Holidays and Genealogy

 

The holidays are upon us. We could discuss family traditions, family history gifts or traditional holiday recipes. Here are some ideas:

1.     Gather questions for the Thanksgiving dinner table: Who was the oldest relative you met? What’s a favorite Thanksgiving memory you have?

2.     Write a Christmas/holiday letter and include a family history story or game. Does your family like word searches or crossword puzzles? Is there a great story to tell?

3.     Gather all the information for a family recognitions certificate. Nebraska has three to choose from, and yes, other states have them, too, but we won’t talk about that.

4.     Gather some favorite family recipes. Make a book, put them all on a blog, or have a party and make all the food. Make sure to include photos in the book or blog.

5.     Collect family photos and share them. Scan them and give to family on CD or thumb drive. Put them on a Facebook group or in a blog. Make them into a book or scrapbook. Create Christmas ornaments from the photos. Make a wreath from the photos.

6.     Watch a genealogy show together. My “top 5” include: Relative Race (byutv.org), Finding Your Roots, Roots Less Traveled (Formerly called A New Leaf), Who Do You Think You Are? (new season in UK, check YouTube) and The Genetic Detective.

7.     Discover a new-to-you website. Some options below:

NEW (OR LESSER KNOWN) GENEALOGY WEBSITES

A.     www.trackuback.com This is based out of Sweden but anyone can join. They have a free level and a paid level. You get 5 things with the free level: family tree, geography window, timeline, tools for editing, and managing your images. You get 10 additional things for the paid level. Subscription rate looks to be $90 a year.

B.     www.davidrumsey.com A historical map collection with over 90,000 maps.

C.     www.genteam.org Indexed records of the German-speaking area, with over 18 million entries. Some of the website is in German, so you may want to translate.

100th Anniversary of Women's Right to Vote

 Okay so this is about a year late, as August 2020 was the anniversary. But I wrote this to be published in a printed publication, and now it has been, so I feel like I can put it online on my blog. 

The 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this August 2020.

Women in Nebraska actually could vote in school district elections starting in 1869, then lost that 6 years later, and regained it 6 years after that IF they lived in the district and owned taxable property or had school-age children.

 

The Nebraska suffrage campaign started in Omaha on November 15, 1867 with the assistance of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Miss Susan B. Anthony and George Francis Train. Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton later came to Hebron, Nebraska in April 1879 and organized the first Woman’s Suffrage Association in Nebraska. The Thayer Association grew from fifteen to seventy-five members and eventually included many leading businessmen.

In January 1881, the suffragists formed a state association with Harriet S. Brooks as the first president.

Clara Bewick Colby was prominent in women’s suffrage while living in Beatrice, and also interestingly enough, was instrumental in forming the city’s first public library, which is where the NSGS’ collection is currently held.

She was born in England in 1846. She immigrated to the United States in 1865 with her grandparents, settling first in Wisconsin. She met Leonard Colby while a teacher in Wisconsin, and married him in 1872. They came to Beatrice, Nebraska shortly after. They adopted three children. She and her husband divorced in 1906 after a period of separation.

Clara helped form the state association in 1881, and wrote and produced the women’s suffragists newspaper from her home in Beatrice starting in 1883. She produced this newspaper for 25 years, but later did move production to Washington, DC. It was the first daily newspaper written and produced by a woman. She served as president of the state suffragist association from 1885 to 1889. She spoke regularly at conventions from 1886 to 1914. Susan B. Anthony called her “a suffragist lieutenant, one of the women who was not themselves a national officer, but influenced movement leaders and members.” She also said no one wrote, edited or spoke better than Clara.

She died at the home of her sister in Palo Alto, California in 1916, so unfortunately did not get to see the result of all her hard work.

 

The other woman instrumental in women’s suffrage in Nebraska was Rheta Childe Dorr. She was born in Omaha, Nebraska on 2 November 1866. Her father was a druggist (pharmacist).

One night at the age of 12 years old, she and her sister snuck out to hear Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony speak on women’s suffrage. She seemed to become committed to the cause even at this early age.

She studied for 2 years at the University of Nebraska before moving to New York City in 1890 where she worked as a journalist. She met John Dorr, a conservative businessman from Seattle. They were married in 1892 and moved to Seattle.

Rheta continued to work as a journalist even as a married woman. This caused some friction in their relationship, and they separated in 1898. She returned East then with a 2-year old son to raise and support as a single mother.

