Weekend wonderings: discursive endnotes

Why do so many publications at the state level continue to use endnotes rather than footnotes? Is there an insoluble layout issue here that I don't understand?
The spring issue of the Ohio Genealogical Society Quarterly includes an annotated transcription of Caleb Swan Walker's autobiographical fragment from 1861 to 1863, chronicling almost daily his experiences in Clermont County just east of Cincinnati and in Dennison General Hospital with wounded soldiers. Annotations are necessary because what was obvious to Caleb is no longer obvious to us. When he alludes to "Hon John McLean" dying on 4 April 1861, an editorial endnote identifies McLean, citing sources. Likewise when Caleb dined with C. W. Deland at the Burnet House, we learn who and what they were.

This kind of diligent well-sourced detail work has been my favorite feature in the Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal, and I hope the new OGSQ will keep it up after OCWGJ goes away next year. (And, yes, I know they need material and I owe them a bunch about my Ohio relations.) Doing such annotations right is a difficult and underappreciated part of genealogy and microhistory, because the closer we get to the past the more mysterious it can be. (I blogged last month about a less thoroughly annotated Illinois treasure.)

The downside for me is that in this case the annotations appear in endnotes. So they are (a) essential to the enjoyment of the read, and (b) several pages away! I await the graphically-gifted genealogist who can make this kind of annotation work better.




Polly Day Staley et al., "Caleb Swan Walker's Autobiography, 1861-1863, Clermont County and Dennison General Hospital," Ohio Genealogical Society Quarterly, vol. 52, no. 1 (Spring 2012):39-52.



Harold Henderson, "Weekend wonderings: discursive endnotes," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 26 May 2012 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal #4 of 2009

The new issue of OCWGJ features a memorial to indefatigable Andersonville researcher John H. "Jack" Lundquist. Other contributions include the following footnoted articles:

Cora Slack, "Albert L. Slack, 121st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Delaware and Marion Counties OH"

S. A. Mendenhall, "Four McLin Brothers from Hocking County: Thomas, Andrew, James, and Ezra, and Their Service to the Union During the Civil War"

Darrell Helton, "Clement L. Vallandigham and the Copperheads"

Also reviews of William James Smith's Memoirs of the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, Company M, and History of the 55th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

And it wouldn't OCWGJ without "Ask the Experts," which features questions and detailed answers that transparently describe the research. If you're new and want to start getting a feel for how the pros deal with questions about ancestry and documentation, this is a fun way to get into it.

More Ohio Civil War Genealogy

Contents of the third 2009 issue of the Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal:

"The 15th Ohio and the Copperheads," by Robert Bundy

"Henry Louis Fuller, 10th OVC," by Margaret Lance Cheney

"Noah McMullin, 122nd OVI, by Daniel R. Fickes

"Leonard Lauer, 163rd OVI, Mansfield OH," by Dan Reigle & Nadine Muth

"John Alexander Harper, 73rd OVI," by Alyssa Daugherty & Tyler Kimmet

"John Harper, 73rd OVI and The Good Hope Quilt," by Dennis Allen & Shannon Meehan

"Ohioans in the XV Corps' Volunteer Storming Party at Vicksburg," by Dan Reigle

"Clearcreek Twp., Fairfield Co. OH, Volunteers as of 1863," by Tom Neel and Dan Reigle

"Edward & Lewis Obenauf, 61st OVI," by Jocelyn Wilms

"Ask the Experts," with questions on C. W. Grimes, 52nd OVI; James M. C. Black, Monroe County, OH; Calvin Baker, 1st OVC; Andrew J. Fair, 194th OVI; Stephen Liles, 8th OVI; and William Young, 39th Ovi. Even if you're not specifically interested, you can read these answers for methodology -- can you do any better than the experts?

"1883 Census of Pensioners, Warren County, Ohio," by Michael Elliott

Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal #2 of 2009

Contents of the second issue of volume 13, more proof if any was needed of the inexhaustibility of just one period of one state's genealogy and history:

Harryette Mullen, "'Freedom for All': Sgt. William Wallace Strange"

Gwendolyn Mayer and Michael Elliott, "Marcus C. Horton Post #515, GAR, Garrettsville OH"

Leslie Korenko, "Jacob Rush: 3rd OVC at Munfordville KY"

Rev. David J. Endres, "An Ohio 'Holy Joe': Chaplain William T. O'Higgins," with letters*

Sheri Taylor Bockelman, "First, They Were Men: My Ancestors in the Civil War"*

"Ask the Experts," including discussions of Ohio casualties and the 47th, 101st, and 6th OVI

