Death Will Bring Us Together; or, Look to the Future to Learn the Past

A classic problem: a woman born in the early 1880s appears in her parents' household in 1900 with a stupendously common name for the time (Mabel). And then she vanishes, whether into death or marriage I can't tell. Two potential husbands fail the test, as marriage records show their Mabels as having the wrong parents. The known parents don't show up in her household in later years, nor she in theirs.

It's an old lesson but it bears relearning. We often bewail our failure (or our parents' failure) to learn all the genealogical details we might have obtained from elderly relatives, but we often also ourselves fail to seek out their knowledge in records they helped create.

When Mabel's mother died in the 1930s, the newspaper death notice -- in infinitesimal, worn type -- named an extra daughter (as Mrs. H. Husband, naturally) living on the other side of the state. Mrs. Husband appeared again as the informant on mother's death certificate, with a tiny scrawled street address as well. Case closed when Mr. Husband's death certificate bore the same address. Strictly speaking, I didn't even need to know that her name was Mabel!

Let's not have any g-d- swearing here

Guerrilla war was the norm in Kentucky as white settlers tried to move in on the Shawnee and Cherokee in the 1770s. I've been reading John Mack Faragher's biography of Daniel Boone (no reason except he's a wonderful historian -- nobody with the slightest interest in Sangamon County, Illinois, should miss his Sugar Creek).

Boone's life was researched quite a bit by interviewers late in his life and while those who knew him were still alive. So there are quite a few first-person accounts of the siege of Boonesborough in September 1778. And it is known that the settlers and the Indians frequently exchanged profane insults during the battles -- but it is mostly not known what exactly they said.

Why not? Because the language offended the researchers conducting the interviews. Faragher writes,

"Vulgar gibes were tossed back and forth, although nineteenth-century decorum kept even the best of collectors from recording much of this language. One salty-tongued Kentuckian informant, reviewing the notes that one antiquarian had taken during his interview, protested the absence of the profanity, arguing that the story simply couldn't be told 'without these necessary ornaments.' The interviewer, however, defended the expurgation, maintaining that the swearing was 'repugnant to good taste, and renders the narrative obnoxious to persons of refined and Christian feeling.'"

Have you ever left out part of the historical record for such reasons -- or any reasons?



John Mack Faragher, Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer (New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1992), 196. 


Harold Henderson, "Let's not have any g-d- swearing here," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 5 December 2014 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : viewed [date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Know when you're shelving that project

Ideally of course we would all have each of our many projects and potential projects fully annotated and up to date before we turned to another. But often I find that I start on something but have to drop it for various reasons, usually because there's something more urgent on my agenda. More than a decade ago, my brother and I were researching one of our Swedish great-great-great grandfathers, interestingly named Nils Gall. News of an impending grandchild caused us to drop the investigation in haste, and only a year or so later did we realize that certain researches seemed familiar, and we rediscovered where we had left off.

Sometimes I put a project away with a lick and a promise, and the promise is greatly deferred. The trick is to have a good sense of limits, and of priorities, so that we can realize

(a) that we are in fact about to put off an interesting rabbit hole in favor of already promised work or play, and

(b) that before we do so we need to sketch out where we were when we had to set it aside.

This applies whether we've just poked into a couple of manuscript collections and realized that this investigation has to be for another day, or whether we have a half-finished manuscript of our own full of incomplete citations and rows of question marks at certain key junctures. Know Thyself.



Harold Henderson, "Know when you're shelving that project," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 9 December  2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : viewed [date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

How to research

Yesterday at Allen County, I found a published cemetery reading. In order to take it home, I photocopied the page it was on, the earlier page that identified the cemetery, two earlier pages that located the cemetery in a map of the township, and the title page of the book. If the authors had written an introduction explaining how they conducted their project, I could have made six copies instead of just one.

Granted, it's not the best evidence -- that would be a visit to the original record (the grave marker or sexton's list) or a photo on Find A Grave or other similar collaborative site. But in order to know about the information I did have, I really did need all those copies. No normal person would remember a year later exactly where that single page came from.

Of course, that specific procedure of photocopying is 20th-century stuff. But the same principles apply when I pull a microfilm or whisk over to check an original census page on Ancestry or an Ohio probate on FamilySearch. Unless I know where the information came from, it's not all that valuable.

Taking the time to image or write down the particulars of the source before opening it up is the best way to research -- in any century.


Harold Henderson, "How to research," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 22 November 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : viewed [date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Self-referential Friday with new web site intro

The old web site introduction seemed a little long-winded, so I'm trying the following on for size:

Welcome to Midwest Roots!

I have been a professional writer since 1979, a genealogist since 1999, a professional genealogist since 2009, and a Board-certified professional genealogist since 1 June 2012. Use the “Contact Harold” box to get in touch.
I hope this site will help your genealogy quest in at least one of the following ways:

(1) Use free resources here, including

• my guide to researching at the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne,
• a selection of free lookups,
• a list of Family History microfilms already in the Midwest,
• a list of state and regional genealogy periodicals nationwide,
• lists of the above-average holdings of Midwestern city directories in Valparaiso and Indiana newspapers in Mishawaka, and
• my finding aids for small-city city directory microfilm reels from Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan.

(2) Hire research help. I can do lookups (flat fee) or research brick-wall problems (hourly rate). If you’re not sure whether this will help, check out my list of genealogy publications or use the form to ask for free advice. I am based in northwest Indiana, near Michigan and Illinois. I have researched in many areas but am most familiar with the Midwest and upstate New York.

(3) Hire writing or citation help. I can critique or edit your draft of an article or presentation. (If you’re not sure whether this will help, send me 5 pages and I’ll send you a free critique.) Or I can focus on bringing your source citations closer to Evidence Explained standards.

(4) Find a presentation that appeals to your society.

(5) Find a useful blog post at midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com.


Harold Henderson, "Self-referential Sunday with a new web site intro," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 14 April 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Making the Best of a Bad Day in the Courthouse

Six thoughts. Others will have other approaches or additional suggestions.

1. Not everyone will be happy to see you, regardless of your demeanor. Prepare to be surprised.

2. In all ways possible, fit into the office routine as you understand it. Many public employees are overworked and under-appreciated; those who deal with the public often must confront amazing ignorance, unwarranted indignation, or both. One way of coping is to stay in their rut. If they can help you without leaving the rut, everyone will be happier.

3. Learn as much as you can beforehand about the history and the records and your rights. Know the difference between what you need and what you want.

4. Let none of that knowledge show. Ask questions instead.

5. If the person in charge is uncertain, read the situation as putting you both on the same side: "How can we find out?"

6. If the person in charge makes a clearly false statement, leave it alone unless it is crucial. If it is crucial, ask the next question in the least assertive way, for instance, "I thought your web site said . . . -- did I read it wrong?" Or any other opportune stratagem that may lead to a boss person who actually cares, or know the facts, or both.

7. Let there be pauses. It can take time to figure things out. Sometimes clerks can produce the desired record shortly after denying its existence.

8. If possible without making the situation worse, introduce yourself, leave a card, and say you'll be back.

9. If it becomes necessary to formally assert your rights, do so as nicely as possible, and preferably to someone in some position of authority, which is rarely the first person you meet on the first day.




Harold Henderson, "Making the Best of a Bad Day in the Courthouse," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 4 March 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]