April 2020

Genealogy Gems:

News from the Allen County Public Library at Fort Wayne No. 194, April 30, 2020

In this issue:

Finding Our Way

Digital Library on American Slavery

Researching Down Ancestors

Technology Tip of the Month: Adobe Elements Guided Tab, Replace Background, Refine Brush

PERSI Gems--Toes

History Tidbits: One Breath at a Time--A Brief History of the Iron Lung

Library Catalog Insider--More on the Library’s Community Album

Genealogy Center Virtual Programs

Staying Informed about Genealogy Center Programming

Genealogy Center Social Media

Driving Directions to the Library

Parking at the Library

Genealogy Center Queries

Publishing Note

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Finding Our Way by Curt B. Witcher

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April has been a most noteworthy month. At times, it seemed like it went by in just a few heartbeats; and at other times, each day seemed like a week and each week seemed like a quarter of a year. Many across the country, and even around the world, spent the month quarantined because of COVID-19. Such isolation and radical break to our previously normal routines left many feeling stressed; worried about their families, futures, and loved ones; and uncertain about what the “new normal” will bring. All those unsettling feelings are totally understandable. I know many of you found your way through such dark thoughts and feelings to a more positive place by engaging in family history activities of all types. How do I know that? I want to share the following awesome reasons with you. First, we have received a wonderful increase in the number of electronic donations of digitized family and local history material. Individuals are making the time to look through their family files, organizing what they have collected over a number of years, and deciding to let others benefit from the research and record gathering they have done. That is a wonderful way to bring meaning both to the activities you have engaged in over the years as well as to the current times. In so many ways, we are the greatest generation of genealogists in all the data we have been able to gather. Now our “calling” needs to be to share that data with interested others. The Genealogy Center will post donated genealogical and historical materials for any interested person to use at no cost. Your contributions can directly affect the success of others. Check out what is available on GenealogyCenter.org. See how your contributions can be a part of this collection of resources that grows by many thousands of pages and records each month. Email us for details at Genealogy@ACPL.info. Second, many of you are taking the time to write—and that is such a good thing. Your descendants will thank you now and in the years to come. Whether it’s a diary or journal, keying your thoughts into Word documents, or saving your musings and recollections on social media platforms, you are preserving living memory. You are making sure the great-grandchildren of your grandchildren whom you will never meet will benefit from your knowledge and experiences. How do I know you are doing that? Because you’re asking my colleagues and me for recommendations on preservation and sharing options. And that is such a great thing! Depositing your family’s history, whatever the format, in a library or archive is a winning strategy. Again, I offer the Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne as such a repository. Finally, so many of you have joined us for virtual programs this past month. As the harsh realities of the pandemic hit, my colleagues quickly transitioned from in-person programs in the great physical meeting space of our Discovery Center to offering virtual programs on the Zoom platform. We have fallen into a pattern of offering Tuesday afternoon and Thursday evening virtual programs with a weekend surprise thrown in every few weeks just for fun. Family history enthusiasts from all over the country (and a few from across the pond!) have joined us for these programs in numbers that are more than double what we were drawing for our in-person programs. We ae so glad so many are engaging with us, and we welcome more. Further on in this newsletter you will find virtual program listings for just the first half of May. I encourage you to visit the Genealogy Center’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/GenealogyCenter) as well as the Center’s events calendar (http://www.genealogycenter.org/Events.aspx) to keep up on the latest offerings and to find the links to the Zoom meetings. I laud you for making discovering your family stories part of your light through these challenging days. You will benefit so much from such activities, and so will your family, close and distant.

