November 2014

Genealogy Gems:

News from the Fort Wayne Library No. 129, November 30, 2014

In this issue:

Giving . . .

Marching On . . .

Archives of Maryland Germans from Russia

Technology Tip of the Month--More from the Big PowerPoint Book: The Difference Between Transition and Animation

Quick-Tip of the Month for Preservation--Consider Family History-Related Gifts this Holiday Season – Part II

WinterTech Time!

Area Calendar of Events

Driving Directions to the Library

Parking at the Library

Queries for The Genealogy Center

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Giving . . . by Curt B. Witcher

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So, are you stuffed? No, not with turkey, stuffing, and all the legacy dishes and other fixings that may have covered your Thanksgiving-day tables; rather, is your mind stuffed to overflowing with stories you shared at those Thanksgiving Day get-togethers? Are you filled with joy and delight from your experiences of sharing with family and friends on the National Day of Listening the Friday after Thanksgiving? (Black Friday--what's that?!) This time of year is always exciting for me because of the numerous wonderful opportunities there are to discover new stories and renew our recollections of old stories and items of legacy lore that that exist in each of our families. In the next month to six weeks, collectively we will have many, many thousands of opportunities to enjoy stories. Give of your time to listen and tell—listen to stories from family members young and old (all have so much to share) and share your memories and stories. There is no better gift, no more appreciated gift than the giving of your time. And there are more opportunities to give. This coming Tuesday is the third annual Giving Tuesday, a day dedicated to giving back. From www.GivingTuesday.org, “It’s a simple idea. Just find a way for your family, your community, your company or your organization to come together to give something more.” While there are many community-wide, and even national giving opportunities, and the “official giving day movement” would like you to climb on to one of its projects, you can make of this day whatever you would like. I encourage you to make it your day, your way. The whole idea is simply to give. This concept has tremendous appeal for me, especially when I observe the annual obsession with spending ourselves further into debt and the absolute craziness of getting those important people in our lives things they may not really want, and more likely, may not even need. The experts at Gallup indicate adults will spend an average of $720 on gifts this year. What would happen if we halved the amount we spend on “things,” and committed to spending $360 dollars on projects and activities of lasting value? You and I can start that movement, and it would have immediate and lasting effects. If you are as passionate as I am about the critical importance of family history in our lives, our communities, and our country, you likely will be looking for opportunities in the genealogy space to which you can devote the half of your “expected holiday spending.” And there are many. A few rather well-known, larger causes include the Federation of Genealogical Societies’ initiative to preserve the War of 1812 pension files and supporting the endowment funds of large family history research centers such as The Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Supporting the “Preserve the Pensions” program of the Federation not only helps researchers, but such support also works toward putting 7.2 million pages of documents in every classroom in America! Teachers at all grade levels can bring otherwise non-engaging history lessons to life by using real documents that evidence the lives of real people. Supporting the “Preserve the Pensions” initiate can be done by going to the program URL, www.PreserveThePensions.org, and clicking on the “Donate Now” button toward the bottom of the page. Public libraries, archives, and record centers all over the country are in need of our support to preserve and make historical records available for research. It’s often difficult and challenging work to marshal resources necessary to do that essential work, particularly when the general public is given, often falsely and misleadingly, “either-or” choices, e.g., police and fire protection or preserving historical documents. Find your favorite genealogy research facility and support that organization with some of your treasure. Though the form and the process are a bit long, you can support The Genealogy Center’s endowment fund here in Fort Wayne by going to the following URL executing the steps below. www.ACPL.info/home/aboutus/donations Click on “Donate to the ACPL Foundation” In the first box/field, enter the amount you wish to donate. (Every dollar is great appreciated.) In the second box/field, “Gift Designation,” choose the “Genealogy Endowment Fund.” In the third box/field, “Department or Branch Designee,” choose “Genealogy Center.” The rest of that page does not need to be filled in if you’re not making a gift in memory of someone. Click on “Next” in the green field at the bottom of that webpage. On the second webpage, called “Donor Information,” all boxes/fields need to be filled-in. Next a confirmation webpage in presented. If all the keyed data is accurate, proceed to the next webpage. The last webpage presents you with the secure opportunity to provide your credit card information. Finish by clicking on “Process Donation.” Giving dollars and cents is not the only one way of contributing. Equally important ways of giving include giving our time and our talents. There is so much work to be done in the genealogy and local history spaces--whether it’s indexing, abstracting, transcribing, or image capture. There are thousands of pages of war letters (to and from the war front) on GenealogyCenter.org that need transcribing. Also on our website are thousands of African American home-going programs that should be indexed. We have hundreds of letters from twentieth century war times that need to be carefully unfolded, preserved in acid free folders, and scanned for online presentation. We have more than 180 gigabytes of scanned diary pages kept by a Fort Wayne resident in the early to midtwentieth century that are in need of way-pointing to make the information they contain discoverable when presented online. I am confident that you will find important giving opportunities in every community where you look. Join me in creating a new giving tradition. Let’s give of our time to both listen to and tell our family stories during these holiday weeks and into the New Year. And let’s give of our treasure and time to causes and activities that promote preservation of and access to historical documents.

