Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy Submissions Are Due Wednesday!

I just want to remind everyone that Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy submissions are due Wednesday. (If you need an extra day, please let me know.) The topic for this edition is on folklore, legends, ghost stories, myths, etc, and the edition will be posted on Halloween. Enjoy!

Now, if I could just get my submission done ...

26th Shades Of The Departed Guest Column Posted!

The 26th Shades of the Departed guest column has been posted! The author of this week's column is Melissa Strobel, and you can read it here. Enjoy!

Blog Changes and Other News ...

I'm playing check-up for the past few days as I realize I have forgotten to mention a few things. First off, I have added a Coming Soon paragraph to the left side of the blog, just above the Genealogy and History Thoughts section. I plan to use the paragraph to list topics for future posts. I do not know if anyone noticed, but I created that section earlier this week. Hopefully, I will get to some of the posts that I want to write for this month and in the future.

I also noticed a few days ago on the Rochester Area Research Aides blog that there was a post on an index of names in old Rochester newspapers recently posted on the Monroe county, New York library website. The indexes are split up into groups of numbers and into two time periods. The first time period is from 1818 to 1850, and the second period is from 1851 to 1897. Since my Havens ancestors were in Rochester, New York around 1850, I decided to take a look at the indexes, and I found a couple things that might help me in my research. (I'll post on those index findings in a future post.)

In addition to forgetting to mention the items above, I forgot to mention that FamilySearch Lab's Record Search has added a couple more databases to their site. They added civil vital records for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and a census for Buenos Aires, Argentina last week. In addition, the site has been adding more names to the 1850, 1860 and 1870 U.S. censuses over the past few days.

Finally! I've gotten around to posting this news!

Just A Quick Reminder!

I just want to remind everyone that entries for the 12th edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy are due in a week from today (on October 29). The topic for this edition is on "folklore, myths, legends, and ghost stories. Since this edition will be posted around Halloween, I thought that this would be a good time to have a carnival on area folklore, myths, legends, ghost stories, traditions or festivals of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The submissions do not necessarily have to be a part of your family tradition; it could be a submission on a historical event or it could just have been a part of the culture of your ancestor." You can submit your article here.

The Truth About The "Close Encounters" Stories ...

As I promised at the end of my post for the 58th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, I am now announcing the truth about whether or not these two stories were true or fiction, but before I do, I am going to post the results for the poll I created in relation to that post.

For the poll, I asked, "What Do You Think About the Stories in the 'Close Encounters ...' post? Four people voted in my poll, and the results are:

• Story One is true but the second one is false - 1 vote
• Story Two is true but the first one is false - 1 vote
• Both are true - 2 votes
• Neither are true - 0 votes

Of course, I should also mention that five other people left comments at the end of that post, and those five believed the stories were true.

Well, guess what? I apparently can't fool you. Both of the stories are true. For the first story my great-grandfather really did die three days before my mother and her family found out. Of course, this is according to what my mother told me, and from the way she told me, it sounds as though my grandma had a dream about him around the time he died, which was three days before they learned about his death. As for the lapse in time, my great-grandfather lived in the United Kingdom, and when something did happen, my mother's family was usually the last to hear about it because family members over in the U.K. would have been the ones taking care of the arrangements. Of course, by the time my mother's relatives in the U.K. had a chance to contact my mother's family, three days had gone by. (As strange as this might sound.)

As for the second story, I did start shaking in the car as my grandpa drove out of the cemetery. To this day, I still do not know what was the cause of the shaking. We visited the cemetery in late July, so there wasn't any reason for me to start shaking. Of course, unless I was reacting to the air conditioning in the car, but I do not recall it being an extremely hot or humid day. The other possibility that I can think of is that it was an unconscious reaction to being in the cemetery. I did write in a post last year that I do not like visiting cemeteries, and it could be that my dislike of being in cemeteries resulted in me shaking. (Well, I think cemeteries are creepy.) Of course, those are the two most likely possibilities, and I don't think I want to think about any other possibilities ...

Before I forget, I just want to say thank you to those who voted, read my post, and left comments on the post. Thank you for doing so.

