October 2011

Genealogy Gems:

News from the Fort Wayne Library No. 92, October 31, 2011

In this issue:

Good Food, Good Stories, Good Times

Exploring Colonial and Territorial Arkansas Records

Ohio Tax Records, 1801-1814

Technology Tip of the Month--The Microsoft Word Ribbon: Page Layout Tab

Quick-Tip of the Month for Preservation--Ideas for Organizing Your Materials in Advance of Donating Them

Military Seminar: You Say You Want a Revolution

WinterTech is Here!

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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Good Food, Good Stories, Good Times by Curt B. Witcher

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The leaf-raking, the frost on windshields more often in the early morning hours, and the talk of Thanksgiving plans all are harbingers of end-of-the-year holidays. For many of us, these holidays bring good food, good stories, and good times. I want to challenge you to make the last 61 days of 2011, including the end-of-the-year holidays, truly family history time. To help you do that, I have posted a small checklist of things to which you can commit. Don't think about it. Don't worry about it. Just do it! 1. Tell some stories and record some stories this Thanksgiving day. 2. Take some family pictures and post those pictures this coming Thanksgiving day weekend. Post them on Facebook, put them in your virtual photo album, print them and put them in your physical photo album, blast an email to your family email list with the photographs as attachments--just capture those people and moments, and then share them. 3. The surgeon general wants us to think and talk about our family health history over the Thanksgiving holidays. I challenge you to actually begin recording your family health history if you haven't already started, and work to find the cause of death of one more ancestor if you've already begun this endeavor. 4. Together with other members of your family, identify a favorite ancestral recipe, and then collectively develop a healthier version of that culinary delight. 5. This November has a unique Veterans Day: 11-11-11. Do something special by focusing on telling richer, more complete stories of your ancestors who served their country. Take copies of the military documents you have gathered and the scraps of information you have accumulated over the years, and actually write a story about one or more of your military veterans. 6. December 7th will mark the 70th anniversary of the horrible day at Pearl Harbor. Use this remembrance to take one of the stories you wrote as your Veterans Day activity and share it on WeRelate.org, your Facebook page, your genealogy website, and/or on The Genealogy Center's "Our Military Heritage" webpage. 7. Last week, my colleagues posted a challenge on The Genealogy Center blog--and that was to set a genealogical goal of doing something specific and measurable in the month of November. Meet that challenge! Let the good food, good stories, and good times entice you to do more genealogical good by actively engaging. Commit to making "someday" today!

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Exploring Colonial and Territorial Arkansas Records by Delia C. Bourne

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Explored first by the Spanish, but settled by the French, the area that includes present-day Arkansas reverted to Spanish control after the Seven Years War in 1762. In an extremely convoluted round of politics, it returned to French hands in 1800, and then was sold to the Americans as part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Using the Mississippi River as a trade waterway, Americans and other immigrants drifted into the territory starting in the late eighteenth century, well before statehood. The Genealogy Center holds a number of sources for researching Colonial and Territorial Arkansans, starting with M. Carmen Gonzalez Lopez-Briones‛s dissertation “Spain in the Mississippi Valley: Spanish Arkansas, 1762-1804” (976.7 G589S), a history of Spain‛s acquisition of and policies for the area, and Morris Arnold‛s “Colonial Arkansas, 1686-1804: A Social and Cultural History” (976.7 AR6AA), which includes a list of judges, 1686-1804, data on sites of colonial settlement and more. Arnold also produced “Arkansas Colonials, 1686-1804: A Collection of French and Spanish Records Listing Early Europeans in the Arkansas (976.7 AR6A), which includes censuses, petitions, and militia lists, as well as maps of Arkansas Post in 1779 and 1832. James Logan Morgan compiled “Genealogical Records of Arkansas” (976.7 M82GE, v. 1 & 2) which provides obituaries, death and probate notices (including guardian and apprentice notes) from 1804- 1830, and “Marriages and Divorces of Arkansas” (976.7 M82M) which contains marriage records, implied marriages, dower assignments, divorce notices from newspapers, and divorces authorized by the Territorial General Assembly. “Early Arkansas residents, 1814-1816” (976.701 AR4CR), by Marion Stark Craig, contains tax lists of the counties of Arkansas and Lawrence in the Territory of Missouri. Information includes the county and years in which a resident appeared on the lists, as well as a notes column that includes name variations. One of the most interesting volumes is “A Baptismal Record of the Parishes Along the Arkansas River, August 5, 1796 to July 16, 1802” (976.7 B229). With photographic copies of the original documents on one side and translated transcriptions on the facing page, the records provide the child‛s name, parents, godparents, and often identify grandparents. Some of those named also are identified by occupation, as in the baptismal record for Elizabeth Berdu, daughter of Alberto Bardu, “sergeant of the Louisiana regiment” (27 Oct 1799), or by nationality or race, as in that of Thereza Soligny, which notes that both grandmothers were Indian (23 Oct 1799). The Genealogy Center also has Henry Putney Beers‛ “French and Spanish Records of Louisiana: A Bibliographical Guide to Archive and Manuscript Sources” (976.3 B39F), which offers details of records created in the Louisiana Territory, including Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Missouri, with sections on reproductions and archival material, land and church records, followed by a stateby-state bibliography of sources. If you have ancestors who resided in the Old Southwest before 1830, these sources could assist you in locating more information.