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Marching On . . .

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Earlier this year, we committed to marking each month from Memorial Day through Veterans Day by remembering to post at least a couple of new data sets on “Our Military Heritage.” It was our hope that this commitment might entice all of our readers to do something each month to remember and honor those family members who served in the military, living and deceased. We also invited you to share images and data with us as one step in helping ensure that the service of all our military ancestors would not be forgotten. A number of you have shared information--thank you. While we did not get all of the contributions posted on our website yet, please know how grateful we are. Three new data sets were added to “Our Military Heritage” this month: 1. A sixteen-page Civil War pension file for Stephen A. Hibbs of the 7th Iowa infantry was posted. It is an example of how much information can be in a rejected pension file, and it can be found at: www.GenealogyCenter.info/military/civilwar/search_stephenhibbs.php 2. The Korean War records and documents of Alvin J. Kleber were posted. The seventy-three images include a number of photographs, documents, newspapers accounts, and other records. A link to this collection can be found at: www.GenealogyCenter.info/military/koreanwar/search_kleberkorea.php 3. World War II Images of Samuel L. Catanzaro were recently contributed and posted over this past weekend. A link to these images can be found at: www.GenealogyCenter.info/military/wwii/search_samuelcatanzaro.php

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Archives of Maryland By John D. Beatty, CG(sm)*

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Maryland’s historical records are among the best of any state and survive from the seventeenth century. If you have ancestors from this state or colony, you will find a plentiful supply of records and record transcripts in print, both at the state and the county level. One of the most important resources is the “Archives of Maryland.” This source is available in its original multi-volume print set in two series (GC 975.2 Ar2 and Ar21), as well as online at the Maryland State Archives site in a greatly expanded format with a fully-searchable keyword index: http://aomol.msa.maryland.gov/html/index.html. Most researchers will want to use the latter version because it is free and easy to use. The “Archives of Maryland” appeared in print in two series. The first series consisted of 72 volumes published between 1883 and 1972, while a second so-called New Series began in 1990 under the editorship of Edward Papenfuse. The volumes contained full transcripts of various record series in the state archives, which were published in clusters of volumes as they were completed rather than sequentially. These series include the Proceedings of the Provincial Court, 1636-1770; Proceedings of the Provincial Court, 1637-1683; Proceedings of the General Assembly, 1637-1774; Journals and Proceedings of the Council of Safety, 1775-1777; Journals and Correspondence of the State Council, 1777-1793; Muster Rolls of Maryland Troops in the Revolutionary War; Proceedings of the Court of Chancery and various county courts; and the correspondence of Gov. Horatio Sharpe, 1753-1771. The New Series includes a list of public officials. All of these volumes are superseded by the online version, which has full name and keyword access and a glossary of historical terms, with well over 700 volumes that include probate records, land records, maps, local county court records, slave manumission records, and certificates of freedom among a myriad of others sources. Why should a genealogist care about these state-level records? First and foremost, they did not preserve information about only the wealthy. Anyone who appeared in court in Maryland for any sort of criminal offense, from bastardy to theft to indebtedness, will likely make an appearance in the volumes. Wills, depositions, and other records often appear in full transcript form. The records are rich with the social and cultural history of Maryland, especially in the colonial period. Consider, for example, the case of Mary Beasley, convicted of committing fornication and having an illegitimate child in 1732 and convicted again for doing so in 1734, for which the court ordered her to receive “twenty five lashes well laid on her bare back till the blood appear” (volume 567, page 506). In another example, Sarah Saunders of Somerset County gave a deposition in February 1690/1 in which she testified that her cousin, Thomas Oxford of Mattapony Hundred, tried to rape her on two occasions, once prior and once after her marriage to John Saunders (volume 191, page 40). A month later Sarah wrote her will and mentioned her kinswoman Mary Beazely, who was then living with Oxford (volume 405, page 80). Google searches with names in quotations and the word “Maryland” will sometimes bring up references to names within the volumes. The above references are but a small sampling of what one can find in the “Archives of Maryland.” The series remains an essential tool for research, especially for the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but increasingly also for some later periods.

