Alas, these centers will soon be no more! It is very apparent, at least in my area, they will soon close and no longer be available to genealogical researchers.

Formerly known as Family History Centers, today I guess they are re-branded as “FamilySearch Centers.”  By all appearances the LDS church still promotes them, but my experiences say otherwise.

During the last decade, the centers have always had limited hours of operation.  Usually it was two to three hours per day and only two or three days a week.  The hours listed for each center on the official LDS website were invariably wrong.  I always had to drive to the church to see the actual hours posted on the door because they changed frequently.

Now they have virtually no hours of operation.  I recently wanted to order a microfilm.  I drove by the church closest to me, but found no hours of operation for the Family History Center posted.  So I drove to another ward on a day and time when I used to visit.  They are open one day a week for three hours around lunch time, and the day I visited was not that day.

I had to wait another week to order my film.  I  came back the following week and rang the bell.  Someone let me in, but when I went to walk down the hall to the Family History Center, the hallway was pitch black.  “Oh the History Center is closed the month of August,” she said.  It would be open the next week.

The third time I decided to call first.  At the LDS website, I found instead that I could order a microfilm rental online.  So I did, without having to visit the History Center first.  A couple weeks later I received a call from a very outgoing, but astonished woman who said my film had arrived.  She sounded like that didn’t happen very often.  She graciously offered for me to view the film outside of their regular hours, which I quickly accepted because I was anxious to view the microfilm.

Once there I told her of my difficulty finding an open History Center.  A lot had changed since I was last there.  The staff I used to see is long gone.  Out of nine microfilm readers, there were only two remaining.  She said the older staff volunteers have moved on and there’s not much interest expressed by the younger church members.  The hours were reduced because few if any people use the Family History Center any more.  They are considering closing the Center altogether.

To be honest, it was three years since I was there myself.  Although I have a few microfilms on “permanent” loan, I haven’t been back to reference them.  I’ve been busy researching other family lines.  The emergence of the Internet for online genealogy has really taken off.  But I’m not ready to say goodbye to Family History Centers!  The leads I get online all have to be followed up by consulting actual records.  The cheapest and easiest way to get those records is via LDS microfilms.

FamilySearch is placing more and more records online, but that’s only a few hundred titles.  Some are only indices, without images of the actual film.  Consider the thousands of microfilms they have.  It may be several years before all of them are available online.  It’s too soon to close down their microfilm rental program!

What are we to do?  The field of genealogy may regress before it moves forward again.   The old research methods (i.e., microfilms) may be abandoned before technology evolves enough to fill the gap.  Less information may become available before more information flourishes again.  Perhaps we’ll check records the old fashioned way, by traveling to the courthouses where it resides.

It’s interesting to consider the goal of the Mormons.  They trace ancestries so they can ritually baptize all souls.  I guess there will come a time when that goal is accomplished.  For decades they have been gathering and documenting ancestral lineages.   Contemporary generations are probably close to being fully documented.  The paper trail for earlier ancestors will eventually end.  Consider how difficult it is to find evidence earlier than the seventeenth and sixteenth centuries.  Information simply wasn’t recorded then or it has not survived.

So perhaps they have different plans.  Will access to their accumulated records eventually be off limits?  Technology may take us in a completely different direction than we expect.  Our assumptions about the future of genealogy are based on the way things have been.  We may get less when we think we’re about to get more.

Albert and Mary Pohl Homestead

This is a case of genealogical serendipity.  I set out to determine the precise location of the house where my maternal great-grandparents, Albert and Mary Pohl, lived.  In this picture taken about 1909, the Pohl family posed in front of their house.¹

From something unexpected, I uncovered a trail of bread crumbs that led me to their doorstep.

My aunt Mary told me the Pohl family picture was taken in Linhart, Pennsylvania, which is a suburb of Pittsburgh and just north of Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania.  The 1930 Federal census² indicates the family lived on Harrison Road while in 1920³ and 1910⁴ they lived on #3 Hill.  Were these two different addresses?  I was told that #3 Hill is today known as Harrison Road.

