So, What's My Area of Expertise?

I just happened to notice John's post on his area of genealogy expertise, and I thought I would also write about my area of expertise in genealogy as well.

So, what is my area of expertise? Although I am an amateur genealogist, I think I would have to say that my expertise is in Michigan genealogy as I have mainly researched in Michigan and with Michigan records and have ancestors who have resided in Michigan for over 150 years. Most of that research has focused on Saint Joseph county, but I have also researched records in the Library of Michigan, State Archives, Bay county, Saginaw county, and Detroit. In other words, I'm primarily familiar with records in Saint Joseph county, but that doesn't mean that my experience with Michigan records is limited to that county.

Of course, I have only been doing genealogy for the past six years, but I think I have enough experience and knowledge about Michigan records to advise or aid other genealogists who have research in Michigan. So, what do you think? Do you agree?

69th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 69th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on "Uncle, Uncle! This edition is all about our uncles. Have you got a favorite or interesting uncle? Tell us about him! Maybe you had a older cousin, neighbor, or friend you called "uncle"... that works too! No uncles in your life? No problem. Write about any gentleman on your family tree who was an uncle to somebody." Enjoy!

34th Shades Of The Departed Guest Column Posted!

The 34th Shades of the Departed guest column has been posted! The author of this week's column is Donna McClure, and you can read it here. Enjoy!

New Year's Resolutions: How Am I Doing?

As you might remember, I posted my New Year's resolutions for this year back in December, and I thought I would update everyone on how far I have progressed in completing my New Year's resolutions. So, here's how I've been doing so far:

1. Look up and print other probate records of ancestors who lived and died in Saint Joseph County, Michigan. As of April 1st: I still have not had the chance to look up any more probate records, but I am still hoping to do so this year.
2. Order more microfilms of Trippstadt, Germany's civil records. As of April 1st: I have ordered two microfilms of death records, and so far, only one has come into the Family History Center. I am still waiting for the second one, and after I have obtained all of the death records, I will be ordering birth and marriage records.
3. Order naturalization records for my German-Russian ancestor Anton and his siblings. As of April 1st: I have not ordered any naturalization records, but I still hope to order some of these records.
4. Obtain the Civil War Pension files for Benjamin and William Oswalt, and try to strengthen their relationship to my ancestor, Adam Oswalt. As of April 1st: I haven't ordered any more pensions files although I would like to do so.
5. Find more information on my ancestor, Irene Havens. I am hoping to figure out who her parents are, and what her connection is to Rhoda and the Mandigo family. As of April 1st: A man named Jim, kindly looked up two newspaper notices for a couple of marriages in Rochester, New York and shared the information with me a few days after I posted my resolutions. Of course, I still need to do further research to figure out the exact relationship between my ancestor, the Mandigo family and Rhoda (Havens) Lang(e).
6. Find more information on my WWI veteran great-grandfather's family and ancestors. As of April 1st: I am doing a little research on my great-grandfather's family, but I haven't finished looking at records in Scotland.
7. Order birth, marriage and death records of ancestors from the United Kingdom. As of April 1st: I haven't ordered any vital records from the U.K., but I hope to order some microfilms of church records the next time I visit the Family History Center.
8. I hope to make more connections and to find more ancestors and relatives. As of April 1st: I've contacted a man who had information on a branch of my British ancestors, and he kindly shared the information he with me. Outside of that, I haven't made any other connections.
9. Publish posts listed in the "Coming Soon" box in a timely manner. As of April 1st: I am still working on this resolution, and I am still behind in publishing the posts I have listed.
10. Improve the writing quality of my posts. As of April 1st: I am still working on this resolution as well.

So, as you can see, I still have several resolutions to complete, but since I still have several months to go, I should be able to accomplish a few more resolutions before the year ends. Enjoy!