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Digital Library on American Slavery by Melissa C. Tennant

*************************************** The “Digital Library on American Slavery” , hosted by the University of North Carolina – Greensboro, is a data-rich and compelling resource for those searching for African American ancestors. One can search among and find information within five separate databases: The Race and Slavery Petitions Project, North Carolina Runaway Slave Advertisements, People Not Property – Slave Deeds of North Carolina, the Voyages: The TransAtlantic Slave Trade Database, and Slavery Era Insurance Registries. The Race and Slavery Petitions Project consists of names and details abstracted from the “Race, Slavery and Free Blacks Series: Petitions to Southern Legislatures and Southern County Courts” – a microfilm set of records of petitions for rights or permissions pertaining to property or living conditions affecting slaves and free blacks. The database contains indexes of about 150,000 names found within more than 17,000 petitions filed at the county court and state legislature concerning slaves and free people of color within sixteen Southern states ranging from Delaware to Texas. The North Carolina Runaway Slave Advertisements database contains digital images and transcriptions of the announcements that were posted in North Carolina newspapers from 1751 to 1840. Among the more than 2,300 advertisements in this collection are the documented connections between a slave and slaveholder, physical and character descriptions of the runaway, and sometimes a description of the escape. The People Not Property: Slave Deeds of North Carolina database provides indexed images and transcriptions of property deeds that identify the sale of an enslaved person in North Carolina Register of Deeds. The first phase of this project is focused initially on twenty-six North Carolina counties which are listed on the database’s website. Once completed, the plan is to expand the project to include the remaining North Carolina counties and then deeds from other states. Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database provides information on more than 86,000 slaves brought to America in the 16th-19th centuries. It is divided into three databases that use statistics to document the slave trade. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database documents vessels along the Atlantic slave routes from 1514 to 1866, while the Intra-American Slave Trade Database continues the migration between the Atlantic and Pacific ports. Finally, the African Names Database provides information on slaves liberated between 1808 and 1862 from captured vessels. The Slavery Era Insurance Registries is a database of insurance policies covering slaves in slaveholding states. This register names the slave and slaveholder along with their respective county and state of residence, the insurance company, and policy type and number. The policy type indicates the occupation or industry of the enslaved person. With its diverse and expansive collection of records, the “Digital Library on American Slavery” is an essential site for anyone researching African American history in the United States antebellum period, whether seeking those enslaved or free, or to gain a more thorough understanding of the social, economic, and historical perspectives of the time.

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Researching Down Ancestors by John D. Beatty, CG

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County Down, Northern Ireland, is situated in the northeastern part of the island close to Scotland, where it is separated only by the North Channel. It has a hilly topography, not unlike what one finds in western Pennsylvania, and a fiercely independent people. C.S. Lewis, whose ancestors hailed from there, called it a “turbulent democracy of little hills.” In the seventeenth century it was a major place of settlement for Scottish settlers, who became known as Scots-Irish or Ulster Scots. Many Irish immigrants to America in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries came from this area and the neighboring counties of Antrim, Armagh, and Londonderry. Crossing the ocean and locating these ancestors in Irish records can prove extremely challenging. Church registers of both Anglican and Presbyterian churches are spotty, and even where they are extant are often incomplete and do not contain information on all area residents at the time. A useful guide for County Down is Ian Maxwell’s “Researching Down Ancestors: A Practical Guide for the Family and Local Historian” (Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 2004) (Gc 941.6501 M451f). Maxwell offers a useful introduction to the county’s history, with a guest chapter by W. H. Crawford on the admixture of peoples who make up its population. These sections are followed by detailed chapters on different record groups, including civil registration of vital records, census returns and old age pension claims, and gravestone inscriptions. More useful for American researchers are the later chapters that focus on earlier records. The chapter on census substitutes features discussions about muster rolls of 1630 and 1642, depositions from the Irish Rebellion of 1641, the Census of 1659, the Religious Census of 1766, the Petition of Protestant Dissenters of 1775, and the Flaxseed Premiums of 1796. None of these records have a comprehensive scope, but all date from the time period that may document the families of Ulster emigrants. The chapter on landed estate records catalogs the landowner families whose papers and leases preserve the names of many tenants on the land and are a potential goldmine of information for the eighteenth century. Another chapter on church records describes every parish, Anglican, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic, that exists for the county with their inclusive record dates and microfilm numbers in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI). Regrettably, these records have not been digitized, so either a researcher will need to take a trip to Belfast or hire a researcher there in order to take full advantage of them. Finally, a variety of miscellaneous records exist, such as collected genealogies on local families, shipping records, militia records, and solicitors’ records, all of which can also help with one’s research. Maxwell’s guide is a useful introduction to County Down research, and similar guides exist for other Irish counties. It may be a challenge for Americans with Scots-Irish ancestors to cross the ocean and find their ancestors, but these guides make that effort a bit more focused and attainable.