In 1902 she worked at the New York Evening Post where she wrote articles on women’s issues. She made special investigations to women’s workplaces to study and report on the labor conditions they endured. She notes that she was fortunate to work for the most distinguished newspaper in New York, but her wages were still half that of her male colleagues.

She left the Evening Post in 1906 and traveled in Europe for a while. There she became more interested in the international right for women’s suffrage. She returned to America and wrote investigative features on the grim situation working women faced.

In 1914 Dorr became the first editor of The Suffragist, the official paper for the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage.

 

Doris Stevens is also a Nebraska-born suffragist who achieved national prominence.

Another woman to lead women’s suffrage was Edna Barkley who left her unpaid position at the University of Lincoln as Dean of Women in 1909 to lead the suffrage movement.

 

Not all women were in favor of women’s suffrage. Many women thought that women should stay in the home, raising children and doing domestic duties. Some women also did not want to serve on a jury, and men thought that too violent crimes should not be heard by women on a jury.

 

Women received partial suffrage in 1917, being able to vote for presidential electors, city and village offices, county offices (but not county judges) and other offices not created by the state constitution.

Even when women could vote, sometimes they were not able due to several reasons: poll tax, literacy and fear or feelings of duplicating their husband’s vote or cancelling it out.

Nebraska was the fourteenth state to ratify the 19th Amendment on 2 August 1919 with a unanimous vote from the Nebraska Senate and the same by the House two days later. Governor McKelvie (boy governor) signed the bill in chambers while being filmed. He was called the “boy governor” as he was elected at 38 years old.

 

History Nebraska has had an exhibit called “Votes for Women” celebrating women’s suffrage in Nebraska. The museum in Lincoln is open again, and it’s worth a visit.

Some books on women’s suffrage in Nebraska are available:

“Votes for Women: The 19^th Amendment in Nebraska” by David Bristow (on Amazon or from History Nebraska gift shops)

“A Dangerous Class: a History of Suffrage in Nebraska and the League of Women Voters in Nebraska” by Betty Stevens

“What Eight Million Women Want” by Rheta Childe Dorr

“Clara Colby: The International Suffragist” by John Holliday

 

YouTube videos:

The Legacy of Nebraska’s Suffrage Movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5mJE04IMo4

 

Brown Bag: Nebraska’s Suffragist Journalists Clara Bestwick Colby and Rheta Childe Dorr by Dr. Eileen Worth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxt5dqAsvZo

 

Review of 2020

 2020 was a year to remember, wasn't it. Conferences went virtual; some people had more time at home to research. We are hoping 2021 is better and we can socialize in person more.

PERSONALLY

1. I did a bit more research on my expanded family, so not my direct lines, but cousins. 

2. This is my 6th blog, so I still should blog more. (Yes, I say this every year. I must put it in my calendar). To be fair I did do one blog on the NSGS site, so that would be 7. Still not the 12 I am aiming for. 

That's about it. I haven't done as much of my own genealogy this year. 

PROFESSIONALLY

1. Attended FGS and NGS online. Planned to attend FGS in person, and quite disappointed I could not meet some of my genealogy peeps in person. Watched some good webinars. 

2. Gave several presentations, most of them on Zoom. I gave two for FGS, and got paid. I presented five voluntarily (without pay). One presentation was in person; the rest were online. 

3. I digitized A LOT for FamilySearch. I learned A LOT about digtizing and about the records I am doing. 

4. Client work: I worked on finding a grandfather for a client using DNA, and helped another client climb further back in his tree. This is truly all I had time for. 

VOLUNTARILY

1. Cemetery photos: I took photos and transcribed for BillionGraves; I took photos and added them and memorials to Findagrave. I also put my current stats here so I can refer to them each year. Currently at 17,550 images uploaded to BillionGraves with 16,977 transcriptions; and 11,186 memorials added to Findagrave with 27,683 photos added. That's an increase of about 7135 photos to BG and 3620 photos to Findagrave. It's a good social distancing activity, so a good year for walking cemeteries. 

2. NSGS: I am president, conference coordinator and more for our state genealogical society. I wrote some articles for our publication, lead meetings, updated the website and did a lot for our conference which was postponed. 

3. GenWeb: I updated the Polk County GenWeb site and added a few things. It helps that I am getting data from the courthouse. 

4. I also serve on the cemetery board and now also the library board, which is genealogy related. 

There could be more but that's what I come up with. 

Hoping and planning for a productive 2021! 