Google Analytics Results For March 2009

March is over, and that means that it is time for another Google Analytics report! Here are the results for March 2009:

The top ten countries, in number of visits, are:

1. United States - 572 visits
2. Canada - 53 visits
3. United Kingdom - 41 visits
4. Netherlands - 13 visits
5. Australia - 9 visits
6. France - 4 visits
7. Sweden - 2 visits
8. Ireland - 2 visits
9. New Zealand - 2 visits
10. Germany - 2 visits

The top ten states in the United States, in number of visits, are:

1. Michigan - 111 visits
2. Illinois - 50 visits
3. Texas - 41 visits
4. California - 40 visits
5. New York - 35 visits
6. Virginia - 26 visits
7. Ohio - 24 visits
8. Utah - 20 visits
9. Florida - 18 visits
10. Washington - 15 visits

The top ten places in Michigan, in number of visits, are:

1. Hamburg - 32 visits
2. Lansing - 32 visits
3. Whitmore Lake - 19 visits
4. Grand Rapids - 7 visits
5. East Lansing - 3 visits
6. Redford - 2 visits
7. Troy - 2 visits
8. Battle Creek - 1 visit
9. Commerce Township - 1 visit
10. Goodrich - 1 visit

The top ten posts, in number of views, are:

1. Celebrate Your Name Week - Day One - 46 views
2. Library of Michigan and State Archives News: Possible Closure? - 45 views
3. 31st Shades Of The Departed Guest Column Posted! - 42 views
4. Are They Related? Another Mystery Photo ... - 30 views
5. 68th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted! - 28 views
6. Tombstone Maker Website - 23 views
7. 16th Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy - 23 views
8. I've Left Facebook ... - 21 views
9. Forgot To Mention: 33rd Shades Of The Departed Guest Column Posted! - 19 views
10. 32nd Shades Of The Departed Guest Column Posted! - 17 views

Well, that is it for this month's report. For all of those who read my blog, thank you for reading! Enjoy!

17th Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy Posted!

The 17th edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy has been posted! (Thank you, Diane!) You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on Easter and Passover traditions. How are Easter and Passover celebrated in Central and Eastern European countries? Does you family have any traditions from Central or Eastern Europe? How did you ancestors celebrate Easter or Passover? You do not have to have Central or Eastern European ancestors to participate in this edition. Submissions are due April 20th, and the edition will be posted here on the 22nd. Enjoy!

More Death Records Added to the Seeking Michigan Site!

I just happened to take a look at the Seeking Michigan site and discovered that more death records have been added. You can read more about the records added here. Anyhow, I'm off to see if I can find any more death records for people connected to my family. Enjoy!

Researching My Central and Eastern European Female Ancestors ...

As many of you probably know from reading my blog, I have several ancestors who came from Germany or were ethnic Germans from the Russian Empire, and for this upcoming edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, I am supposed to write an article about my the resources I use for my research on a female ancestor from those regions in Europe. Instead of focusing on only one ancestor, I thought I would focus on a few of my German female ancestors, and write about the resources I have used or still need to use to trace them.

I have briefly written about my ancestor, Caroline, before, but I did not focus on the resources I have used or might use to research about her. I have not done as much research on her as I have on some of my other female ancestors, but the few sources that I have used have mostly been records created in the U. S. One of those sources happened to be a death notice that was published in a Detroit newspaper a few days after her death, and I have included the death notice below. (Note: I have blackened out the surnames of my ancestor and those of her daughters as a way to protect the identities of living family members.)

As you can see from the death notice, Caroline's surviving children are listed as well as her husband, and when I found this death notice, I was able to confirm relationships between her and other family members. Of course, this death notice was not the only source I used in doing my research on Caroline, and I was able to find her death certificate as well. Unfortunately, her parents were not listed on her death certificate, so I was unable to confirm my family's tradition about her maiden name. I also used the passenger manifest that had her and her three children (at the time) listed as a confirmation of when she entered America in and where she once lived. Unfortunately, her last residence was in Germany, so I'll have to do more research to determine where in Russia she was born. I am hoping that either her husband's naturalization papers or her marriage certificate will be able to answer some of my questions, but I have yet to obtain those records.

