August 2015

Genealogy Gems:

News from the Fort Wayne Library No. 138, August 31, 2015

In this issue:

Closed on September 25th for Professional Development Day

Pursue, Preserve, Present . . . Our Passion

“’Men and Arms:’ The Ulster Settlers, c. 1630”

Burned Counties: Allen County, Kentucky and Dinwiddie County, Virginia

Technology Tip of the Month--No More SkyDrive

Quick-Tip of the Month for Preservation--Preservation Tip of the Month: Paper Preservation Resources

Start a Family History Journey Summer Series--September Event

Start Planning Time In October For Family History Month!

Out & About

Area Calendar of Events

Driving Directions to the Library

Parking at the Library

Queries for The Genealogy Center

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Closed on September 25th for Professional Development Day

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The Genealogy Center and all Allen County Public Library locations will be closed Friday, September 25, 2015, for a day of staff development activities. We especially do not want our out-of-town patrons to make a trip to Fort Wayne to find the library closed. So mark your calendars – we don’t want to miss you!

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Pursue, Preserve, Present . . . Our Passion by Curt B. Witcher

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As you’re viewing this ezine, Labor Day is just a week away. That holiday often tempts us to take a moment to honor the nearly-past summer with recollections and musings. I hope the past several months have had awesome family-story moments for you--and maybe a family history field trip or two. As the waning days of summer turn into autumn, we have much about which to be excited. Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and the holiday season are all times when families gather to enjoy each other’s company and sharing the happenings of the past--recent or distant. I invite you to join me in committing to make 2015's autumn and winter holiday season full of family stories. Indeed, I invite you to take a three-pronged approach to your family history activities in the last third of this year. Those three prongs are pursue, preserve, and present. First, let’s commit to pursuing records, leads, and other information sources that would supplement our extant research, or verify and complement information we gathered over the first part of this year. I am often quoted as saying, “These are the best of times for genealogists!” And I truly believe they are. Best doesn’t mean the times are without challenges; but rather, best to me means that never before have we had so much information so readily available for us to do increasingly comprehensive research. Committing to pursuing necessarily means deploying all the technologies available to us to find records, images, and bibliographic databases (think library and archival catalogs) in order to discover the most robust stories about each of our ancestors. Too often I fear we deploy technology only to get record images online, and then expect to have those images automatically fully searchable and contexted for our specific ancestral families or family lines. The large information aggregators in the genealogy space have billions upon billions of searchable records online, yet there is an amazing amount of data still not available or discoverable online. Think iceberg--the smallest part of the iceberg above the water represents the body of searchable records and record images easily discoverable online. The largest part of the iceberg under the water represents all the records still waiting for discovery that are in libraries, archives, colleges and universities, other record and document repositories, and homes scattered around the world. So let’s pursue our ancestors by using the large information aggregators in the genealogy space as well as Google and the free discovery sites like the world’s largest online catalog , the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections   (where all kinds of hidden jewels await our exploration), the search portion of FamilySearch  where one will find nearly a quarter of a million searchable books, the world’s largest catalog of historical and genealogical materials, and a great information wiki, and of course your very own Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center catalog. I appreciate that many don’t like using online catalogs and finding aids because we are so used to getting right to the document or piece of information directly rather than being pointed to a path to obtain that data. I feel your pain when you say that online catalogs are clunky, inconsistent, less than intuitive and far, far from an Amazon, Zappos, or Google experience. I get it! However, I also get that with a bit of “playing” and practice, one can tease-out a lot of information about important family and local history data held by a particular repository. And while the prefect world would present all these documents online for our free use, in this “real” world you will want to look to engage “Ask Services” to electronically communicate with librarians and archivists about the data you are interested in accessing. So many more options are available today compared to just a few years ago. The second immensely important prong in our three-pronged approach to our family stories is to preserve the information we have been given and that which we have found. When we hear “preserve” or “preservation” we often think of taking good care of physical items like documents and photographs as well as family heirlooms, and that is certainly a part of preservation. I believe we need to think a little more broadly and a bit more robustly though when it comes to preserving our family stories. We must pay attention to all the information that resides exclusively in our minds and the minds of our living relatives. Most are familiar with the saying that when a person dies, a library is destroyed. Versions of that saying have survived generations because it is so true. Often called living memory, I fear we are so very casual in faithfully writing down stories we have heard, the happenings and personal encounters of our lives, and our thoughts and musings about events in our communities and around the world. There is way too much that lives only in our minds. We need to stop kidding ourselves about getting around to writing and/or recording that “someday.” Someday needs to be today. When we think about properly taking care of physical items, what are we really taking care of? Are we taking care to preserve a mess? Are we the only ones who could possibly make sense out of how our files are organized? Have we carefully scanned and stored our collections of photographs in multiple locations, but have allowed most of those collections to live unidentified? Are the family heirlooms of hair brushes, decorative sashes, military insignia, tie clips, hope-chests, quill pens, and berets all properly boxed in containers that minimize fluctuations in temperature and humidity, but are completely devoid of identification and personalization? Not long ago, a good friend of a recently deceased genealogist--a friend who also did genealogy and shared a couple family lines with the decedent--was simply aghast at how nearly completely useless her friend’s collection of documents really was because it wasn’t organized in a way that anyone else could use it. She was simply horrified at a lifetime’s worth of work meaning so little. How are our collections preserved? Creating order, and making that order obvious, is a consequential part of preserving. In strong and meaningful ways, preserving one’s family story is also about presenting or sharing that the story. And there are many ways to “present.” At family gatherings, share the stories you have discovered. Even if relatives are not interested in searching and finding with you, many are interested in hearing their history. Take the time and make the effort to determine who among your family members will be the curator of your research after you are gone--and then let him or her know in an official manner and spread that news to the rest of your family. More often than many would like to believe, if it is not clearly articulated ahead of time, those left to handle your genealogical research after your demise may not understand or appreciate its value. An estate sale may be the best fate you can expect in that case, with the landfill not far behind. Preserving one’s research and family stories is about making sure you specifically and purposely indicate what should happen to those important items. Remember that your Genealogy Center here at the Allen County Public Library welcomes contributions of your research and stories. Consider materials deposited with us as your gift to descendants of descendants you will never know, but who will hold you close because the part of you that you shared with them. Pursuing, preserving, and presenting—those three truly should represent our passion as family historians and family story-keepers.

