Voting Still Open for Top 40 Blogs

Voting for Family Tree Magazine’s 40 Best Genealogy Blogs is open until November 5th.  If you haven’t already, head over and vote for your favorite blogs (be sure to vote for mine under the Personal/Families category).

Finding Sarah Jane WARD’s Parents

The first clue to Sarah Jane WARD’s parents came from the 1910 US Federal Census.  Sarah was listed with her husband and two children, living at 1252 Washburne Ave. in Chicago.  Two additional females were listed as the head of household’s mother- and sister-in-law.  The census breakdown is as follows:

1910 US Census
Name	Relation	Age	Birthplace	Other Info
McMahon, Timothy	Head	36	IL
McMahon, Sarah	Wife	35	IL	2 children born/living
McMahon, John	Son	8	IL
McMahon, Timothy G	Son	6	IL
Ward, Bridget	Mother-in-law	69	Ireland	- Widowed - 8 children born / 4 living - Imm. 1860
Ward, Rose	Sister-in-law	28	IL	Single

Knowing already that Sarah’s maiden name was WARD, I was fairly certain that Bridget was her mother.  So it was off to search the 1900 and 1880 censuses in hopes of figuring out who her father was as well as the additional siblings.

Searching the 1900 Census

In the 1900 census, Sarah was living with husband, Timothy, at 50 Hastings in Chicago.  I found a Bridget and Rose Ward living at 709 W. Erie Street in Chicago.  The census breakdown for Bridget and Rose follows:

Name	Relation	Age	Birthplace	Other Info
Ward, Bridget	Head	62 Jan 1838	Ireland	- Widowed - 1 children born / 1 living - Imm. 1860
Ward, Rose	Daughter	20 Dec 1879	IL	Single

I am pretty sure that this is my Bridget and Rose; the ages each differ from the 1910 census, but are still relatively close.  The birthplace for each is the same, and Bridget’s immigration year is the same.  The only significant difference is the number of children.  Perhaps they misunderstood the question and only accounted for the one child living in the same household as the mother.   I did not find any other possible matches, so I tucked this away for the time being and moved on to the 1880 census.

Searching the 1880 Census

I located a Sarah and Rosannah Ward in the 1880 census, living with father James and mother Dolly at 60 Emma in Chicago.  The ages for the girls were consistent with the 1900 and 1910 censuses.  Here is that census breakdown:

1880 US Census
Name	Relation	Age	Birthplace	Other Info
Ward, James	Head	40	Ireland	Laborer
Ward, Dolly	Wife	44	Ireland
Ward, May	Daughter	19	NY
Ward, Phillip	Son	14	MA(?)
Ward, John	Son	12	IL
Ward, Sarah	Daughter	5	IL
Ward, Rose	Daughter	2	IL

Could Dolly be my Bridget?  An age of 44 in 1880 puts her birth year around 1836, which is somewhat consistent with the 1900 census (YOB ca. 1838), and the 1910 census (YOB ca. 1841).  I wasn’t really sure if this was the right family, so I hung onto it and moved on to other records.

Possible Marriage Records

I first looked at the Illinois marriage index available through the state archives.  I searched for a groom with the last name of Ward and a bride with the first name of Bridget (there were no listings for a Dolly).  This yielded two possibilities (marriages before 1875, which is when Sarah was born and occurring in Cook County):

• James Ward and Bridget Sheslan (17 May 1874)
• William Ward and Bridget Noonan (20 February 1873)

Working of the theory that the 1880 census was the right family, I obtained the marriage record for James and Bridget.  It didn’t have much information, but I could tell that Bridget’s last name was written as Shevlan, not Sheslan as indicated in the index.  Having no luck, I requested Sarah’s death certificate in hopes of tying her to these parents.

Sarah’s Death Certificate Leads to a Discovery

The first thing I looked at when I got Sarah’s death certificate was the parents names.  And wouldn’t you know, they were listed as James Ward and Bridget Shevlin.  Eureka!!  So now I am fairly certain that I’ve got the right marriage record for Sarah’s parents.  But this still did not confirm whether the 1900 and 1880 censuses were the right ones.

Finding Bridget’s Death Certificate

I then sought out a death record for Bridget.  She last showed up in the 1910 census and I was unable to locate her or Rose after 1910.  I searched the Illinois death index for deaths that occurred before 1916 and found only one possibility:  Bridget Ward, d. 19 July 1912 in Chicago, aged 70.  There were three possibilities in deaths occurring from 1916 to 1950, but I was banking on the fact that I hadn’t located her after 1910.  So I obtained the 1912 death certificate.