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Ohio Tax Records, 1801-1814 by Melissa Shimkus

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Many of our ancestors moved westward through Ohio in the early nineteenth century, and a large number of them may have owned land there. Some obtained property through Bounty Land Warrants for service in the Revolutionary War, while others purchased land from the federal land offices in Ohio Territory beginning in 1800. By the time Ohio obtained statehood in 1803, property tax records were already being maintained. “Ohio Tax Records, 1801-1814” is a fifteen-reel set of microfilmed property tax lists for selected counties during Ohio‛s early years. Available in The Genealogy Center, these microfilms are organized by year, but for each year the counties are not always presented in alphabetical order. Within each county, the information is arranged either by the first letter of the property owner‛s surname, or by township and then by the first letter of the property owner‛s surname. Esther Powell indexed the material in “Early Ohio Tax Records” (977.1 P87E), but this index is not complete. Details found on the tax lists include not only land values based on specific tax rates, but also land descriptions, mentioning waterways, township, range and section, that help locate the physical property. For example, in 1801, Thomas Bell paid taxes on property located on the Scioto River in Ross County and noted that he had hired a surveyor in 1796 to survey the land, which was in the Virginia Military District. If land was transferred between owners, a note was made indicating the new owner. In 1806, Abraham J. Williams transferred property situated in Section 12, Township 10, Range 21, in Ross County to Huges Woodson‛s heirs, who were not residents of the county. Besides revealing who purchased or later obtained the land, the tax lists also may provide a provenance for the property. In 1814, Moses Hale paid a tax on land in the Southwest portion of Section 29, Township 8, Range 17, in Gallia County that was originally owned by John Graham. With these details, a researcher could map out an ancestor‛s property, search deed and probate records, and locate other information related to a piece of land or the individuals living on neighboring properties. If you are searching for ancestors in early nineteenth century Ohio, take a look at the “Ohio Tax Records, 1801-1814” on microfilm. Benefits include discovering documentation that an ancestor owned property in a specific locality, finding a description of the land, and sometimes identifying its original or subsequent owner.

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Technology Tip of the Month--The Microsoft Word Ribbon: Page Layout Tab by Kay Spears

