October 2008

Genealogy Gems:

News from the Fort Wayne Library No. 56, October 31, 2008

In this issue:

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT--One Day Closing, November 21, 2008

Honoring Our Veterans

News of the Plains and Rockies

Locating Irish Manuscripts in “Hayes”

Preservation Tip of the Month--Tipping-in Loose Pages

WinterTech 2008-2009

Librarians On Parade

Area Calendar of Events

Driving Directions to the Library

Parking at the Library

Queries for the Department

**************************************

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

***************************************

++Please note this important announcement++

The entire Allen County Public Library system including the Genealogy Center will be closed Friday, November 21, 2008 for a staff in-service day. We will be open Thursday evening, November 20, 2008 until 9 p.m. and open again on Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 9 a.m. Again, please note that the Genealogy Center will be closed on Thursday, November 21, 2008.

***************************************

Honoring Our Veterans by Curt B. Witcher

***************************************

“Every generation, the possibility . . .” Likely some of you have heard me use that phrase in relationship to the military engagements of this country and the records those engagements have generated. In a few days we will have another opportunity to take at least a few moments to honor our veterans, past and present. I would like to challenge you to “go tangible” this year in honoring our veterans. Truly honor our current veterans and our ancestors who were veterans by really doing something. For veterans in your family today, take a few minutes to write them a note or a letter, or create a personal memento. In our technology-filled world of email, IM, text messaging, and social networks, hand-written letters or personally crafted mementos mean more than ever. And it certainly demonstrates you cared enough to take some time to do something out of the ordinary--it shows how deeply you care. Mementos can be as simple as taking a copy of an enlistment photograph or other personal document and mounting it on acid free scrapbook paper while “framing” it with red, white, and blue ribbon or sparkles--all things you can find in the scrapbooking section of discount stores, at online scrapbooking sites, and in scrapbooking outlet stores in nearly every community. For those who do not have a living veteran in their immediate family, certainly you know someone in your neighborhood, at your church, or at work who has a veteran in their family. A note or card of thanks to them would mean more than you might think, as would a freshly baked pumpkin pie at their Thanksgiving dinner table. And the same kind of memento you could craft for a family member also might be crafted for a neighbor or friend’s family member. For those who may not yet know if they have an ancestor who served in the military but want to do something tangible, you can create a manageable preservation project that may only take an hour or so to do. Such a preservation project could be locating a small to modest-sized local cemetery. Grab your digital camera and walk through that cemetery taking a digital image of every military tombstone. It might be neat to take along a child or grandchild, pointing out the different wars, ranks, and other tombstone art and markers. It could be one of the most wonderful learning experiences of that young person’s life. And in addition, you will have helped preserve that data for researchers to use. Finally, as part of a plan to “go tangible,” I am asking that everyone reading this ezine digitize a military document, a photograph of a soldier, or other military artifact in your collection and preserve it for future generations of researchers by sending a digital copy to our Genealogy Center to post on the “Our Military Heritage” website . Since we launched that website in February of this year, more than twenty thousand images have been made available in various formats for researchers to use. We’d like to see that number grow as we strive to provide the maximum amount of free, useful data to assist those doing military history research as a part of their family history projects. Before you send us the image, practice the “reporter’s trade” of answering the questions of who, what, when, and where. Example: Samuel B. Franklin, service record cards, Civil War, served from New York; or, Arthur Jenkins, photograph, 1944, Fort Benning, GA. Send that descriptive information to us as well. If the image and associated data is less than one megabyte, you can send it to me as an email attachment. If it is a larger file, send me a disk at ACPL Genealogy Center, Box 2270, Fort Wayne, IN, 46801-2270. And if you’ve walked that small to modest-sized cemetery with your child or grandchild, go ahead and send us a CD of the images you’ve captured with permission to post them online. Your entire family will be proud of the tangible effort you’ve made to honor our military--those who are serving now and those who sacrificed before them.