Tombstone Tuesday

For this week's Tombstone Tuesday, I am reposting a photograph that I posted before. This photo happens to be the tombstone of my ancestor, Barbara (Householder) Detwiler, the first wife of Jacob Detwiler. She is buried in Riverside Cemetery, Three Rivers, Saint Joseph County, Michigan.

Announcing My New Genealogy Blog!

Yesterday, I created a new genealogy blog, and I joined the Association of the Graveyard Rabbits. You can view my new blog here. I hope you enjoy it!

Politics and My Ancestors ...

For the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, I am supposed to write about my ancestors and their connections with politics, either through beliefs, as politicians or as members of a political movement or party. I have written briefly before about a couple of my ancestors' political beliefs, but I still do not know very much about what they might have believed.

Last year, I wrote an article on my ancestor, Benjamin Oswalt and his son, John, and their political beliefs in relation to the 1856 Presidential election. In past elections, Benjamin and John had apparently voted for the Whig party, and it appears that as the Whig party collapsed, they switched their political alliance to the Know-Nothings and then to the Democratic Party. Obviously, I do not know how long they might have allied themselves with the Know-Nothings. From the newspaper article, it appears as though it was a temporary alliance in a previous election. Of course, that was what my ancestor in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. I have no idea, if his son, Adam (my ancestor), was a member of the Whig Party. In fact, I do not know anything about Adam's political beliefs. The closest I have come so far is finding out that he was part of the G.A.R. when he lived in Rockford, Illinois, as I wrote in a previous Carnival of Genealogy entry.

As for my Detwiler ancestors, I do not know as much about their political beliefs as I do for my Oswalt ancestors. The only possible political belief that I have been able to uncover is that John Detwiler (my ancestor's older brother) was a member and officeholder of Park Township Saint Joseph County, Michigan's Grange Party, and I found out about that membership through reading about it in L. H. Everts & co.,'s History of St. Joseph county, Michigan (published in 1877). (For some more information on the grange movement, the articles here and here are a start.) Again, this is for the son and brother of my ancestors. I have no idea what John's father, Jacob, believed, as of the writing of this article.

For my Stout ancestors, I also have the same problem. The closest information of a possible political belief comes from my ancestor's brother, Reuben Stout. According to his biography in the Chapman Brother's Portrait and Biographical Album of St. Joseph County, Michigan (printed in Chicago in 1889), Reuben was a member of the Democratic Party. As for his younger brother, who is my ancestor, I have no idea what his political leanings were. I wonder, though, if they shared same political philosophy.

As for my Householder ancestors, I just have a suggestion as to what it might be. I believe the father of Barbara Householder, Jacob Detwiler's first wife, was John Householder; however, my only evidence for that connection at the moment is the 1850 U.S Census of Walker Township, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania where John Householder is living with Jacob and Barbara Detwiler's family, and the biography of a nephew that lists her as one of John's three children. (The biography is of John F. Householder in J. M. Runk's Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry Pennsylvania. The book was published in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania in 1897.) That biography states that her father was a Democrat, but my main problem, outside of an incorrect death year for him, is that I do not have any other primary source documents connecting Barbara to John Householder except for the 1850 census. (Of course, if anyone can help me strengthen this connection that would be greatly appreciated.)

As for my other ancestors in America, I do not know what their political beliefs were, especially when it comes to my German ancestors who came to the U. S. in the late-1800s and early 1900s. And then there is my possible ancestor, Christoph Friedrich Cotta who had a role in the French Revolution, in trying to spread it to the German states, but I am not going to say anything further about him as his beliefs would need a separate post to cover. As for my British ancestors, I have no idea what their political beliefs were or when they would have been able to vote (outside of the fact that women in Britain were given the right to vote in 1918). Until I am to do research into their political beliefs, I will not know. I hope, though, as I continue to do research on my family that I will be able to uncover more information about them, especially in relation to what their political beliefs were.

Wednesday Evening - You'll Find Out The Truth!

You still have a few more days to vote on whether or not my Carnival of Genealogy stories were fact or fiction. On Wednesday evening, I'll post the results from the poll and what the reality is for those two stories. Until then, enjoy!

Carnival Deadlines Reminders!

