Put your family history into perspective

I have written a couple of posts that present current history along with family history.  I find it fascinating to imagine what grandma and grandpa were doing, how did they shop, keep house, or just get around.  It is too easy to impress what we do day to day and imagine it as what they did.  I especially like to think about the news and events that may have worried them or made them happy.  It is also a time to find out what type of role they had in their community, what church or organization.

This can be done for any family.  Most of the information I found on my family was through internet searches...only some through family oral history.  That means any family genealogy should be able to repeat this.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.   Kathy

Family History timeline - 1910-1919

Family History by Timeline

From the years 1910 to 1919

Our government:  Presidents: William Taft (1909-1913) and Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921).  New Mexico and Arizona became states.  Personal Income Tax is introduced (1913); The United States declares war on Germany Apr 6, 1917.  The draft registration is established: the first was held on June 5,1917 for men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-one; the second, June 5,1918, for men who had turned twenty-one since the first registration; and the third on September 12, 1918, for men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. The Sedition Act of 1918 and the Espionage Act of 1917 were passed that, some say, was to address any act of opposition to the war.  These were later appealed and anyone imprisoned by them released and eventually granted amnesty. Herbert Hoover is assigned to post of United States Food Administration during the war and establishes a successful voluntary program in the US to reduce food consumption so that it can be provided overseas (there was no required rationing in the US).  The campaign had things like “Meatless Mondays” “Wheatless Wednesdays”.  This created a surplus of food at the end of the war which was sent to Europe to help ease starvation after the devastation of the war.

Around the world: World War 1 begins July 28, 1914 and ends Nov 11, 1918. There is a worldwide Spanish Flu pandemic killing over 50 million people; Panama Canal is opened; the Titanic Sinks; first Pulitzer Prize is awarded.

Notable events:  the Tango catches on; Triangle Shirtwaist factory catches fire killing many workers and results in safety improvements in other businesses; Oreo cookie is first introduced; parachutes are invented; first crossword puzzle is published; New York Grand Central Terminal is opened; Henry Ford creates the assembly line; D.W. Griffith A Birth of a Nation is released; the first self service grocery store is opened in the US (Piggly Wiggly in Tennessee); Daylight savings time is introduced in the US.

Family Overview:  During this time our family was still spread out.  We lived in ## state; New York (city and Caroline), Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Indiana and Oklahoma.  The families got their milk from a milkman, meat at a butcher store, eggs and vegetables were either grown at home or bartered with neighbors or purchased at the farmers market.  When they went to a general store, they gave their orders to a clerk who would get the items for them (not self serve).  Of course the biggest event was World War I and the Spanish Flu Epidemic.  Some member went to war as soldiers and others as volunteers.  The families would have participated in the voluntary food rationing as “wheat would win the war”.  Grandpa Pierson told the story of the campaign poster that he thought was funny…it said “Eat all your carrots and pea on your plate”.

 

The Piersons

In 1910, Samuel (34-43), Yetta (33-42), Millard (11-20), Albert (10-19) and Jeannett (5-14) are living in Brooklyn Ward, King, New York (1653 T??? Place).  Samuel is a Policeman with the NY City Police Department.  He is also the Treasurer for the Shomrim Society.  In 1915, they are living at East 98^th are (R2)6 and Yetta’s brother Hyman Jaffe (26) is living with them.  Samuel registered for the draft in 1918 and has an address of 113 Ralph Ave.  Albert also registered for the draft in 1918 and states he is a student at Cornell University in Ithica, NY.  Millard went to West Point and graduated July 1920.  He did not go overseas.  I cannot find any other records for Hyman but family history says he died in World War I.  Jaffe is a very common name. 

The Silsbees

In 1910, Benjamin (31); Lora (30-39); Lyman (10-19); Helen (8-17) and Lillian (6-15) lived in Caroline, New York.  Benjamin Lloyd, their youngest, is born in 1912.  Their father, Benjamin dies in 1915 age 36 due to an injury on his leg.  Benjamin was well known, he was Freemason at the Slaterville Lodge, served as Treasurer of the school board, was the post master of the Slaterville Grange and a Justice of the Peace.  Five months before he died he announced he would run for supervisor of the town of Caroline.  The newspapers reported this was a split in the Republican Committee since previously Benjamin was the lieutenant and supporter for the current supervisor.  He was buried in Caroline Grove Cemetery.  Lora then takes the family and moves to Cortland, NY (145 Groton Ave).  In 1917, Lyman joins the Navy as a Fireman 3^rd class and left 1^st class and serves on the USS Muscatine.  The Fireman class was part of the Artificer branch of the Navy which means he probably worked in the boiler room.