***************************************

News of the Plains and Rockies by Delia Cothrun Bourne

***************************************

There are many misconceptions about how the American West was settled, and the conditions faced by explorers, settlers, Native Americans, and military men and their families. “News of the Plains and Rockies, 1803-1865,” compiled and annotated by David A. White (978 N474), can help dispel some misconceptions and provides first person narratives and modern commentary on a wide variety of experiences encountered by the inhabitants of the early West. Subtitled “Original narratives of overland travel and adventure selected from the Wagner-Camp and Becker bibliography of Western Americana,” this set of eight volumes, covering the area from the Mississippi River to the west coast, is divided into 26 sections, featuring early explorers, fur hunters, Santa Fe adventurers, settlers, missionaries, Mormons, Indian agents and captives, warriors, scientists, artists, gold seekers, railroad forerunners, and mailmen. Each section begins with a timeline, a perspective to provide historical background on the articles, and a map showing locations of interest. Each article begins with a short paragraph on the significance of the item, and information on the author. Volume 8 also includes a cumulative index by name (often identifying the person by occupation), tribe, locale, subject or ethnic group. For example, in volume 3 there is a mention of Acadians in the background notes to Modeste Demers’ account of his 1848 journey from Fort Vancouver to Montreal. Although the only Fort Wayne mentioned is the one located in Oklahoma, near what is now Watts, volume 3 contains a report by Isaac McCoy, a Baptist missionary to Fort Wayne in its earliest days who worked for many years trying to protect the rights of Native Americans and insure a location for them to settle. In his 1832 report to the Secretary of War, he describes the areas of Oklahoma where some Native Americans had settled, including the problems of getting to the area, as well as how the various tribes were faring. Various emigrant guides in volume 6 detail mileage to each point, and describe crossings, camp sites, and waterways. Volume 7 contains a map of “Key Points for Mailmen, 1851-1865,” while in volume 8 Norton Newton Palmer recalls his experiences at a Mormon dance party in Salt Lake City during his 1853 journey from California. The 168 reports in this set, along with the perspectives and timelines, provide interesting lessons in the history of the American West, and should be examined by all with a research interest in the subject.

***************************************

Locating Irish Manuscripts in “Hayes” by John D. Beatty

***************************************

Many genealogists are well acquainted with the famed Public Record Office fire of 1922 in Dublin, which destroyed many original records for Ireland. In spite of that loss, many archival sources useful to genealogists have survived in repositories around the globe. In an attempt to provide bibliographic access to these important sources, Richard Hayes, director of the National Library of Ireland from 1940 to 1967, edited an 11 volume work titled “Manuscript Sources for the History of Irish Civilisation.” Often referred to simply as “Hayes,” this index and its supplement reference personal names, subjects, and places associated with archival sources located in 678 libraries and archives in thirty countries, as well as in more than 600 private collections. The work covers manuscripts relating to Ireland and the activities of Irishmen at home and abroad from the fifth through twentieth centuries. The original eleven volumes, consisting of some 310,000 entries, were published in 1965. A three volume supplement appeared in 1979, adding 73,400 more entries. Both sets are available on microfiche in the Genealogy Center. Hayes divided the work into five sections, with indexes to persons, subjects, places, dates, and manuscripts (by repository). Most genealogists go directly to the name section, where they can search not only for surnames of interest, but also for the names of landlords, whose estate papers may be of genealogical value. For example, under “Grogan” one will find reference to the Grogan family papers, “about 150 documents relating to estate and domestic accounts of the Grogan family of Johnstown, Co. Wexford, 18th–19th c.” Researchers should also consider searching by place, looking first for the county and then for the townland, town, or parish. Place names are not always in strict alphabetical order, and names beginning with “Bally-” are often interfiled with those beginning “Bali-” and “Ballin-.” Searching by subject reveals such headings as “rentals,” “wills,” “workhouses,” and “Methodists,” among many others. Each entry lists the repository where the manuscript is located, together with a manuscript or catalog number. From here the researcher will need to contact the relevant repository directly for a copy of the manuscript, or use the reference number in planning a research trip to see it. The “Hayes” index is a useful way to locate obscure and little-known Irish sources and is a “must-see” for any genealogist with an Irish interest.