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“’Men and Arms:’ The Ulster Settlers, c. 1630” by John D. Beatty, CG(sm)*

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When the English and Scottish began settling on estates in Ulster in the early seventeenth century, the law required that their landlords – the so-called planters or “undertakers” – have a convenient store of arms and be able to raise an army of men from their ranks in the event of an uprising. In order to document this civilian militia, the government appointed a muster-master in 1628, who began compiling lists of settlers and the types of arms they possessed. These lists, dating from 1629 to the spring of 1633, serve as a kind of census substitute for the population of the eight counties in Northern Ireland and are thus an important, though frequently overlooked, genealogical source for early modern Ireland. Although some of the muster lists had appeared in various editions for certain counties over the years, a definitive edition for all of Ulster was edited in a single volume by the late R. J. Hunter and published by the Ulster Historical Foundation in 2012 under the title, “‘Men and Arms:’ The Ulster Settlers, c. 1630” (Gc 941.6 H916me). The lists are divided into nine counties: Cavan, Armagh, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Londonderry, Antrim, Donegal, Down, and Monaghan. Each county is then divided by estate owner, and under the name of each is a numbered list of the men aged between 16 and 60 and the kind of arms they possessed, if any. No women or children are listed, and it is difficult to determine relationships from such scant information. Many of the enumerated men were poor and do not appear in other records, but their appearance in the muster can provide clues about a family’s possible residence, especially if a surname is not especially common. For example, I have been studying a Beatty family that lived in the vicinity of the parishes of Donaghcloney, Magheralin, and Dromore in County Down in the eighteenth century. Church records begin for the first two towns in the 1690s, and though spotty, document several Beatty families who may have been related. I have little prospect of going back further, given that the estate records of the Clanwilliam family, the principal land owner, are lost. However, we know that previous to Clanwilliam the lands were held by the Bishop of Dromore. Turning to the County Down section in the muster, I find under “The British of the Lord Bishop of Dromore dwelling on his land and in the town of Dunmoore, with others residing in the Lower Euvagh [Iveagh]” the name of Robert Beaty, listed under “snaphances only.” The list provides me with a clue of a possible ancestor who lived in the area many decades before the church records begin. R. J. Hunter, the editor of this edition, was a careful historian who annotated the lists with additional references, often providing information about relationships that he had gleaned from other contemporary sources. In addition to the extensive footnotes, the book is fully indexed. It can be helpful to use this volume in conjunction with the published 1641 Irish depositions that I wrote about in the February issue of “Genealogy Gems.” Scots-Irish genealogists have precious few sources available from the seventeenth century, but this source remains one of the essentials.

