May 2011

Genealogy Gems:

News from the Fort Wayne Library No. 87, May 31, 2011

In this issue:

A Recipe for Writing

Indiana Amish Directory

Ohio Public Land Records

Quick-Tip of the Month for Preservation--Surface Cleaning Documents

One-On-One Consultations

Fort Wayne Ancestry Day 2011

August Tree Talks: Kentucky Research

Out and About

Area Calendar of Events

Driving Directions to the Library

Parking at the Library

Queries for The Genealogy Center

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A Recipe for Writing by Curt B. Witcher

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Many find writing a challenging endeavor, yet most know how important it is for us to write our stories. The details of our lives in our own words are among the very best things we can offer to our children and their children. Our stories are truly the way we can remain a part of their lives long after we are gone. Quite simply, the value of our stories in our own words cannot be overstated. As the passing of Memorial Day weekend heralds the unofficial start of summer, and thoughts of cookouts and family reunions fill our heads, we might use these summer culinary rituals to create some writing opportunities for ourselves. It has been articulated many times that often writing is done most successfully in small, manageable pieces rather than by trying to find the time and energy to write an entire chapter, or heaven forbid, an entire book. So why not use the event of a holiday cookout to record some of your memories? Do you remember the first time your family had a summer holiday cookout? Was the event a Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, family reunion, or church picnic? Were you fascinated by watching your mom or dad, an older sibling, or perhaps your grandparents, start the fire? In your mind, can you still smell that fire? What did you eat? What are your favorite cookout foods? Do you remember the most recent family cookout? What‛s the most bizarre thing you‛ve ever cooked, or eaten, at a holiday cookout? Begin writing your vignette by detailing the context for the cookout. Why were you cooking out? Who was there? Why did the people at your cookout decide to come—someone's birthday? a holiday? a reunion? Where did you have the cookout? What did you eat? What did you do before and after the meal? Answering a few simple questions can really put one well on the way to writing a memorable piece, particularly if attention is paid to describing the oft overlooked details. Talk about the cool, creamy coleslaw; describe the pulsing orange, yellow and white charcoal embers; recount how evening brought the waves on the lake to a still, glassy surface while your roasting marshmallows caught fire if you held them too close to the fire--and that you didn‛t really mind because the smores still tasted mighty fine. Another way to begin creating your vignettes is to fashion stories around the actual recipes you use with cookouts and other family gatherings. Where did they come from? a family member? a cousin‛s cookbook? That special “marvelous mashed-potatoes” recipe in our household dates back two generations on my in-laws side of the family. It wouldn‛t be a holiday without that side dish (which for many in my family is a main dish!). That special mustard, spicy sauce, pepper and ketchup rub for grilling chicken came into existence years ago when two very young sons were just having fun mixing things together, secretly hoping for something more than grease and fat to spark the grill‛s fire. Simply going through your recipe box can spark some great memories from which you can cook-up some wonderful family vignettes! Give it a try--it might be just as enjoyable as some of the terrific cookouts you‛ve experienced over the years.

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Indiana Amish Directory by Dawne Slater-Putt, CG

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Those who have family connections to the Amish in northern Indiana may find the “Indiana Amish Directory: Elkhart, LaGrange and Noble Counties, 2007” (GC 977.2 M6128IB) an invaluable source. Compiled by Jerry E. Miller with the help of his immediate family and others, the directory was created to provide a reliable source of birth, marriage and death information for the Amish church districts in the community, along with accurate addresses, home sites and school and cemetery locations. The volume includes some 3,900 families in 131 church districts. For each family, the following information is given: address, husband‛s name and occupation, wife‛s maiden name, the names of subsequent spouses if applicable, marriage date, husband‛s and wife‛s dates of birth and of death, if applicable, parents‛ names for husband and wife, including mothers‛ maiden names, and children‛s names with birth date, death date if applicable, marriage partner, and place of residence. The children‛s names also include a code indicating whether they are still living at home with the parents; married, Amish and living within the community; married, Amish and living in another community; no longer Amish, with the name of the marriage partner and address given; or single but not living at home with the parents. “Indiana Amish Directory” also includes a history of the Anabaptist faith written by the late Eli Gingerich in 1970, occupational statistics, maps showing schools and cemeteries, diagrams showing the location of homes of community members, and a list of present and past ministers of the community with their years of birth and death, migration information and sometimes father‛s and grandfather‛s names if those men also were ministers. A search for “Amish Directory” in The Genealogy Center‛s catalog returned 27 “hits,” including additional years‛ directories for Elkhart, LaGrange and Noble counties, as well as directories for Allen County, Indiana and vicinity; Adams County, Indiana; Nappanee and Kokomo, Indiana; Geauga County, Ohio; Holmes County, Ohio and vicinity; Lancaster and Chester Counties, Pennsylvania; Mifflin and Juniata Counties, Pennsylvania; multiple counties in Pennsylvania with St. Mary‛s County, Maryland; Arthur, Illinois; Iowa, Johnson and Washington Counties, Iowa; the Michigan Amish Directory and the Aylmer, Ontario, Amish Directory. Some Amish directories are also available for purchase at  and . Amish directories include a wealth of family information. For those researching members of this relatively small population segment in a recent time period, locating an applicable Amish directory may be of great assistance. [*“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.]

