John Lake in 1855

This is an image of the signature of John Lake, obtained from his BLM preemption claim of 1855. John's property was located in Chariton County, Missouri.

Ten years later, John was dead. Killed by bushwackers in his barn. This claim will be the focus of an upcoming "Casefile Clues" article in Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter Plus Edition.

Michael Jackson's Will and Genealogy

Michael Jackson's will (or at least one of them) was admitted to probate recently and is on several websites for those who care to view it. Having taken a look at it, there are a few things I noticed that brought a few genealogical lessons to mind.

Things might be left out of the will--either intentionally or by accident. Jackson dumped his estate into a trust and the trust was not recorded (probably doesn't have to be is my guess). Does your ancestor's estate mention what happened to everything? I can think of several ancestral estate settlements where the real estate is inventoried, but then never mentioned again. If I had not gone to the actual land records, I would never have known how it was disposed of.

Jackson appointed his mother as guardian and if she could not act, then Diana Ross. While our ancestors probably didn't nominate celebrities as guardians for their children, names of guardians can be huge clues. In most cases our ancestors who had guardians probably had a step-parent, parent, uncle, aunt, or grandparent as a guardian. There are always exceptions.

In the copy of Jackson's will, the names of the witnesses have been blanked out. Hopefully that didn't happen on a copy of your ancestor's will. Witnesses could be people your ancestor knew or just people who happened to be in town "on business" the same day and were willing to sign a document as a witness.

Jackson's will was filed shortly after his death. State statute usually stipulates the deadline for submitting a will to probate. Thirty days is typical and admission of a will to probate can help a genealogist estimate when an ancestor died.

I have a relative whose husband died around 2:00 in the morning. As soon as the courthouse opened that same morning, she was there filing the will for record. But that is another story entirely.

Getting Occupational and Spousal Clues from an Estate

Dick Eastman has posted my latest "Casefile Clues" column on his website.

"Getting Occupational and Spousal Clues from an Estate" discusses an estate settlement from the 1850s on Peter Bieger. Peter left few clues about his life, but his estate settlement provided more information than I expected.

This article is part of the "Plus" edition of the newsletter.

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Before You Buy that CD of Scanned Books on Ebay

Just a heads up for those who use Ebay. There are many who sell CDs of historical books, county histories, atlases, etc. Make certain these are not available for free on www.archive.org, the BYU Historical Archives, etc. You can download from there and make your own CDs.

Save yourself some money.

Archive.org has Hobart's Biographies of Hancock County

I am a big fan of Archive.org. I recently downloaded Hobart's 1908 set biographies for Hancock and Henderson Counties in Illinois. The PDF version makes for nice visuals, part of one is shown in this post.

One of the nice things that I can do on this site is a full text search. I found references to several relatives that I would not have found using only the book's index. The full text search is great. One reference was to a cousin of my great-great-grandfather who lived with another cousin of my great-great-grandfather--contained in a biography of the cousin's in-laws.

One thing I didn't notice on the site were too many old county plat books. That was what got me looking at the site initially today, until I got sidetracked.

The person shown in this image is John Habben--my great-great-grandfather.

Check out those "etal" deeds

When searching through land records it always pays to look completely at those deeds that include "Et Al" along with the initial seller. That means there are others on the deed and those kind of records have a fair chance of involving the settlement of an estate.

That's exactly what was going on when this deed was drawn up in Hancock County, Illinois, in 1906. Turns out that Louise Myers is George's aunt and his siblings are also listed as grantors on this deed.

Deed Indexes in Public Land States

This is part of a deed from 1920 in Hancock County, Illinois.

It makes an excellent point of why it is important to search for the names of all relatives and not just the direct line. George and Ida Trautvetter are my great-great-grandparents. This deed is part of the settlement of his father's estate. Had I not looked for the last names of his siblings I would have overlooked it. Because the deed lists Louisa Mundy first, that is how it appears in the grantor index. Deeds with multiple grantors (as many "heirship" deeds are) are typically only indexed by the name of the first grantor.

This deed comes from Hancock County, Illinois Deed Book 177, page 579. More discussion of this record will appear in an upcoming "Casefile Clues" column in Dick Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter.

Extra Early Bird Deadline for Family History Library Research Trip May-June 2010

We have extended our early early bird Salt Lake City Genealogy Library research trip deadline until 30 June 2009. More information on the extra early price is available here.

Fritz or Fred?

This is a partial list of the expenses in the accounting of the guardianship of Ommo Fooken, etal, in Hancock County Circuit Court in 1917. The documents were really copied because I needed a sample to show my trip attendees how to use the digital scanner while at the Family History Library last May.

I'm glad now that I scanned the documents. The last line on this image indicated that the guardian bought two bushels of clover seed from my great-grandfather, styled as Fritz J. Ufkes. I knew he went by Fritz as a youth, but figured by this point in time (he was married and had a child by the date of this document) he would be shown as Fred. Actually in an entry from 1918, he is styled as Fred Ufkes when he is paid $9 on Feburuary 28, 1918 for hauling sand for a dam that was built on the Fooken farm.

His brother Eielt was the guardian of the Fooken children. Their mother was Lena Ufkes one of Fred and Eielt's two sisters. Lena and her husband Poppo died while the children were small.

You Are Always Going to Forget Something

My list for the next trip to Salt Lake keeps growing.

What I thought was going to be a short project keeps growing. The probate records of John Micahel Trautvetter (died in Hancock County, Illinois in 1917) mention a mortgage on his farm and the approval of interest payments on the mortgage. The probate records make no mention of paying off the mortgage and any such payments are not included in the estate's accountings.