Notorious Court Case

 I have moved on to digitizing court cases now. I started these around Thanksgiving. So far I have found some divorces, illegal sales of alcohol, a few forgeries, many foreclosures on mortgage, some bastardy cases, a couple rape cases and others. And then there is this one: the notorious case of murder and then a hanging. The only hanging done in Polk County, Nebraska. 

But before we get to that:

On July 14, 1884 Ruth M. Smith filed for divorce against Milton W. Smith. Now I don't know if the divorce went through; I didn't look at that case very closely. (It's case number 256 in the court records.) However it seems to have not gone through; maybe she dropped the case. Or at least they continued to live together, possibly for financial records. This is all speculation. 

Because then on November 27, 1884 Milton W. Smith shot his wife and attempted to shoot his children. On November 28, Ruth's body was found. Apparently after the deed was done, men heard him because they were searching for Smith. They found him hiding in some corn stalks. On the way to jail, there were shouts of "hang him! String him up!" A mob of 30 men wanted to hang him, but discovered he cut his throat with a knife. They figured he was near death, so they left. 

However he did not die (yet). An inquest was held on November 29 before the coroner. A jury was selected. After the inquest, Mrs. Smith was laid to rest. 

M. A. Mills was asked to defend Mr. Smith. Mr. Mills' friends advised not to take the case, but because he needed a lawyer and Mr. Smith had done odd jobs for him, he took the case. The trial began March 19, 1885 and lasted 4 days. On March 23 the jury pronounced him guilty of murder in the first degree and he was sentenced to hang on July 24. Mr. Smith made an appeal but was refused. He took his sentence coolly, as if to not care whether he lived or died. 

On Friday July 24, 1885 at the age of 58 Milton Smith was hung just south of the jail. His death was almost instantaneous. His body was cut down after 12 minutes and he was laid to rest in Potters Field. 

There is record of his burial in the Osceola Cemetery records, but no marker is found. This is not surprising given the circumstances. I made a Findagrave memorial for him, and stated a short version of this. Some of these details are rather graphic. The court case has quite a number of pages, including the above one, and a 4-page summary someone wrote up. There is also a brief synposis in the book "The Early Days of Polk County" which is digitized on the newspaper website (Advantage Preservation). 

This case (#276) along with other court records are digitized or in the process of and can be found on FamilySearch.org in the near future. 

Found in the Probates

 I am truly amazed by what I find in the probates as I am digitizing them. Now often I digitize rather like a robot, not looking at what I am doing. But occasionally something catches my eye. This is one of those. 

Third line: "Ernest Gottschall on or about the 9th day of September 1935 from wounds inflicted upon him by one Ivan J. Kinsman." What??!! This probate practically gives a cause of death. So is this murder, accidental, or self-defense?? There is more to this story. So we should check the newspapers and/or the court records. 

From the Polk County Democrat, 19 September 1935

E. E. Gottschall passed away Monday morning en route to a Columbus hospital. His death was a result of complications from an injury 2 weeks ago. 

From the Polk County Democrat, 10 October 1935

"Widow files suit for $10,000" 

As a sequel to death of E. E. Gottschall, whose death on September 9 followed injuries allegedly sustained in an altercation with Ivan J. Kinsman, his landlord, on August 24 in Columbus. Mrs. Gottschall filed a civil suit in district court against Mr. Kinsman for $10,235 ($10,000 for the death of her husband and $235 for doctor bills and funeral expenses). In today's money that would be over $187,000! 

Can't really find much more on this case at this time. Perhaps when I digitize the court records more information will be found. 

Stay tuned for Part 2! 

Wordless (mostly) Wednesday: Charles Morrill will

Charles Morrill will
(If you don't know who he is, (a) you must not be from Nebraska and (b) Google him.

I have a hard time being "wordless" so maybe we should change Wednesdays to Will Wednesday. LOL

Ida M. Hanson

A friend told me of the gruesome death of a local lady, Miss Ida M. Hanson.

Ida was born August 4, 1877 to Peter and Brita Hanson in Galva, Henry County, Illinois. She came to Osceola, Polk County, Nebraska with her parents when she was an infant. She completed school, then attended Bryant College, also Peru Normal and Fremont Normal. She taught school for several years. She held the position of bookkeeper in several stores, and later owned and operated millinery establishments in Osceola and Stromsburg
Ida was a successful milliner (hat seller) in Columbus working as head of the department for the last 2-3 years. She possessed a considerable amount of money and securities.