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For those of you who are putting together a book, the Page Layout tab may be the most important one in Word. Page Layout is where the Margin setup is located. Themes. The first command group on the Page Layout tab enables you to change the way that text, tables and special elements are formatted in your document. When you choose a theme, the settings are applied to styled elements in your document. There are also Theme Colors, Theme Fonts and Theme Effects to choose from in this group. Experiment with the different options and remember that positioning your cursor over a selection creates a preview of how the document will look. Page Setup. The Margins drop down arrow in this group offers preset choices or the option to select custom margins. Please remember to leave enough space along the edges of your documents if you intend to have them bound into a book. I recommend a margin of at least one inch on all sides. Options for establishing page and section breaks in a document can be found under the Breaks drop down arrow. The Page Setup dialog box can be accessed by clicking on the arrow in the lower right corner of the group. Page Background. The Watermark, Page Color and Page Borders tools are all located in this grouping. Paragraph. This is the second tab on which you may access the Paragraph command group. It is also located on the Home Tab, but this time Indent and Spacing is what you see. However, clicking on the drop-down arrow in the lower right corner will take you to the same Paragraph dialog box available from the Home Tab. Arrange. This group of tools can be used after you have inserted shapes, images, clip art, or WordArt into a document. Text Wrap, Bring Forward, and Send Backward also are located here. In order for the Bring Forward or Send Backward commands to work, the Text Wrap option for the inserted object must be changed from In Line With Text to one of the other options. Rotate and Selection Pane options are also available in this group. If you have ever worked with layers in Photoshop or another graphics program, you should be familiar with the Selection Pane. While the Selection Pane seems to be mimicking the way layers are presented in more advanced software, its use here is rather limited. Clicking on an eye on the right side of the Selection and Visibility pane will make an image invisible. You can change which object is on top of another by using the Re-order arrows at the bottom of the pane. Next month: The Microsoft Word Ribbon: References Tab

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Quick-Tip of the Month for Preservation--Ideas for Organizing Your Materials in Advance of Donating Them by Dawne Slater-Putt

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A recent query came to The Genealogy Center about organizing personal archives. The person wrote that he has letters, wills, and deeds on a couple of family lines from the turn of the last century up until the 1950s. He wanted to know how to sort and organize those materials as he is "the only person now alive to put all the pieces together." He went on to say, "Since you will probably end up getting it all, what format and what information do you want?" We are grateful the individual thought of The Genealogy Center as a future repository for his precious family documents. He was correct in thinking that the more organized the records are, the more useful they will be to people using them for family history research in the future. Here are some ideas for organization that you might consider. 1. First, you might strive to get as many of the pieces of paper the same size as possible. For example, photocopy smaller certificates, letters and other pieces onto 8 1/2 by 11 pages. These days, most copier paper is acid free and will last many generations. If you can do so and retain legibility, reduce larger documents down to 8 1/2 by 11 size. Then if you want to keep the original certificates and letters, file them in file folders by surname, family branch, location or type of document (birth records, death records, correspondence, etc.). 2. Put the 8 1/2 by 11 sheets in sheet protectors and into 3-ring binders, organized by family, by location, or by type of record (whichever makes the most sense to you). If you donate these to The Genealogy Center in the future, we will take the pages out of the protectors and 3-ring binders and bind them into hardcover books; but until that time, the binders will help you organize the papers and find items when you need them. 3. Be sure when you make the copies that you keep any citation information. It is an excellent idea to write the citation information on the fronts of documents, rather than the back, so that if they are photocopied, that information is not lost. If you have documents that do not have citations, you might try to get that information and write it on the documents while you are organizing. 4. Consider making a preface, table of contents or some sort of information sheet describing how you have organized the documents in your binders, and/or listing them - an inventory of records. You can use dividers in the binders to separate families, surnames, generations, or record types. This can seem like an overwhelming job, but it is easier if you break it down into small pieces. Tackle one file or stack of papers at a time. It is such a worthwhile task to preserve all of this material for the future and you are to be commended for being the keeper of the family's history.

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Military Seminar: You Say You Want a Revolution

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This year's military seminar highlights Revolutionary War service. This all-day event, featuring methodology lectures, historical presentations, opportunities for advice on lineage applications, and a tour of The Genealogy Center, will be presented by the Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Anthony Halberstadt Chapter National Society Sons of the American Revolution, and The Genealogy Center staff on November 12, 2011. Morning sessions include instruction on the resources of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, including how to use the DAR's genealogical records collection and the DAR library catalog. Tutorials on the application process for the DAR and SAR will be provided, as well as an examination of Revolutionary War pensions. In the afternoon, choose between attending an SAR meeting, featuring a program by William Sharp on "The Siege at Bryan's Station," or attending a DAR meeting, featuring a presentation by Bob Jones who is a Revolutionary Soldier Re-Enactor. You can take a tour of The Genealogy Center and schedule a 30 minute consultation with a DAR or SAR member to discuss your specific application to the organization. (Note: You must bring your lineage paperwork to the appointment. Due to limited availability, send an email to Genealogy@ACPL.Info to schedule your consultation time.) For more information, see the flyer at   Registration is required for this free seminar. Please call 260-421-1225 or email Genealogy@ACPL.Info to register.