As for my other German female ancestors, I have a little more information on them due to the fact that my research into them has been easier than my research into Caroline has been. Emilia (Kees) Klippel is one of those ancestors that I have more information, but even then, I still do not have all the answers I wish I had. My first source of information on Emilia was a family tree that had been printed in the '30s or '40s, and that tree listed where she had married her husband. I used the information to order a microfilm of Trippstadt marriages, and I was able to find her marriage record. Besides finding her census record, I was able to use census records and a passenger manifest to trace her and her family movements in the U. S. Additionally, I used deeds to determine how long she and her family lived in Cleveland, Ohio, and I also used information from two books, provided to me by a woman over in Germany, to determine who her siblings were. Her brother's passport record also helped to confirm the relationship between the two. Besides those records, I also used city directories and her death record to determine where she lived and when she died. Unfortunately, I still have not been able to find the location of her burial, so I'll have to do some more research.

As for Emilia's mother, Amelia (Cotta) Kees, I am still doing research on her, but I have more information on her than I do on Caroline. Like Emilia, I also used the family tree as a resource to find information on Amelia, but I also used the two secondary sources to determine when Amelia married and who her children were. In addition, I used the death records of two of Amelia's sons and her death record to also determine when she died and who her children were. The death record for Amelia is below:

Amelia's death record lists her by her maiden name, and gives the names of her parents and husband. The record also gives her age and a possible birthplace. Thus, I have a few more leads as to where I should look for records, and hopefully, I will be able to do more research on her over this summer.

So, as you can see, I have used several different types of records to find information on my female ancestors. I just hope that I will be able to find more information on these three ancestors, and when I do find more information, I will let everyone know what I have found. Unti then, stay tuned ...

Family History Center Visit 5

Yesterday, I went back to the local Family History Center, and I looked through the Huntingdon tax records microfilm, that I ordered, again. As you may remember from my previous post, I was unable to finish looking through the assessments for Hopewell Township after 1815 on my last visit, so I finished going through the assessments for the township between 1815 and 1823. Of course, I was still able to find an Oswalt in the assessments for that township, but I was unable to find my ancestor, Benjamin Oswalt, in the records before 1823. The Oswalt that I did find in the assessments was an Adam Oswalt, and I suspect this Adam might be Benjamin's father as this Adam is old enough to pass for his father. Of course, this Adam is not to be confused with Benjamin's son, Adam, who served in the Civil War. (If that makes any sense!)

Of course, I was hoping to find Benjamin before 1823 because I am trying to trace his movements. I know that Benjamin did reside in Hopewell Township from 1823 until 1826, and then again from 1829 until 1833, when the tax assessments end, but I have not yet been able to find him or his family in the 1820 census. I did notice that there were other people living with an Adam Oswalt in the 1820 census, so I am trying to determine if that is where Benjamin was living. Of course, I will need to look at other townships in the area as it could be possible that Benjamin was living another township before 1823. I am hoping to narrow his movements so that I can figure out when Benjamin married and his age.

I noticed that at the end of the tax assessments, there was a section for single, freedmen, but I could not find Benjamin listed in that list either, for Hopewell Township. One of the tax assessments recorded that single men who were 21 and older were listed under that list. So, if I was able to find Benjamin in the tax assessment, that would give me an approximate year of birth and the removal of his name from the single men's list would give me an approximate year of marriage. Since I was unable to find him listed under any of Hopewell's tax assessments before 1823, I will need to look for him in another neighboring township. (When Benjamin does show up in Hopewell in 1823, I know he is already married as he is listed with the other heads of households on the assessment and not with the single men.)

So, I will have to visit the local Family History Center again, and look through the microfilm again. Eventually I will do a post on the tax assessments, but that will have to wait until I am able to go through the microfilm again. Stay tuned ...

Don't Forget!

