Indirect Evidence to the Rescue . . .

. . . is the title of my article just published on Archives.com.

Most records genealogists deal with were not created to answer our questions. Vital records often come close, but common names can be a problem, and as we move back through the years such records become scarce or were never created in the first place. In general, the more distant the ancestors, the less likely we are to find direct answers to our questions about them, and the more we will need to think in terms of indirect evidence -- piling up clues from which we can prove a conclusion, or at least a probability.

This will also be the topic of one of my two talks at NGS 2012 in Cincinnati.

New on-line resources

On the Porter County, Indiana, Genweb:

917 records from the Indiana Adjutant General's List of Porter County Civil War Soldiers

11,364 individuals residing in Lake Porter counties in 1916, with their addresses and credit ratings

From the St. Clair County, Illinois, mailing list:

Diane Walsh calls attention to the free online 1926 volumes by Isaac D. Rawlings in the Internet Archive, The Rise and Fall of Disease in Illinois, volume 1 and volume 2. Much of the book culls old medical journals for reports of diseases in specific places and times. With some effort it may be possible to retrieve copies of the original articles themselves for an unusual close-up on your location of interest. He covers the whole state and some adjacent counties as well if they happened to be written up by an Illinois physician.

Free learning opportunities

Two of my important genealogy learning experiences are not part of any larger institution and don't do a lot of promotion, so I thought I should mention them here in case any studious and ambitious genealogists aren't aware of them. Of course your mileage may vary, and they may not suit your style or your needs at any given moment.

ProGen Study Group, 18-month mentored groups reading, discussing, and practicing skills described in the book Professional Genealogy, ed. Elizabeth Shown Mills

Transitional Genealogists Forum, "a mailing list for anyone who is on the road to becoming a professional Genealogist. It is a place to share experiences, problems, obstacles, downfalls and triumphs."

What You Can Do When Ancestry Messes Up

We all use Ancestry.com and value its services in making images of original records widely available. But even a profitable publicly-traded corporation makes mistakes.

My friend and colleague Michael Hait, CG, has started the Ancestry Errors Wiki as a place where genealogists can share their reports of cases where Ancestry.com has made errors of imaging, organization, or programming in placing records on line -- such as placing part of a census in the wrong jurisdiction. Simple errors of indexing or transcribing individual names can be dealt with on Ancestry's site, but these deeper errors are more difficult to detect, publicize, and correct. (This wiki can help with the first two items, anyway!)

In January 2009 I discovered one such error in the 1865 Illinois state census, in which townships in Kane county were mislabeled and one entire page image omitted. I wrote it up for the Illinois state quarterly. That was two years ago and it has yet to be corrected. In this case there are workarounds and Family History Library microfilms for comparison; in other cases there may be alternative on-line providers with better quality control. But first researchers need to help one another by making the problems known when they do occur.

So far the wiki has notations of errors in records involving seven states: Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and Texas. May you find few errors -- but send them in promptly when you do!


(I don't pay much attention to anniversaries, but if you're counting, this is post no. 801.)

Every name index to first La Porte County IN court records

(cross-posted on La Porte County Genealogical Society blog)

UNUSUAL EARLY INDIANA COURT INDEX NOW AVAILABLE

In Court In La Porte is an every-name index to the first legal proceedings in La Porte County, Indiana, containing more than 800 distinct surnames. Compiled by Harold Henderson, it indexes every personal, business, and place name mentioned in Complete Record Book A (June 1833 to April 1837), Judgment Docket A (June 1833 to June 1838), and Minute Record A (June 1833 to October 1836). A very limited amount of relevant genealogical information is included, such as when an individual stood bail for someone else's payment or performance of a duty.

This book is a finding aid, not a substitute for the records themselves. The original handwritten books (with handwritten indexes of plaintiffs only) are in the office of the La Porte County Clerk and should be consulted for legal and genealogical information. Also in the clerk's office are microfilms of the “loose papers” for certain cases.

The legal proceedings offer glimpses of many aspects of life on the frontier more than 170 years ago: fights, liquor sales, gambling parties, road building, timber cutting, slander, divorce, death, murder, and – above all – debt and the repayment of debt. These proceedings may also provide unique information on the whereabouts of early settlers who do not appear in census or property records. It is hoped that this index will encourage genealogists to make court records a regular part of their research.

In Court In La Porte: An Every-Name Index to the First Legal Proceedings in La Porte County, Indiana (La Porte: compiler via blurb.com, 2011). 246 pages, soft cover, 5x8. $20, Indiana sales tax included; 25% donated to La Porte County Genealogical Society. Shipping & handling $5 if needed. Available from the compiler at hhsh@earthlink.net, or with slightly different pricing through blurb.com.

A professional writer since 1979 and professional genealogist since 2009, Harold Henderson has published genealogical articles in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Utah, and the National Genealogical Society Magazine. He maintains a blog, “Midwestern Microhistory.” He serves on the boards of the La Porte County Genealogical Society and the Association of Professional Genealogists; moderates the Transitional Genealogists Forum on-line discussion list; and is the Indiana Genealogical Society county genealogist for La Porte.

La Porte County Indiana commitment book

(Cross-posted on La Porte County Genealogical Society blog)

SEVENTY-TWO YEARS OF COMMITMENT RECORDS IN LA PORTE COUNTY

As government and society evolved in the 1800s, it was the thinking that government had a proper role in providing for the good of those who were out of the norm or from whom society needed protection. As a result, Indiana built prisons, insane asylums, and homes and schools for the feeble minded, the deaf, the blind, the epileptic, and the orphan. These governmental actions left a paper trail in the courthouses. A new book abstracts these records in La Porte County. The earliest entry of the 565 entries found was 13 October 1848. No records after 1920 were abstracted.

The compilers searched numerous records in the county clerk's office, including Court of Common Pleas Order books A-E and additional books covering 1869 to 1873; all Circuit Court Civil Order books from B to Z and 1 to 40; and Insanity Record Books 6, 7, 11, 12, and 13. Civil Order Book A and Insanity Record Books 1-5 and 8-10 are missing.

Pictures of pertinent Indiana institutions are included.

_________

La Porte County, Indiana, Commitments to Benevolent, Educational, and Reformatory Institutions and Related Guardianships, 1848-1920, compiled by Dorothy Palmer and Mary Wenzel (La Porte: La Porte County Genealogical Society, 2011). 98 pages, soft cover, comb bound, 8 1/2 x 11. $20 through http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~inlcigs/booksales.htm

Pearls from the past . . . week

Miami County, Ohio, marriages 1807-1865

The Inner Life of Empires:An Eighteenth-Century History by Emma Rothschild -- the British Empire of the 1700s told through the Johnstone family. Bernard Bailyn says, "An extraordinary book, weaving back and forth between microhistory and the greater world..."

Kimberly Powell separates two Louis Volants -- one of them J. K. Rowling's great-grandfather -- in the most substantive and carefully argued blog post I've seen anywhere lately.

Do you feel a need to watch train wrecks? My favorite SW Michigan blog reviews a new book on Michigan train disasters 1900-1940, and draws a useful research lesson I had never heard of before.