“CG” & “Certified Genealogist” are service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists®, and are used by authorized associates following periodic, peer-reviewed competency evaluations. Certificate No. 1050, awarded 8 August 2014; expires 8 August 2019.

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Burned Counties: Allen County, Kentucky and Dinwiddie County, Virginia By Sara Allen

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Courthouses throughout the United States have suffered various disasters such as fire, flood, or looting over the years. Depending on the location and the disaster, these events may have caused the loss of some, many, most, or all of the records – including court, land, tax, probate and vital records – that were stored in that particular courthouse. Genealogists may believe they cannot overcome the obstacle of a burned or destroyed courthouse in their research; however, this is not always the case. Remember that at least four different categories of records will still exist for a burned county:

• Courthouse records that survived the disaster or were reconstructed,

• State records stored elsewhere,

• Federal records stored elsewhere, and

• County, city and township records stored elsewhere, such as newspapers, histories, maps, compiled genealogies, church, funeral home, cemetery and business records, and more. To locate records that exist for a burned county, speak to local and state librarians and archivists; view websites of county offices, libraries and the USGenWeb project; check library catalogs for published and unpublished materials about the county; and follow up on all leads. Two counties where extensive work has been done to document record availability, reconstruct lost records, and increasingly, post information online to help bridge gaps created by the courthouse disasters are Allen County, Kentucky, and Dinwiddie County, Virginia. The Allen County, Kentucky, courthouse burned in 1902, but some records survived and were encased in plastic, while others were recreated or reconstructed. The USGenWeb site for Allen County and another Allen County website include many reconstructed and abstracted records, as well as advice on where to find other records. See them at www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kyallen/ and www.allencountyky.com. For example, information on the websites include abstracts from 1815-1831 deed books, which were not impacted by the fire. Also included are abstracts of damaged fragments of an 1890 court order book. Since Allen County was formed in 1815 from parts of Barren and Warren Counties, records about some early Allen County families can be found in those counties. Barren County marriages from 1800 to 1816 have been posted on the Allen County site, while other Barren and Warren County materials are online at their respective USGenWeb websites. Another county with a stellar website for a burned county is Dinwiddie County, Virginia, whose courthouse suffered losses in the Civil War, including records from 1752 to 1833. The Dinwiddie Clerk of the Circuit Court has been compiling information, indexes, and digitized records online to produce a veritable treasure-trove for researchers studying this area. See www.dinwiddieva.us/index.aspx?nid=153. Examples of the types of records available include digitized state land tax records from 1782 to 1875, and a land surveyor’s book for 1752 to 1865. The state tax records can help substitute for the lost county deed records by showing who paid taxes on how much land for each year, and names of neighbors. The surveyor’s book shows land surveys (metes and bounds) and includes names of neighbors also. One book of court orders for 1789 to 1791, digitized and posted online, was discovered elsewhere after the fire and returned to the county. Records that post-date the fire have also been digitized and put online, including a marriage index from 1863 to 2000, and court order books covering roughly 1842 to 1909. After perusing these websites and others like them, don’t forget to look for print materials, manuscripts, periodicals, and other materials about the county in libraries, archives, and record offices. By using available resources effectively, many burned courthouse problems can be solved or resolved.

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Technology Tip of the Month--No More SkyDrive by Kay Spears ***************************************

I don't know if you noticed it, but I did – when I try to save a file in Microsoft 2013 Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, and I do my regular "Save As," I am directed to a page whose very first option is SkyDrive. My first question when I saw this was, "What is SkyDrive?" and then I wondered why that should by my first choice. This may come as a surprise to you, but I was irritated. My next question was, "How do I get rid of SkyDrive?" For those of you who want to know what SkyDrive, is here is the definition from Webopedia.com: “SkyDrive is a personal cloud storage service from Microsoft that enables customers to store, synchronize and access their files across Windows PC and Mac OS X computers and laptops as well as mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, including Windows Phone 7 and 8 devices and Apple iOS-powered iPhones and iPads.” Because most of my work involves saving to my computer, flash drives, and external drives, I prefer instead to see Computer at the top of my list of storage options. Here’s what I did to make that happen: In File>Options> Remove the check next to “Show additional places for saving” and check “Save to computer by default.” I believe you have to do this individually for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. Now my top choices are Recent Documents and Computer. For me, this is better time management and alleviates the chance of saving a file to the wrong place. Next month: A minor Mac - Windows hiccup.

