GENEALOGY AND LOCAL HISTORY COLLECTION CLOSED

Exciting News!

The Virginia Wheeler Martin Family History and Learning Center is opening this coming weekend.

In preparation,  the local history collection is temporarily closed so that it can be moved into the new center...

Closed until the new Center opens up later this week.

I won't post a picture of the new center. We want that to be a surprise!

10 Tips for using "The Ancestor Hunt"

Hello! It's Lauren Kuntzman, again, guest blogging once more for Kathy Petras. For this week's post, I'll be discussing one of my new favorite resources - The Ancestor Hunt!

Why would you want to use The Ancestor Hunt? Well, it has a lot to offer, including links to...

• 26,000+ Newspapers
• 1,700+ Obituaries/Obit Indexes
• 2,000+ Birth/Marriage/Death Record Databases
• 3,800 Yearbooks
• Collections of Historic Photos
• "How To" Articles & Videos

And, it's all free.

Because of its massive collection of newspapers and obituaries, The Ancestor Hunt is now my first stop for tracking down these essential documents. If you're also looking for these sources -- or if you want to find vital records, yearbooks, or old photos -- then you should definitely check out this website, too.

Here's a little bit more about the website and 10 tips for using it: 

Overview

The Ancestor Hunt is created and managed by Kenneth R. Marks. Though I've only discovered recently, the website has existed since around 2010. It reminds me of Cyndi's List, in that it points users to resources located elsewhere on the web.

10 Tips for Using The Ancestor Hunt

1. To find information, The Ancestor Hunt is first organized by resource type, and then by geography. Generally, it's divided by country, then by state/province, and then may get to a city/county level.

2. Speaking of geography... The Ancestor Hunt focuses on the United States and Canada. (Exception: there are a few "world" newspaper links.) 

3. You'll notice that there is a link for "Newspapers" and a link titled "Newspaper Links." "Newspapers" will teach you how to best search historic newspapers. "Newspaper Links," on the other hand, will take you to digitized newspapers. 

Options for resources are listed in the main menu. 
"Newspapers Links" will take you to the list of 26,000+ newspapers available online.

4. Some of the resource lists are a little long, so I recommend using the Find command on your web browser (Control+F for PCs or Command+F for Macs) and search for keywords.  By the way, your city or county make great keywords!

5. Most of the "Obituaries" category resources are indexes, however there are notes if the links include clippings or transcriptions. 

Here's a screencap of some of the Ohio Obituary/
Obituary Index links.  Some links include clippings and transcripts.

6. With the birth, marriage, and death (BMD) record links, many point to databases on FamilySearch or local library's webpages. Church records may be included, too. 

7. When using the "Photos" section, some links will include information about restrictions on rights for usage.  

8. Make sure you read the end of the lists as special collections, miscellaneous resources, and other information may be included there. 

Make sure you read the end of the resource lists, which may contain
miscellaneous collections, like this list of Ohio BMD Links.  

9. The "Yearbooks" are just for the United States, and are organized alphabetically by the name of the city, not the name of the school.

10. Be aware that the information on the site is periodically updated.  Until an update happens, however, some links may be dead and brand new resources might not yet be included. Following the Blog is a great way to learn about updates.



To get you started hunting for your ancestors, here are links to all of the Ohio resources on The Ancestor Hunt:

• Ohio Online Historical Newspapers Summary
• Ohio Obituaries and Obituary Index Links
• Ohio Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links
• Ohio Online Historical Photos Research
• Free Ohio High School and College Yearbooks Online

Happy Searching!

Serendipity? Or Something More?

Serendipity. Luck. Chance. Coincidence. Call it what you will, sometimes, it seems like our ancestors are reaching out from the grave to boost our research efforts. It is a phenomenon that is quietly talked about in genealogy circles.

The following is a true incident from my own research.

A few years ago, I was engaged in in-depth research on a particular family name in order to write a book about them. One individual was particularly well documented.

