The Genealogy Search

I ran away from home last Monday.  Day 1 I drove from Tucson to Guyman, OK.  I stayed at a  Holiday Inn with great beds. After a good night's sleep, I began day 2.  I drove from OK to Madison,WI.  It was a long drive but I made it!  Day three started with some scrambled eggs before hitting the Wisconsin Historical Society in downtown Madison. Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison WI Such a pretty place to be! I searched microfilms and pulled a bunch check of books.  I left at 6 pm.  I didn't even stop for lunch! I located marriage, birth and death records. I also found quite a few obituaries in Milwaukee's Polish newspaper. Fancy microfilm readers. Now I just need to translate them.  I met some great genealogists in the library and really enjoyed walking around downtown and on the University campus.  Good news, I got my 10,000 steps in and I enjoyed every step of it. Tomorrow I head to Concordia Cemetery in Forest Par...

I am driving to #FGS2016 from Tucson, Arizona.  My first goal is to make it to Madison Wisconsin and research at the Wisconsin Historical Society.  The target of my research is my husband's family - Drvaric, Drezdzon, Drezdon, Dresdon, Mikolajczak, Kwiecienski.  I have my research list made and ready to go. The next target is Forest Park, Illinois to visit  cemeteries where family are buried: Concordia, Forest Home  and  Wunder's cemeteries.  Then on to Ridgewood Memorial to visit my Grandparents graves in Des Plaines.  I may look up some old high school friends and visit the old neighborhood.   While I am in the area I am going to stock up on some bright green or Chicago Relish as it is also called.  Never heard of Chicago relish? Image from http://hotdogchicagostyle.com Here are a few links for you: http://www.hotdogchicagostyle.com/makeyourown.php http://gapersblock.com/drivethru/2012/08/27/neon_relish_a_taste_test/ Boy...

Great Aunt Anne Skibbe, Grandfather William Skibbe, and Lorraine Clark Skibbe on her wedding day.  Note the apron - Mom put out a spread for guests. January 1961

I thought it would be prudent to print out my source list.  I must be a very good girl because my report was over 300 pages!  My idea was to look at the sources to locate spelling errors or citations that needed a little tweaking.  It seems that things look perfect on RootsMagic (I call that entry blindness) but I have found some errors on my reports.  My top mistakes are spelling and number flipping. It appears that the majority of my mistakes show up in the detail section.  I think the best way to review is to review a few pages everyday.  So wish me luck,!

Navy Pier, Chicago 1938 Navy Pier 1938 Navy Pier 1938

Navy Pier, Chicago 1938 Navy Pier 1938 Navy Pier 1938

I am so excited for the FGS conference in Springfield, Illinois.  I will be driving from Arizona about two weeks prior to the conference. The best part about getting there earlier will be visiting with family before the conference.  I will be picking up a picture of my grandfather from a cousin, my dad's yearbooks, and who knows how many other treasures I will find. I have been working on my list of repositories and listing what documents I need to search for.  I have also contacted an aunt and some cousins so that I may scan their items.  I am also working up some interview questions for my family members. My best friend will be traveling to the conference and will be in Springfield the Sunday before.  I am looking forward to playing hostess for the area.  I plan on dragging her to all my favorite places.  I will be sharing my lists of favorite places to research along with my favorite places to visit in in coming blog posts.

Frank Urman [Yurmanovich] 1975 Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Findmypast is making their entire military collection free from 27 June to 4 July 2016.  Get your list together to do some serious searching.  Findmypast has a wonderful collection of Veteran Administration pension payment cards, 1907-1933.  I have found several treasures in it.  Findmypast will let you search for your ancestors in their Military Service & Conflict database.  Subtopics for Military Service and Conflict include Boer Wars, Civil War & Rebellion, First World War, Other Wars & Conflicts, Medal Rolls and Honours, Regimental & Service Records, Second World War, Service Records (another favorite), and Vietnam War.    Also found on findmypast.com my Grand Uncle Virgil Poundstone's passenger list coming back from the war for readjustment to Fort Sherman, Illinois aboard the General Th Bliss.  He is listed as T/Sgt, no. 6769216, service CE, Mos 822, ASRS 85.  Now I just need to find out what the acronyms stand ...

