Can I Say I Told You So?

All Europeans are related if you go back just 1,000 years, scientists say.  

“A genetic survey concludes that all Europeans living today are related to the same set of ancestors who lived 1,000 years ago. And you wouldn't have to go back much further to find that everyone in the world is related to each other.”

“Family researchers have long known that if you go back far enough, everyone with a European connection ends up being related to Charlemagne

The concept was laid out scientifically more than a decade ago. Now Coop and University of Southern California geneticist Peter Ralph have come up with the evidence. Their findings were published on Tuesday in the open-access journal on: none;">PLOS Biology.”

You can read the full study,  "The Geography of Recent Genetic Ancestry Across Europe," and a less technical synopsis of the research on the PLOS Biology website.

For the Love of Spreadsheets

                Yesterday I attended DuPage County Genealogical Society’s 38^th Annual Conference:  Discovering Early American Roots.  My first session was Jeanne Larzalere Bloom’s presentation Spreadsheets 101: EXCEL, the Genealogist Underutilized Tool on using Excel Spreadsheets.  I have always been a spreadsheet aficionado, so I thought I might pick up some pointers.  She had some good examples of how she documented her research using customized spreadsheets.

                In her syllabus Jeanne cited Gary Minder’s www.censustools.com.  So of course, I had to go check it out.  This website has also been written up in Dick Eastman’s newsletter.  In the responses to Dick’s article on Gary’s spreadsheets, there was one from Dae Powell of Shoestring Genealogy.  He suggested a key spreadsheet was missing on censustools.com – one to track city directory finds.  Since I have one of my own for that, I wanted to see what Dae came up with.  I was pleasantly surprised to see 22 forms offered for download on shoestringgenealogy.com as well as a wealth of other material he has compiled!

                I reviewed Gary’s spreadsheets, which include more than just census sheets by the way.  I liked them enough I bought the package of 40 spreadsheets.  I may not use them all, but it was a fair price for the work Gary has put into the spreadsheets.  Why did I buy these instead of downloading the ones at Shoestring Genealogy?  I liked the idea of having spreadsheets I could actually enter data into on my computer – Shoestring is a download of a PDF file.  You will need a pencil or pen to use those.  Then how do I get them back into my computer or manipulate the discrete data elements?

                Everyone has their own way of managing their genealogy data.  One of these sites may have something that will help you!

Circuit Court of Cook County Archives on-line

            I recently visited the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Archives on-line at http://www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org/NR/about.aspx.  I found it by chance via a Google search.   

            I found a few people I was looking for in the database search, downloaded the form, completed it and mailed it, per instructions on the web site, with my check.  I was totally surprised to receive it back with the documents in about a week!   I received a copy of the original Declaration of Intent which was loaded with details I did not have before:  the ship of arrival, the ports of departure and arrival, place of birth and physical description with “visible distinctive marks” (in this case a birthmark on the left cheek).

What I received in the mail

Here is the detail from the web site:

The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Archives is home to more than 500,000 naturalization petitions covering the years 1871 to 1929. More than 400,000 of these records are Declarations of Intention, 1906-1929 which were usually the first papers to be filed by those who wished to become U.S. citizens.

Because the Declaration may be the only public record of an individual immigrant, it is a significant source of documentation for genealogists and scholars.

Also, taken as a whole, the Declarations of Intention document the social changes of the immigrant experience during this era and so can be of interest to scholars and researchers from many disciplines.

This database of Declarations of Intention was created thanks to a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), a division of the National Archives.

Where do I find records filed before 1906 and after 1929?
For records filed before 1906 in Cook County refer to the following Clerk of the Circuit Court Archive web page:   http://12.218.239.55/?section=RecArchivePage&RecArchivePage=naturalization_search

After 1929, the local Cook County courts stopped granting naturalizations, and the task was given entirely to the Federal Courts. To find local naturalizations after 1929, please contact a local branch of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Chicago is served by NARA Great Lakes Region. You can find them here:  http://www.archives.gov/great-lakes/.

