I attended my first genealogy conference this weekend. One downside - it was on the best flying day we've had yet this year! While my husband was out flying our Taylorcraft, I was inside.
Goals: In January I wrote a set of goals for 2013. One was to attend two genealogy conferences. This one was at the Family History Center in Charlottesville, VA. I pre-registered for this free conference so I would feel obligated to go even if the weather was spectacular.
I almost stopped for a cup of coffee on my way there but, fortunately, decided not to. As I approached the doors there was a large sign requesting no caffeinated or tobacco products. I wasn't surprised, I just hadn't thought about it. I have several Mormon friends who will laugh when they read this! Back to the conference ...
Before leaving home, I looked at the agenda. Clearly they were targeting a beginner audience and I looked for presentations that would be of interest to a more advanced audience.
Here's a review of the presentations I attended:
1. The keynote speaker gave a one hour presentation on the new familysearch.org site that launched a week and a half ago. The screen shots were interesting to see since the site is new but the presentation only scratched the surface. It showed the new family tree function and that you can up-load photos but didn't cover more challenging topics like using RootsMagic to upload or sync your tree.
The following 3 speakers from the Central Virginia History Researchers (CVHR) discussed the group's research in 20 minute presentations.
2. Alice Cannon from CVHR was my favorite conference presenter. She told the story of buying Bleak House, a former plantation home in Albemarle County, and the research she's done on the slaves that lived there. In addition to having great information, Alice wove together a great story. CVHR's very interesting website is here.
3. Robert "Bob" Vernon is a co-worker and provided a demonstration of his on-line map of African American land ownership in Albemarle county. The presentation was a bit technical, but his work is truly a gift to the local genealogy community.
4. I also enjoyed Lucia "Cinder" Stanton's discussion about CVHR's project to establish the African-American Families Database.
5. In a separate discussion, another CVHR presenter discussed the families at Monticello during the Civil War. His presentation followed the documentation and the discoveries they lead to. This format made it a bit difficult to follow. The speaker told the story in the order that he discovered the information. I've spent a lot of time thinking about this presentation and whether I unknowingly use this very same technique, especially when talking with non-genealogy family members. If I, an experienced researcher, couldn't quite follow it, I should be careful when using this technique. Steve Luxenberg used this technique in the book Annie's Ghost. It was very compelling. OK - so perhaps the lesson is that it can be used -- very carefully. Clearly there's an art to using it correctly. There's no doubt the Monticello researcher had done a tremendous amount of very valuable work over a 13 year period.
6. After lunch I sat in a class about digital images. It was so basic I got up and went to a different presentation. I waited until the speaker had turned to face the screen as I didn't want to be discourteous. This was my first conference and I'm not sure if it was "ok" to do this. Unfortunately I'm not the most patient person. I went to a presentation about brick walls. This one was also very basic and very generic. There were no examples showing how these techniques had helped the speaker with a breakthrough. I don't know about other genealogists, but I love a good story. I'd like to recommend, if you're presenting basic information, please consider providing some specific use cases.
Other classes: I skipped classes like "Exploring and Using findagrave.com". The site is so intuitive that unless you bought a computer yesterday morning and started genealogy in the afternoon, I can't see needing a class on it. Other "computer-morning / genealogy-afternoon" classes were "Using the Federal Census in Genealogy," and "Using Newspapers" in Genealogical Research."
What I'd like to see next year. I'd love to see the CVHR group take questions and answers about brick walls in Virginia. They have so much experience with local records they could probably point genealogists in the right direction.
My favorite part of the conference was the people I met. I ate lunch with Patricia whose husband is Lithuanian and immigrated to the US as a child. We compared stories about visiting Lithuania and exchanged contact information. I don't often get to swap stories about Vilnius and this was a treat!
I also spoke with Sharon, the current Regent of my DAR Chapter. Sharon is one of the most interesting people I know and I'd like to get to know her better. Genealogy is one of the primary reasons I joined the DAR and Sharon is a wonderful genealogist and teacher.
During registration I spoke with Doris, another co-worker. She's been doing genealogy for about 30 years. At work we bonded over findagrave.com. Her family is primarily in Ohio. Talking with other genealogists made the conference worth it.
Till next time,
keep the blue side up ... Lynn
Monday, April 29, 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Lawsuit Against the Estate of Lewis B. Krimminger
On familysearch.org I recently found a lawsuit against the administrator and executor of Lewis B. Krimminger's estate. Lewis B. Krimminger b. 1808 is my 4th great-grandfather via his first wife, Laura Coleman.
Lewis B. Krimminger was the guardian for Margaret A. Blackwelder after her father, Wilson Blackwelder, died. Margaret died in 1864, just before turning 18 and less than two years later Lewis died.
The administrator/executor of Lewis' estate included Margaret's assets when they settled his estate. Margaret's brother and sister sued the administrators to get Margaret's portion of their father's estate back.