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Technology Tip of the Month: Adobe Elements Guided Tab, Replace Background, Refine Brush by Kay Spears

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We continue with Adobe Elements version 2018. We are in the Guided Tab>Replace Background, and we are going to look at the last brush option, the Refine Brush. So, let’s see just what a refine brush does. When I click on the Refine Brush button, there are three dialog sections that appear at the bottom of the workspace. As soon as I moved my cursor over the photo, it changed to a very large circle, and the picture itself had a mask layer applied to it. My mask layer was a transparent red. I’m assuming that is the default setting, but I might be wrong. As I said earlier, there are three sections, the first section allows you to add, subtract, push, and smooth your selection. The second selection section allows you to change the size, hardness, and smoothness of your cursor tool. The third selection gives you the option of changing the color of your overlay – what on mine appears red. For those of you who are experienced working with a mask, you will be familiar with this tool, because this tool creates a mask. Here are some of my opinions concerning this tool. First, be aware that the area that you are erasing, the area that is showing through, is not the area that will have the background image appear in. The area that your background image appears in is the image that has the color mask layered on it. Secondly, as much as I experimented with the size, hardness, smoothness tool, I couldn’t see too much of a difference to what each one was doing. So, I guess my advice for using this particular tool is to experiment, experiment, experiment, and see what the results are. That finishes the Replace Background Tab. On to the next tab. Depth of Field Tab This was an easy tool to use. First, I opened a photograph of an old building. The results of this effect will be that part of your image is blurred. Supposedly this blur adds a slight depth. I can see where this effect might be useful at times. When you initially open this tool up, there are two selections: Simple and Custom. If you click on Simple first, an Add Blur option appears. Click on Add Blur. The image blurs completely. Then click on the Add Focus Button. Your cursor should change to a crosshair. Take your Crosshair Cursor to the portion of the image you want to be in focus, hold your left clicker down, and drag your Crosshair. Release the left clicker. Now a portion of the blurred photo should be in focus. Repeat this action to the rest of the photo that you want in focus. And that’s all there is to the Simple option. The other option available in the Depth of Field Tab is Custom. Open a fresh image or revert to the original image to start fresh. Once again you have either Simple or Custom available; this time choose Custom. Now you will have a Quick Selection Tool and an Add Blur. Select the Quick Selection option. The cursor now changes to a Quick Selection Tool, and you want to select the areas you want to be in focus. Using the Quick tool allows you to select smaller areas to bring into focus. Once you have selected the areas you want, choose Add Blur. Everything not selected will blur. There is a slide bar that allows you to change the amount of blur available. And, that’s all there is to this tool. It’s a pretty nice tool and relatively easy to use. In the next article we will move on the next tools on the Special Edits tab in Adobe Elements, and see how far we can go.

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PERSI Gems--Toes by Adam Barrone and Mike Hudson

