Rebuilding the Jaynes family with no direct evidence

Those hoping to qualify for Certified Genealogist status from the Board for the Certification of Genealogists can submit a proof argument that involves conflicting evidence, OR a proof argument that involves only indirect evidence. If you're contemplating the latter route, Mara Fein's article in the March 2013 National Genealogical Society Quarterly provides a nifty example. The keystone is an 1851 Washington County, Ohio, deed -- but in order to make the case Fein had to amass many hints in a variety of records (never an explicit statement) that the five grantors and the grantee were siblings, children of Henry and Catherine Jaynes. (One piece of evidence: the grantee paid $1 for the land.)

As someone who went through the portfolio process twice, I'm not fond of this particular route to certification, because it puts the applicant in a Catch-22: if she should find that the family can be proved with direct evidence, then she's back to square one. For an article, however, that drawback does not apply. Fein's article is also noteworthy in that there are almost no pieces of contrary evidence.

To put it another way, this article is almost the perfect opposite to the idea most of us brought to genealogy as beginners -- that the only way to prove a relationship is to find a records that SAYS what the relationship was. Fein made her case without any such records.

Midwestern researchers will note that the case spreads from Wood County, (West) Virginia, to Washington County, Ohio (right across the Ohio River); Jefferson, Daviess, and Knox counties, Indiana; and Linn County, Missouri. These counties trace what sure looks like a river-based migration path, but it's the aggregate power and logic of painstakingly gathered indirect evidence that carries all before it in this article.




Mara Fein, "Who Was the Father of Henry Norton Jaynes of Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, and Virginia?," National Genealogical Society Quarterly 101 (March 2013): 35-47.


Harold Henderson, "Rebuilding the Jaynes family with no direct evidence," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 31 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Good news for those with medical ancestors in Indiana

Researchers can find information on more than 27,000 medical people with some Indiana connection at the Indiana University School of Medicine Ruth Lilly Library Historical Databases.

I can't judge completeness (which in any case is not claimed), but the list includes doctors who in my mind are associated with other states, so don't assume that your people aren't here. The database appears to be maintained, with changes as recently as April.

There are actually two databases but they can be searched together. The search interface reaches every word, not just names, but otherwise doesn't seem too flexible -- and good luck if you're looking for a surname that is also a common word! (My workaround: since all the results come out in a long single list, you can do the search and then do a control-F search on the name with an initial capital and check "match case.") An extra benefit here is that a search of the database will pick up names of individuals who were not themselves doctors or midwives, but who are mentioned in their biographies, obituaries, or letters.

My search for "Everts" (a big surname in 19th-century La Porte County) produced 17 interesting results and lots of leads to follow about the whole family. Here is where the individual researcher's skill will be tried. Sourcing is not clear, even when large blocks of text are quoted. And the supposed drop-down list of "sources" is just a list of individual words as they appear in the text. Occasionally what appear to be source citations, or scraps thereof, do appear in association with text.

The compiler writes quite properly, "We offer these databases as guides to further research in the history of Indiana physicians and Civil War surgeons." But it is not always easy to tell where a given fact or quotation came from. As a result, beginning genealogists may give up and cite this database as their source, rather than keep on looking for the original record, book, or article. Any citation of course is better than none, but this would be poor research procedure except as a stopgap aide-memoire. Visit this site often, but be prepared to do more work afterwards.



Harold Henderson, "Good news for those with medical ancestors in Indiana," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 29 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.] 

A holiday gift to New York researchers...

. . . from Manhattan Past to us, "links to Google digitized editions of the Laws of New York from 1638 through 1922."

The need is plain to those of us seeking information on what the laws said when in the Empire State, although I didn't understand it as well as the author does: "There is inconsistency among catalogers when entering these titles into Google’s database, as well as errors introduced as Google converts title information from image to text."

And if you need to know, the link to the 1825 session laws also includes 1826.









"Laws of the State of New York," Manhattan Past, http://www.manhattanpast.com/resources/laws-of-the-state-of-new-york/ : accessed 26 May 2013.


Harold Henderson, "A holiday gift to New York researchers...," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 27 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

A 1948 snapshot of the Gulf Coast shoreline

Visiting a used-book store in Freeport, Maine, I purchased an intriguing mid-20th-century source for a dollar -- a detailed mile-by-mile survey of the Gulf Coast for navigators: United States Coast Pilot: Gulf Coast, Key West to Rio Grande (Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1949), third edition. So far I have not seen it on line. According to the 2 April 1949 preface, the book "includes the results of a special field examination made in 1948." Among these results:

"Salerno [Florida], a small town at the head of Manatee Pocket, has a vegetable-packing plant, an asphalt plant, a shark factory, and is headquarters for a fishing fleet. . . . Gasoline, Diesel oil, fresh water, ice, and facilities for overnight dockage or seasonal storage are available at the yard. Groceries are obtainable at nearby stores." {214}

"For a distance of 40 miles eastward of the entrance [to Mobile Bay], the shore, although low, is wooded and unbroken. . . . . Approaching Mobile, two tall buildings near the water front are first seen. The easterly building has a pointed finial. The westerly building was under construction in May 1948 and will be the higher of the two." {272}

"The wreck of the S. S. Leo Huff is in 39 feet of water 6.0 miles 161 [degrees] from the whistle buoy marking the entrance to Calcasieu Pass Channel [Louisiana]. The mast shows above the water. A lighted buoy marks the wreck." {362}

"Gulf [Texas] is a small town 35 miles northeastward of Pass Cavallo. The sulphur mines north of the town were not in operation in 1948. The twin stacks and buildings at the mines are prominent from offshore." {405}

For landlubbers like me, it's as if someone had carefully noted every few miles of any given highway for hundreds of miles, as of 65 years ago. I'll add this to my informal list of people who are deeply interested in very specific and very small places, along with genealogists, cartographers, and weather forecasters in tornado season.