At first I wasn’t sure if this was her.  The information in terms of age (70), birthplace (Ireland), and marital status (widow) seemed to match.  And then I saw two things, which solidified that this was the right person.   First, the address listed as her residence was 1252 Washburne in Chicago.  Sound familiar?  It is where she was living in 1910.  And second, the informant was Rose O’Connor, who I suspected was her daughter, now married and living at the same address.

What About Sister Rose?

I decided to do a little digging on Rose.  I found a likely marriage record for a Rose Ward and a John O’Connor, who married on 25 December 1910.  But it was highly suspect, as the ages for John and Rose were 23 and 18 respectively.  Remember, Rose’s age in the 1910 census was 28.  Some more digging turned up two birth certificates for babies born to a John O’Connor and Rose Ward.  The first, Edward, was born on 24 May 1912, with a place of birth and residence of mother as 1252 Washburne Ave. in Chicago (placing her in sister Sarah’s household).  The ages of father and mother were 31 and 29 respectively, which certainly seems to fit better.  The second birth certificate was for John, born 14 August 1913.  The residence for the mother was 1344 S. Ashland.  Age of father and mother were 33 and 31 respectively, again very much in line with what they should be.  So is the marriage record the right record with the wrong information?  I’m still not 100% sure at this point; the marriage date of December 1910 does fit, as she was single in May 1910 (census) and married by July 1912 (mother’s death), but I can’t be certain.

Exploring the Chicago City Directories & Answering Some Questions

Today, I spent most of my time going through the Chicago city directories (as I’ve pretty much spent the last several days doing).  I was focused on Bridget and Rose today in hopes of figuring out if the 1880 and 1900 censuses I found were in deed the right family.  Below is a list of what I found working backward from 1912:

Year	Name	Address
1904	Rose Ward (wid. James)	499 W. 13th
1903	Rose Ward (Miss)	499 W. 13th
1902	Rose Ward (Miss)	499 W. 13th
1900	Bridget Ward (wid. Edward)	709 W. Erie
1899	Bridget Ward (wid. Edward)	709 W. Erie
1898	Bridget Ward (wid. Edward)	709 W. Erie
1897	Bridget Ward (wid. James)	709 W. Erie
1896	Bridget Ward (wid. Edward)	709 W. Erie
1893	Bridget Ward (wid. James)	60 Emma
1891	Bridget Ward (wid. James)	60 Emma
1890	Bridget Ward (wid. James)	60 Emma
1887	James Ward (laborer)	60 Emma
1886	James Ward (laborer)	60 Emma

While they didn’t show up every year, there is enough here to put some pieces of the puzzle together.  First, Miss Rose Ward is found in 1902 and 1903 at 499 W. 13th, which was also the home of her sister Sarah.  In 1904, a Rose Ward is found, widow of James at the same address.  The question becomes, is this really Bridget, who was the widow of James and this is simply an error (a listing for Bridget was not found), or misinformation about daughter Rose?

Working backward and finding a Bridget, a widow of Edward, listed at the Erie address, was pretty alarming, since the Erie address was what I theorized in the 1900 census.  When I made it back to 1897 and saw “widow of James” I was pleased, as this still gives me some hope.  More research is needed to prove or disprove this theory.

But the best thing I found was a Bridget, widow of James at 60 Emma; this is the same address for that family enumerated in 1880!  To me, this puts a Bridget in that household, and makes the case that the Dolly listed in the 1880 census, is in fact Bridget.  I am now fairly certain that the family I found in 1880 is the correct family.  Finding James last listed in 1887 and then Bridget listed as a widow in 1890 also narrows down the approximate death date of James to 1887 to 1890.  There are three potential matches in the Illinois death index, but one was stricken as a possibility after reviewing the obituary (note I also looked for Edwards, but none fit the criteria).  That leaves two possibilities:

• James Ward, d. 30 July 1890 in Chicago, age 40
• James Ward, d. 17 November 1890 in Chicago, age 45

Update:  Not even an hour after writing this, the first thing I did was check out the birth registers for Cook County at Family Search (it was recently updated from about 8% to 43% complete, so I thought I’d look again).  And guess what I found?  Sarah’s birth register with an address of 60 Emma.  Can’t go wrong with that!

Another question was also confirmed.  According to Bridget’s death certificate, Rose apparently married an O’Connor sometime between May 1910 and July 1912.  Searches led to the possibility that she married a John O’Connor.  A search for John O’Connor in the 1912 Chicago city directory turned up a John O’Connor, residing at 1252 Washburne, the same address where Rose was living at the time of her mother’s death (not to mention Rose’s sister’s address during the same time period).  With that said, I am fairly certain that Rose did in fact marry a John O’Connor, but it still doesn’t prove whether the marriage record is the correct record or not.

New Questions Arise

Having more than likely confirmed that the family in the 1880 census is correct, that raises several more questions.