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Infants often discover their toes between four and eight months of age. Their reaction is to play with them and to raise them to their mouth. The little appendages fascinate and delight their young owner. As the child grows to an adult, the toes receive much less attention despite their importance in our gait and our balance. The lowly toes are unnoticed, underappreciated, and neglected until something goes wrong, usually in the form of injury. In the realm of your family history work, we encourage you to seek out neglected areas of your research and pursue additional information which might not always be available. Seize opportunities to write to relatives and repositories with your questions. Preserve or restore family heirlooms. Learn about their history. Reread your files and research notes. Inspect your scrapbooks, albums, and family papers for damage due to non-archival-safe storage conditions and make improvements as needed. Pull out and prepare recipes for dishes or treats you haven’t tasted in years. Just don’t eat with your toes! Try a search in the Periodical Source Index (PERSI) for your neglected research questions: http://search.findmypast.com/search/periodical-source-index Your search might reveal tales of toes like these: Bailey Trotter shot off toe while hunting, age 15, 1912, TN Duck's Old Time Journal, Oct. 2011 Charles Payne held revolver in his toes, Mar. 5, 1903, CA Becker County (MN) Historical Soc. Newsletter, v.3n.2, Apr. 2003 Fred Kimes walked to school, froze toes and one of his ears, news note, 1894 DeKalb (IN) Diggins, v.17n.3, Fal. 2011 Genealogy tips from Grandma Tippie Toes, how to start Between Two Rivers (Elizabeth Twp. Hist. Soc., PA), Jul. 2012 George Davison baptism, 6 fingers and toes on each hand and foot, no eyes, 1776, Caunton, Eng. Nottinghamshire (Eng.) Family History Soc. Journal, v.14n.2, Apr. 2013 Harold Cash recollection of Doctor Daniel amputating a gangrenous toe, n.d., AR Searcy County (AR) Ancestor Information Exchange, v.21n.2, Sep. 2011 Harold William Heyen, age 8, loses three toes, 1936, IL Macoupin County (IL) Searcher, v.30n.4, Apr. 2010 Jesse Kinner kicked by cow, he kicked back and broke his toe, news note, 1949 Kinsman Courier (Coshocton Co. Chap., OH Gen. Soc.), v.39n.4, Win. 2016 John Ashmore given 36 lashes for tripping on the light fantastic toe, 1834 Rootes (Gold Coast Fam. Hist. Soc., Australia), n.106, Sep. 2012 Sarah Jenkins death notice, had new sets of teeth and toes, age 107, d. 1753, Corsham, Eng. Cleveland (Eng.) Fam. Hist. Soc. Journal, v.2n.6, Apr. 1984 Sylvester Sutton lost toe in gasoline engine, Toppenish Tribune excerpt, Aug. 2, 1916, WA Yakima Valley (WA) Genealogical Society Bulletin, v.50n.3, Sep. 2018 William and Robina Leslie family and their six toes on each foot, 1859+, Scotland; New Zealand Cleveland (Eng.) Fam. Hist. Soc. Journal, v.4n.3, Jul. 1989

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History Tidbits: One Breath at a Time--A Brief History of the Iron Lung by Allison DePrey Singleton