David (68-76) and Sarah (68) are living together in Richford, Tioga, New York.  They are in a house provided by daughter Kate and husband Ford Johnson.  David is still working as a farmer.  He is beyond the age requirements for the draft.  Sarah dies Aug. 5, 1918 at the age of 76 at her home and is buried in Maple Grove Cemetery.  The local newspaper has the notice of this as well as many references to the family visiting back and forth.

The Cauchons

From 1910 to 1919, Philias (51-60) and Zelia (40-49) and their six children Herve P (20-29), Laura (20-29), Henry (15-24), Bernard (12-21), Joseph (11-20) and Gabrielle (9-18) are living in Cranston, Providence Rhode Island at 282 Fountain Street.  Records for Henry and Joseph’s draft registration were found.  Herve was in the Rhode Island National Guard, Troop D Calvary.  On Oct 16, 1919, this Troop received Federal Recognition for their service during the war.  They were probably part of the 26^th “Yankee” Division which included many state’s National Guard troops in New England.  Herve was promoted to 2^nd Lieutenant.   He continued to serve with the National Guard after the war was over. 

The Hulley’s

In 1910, Ernest (33-42); Estelle (33-42); Oliver (7-16) and Loraine (1-9) were living in Allegan, Michigan.  Estelle, with her adopted mother’s encouragement, had joined the Daughters of the American Revolution.  Ernest did not join the military but served with the YMCA War Works and went overseas to France and England in 1918.  This group served the troops in a wide variety of functions so it is difficult to say what role Ernest had but the focus was to help the morale of the troops.  To earn money, he continued his work as a book keeper.  Ernest was very involved with the Allegan Congregational Church which was founded by Estelle’s adopted father Andrew Oliver.  Estelle was the treasurer of the Treble Clef Society and Woman History group.

Elkanah (60-69) and Amanda Jean”Jennie” (56-65) are now living alone in Marion, Grant Co, Indiana.  Elkanah becomes Mayor of Marion in 1917.  Per the history of Grant County, few Marion families are more intimately associated with all of the affairs of the community.  Elkanah was chief usher of the Methodist Church; superintendent of the Sunday school, and church trustee.  The Neal family is all musical and Amanda and all the sons are singers.  Amanda’s voice “has been heard in song at funerals where she hardly knew the family”.  When calling together a quartet and an alto is needed, they knew they could count on her.

The Emdees

In 1910, Edward (35), Flora (32-41), Velma (6-15) and Wilda (4-13) are living in Oklahoma City.  The census shows that Edward is a policeman with the Oklahoma City Police Department.  Pauline dies in 1912 in Lafayette, Indiana at the home of her cousin.  She is buried in Greenbush Cemetery, Lafayette, Indiana.  Edward is in the 1913 City directory for Lafayette so they either moved just before or after his mother’s death.  In 1914 the directory shows that Flora is a widow but no death records have been found for Edward.  When family later asked her about Edward, all she ever did was give a sly laugh.  Flora and the girls remained in Lafayette.  Flora made her living as a seamstress.  Aunt Jean said that she (Aunt Jean) was one of the best dressed in college because of dresses and clothes made by her grandmother Flora.    

The Smiths

In 1910, John (63-72) was living in Kingfisher, Oklahoma with his new wife Carrie Ketch.  The maps show he owned about 80 acres of land right next to Omega.  Family history states that he donated land to establish Omega.  In addition to farming, he also served as the first postmaster and fought the Craven boys, local outlaws, by pulling the town folk together.   He was also a founding member of the Omega Baptist Church.

Family History Timeline - 1900 to 1909

This is to give a perspective of what our families lives were like, what was happening to them and in the world.  This blog covers from the years 1900 to 1909

Family History by Timeline

From the years 1900 to 1909

Our government:  McKinley is President and assassinated in 1901; Theodore Roosevelt is President from 1901-1908; William Taft is President starting in 1909; Oklahoma become a state (1907); FBI established.

Around the world: Queen Victoria dies in 1901; The Boxer Rebellion is occurring in China; King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated; Mount Pelee erupts; Japan’s Prince Ito is assassinated; earthquake in Italy kills 150,000; Finland is the first European country to give woman the right to vote; “Bloody Sunday” the Russian revolt of 1905.

Notable events:  Kodak introduces the $1 Brownie Camera; Mark Plank formulates the Quantum Theory; Sigmund Freud publishes “Interpretation of Dreams”; the Teddy Bear is introduced; Wright brothers make their first flight; First World Series (1903); first Rose Bowl (1902); first silent movie (“The Great Train Robbery”); New York City subway opens; Einstein proposes his “Theory of Relativity”; Ford introduces the Model T; Robert Peary becomes the first to reach the North Pole; plastic is invented; the NAACP is founded; Picasso introduces Cubism; the first electric washing machine; San Francisco earthquake; Kellogg starts selling Cornflakes; Panama Canal Zone acquired by US; World Fair in St. Louis; Susan B. Anthony dies; Marconi sends the first wireless transmission; first safety razors; first vacuum cleaners; first crayola crayons; the General Slocum burns in New York’s East River killing 1000 Sunday travelers; the Boy Scouts are started; New Year Eve Ball in New York drops for the first time (1908).