Of course the genealogically correct thing to do was to search property records for the chain of ownership.  Wading through deed indices and property transfers is tedious and expensive in terms of renting microfilmed records.  So I put the project on the back burner, hoping to return to it later.

One day I searched the online news archives of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for any articles that mention the Pohl family.  I came across a relatively recent article published in July 2006.⁵  Apparently the Wilkins Township tax assessor was not paying property taxes on property owned by his late father’s estate.  It reported his father bought the property from Irene Pohl, a cousin of mine, and granddaughter to Albert and Mary Pohl.  Miss Pohl had then recently bought the property herself.  That was interesting, although not entirely useful to me.  But then the article went on to reveal something incredible.

The land previously figured in a tax matter.  In 1947, when it was owned by the estate of Mary Pohl, executor Albert Pohl [her son] sold it for $2,300 to settle the estate’s debts.

Mary’s husband Albert died in 1931.  Mary died in 1944, making it reasonable to assume her son Albert would settle her estate in 1947.  This was the very property of my great-grandparents for which I was looking.  Armed with the name of the property’s present owner, I visited the Allegheny County website to see if tax assessment records were online.  I was able to find the parcel and display a satellite image of its boundaries.⁶

Property Tax Information

Here it was, at the intersection of Harrison Road with Patterson Street.  The house itself is no longer standing.  A view from Google Maps (below, left) shows the property today.⁷  A deep ravine is a short distance from the road.  The address is about 230 or 233 Harrison Road.  Interestingly, a neighboring house two doors down (below, right) looks very much like the Pohl homestead from the 1910 photograph.  Perhaps it is an original structure from that time period.

Vacant Land, and a Neighboring House

Armed with the location, I next wanted to find an early real-estate plat map that might show the property.  At the Historic Pittsburgh website, I found three plat maps published by G. M. Hopkins & Company.  The first, in 1915, shows Harrison Road and Patterson Street, with an outline of a home indicated on the property (highlighted).⁸  The main road at the bottom is Larimer Avenue Extension.

Wilkins Township Plat Map, 1915

The property boundaries in the plat map matched the tax assessment map perfectly.  The second map, in 1903, shows the same area, except that Harrison Road was named Township Road at the time and what would be Patterson Street is unidentified.⁹

Wilkins Township Plat Map, 1903

A third map, published in 1895, shows a similar view, although no roads are identified.¹⁰  It does indicate however the house was standing on the property as early as 1895, two years after the Pohl family immigrated to America in 1892/1893.  Precisely when the Pohl family occupied the house must still be determined by tracing the deed records.

I continued to follow my trail of bread crumbs.  In the 1903 map above, “Incline No. 5″ caught my eye.  It appears bottom, center.  I read in the township history provided at the Wilkins Township website¹¹ that an elevated railroad was to be built to transport coal.  In August 1902, the Wilkins Township Board of Commissioners authorized the New York and Cleveland Gas Coal Company (NY&CGC) to build such an incline across the Millerstown to Turtle Creek Road on what was known as #3 Hill in the NY&CGC plan of lots.¹²  Linhart, Pennsylvania was formerly known as Millerstown, so that road would today be Larimer Avenue.  That township ordinance implies that #3 Hill was an area and not a specific street.

In a round-about way I found the precise location of the Pohl family homestead.  I started with an early picture of the house and family, a clue from a relative, and Federal census records.  When I later happened upon an obscure newspaper article that mentioned the present owner, it led to a tax map, and a view from Google Maps, then to three real estate plat maps.  One plat map showed an incline railroad.  A 1902 Wilkins Township ordinance confirmed the area was #3 Hill.

Harrison Road, formerly Township Road, was therefore part of #3 Hill, which was near Linhart, formerly Millerstown, in Wilkins Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.  A circuitous yet fortuitous find indeed.