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Ohio Public Land Records by John D. Beatty

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The sale of public land in Ohio has a complex history, and no single source lists all of the original purchasers. Many genealogists are familiar with the online database of General Land Office Records at , which indexes public land sales in various states and includes images of the original land grant certificates. While Ohio is represented, the database does not contain the names of those who bought land on credit before 1820. The records of Ohio‛s public land sales, including those omitted from the GLO database, are available on microfilm in The Genealogy Center in a series titled “Ohio Land Records” (cabinet 80). The set includes records of the Virginia Military District, as well as the land offices at Cincinnati, Chillicothe, Marietta, Steubenville, and Zanesville. The Virginia Military District comprised a large, irregularly-shaped block of land north of the Ohio River between the Little Miami and Scioto rivers. Surveyed through a system of metes and bounds, it was reserved by Virginia to pay its Revolutionary War soldiers with bounty land warrants. Many of the soldiers who received the initial bounties later sold or reassigned their claims to others. These reassignments can be found in the records of this district. The distribution of land proceeded differently at the federal land offices, where land was offered for public sale after a new rectangular survey. Purchasers could buy on credit at $2 per acre, though any tract not completely paid for within a year could be offered to others. Land grant records can sometimes provide important genealogical clues. Purchasers usually provided their addresses, and while these were often in Ohio, they will occasionally list some other place outside the state. Sometimes, members of the same family purchased land jointly, allowing one to speculate on possible relationships not found in other records. Thus, when Andrew and John W. Edgar purchased land jointly in Champaign County at the Cincinnati Land Office on 10 October 1811, the resulting record leads one to speculate that they may have been brothers, even though the documents do not spell out their relationship. Types of records featured on the microfilms include Homestead Entries, Registers of Certificates, Tract Books, and Auditor‛s Records. To find whether an ancestor purchased land on credit and was not included in the GLO database, one should consult Ellen T. and David A. Berry‛s three-volume “Early Ohio Settlers” (GC 977.1 B45e, B45ea, and B45eb). These volumes present the records by land office and provide indexes of names, sometimes in more than one alphabetical sequence. Volume one includes land sales in southeastern Ohio as recorded at the Marietta Land Office in Washington County. Volume two contains an index to purchasers at the Cincinnati Land Office in southwestern Ohio, while volume three includes purchases made in eastern and east-central Ohio through the Steubenville and Zanesville offices. Grants in the Virginia Military District are indexed in Clifford Neal Smith‛s “Federal Land Series” (GC 973.004 Sm5f). Researchers should check all of these volumes first before examining the microfilms. The Genealogy Center‛s Microtext Catalog provides a detailed listing of the microfilm set, showing the land office or district, record type, and inclusive dates found on each roll of film. A helpful search strategy is to identify the date of an ancestor‛s purchase and then search the records of purchases for that date. If you have an ancestor who purchased federal land in Ohio or received military bounty land for service in the Revolutionary War, these records are well worth examining.

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Quick-Tip of the Month for Preservation--Surface Cleaning Documents by Curt B. Witcher