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The lack of ventilators has been making the news throughout the recent COVID-19 pandemic. What do we know about ventilators? What would have happened to our ancestors if this pandemic happened 100, 200, or 300 years ago? Let us explore a bit of the history with a focus on the Iron Lung. The reason will become apparent. People have always known that breathing is vital to life. Humanity needed a way to assist ill patients with breathing in order to combat a variety of diseases. As early as 1670, John Mayow, an English scientist, explored the concept of using negative pressure ventilation. A Scottish surgeon, W.A. Tossach, developed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, the first positive pressure ventilation technique. In 1776, John Hunter in England used double bellows as the first “ventilator” to resuscitate someone by blowing in and sucking out air. In 1832, Scottish physician John Dalziel published details of the first negative pressure ventilator. In the United States, Alfred E. Jones invented and patented a tank-type ventilator in 1864. A French physician, Eugene Joseph Woillez, designed a negative pressure tank ventilator called a “Spiroscope” in 1876. During the next forty years physicians and inventors struggled to find a ventilator that worked reliably and did not require manual operation. In 1918, a South African doctor, W. Steuart, made such a machine. It was the first to work through a variable speed motor and bellows to create the negative pressure ventilator, or an “Iron Lung.” Building upon these inventions and the ever-changing field of medicine, two professors of industrial hygiene at the Harvard School of Public Health, Philip Drinker and Louis Agassiz Shaw, Jr. invented the first widely used Iron Lung in 1928. An 8-year-old girl with polio became the first patient to use the machine. Comatose when initially put inside the machine, she was speaking less than a minute later. Although the young girl later died from pneumonia, the machine was considered a success. Different inventors created many variations of the machine in order to improve and reduce the cost of the Drinker and Shaw Iron Lung. One of the more famous variations was the Emerson Iron Lung, invented by John Haven Emerson in 1931. It was less expensive to manufacture, had a sliding bed, and had portal windows for attendants to adjust the patients. Australian brothers Edward and Don Both invented another variation of the iron lung in 1937. Their goal was to make a cheaper and lighter option than the Drinker and Shaw Iron Lung. They succeeded so well with their task that machines were often used within an hour of production. Positive pressure ventilation systems are more common today. That said, iron lungs were still in use even a year ago. Some people prefer the noninvasive iron lung to the more invasive positive pressure systems. Interestingly, several companies are looking into producing iron lungs to assist with the COVID-19 pandemic, including Hess Services, Inc. of Kansas. Breathing is so natural, we do not think of it. It is passive. We are only aware of breathing when it becomes difficult or during a breathing exercise such as meditation. Because of all the inventors named in this brief article and many more, we have a chance to continue breathing if we ever find it difficult. Science and modern medicine have brought us far. We thank all the men and women who continue to fight for people to breathe on their own. Braun, Norma MT. “Negative Pressure Noninvasive Ventilation (NPNIV): History, Rationale, and Application.” Edited by Robert C. Basner and Sairam Parthasarathy. Nocturnal Non-Invasive Ventilation: Theory, Evidence, and Clinical Practice. U.S. National Library of Medicine, October 1, 2015. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7122449/. Chapman, Gabby. “From Iron Lung to Independence.” National Museum of American History, July 8, 2015. https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/iron-lung-independence. “Emerson Iron Lung.” National Museum of American History. Accessed April 29, 2020. https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_728031. Funk, Hunter. “One Kansas Company Is Switching Gears to Make Iron Lung Ventilators.” KSN, April 11, 2020. https://www.ksn.com/news/one-kansas-company-is-switching-gears-to-make-iron-lungventilators/. Healey, John. "Both" wooden "Iron Lung", 1998. https://www.samhs.org.au/Virtual Museum/Medicine/Bothurinlung/bothironlung-netley.html. Iron Lung, November 1, 2005. http://historical.hsl.virginia.edu/ironlung/. “NMAH: Polio: The Iron Lung and Other Equipment.” NMAH | Polio: The Iron Lung and Other Equipment, February 1, 2005. https://amhistory.si.edu/polio/howpolio/ironlung.htm. Smith, Kiona N. “The Iron Lung Was Just An Engineer's Side Project.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, January 18, 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kionasmith/2019/12/12/the-iron-lung-was-just-an-engineers-side-project/#63c5038765ec.

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Library Catalog Insider--More on the Library’s Community Album by Kasia Young

*************************************** Hello friends! Take a moment and think back to the February issue of “Genealogy Gems,” where we talked about the Allen County Public Library’s Community Album. We hope that over the last couple of months, you have had a chance to explore the richness of resources that reside there. If you have been a frequent user of our digital collections site, you surely noticed that it got a makeover. We felt strongly that the new look enhanced the overall end user experience and made our collections main page more visually pleasing. We hope you agree! Besides the cosmetic changes, we also enabled a SAVE feature, which allows users to save images and export or share a link of those images. You will notice the SAVE option under, or next to, each image, depending on the kind of page view you are in (see bonus tip). To save an image, simply click SAVE. The button will update to say SAVED. If you want to un-save an image, just click on SAVED. The images are sorted in the order that they were saved. You are able to save up to 200 images to your SAVED ITEMS list. You are probably wondering where all those saved images are being stored. Images added to the SAVED ITEMS page are kept in the browser cache of the local device. To access the SAVED ITEMS list, navigate to either the bottom of the page, or the top right corner drop-down menu (located next to the search box), and look for the SAVED ITEMS link. Once on the SAVED ITEMS page, you have three options: you can either remove the selected items from the SAVED ITEMS page, build a permanent link to the selected items, or choose to save a plain text file or a simple HTML file, which can be emailed or shared to others. If you are working on a public computer we suggest that you clear all saved items before you leave the machine. As a reminder, to access Allen County Public Library Community Album, simply go to https://acplcms.wise.oclc.org/, select RESEARCH tab and click on COMMUNITY ALBUM. Bonus tip for May: Did you know that you can easily change the results page display of any of our digital collections? You can choose between list or grid view, adjust the results per page number (from 10 to 200), and even sort the results by various fields, like date or title. To switch from the grid view, which is the default setting for all our collections, simply click the square button with dots and lines on it, which is located on the top of the results page, between SORT BY and RESULTS PER PAGE options.