I just want to remind everyone of a few carnival submission deadlines that are coming up with the next week or so. There are about four carnivals that have deadlines, and they are:

• Carnival of Genealogy - November 1. Topic: "Politics and Our Ancestors."
• Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture - October 25. Topic: Halloween in Irish culture
• Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy - October 29. Topic: Folklore, myths, legends, ghost stories
• Polish History and Culture Challenge - End of October. See here for more details.

Of course, if you do not have any posts yet, do not worry. I still have to write posts for three of these carnivals. Enjoy!

Poll Results For the Michigan History Poll!

The poll on the time periods of Michigan history is now closed, and the results are in. The question for this poll was, "Which time periods in Michigan's history interest you?" Four people voted, and the results are:

• Pre-1763 - 0 votes
• 1763-1796 - 0 votes
• 1796-1837 - 0 votes
• 1837-1865 - 3 votes
• 1865 - 1900 - 3 votes
• 1900 - Present - 1 vote

It looks like I'll be focusing on a time period between 1837 and 1900 for a few of articles on Michigan's history. I think my first article will be on the 1871 fires in Michigan, and I will post that article some time next year. Stay tuned for this article and others to come! Enjoy!

58th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 58th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition is

Politics and Our Ancestors. The next edition of the COG will be published on Election Day in the U.S. (November 4). So it's the perfect time to research and reflect on what we know (or can find out) about our family members' involvement with the election process. Did one of your ancestors run for office? Who was President when your immigrant ancestors first set foot on American (Canadian, Australian, etc.) shores? What do you know about your grandparents' voting record? Which of your ancestors was first eligible to vote? Do you have any suffragettes on your family tree? What did the electoral process mean to your ancestors? Do you have a personal Election Day memory you'd like to share? Think about it, write about it, and submit it for the next COG! The deadline for submissions is November 1.

Enjoy!

Light Blogging Ahead!

I just want to let everyone know that blogging will be light for the next several weeks as I am going to be busy with school work. I will still host the 12th edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, but I don't know how many posts I will write. I probably will not be posting as much until after Christmas. Stay tuned ...

Another Meme I've Been Tagged to Participate in ...

Apple tagged me yesterday to participate in a meme that other genealogy bloggers have been participating in the past couples days. So, here I go:

Ten years ago I ...

1. ... was a student. (Well, I'm still a student now.)
2. ... was in middle school. (It's hard for me to believe that it has been that long.)
3. ... thinking about what I wanted to be for Halloween.
4. ... was part of my school's journalism club.

(I can't think of number 5. Either way, it would be connected with school.)

Five things on my to-do list for today:

1. Go to class. (I have two classes later today.)
2. Work on school work. (I'm doing that ...)
3. Research for a paper. (I'm working on that ...)
4. Go to Graduate School Fair. (I went to it.)
5. Chores

Five foods I enjoy:

1. Steak
2. Dessert foods (Well, who doesn't?)
3. Red delicious apples
4. Cereal
5. And lots of other foods ...

Five places I have lived:

Well, I've only lived in Michigan, and I can only come up with three distinct places (I'm not counting the different dorms I have lived in up at college.):

1. Where I used to live in Michigan.
2. Where my parents now live in Michigan.
3. Up at college.

Five jobs I have had:

1. Interned at an archives.
2. Done some volunteer work.
3. I have not had any paid jobs, though.

Five places I have visited that I want to visit again (Yes, I'm copying this one and the next this from Becky and Donna):

1. Germany
2. Austria
3. England (I've been once, but I don't remember the trip because I was a baby at the time.)
4. Western states of the United States (and the National Parks of the U.S.)
5. Switzerland

Five places I want to visit that I have not yet visited:

1. The rest of the United Kingdom and Ireland.
2. Alaska
3. NARA (I have not been to the archives yet.)
4. Huntingdon, Pennsylvania
5. Ancestral areas of Germany. (When I visited Germany, I did not go near any of the places my ancestors lived. Of course, at that time, I did not know where they were from.)

Five bloggers that I am tagging:

1. Wendy of All My Branches
2. Cathy of In Deeds
3. Harold of Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog
4. Nancy of Fermazin Family Genealogy
5. Al of Polish-American Genealogy Research

Well, that is it for this meme. I hope you had fun reading it. Enjoy!