Family Overview:  During this time our family is quite spread out.  We lived in six state; New York (city and Caroline), Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Indiana, New Hampshire and Oklahoma.  The mothers/wives did not have their own occupations during this time but without modern conveniences spend most of their time keeping home and family.  Fathers/husbands had variety of jobs from farming, book keeping, running companies and a police officer.  Many are involved in community activities as well as working.

The Piersons

Samuel (25-34), Yetta (24-33), Millard (2-11), Albert (1-10) and Jeannett (b. 1905) are living in Brooklyn Ward, King, New York (1653 T??? Place).  Samuel is a Policeman with the NY City Police Department.  He is also the Treasurer for the Shomrim Society.  **need to find out when he went from cigar making to policeman…also what type of home did they live in? Also, don’t know where Jacob Segal is in 1900 (assume in Kings, New York).

The Silsbees

Benjamin (22-31); Lora (21-30); Lyman (b. 1900); Helen (b. 1902) and Lillian (b. 1904) live in Caroline, New York.  In 1900, Benjamin and Lora live with Lora’s Uncle Lyman Delbert Patch and wife Sallie (Rounseville).  He and Uncle Del farm. 

David (58-67) and Sarah (58-67) are living together in Caroline, New York.  The 1900 census does not show any occupation for David but he was a farmer.  In 1906, per the newspaper accounts, they move into one of their daughter Kate family’s houses.  The newspaper has many accounts of them visiting relatives and them being visited.  David also helps out friends when they are ill (per newspaper).

The Cauchons

Philias (42-51) and Zelia (39-40) and their children Herve P (11-20), Laura (11-20), Henry (6-15), Bernard (3-12), Joseph (b. 1900) and Gabrielle (b.1901) are living in Cranston, Providence Rhode Island at 282 Fountain Street.  Philias was working as a book keeper per 1900 census.  They have recently moved from Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts where all the children born before 1900 were born??  Per Moody's Manual of Railroads and Corporation Securities, Volume 2, Philias works as Vice President of the Cote Piano Manufacturing and was a Director (1912).  Could this have been the connection with Zelia?  The Manufacturing Company was in Fall River, Massachusetts.  This is only 20 miles from Cranston Rhode Island. Did they live in Rhode Island but have births in Massachusetts?

The Page

In 1900 Lillian (12-21) is living with her mother Adeline (33-42), brother Victor (15-24) and step-father Joseph Michaud (33-42) and three half siblings;  Stanley (4-13); Arthur (2-11); and Annie (1-9) in Hillsborough, New Hampshire.  Joseph is working as a piano dealer and they are living at 356 Orange.  Another half brother Joseph is born in 1901. By 1908 they move to Providence, Rhode Island, first living at 393 Prarie and then 52 Wood St, Providence Rhode Island, a newly constructed home which is still there in 2014.  Adeline is the only one in the Rhode Island phone book so Joseph may have died before 1908 but no records are available. 

In 1900, Adeline’s mother Mathilda Gaudrau Fredett (71-80) is living with Adeline’s sister Matilda Fredett Lacroix family (husband and eight children) in New Bedford, Massachusetts, 26 Nye Street.  By 1901, she moves to 301 Sawyer, New Bedford. 

The Hulley’s

Ernest (24-33); Estelle (24-33) and their first son, Oliver Neal, are living in Allegan Michigan with Estelle’s adopted parents Andrew and Williamina Oliver (they had no other children).  Estelle’s mother, Anna Hoyt Smith, had died in 1884).  Her father Ansel G. Smith had suffered from battle fatigue during the Civil War and is in a veteran’s hospital in California until his death in 1900 during a visit back to Michigan.  Andrew Oliver co-owns the Oliver Furniture Manufacturing Company in Allegan.  Ernest is a clerk at a paper mill.  Sadly, Oliver Neal passes away in June, 1900 when he is just 7 months old.  His brother is given his name with a different middle name; Oliver Sommerville born two years later in 1902.  A sister, Katharine Lorraine, is born in 1909.  In 1902, the family lives in Benton Harbor where Ernest works as a cashier.  In 1910 they are back in Allegan where Ernest works as a book keeper. 