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Genealogy Center Virtual Programs

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This month the Genealogy Center started offering a wide variety of virtual programs via Zoom. Below are the latest virtual program offerings for the first part of May. Look to the Genealogy Center’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/GenealogyCenter) as well as the Center’s events calendar (www.genealogycenter.org/Events.aspx) for additional programs and for the links to the Zoom-based virtual programs listed below. Date and Time: Saturday, May 2, 2020, 2:30P Title: RESTORE Your Story Presenter: Rick Voight, co-founder of Vivid-Pix RESTORE Description: Vivid-Pix patented software revives records, documents and of course photographs. In this presentation, you will learn tips and tricks to restore and tell Your Story! Date and Time: Tuesday, May 5, 2020 at 2:30P Title: Learn to Build an Online Family Photo and Video Collection with Collectionaire Presenter: Stanley Kinsey Description: Have you ever wanted to organize your family's best memories and mementos all in one place so that you can easily find and share them with family and friends? These could include a child's best photos, artwork and recitals; your family's best photos together, best vacations, and home movies; or the life story and photos of a lost loved one. This presentation is about a new family web app called Collectionaire that does just that. The company will also give away coupons for discounts. Date and Time: Thursday, May 7, 2020 at 6:30P Title: Finding Your Story with BillionGraves Presenter: Cathy Wallace Description: If headstones could talk, they would have a lot of stories to tell. But they can't, so BillionGraves is the next best thing! BillionGraves is the world's largest GPS-linked cemetery data resource. As photos are taken with the BillionGraves app, each gravestone is automatically tagged with GPS coordinates. The data is then made readily available on BillionGraves’ website for genealogical research for millions of families around the globe for generations to come. Date and Time: Tuesday, May 12, 2020 at 2:30P Title: How to Interview Military Veterans Presenter: Kayleen Reusser Description: Are you looking to learn how to capture the stories of military members in your life? Join us on May 12th at 2:30 p.m. to learn how with Kayleen Reusser, who has interviewed hundreds of veterans. She has written 5 books containing dozens of accounts of men and women who served in the military 1941-1945. Her military stories have appeared in magazines, newspapers and books. Date and Time: Thursday, May 14, 2020 at 6:30P Title: Legalese for Genealogists Presenter: David Singleton Description: Does all of the legal jargon in your ancestor’s will or court record confuse you? This presentation may help solve these mysteries but will be Indiana specific on the history portion. Attorney David Singleton will present on many common legal terms with simple explanations and examples of where you might find them. He will also answer questions you may have on archaic legal terms you have discovered in your ancestors’ documents.* Please submit these terms to genealogy@acpl.info prior to the presentation.

Please note that there will be no legal advice given during this talk. The purpose of this presentation is solely to provide a general understanding of legal terms. Date and Time: Tuesday, May 19, 2020 at 2:30P Title: Put Your Research in Writing: Some Tips on Compiling a Genealogy Case Study Presenter: John Beatty Description: A "case study" is a question or problem that is addressed and resolved by targeted research. This class is aimed at the intermediate researcher and will walk through an actual case study and show how to write it using the Genealogical Proof Standard and other techniques. Writing helps all researchers to focus their research and prepares the way for composing an article or even a full-length book.

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Staying Informed about Genealogy Center Programming

*************************************** Do you want to know what we have planned? Are you interested in one of our events, but forget? We offer email updates for The Genealogy Center’s programming schedule. Don’t miss out! Sign up at http://goo.gl/forms/THcV0wAabB.