Reverend John H. TAGG was born in England in 1824 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1836 with his parents and siblings.. He was listed in school tax lists in Portage County, Ohio. He worked his way through seminary school and became a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church. His itinerant ministry is well documented at the Archives of Ohio Methodist Church at Ohio Wesleyan. In the early years he traveled on horseback to visit his various assigned churches, often crossing flooded rivers. Later he was reassigned to a new church every 18 months.

This portrait of John Tagg hangs in the hallway of the
 United Methodist Church in Pomfrey, New York.

Finding this portrait was serendipitous. My sisters, daughters and I were visiting the Chautauqua region of New York. We stopped in the town of Pomfrey which was having a street market so we could lunch. We decided to get a meal that was being offered by the United Methodist church. Knowing that Rev. John Tagg had served in the area, I asked the lady dishing up our food if the church had any history on the preachers who had served the local churches in the 1800's. She asked me who I was looking for and I gave her John's name. "Follow me," she said. She led us through a circuitous root from the church's basement up to the hallway outside the current minister's office. There in the dimly lit hallway was a series of portraits of early preachers for the church. And there we found the above portrait of Rev. J. H. Tagg. We all got goosebumps. And all because we decided to stop for lunch.

John married a school teacher, Laura Ann Lilly, in 1846 and was listed with her in Portage County, Ohio in the 1850 census. By the 1860 Pennsylvania census, the small family consisted of the Reverend, his wife, Laura, 7 year old Alice and 1 year old baby “Clampa”. “Clampa” might have been a nickname because throughout the rest of her life she was known as Clara. The reverend lived a long life, finally dying in 1911.

1860 West Greenville,  Mercer County, Pennsylvania Census taken 11 June 1860.

Clara’s life was also well documented, as she became a teacher like her mother. She rose through the ranks in Ohio schools, and spoke at many of the teachers' conferences in the state. She eventually became a principal, and after her marriage at a relatively late age, became a Cleveland Public School Board Member. At one time there was a Cleveland elementary school named after her.

   

Picture from the 1 November 1924
Cleveland Plain Dealer

But Alice? After the brief appearance in the 1860 census, she disappeared. She was not in any other census records. Her sister’s and her parent’s life stories and obituaries make no reference to her, as if she never existed. What became of Alice? Why did she disappear?

One evening while working on this mystery, my sister Sara called. She listened to my frustration with the lack of evidence. I wondered out loud if the young girl had a disability that caused her parents to send her away and never mention her, or if she died. My sister, who is NOT a genealogist, listened politely and made comforting sounds on the phone. We finished our phone conversation and I went back to my unproductive search.

Half an hour later, Sara called back, “I think I found Alice!” she exclaimed. “What?” “Where?” and “How?” were my confused responses. Just by using a different search engine (I had used Google, she used Bing), Sara had found a cemetery listing for Alice TAGG in Conneautville, PA, one of the many locations her father had served as a minister. She had died in October of 1860, just months after her appearance in the census records.

Serendipity? Or Something More?

The family and I planned a visit to the cemetery to confirm that this Alice TAGG was the one we were looking for.

We arrived in the early afternoon. The cemetery is a sprawling location on the edge of town. We drove around a little bit and parked. Knowing that the tombstone would be old, I headed for the older part of the cemetery. My family spread out to other sections.

After searching only about 1/2 hour, I located her grave. My family joined me at the stone..

We stood in front of the tombstone. I had brought a picture of her father and a spray of lavender blossoms. My daughter had made an old fashioned yarn doll. As we placed these items at the base of the stone, we noticed that the surrounding stones were all for older adults. No children's stones were nearby. I realized that Alice was buried among strangers. Her father's frequent re-assignments would not have allowed her to form great friendships. And she certainly wouldn't have known the people buried around her. The fact that none of her families records ever mentioned her made us very sad for the little girl.

We read the inscription "Our Dear Ally daughter of J.H. & L.A. TAGG". The confirmation I needed to show that she was the Alice that we had been searching for. As we stood there, I promised Alice that she would have a place of honor in the book I was writing on the family, and that her name would never be forgotten again.