Miss Hanson went missing on May 7, 1933 after leaving Columbus to meet a friend in Chicago. The last communications received from Ida were from Evanston, Illinois and dated July 1933. She kept an appointment May 7 in Omaha with a man she planned to marry. Miss Hanson introduced the man to a friend, C. W. Neal of Chicago. Mr. Neal had an appointment with Miss Hanson in Omaha on May 7 for a business arrangements involving selling her bonds. He purchased her bonds for $10,000 on May 24 in Chicago. At that time she and her husband were planning to travel to South America. On the way for Neal to get the securities deposited, he was robbed. Two days later he saw Miss Hanson with the guy she married, but was unable to catch her to speak to her.
No marriage license was ever found for Miss Hanson in Cook County, Illinois.

Miss Hanson's body was discovered by miners on June 4, 1933 near Florissant, Colorado. She was in a shallow grave, and her foot was sticking out. Her body was mutilated and partially burned. Her body was covered with leaves and gasoline was poured on them in attempt to burn the remains. The left side of her skull was crushed. Sheriff Ed Vinyard of Cripple Creek, Colorado was nearly certain it was her, but waiting on confirmation from the family. Half a paisley shawl, a homespun rug, a shoe, dental work and scars were used to confirm her identity. Her sister and her split the shawl in half after their mother passed away. The shoe was a size 7AAA, an unusual size and the size Miss Hanson wore.
In a September 1934 newspaper it is reported that Sheriff Vinyard knew who the killer was, what his occupation was and where to pick him up. Charles W. Neal, a former convict, went on trial for the murder of Miss Hanson in March 1935. After 41 hours of deliberation, the jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to life in Colorado state penitentiary.

While living in Osceola she was a member of the Methodist Church, Order of Eastern Star, Woman's Club and Business and Professional Woman's Club, which she had served as president.
She leaves a brother and six sisters to mourn her death. She was preceded by her parents and one sister (Mrs. W. O. Johnson). The funeral was held at the Methodist Church with burial in the Stromsburg Cemetery.

Link to my Findagrave memorial with her gravestone photo (taken by myself): https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/31078354/ida-m_-hanson

Former Nebraska Governor Albinus Nance

This is not a relative, but I periodically write articles for the NSGS publication Ancestree, so thought I would put it on my blog too.

Albinus Nance was born in Stark County, Illinois on March 30, 1848. His parents were Dr. Hiram Nance and Sarah Smith. His father was an eminent physician and surgeon, a descendant of French Huegenots who settled in North Carolina. His mother was of English heritage. He was educated in Kewanee, Illinois until age 16. At age of 16 he enlisted in the 9^th Illinois Cavalry to fight in the Civil War. He fought in several battles and was wounded in the Battle of Nashville. After the Civil War he entered Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. In 1870 he was admitted to the bar in the supreme court in Illinois.

He moved to Nebraska in 1871 to homestead and practice law. He settled in Polk county being granted a homestead in 1875. Most of his time he spent practicing law in Osceola and working his real estate business. In 1873 his friends submitted his name to the Republican convention of the thirteenth district of the state legislature. He won at the election by about 2000. While in Polk county, he met notable residents who became his friends: Charles H. Morrill and John H. Mickey. They were members of an Osceola banking firm and started the Stromsburg Bank in 1881.

In 1875 Albinus Nance married Sarah White, daughter of Egbert and Mary White of Farragut, Iowa. To this union, one daughter was born, Helen. Helen later married Walter L. Anderson. Walter and Helen did not have any children, so Albinus Nance doesn’t have any living descendants at this time.

He served in the Nebraska House of Representatives from 1875 to 1878, serving as the speaker in 1877-1878. He also served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1876. In 1878 while he was serving as speaker, he was elected as governor of Nebraska. He was only 30 years old at the time, so he was nicknamed the “boy governor”. He and his administration were popular with the people. He won re-election in 1880 with “wild enthusiasm”. He is known for calling in the Nebraska state militia to subdue the strikers in the Camp Dump Strike; one striker was killed by the militia.

After serving as governor, he left Lincoln shortly after serving and made his home in Chicago. There he was engaged in handling railroad stocks and bonds.