1. The original is in the possession of Mike Voisin (mounted on cardboard, 5-15/16 by 6-15/16 inches).
2. NARA Microfilm, Series T626, Roll 1992, Page 155A and 155B, Wilkins Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
3. NARA Microfilm, Series T625, Roll 1530, Page 207A, Wilkins Township, Precinct 1, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
4. NARA Microfilm, Series T624, Roll 1298, Page 251A and 251B, Wilkins Township, District 1, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
5. Bill Heltzel, “Official Not Paying Taxes on Estate Land,” Article, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 27 July 2006; online archives (http://post-gazette.com : downloaded 31 May 2011). http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06208/708783-56.stm.
6. Allegheny County Pennsylvania (http://county.allegheny.pa.us/ : downloaded 6 April 2009), Office of Property Assessments, Parcel 0454-D-00084-0000-00, Harrison Road, Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania.
7. Google Maps, Street View, 196-230 Harrison Road, Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania (http://maps.google.com : downloaded September 17, 2011).
8. Digital Research Library, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Historic Pittsburgh (http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/ : downloaded 16 September 2011), Real estate plat-book of the eastern vicinity of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Philadelphia: G.M. Hopkins & Co., 1915). Plate 15. http://digital.library.pitt.edu/maps/20091022-hopkins.html.
9. Digital Research Library, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Historic Pittsburgh (http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/ : downloaded 16 September 2011), Real estate plat-book of the eastern vicinity of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Philadelphia: G.M. Hopkins & Co., 1903). Plate 16. http://digital.library.pitt.edu/maps/03vevind.html.
10. Digital Research Library, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Historic Pittsburgh (http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/ : downloaded 16 September 2011), Real estate plat-book of the eastern vicinity of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Philadelphia: G.M. Hopkins & Co., 1895). Plate 16. http://digital.library.pitt.edu/maps/20090121-hopkins.html.
11. Wilkins Township, PA, History of Wilkins Township (http://www.wilkinstownship.com/PDF/Wilkins%20Township%20History.pdf : downloaded 9 September 2011).
12. Wilkins Township Board of Commissioners, Wilkins Township, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Wilkins Township (http://www.wilkinstownship.com/ : downloaded 9 September 2011), An ordinance granting to the New York and Cleveland Gas Coal Company the right to erect an incline, Ordinance 13, Page 15, Historical Ordinances 05/04/1901 to 01/12/1923.

Brick by Brick

This is another post in a series about finding the ancestors of my paternal great-grandfather Joseph Voisin¹ (1858-1916). This is a brick wall I haven’t been able to get beyond for several years. Here I chip away a few more bricks from the wall in hopes of discovering a clue.

Perhaps you can help. If you found this post while searching the Internet, chances are there’s something here that piqued your interest. That means you might know something I don’t know. If so, please post a comment. No matter how small, most any information can provide a clue.

In this installment I’ll remove four bricks from the wall.  See also Bricks 1 through 10.

Brick 11: Voisin Family from Bentinck, Grey, Ontario

A Voisin family appears in the 1861 Canadian Census in Bentinck Township, Grey County, Ontario.  John and Elizabeth Voisin had a son named Joseph about 1856.  Although this could be our Joseph Voisin, I’ve not yet researched this family.  They apparently emigrated from England and they are Congregationalists.  Our Joseph Voisin was very likely of German descent and Catholic.

Conclusion:  Additional research is necessary to prove whether or not this family is related to us.

Brick 12: A Voisin in Waterloo County, Ontario

A man with the Voisin surname appears in the 1861 Canadian Census in Wellesley Township, Waterloo County, Ontario.  He was a carpenter, 18 years old, and listed near the Joesph and Catherine (Meyer) Voisin family in the census (see Brick 6).  No first name is given and he appears with no other family members.

If this were our Joseph Voisin, he would have been born about 1843 rather than 1858, which is generally accepted.  It is curious however. Since Joseph wrote in his journal that he was in Hawkesville in 1877 (see Brick 5), perhaps he had actually been there since 1861.

Conclusion:  Additional research is necessary to determine the identity of this Voisin.