Poverty And My Ancestors: Blog Action Day 2008 Post

As I have done research on my family's history, I've come to learn that some of my ancestors were poor, possibly living in dire poverty. I say possibly only because I am still doing research into my ancestors, to find out what their lives were like, and I do not know exactly how poor some of them were.

What the little that I do know about the financial conditions of my ancestors comes from the research that I have done so far on my family. Out of the few ancestors that I have an idea of their economic standing, the one I know the most about is my Civil War ancestor, Adam Oswalt. Outside of his service in the Civil War, Adam earned his living either as a farmer, farm laborer or laborer (depending upon the document where his occupation was listed). In addition, it appears that he was poor most of his life, and that he could not afford to own land, except for one time in his life.

In the summer of 1870, Adam purchased a piece of land in the village of Three Rivers, Michigan for about $2,000. In addition, as part of the terms of purchase, Adam had to pay a $125 mortgage that was on the property as well. Of course, it is hard to comprehend now how much that money is worth, so I decided to look for a historical currency converter online. I found a site, and although I am leery of using online sources, this site suggests that $125 dollars in 1870 would be worth about $2,092. 65 today. I also looked to see how much $2,000 would have been worth back then, and today that amount would probably be worth about $33,480.96. In short, my ancestor spent a considerable sum of money on a piece of property and the mortgage for that property, especially when one takes into account that he worked as a laborer and had to support a wife and five children (one of which had just been born in June of that year) as well.

As one might imagine, Adam did not own the property for very long, and about a year later, in 1871, he sold his land to two men (from what I can recall off the top of my head, one of them was a lawyer) for less than he had paid for the land. I think it is safe to assume that Adam could not afford to pay the mortgage and had to sell his land. I can only imagine how discouraging it must have been for him to work so hard and save enough money to buy a piece of land only to be forced to sell it within a year. (I should also mention that Adam was illiterate at the time he sold his land as this factors largely in the types of jobs he had.)

After Adam sold his property, I do not know what finances were like for him or his family until the 1880 U. S. census. (I'll have to do further research.) In 1880, Adam's wife had died, and the family was split up. The children had been sent to live and work with other families, and Adam was living in the household of another farming couple near (possibly) his children. By this time, it is obvious that Adam could not support his family and he had to have other people take in his children. In addition, Adam never remarried, and I believe it is due to his inability to support his family that he never did so. (I should also mention that the United States had just pulled out of a economic depression the year before, and undoubtedly, that played a role in Adam's inability to support his family.)

After 1880, life for Adam apparently did not get better. Between 1884 and 1890, he moved to Rockford, Illinois, and although I still do not know why he moved there, I do know that he struggled to survive while he lived there. According to Adam's pension file, Adam worked at manual labor jobs such as road construction, and he was unable to support himself by 1890 when he applied for a pension for his service in the Civil War. He was unable to work much due to problems with his back and eyesight, and he was given a $10 per month allowance as his pension. In 1894, the pension board apparently reviewed his file, and believed that he could still earn a living by working as a laborer. Adam, of course, fought that claim, and among those who testified to his inability to work was his employer. Adam's boss claimed that he had to give my ancestor lighter load than the other men working for him because of my ancestor's problems with his back, and Adam's boss also indicated that he could barely work most of the time. Other citizens of Rockford also gave testimony to the fact that my ancestor could only work infrequently, and one of those witnesses also indicated that Adam's illiteracy prevented him from being able to work in any other type of job besides manual labor. In addition, they also indicated that without his allowance he would be forced to take charity, and it is obvious from that testimony that Adam was living in poverty. With that testimony, Adam's pension was reinstated and he continued to received $10 per month.

By 1900, Adam had moved back to Michigan, and was living with his youngest daughter and her family. In 1907, Adam would apply for an increase of $5 in his pension. Although I'm sure the economic depression that occurred that year played a major role in his desire to seek more money, I'm sure that his living with his daughter and son-in-law was financially straining for his daughter's family as well. (They also had a growing family and Adam's son-in-law was a farmer as well.) Indeed, within a year of his applying for an increase in his allowance, he had applied and been accepted to live in the Old Soldier's Home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He would spend the last two years of his life there, and when he died, he only had $45 dollars as his estate. His daughter and son-in-law would use that money to pay for his funeral and burial.