Dorene Paul, "General Henry A. Axline, Father of the National Guard of Ohio"

Michael Elliott, comp., "1883 Census of Pensioners, Auglaize County, Ohio"

*footnoted

A New Year of Ohio Civil War Genealogy

The first quarter 2009 issue of the Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal starts off with the top three finishers in the Civil War division of OGS's 2008 writing contest:

"Had They Stood Their Ground, We Would Have Cleaned Them Out: Ohioans in the Battle of Lewisburg in Western Virginia," by Jan Rader*

"Isaac Lyle of the 53rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry and His Brothers," by Jean M. Hoffman*

"When Frank Came Marching Home: Frank Elliott, 135th OVI," by Harold Henderson*

"Lincoln's Brother-in-Law in Fayette County?" by Mike Williams and Washington Senior High Research History Class

"Update: Significance of the Dove on Lewis Tuttle's Gravestone at Andersonville GA," by Kevin Frye and Mary Metzinger Nunneley

"DVD Announcement: Andersonville: View Behind the Valor, A Narrated Photographic Tour of the Prison Grounds and National Cemetery," by Kevin Frye

"Ask the Experts"

"Commodity Price Indexes, 1860 to Present," by Dan Reigle -- applying John J. McCusker's How Much Is That In Real Money? A Historical Commodity Price Index to Civil War pay figures.

"Isaac Shumaker Diary for 1863-1865, 81st OVI, Galion, Ohio," by Mike Hocker

"Book Review: The Fighting McCooks by Charles & Barbara Whalen," by Dan Reigle

"John William Eckert and his Red Badge of Courage," by Eric Johnson

"1883 Census of Pensioners, Erie County, Ohio," comp. Michael Elliott

*footnoted

Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal #4

The last OCWGJ of 2008 is, as usual, packed -- but to me the big news was underplayed. Two new indexes of northwest Ohio Civil War newspaper letters and articles are now available on line!

From Bowling Green University's Center for Archival Collections (which has other Civil War stuff too), there's a "Civil War Newspaper Correspondence Index," listing letters from soldiers published in newspapers in the counties of Allen, Crawford, Darke, Defiance, Hancock, Henry, Huron, Lorain, Lucas, Ottawa, Paulding, Putnam, Sandusky, Seneca, Williams, Wood, and Wyandot. The index includes names of the letter-writers, but it's organized by military unit. Not all newspapers indexed are available at BGSU.

From the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center (which also has more CW material), there's an "Index to Civil War Letters and Related Articles Published in Northwest Ohio Newspapers, 1861-1865." Three newspapers are indexed -- the Fremont Journal (Sandusky County), Norwalk Reflector (Huron County), and the Sandusky Register (Erie County). All are at RBHPC. I think there's some overlap, but in general it appears that the Hayes index goes deeper into a smaller number of newspapers.

And if you've had enough of indexes for a while, the articles this quarter include many actual letters:

"Letters from the Homefront to a Soldier: The Letters of George W. Tope," by Linda Lee Tope Trent. (There's material here even if you're no Civil War buff: when George says he bought his wife a dress, he means that he bought her the proper amount of cloth with which she made the dress.)

"Henry H. Melick, 32nd OVI: The Pensioner's Tale," by Mari M. McLean.

"Letters from Cap. A. N. Goldwood, 64th OVI & 31st USCI," by Gerald Boone.

"Ask the Experts" includes a lengthy and necessarily-but-unfortunately-inconclusive discussion of the fate of Thomas Hemings, 175th OVI.

"Amanda Township, Fairfield County OH: Volunteers of 1863," by Thomas Stephen Neel.

"1883 Census of Pensioners, Stark County, Ohio," by Michael Elliott.

Up to Date on Ohio Civil War Genealogy

And at last, the current, #3, 2008 issue of the Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal:

"Eight Days in Camp Toledo, Or My First Experience as a 'Volunteer,'" submitted by Leslie Korenko. The kind of day-by-day journal fragment that you wish your ancestor had kept, complete with jokes and little episodes of daily life in camp -- a resource for what life was really like, whether your people ever saw the inside of Camp Toledo or not.