Albinus Nance passed away at the Augustana hospital in Chicago on December 7, 1911 after having pneumonia. Funeral services were held at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Walter Anderson, in Chicago. The body was laid to rest in the family plot in Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln, Nebraska. Offices at the state house were closed for an hour for the funeral time as many of the state officers and prominent citizens attended his service. Governor Nance was a member of the Knights Templar and the Masons. Pallbearers included his friends Charles H. Morrill, A. S. Tibbets, C. O. Whedon, A. S. Raymond, A. W. Field, J. H. McClay, R. E. Moore, and Oliver E. Mickey (son of former governor John H. Mickey). Many other notable men served as honorary pallbearers including doctors, governors, a judge and a captain.

Nance County, Nebraska is named for former governor Albinus Nance and is located just northwest of Polk county where the governor resided for years.

For more about him and photos, go to his Findagrave page: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12839/albinus-nance

Genealogy Review of 2019

Less than a week left of 2019, so it's a good time to see how the year went.

Peronally: 

1. Worked on some collateral lines, finding more distant cousins. 

2. Got an additional DNA test done. So with 23 And Me done, my DNA is now on the 4 main DNA sites. 

3. I didn't blog much this year, only about 5 times. So I need to try to do better. I get busy and forget. 

Voluntarily:

1. I am an avid cemetery photographer. This year my total photos on Billion Graves is 10,835 and total transcriptions of 9933. This is an increase for the year of 8499 photos and 7709 transcriptions. For Findagrave my totals are now 10,842 memorials added and 24,061 photos added. This is an increase for the year of 861 memorials and 2986 photos. 

2. NSGS: I finished my first complete year as president, and also coordinated a conference in Grand Island with Blaine Bettinger, expert on DNA. It was well attended and everyone enjoyed Blaine as a presenter. 

3. GenWeb: I continue to maintain a county site. Didn't update it much this year.

Professionally: 

1. I gave several presentations this year: Beginning DNA twice (in Columbus and David City), Cemeteries three times (twice in Arapahoe, once in Lincoln), and Homesteading at NSGS. I also recently got selected to speak in FGS 2020 in Kansas City next September. I am excited to give three presentations at my first national genealogy conference. 

2. I helped several clients this year. 

3. I started digitizing for FamilySearch. This has been quite the learning experience. I know computers well, but have learned a lot more about cameras. Also learned more specifically what FamilySearch wants. 

4. I attended APG (Association of Professional Genealogists) meetings when I could, most of them online.

I think that's about it. What did you accomplish in 2019? Do you set goals for 2020? Leave me a link below. 

Amazing Local Man: James Calmar Wilson

I wrote up this article for our local newspaper and the state genealogical publication, so I figured I could put it on my blog.
Note I am NOT related to this man; neither is anyone in my family. I do live in the county where he is from.

James Calmar Wilson is the only son born to John Wesley and Margaret Olive (McCune) Wilson. He was born in Stromsburg, Polk County, Nebraska on October 8, 1900. His mother gave music lessons out of her home, and one student arrived that day and was told that she gave birth that morning so the student’s lesson would be postponed. His mother passed away when he was just 15 years old, and his father when he was 18, so he spent quite a bit of time with his maternal grandparents, Calmar and Julia McCune.

He was educated at home for the first year, and then entered Stromsburg schools in second grade. He graduated from Stromsburg High School with the Class of 1917. He then entered the state university and received his Bachelor’s of Science from that institution. Since graduation, he tried his hand at several occupations including farming, professional musician, college professor, explorer, writer and lecturer. He was an instructor for a time in the English department at the Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

The local paper records the departure of Jim and his friend Francis Flood in August 1927 for their trip around the world, calling them journalists. Francis was the associate editor of the Nebraska Farmer, while Jim is called a farmer, saxophone player and journalist. For this trip they needed passports and also had letters from the army, navy, White House and governor. They carried one suitcase between them, Wilson’s banjo, and a camera. They wrote articles for magazines, and took pictures and motion film for a couple companies. In 1928 with Francis, they became the first white men to cross central Africa from coast to coast. He and Francis made this 1200-mile trip by motorcycle, crossing roads never traveled by wheels. At one point, he was so thankful for a drink he played his banjo in gratefulness. Another day he played his banjo at the Emir’s palace and was offered three of his four wives, which he declined. He has made other travels and explorations to India, Burma, Siam, China, Japan, Canada, Alaska and Mexico. His love of travel and adventure seemed to come from his mother, herself quite a traveler in almost all the countries of Europe.

He married Alice Winona Olmstead on December 24, 1928 in Lincoln, Nebraska. To this union, two sons were born: David James and Steven Calmar.

