George Henry d: 13 July 1868

On our hike at Lake Anna State Park (VA) last weekend, I had the opportunity to walk for a time with a neighbor who told me she had inherited some vital record documents from her father. The documents meant nothing to her, and she didn’t think her daughter cared, so she was going to throw them out. The genealogist in me said, “If you’ll loan them to me, I’ll scan them and put them on my blog. That way if there is anyone out there researching this family, they can find them.” She agreed.

Early yesterday morning I scanned fourteen large documents of her father’s relatives in England and Ireland. There was also a folder of responses her dad received during the 1950s and 1960s from letters he sent to Irish custom houses, circuit courts and hospitals looking for records on William Henry and George Henry. The letters were to officials in Dublin, County Cork, The Waterford Heritage Society, and the Huguenot Society. I did come upon one letter – finally – dated 22 January 1952 when he received a positive reply from the Hospitals for Diseases of the Chest. His death was registered in the County of Middlesex, and is in the General Register Office, Somerset House, London. That letter is shown below.

Over the next period of time I will post more of these documents with the hope they will prove helpful to some researcher here or abroad.

NERGC-2017 - Finding Someone Who Eluded Census Records

Directions to the Springfield, MA Civic Center provided by the New England Regional Genealogical Society were easy to follow. We exited I-91 at Columbus Street, onto Main Street, and within a few blocks was the Civic Center where the Fourteenth New England Regional Genealogical Conference was being held. Excitement was mounting!

Parking was right across the street; registration was easy. While we waited to meet our friends Wally and Marian for lunch, we had a long chat with speaker DonnaMoughty. We first met Donna when we lived in Newtown, CT, and she spoke to our newly formed genealogy club. Donna now lives in Florida, is a member of the Manatee Genealogical Society, as are we, so we see her there as well. It was nice to have a chance to visit in Springfield. Donna is a professional genealogist specializing in Irish research along with U.S. research, methodology and technology including Macs, iPhones and iPads.  She provides research, consultations and training. She is one busy lady!

After a delicious lunch at the Red Rose restaurant, my first NERGC session was Finding Someone Who Eluded Census Records, by Carol Prescott McCoy.

There are different types of censuses. The population census is the most used, but there are also industrial, agricultural, Veteran’s, some state censuses, and slave schedules. Note the date when the census was taken, i.e. in 1920, the date was 1 January. Check every year, every type. People moved and could have been missed. Or they were too far out in the country, in dangerous territory, where the census taker didn’t want to go. Sometimes ancestors are listed twice, if they were traveling between residences. And these could contain different information!

Copy/download entire census page to capture neighbors for future searches. Record all members of the household. Sometimes boarders or “servants” can be relatives. Record names, ages, and places exactly as in the census.

Name spelling issues are the most common. Try every variation. If that doesn’t work, find neighbors from previous census. If your ancestors stayed in the same place, finding the neighbors will locate your people. This was the only way we were able to find my New York City Nunn family in the 1900 census. When the census taker was told the last name was Nunn, he thought he was being told “none.” After several attempts at this misunderstanding, he finally wrote the deceased father’s first name “Joseph,” as the last name, scribbled in with the wife’s first name – a real mess. I located them because I found a 1905 New York Times article where Elizabeth Nunn (eldest daughter) sued her neighbor for return of money Elizabeth had entrusted with the woman in 1900. When I untangled that mess, I found the family!

Census Substitutes. Town records, tax lists, school lists, old maps, town histories, voter lists are all places where your ancestors’ histories reside. Hubby and I developed an 1890 Census Substitute for Newtown, Connecticut by using tax records, school and voter lists, and some church records. It was our hope that other towns would follow suit in order to fill in this 20 year gap.

My best takeaways: Develop a census database. This can be done for each person or by family, to sort by last name as well as date. Develop a timeline (I did that years ago, but it is a good reminder to review and update.) FAN Club - Follow friends, associates and neighbors. Be flexible!

Ireland Reaching Out

This morning I registered with Ireland Reaching Out, a “global network for people of Irish Heritage.”

With a great grandfather named Patrick Doyle, I didn’t think I had a chance of finding him in Ireland.

Ireland Reaching Out is a community of volunteers and family researchers working to make those connections. It is a great marketing tool for Ireland, and a great asset for those of us just starting to search across the pond.

It is easy to register. Just put in your email. An email is sent to you with further instructions and a password into the site. One glitch, however. I never received the original email. This morning I put in my email again, being told that email was already taken, and did “I” forget my password? [smile]

I clicked “forgot my password,” even though I had never been sent one … and I did receive the next email. I was able to reset my password, and from there you can chose if you know your parish or if you don’t. I selected “don’t know,” and from there a message board appeared. I put in my gr-grandfather’s information, as much as I know, and now hope some volunteer or researcher will be able to help me.

We have shared this website with those we know researching their Irish ancestors. I will let you know if I have any success.