Bridget and James were married in 1874.  Three out of the five children were born before 1874.  Could James and/or Bridget been married before?  Another look at the marriage license leaves in question whether or not Bridget was a Miss or Mrs.  In the first instance, it looks like Mrs.; the second instance is faded, but looks like it could be Miss. 

Based on the marriage and birth dates then, whose children are they?  The 1910 census indicated that Bridget bore eight children and four were living in 1910.  This is certainly not proof that the three children are hers, but I suppose it’s a possibility. 

Did they have more children after Rose?  The lack of the 1890 census makes this question a little more challenging to answer.  My great-aunt seems to remember that there were more children, but she may have been thinking about the other children born before Sarah.

Next Steps

• Obtain a copy of each death certificate possibility for James Ward.
• Investigate the three children living in the household in 1880.  Search for birth records, marriage records, censuses, and death records to start.
• Finish collecting the city directory entries for James Ward (pre-1886).
• Continue barking up Rose and John’s tree.

What do you think?  Have I got it all wrong?  Am I assuming too much?  Do you have any suggestions to further this research?  I’m certainly open to hear your thoughts, so be sure to leave a comment about what you think.

 

Source information available upon request.

That Reminds Me…

Data Backup Day is November 1st, and to celebrate, GeneaBloggers is giving away three copies of Handy Backup.  The catch?  You have to write a blog post about data backup.  So yes, my motivation to write this article is to have a chance to win one of the Handy Backup copies, and here’s why…

I currently do manual backups of my data to my 700GB external hard drive, usually after I add a large number of digital files for my genealogy research or enter a lot of data into my genealogy database.  And nine times out of ten, I only back up my genealogy folder, since it’s the main thing that gets the most action on my computer (and that in and of itself takes forever).  This is certainly not a good practice.  In fact, I’ve spent the better part of this week adding all sorts of digital files and database entries, and have yet to back it all up!  The GeneaBloggers Data Backup Day post reminded me.  Again, this is not a good system to follow.

So after reading the GeneaBlogger post and taking a look at the product they’re giving away, I thought I’d write up an article so I could be entered to win, because clearly, I need a better way of backing up data then my current manual “if I remember” system.  And to be honest, even if I don’t win it, I think I’ll head on over and buy it.  There are a few things that got my attention, one being that you can set it to back up automatically AND you don’t have to be logged on.  The other thing was that it backs up Outlook, which is something I almost never back up (unless I’m switching computers or, in my current case, upgrading my OS—yes, I’m moving to Win 7—wish me luck!).

There you have it…my current backup method, and my near-future backup method.

Genealogy Newsletter – Casefile Clues

We all know that in order to be effective genealogy researchers, continual education is necessary.  Many of us are members of local, state, and national genealogical societies and review the publications we receive as part of our membership.  Many of us subscribe to publications such as Family Tree Magazine and The American Genealogist.  We read these publications to learn about research methodology, evidence analysis, and other tips and tricks to aid in our research endeavors.

I’m always on the lookout for ways to help me further my genealogy research.  I recently learned about a weekly genealogy newsletter, authored by Michael John Neill, called Casefile Clues.  Michael was kind enough to send me two sample issues, which had me running off and subscribing (and ordering the back issues!). 

Each week, Michael writes an article about a research problem and discusses the techniques used to arrive at a conclusion.  The ideas in one issue set me off on a research course that helped me find the parents of a great-great-grandfather.  The same issue provided ideas for my quest to find another family in Chicago; the only set of great-great-grandparents that I lose in the mid-1880s and have yet to find their death dates.

For an annual subscription fee of $15, you can have a new Casefile Clues delivered to your inbox every week.  You can even order the first ten issues if you want to catch up.

Record & Share Your Family Stories With StoryCorps

Looking for a way to preserve your family stories?  Why not give StoryCorps a try.  According to their website, “StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening.”

StoryCorps travels the country setting up recording booths for you and a loved-one to record an interview.  The sessions are 40 minutes in which a facilitator guides you through the interview process.  At the end of the session, you receive a free CD with the recorded interview, and a copy is archived at the Library of Congress.

You do need a reservation to participate; for a listing of upcoming locations and dates, visit the Record Your Story page at their website.

For additional information, and answers to your questions, head to their Frequently Asked Questions page.

Wordless Wednesday – 10/28/09

Diigo Bookmarks (weekly)

• Castle Garden

  "This free site offers access to an extraordinary database of information on 12 million immigrants from 1820 through 1892, the year Ellis Island opened. Over 100 million Americans can trace their ancestors to this early immigration period."

  tags: passenger lists, immigration

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Finally Found Great-Grandpa

Well, I’ve been in full research mode since getting back from SLC.  I’ve got a lot to write about, but I wanted to share a quick update based on a piece of paper I received in the mail today.