Brick 13: Photographs of Joseph Voisin

I have a hunch Joseph Voisin may have been older than he led everyone to believe.  I might be able to draw some inferences by examining photographs of him.

Joseph was a pioneer.  He was one of the first settlers in Nottawa Township, Isabella County, Michigan as that area became available to white settlers.  (Previously it was reserved for Native Americans.)  Joseph was also a farmer. As indicated in an 1880 agricultural census, only four of his forty newly-purchased acres had been improved (cleared for farming). He also was a father to eleven children.

As a pioneer, farmer, and father with all those mouths to feed, he undoubtedly worked very, very hard. Such labor would take a toll on anyone. Therefore, to evaluate how old someone looks in a photograph of that era is difficult.

I’m reminded of a television program, “Frontier House,” in which modern families attempted to live under the same circumstances as 19th century pioneers.  In one episode a man became concerned that he was malnourished.  It turned out he was dehydrated, but his body was also adapting to the meager food supply and daily labor to which he was not accustomed.

So can I distinguish whether Joseph appears older than his stated age? Or, did the rigors of pioneer and farm life cause him to look older than he was?

Joseph Voisin through Time

The first image was taken about 1907 when Joseph was 49.  The middle image was taken about 1912 when he was 54.  The last image was probably taken a year before he died, say about 1915, when he was 57.

The question is, do these images look like someone of the stated age, that is 49, 54 and 57, respectively?  To me he looks older.

Now to be accurate, there are mitigating circumstances.  Joseph did write two recipes for bitters in his journal in the 1890s.  He most likely used these as stomach tonics and therefore he may have suffered frequent indigestion and heartburn.  Also, he died of prostate cancer, which progressively got worse. He probably suffered for at least a couple years with that.  I suspect he may have had other, undocumented ailments besides.

Conclusion:  Joseph Voisin may have been older than generally accepted.

Brick 14: The Story of Two Brothers

One account passed down through the generations is that Joseph Voisin came to America in company with a brother.  His brother settled in the northern part of Michigan’s lower peninsula.

As with many family stories, there are few details to go on, and no substantiated evidence.  I think there may be grains of truth in family lore, but tracking such stories down is difficult.  There are Voisin families in northern Michigan, around Traverse City.  So this story is plausible.

The trouble is, Joseph Voisin died in 1916, well before any of his grandchildren came of age. Therefore no one now living ever met him and stories told by his children become blurry through time.

Conclusion:  Additional research is necessary to determine any connection to the Voisin families of northern lower Michigan.

The saga continues….

1. For source citations and images of the evidence discussed here, please see the Family Group Sheet for Joseph Voisin.

Brick by Brick

I’ve reached an impasse trying to find the ancestors of my paternal great-grandfather Joseph Voisin¹ (1858-1916). It’s a brick wall I haven’t been able to get beyond for several years. If I remove one brick from the wall at a time, I may discover a clue.

Perhaps you can help. If you found this post while searching the Internet, chances are there’s something here that piqued your interest.  That means you might know something I don’t know.  If so, please post a comment.  No matter how small, most any information can provide a clue.

In this installment I’ll remove ten bricks from the wall.  See also Bricks 11 through 14.

Brick 1: Date of Birth

There is some discrepancy as to Joseph Voisin’s birth date. No civil or church birth record has yet been found. A wedding sampler shows the date as January 10, 1858. That is perhaps the most reliable evidence to date.

His age is listed as 24 in the 1880 United States Federal Census, when he was actually 22 if born in 1858. Was he actually born in 1856? The ages listed in census records are notoriously unreliable. In the 1900 census, his birth date is listed as January 1858 and his age is 42. The 1910 census shows age 51, which is close enough to 52.

His death certificate indicates he was 65 in 1916, making his birth year 1850. However, it is apparent the birth date and age at death were originally written in lighter ink and subsequently rewritten in darker ink. This document is therefore highly suspect.

Still, I have a hunch Joseph may have been less than truthful about his date of birth for some reason. He may have actually been older.