"Berne Township, Fairfield County, Ohio: Volunteers as of 1863," abstracted by Thomas Stephen Neel

"African-American Strange Family of Ohio: Reuben R. Strange & Sons William E. & George F. Strange, Army & Navy Veterans of the Civil War," by Harryette Mullen

"John Wallace Campbell, Civil War Veteran, Co. G. 71st O.V.I.," by Sheri Taylor Bockelman

"49th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company C: The Kellers and Other Veterans from Annapolis, Crawford County OH," by Ken Striker

"Ask the Experts" on saber sharpening, wheelwrights, and much more

"Newspaper Articles on Shooting of Three Soldiers in Bucyrus OH on 11 March 1864," submitted by Diane Gagel

"1883 Census of Pensioners, Mercer County, Ohio," by Michael Elliott

More Ohio Civil War Genealogy

Action-packed issue #2 of this year's Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal, with the motto, "Bringing back to life Ohio soldiers who served in the Civil War, through their stories and records. Bringing back to Ohio the soldiers who were lost or moved on after the war."

"The Brown Water Navy: The Ironclads of the Mississippi River Squadron and the Exploits of Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Commander William Rion Hoel," by Matthew Hoel. WRH played a key role in the Battle of Island No. 10, a key stage in the Union's regaining control of the Mississippi.

"Recollections of Columbus Huddle, 46th OVI," by Kittie Huddle Millikin, with added editorial notes.

"Book Review: Both Prayed to the Same God: Religion and Faith in the American Civil War, by Robert J. Miller"; reviewed by Dan Reigle

"John Wolf, Meigs County OH, 4th West Virginia Infantry," submitted by Darrell Helton

"Ask the Experts" including "Ohio Veterans in Yellow Medicine County MN," submitted by Michelle Gatz

"Death of Lorenzo Barnell, 9th Ohio Independent Battery Light Artillery," submitted by Tanis Diedrichs

"George Gilmer, 22nd Iowa Infantry, Mortally Wounded at Vicksburg," submitted by Mila Sloan

"William Clouse, 99th OVI, Ohio City OH," submitted by Rodger Norton

"1883 Census of Pensioners, Mahoning County, Ohio," by Michael Elliott -- plus a list of counties published in OCWGJ

"Members of Van West Post 627, Grand Army of the Republic," by Rodger Norton and Daniel H. Reigle

Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal #1

For some reason, my subscription to Ohio's excellent Civil War genealogy journal has arrived in a huge gulp of the first three magazines of 2008 all at once! We'll take 'em one at a time. The journal's home page on the Ohio Genealogy Society web site includes the current table of contents and a PDF of a full sample issue from 2006. OGS also has online Civil War databases, including two big ones available to nonmembers . . . although why anyone interested enough in Ohio to be reading this wouldn't want to join the nation's largest state genealogical society, I can't imagine.

Volume 12, No. 1, 2008:

"Ohio's Bounty System, Bounty Jumpers, & Brokers," by Darrell Helton. Lucid, detailed, and of value to those of us researching non-Ohio soldiers, especially those who enlisted later in the war. Relies heavily on Eugene Murdock's Ohio's Bounty System in the Civil War.

"Irish Catholic Civil War Veterans and the St. Colman of Cloyne Cemetery, Washington Court House, Ohio," by 2006-2007 Senior Research History Class, Washiongton Senior High School, comp. and ed. Anna Bryant. Teacher Paul LaRue. Read these and imagine how your life would have been different if you'd had a high-school history class -- any high-school class -- like this.

"The Willich and Hecker Posts, Grand Army of the Republic, in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine," by Jack Simon. Includes 1898 listo f members including units and 1898 addresses.

"Ask the Experts." OCWGJ has a "Panel of Experts" who answer written questions from subscribers -- in substance and detail. I don't know of any other genealogy journal anywhere that does this.

"Surname Index for OCWGJ, Volume XI, 2007," comp. Beckie Lee Petty and Susan Dunlap Lee

"Ohio Association of Ex-Prisoners of War," submitted by Betty Lloyd.

"Civil War Flags at Ohio Historical Society."

"The Search for James Andrew Monroe Clymer, Company I, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry," by Brad Quinlin

"1883 Census of Pensioners, Henry County, Ohio," by Michael Elliott -- amplified from the original 1883 Pensioners Report.

All Things Civil War and Michigan

Ohio has its own publication tying genealogy and the Civil War. Michigan may not match that, but John M. "Jack" Dempsey's Michigan Civil War Blog sure helps. Recently he posted about a forthcoming Civil War extravaganza, "Michigan's Fight for Freedom: The Civil War Era" (PDF), Feb. 27-May 4 at Macomb Community College, with multiple presentations getting down to as much detail as a talk about Company K of the First Michigan Sharpshooters, "the only all Native American company to serve in the war from Michigan."