The lawsuit (found here) and supporting documents are handwritten and difficult to read. My first question was, who is Margaret A. Blackwelder? She doesn't appear to be related. I traced her genealogy to try and find a relationship (no luck) and sort out what happened to her father (in other words, why did she have a guardian?). The latter was a bit challenging because Margaret's widowed mother married her late husband's brother, Martin Blackwelder. Of course as I looked at census records, they didn't provide a handy explanation; it simply appeared as if the husband used two different given names. I jumped to this conclusion because the wife's surname didn't change when she remarried.
I'm still not sure why Lewis Krimminger was named Margaret's guardian instead of her stepfather Martin Blackwelder. The Krimminger and Blackwelder families are connected by marriage several time (in-laws) but I don't find a direct relationship between Lewis Krimminger and Margaret Blackwelder. Lewis was once the Sheriff of Cabarrus county but that doesn't quite explain it.
When Lewis became Margaret's guardian, his first wife (my ancestor - Laura Coleman) had passed and he was married to Margaret "Vishti"Gilmer. In 1854, Margaret M. Alexander married Samuel Gilmer when she was 36. He may be her first or second husband. Margaret may be related to Vishti so I guess I will continue my search.
On a side note, in 1860, Margaret ("Maggie") went to "college." This was really equivalent to a modern high school. Lewis tracked and paid for her expenses out of the money she inherited from her father. Her expenses are all documented, including a train ride to Statesville where she attended Concord Female College (yes, in Statesville, not Concord.) Today it is Mitchell Community College. Here are some of Margaret's expenses:
Boarding - 5 months: $50
Tuition - 5 months: $15
Instruction in music: $20
Use of piano: $2.50
Three pieces of music: $1.45
4 lbs candles: $1.40
Full link for the lawsuit:
Till next time,
keep the blue side up ... Lynn
Saturday, April 6, 2013
The G.A.R. Bible - It's a "goodie!"
I was going through old books and came across a Bible that belongs to my husband. I've seen this Bible before but it was several years ago before I had done much research on my husband's Pennsylvania Civil War ancestors and relatives.
The inscription in the Bible says:
Presented to J. D. Bartolett
Post No. 484 G.A.R.
by Comrade John McKelvey
January 1887.
I found that only the Death page is filled out. The names are all men and no two have the
same surname. Clearly, these are members of The Grand Army of the Republic
(GAR) Post 484 who died between 1886 and 1893.
J.D. Bartolett. J.D. Bartolett is not one of
my husband's ancestors. I know, I
researched his family tree. Between the Old and New Testaments are pages
allotted for Births, Marriages, and Deaths.
I googled "J.D. Bartolett" and learned this is probably John
D. Bertolette. On findagrave.com, I
found Joe Nihen's memorial for him. Joe
and I go back several years. We're
on-line genealogy pals, thanks to findagrave.com and Joe's careful
documentation of the graves of Carbon
County Civil War veterans. According to Joe, Lieutenant Colonel J. D. Bertolette
died in 1881 and is buried in Lehighton Cemetery.
John McKelvy.
Not surprisingly, Joe also created a memorial for John McKelvy. John served as a private with the 38th
Pennsylvania Militia Infantry and is also buried in Lehighton Cemetery.
Daniel Kresge.
Next I studied the list of names.
The only one I recognized is the first name on the list. Daniel Kresge, died 1886. My husband's great-great uncle, Francis
Rhoads (also - Roth) married Emma Kresge in 1899. Her father was Daniel Kresge.
The Men.
I sent photos of the bible and a transcription of the names and dates of
death to Joe Nihen. If possible, he was
even more excited by this find than I was.
He used the dates to update his information and begin new research. He said most of the men are buried in
Lehighton or Weissport, Carbon County, PA. He said he found veterans buried in
Carbon County that he didn't know about.
I'm not sure how this Bible ended up with my husband's
family. Emma's husband, Francis Rhoads
died between 1910 and 1920. Perhaps she
lived with her in-laws for a time and the Bible remained in their home.
Final Resting Place for the Bible. I'm currently looking for a home for the
bible. Options include the Civil War
Museum in Harrisburg, PA, the Lehigh County Historical Society (which has an
excellent library with a regional focus, the Carbon County Library in Jim
Thorpe, or possibly the descendents of Daniel Kresge. I'll take my time researching the best
option; meanwhile I'll share digitally with as many people as possible.
As Joe Nihen said, "It's a goodie." Below is a list of all names in the G.A.R. Post 484 Bible.
Till next time, keep the blue side up ... Lynn
Daniel Kresge
June 8th 1886
Joseph Trumbower
Nov 28th 1886
Aaron Weidaw
January 9th 1887
Peter Suartwood
October 3rd 1887
Samuel L. Meckes
June 7th 1888
John W. Gilham
September 30th 1888
Albert Schoepe
February 4th 1889
Henry H. Kramer
August 4th 1889
J. R. Dimmick
October 27th 1889
John Brindle
January 15th 1890
J. H. Kline
February 22d 1890
Valentine Newmoyer
June 22d 1890
Charles Langkamerer
August 9th 1891
Kilian Hofeker
May 14th 1892
Frederick P. Sutter
July 28th 1892
Alvin J. Hofford
August 2d 1892
Henry Grow
January 7th 1893
Joseph F. Rex
April 1st 1893
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