Conclusion:  Joseph Voisin was born January 10, 1858 until it can be proven otherwise.

Brick 2: Place of Birth

The key to finding Joseph’s ancestors is locating where he was born. Most all records indicate he was born in Ontario, Canada, while his parents were probably born in Germany. That what’s listed in the 1880 United States Federal Census. The 1900 census indicates Canada, and his parents were born in Canada. The 1910 census shows Canada, and the birth place of his parents was unknown.

In an 1880 declaration of intention to become a United States citizen, Joseph renounced his allegiance to the Queen of Great Britain, who of course reigned over Canada.

His death certificate states he was born in Canada, but again, little credence is given to that document.

It is possible he was born in another Provence, like Quebec, or even in the United States, perhaps across the river in Buffalo, New York. His parents could have moved shortly after Joseph was born. However, there is no evidence of that yet.

Conclusion:  Joseph Voisin was born in Ontario, Canada, but I remain open to other possibilities.

Brick 3: Parent’s Names

On Joseph’s death certificate, his father’s name is listed also as Joseph. His mother’s name is listed as “Not Known.” Due to other errors on this document, his father’s name is considered unreliable.

Conclusion:  The names of Joseph’s parents are unknown.

Brick 4: Netherby, Ontario

In a journal entry, Joseph signed his name and under it wrote, “Township of Humberstone; Netherby PO Ont 1875; 19 November.” Netherby is in Humberstone Township, in Welland County, Ontario. The area is south of Niagara Falls and west of Buffalo, New York. “PO Ont” probably means “Provence of Ontario.”

This means he was 17, and nearly 18 when he was in Netherby, Ontario.  However I can draw no conclusion that he was born or raised there.  He may have been passing through.  It is possible he had just left home and was on his own.

Conclusion:  Joseph Voisin was near Netherby, Ontario when he was about 18 years old.

Brick 5: Hawkesville, Ontario

Another entry in Joseph Voisn’s journal is, “Mister Joseph Voisin commenced to work the 4 of April 1877; H. Otterbein; Hawksville, Ont.” Hawkesville is about two miles north of St. Clements in Waterloo County, Ontario.  Another notation indicates he may have been making $12 a month.  He would have been about 19 years old.

There is evidence of a Heinrich or Henry Otterbein in Waterloo county. His wife Margaret (Steinacker) Otterbein apparently died April 17, 1877, just two weeks after Joseph started work, assuming this is the same H. Otterbein. There is no evidence to support this however.

Conclusion:  Joseph Voisin was probably working on his own as a farm hand or doing odd jobs near Hawkesville, Ontario in 1877.

Brick 6: The Voisin Family of St. Clements

Joseph Voisin was in Hawkesville very near St. Clements, Ontario in 1877 (see Brick 5). There was also a large Voisin family in the same area. This was the family of Joseph and Catherine (Meyer) Voisin. Since our Joseph Voisin was a young man, it is tempting to speculate he was related to the Voisin family of St. Clements.

Frank W. Voisin and Clifton E. Voisin from Kitchener, Ontario researched the genealogy of the St. Clements Voisin family in the 1970s and 1980s. They are convinced there is no connection between that family and our Joseph Voisin. Although Joseph and Catherine Voisin had a son named Joseph Xavier Voisin in 1854, there is clear evidence he married Anna Maria Lehnhart in 1879 and took over the family farm in 1886.

If our Joseph is not a son of Joseph and Catherine Voisin, perhaps he was a cousin or nephew to this family.

Conclusion:  Joseph Voisin’s presence in Hawkesville along with the Joseph and Catherine Voisin family is a coincidence.

Brick 7: Clements Starr

Clement or Clements Starr was born in 1852, probably in Wellesley Township, Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada near St. Clements. His parents were likely Ambrose and Anna Rosina Starr, who were early settlers of St. Clements.