As of the fall of 1933, he is a lecturer and writer and has been unusually successful. His articles have appeared in many leading magazines, and has lectured before Field Museum, Harvard Club of Boston, The Executives’ Club of Chicago, Colgate University and hundreds of other leading organizations throughout the east. At this time he made his home in northern Indiana on the shores of Lake Michigan.

In 1936 Jim Wilson wrote a book “Three Wheeling Through Africa” which describes their trip in 1927-1928 with the motorcycles, at times having to carry them with the aid of camels. He cites the friendliness and helpfulness of the African peoples. This book was briefly on the New York Times bestseller list. The book was originally published by Robbs Merrill of Indianapolis and sold for $3.50.

Image of book from Amazon.com 

I found a copy of this book for a somewhat reasonable price and ordered it. I am browsing through it and will donate it to our local public library. In this book Jim calls himself “a misfit, drifting from engineering to peddling books to vandeville to blondes to music to brunettes to punching cows to Alaska to raising wheat, and now to Africa”. (chapter 3, page 41). 

In 1938-1939 he made another worldwide trip, this time writing for World Letters. After World War II, he taught again, this time at Colorado A & M in Fort Collins.

In 1954, he and Alice moved to a farm near Polk where he finally settled until his passing. There he pioneered the use of native tall-grass prairie grass for pasture, erosion control and prairie restoration. He co-authored a book with his wife Alice and his son Steve entitled “Grass Land” on ecological aesthetic and economical values of our Middle Western conservation society of America. This book is hard to find to purchase, but is available at Nebraska college and university libraries. This book was self-published by “Wide Skies Books” in Polk, Nebraska by the Wilson family. Their son Steve took all the photos in the book and has won international claim as a professional photographer.

He also had an article published in the August 1943 issue of Harper’s Magazine entitled “Don’t Waste the Game Crop!” co-authored with his wife Alice. Actually his wife was quite the writer; she wrote for “The Nebraska Farmer”, “Saturday Evening Post”, and “Family Circle”.

He also wrote many songs and was an accomplished musician, no doubt another talent passed on and encouraged by his talented mother, who herself was an accomplished musician having studied at the New York Conservatory of Music.

James Calmar Wilson has a valley named for him called “Jim Wilson Canyon” in Fall River County, South Dakota. It is in the Buffalo Gap National Grassland near Pine Ridge Reservation. 

He passed away January 31, 1995 and is buried in the Stromsburg Cemetery. 

Below is my photo of his gravestone: 

August: Husband's relative, Floyd Buchanan

As an avid cemetery photographer, I am often trying to "complete" a cemetery by photographing the entire cemetery and put the photos on Findagrave and Billion Graves. Well little did I know that this part of my hobby would lead me to finding one of my husband's relatives less than 20 miles away from us!

My husband is a Nebraska transplant. He was born in Iowa, but never lived there as they just drove across the river to the hospital. He grew up some in Illinois, where many of his ancestors were from. Most of his life he spent in northwest Indiana. So I NEVER thought I would find one of his relatives in Nebraska, let alone less than 20 miles away!

So I ended up finding three of his first cousins two times removed. Floyd Buchanan, and two of his sisters Iva (Buchanan) Towslee and Maud (Buchanan) Roth. They are three of five children of Mary Regina Foresman and Robert A. Buchanan. Mary Regina Foresman is the daughter of John Piatt Foresman and Anna Filbert (my husband's great-great-grandparents).

Floyd, Iva and Maud were all born in McDonough County, Illinois. Iva is the oldest born in 1867, Maud in 1870, and Floyd in 1876. Also born to this couple were Carrie in 1873 and Grace in 1878. Their early life was spent in McDonough County, Illinois. At the age of 20, Floyd came to Merrick County, Nebraska. Sister Iva came in about 1885 to Merrick County, Nebraska to be with a step-sister (Mrs. Emma Sutton). Maud frequently visited her relatives in Silver Creek, Nebraska and it was there she met her beau, Alvin Roth.

Floyd married Mattie Floss Yeoman and was active in the community. He served as Postmaster from 1930-1935, also on city council, and in IOOF, Masonic Lodge and Rebekah Lodge. Floyd was the father of three daughters. All three siblings were members of the Episcopal church and served as active members. Maud had one daughter, and she (Maud) met her death the earliest at the age of 57. Iva married Edgar Towslee and to my knowledge, did not have any children.