“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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Germans from Russia by Sara Allen

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Those seeking elusive immigrant ancestors should use every tool available in their arsenal to achieve success in their search, including joining genealogical special interest groups or organizations devoted to the ethnic group or country of origin of their forebears. Advantages of connecting with these types of groups include networking with others, sharing knowledge, taking advantage of research already completed by others, and encouraging each other in the journey. For instance, consider those of German ethnicity, whose ancestors emigrated from current or former Russian lands. There are numerous organizations and groups dedicated to this seemingly small segment of the population, some of which are general groups, while others are subdivided further by specific regions within Russia or North America and/or religious background. One broad-based group is the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia which organizes regional membership chapters & village coordinators; staffs a research library that allows interlibrary loan of some items; hosts conventions; publishes books and periodicals; offers research and translation services; and more, all detailed on the group’s robust website at www.ahsgr.org. Online digitized material on the website includes family group sheets of organization members, obituaries, German origins, ship passenger lists and more. The group’s quarterly publication, “Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia,” includes material on many informative and specialized topics. For instance, the spring 2014 issue contains articles on “History of Shcherbakovka Colony;” “Russian Germans in ‘The Labor Army;” and “Saratov Region State Archive Documents on the History of Volga Region Foreign Colonists’ Families and Genealogical Inquiries Execution Technique.” Issues of this periodical from 1999 and prior are available on the society’s website. All issues are available in print here at The Genealogy Center at call number, 947 AM35j or on the unbound periodicals shelves. Another similar group is the Germans from Russia Heritage Society, whose website is at www.grhs.org. A group centered on emigrants from a particular region of Russia is the Bukovina Society of the Americas, which is focused on those who lived in the former Austro-Hungarian region of Bukovina, now divided between the countries of Romania and Ukraine. The ethnic groups that lived in that region included Armenians, Hungarians, Poles, Romanians, Ukrainians (or Ruthenians), and Germans. The group’s website is at www.bukovinasociety.org, and its periodical is called “The Bukovina Society of the Americas Newsletter.” The newsletter is available at The Genealogy Center at call number, 929.19 B869ba. A few early years of the society’s publication were called “The Bulletin” and are available at call number, 929.19 B869b. On the website are the following research helps: researchers’ contact information, resources about families and villages in Bukovina, and historical maps. Among the many similar groups devoted to specific regions in Russia is the Glückstal Colonies Research Association, which can be found at the following website: www.glueckstal.net. Finally there are organizations or groups that revolve around Germans of a particular religious affiliation who lived in Russia. Two such religious groups (and there are more) are the Mennonites and Jews. One organization of Mennonites, the Mennonite Historical Society of British Columbia, has a website at http://mhsbc.com that hosts indexes of Russian migration records and censuses, obituary indexes, and lists of family histories contributed to the society. The JewishGen website at www.jewishgen.org is a wonderful resource which includes special interest groups (SIGs) on a variety of topics related to Jewish genealogy, including groups for those researching former Soviet countries such as Lithuania and Latvia. Also on the website are gazetteers and maps of Central and Eastern Europe that would be helpful to all persons researching those regions. How can readers find genealogical groups for their areas of interest? www.CyndisList.com and www.Linkpendium.com provide links to genealogical organizations of all stripes. Many groups now have websites and a Facebook or social media presence as well. Once a prospective group is identified, consider joining with other like-minded individuals and work on research problems together.

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Technology Tip of the Month--More from the Big PowerPoint Book: The Difference Between Transition and Animation by Kay Spears