According to a 1975 centennial booklet on the Beal City, Michigan area, Joseph Voisin immigrated to the United States in 1879 in company with Clements and Elizabeth (Fate) Starr and their children. This could be just family lore, but there are several circumstantial facts that support this claim.

According to his journal, Joseph Voisin was working in Hawkesville in 1877 (see Brick 5). Clements Starr was probably born and raised near Hawkesville. Clements was married (in 1875) and would have been about 25 years old while Joseph would have been about 19. Since they were both in the area, they probably met and were friends.

The 1880 United States Federal Census lists Joseph Voisin in the household of Clements and Elizabeth Starr and their children near Beal City, Michigan. After 1880 they owned two adjoining 40 acre properties and were neighbors thereafter.

Conclusion:  Joseph Voisin did immigrate to the United States in the company of Clements and Elizabeth Starr and their children.

Brick 8: Remus, Michigan

According to the 1975 centennial booklet on the Beal City, Michigan area, Joseph Voisin and the Starr family first settled in Remus, Michigan before moving to Beal City. I have not yet found any record of these families in the Remus area.

Conclusion:  Joseph Voisin may have settled first in Remus, Michigan.

Brick 9: Land Deed

A warranty deed from John W. Hance to Joseph Voisin was filed October 3, 1879. Joseph is listed as living in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan at the time. He paid $725 for 80 acres of land near Beal City, Michigan. A deed index entry shows Joseph sold 40 acres of this land to Clements Starr, probably in 1880.

Curiously, the 1880 United States Federal Census lists Joseph Voisin in the household of Clements and Elizabeth Starr, even though Joseph originally purchased the land. Since the Starr family had children, Joseph probably assisted them in building their shelter first.  They may also have made a financial arrangement to purchase the land together.  If Joseph were 21 years old, he probably didn’t have $725, although it was probably all mortgaged.

Conclusion:  Joseph Voisin immigrated to the United States between April 1877 when he was last known to be in Hawkesville, Ontario and October 1879 when the land deed was filed.

Brick 10: Declaration of Intention

On October 11, 1880, Joseph Voisin filed a Declaration of Intention to become a naturalized citizen of the United States. In this declaration, Joseph renounced his allegiance to the Queen of Great Britain. Unfortunately, no record of a later petition has yet been found.

Conclusion:  Joseph Voisin was from Canada or England.

These are ten bricks from the brick wall.  I’m still no closer in determining who Joseph’s parents were, but I may be close.

1. For source citations and images of the evidence discussed here, please see the Family Group Sheet for Joseph Voisin.

Albert and Mary Pohl, about 1909

Who would have thought the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) could answer questions about family history?  I used NOAA to help solve a mystery about the immigration of my great-grandparents, Albert G. and Maria “Mary” (Pittner) Pohl.

According to the United States census for the years 1900, 1910 and 1920, they immigrated to America in the early 1890′s. Since each census gives a slightly different year of immigration, I could only conclude that Albert Pohl arrived first, followed a year later by his wife Mary and their children.

With that assumption, I searched for Albert Pohl in the ship manifest records at Ellis Island, New York. There I found an Albert Pohl, traveling alone, aboard the steamship SS Dresden. This ship arrived at the Port of New York on August 23, 1892. His voyage started at Bremen, Germany. An ocean voyage at that time took about 12 days. The ship arrived at New York, where some passengers disembarked, and the remaining passengers continued on to Baltimore, Maryland, where the ship arrived two days later on August 25. Albert is listed twice: First at New York among the passengers bound for Baltimore, and second at Baltimore when he arrived there. Since he was bound for Baltimore, it is doubtful he was processed at Ellis Island.

This Albert Pohl is likely my great-grandfather. If his wife and children were listed in the manifest, it would have made a more certain match. However his age and native country are consistent with the census records. According to my hypothesis, I would expect that he arranged for his wife and children to arrive as he did, at the Port of Baltimore the following year.  Unfortunately there is no record of a Maria or Mary Pohl arriving at Baltimore in 1893.

