visits
- Australia - 2 visits
- Indiana - 42 visits
- Michigan - 20 visits
- Texas - 19 visits
- Illinois - 18 visits
- California - 18 visits
- New York - 12 visits
- Virginia - 8 visits
- Ohio - 7 visits
- Pennsylvania - 6 visits
- Wisconsin - 6 visits
- Saturday Night Fun - Ahnentafel Roulette - 19 views
- Tombstone Maker Website - 15 views
- And Another Late Saturday Night Fun Entry ... - 15 views
- Good News For the Library of Michigan? - 15 views
- Library of Michigan Update ... - 15 views
- 80th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted! - 11 views
- 17th Edition of the Smile For The Camera Carnival Posted! - 10 views
- 79th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted! - 10 views
- An Interesting Article On An Archaeological Find In the U. K. - 9 views
- The Pension File Came! - 9 views
If Something Were To Happen ...
For this upcoming edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, I am supposed to write an obituary for my blog in case something was to happen (ie. the blog was deleted). Instead of writing an obituary, I've just decided to mention the steps I have taken to preserve my writings in case (God forbid!) my blog is deleted by accident.
Last year, I created a mirror blog for this blog after another genealogy blogger's blog was deleted by accident, and since that time, I have been slowly adding posted articles to that blog. I am also copying the articles that I have posted in the past, and I am saving those articles in a word document until I can get all of the past articles posted on the mirror blog. So, if something should happen, I should be able to prevent any loss of work, and I should be able to get the blog back up and running if I needed to do so. You can view the mirror blog here. Hopefully, I will never have to use the mirror blog, but one can never know what the future will bring.
Last year, I created a mirror blog for this blog after another genealogy blogger's blog was deleted by accident, and since that time, I have been slowly adding posted articles to that blog. I am also copying the articles that I have posted in the past, and I am saving those articles in a word document until I can get all of the past articles posted on the mirror blog. So, if something should happen, I should be able to prevent any loss of work, and I should be able to get the blog back up and running if I needed to do so. You can view the mirror blog here. Hopefully, I will never have to use the mirror blog, but one can never know what the future will bring.
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