Iva died at age 71 and Floyd at age 78. All three are buried in the Silver Creek cemetery with their spouses. One of Floyd's daughters who passed away young, is also buried there.
My cemetery photos are below. 
I got this information from the cemetery, from census records online and from the newspapers which are now online.

January: Anna (Jorgensen) Dorman

Since my genealogy meeting got postponed, it's a good time to do a blog post. This one is not an ancestor, but is a relative. My paternal grandfather's sister, my great aunt, Anna (Jorgensen) Dorman.

Anna Marie Jorgensen was born June 23, 1905 at Minden (Kearney county), Nebraska to Jorgen Christian "Chris" and Inger Katrina "Katie" Jorgensen. She was the youngest of three siblings, and also the only one I met as she lived the longest of the three.

In 1907, the family moved to Sidney, Cheyenne county, Nebraska. Her father was farming. They remained there for a long time. The family is still in Cheyenne county, Nebraska in the 1920 census. A short time after that census, her older sister passed away. Martha Irene Jorgensen died March 9, 1920 at the age of 17 from influenza at their home in Cheyenne county. It must be hard to lose a sister when you are 14 years old.

Anna absorbed all the "book learning" she could in school. Anna kept herself busy working and writing the local gossip column. In the 1920s and1930s, from 1932 to 1940, she wrote the social news under the heading "Grand Prairie" for The Telegraph newspaper. She was paid 50 cents a week, and was supplied with paper, pencils, pens, envelopes and 3-cent stamps.

Anna got married a little later in life. At the age of 35, she married Clarence A. Dorman in Sidney, Cheyenne County, Nebraska. To this union three sons and one daughter were born. To my knowledge, two of the sons are deceased, David and Robert. One son and one daughter are still living.

They bought a farm northwest of Sidney, and not long after, oil was discovered on their property. They raised cattle and used the profits from the oil wells for a few additional conveniences.

On December 16, 1971 she lost her husband as he passed away at the hospital in Sidney, Nebraska.

Anna Dorman celebrated her 90th birthday in June 1995 at the Mountain Vista Health Center in Wheat Ridge, Colorado with many cards from her friends from Sidney. Shortly after, on August 11, 1995 she passed away in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

I should have a few photos of Anna somewhere. For records on her, I used the census, newspapers online, gravestone photos and family notes. If/When I find more family photos, I will add them. For now this will have to do. Rest in peace Great-Aunt Anna (or should it be Grand-Aunt). Another post to debate that.

Genealogy Review of 2018

About one more week left in 2018 when I started this. I do these mostly for me, I admit. I like to keep track of the year, genealogy wise. So here is what I accomplished in 2018 and a little of what I'm looking forward to in 2019.

PERSONAL:
1. Laptop died in November, but luckily much of my genealogy is online so I lost some but not as much. If Ancestry is good for something, it's good for storing your tree online and knowing you can get your gedcom there. This reminded me of the need for backups, online or on separate drive.
2. Several Nebraska newspapers have gone online on Advantage Preservation, so I have spent a little time looking up myself and my paternal side.



VOLUNTEER:
1. Findagrave & BillionGraves: 9981 memorials and 21,075 photos; 2336 images and 2224 transcriptions. I basically just started contributing to BG this year, since June. Findagrave I have been on for 16 years, which is still over 1000 photos per year. This last year I added about 980 memorials and just over 4200 photos. I try to take photos in many states. This summer we are taking a vacation to a "new" state so hopefully I get a few moments to take a few photos in a cemetery.
2. NSGS: Organized a good conference with Judy Russell which was well attended and we made some money. Then I became president in the summer.
3. GenWeb: Well with the Rootsweb server problem, I moved my site. Right now it is actually on both sites/servers. This reminded me of the need for backups.
4. I also have done some indexing of marriages, which has been online on GenWeb and in print as part of NSGS quarterly publication.



PROFESSIONAL:
1. I helped a small number of clients (about 5) getting documents or researching.
2. I had my first out of state speaking engagement. Thanks to the Swedish Genealogical Society of Colorado for having me. I was supposed to speak at Homestead National Monument and got cancelled TWICE due to weather.
3. I attended around half of my APG meetings (mostly online) and a few Twitter genchats.

Next year I look forward to speaking 2-3 times all within the state. Also I look forward to learning more about DNA from Blaine Bettinger since he is coming to Nebraska for NSGS. Otherwise I am not sure what else 2019 will hold. Happy New Year! May all of you make progress on your genealogy goals.