I had some clues to my great-grandfather’s whereabouts after his wife died in 1925, all pointing to Michigan.  I came up empty on a birth record while I was in SLC to either confirm or disprove the information collected from the only likely WWI draft card.  After re-examining what I had on him, I decided to order the death certificate for a John Cahill, whose last residence was St. Joseph County, Michigan, with a death date of January 1967 and a birth date that matched the WWI draft card.  Mind you, I put the request to the County Clerk in the mail on Friday…the certificate came today (super quick!!!). 

Lo and behold, it is without a doubt my great-grandfather.  His parents and wife are identified, and his sister was the informant, so there is no question in my mind that this is the correct record.  And since Catherine was listed as his wife (noted as deceased), this gives me a clue that he did not remarry, despite some speculations that he may have. 

Although I had to shell out $13 for the certificate, I’m very happy it’s the right person and confirms the information I had previously collected, which was questionable.

Wordless Wednesday – 10/21/09

Managing Your Facebook Experience

More and more, people are beginning to realize the benefit of using Facebook as a networking tool beyond just family and friends.  Today, so many genealogists are hopping on the Facebook bandwagon to connect with other genealogists.  But at the same time, people also want to use Facebook to be, well, social with family and friends.  So how can you effectively utilize Facebook for both personal and networking purposes?  The answer is quite simple:  filters.

When Facebook redesigned the look and feel of the site in March 2009, more user-control over various elements came with it.  The ability to granularly decide who sees what was finally possible. 

So how can you take advantage of this?  To start, you must first have your friends arranged into lists.  Then, to control the content those lists see, you need to change the privacy setting for each Facebook application.  Likewise, you can filter whose statuses you see on your main page.

Friend Lists

I have six different lists as follows:  Following, Friends, Family, Professional, Genealogy, and Writing.  Three of these categorize my friends by type, while two are reserved for friends that share special interests; the “Following” list I will explain later.  You might start out with three (friends, family, and genealogy) as you can always add more lists later.  Also note that a person can appear in multiple lists.

To create a Friend List:

1. Click on the Friends button in the left-hand navigation menu.
2. Click the Create New List button.
3. Enter a name for the list.
4. Choose the friends to include in that list.

Tip:  When adding a friend or accepting a request, place them in the appropriate lists at that time.

Application Privacy Settings

Privacy settings for applications differ from that of your overall account.  Essentially, you can dictate per application who can see what.  For example, let’s say you use Notes to share personal information that perhaps you wouldn’t want your genealogy contacts to see.  In this case, you would set the Notes settings to allow only those from the friends and family lists to view your notes.

To change application settings:

1. Go to the Account drop-down menu at the top of the page (right-hand side).
2. Choose Application Settings.
3. Choose Edit Settings for the application you wish to change the setting for.
4. Under the Profile tab, change Privacy to the appropriate setting (e.g. Everyone, Only Friends, etc.).  You can choose Customize if you want to exclude certain people or friend list(s).

Filter Who You See

When you have a lot of Facebook friends, it can be cumbersome to keep up on everything.  This is where the friend lists become even more invaluable.

As I mentioned earlier, I have a list called Following.  In that list, I place the people that I really want to keep track of.  It’s a mixture of family, friends, and genealogy contacts.  Instead of the default News Feed, I choose Friends from the left-hand navigation menu, then choose the list Following.  I can check out the statuses of other friends by clicking on another list in the menu.

Tip:  You can also filter out certain applications.  If you don’t want to see who’s Superpokin’ who, hover over the top-right corner of the status and chose the appropriate action from the Hide menu that appears.

There you have it.  A way to keep your personal and networking life separate on Facebook and to see only what you want to see when you want to see it.

Note:  This post was updated on 23 April 2010 due to interface changes FB made a few months ago.

Wordless Wednesday – 10/14/09

Wordless Wednesday – 10/07/09

I’m Back From SLC!

I got home yesterday from a very long and exhausting week at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.  It was six days of solid research, which included excessive cranking of the microfilm machine and thumbing through several books. 

I’m happy to report that I found lots of good stuff that I will write about in the coming weeks.  Some finds were expected, others not so much, still other finds were completely by chance.

While there’s always more research to be done, I am happy to be home.  I had no idea how much it would wear me out!  Plus, now I have the chance to sit back and reflect on my finds, enter them in my database, and make more research plans.

P.S.  I did find out that the FHL will be open until midnight during the 2010 NGS conference being held in SLC.

GenBlog Makes The Cut!

I’m happy to report that GenBlog was nominated for Family Tree Magazine’s 40 Best Genealogy Blogs.  GenBlog was nominated in the Personal/Families category.  If you enjoy this blog, be sure to go and vote (and be sure to vote for your other faves too!).  Voting is open until November 5th.