Holocaust archive rescues lost identities, reunites family after decades

Nearly 70 years after the end of the Second World War, a Holocaust archive in Germany is helping victims and survivors of Nazi atrocities to find clues about the past -- and is still reuniting families. NBC News' Andy Eckardt reports from Bad Arolsen, Germany.

   Read the entire article here. 

Cemetery Adventures and Lessons Learned

This genealogy tip of the day from Michael John Neill resonated with me when I read it because of my own experience. 

Genealogy Tip of the Day 

Empty Spaces at the Cemetery

Are there "empty" spaces in your family's lot of graves in the cemetery? Is it possible that there are unmarked burials. The cemetery may (or may not) have records of burials even if no stone was erected after the funeral.

Used with permission:  © Michael John Neill, “Genealogy Tip of the Day,” http://genealogytipoftheday.blogspot.com, Posted: 07 Jan 2013 06:15 AM PST

A few years ago I was trying to locate the graves of my Primas Great-Uncles.  I knew that two of them were at “the windmill cemetery”, officially known as Mount Emblem Cemetery in Elmhurst, Illinois.  I went to the main office and asked for the location of all persons with Primas as their surname located in the cemetery.  I received the list I expected, with one surprise:  Emma Primas, my great-grandmother.

Emma Stroschein Primas

I knew my great-grandfather Paul Primas (Emma’s husband) died at the age of 46 years in 1906 and was buried in Concordia Cemetery, Forest Park, Illinois.  When I visited the grave site there was space but no stone for Emma.  I assumed that she was there with no marker.  

   

There was a child of Paul and Emma’s named Franz that died at the age of 2 years, 6 months of croup and diphtheria.  He was also buried in Concordia Cemetery.  When I inquired about the location I was told that he had been buried in a special section for children.  That area had no permanent plots, it was in effect leased.  There was no marker to be seen. 

Emma died at the age of 63 years in 1928, having lived 22 years longer than Paul.  She was left a widow with five children to raise, so it seemed that perhaps a lack of money might have been the reason for no marker.  Maybe the family planned to get a marker when they had more funds.

                

So what was Emma doing in Mount Emblem?  I went to find her grave site.  There was only a cement disk with the number of the plot.  No headstone.  Next to her space were headstones for Ernest and Evelyn Stroschein.  Ernest, called Ernie by the family, was Emma’s nephew, her brother’s son.  Across the road were Emma’s sons Frederick and Otto, her daughter Amelia (called Millie) and Otto’s wife Marie.  Fred and Millie have no markers.  In a different section of the cemetery are plots for her other sons: Oscar (my grandfather) is on one side of the road, and on the other side of the road are plots for Frank Primas and his wife, both unmarked.

                

When I asked why there were no markers on the plots for Frank and his wife, his son told me “they aren’t there”.  They are buried in Missouri where they had retired years ago.

               

I am still left with more questions:  why is Emma in a different cemetery than her husband?  Did the children not know or forget about the Concordia plot?  Why is she buried next to her nephew and not her sons?  Why is Paul's grave marker so large?  Why does Emma has no grave marker?

               

Some lessons learned from this adventure: 

     1.       Always ask at the cemetery office for the people you are looking for

     2.       Don’t assume everyone has a marker

     3.       Don’t assume that because someone bought the plot that they are in it

Your Cousin Caron

Researching a Civil War Soldier

I have mentioned my 95-years-young cousin Gus before.  He had all the pages of his mother’s scrapbook scanned and copies sent to me.  What a gift!  Among the newspaper clippings was an obituary “Death of Mrs. Samuel Herbert”.  Mrs. Samuel Herbert was born Jane Lewis.  The notice mentions that she was predeceased by her brother, John Lewis, who died in Andersonville Prison.  This was news to me – I had never heard this before.