Homesteaders and Land Owners

I'm long overdue for a blog post.
In April, yes two months ago, I spoke in Colorado to the Swedish Genealogy Society of Colorado about homesteaders. In doing so, I showed them one of my homesteaders and the many (over 20) pages of documents online in his homesteading file. They were surprised that you can find naturalization information in a homesteading record. That is because they had to prove their citizenship.

Well since then, I thought I should look up ALL my possible ancestors who might have homesteaded or otherwise owned land.
Some sources for homesteading and land records include the following:
1. glorecords.blm.gov (This stands for the General Land Office records at the Bureau of Land Management)
2. Fold3.com (subscription)
3. Ancestry.com (subscription)
4. NARA
5. FamilySearch.org and Family History centers
6. Homestead National Monument in Beatrice, NE
7. University of Nebraska at Lincoln libraries (8 of them on two campuses)

Okay so I started looking up my ancestors.
On my mom's side I tried the Seggermans: The only Seggerman who homesteaded is not MY ancestor but a cousin of some sort: Henry Seggerman who homesteaded in Montana in 1919.

On my dad's side I have the following:
1. Lars Jorgensen in Kearney County, Nebraska: He was my example for my presentation, a pioneer settling in 1885 and then getting more land in 1890. He is the one I found over 20 pages on Ancestry of his homestead record.
2. Jesse Fields in Madison County, Nebraska: His record is from 1879-1884. As a Civil War veteran, he paid less than $20 for his 160 acres of land.
3. Charles William Hanks in Madison County, Nebraska: He is the son-in-law to Jesse Fields. His record is from 1886. He paid less than $10 but only had 40 acres.
4. Emeline Mary Nelson in 1891 in Frontier County, Nebraska for 160 acres. I'm nearly certain this has to be my ancestor. She was a single mother who came over from Denmark, so she had to do something to support them.

So now my mom's side:
1. Felix Regnier in Baca County, Colorado in 1906. Along with Felix, several of his 10 children also owned land in Baca County, Colorado: my great-grandfather Roy, along with his siblings Carrie, Iva (Ivy) and Louis. Carrie and Iva (Ivy) were single women their entire lives, so I am sure Felix thought he should try to provide for them. I heard there was a town in Baca County called Regnier, Colorado, and there is some proof to that here: https://history.denverlibrary.org/sites/history/files/Place_Names_of_Colorado.pdf on page 510 (although you may need to go to 525 on the site).
2. John B. Regnier in Washington County, Ohio in 1825: So this was pre-homesteading days and John B. Regnier was actually deceased by 1825 so it was his heirs, or as the document says "heirs at law" who owned this piece of land.
3. Levi Barber in Washington County, Ohio in 1832: Also pre-homesteading days, and this is a joint record, so I'm not really sure if Levi owned this land or if he was representing someone. He was along with Seth and Andrew Fisher, and the document states "Levi Barber, (absignee?) of Andrew Fisher". That word is hard to read, but later on the document acts like the land is "to have and to hold" by Seth Fisher and Levi Barber. Don't you love the language there? Not sure how you "hold" the land, but it sounds like they married it.
4. Katie C. (Dacy) Regnier in 1905 in Cimarron County, Oklahoma: This document is great because if I didn't already know, it gives her maiden name and her middle initial. I did know her maiden name, but not her middle initial. Her parents passed when she was pretty young, so my guess is an older sibling or someone set up this homestead for her. There were several woman homesteaders back in the day, although it was less common.

Part of Katie (Dacy) Regnier's homestead document

There are many books on homesteaders if this interests you. Message me if you would like some recommendations, or you can do a search. Who knows? You might find a book about one of your relatives. 

1888 Stromsburg book

Last fall I helped digitize church records. So this got me thinking about more digitizing. A discussion on Facebook led to noting a few books in the library that are irreplaceable. No, they're not your Danielle Steel or Stephen King collection. It's those OLD local history books. Copyright lasts for approximately 70 years, so anything before that should be in the public domain. So I took pictures of this book. I was going to post it on GenWeb but Rootsweb is down and I haven't gotten around to moving it. Someone suggested my blog, so here are the photos of that book. I apologize for blurriness on one picture. I must have moved. I did scan this one too. Just takes a bit more time to put those on. I should work on my digitization, maybe get a better camera and a tripod to avoid some of this.

STROMSBURG, NEBRASKA Advantages and Needs
Published by the committee of John D. Haskell, Chairman; A. Coleman; P. T. Buckley; Lewis Headstrom and Alex Scott.