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WinterTech is Here!

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With the chill in the air, it may not be the time for genealogists to browse cemeteries or take long genealogy research trips. However, it is the perfect time to sharpen our technology skills. Held in the afternoons on the second Wednesdays, November through February, to coincide with the Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana's monthly evening meetings, WinterTech gives you meaningful indoor educational opportunities. This year's WinterTech kicks off with a "WeRelate Overview," on November 9, 2011, at 2:30 PM, in Meeting Room C. Cynthia Theusch will explain how the WeRelate.org wiki can allow you to post pages about your ancestors, add data to existing pages, and share information with other researchers. Future WinterTech Sessions will include information on locating books online, a virtual tour of The Genealogy Center's Catalog, and a survey of the Origins.net website for British, Irish, and Scots research. For more information, see the flyer at http://www.genealogycenter.org/Libraries/Brochures/WT2011.sflb.ashx. Please call 260-421-1225 or email Genealogy@ACPL.Info to register.

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Out and About

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Curt Witcher November 5, 2011--Exton, PA--Pennsylvania Family History Day, Wyndham Garden, 815 N. Pottstown Pike. Topics presented will be “The Changing Face of Genealogy” and “Mining the Motherlode: Using Periodical Literature for Genealogical Research.” November 12, 2011--Phoenix, AZ--Arizona Genealogical Advisory Board Annual Workshop, Carnegie Center, 1101 W. Washington Street. Topics presented will be “Roll Call: New Sites and Sources for Military Records and Research,” “Using Government Documents for Genealogical Research,” “Pain in the Access: Getting More from the Internet for Your Genealogy,” and “S.O.S.: Saving Our Societies--Answering Our Distress Beacons.” Melissa Shimkus November 19, 2011--Indianapolis, IN--Genealogical Society of Marion County‛s 16th Annual Central Indiana Genealogy Conference, Indiana History Center, 450 West Ohio Street. Topics presented will be “Before Crossing the Ocean: Records of Our Immigrant Ancestors,” “Visit American Records of our Immigrant Ancestors,” “Ellis Island, Online Immigration Records,” and “Naturalization Records.” ***The Genealogy Center in the Indiana Library Federation's Genealogy Pre-Conference*** Monday, November 14, 2011, Grand Wayne Center, Fort Wayne, IN 8:30 a.m. - 10:20 a.m. After ‘Who Do You Think You Are?‛--Engaging Beginning Genealogists The prime-time NBC hit “Who Do You Think You Are?” has brought many more individuals who have never done any genealogical research into our libraries seeking information about their ancestors. This workshop will focus on providing a positive first experience and continuing to create engaging experiences for novice genealogists. Material covered will include good reference interview techniques, how to move the customer from storytelling to data provision, and how to foster independent use of our genealogy and local history collections. Presenter: Curt B. Witcher 10:30 a.m. - 12:20 p.m. Genealogy‛s Mega Databases: FamilySearch and Ancestry.com FamilySearch.org offers an amazing collection of online resources and is available to anyone or any institution at no cost. While Ancestry.com requires a subscription fee, its more than 6 billion historical records greatly expand any library‛s collection of genealogical resources. This workshop will cover FamilySearch online databases, the FamilySearch research wiki, Ancestry search techniques and Ancestry collections to show how FamilySearch and Ancestry can exponentially expand the resources your library has to offer family historians. Presenters: Melissa Shimkus and Dawne Slater-Putt 1:30 p.m. - 3:20 p.m. Net Treats--Useful Free Sites for Genealogists This workshop will explore a number of terrific Internet sites for genealogists, all free. Not only will the sites be identified but also strategies for successfully using them will be articulated. Presenter: Delia Bourne

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Area Calendar of Events

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Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana (ACGSI) November 9, 2011--Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana. 6:30 p.m. refreshments and social time, 7 p.m. program. Mark Davis will present: “Hallowed Stones: Cemetery Preservation.” Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society, 302 East Berry, Ft. Wayne, IN The George R. Mather Sunday Lecture Series, November 6, 2011, 2 p.m. Barbara Morrow will be speaking on, “Ahead of Her Time: Gene Stratton-Porter.”

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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 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.

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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