***************************************

Preservation Tip of the Month--Tipping-in Loose Pages by Becky Schipper

***************************************

Tipping in loose pages requires the following materials. PVA Adhesive Wax Paper Straight Edge Exacto Knife The page to be tipped-in may need to be trimmed to fit back into the book unobtrusively. If there is enough margin it is best to trim the inner edge of the page. Place a small bead of adhesive along the inner edge of the page. Align the page top, bottom, and front edge with the text block. Rub down if needed. Place wax paper on both sides to keep any adhesive from adhering to the pages next to the added one. Place a weight on the book and allow it to dry. Materials needed to do tipins are available from library supply catalogs and most craft stores. Try looking at online office, library, and art supply sites as well.

***************************************

WinterTech 2008-2009 By Melissa Shimkus and Delia Bourne

***************************************

Another Family History Month is, well, history, but there are still wonderful opportunities to expand your knowledge of family history sources in the upcoming months by attending our WinterTech line-up. Take advantage of these hour-long classes on the second Wednesday of each of the next four months, at 2:30 pm. The series kicks off on November 12, as you learn about “Newspaper Searching with Ancestry’s ‘Historical Newspapers’ and ‘Newspaper Archive’” from Delia Bourne. Next, Melissa Shimkus will teach you about “Searching Ancestry.com” on December 10. Cynthia Theusch will offer a “WeRelate.org Overview” on January 14, 2009, and finally, Don Litzer will remind you that online genealogical searching is “Not Just Ancestry” on February 11. Keep track of the dates by checking http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/genealogy/WinterTech.pdf . And remember that these are scheduled to coincide with the Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana’s monthly meetings, held at 7 p.m. on the same dates. Call 260-421-1225 to register for a WinterTech program, or email your registration to Genealogy@ACPL.info . Conserve energy this winter by combining attendance at WinterTech and the ACGSI meetings with research time in the Genealogy Center!

***************************************

Librarians on Parade

***************************************

Curt Witcher November 1, 2008--Elkhart County Genealogical Society Fall Workshop, Rush Memorial Center, Bristol, IN, 9A-4P. Topics will include: “Passenger & Immigration Records;” “Using Church Records in Your Genealogical Research;” “Mining the Motherlode, Using Periodical Literature for Genealogical Research;” and “Effective Use of the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.’ November 8, 2008--Hamilton County Genealogy Society Veteran’s Day Program, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, 800 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH. “Roll Call: New Sites and Sources for Military Records and Research” with an overview of military records and evaluative strategies. November 13, 2008--Garrett Public Library, 107 West Houston Street, Garrett, IN, 6P-7P, Herzer Hall. “Something for Everyone: Online Resources for Family History.” Delia Bourne November 12, 2008--Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, IN, 2:30P-3:30P, Meeting Room A. “Newspaper Searching with Ancestry’s ‘Historical Newspapers’ and Newspap4er Archive’”

***************************************

Area Calendar of Events

***************************************

Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana (ACGSI) November 12, 2008 at 7 p.m. (social time begins at 6:30 p.m.) at the Allen County Public Library’s Main Library, 900 Library Plaza, Meeting Room C. A panel of ACGSI members will present “Publishing a Book from Your Genealogical Research.” Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society, 302 East Berry, Ft. Wayne, IN November 2, 2008, 2 p.m., Alfred J. Zacher will present “Why Presidents Succeed”

***************************************

Driving Directions to the Library

***************************************

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.

***************************************

Parking at the Library

***************************************

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. 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.

***************************************

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.

***************************************

Publishing Note:

***************************************

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.Info. Scroll down toward the bottom of the first screen where it says, "Enter Your Email Address to Subscribe to "Genealogy Gems." Enter your email address in the yellow box and click on "Subscribe." 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 GenealogyGems you just received or send an email to kspears@acpl.lib.in.us with "unsubscribe ezine" in the subject line. Steve Myers & Curt Witcher, co-editors