The Genealogy Search

The challenge for Week 48 is to examine online tools for cataloging your personal genealogy library and keeping track of the books you read.  I am a fan of LibraryThing ( http://www.librarything.co m/ ).  It is a site where you can catalog and provide tags in your personal library.  I have been using librarything for about three years and even purchased the cat ISBN reader that plugs into your computer and scans the ISBN number eliminating the need to physically enter the information.  The cat does not always work but when it does it makes it a breeze to catalog books.  I use librarything  to print out a listing of genealogy books I already own prior to going to genealogical conferences.  I check my list prior to purchasing new books - yes I have a habit of forgetting what I already own.  Currently I have 225 books in my personal library, I also have a copy of my inventory in the safe just in case I need it for insurance purposes.  Libraryth...

  This photo is of a pontoon bridge used during WWI.  My mother stated that her father told her that the pontoon bridge was used temporarily to cross rivers during the war.  Her father stated that he obtained the picture during the war, she could not remember whether he said he helped put the bridge together or not.

George H. Durbin, 1851-1940 and Eliza M. Durbin 1859-1945.  George and Eliza are buried in the Maplewood Cemetery in Saint Elmo, Fayette, Illinois. George was the son of Morris and Honora Dial Durbin.  I have much to research regarding this Durbin family.  George was a half sibling of my Great Grandmother Elizabeth Durbin Clark.

I am getting ready for my trip to Illinois at the end of the month.I am hoping to have a chance to hit the Abraham Lincoln Library in Springfield and perhaps check out a few genealogical society libraries.  I ran a search of the Fayette Genealogical and Historical Society and can no longer locate an active link for the society.  Are they closed down?  I did some research there about four or five years ago and they had some great resources.  If anyone has any info on this society please let me know.  The Decatur Genealogical Society will also get a visit!  Last time I was there I found the librarians to be a wonderful resource.   Best of all I am looking forward to visiting with family both old and recently found.  I am hoping that the genealogy discoveries will out weigh the emotions of the trial involving the man that killed my Uncle Bruce Clark.  Perhaps one door will finally close and many more doors will open. Anyone have any s...

  William Gollnick 12 Jul 1912 to 14 Jul 1983

Wadislaw J. Mikolajczak, aka Walter.  Burial on July 2, 1947 at the Holy Trinity Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Block 4 Lot 102.  Walter was the seventh child of  Maciej and Stanslawa Mikolajczak.  Funeral records indicate that Walter was single and his last known address was 3001 South 7th Street.  At this point in time I have located Walter in the Wisconsin 1905 Census and the 1910 Federal Census. Walter's siblings were:  Antonia 1888-1957, Stanislaw 1890-1931 , Jozef 1891-?, Bronislawa 1893 -?, Michal 1896-?,  Emily 1901-?. Stanislaw is my husband's great-grandfather on his mother's side.

A historic  Spanish   Catholic   mission  about 10 miles  south of downtown  Tucson, Arizona .  The mission is located  on the  Tohono O'odham   San Xavier Indian Reservation .  The Mission founded in 1692 is still active.  The Mission is being restored, the work is just beautiful.  See  http://www.sanxaviermission.org/  for more info on the Mission.

I don't remember the exact year of this picture, I was a gypsy and my brother Matt Clark was a hobo.  Like most Halloween's in the Chicago area we were bundled up in our winter coats.  Time to check with Mom and Dad to see if they remember what year this was! Amy and Matt Clark ready for trick or treat action - 1970's

The challenge Week 44: Research ways to give back to the genealogy community. The challenge is to examine some different ways genealogists can donate time and effort in kind. Find-a-Grave ( http://www.findagrave.com/ ), Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness ( http://www.raogk.org/ ), FamilySearch Indexing ( http://www.familysearch.or g/eng/indexing/framese t_indexing.asp ), the World Archives Project ( http://landing.ancestry.co m/wap/learnmore.aspx ), Unclaimed Persons ( http://www.unclaimedperson s.org/ ) and the USGenWeb project ( http://www.usgenweb.org/ ) are all dependent on volunteer effort.   I have worked worked with  Unclaimed persons, Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness and Record A Grave organized by Jon Anderson.  John posts cemetery transcriptions that we volunteers transcribe to   ancestry.com ,   findagrave.com , and  interment.net .  I really enjoy working with him.  I have volunteered for RAOGK, however I have a sour taste ...

I previously posted the above picture of George and Alma Skibbe on my blog, now with the help of my cousin Marge I can identify the ladies in the second row of this picture.  From left to right:  Margaret Edith (Skibbe) Harris (Cousin Marge's mom at age 20, sister of groom), Clara (Scholkopf) Hoberer, Adeline (Spenner) Hankey (sister of the bride), and O'tillia (Spenner) Schultz (sister of the bride).  Now we need to see if Clara is a relative to either family or perhaps just a friend of the bride.

Great Granduncle Reinhold R. Miottel, Great Grandaunt Emma Ladwig Miottel, and 1st Cousin twice removed Arthur Miottel. Burial is located at Saint Paul's Cemetery in Revillo, South Dakota.   Reinhold and Emma  raised nine children.  Their children were Katerina, Emma, Bertha, Clara (same as my grandmother, Clara Miottel - Clara must be a family name),  Walter, Richard, Amanda,  Reinhold and Arthur.

I found this photo among the pictures my Mother had removed from my Grandmother's photo album.  My mother believes that it is her mother on the far left and her step sister Helen Conour's children, along with her mother's step mother Emilie Blank Miottel.. I have doubts about the lady on the right being Emily.  I wonder if the family often had coffee in the backyard or is this is just for fun.  That is not a tea pot - could those children be drinking coffee?

Daniel Zeck and his wife Caroline nee Poundstone.  Young America Cemetery in Young America, Cass, Indiana.  Daniel and Caroline were married 7 Mar 1867 in Cass County, Indiana.  They had four children:  Inus, Nora, Delbert and Everett.  Caroline is my 2nd Great Grand Aunt, she is the sister to my 2nd Great Grandfather Richard Poundstone. 

Grand Aunt Nellie Lapearl (Clark) Tipsword and her husband Edward R. Tipsword.  Grand Aunts Nellie and her sister Jennie married two of  the Tipsword brothers.  Nellie married Edward, Jennie married John.  Nellie and Edward along with John and Jennie are buried at the Spring Hill Cemetery in Beecher City, Effingham, Illinois.

Among my grandfather's papers my mother had kept is the tax receipt below.  The clues in the document (or what remains of the document) are the name of what was taxed - apparently Hannah Ditch Cause No. 8024 Starke Circuit Court, the location - either Starke or Pulaski Counties in Indiana, and a partial description SW SW - SW SE of Section 34-32-3 and the date, 28 June 1922.  A World War I Registration Card does show William A. Skibbe living in Denham, Pulaski County in the year 1917.  Census records in 1920 indicate he was living in Wayne, Starke, Indiana.  In 1924 his address was listed as Chicago, Cook, Illinois on one of his children's birth certificates.  Can anyone provide any clues to this receipt?

Clara Miottel cir 1910 and her bible she received at her confirmation.  I believe she attended the German Ev. Lutheran St. Matthews Church with Pastor H. Engelbrecht.  I know that her father married twice, each time at the St. Matthews. Now I need to locate the church's records and see what family information can be gleaned from them.  Birth information and death information indicate Clara spelled her name with a C.  I don't know why the bible is monogrammed with Klara with a "K".

Lloyd Clark , his parents Ruby and  Otis Clark, Amy (me) and my brother Matt, 1964, Niles, Cook County, Illinois