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Genealogy Center Social Media

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GenealogyCenter/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genealogycenter/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ACPLGenealogy

Blog: http://www.genealogycenter.org/Community/Blog.aspx

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/askacpl

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Driving Directions to the Library

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Wondering how to get to the library? Our location is 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the block bordered on the south by Washington Boulevard, the west by Ewing Street, the north by Wayne Street, and the east by the Library Plaza, formerly Webster Street. We would enjoy having you visit the Genealogy Center. To get directions from your exact location to 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, visit this link at MapQuest: http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&addtohistory=&address=900%20Web ster%20St&city=Fort%20Wayne&state=IN&zipcode=46802%2d3602&country=US&geodiff=1 >From the South Exit Interstate 69 at exit 302. Drive east on Jefferson Boulevard into downtown. Turn left on Ewing Street. The Library is one block north, at Ewing Street and Washington Boulevard. Using US 27: US 27 turns into Lafayette Street. Drive north into downtown. Turn left at Washington Boulevard and go five blocks. The Library will be on the right. >From the North Exit Interstate 69 at exit 312. Drive south on Coldwater Road, which merges into Clinton Street. Continue south on Clinton to Washington Boulevard. Turn right on Washington and go three blocks. The Library will be on the right. >From the West Using US 30: Drive into town on US 30. US 30 turns into Goshen Ave. which dead-ends at West State Blvd. Make an angled left turn onto West State Blvd. Turn right on Wells Street. Go south on Wells to Wayne Street. Turn left on Wayne Street. The Library will be in the second block on the right. Using US 24: After crossing under Interstate 69, follow the same directions as from the South. >From the East Follow US 30/then 930 into and through New Haven, under an overpass into downtown Fort Wayne. You will be on Washington Blvd. when you get into downtown. Library Plaza will be on the right.

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Parking at the Library

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At the Library, underground parking can be accessed from Wayne Street. Other library parking lots are at Washington and Webster, and Wayne and Webster. Hourly parking is $1 per hour with a $7 maximum. ACPL library card holders may use their cards to validate the parking ticket at the west end of the Great Hall of the Library. Out of county residents may purchase a subscription card with proof of identification and residence. The current fee for an Individual Subscription Card is $70. Public lots are located at the corner of Ewing and Wayne Streets ($1 each for the first two halfhours, $1 per hour after, with a $4 per day maximum) and the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Harrison Street ($3 per day). Street (metered) parking on Ewing and Wayne Streets. On the street you plug the meters 8am – 5pm, weekdays only. The meters take credit cards and charge at a rate of $1/hour. Street parking is free after 5 p.m. and on the weekends. Visitor center/Grand Wayne Center garage at Washington and Clinton Streets. This is the Hilton Hotel parking lot that also serves as a day parking garage. For hourly parking, 7am – 11 pm, charges are .50 for the first 45 minutes, then $1.00 per hour. There is a flat $2.00 fee between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m.

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Genealogy Center Queries

*************************************** The Genealogy Center hopes you find this newsletter interesting. Thank you for subscribing. We cannot, however, answer personal research emails written to the e-zine address. The department houses a Research Center that makes photocopies and conducts research for a fee. If you have a general question about our collection, or are interested in the Research Center, please telephone the library and speak to a librarian who will be glad to answer your general questions or send you a research center form. Our telephone number is 260-421-1225. If you’d like to email a general information question about the department, please email: Genealogy@ACPL.Info.

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Publishing Note

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This electronic newsletter is published by the Allen County Public Library's Genealogy Center, and is intended to enlighten readers about genealogical research methods as well as inform them about the vast resources of the Allen County Public Library. We welcome the wide distribution of this newsletter and encourage readers to forward it to their friends and societies. All precautions have been made to avoid errors. However, the publisher does not assume any liability to any party for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, no matter the cause. To subscribe to “Genealogy Gems,” simply use your browser to go to the website: www.GenealogyCenter.org. Scroll to the bottom, click on E-zine, and fill out the form. You will be notified with a confirmation email. If you do not want to receive this e-zine, please follow the link at the very bottom of the issue of Genealogy Gems you just received or send an email to kspears@acpl.lib.in.us with "unsubscribe ezine" in the subject line. Curt B. Witcher and John D. Beatty, CG, co-editors