I just want to remind everyone that submissions for the seventeenth edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy are due the 29th of March. M. Diane Rogers is hosting this edition, and you can find out more information about the edition here. You can submit your articles here. Thanks!

Forgot To Mention: 33rd Shades Of The Departed Guest Column Posted!

I forgot to mention on Friday that the 33rd Shades of the Departed guest column had been posted, and I am really sorry for forgetting to mention the post. The author of that column was M. Diane Rogers, and you can read it here. Enjoy!

Family History Center Visit 4

Earlier today I visited the local Family History Center, and I discovered that the another microfilm of tax assessments for Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania had arrived. I looked at the tax assessments for Hopewell township from 1788 to about 1815, and discovered that a possible Oswalt ancestor resided in the county from 1802. Of course, I have not proven that this man is my ancestor, but this man was old enough to pass for Benjamin Oswalt's father. I was unable to look at the tax assessments from 1815 to 1823 because I ran out of time, but I hope to look at those tax records again soon.

Now I have proof that Oswalts were living in Huntingdon County from at least 1802, so now, I need to figure out why I cannot find them in the 1810 census. I guess I'll have to look again and see if I can find the family. Stay tuned ...

Michigan Genealogy News: The Death Certificates and Other Things ...

I'm a little late in posting information about the Michigan Death Certificates, 1897-1920, but some of the deaths are up. (About 250,000 are up, or 25% of the death certificates are online.) Of course, I have already found a few people, and I'll probably write about those findings next week.

Before I even got a chance to write about this post, Miriam already posted about the records, and found a way to look at some of the death records online through a different site. (Of course, I should mention that that site only has about 20,000 records online.) Harold has also written about the records, and he posted his thoughts on the search capabilities of the site.

Update, 3/25 at 11:30 a.m.: I have finally gotten around to writing this post, and I thought I should add that Harold has also posted an update to the search problem at the site.

Family History Center Update

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but another one of my microfilms has come into the center. Obviously, I do not know what records are on the microfilm, but I hope to be able to visit the center in the next few days. As always, I'll report on what I find after my visit.

68th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 68th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on "What if... This is your chance to rewrite history! Have you ever imagined your ancestor playing a major roll in history? Perhaps you've envisioned them single handedly winning the American Revolution, going over Niagara Falls in a barrel, or inventing the flutaphone. This is your chance to write a bit of fiction about your ancestor to delight and entertain us. It is the April Fools edition after all! This edition will be hosted by Bill West at West in New England. Thanks Bill! The deadline for submissions is April 1st so start spinning your tall tales!" Enjoy!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

I just want to wish everyone a happy Saint Patrick's Day. Enjoy!

12th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture Posted!

The 12th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on "Irish names," and you can read more information about it here. Enjoy!

11th Edition of the Smile For The Camera Carnival Posted!

The 11th edition of the Smile for the Camera has been posted! You can read the edition here. The topic for the next edition will be on "Noble Life. Show us a photograph of an ancestor, relative, or friend that is the embodiment of A Noble Life. A life that is worthy of those who came before and those who follow after. A Life filled with small but courageous acts; filled with love and honor. A simple life, an ordinary life, A Noble Life. Bring them to the carnival and share with us how you've honored them." Enjoy!

(Note: I am only posting my notice for this edition now as I was busy this past weekend, and I was unable to do any blogging when this edition was posted.)

32nd Shades Of The Departed Guest Column Posted!

The 32nd Shades of the Departed Guest Column has been posted! The author of this week's column is Sheri Fenley, and you can read it here. Enjoy!

Library of Michigan and State Archives News: Possible Closure?

I've just learned from a genealogy group on yahoo that there is some discussion about closing the Library of Michigan due to the budget. If true, this not good for genealogists. I'll try to find some more information, and post it here later if it is true.

Update at 1:12 p.m.: I've found a message from the State Librarian here. As for whether it is true or not that the Library might be closed, I'm still not completely sure.