Genealogy SLAM!

Liz Pearson, speaker and specialist
 in English and Welsh genealogy
 research.

Elizabeth (Liz) Pearson

Liz Pearson is a native of England whose foray into genealogical research started about 35 years ago when an attempt to identify her grandmother turned into her very own family history addiction. Since then, she has spent thousands of hours combing the myriad English and Welsh archives in the UK, the US, and online for herself and others. Liz is an expert on ecumenical (1538-1837) and civil law (1837-Present) and the broad spectrum of Parish Chest Records.

Liz's two hour presentation covers three main areas and record sources:

1. Ecumenical Law; Parish Chest Records: (1538 - 1837) Baptisms, Marriages by Banns or License and Burials.

2. Civil Records of Birth, Marriage and Death. (1837-Present)

3. Census Records: Pre-1841; 1841- 1911, plus 1939 pre- WW2 Registry. 

Lisa Rienerth, Reference Staff &
Genealogy Specialist at
The Medina Library

Lisa Rienerth, Medina Reference Staff

Lisa is a 10 year veteran at the Medina Library and has been conducting genealogy research for 19 years. She completed the NGS American Genealogy Home Study Course and has taken numerous genealogy research classes through the Western Reserve Historical Society.  She has also taught countless classes for the library. 

The Family Search web site has undergone many changes recently. Lisa will describe these changes and instruct us on how to make the most of the one of the best FREE genealogy sites. 

Register HERE.

Apps on Family Search

Don't you just love it when you find out something new at one of your favorite genealogy sites!?!
Yah, me too!

Recently I discovered a nifty link at the bottom of the FamilySearch home page...

See it there, circled in Red? It is an App Gallery that list a bunch of applications you can download to your computer or mobile devise that work with the FamilySearch site that lets you do all sorts of really cool stuff!

Most of the apps are free, but some cost money. They are arranged by these categories:

• New & Noteworth - where the latest additions are highlighted
• Charts - for displaying your family history 
• Games - for fun activities for yourself and your family
• Family Tree Management - to build & organize your family tree. 
• LDS Access - for members of the Church of Latter Day Saints
• Photos & Stories - places to find, preserve and share with family members
• Research Assistance - use these to get help, receive tips or take your research in a new direction.
• Search - discover more of your relatives by searching these
• Specialty - to perform special tasks or notifications
• Tree Analyzing - shows you where your family tree needs some work

The games are particularly intriguing because I think this is a wonderful gateway to getting other family members interested in and involved in their family history.

Geneopardy has a free trial. You sign in using your free FamilySearch account username and password.  Soon, you will need an account to view records, so if you don't already have an account, now is the time to sign up.

Obviously based on the popular Jeopardy game, you choose categories and earn points.

You have to agree to their terms of service. The next page asks you how many generations do you want to include and then it asks for the person ID number for the deceased person's family tree that you want to use. YES, it does require you to have built a family tree on their web site.

I entered the ID number for my Great Grandfather, William Tecumseh Sherman Johnson and tried a few of the questions. The questions require quite a bit of knowledge of the family, but I quickly racked up 1500 points.

The questions center on basic information on each person's life: when/where they were married, their lifespans, how disparate were the ages between spouses, etc. The possible answers are multiple choice. The one really off-the-wall question that came up was "Which ancestor was born during luminism.  ???? I had to look that one up!*

Choosing a relative closer to the current generations, should make the questions easier for everyone. But still I don't think anyone else in my family would get the answers.

I have had a lot of fun exploring this challenging app.

You should check out the app that most appeals to you.

* Wikipedia definition of luminism.

NEW TITLES!

The Medina Library just received three new books for the Franklin Sylvester Room:

Out of the Past Into the Future Brunswick United Methodist Church, Celebrating 200 Years of Service to God and Community 1817-2017 by Mamie Grunau, Church Historian. It is a 170 page look at the people, pastors and buildings of the congregation. It will be a welcome addition to the sources on Brunswick history. (Not indexed.)

The next item is: Medina Profile: The Tebbit's Ice Cream Company and the Tebbit Family by the Medina County Historical Society. It is 8 pages of exactly what the title says. Much of the information will be familiar to many Medina Natives.

The last item is From an Old Album, Index and again was published by the Medina County Historical Society. While it is just an index, I am particularly interested in this work. From 1937 to 1941, the  Medina Gazette  newspaper had a feature called "From an Old Album" that printed photos from Medina jeweler and photographer, George F. High. During the run of the feature, 198 photos were printed. Anyone interested in the people and places of Medina County during this period, now you have a way of possibly finding a photo!

While the covers may not be impressive, the info. inside
is priceless!

Mortality Schedules

What are mortality schedules?

Mortality schedules list people who died during the previous 12 months. Mortality schedules were taken along with population schedules during the 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 censuses, and in six states (Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, and South Dakota) in 1885. (Family Search Wiki)

And for people researching their ancestors, mortality schedules can be an alternative to official death records which didn't exist for much of the 1800's in many parts of the U.S. Generally, New England states started registering births and deaths much earlier, as early as 1780. Southern and Western states didn't require state registration until much later. Some as late as the early 20th century. Ohio didn't require deaths to be registered until 1867.

Listings for Ohio are not comprehensive:

• 1850 - Only the counties Hamilton through Wayne Counties
• 1860 - All of the Ohio counties
• 1870 - NO Ohio Counties
• 1880 - Adams through Geauga Counties
• 1885 - NO Ohio Counties

What information can be found in the mortality schedules?

It varies depending on which schedule you are searching. 

It is always important to remember why the records were originally created. In the case of death records or the mortality schedules they were created to obtain a picture of the spread of epidemics and the overall health of the communities. The information collected reflects this focus.

1850 Schedule asked this information:

• Name
• Age
• Sex
• Color
• Free or Slave
• Married or Widowed
• Place of birth
• Month in which died
• Profession, Occupation or Trade
• Disease or cause of death
• Number of days ill

1850 Mortality Schedule for Spencer Township, Medina County, Ohio. As with all written records, interpreting the handwriting can be difficult. Does that look like Urrin Frimier to you? Only 2 years old, he died of dysentery,
a disease caused by unsanitary bathroom habits.

1880 Schedule:

• Name
• Age at last birthday 
• Sex
• Color
• Marital status: Single, Married, Widowed, Divorced
• Birthplace of this person
• Father's birthplace
• Mother's birthplace
• Profession, Occupation or Trade
• Disease or cause of death
• How long a resident of this county?
• Where contracted the disease if not at this place
• Name of attending physician

1880 Mortality Schedule for Guyan Township, Gallia County, Ohio. John WILLIAMS (second line down) is my 3X great grandfather and he died at the age of 84. He was the oldest person listed on this page. The average age was 14 years old.

Mortality schedules are available on Ancestry and Ancestry Library Edition, available at the library. From the Ancestry home page, go under the Census Search and then use U.S Federal Census. Under "Included Data Collections" the mortality schedule is near the bottom of that list.

Family Search has the 1850 mortality schedules HERE. And the 1872 Canadian mortality schedules is also at Family Search HERE. 

Check out Dick Eastman's blog on Mortality Schedules HERE.

SOURCES:
Family Search Wiki
Family History Daily
Wiki Commons