I decided to check other ports of entry.  Indeed a Maria Pohl did arrive in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania almost exactly one year later.  Her three children matched those recorded in the census. Maria, age 27, and her three children Leopold, 6, Maria, 4, and my grandmother Adelheid, age 2, were aboard the SS Scandia, which departed Hamburg, Germany on August 12, 1893. Mary states she was never in the United States before, and that she had a ticket to her final destination, for which her husband had already paid. She was going to Woodville, Pennsylvania to reside with him there. Woodville is a suburb of Pittsburgh.

But why did her ship arrive at Philadelphia rather than at Baltimore, Maryland?  In support of my hypothesis, I learned the SS Scandia was indeed originally bound for Baltimore. It was diverted to Philadelphia, where it arrived on August 29, 1893. Their voyage was very likely delayed and rerouted due to four storms in the Atlantic during this time.

According to a chart for the year 1893 at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one of these storms was a hurricane that hit New York City on August 24 with 85 mph winds. In good weather the ship probably would have reached Baltimore on August 24. The ship’s manifest was prepared for Baltimore, but this was later crossed out and Philadelphia inserted.

1893 Hurricane Chart

Mystery solved!  A hurricane affected the immigration of my great-grandmother Mary Pohl and her children, including my grandmother Ida (Pohl) Stewart.  Their adventure that year was probably re-told in many stories through the years, but those have been lost to history.

So develop a hypothesis, but keep an open mind as to where you can find the answer.  If you have an immigration mystery, check historical weather records.  Visit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A would of caution:  Keep digging and be persistent in your search. There are numerous different agencies, laboratories and divisions involved here.  A search of one may not yield results, but a search at another may.

Using Names

Genealogical research presents a problem in that names of individuals are not always known with certainty. You may not yet know an ancestor’s name. If you do, you may not yet know their full name. Names can also change. You may learn the correct or preferred spelling, or you may realize the name you have is a nickname rather than an actual name. As you continue your research, you may find their actual name is completely different from what you thought.

There are multiple ways to refer to an ancestor depending upon the focus of your research. Should the photograph of grandmother and her family be filed under her name, or that of your great-grandparents?  Should her childhood photograph be filed under her maiden name, or under her name from a second husband?

Using Family and Individual Numbers

Most genealogy database programs assign a number to each family in your family tree. Individuals are also numbered separately. One could use such numbers to refer to digital evidence files. But as with names, you may find the ancestor you thought was a child of one family actually belongs to another family. There is also the problem of changing family numbers when a child gets married and starts his or her own family.

Using a Reference Number

I decided to use an arbitrary reference number to identify each piece of evidence. At first I tried to think up a complex numbering scheme that categorized each item according to a number of criteria. For example, the number:

0100-00023-000123-01-0050

was composed of several fields, where the each field held some significance. 0100 might mean the type of item, like a birth certificate. 00023 could be an individual’s number in my genealogy database. 000123 could be a sequential serial number, and so on.

Being a perfectionist, that scheme led me to procrastinate. Not only is it time-consuming to categorize a single piece of evidence according to several criteria, but the discipline required to look up the appropriate codes and properly increment each count is onerous.

The easiest solution is a simple consecutive number, like so:

000654

There’s only one thing to remember, and that’s the last number I assigned so as not to assign a duplicate number.  I add leading zeros to make a six-digit number for consistency.  That makes it easy to know the number is an identification number.  It also assumes I won’t ever have more than a million items of evidence.  A sure bet I think.

Still, the perfectionist in me wanted to sort like items so they would be assigned consecutive numbers as a set. For instance I wanted to group all birth certificates together, then number them consecutively. Of course months later were I to add a new birth certificate, it would have to be assigned a number not contiguous with the others.

As I went through all my items of evidence I had to force myself to just assign a number, without attaching any significance to the value of that number.  Yes, an older item might be numbered after a later item. Yes, just when you thought you collected and numbered a group of related items, another one would turn up to throw off any preconceived notion of numerical order.