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musing has issued this Saturday Night Challenge: 1)   Determine where your ancestral families were on 25 June 1866 - 150 years ago. 2)  List your ancestors, their family members, their birth and death years, and their residence location (as close as possible).  Do you have a photograph of their residence from about that time, and does the residence still exist? 3)  Tell us all about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook Status or Google+ Stream post. Morris Clark (born was living in Petty, Lawrence, Illinois with his parents Henry and Frances and siblings Martha, Virginia, and Lene. Morris Durbin was living in Howards Point (Avena), Fayette, Illinois with his wife Rachel nee Logue.  They had sons William, James, and daughters Mary Elizabeth and Harriet Durbin.  Gustav Skibbe and Johanna nee Misch were living in Prussia.  Their son Wilhelm Gustav was born in 1857, making him nine years of age...

Lloyd Clark (Dad) and I 1963

Charles Henry Clark  was born on 20 Feb 1870 in Avena, Fayette, Illinois, United States.  His parents were Morris T. Clark and Mary Josephine Metz.  Charles was the only child born to the couple.  According to an affidavit dated 1-27-1891 by John Durbin, Charles was born on the Durbin Farm.  Charles’ father died less than three months after his birth.  His mother married Paul Baughman the afternoon Morris Clark, Charles’ father, passed away.    Paul and Mary had three children together.   Their union gave Charles a half-sister named Loney J. Baughmann,  two half-brothers Curtis and Joseph Baughman, two step-sisters Liza and Alnora Baughman and a step-brother James Baughman.  He appeared in the census on 3 Aug 1870 in Avena, Fayette, Illinois, United States in the Paul Baughman family including his mother Josephine, Liza, Alnora, and James. The 1880 census information for the family was located in  Fayette Facts, 18...

This Saturday's assignment:  Go through photographs you have of your mother and share one of your favorites. Tell us shy it's one of your favorites.  Visit  http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/05/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-favorite.html  for the challenge. Mom and Spooky, cir 1968 Ah, my beautiful mother - allergic to cats but never without one by her side.  She always would take in a stray - anything she could do to save a cat.  We once saved a sick cat in Stonington Illinois and drove it back to Chicago, with the cat having diarrhea the whole way home.  The car smelled so bad!  Mom got her to the vet and "Ralph" (actually Ralphette) lived a loved and happy life with us.

Glenda and Harold Clark at the wedding of Lloyd and Lorraine Clark, Chicago, Illinois 1961

William Skibbe, World War II

A long time ago, when I was much younger, my mother gave me some sage advice.  She said keep company with the people you admire and want to be like.  It makes sense and perhaps that same advice should be used in our genealogy. I wanted to become a better genealogist.  I enrolled in Boston University, NGS courses, ProGen and the National Institute for Genealogical Studies.  I go to seminars, jamborees, conferences, SLIG and attend webinars.  I am picky about how, what, and with whom I study.  I pay for many of these opportunities and I want my dollars’ worth.  I talk to others about the events to find out if they are a worthwhile purchase.  I ran Boston University and National Institute through the BBB and read about them on the BCG Educational Preparation page http://www.bcgcertification.org/certification/educ.html .    I check out who is speaking and what subjects were being offered.  I strike up conversations with confer...

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, the assignment from  Randy Seaver at  www.geneamusings.com  are: What four places did my ancestors live that are geographically the farthest from where I live today? What are the four most unusual given names in my family tree? What are the four most common given names in my family tree? Four places farthest from where I live today: Prussia [currently Poland] - Miottel family Germany - Schuck and Skibbe family England - Logue, Logsdon, and Durbin families  Virginia - Poundstone family (I think they are German but have not found the proof as of yet) Most unusual names in my family tree - not that they are so unusual:  Ora Pearl Poundstone- My Great Grandfather Ruby Pearl Poundstone - My Grandmother Johana Schuck - My Great Grandmother Mahala A. Adams - My Second Great Grandmother Four most common names: William John Richard Mary

Great Grandparents Mary Elizabeth Durbin Clark and husband Charles Henry Clark

It's never too late to join in!  Visit Dear Myrtle at   http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/p/finally-get-organized.html  to get organized! March has been a good month to get all of the tasks completed.  I purposely set aside a minimum of twenty minutes a day to work on my organization and it worked well for me. I shared some photos on my blog, shared memories with family, and attempted to extract some memories from my mother.  I think my family enjoys my sharing of photos on Facebook and the blog the most.  I think the nieces, nephews and my children enjoy pictures of their grandparents, aunts and uncles when they were growing up.  I am thinking about adding some video of some old home movies that we had digitized for all to enjoy. I spent some time photographing some family keepsakes and hope to share more information about them soon. I have entered the wives of my first four generations (and a few other wives not in my direct line).  I have been w...

Juliana, Amy, Anna, Nick Urman, Lloyd  and Lorraine Clark, and Gary Urman 2000