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Quick-Tip of the Month for Preservation--Paper Preservation Resources

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No matter where our journey in search of our ancestors takes us, there is one thing nearly every genealogist has in common – we collect paper! Even those who have gone mostly digital probably have some precious papers that need to be preserved for future generations – ancestral photographs, certificates, diplomas, and military discharge papers that have been handed down through the family, and more. The genealogy Facebook groups are full of questions about how to preserve important papers. Information about this subject can be found online, and your local library probably has resources you can consult as well. Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet is an online resource that can help you find information about preservation of paper, as well as of other types of heirlooms and artifacts. See the category Preservation and Conservation at http://cyndislist.com/preservation/. The Library of Congress also has information on paper preservation: http://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/paper.html If you are interested in finding a book on the subject, check your local library’s catalog and use search terms like “paper preservation.” Some of the volumes available in The Genealogy Center include: “How to Protect Valuable Family Treasures: Paper, Books and Photographs,” 929 M96h. “Preservation and Conservation for Libraries and Archives,” 929 B214p. “Practical Preservation: Simple Steps You Can Take to Protect Historic Documents, Photographs and Books,” 929 P875hs. “Scrapbook Storytelling – Save Family Stories and Memories with Photos, Journaling and Your Own Creativity,” 929 SL13s. “An Ounce of Preservation: A Guide to the Care of Papers and Photographs,” 929 T88o. Additional copies of this title are available to be checked out from Reader’s Services and the Hessen Cassel branch with the call number 025.84 T88o. “A Preservation Guide: Saving the Past and the Present for the Future,” 929 SA18p.

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Start a Family History Journey Summer Series--September Event

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Accessing your family information from anywhere in the world is a huge benefit in continuing to pursue your research, and that is a benefit of having your information in a genealogical software program that you can consult via computer or mobile device. Join us for an overview of genealogical software during the last program of our Summer Series: “Beginners Guide to Genealogical Software,” on Saturday, September 26, 2015, at 9:30 a.m. in Meeting Room A. In this session, you can explore some of the best genealogical software packages and learn how to get your data into virtual format. Bring your experiences with, and questions about, your favorite programs to share with your fellow family historians. For more information, see the brochure at http://www.genealogycenter.org/docs/GettingStarted2015. To register for this free event, call 260-421-1225 or email Genealogy@ACPL.Info.

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Start Planning Time In October For Family History Month!

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The Genealogy Center is planning a month's worth of activities for family historians, including an evening of storytelling, classes on using The Center’s subscription databases, DNA exploration, technology, and other resources to explore. One-on-one consultations, Midnight Madness extended research hours on Friday, October 30, and a day-long workshop featuring Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective on Saturday, October 24, are just some of the events planned for the month. Check our website for the Family History Month calendar!

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Out & About

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Curt Witcher September 17-18, 2015 2015 New York State Family History Conference, Syracuse/Liverpool Holiday Inn, 441 Electronics Parkway, Liverpool, NY. Thursday presentations: “Keys to Our Success in These ‘Best of Times’” and “Succession Planning: Growing Tomorrow’s Leaders.” Friday presentation: “Fingerprinting Our Families: Using Ancestral Origins as a Genealogical Research Key.” Melissa Tennant September 17, 2015 Senior Information Fair, Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, IN, 11 a.m., Main Library Computer Classroom. Presentation: “Telling the Stories of Our Lives: Starting Your Family History.”

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Area Calendar of Events

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Miami Indian Heritage Days 5 September 2015 – Chief Richardville House, 5705 Bluffton Road, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1 to 4 p.m. “Miami Harvest: Edible and Usable Plant and Materials.” ACGSI Meeting 9 September 2015 – Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza, 7 p.m. Curt Witcher will present “Effective Use of an Ever-Changing Genealogy Center.” Be a Tourist in Your Own Hometown at the Old Fort 13 September 2015 – The Old Fort, 1201 Spy Run Ave., Fort Wayne, Indiana, noon to 5 p.m. ACGSI Genealogy Technology Group 16 September 2015 – Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 7 p.m. Last Saturdays 27 September 2015 – History Center, 302 East Berry St., Fort Wayne, Indiana, noon to 5 p.m. Half-price admission.

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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 102. 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 112. 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 half-hours, $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. It is free to park on the street after 5pm 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 5pm and 11pm.

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Genealogy Center Queries

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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 e-zine" in the subject line. Dawne Slater, CG & Curt Witcher, co-editors