Just then, about twenty feet away, a commotion erupted in some nearby trees. Glancing up to see what was happening, we saw 4-5 bluebirds cavorting in the trees.

Had Alice heard??

I have blogged about serendipity in genealogy research before:

Serendipity-in-Genealogy

S.S. Medina Victory

Medina's World War II War Bond Headquarters

Medina County contributed so much to the war effort during World War II. The newspapers of the time are filled with information on tire drives, paper drives, metal drives. The War Bond building where Medinians donated more that their fair share, still stands, having been moved to a lot to the west of the Medina Hospital.

The young men and women of Medina enlisted to fight the country's enemies, whether it was behind a cannon, a rifle, a medical mask or a typewriter.

Everyone had a Victory Garden and the library had a Victory drive in order for Medina's citizens to donate books to be sent overseas.

And Medina had a United States Victory Class Ship named after it.

WHAT?

The S.S. Victory Medina was built toward the end of World War II and was launched on 10 February 1945.

What is a Victory Ship?

According to Wikipedia, Victory Ships were:

"The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines." They were larger and faster than the previously built Liberty ships.

A Victory Class Cargo ship

A cross section view showing the layout of the ship.

The first 33 of the Victory ships were named for members of the United Nations. The other 500 ships were named after U.S. towns and cities, and colleges and universities. Each state would only have two town names used. The towns had to represent the historic nature of the area. The S.S. Bucyrus Victory, the first Ohio ship to be named after an Ohio town, was launched in January 1945.

How did little ol' Medina get a ship named after it?

In early 1944, local businessman, Frank E. Judkins, was on a business trip out west and met up with Mr. John Carmody of the U.S. Maritime Commission. After chatting awhile and extolling the virtues of his hometown, Mr. Judkins asked how to get a ship named after "Medina". He was told to submit a petition. When he arrived back in Medina, he obtained the signatures of nearly 200 Medina Legion members, business men, and various civic club members. He submitted the request in April.

Weeks and months went by with no word. Judkins kept the pressure on with multiple letters inquiring the status of the request. Finally, in December of 1944, the Medina Chamber of Commerce received notification that a Victory Ship was being built at the Permante shipyards in Richmond California that would be named the "SS Medina Victory." It was to be launched on February 7, 1945. Frank was invited to the launch, but when it was delayed he was unable to attend.

Medina Gazette 22 Dec 1944, page 1

The Maritime Commission requested that the city send a woman the help launch the ship.

As the city would have to pay her expenses to travel to California, the Chamber decided to request that Mrs. Chaffee do the honors. Mrs. Chaffee's mother, Mrs. W.S. Thorpe, was still living in Medina. Mrs. Chaffee had accompanied her husband, Navy Lieutenant Almerin Chaffee when he was stationed to Oakland, California. So she was very near the Redmond shipyards.

Medina Gazette  26 December 1944, page 1.

On February 10, 1945, the S.S. Medina Victory was launched.

Mrs. Chaffee receiving a bouquet from flower girl,
Janet Eggleston
Scrapbook of Launch of S.S. Medina Victory

Mrs. Chaffee christening the S.S. Medina
Scrapbook of Launch of S.S. Medina Victory

The S.S. Medina going down the slipway
Scrapbook of Launch of S.S. Medina Victory

The S.S. Medina Victory is launched!
Scrapbook of Launch of S.S. Medina Victory

Her first voyage took her from San Pedro California, to Melbourne, Australia, to Calcutta, India, Ceylon, Mozambique, Durban and then to Philadelphia, PA. After this one voyage as a cargo ship, the War Shipping Administration decided to convert her to a troop transport ship.

Again from Wikipedia:

"Many Victory ships were converted to troopships to bring US soldiers home at the end of World War II. A total of 97 Victory ships were converted to carry up to 1,600 soldiers. To convert the ships the cargo hold were converted to bunk beds and hammocks stacked three high. Mess halls and exercise places were also added."