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This month I’m going to discuss the difference between Transition and Animation in PowerPoint. The Transition and Animation tabs have many tools that are the same, such as Fade In, Fade Out, Random Bars, Dissolve, Checkerboard, etc. Yes, these are the same effects, however you will apply them to different objects. Transition is a kind of animation, however it is an animation used for entry and exit of an entire slide instead of for the objects within the slide. The Animation Tab is for entry and exit of the individual objects within the slide. Now, you don’t have to use any of these bells and whistles in your presentation, but I can’t recall the last time I saw a presentation that had no moving parts! You can have Transition without Animation, or Animation without Transition. Or, if you are really organized and can keep track of what you’re doing, you can have both. For my presentations, I usually only animate the objects within the slide, but we all have our personal preferences and how you create your presentation is up to you. After you add Transitions to your slides, you also have a choice of whether to have them transition automatically or by mouse click. I suggest that if you are going to be talking along with the slide – in other words, if your presentation is not one that runs on its own without your narration – you retain control over the presentation by using the mouse click option. The actual verbiage on the Transition tab is “On Mouse Click,” but you can move through your show by using the arrow keys on the keyboard or a handheld laser clicker device as well. You can also do Looping with Transition which also requires Timing. The one problem I have run into with Transition is adding music to my presentation. I found that not all music formats work in PowerPoint when adding music to the Transition. Most of my music files are .wma and Transition seems to work only with .wav files. I am able to play my .wma files when I add them as an object to the slide and use Animate, however. The Animation tab is used when adding animation to each separate object on a particular slide. An object can be an image, a piece of clip art, or words. I’m not sure if there is a maximum number of objects that can put on a slide, but I have some slides that have a large number of objects on them and they are all animated. When you have a slide with a large number of animated objects, sometimes it’s hard to keep track of what, which, where and when. For this reason, it is advisable to keep your Animation Pane open when adding animation to objects. That way you can see the order of your slides, the timing, and the animation. You can also do a practice run-through in your Animation Pane. My advice on both the Transition Tab and Animation Tab is to play with them and see just what you are capable of doing. Next month: Another look at Adobe Elements.

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Quick-Tip of the Month for Preservation--Consider Family History-Related Gifts this Holiday Season – Part II

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Last month, we suggested in Genealogy Gems that you consider giving gifts with a family history theme this holiday season. Here are some additional ideas: Do you have old family home movies that are on 8 millimeter cartridges, Super 8 film reels, VHS tapes or another format of a “bygone” era? Search online, check with your nearest store that has photo processing (Walmart, Walgreens, Sam’s Club, etc.), or ask friends for recommendations of companies that will transfer these movies onto DVD. It can be pricey, but what a wonderful investment to get those precious movies out of the box on the closet shelf and on display on your television or computer screen for family members to enjoy! The companies that do this kind of work usually will add a musical soundtrack if the home movies do not have an audio component, and they can even add titles between segments. Have you seen the wall hangings shaped like trees that display family photographs? These pieces of artwork have been all over social media. Watch for them on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. Google “tree family photo wall art” and click on “Images” to see many examples. Good, old fashioned collage photo frames that hold a group of photos of different sizes are an inexpensive gift idea. Fill them with photos of current family members, or fill them with ancestors’ photos. Have you considered creating a book about family history for your favorite child? Include some family stories with a few photos. You can use copies of photos and mount them on acid-free colored cardstock. Slide the cardstock pages into sheet protectors and put them in a three-ring binder. You can even add to this kind of a book over time. This doesn’t have to be so elaborate that it is an overwhelming task. Keep it simple. The important thing is to share the family stories with the younger generation. Whatever you decide to do in the way of family history-related gifts, if appropriate, make multiple copies and share them. You know everyone will want one, and besides, distributing multiple copies helps ensure those home movies, family stories and precious heritage photos won’t be lost, because as we have been told many times – Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe (LOCKSS)!

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WinterTech Time!

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December will see a continuation of our WinterTech series, designed to aid you in expanding your research knowledge through the busy winter months, with “Google It! Using Google Maps, Google Earth and More.” John Beatty and Dawne Slater-Putt will take a look at a number of ways one can use Google map products to discover more of one’s family story. Join them in Meeting Room A, on Wednesday, December 10, 2014, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. To register for this free event, call 260-421- 1225 or email Genealogy@ACPL.Info. And stay in The Genealogy Center until 6:30 p.m., when you can come back to Meeting Room A for the Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana meeting, when local professional researcher Rex Bertram will discuss “Breaking Down Brick Walls.” The WinterTech fun will continue on January 14, 2015, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., when Aaron Smith and Melissa Tennant will conduct a “Catalog Tour.” Delia Bourne will wrap up the series on February 11, 2015, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. with “Linkpendium & Mocavo: Using Free Genealogy-Specific Search Engines.” Mark your calendar to take advantage of these classes, and call or email us to register!

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Area Calendar of Events

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The History Center 1-14 December 2014--The Festival of Gingerbread, The History Center, 302 East Berry Street, Fort Wayne. Hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter of the NSDAR 3 December 2014--DAR Research Help, Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center, 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. The Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter of the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is available to help prospective DAR members research their lineage to prove ancestry to an American Revolutionary Patriot. Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana Meeting 10 December 2014--Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Meeting Room A, 6:30 refreshments, 7 p.m. Rex Bertram will present “Breaking Down Brick Walls.” Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana Technology Group Meeting 17 December 2014--Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Meeting Room B, 7 p.m.

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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-Putt, CG & Curt Witcher, co-editors