I checked www.Ancestry.com  for John Lewis and found 2 possible suspects in the Andersonville Prisoner of War database but no exact match.  There were also a number of John Lewis’ named in the US Army, Register of Enlistments database but again no exact match.  So I wondered did he really die at Andersonville or was he just a prisoner there?  I was suspicious of a newspaper account 30 years after the fact.

I went to www.Fold3.com and checked the NARA database of Civil War Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900.  There were two men listed as John Lewis that requested pensions on their own behalf as invalids:  John Lewis, Private, Illinois, Infantry, Regiment 90, Company D and John Lewis, Corporal, Illinois Infantry, Regiment 111, Company H.  Another request was from the mother of John Lewis, Private, Illinois Infantry, Regiment 39, Company K who died at Andersonville Prison on September 23, 1864.  This last one looked promising, but was it really MY John Lewis?

I went to check www.cyberdriveillinois.com   for Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls.  In the Illinois regiments listing I found over 25 men named John Lewis on the muster rolls, including the three from the pension database.   I was able to see (and save) the Illinois Civil War Detail report on my three suspects.  This detail report includes Name, Rank, Residence, Age, Height, Hair  and Eye color, Complexion, Marital status,  Occupation, Location of birth; when and where they joined; where and when they mustered in and out of service; and remarks including notes about discharge and where they were taken prisoner.    I was able to verify that the John Lewis who died in Andersonville Sep 23, 1864 was my 3^rd great-grand-uncle.  His remarks showed that he was “taken prisoner May 16, 1864 at Drury’s Bluff, Virginia”.  He is the first documented Civil War soldier in my family tree!

Your Cousin Caron

Looking for Brennans in Chicago

I was recently given this picture and was told that these women are my husband’s great-grandmother and grand-aunt.  Possible names are Annie and Mary Brennan.  Do you know who they are?

Possibly Stephen Brennan's mother and sister

According to family legend, my husband’s grandfather Brennan married out of the faith and was disowned by his birth family.  He then was divorced from his wife (at a time that it was considered “scandalous”) and had minimal contact with his children afterwards.

Stephen Brennan c. 1918

          

We were told that Stephen Francis Brennan was born in Chicago December 26, 1873; however, there is no documentation to be found to verify this.  Several inquiries to the Cook County Clerk have resulted in messages that no birth record is found and that it possibly was “burned in a fire”.  His marriage certificate shows his age as 32 which would make is birth year 1878.  His first appearance in the records is in Chicago in the 1910 US Census, as a boarder in the home of Berjetta Marcusen, his future mother-in-law.

Stephen’s World War I Draft Card shows his birth information as December 26, 1873 in the USA. That document shows he is a motorman for the Chicago Surface Lines, is married to Anna Elizabeth Brennan and living at 4242 Wilcox St in Chicago.   He had three children with Anna:  Clarence born in 1912 who died shortly after birth, Charles Joseph born in 1914 and Marion Elizabeth born in 1917.  Stephen is still with the family in the 1930 US Census.  He is not found in the 1940 US Census in Moosehaven where he was living at the time.  He is listed in the Florida State Census of 1945 as age 73, retired with a 7^th grade education.  Stephen Brennan died August 17, 1951 at the Moosehaven Home in Orange Park, Clay County, Florida where he had been living for 19 years.

Stephen Brennan in 1930s

Stephen’s daughter Marion tells me that Stephen’s parents were immigrants from Ireland, possibly Michael and Annie Brennan.  He had at least one sister, Mary, who never married.  She worked in a convent on the "north side" of Chicago but was not a nun.  There were also supposed to be some relations in West Chicago but I have no detail on that.  With such a large immigrant Irish population in Chicago at the turn of the century, I am sure you can appreciate how difficult it might be to find the "right" Michael Brennan with wife Annie and daughter Mary in Chicago! 

If you recognize anyone in this blog post, please contact me!

Your Cousin Caron