As I think about Adam's life, I can see that he lived in poverty for most of his life, and I believe he was unable to do better to provide for himself and his family because he lacked an education. I can only speculate, but if Adam had been able to read and write, I can imagine he would have had much more of an opportunity to escape his poverty. I can't give a solution to end poverty, but I am sure that access to more and better education would help alleviate the instances of poverty in this world as I look at the example of my ancestor's life.

What Day Was I Born On?

FootnoteMaven has posted an article on the nursery rhyme about the characteristics of the day a child was born, and has issued a challenge for other genealogists to list the day they were born with the rhyme for that day. Of course, I could not resist not posting, and I've decided to participate as well.

So, what day was I born on? I was born on a Sunday. The poem, according to footnoteMaven's post, states: "But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day/Is bonny and blithe and good and gay."

When I was a little girl, I received a book of nursery rhymes as a Christmas gift, and I remember that this poem was in the book. Of course, I do not remember the words for the verse in the book being the same as the verse above.

Wikipedia's article on the poem gives a different version of the Sunday, and lists the verse for Sunday as: "But the child that is born on Sabbath-day/Is bonny and happy and wise and gay." This verse is much closer to what I can recall from my nursery book, although I think the wording in my book was a modernized version of the verse. Either way, the two different verses for that day are fairly similar.

So, on what day where you born?

Tombstone Tuesday ...

Becky of Kinexxions started this blog post prompt a few weeks ago, and I've finally decided to participate in this event on Tuesday. Of course, I do not know if I will be posting a photograph of a tombstone every Tuesday, but I will do so whenever I get a chance.

So, the picture of the tombstone above is of Charles H. Detwiler and one of his wives. Charles Detwiler is the son of Jacob Detwiler by his second wife, Alwilda Arnold. As you may remember, I wrote about Jacob's second marriage in this post last year. Charles is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Three Rivers, Saint Joseph County, Michigan. (I don't have my notes in front of me, so I can't remember exactly where his grave is located.)

Update, 14 October 2008 at 6:40 P.M.: Becky informed me that Amy of Amy's Genealogy, etc. Blog was the one who started the Tuesday. I'm terribly sorry. That was my mistake. Also, I happened to notice that I did not have Amy's blog on my list, and I have now added her blog to the genealogy blog list as well.

6th Edition of the Smile For The Camera Carnival Posted!

The sixth edition of the Smile for the Camera carnival has been posted! You can read the article here, and the topic for the next edition is:

Oh, Baby! Show us those wonderful family photographs of babies, or those you've collected. Share the ones that are too cute for words, or those only a mother could love. Your favorite of grandma or grandmas' favorite. Grandpa on a bear skin rug or grandpas' little love. Everyone has a baby photo, so let's see it!

Enjoy!

Another History Book I'm Reading at the Moment ...

Last week, my school's chapter of Phi Alpha Theta (history honors club) had a book sale. The annual book sale is usually where I can buy history books fairly cheaply, and as in past years, I bought some more history books. One of the books I bought (and started to read) is Growing Old In America, expanded edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978) by David Hacker Fischer. I haven't finished reading the book yet, but from what I have read, this book looks at how Americans viewed the elderly in different time periods and how they treated the elderly in those time periods. In addition, the author explores how attitudes have changed in America from the colonial era to the present (which was the 1970s at the time of my edition's printing).

The book is essentially a social history book, and I thought I would mention this book because as genealogists we are always trying to figure out what our ancestors believed and how they lived. I believe this book will give genealogists an idea of how the elderly were treated and viewed in American history, and thus, possibly suggest what life was like for our ancestors, especially as they aged.

And More On the I'm Stumped Post ...

Earlier today, I posted on a research dilemma that I have with the family of Benjamin Oswalt. After Cathy left a comment, I realized that I had left out an important piece of information in my post. I forgot to mention that I had taken a look at the Wills and administrations records for Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, and the image above is what is listed for Benjamin Oswalt. He was listed in will book 6 on page 142. Outside of that record and the orphan court record, I do not have any other information on his estate. I am unsure if he owned land because I have noticed in some secondary sources that suggest he was a tenant. It is an avenue that I'll have to take a look at, but outside of that, I am unsure as to where else I should look. Again any suggestions are welcome. Thanks. (Also, thank you, Cathy for your suggestion!)