When this conversion was complete, the S.S. Medina Victory was loaned to the British. She sailed from New York in October 1945 for the Mediterranean where she ferried troops between  the Middle East and Toulon, France.


In 1948, the ship was purchased by the Donaldson Line and was turned into a passenger/freighter ship and was renamed the Laurentia. The ship was in operation until 1966 and was scrapped in '67.

S.S. Laurentia, previously named the S.S. Medina Victory

Do not confuse the S.S. Medina Victory with the S.S. Medina, a freighter built in 1914 and named for the river in Texas. That ship was once part of the U.S. Coast Guard, but spent most of her time as a cruise liner. At one time, she was a floating book shop and now is being converted into a luxury hotel.

S.S. Medina, built in 1914.

SOURCES:

The Atlantic Liners 1925-70 by Frederick Emmons
Donaldson Line Laurentia
National Park Service
Scrapbook of the launch of the S.S. Medina, donated to the Medina Library by Franz Zrilich, 1994.
Western Ocean Passenger Lines and Liners 1934-1969 by Commander C.R. Vernon Gibbs.
Wikipedia S.S. Bucyrus
Wikipedia Medina/Doulos Phos
Wikipedia Victory Ships
2 page letter detailing the application process, authenticated by F.E. Judkins.

School Days

School is starting up again in Medina in just a few short weeks. Now is a good time for a look back at some of the old school buildings of Medina County...

These post cards were given to the Medina Library by Jean Cooper, a long-time teacher in the Medina City Schools.

The Lincoln High School, built in 1872. It used to sit where Broadway and Smith Roads meet in Medina.
The building was torn down circa 1950 to make way for an expansion of the Garfield school.

This post card is also identified as the High School, but the door and windows do not match.
This is most likely the Disciple Church. Perhaps it is the High School in the background?

The first "primary" school in Medina City. It stood where the County Administration Building now stands.

The Garfield School was built in 1912. . It is now an elementary school. The old High School Building can be seen in the background.

Built in 1924 to replace the old high school, this building now serves as the Medina County Administration Building.

Once the new high school was built in 1924, the old Lincoln High School then housed the primary grades and the Garfield School held the "upper grades" perhaps what we would call the middle school grades?

Another view of the school that is now the Administration Building. 

The next new high school built for Medina students was the current Claggett Middle School Building. It opened in 1956.

Now Claggett Middle School, this building opened in 1956 as the new Medina High School.

An early Wadsworth High School

Hopefully you have enjoyed this tour of old Medina school buildings.

If you would like more information, please consult these resources:

• This website lists old schools for each of the counties in Ohio - Old Ohio Schools.
• Here is the listing for Medina County - Medina County Old Schools. 
• For an in-depth look at the Medina City Schools, check out Gloria Brown's book The Story of Medina's Schools 1817-2017.

DNA with Blaine Bettinger

Blaine Bettinger has released a new book on DNA testing for genealogy titled Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy  It is available to borrow from the Medina Libraries. Find it on the shelves at 929.1072 BET.

It is an excellent book for those of us who have had our DNA tested for genealogical purposes.

Amy Johnson Crow, Certified Genealogist,
presenter and author, her e-book
31 Days to Better Genealogy is available on
Amazon.com

Amy Johnson Crow interviewed Blaine for her web site and posted it HERE.

Some of the highlights of Blaine's interview are:

1. Take ethnicity estimates with a grain of salt. Look at the continents that your ancestor came from.
2. Dig into the DNA matches concentrating on the closest matches first (the most shared CM, which stands for centimorgans).
3. A centimorgan is a way of measuring shared DNA. Don't bother with matches that share less than 20 CM. It is too hard to prove a connection.
4. There are three main testing companies:
1.  Ancestry - has an extremely large database. Because of its advertising campaign, they have a lot of novice genealogists testing.
2. Family Tree DNA - this is the test used by hard-core genealogists.
3. 23andMe - has a very large database, but most were tested for medical purposes.
5. DNA testing WILL NEVER REPLACE traditional genealogy research.
6. Contact your matches. Some of them will be able to help you build your tree.