I thought land records would answer my question and they partially did. Turns out I also need the guardianship records for four of John's grandchildren and that may only answer another part of the question. These grandchildren were orphaned when their parents died in the Flu epidemic of 1918, less than a year after their grandfather Trautvetter died.

An upcoming column in "Casefile Clues" in Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter (paid edition) will discuss the records and proces used to see what happened to John's farm after his death.

William Frame born 1816 in Lancashire

I found this christening entry while I was in Salt Lake, using the IGI as my search tool.

This William Frame was born in 1816 and christened on July 21, 1816 at St. John's Church, Old Haymarket, Liverpool. The parents are John and Rebecca Frame who appear later in County Cumberland, The John and Rebecca Frame in County Cumberland appear to be the parents of Robert Frame who lived in Cumberland from at least 1841 until his death in the 1860s. Robert is known to be my wife's ancestor.

Robert Frame was born in Spain ca. 1814 (but is always indicated as a British subject) and I was hoping that the occupation of John would indicate he was in the service, which would explain a son being born overseas, but that did not happen. A brief history of the church located online gave me a few additional clues which I can follow.

I'll be updating readers of this in an upcoming "Casefile Clues" column. Stay tuned. Suggestions are welcomed---I need them.

Jon and Kate + 8 and Genealogy

I've already had enough of Jon and Kate+8. Or is it Kate+8-Jon? Or Jon+8-Kate? I'm not certain where the "-" sign goes, but I don't think it really matters anymore. Regardless of where you put the minus sign, there's more than enough negativity.

But the "he said," "she said" and their upcoming divorce does have some relevance for genealogists.

One must always take divorce records with a grain of salt, sometimes with a shaker. This from a descendant of a woman who was divorced twice from the same man. Barbara Haase divorced Conrad Haase in Hancock County, Illinois, in 1872. They married again and he divorced her in 1884. In the 1872 divorce, her petition complained of his behavior. In the 1884 divorce, his petition complained of her her behavior. There was no response from the other party in either divorce.

Where was the truth? Somewhere in between--which is where it usually is.

In the 1884 divorce, a son testified. He indicated that mother and father both were sometimes difficult to get along with. Frankly, I'm glad the "whole" story is not in their divorce record. Some things are better left unknown.

The good news is that when your ancestor gets divorced it generated a record. Just keep in mind that the records left behind may not tell the whole story and that every statement is always told from someone's perspective.

It is worth noting too that divorce was not as uncommon as people think in the 19th century. A lot of things were not as uncommon as people think. Court records are full of these kinds of stories--search them. The real difference was that most of these "scandals" were not talked about like they are today.

I'm not certain "Conrad+Barbara+6" would have made a good reality show, but it might make for an interesting genealogy lecture.

Oh, and I do have a set of multiple births in my family. My great-aunt had triplets in the 1950s, the old-fashioned way. Identical ones and no one knew about the multiple births until the day of their arrival. Now that's a surprise--with no reality show residuals and no disposable diapers.

Marriage Bond from New Brunswick

The number of leads on which I have not followed up just amazes me sometimes. This image is from a 1865 marriage bond in St. John, New Brunswick for my great-great-grandparents, Samuel and Annie Murphy Neill.

I made a digital copy of it a few years ago on an earlier trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake. While reviewing my files today I realized I never followed up on the record and located the actual church records. I am working on those and will post an update as soon as I have one. The bond was dated 8 Nov 1865 and the couple were married the next day. Both were living in Simonds Parish.

Michael's "page" on Facebook

I just set my "username" on Facebook. For those who are interested, it is

http://www.facebook.com/rootdig/

BYU Conference on Family History Schedule Online

I will be making four presentations at the 2009 BYU Conference on Family History at the end of July.

The complete schedule can be viewed online (PDF version). There are four registration options listed on the conference website.

My four lectures will be:

Establishing Your Own Migration Trail
100 Acres, a Mortgage, and Three Sisters
Pig Blood in the Snow: Court Records Can Solve Problems
From New Jersey to Ohio - Establishing an Early 19th Century Migration Trail

Hope to see some readers of the blog and "Casefile Clues" there.

Genealogy App for Blackberry

My searches all come up for naught. I would love to have a genealogy application that would run on my Blackberry. I know I can create a "website" and store that on my phone's memory card and browse that, but I would much rather have an actual application that would at least allow me to browse a GEDCOM file on my Blackberry.

Readers who have ideas are welcome to post them.

Signature of John Lake--Missouri-1855

This signature is from John Lake, written in 1855 when he was completing his preemption claim in Chariton County, Missouri. John died in the mid-1860s and this document is one of the few I have that provides his signature. Really kind of neat as the family has no pictures of this Kentucky native.

John is my wife's great-great-grandfather. I'm working on a column on John's federal land file for an upcoming "Casefile Clues" column for Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter.

Google searches for John are always difficult, considering the nature of his last name.

World War II Draft Registration Card

This is my grandfather's World War Two Draft Registration Card.

This record will be discussed in an upcoming column of "Casefile Clues" which appears in the paid version of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter.

There is information on obtaining copies of Selective Service Records on their website. You can obtain these records on individuals who are deceased. You just need to show proof that they are dead.

Special Extra Early Discount for Rootdig 2010 Trip to Salt Lake

We are offering a $25 discount on the complete price on our 2010 Salt Lake Research Trip for those who make their deposit by 30 June 2009. The complete registration price for those registering by this date will be $175. The balance of the fee is due in December, just the deposit is necessary by 30 June. The deposit is $50.

There is more information about the trip on our site at http://www.rootdig.com/slctrip.html

This discount won't be posted on those pages, email Michael at mjnrootdig@gmail.com for a registration brochure with the discounted price or questions.

Thanks!