Elkanah (51-60) and Amanda Jean”Jennie” (47-56) (Ernest’s parents) are living in Marion, Grant Co, Indiana with their son Edwin (22-31)) and Amanda’s nieces Kate and Amie Neal, children of her brother Dr. James Clinton (1843-1895) and Emma (1848-1896) Neal.   Elkanah is a superintendent at the City Water Works and City Electric Light Plant as well as the President of Marion Floral Company.  Edwin is an apprentice dentist.  They live at 710 S. Adam which is around the corner from their son, Lewis (26-35) who is a cashier at the Marion Bank.

William (Elkanah’s father) dies Sept. 16, 1901 at the age of 85.  He was widowed and living with his son Charles Squire in Center, Grant Co, Indiana. He is buried with his wife in Ebenezer Cemetery, Marion, Indiana.

The Neals

Thomas Jackson (Jennie’s father) dies Jan. 20, 1900 at the age of 81.  Elizabeth (Jennie’s mother) dies Dec. 5, 1908 at the age of 82.  They were living in Marion, Indiana and are buried in Estates of Serenity Cemetery, Marion Indiana.  Thomas Jackson was a merchant.

The Emdees

Edward (26-35) is living with his mother, Pauline (64-73) and sister, Ida (23-32) in Tippecanoe, Indiana in 1900.  He moves to Oklahoma Territory to join his brother Benjamin Franklin in Kingfisher.  He meets and marries Flora in February 1903.  They move to Oklahoma City where he works as a traveling salesman.  Velma is born 1904 and Wilda is born in 1906. 

The Smiths

John (54-63) and Armelda (b. Feb 1841), Flora (22-31), Henderson (18-27) and Louisa (16-25) are living in Kingfisher, Oklahoma.  John works as a farmer in Oklahoma.  More information on Smith family Sooners can be found in previous years.  Armelda dies July 18, 1901 and is buried the Omega Cemetery, Omega, Kingfisher, Oklahoma. 

 

 

 

Written Feb. 2014 by Katharine Hulley

Family Historian - making and keeping records

You will be amazed and what you learn when you start talking to your family about your ancestors.  But don't just think about how family information will help in your genealogy search, think about what your descendents will know about 50, 100 or more years from now.  Will they want to know just the statistics...lived/died/had this many kids...or who these people really were and what went on in their lives.

It is not that hard...like eating an elephant...take it one bite at a time.  And believe me, this is not a one time effort.  Memory is a funny thing and going back and talking it over again brings up new facts and interests that were missed "the last time we talked".

There are lots of family question summaries and work sheets on the internet.  I like about.com for sample forms and ideas.  Try this website:
http://genealogy.about.com/od/oral_history/Oral_Histories_Interviewing_Relatives_and_Collecting_Oral_History.htm

But use this only to give you some ideas.  My grandparents had taken time to write a autobiography...unpublished...telling about there lives.  I mentioned this to Mom and my aunt and they realized they are part of the next generation that needs to do this.  They need to tell us about their lives, what was the best memories, the worst; who were their friends, etc.  Were their parents firm or fun?  What of other relatives they remember. 

Yes, you still need to capture the essentials - as they remember them -
When and where were their parents born/die?
What work did they do?
Where did they live?
What about their siblings?
What about their parents?  Any hints for parent's parents?

Be sure the pick the easiest way for the person to record.  Some family members may be better at quietly typing.  Others may be better by having it video taped.  Others, just taping a talk or two.

This is where you start but this part is rarely finished.  After many years, I am still capturing more information.  I recently found a telephone record on line with my grandmother.  Mom confirmed she lived there and that is where she met Grandpa.  Further look at the phone book, and there was Grandpa.  Found out that Grandma was nursing a man whose son (we are sure the man was older) knew Grandpa through the ROTC.  Must have decided to introduce the two.  Grandpa, the devote bachelor, changed his mind.  All this I would not have known without Mom even though I started recording history more than a decade ago.

So as the family historian, you are getting the stories down.  Don't forget someone needs to start archiving documents.  Marriage records, death certificates, birth records, school diplomas and other certificates.  But also, letters, family bibles, awards.  Depending on your family, you can share these or give them to one person to keep.  I am setting up a special closet with humidity controls (OK, just a dehumidifier set right) and items on shelves.  Guess whoever gets it next will have to decide how to preserve it.  Start bringing the next generation into our searches.

Next topic - where to document all this stuff

A start

Here it is Earth Day and my first blog on my favorite subject - genealogy.  Is it an addiction?  Sure.  Definition: have to do something with it everyday; stay up way too late finding a clue; love to tell my family all the news.  Yes, I like to landscape, too...and eat...OK, I do have a life, too, so not totally taken over.

I wanted to start a blog to help others solve mysteries in genealogy.  I have been doing genealogy for more than a dozen years and I think I have a lot of good information of everything from how to start, how to break brick walls, and how to find cousins.

So here it is, April 21, 2012...let's see where we go.