Check out Blaine's book and his blog,  The Genetic Genealogist.

Blaine Bettinger

I used this chart from page 8 of Blaine's book to determine that our family tradition probably was false. We were repeatedly told, by multiple sources, that my great great grandmother Emily ARTIS SWAIN (shown as EAS on the chart) was 3/4 Cherokee. I have had my DNA tested as have three of my siblings. The results are 99-100% European. From the chart below, we should have inherited some DNA from Emily (and we did!) but it doesn't show any Native American ancestry.

Genetic Genealogy Chart

This Genetic Genealogy chart shows (in the light green) shows the DNA you inherit from your ancestors. Notice that as you go back to the fourth generation and further back, some of your ancestors will not contribute any DNA to you.

I have added the initials showing my paternal grandfather's line. While my siblings and I have NOT inherited 100% of our DNA from Emily ARTIS SWAIN, we all have inherited some DNA from her - about 2%. If she were 3/4 Native American, it probably would have shown in at least one of us. 

This is not 100% proof positive that there is no Native American ancestry, because the DNA we inherited from her just might not include the Native American markers, but it does make it a lot less likely. 

Fruits of Genealogy

A recent article in Internet Genealogy magazine was titled "Forbidden Fruits" which will be discussed more later. But it made me realize that we often equate the results of our family history research in the terms of "fruit".


We call the items we discover the fruits of our labor. We search long and hard and when we finally find the desired bit of history, it is every bit as satisfying as biting into a fresh piece of juicy, ripe fruit.

Birth and marriage records that you probably have at home.
These are low-hanging fruits.

Then there are the low hanging fruits. That is the information that is easy to find such as information you already have at home or, census and vital records discovered on easy to access online databases such as FamilySearch.org or Ancestry Library Edition.



Lastly, are the Forbidden Fruits, the topic of the April/May 2017 issue of Internet GENEALOGY. Sue Lisk, the author of the article, uses the term Forbidden Fruit to discuss the information you find in  other people's published family trees. Some of the fruits of these trees can be diseased, withered or rotten on one side.

She cautions us to to resist adding other people's family trees to our own without evaluating them carefully. She lists six items to look for in assessing someone else's tree:

1. Is it a healthy tree?
1. What is the size of the tree? Is it too large? If it has tens of thousand names the researcher probably has not worked on each name individually and carefully. If it is too small, the researcher is probably just getting started and may not have any new information for you.
2. Do they include the sources of their facts? Information without documentation is pure fiction.
3. Is the data entered carefully and consistently? Are there lots of misspellings or dates that don't make sense? Like a woman giving birth at either a very young or a very old age.
2. Study the structure of the tree. 
1. Does it follow a direct descent from your common ancestor, or is it from a lineal line? Lineal lines might have access to documents that did not get passed on in your line.
2. Again, do they list the sources of  the material? Verify the data in original sources.
3. Information on still living individuals should be marked "Private".
3. Lookout for "grafts". People sometimes insert portions of other people's trees into their own,  intending to come back later and research them more fully. You can recognize grafts by these traits:
1. They do not list any sources.
2. They reach beyond the scope of the rest of the tree. If one line is much more fully developed than the rest, it is a graft!
4. Odd growths on the tree. Often, you will find the same information posted on many people's trees, including the mistakes! When you see this, it means that people have copied someone else's tree into their own.
5. Examine the crown. Most commonly, the further back you research, the harder it becomes, and necessarily, you have fewer records. Some of the branches won't be as well filled out. If a family tree has LOTS of information going further back, AND the information leads to a famous ancestor or royalty, examine the tree carefully. Check out all connections for yourself.
6. Watch for falling branches. Other people's trees may contain small mistakes. But because the rest of the tree is well researched and well sourced, you may incorporate the mistakes into your own tree. Check ALL of the information carefully.

Read the complete article and other interesting topics in the magazine. Available at the Medina Library.