The book is not completely indexed (the wrecks are not included, for instance). But since its value is mostly in the description of local town and bay features I'll probably add this to my free lookups in due time.




Harold Henderson, "A 1948 snapshot of the Gulf Coast shoreline," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 24 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.] 

What was $12 worth in 1814?

Anyone who studies the past soon comes up against the question of what the money amounts mentioned really meant. There are a number of sites that will "tell" us, but translating 200-year-old dollar values into today's economy is a very difficult and dubious task. I proposed some alternatives in a blog post last year and recommended the site Measuring Worth if you're determined to try to make such a statement.

But for several reasons it seemed more reasonable to compare apples to apples and describe purchases from back then that we might be able to grasp in in-kind terms today.

So when I wanted to know what it meant for a War of 1812 soldier to be paid about $12 for a couple months' service (two separate hitches), I went looking. I found that that in 1812 in near-frontier Cincinnati that amount of money would have bought

"more than 250 pounds of beef.¹ In Jefferson County [New York] some 20 years later it would have bought about 100 pounds of maple sugar.^2"

 

1 Thomas Senior Berry, Western Prices Before 1861: A Study of the Cincinnati Market (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1943), Table 23, “Median Annual Prices of Fourteen Leading Commodities in the Ohio Valley, 1786-1817,” pp. 568-69; digital images, Food Timeline (http://www.foodtimelines.org/prices1786-1817.pdf : accessed 9 April 2013).

2 Henry H. Lyman, “Sugar-Making,” in Memories of the Old Homestead: A Story about Lorraine, NY (1900; reprint, Historical Association of South Jefferson, 1999), 23rd paragraph; digital image, Adams, New York History and Genealogy (http://www.adamsny.net/lyman.html : accessed 9 April 2013).

These were the most intuitive comparisons I could find on short order. I was reminded that prices were very local back then, and how few things are directly comparable. (I hardly ever have occasion to buy that much beef or maple sugar.) If others have found useful sources for this purpose I'd love to hear about them.



Harold Henderson, "What was $12 worth in 1814?," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 22 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]  

Paul Graham's Georgia Courthouse Disasters

Courthouse disasters are the stuff of legend. My grandmother believed the records of all four of her grandparents had been destroyed; in fact, none were.

Paul K. Graham, CG, AG -- one of a handful who holds both genealogical credentials -- has documented 109 disasters, many causing record losses, in 75 of Georgia's 159 counties since the American Revolution. Each county's brief narrative has a source list attached, although specific statements of fact are not directly documented. (To put it technically, he has provided direct evidence of negative evidence!) Two counties have claimed disasters for which there is zero contemporary evidence (Emanuel and Polk), whereas two others have massive record loss with no documentation of how it happened (Bryan and Union).

The book's value is enhanced by maps showing the areas affected beyond the named county. Although 1864 was the worst year for Georgia courthouses, overall 95 of the 109 disasters came from things like arsonists and faulty heating equipment, not the Civil War.

To a researcher who rarely does Georgia, this looks like an enviable resource. Graham prudently did not attempt to record exactly which records had been lost in each county (indeed, in multiple-disaster counties, later fires obliterated evidence of the damage done by earlier ones). Graham says he has given up an ambitious scheme to produce similar books for the other states. Perhaps this handsome little book will inspire imitators.

Unfortunately disasters come in other flavors. Those of us following the ongoing saga of the Georgia Archives' near-death experience, or the Indiana State Archives' chronic neglect, can only hope that some 22nd-century genealogist will not have to chronicle 21st-century record losses caused by underfunding (instead of war), mismanagement (instead of tornadoes), and ignorant politicians (instead of arsonists).




Paul K. Graham, Georgia Courthouse Disasters (Decatur GA: The Genealogy Company, 2013).

Harold Henderson, "Paul Graham's Georgia Courthouse Disasters," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 20 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.] 

Specific good news for Illinois and Indiana researchers

FamilySearch announced on the 16th increases in two online collections of great interest to those with Midwestern ancestors. But the official information about the collections is somewhat incomplete and inaccurate.

"Indiana, Marriages, 1811-1959," is reported to be 82% complete, with material from all counties except Scott, Shelby, Spencer, Starke, Switzerland, Tipton, and Vermillion.

In fact, there are substantial numbers of indexed marriages in all 92 Indiana counties. All appear to offer images, but some were unavailable when I clicked them.

"Illinois, County Marriages, 1820-1934," is reported to include both index and images, 63% complete, with no names of counties covered (earlier iterations had named them).

I did not see any images. Counties with index entries are

Adams, Alexander,
Bond, Boone, Brown,
Champaign, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Coles, Crawford,
DeWitt, Douglas,
Edgar, Edwards, Effingham,
Ford, Franklin,
Gallatin, Grundy,
Hancock, Henderson, Henry,
Iroquois,
Jackson, Jefferson, Jo Daviess,
Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Knox,
Livingston,
Marion, Massac, McHenry, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie,
Ogle,
Pike,
Randolph, Rock Island,
Shelby,
Warren, White, and Williamson.

Notably missing at this point are the big ones including Cook, DuPage, Lake, Will, Peoria, and Winnebago. Where the two overlap, it would be interesting to compare the coverage of this new index to that of the Illinois State Archives' venerable "Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763-1900" (also a volunteer project), but I haven't done that. If you do post such a thing on your blog, kindly add a comment with the link!



Harold Henderson, "Specific good news for Illinois and Indiana researchers," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 18 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]