My advice? Just assign the next-available number. The number itself serves only to identify a particular item of evidence, nothing more.  It is much easier to refer to an item by number than by any sort of classification or description.

There are of course some subtleties involved in assigning numbers. A couple subtleties include numbering identical items that exist in different formats and deriving new items from an original one. I will address these next time.

I have already begun the process of digitizing the genealogical evidence I accumulated over the years. In the forthcoming series of blog posts entitled “Digital Evidence,” I will describe the system I use to generate, manage and display my collection.

As always, comments and feedback are welcome, especially if you have a better idea!

Betty-Jane and Mike

We both were researching our Yuncker family lines. A few years ago we were able to prove we were related and since then we have corresponded frequently and shared a great deal of genealogical information. This proves that genealogy is more than just names and dates.

Andrea’s search began recently with a family chronicle written by her second great-grandfather, Franz Xaver Mauer, in 1936 when he was 83 years old. He describes in detail his ancestors, their occupations and where they lived. He was born after my third great-grandmother, Anna Catharina Mauren, his aunt, left for America. Although he never met her, he heard that she and her husband Nicolas Pohl celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary in America (in 1872).

Andrea graciously shared with me an electronic copy of her family chronicle. It is a great resource and is something I never would have found in a library or online collection. It is one of the rewards of publishing my research online.

Stammbaum Der Familie Mauer

My research over the years has been devoted to tracing my family backward starting with my great-grandparents. I’m pretty good at referencing the sources I use. But, I knew the facts about myself, my parents and my grandparents were correct. The First Families certificate required proof. That’s when I realized my careful research back to the early 1600′s was not based on a solid foundation.

I am now going back through my family tree from the present day, and citing birth and marriage records that prove my descent. I’m amazed at how much information I took for granted. Not only will this strengthen my existing historical research, but I will leave a much better legacy to future generations.

Here is a method for numbering families (not individuals) for your direct-line ancestry. First, notice that an ancestor or pedigree chart is actually a “binary tree,” meaning that each node, or family, in the tree always has exactly two ancestor nodes. Each of the two nodes can therefore be assigned a unique number. This includes even the “missing” nodes, or families that you have yet to discover.

Start with your parent’s family, of which you are a child. This is family 1. Your father’s family is family number 2 and your mother’s family is family number 3. Now move to your father’s family. His father’s family is number 4 and his mother’s family is number 5. Now move back to your mother’s family. Her father’s family is number 6 and her mother’s family is number 7. A pedigree chart would appears as follows:

Tree Nodes

The pattern that emerges is, for any given family n, the paternal parents are numbered 2n and the maternal parents are numbered 2n + 1. For node 2 for example, the paternal family is 2*2=4 and the maternal family is 2*2+1=5. This formula applies to any node. At node 144, one of your paternal sixth great-grandparents, the paternal family is number 2*144=288 and the maternal family is number 2*144+1=289. Even if you have not discovered your seventh great-grandparents, numbers are still reserved for their families.

Many genealogy software programs automatically number your families. However, the numbers assigned by the program may change as you add or remove families. This can throw off your filing system. Instead you can manually number each of your ancestral families according to the above scheme. Generally, your genealogy software program will not automatically change the numbers you enter yourself. You can then refer to a particular ancestral family and leave no doubt as to which you are referring. In your research, when you discover a child of one of your ancestors, you can include the family number in your notebook.

For consistency, you may wish to make the numbers five digits long, like 00289. If you also trace your spouse’s ancestors, you can add a separate prefix to tell them apart, like B00289 for your family and M00289 for your spouse’s family.

Unfortunately this numbering scheme does not account for your descendants, since each family can have fewer, or more, than two children. It also does not account for non-direct line ancestors, who you wish to reference by number. For these families I assign an arbitrary number greater than any possible direct-line family. These numbers are sequential, starting at 50000. The maximum number of families in a binary tree is 2^k – 1, where k is the number of generations. So 15 generations would account for 2^15–1 = 32,767 families, that is, 2 to the 15th power, minus 1.