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Memorial Day weekend often kicks-off a summer of family gatherings and reunions. These gatherings increasingly find families sharing information and documents about their ancestors. Some of these documents may not have been stored in the most ideal conditions and will need to be cleaned-up for proper storage and preservation. The Alabama State Archives has a well-written, easy to understand and easy to implement set of instructions on their website for those interested in properly surface cleaning a document.  Some of the highlights are summarized in the following. Cleaning documents can be time consuming if done properly, so it shouldn‛t be a task one is trying to accomplish quickly. Cleaning methods should be gentle to avoid causing damage. Cleaning always begins with the gentlest method, brushing, and progresses to more aggressive methods. For brushing, begin with a clean work surface covered with a large sheet of paper. Wear a clean, white cotton glove on one hand to hold the document in place during cleaning. Various tools may be employed: long-bristled, soft brushes; dry-cleaning pads; and vinyl erasers. If a document is very large, use weights to hold it in place during cleaning. Use soft, long-bristled brushes as a first cleaning step. White bristles are best, because it is easy to see when they are dirty and need to be washed. Begin in the center of the document and brush surface dirt toward the edges. Continue this process over the entire document. Many times, brushing is the only cleaning method necessary. If dirt remains and the document is strong enough, use a dry cleaning pad to remove more unwanted particles. Dry cleaning pads are small bags of art gum eraser particles. Deposit the eraser particles onto the document by squeezing and kneading the pad. Squeeze a small number of particles onto the dirty part of the document. Then use the tips of the middle and index fingers to gently rub the particles in a circular motion. The eraser particles darken as they pick up loose dirt. Carefully but thoroughly brush the eraser particles from the document so that they do not adhere to it. If this method does not remove sufficient dirt, use a Magic Rub eraser. Magic Rub erasers only should be used as a last resort. Clean only the portion of the document containing the surface dirt. Use short, light, one-directional strokes to remove the dirt. Brush the particles away before moving on to another area of the document. Because this cleaning method is more abrasive than previous methods described, take care to avoid damaging the document's surface. If surface dirt cannot be removed by a Magic Rub eraser, leave the document as is. Most all of one‛s cleaning products can be purchased at art supply stores.

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One-On-One Consultations

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The Genealogy Center is offering a new monthly program: 30-minute “One-on-One Consultations” with a staff member! Consultations are held on the fourth Wednesday of each month, from 2 pm to 4 pm. Just contact us by email at Genealogy@ACPL.Info and provide a detailed summation of your research quandary, and indicate which fourth Wednesday works best for you. Based on your research challenge, a staff member will be selected, and a date and time established. Space is limited with this popular program, so contact us in advance to insure you get the date you need. If you have questions, contact us at Genealogy@ACPL.Info, or call 260-421-1225.

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Fort Wayne Ancestry Day 2011

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The Genealogy Center is pleased to announce that the experts at Ancestry.com are coming to Fort Wayne July 22 and 23, 2011 to share their knowledge and expertise with you! The fun and learning will start Friday night, July 22, 2011 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., when you can pick up your name tag, handout materials, and chat with the experts at the Fort Wayne Hilton Atrium. The actual classes will start Saturday morning, July 23, 2011 at the Grand Wayne Center, which is connected to the Fort Wayne Hilton. The schedule for that Saturday includes the following classes. 9 a.m.--Insider Search Tips for Ancestry.com 10:15 a.m.--How to Find Civil War Roots at Ancestry.com. 11:15 a.m.--Lunch break: Catch a bite at restaurants nearby and/or talk with the experts 1 p.m.--Hidden Treasures of The Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne 2:15 p.m.--A Dozen Ways to Jumpstart Your Family History Project 3:30 p.m.--Ask The Experts Panel The cost for the full day's classes, held at the Grand Wayne Center, right across from the library, is just $20. For more information and to register, click http://fortwayneancestryday.eventbrite.com/. Register for this event today! Don't miss this wonderful opportunity to join us for Ancestry Day!

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August Tree Talks: Kentucky Research

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Our Tree Talks offering for August will be "Beginning Kentucky Research at The Genealogy Center," presented by Delia Bourne, on Saturday August 27, 2011, from 10A to 11A in Meeting Room A. Many of our ancestral families passed through Kentucky, staying for a generation or two before moving on to points north, south and west. This lecture will be an overview of records and collections to aid one in best utilizing The Genealogy Center's Kentucky sources. For more information, or to register for this free program, call 260-421-1225, or send us an email at Genealogy@ACPL.Info.

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Out and About

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Curt Witcher June 11, 2011, Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, Marriott Los Angeles Burbank Airport Hotel, 2500 Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA, 10 a.m.: “Fingerprinting Our Families: Using Ancestral Origins as a Genealogical Research Key” and 7 p.m. banquet: “The High Tech and High Touch of 21st Century Genealogy.” June 12, 2011, Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, Marriott Los Angeles Burbank Airport Hotel, 2500 Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA, 10 a.m.: “An Ancestor‛s Death--A Time for Reaping.”

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Area Calendar of Events

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Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana (ACGSI) June 8, 2011--Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana. 6:00 p.m. Annual Dinner & 35th Anniversary Celebration, 7 p.m. program: Curt Witcher will present: “35 Years of the Allen County Genealogical Society: A Celebration of Coral and Jade.” Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society, 302 East Berry, Ft. Wayne, IN June 5, 2011, 2 p.m.--Dan McCain will present “Allen County‛s Unique Landscape, from the Glacial Age to Today.”

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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. Steve Myers & Curt Witcher, co-editors