The Many Lives of GW Edison Jr. -- NGSQ Genealogy Olympics

We expect records to be occasionally mistaken, but few of us expect our ancestors to lie repeatedly. When they do, we have to step our research methodology up a notch. That's what Tom Jones did in the fourth of four articles in the amazing June 2012 issue of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. (I've already posted on the Pratt, Hackenberger, and Northamer articles.)

Those of us who enrolled in the first Advanced Evidence Practicum at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy in January got to wrestle with this problem for a day, in confidence, prior to publication. I think I'm safe in saying that it pinned most of us to the mat.

The individual in question -- George Wellington Edison Jr. (1861-1940) -- came from a good family and often held a skilled job. He also, in Jones's words, "used four names, married five times, was divorced twice, committed bigamy once, and had twelve children." Raised in Quincy, Adams County, Illinois, he bounced around Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana, helped build the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and died in Decatur, Macon County, Illinois.

Genealogists tracking an accomplished con man like this need to be wary, maintain a broad focus, and constantly test and correlate information from a variety of sources. For the specifics and the many intriguing sub-problems, I encourage you to read and reread!



Thomas W. Jones, "Misleading Records Debunked: The Surprising Case of George Wellington Edison Jr.," National Genealogical Society Quarterly vol. 100, no. 2 (June 2012):133-56.


Harold Henderson, "The Many Lives of GW Edison Jr. -- NGSQ Genealogy Olympics," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 11 September 2012 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

OGS Quarterly Fall 2011

Documented articles and research guides from the Ohio Genealogical Society Quarterly, from the nation's largest state genealogical society:

Sharon Alwart, "Thomas and Jane Stephens, Coshocton County Pioneers." This article provoked me to reflect on how and why we attribute emotions to people living 200 years ago who left no record of how they felt. It is difficult for us to imagine a time when personal feelings may not have been the most important things.

Rachel Dilley, "Pietism's Last Stand," an account of Crawford County's Chatfield Evangelical Pietist Church.

Mary Jo Howard, "The Untold Story of Eugene and Kittie Howard" -- a terrible and long-suppressed tale of Cleveland in 1902. Looks like OGSQ is on a roll with tales that go "beyond the black sheep." (I'm thinking of Kathleen Reed's research tale in the summer issue.)

Deborah Crowdy, "Coshocton County Locality Guide." This listing goes both ways, listing eight repositories in the county and information about five kinds of records. UGA's Crossroads has also been publishing some of these as well.

Thomas Stephen Neel, "Richland County, Ohio, Road Petitions, 1817-1820." Road records in general are underused, but when they contain the names of all the petitioners, I'd say they're scandalously underused!

Black Sheep Friday in Ohio and Indiana

Two places to stop by if your family has a black sheep:

At the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus you can peruse two cubic feet of "Copies of cost bills and indictments for individuals sentenced to the Ohio Penitentiary, 1834-1874," as well as a wide variety of other documents and secondary sources.

At the Indiana State Archives, something more personal and indexed, with pictures: "In the early 1900’s the Board of State Charities conducted interviews with inmates at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Indiana. Each prisoner was given the opportunity to give his side of the story. The men often named family members and others involved in the crime for which they were sentenced, and discussed whether or not attempts had been made to secure a parole or pardon." The name index is on line; for the rest, get thee to Indianapolis.