Leftover Ancestors - 2011 Edition

Last year's edition of  Leftover Ancestors was so delicious, that I couldn't help going for a second serving.  Here it is again!

Thanksgiving Day

• You knew there would be a family Gathering, and it is inevitable that there would be some family Feuds as well as family Fight.

• And I also found a Bernard S. Turkey Day in the California Voter Registrations – that’s a way to get into the holiday spirit, no?

Turkeys

• Do you think there would there be Turkeys in the US Census? But of course! But not as many Tom Turkeys as you might think – although in 1920 there is a Big Turkey in Todd, South Dakota and a Primo Turkey in Franklin, Illinois.

• There’s a John Turkey Legs along with his wife Lydia Turkey Legs in Big Horn, Montana in 1920! And even a Wish Bone in the Washington State and Territorial Census in 1887. Well, who doesn’t have a few turkeys in their own family tree, right?

Side Dishes

• Side dishes are well represented this holiday season as well, with various Cranberrys although I can’t verify that any were sauced. Casseroles are covered as well.

• There’s a bumper crop of Potatoes and while some might be sweet, a Sweet Potato could not be found. Plenty of Yams, my favorites being Yostus Yam and Stray Yam. I would avoid Harry Yam however.

• In case you were wondering, there was no Mashed Potato but plenty of other people who are Mashed, including Mashed Carpenter, and Mashed Noggie. Another fave: Mashed Clampit, from North Carolina, of course. One note: scrolling down through the Masheds you come upon many listings for nuns, such as Sister M. Joseph, Sister M. Elise. Is there some order of the Masheds that I missed out on?

• Plenty of Stuffings and Stuffins with some Dressings as well. Also, you may call it Corn but some call it Maize. You’ll find most of the Green Beans in the South but not living anywhere near a Casserole (see above). Anyone for Beets? Not sure if any of them went to Harvard.

• And finally, you just can’t eat all these good dishes without gravy. I present Gravy Cooks – from the 1930 US Census, Phoenix, Arizona. In case you were wondering, yes, there are several that arrived by boat.

Desserts

• For dessert there are the usual Pies but which do you prefer? If you aren’t sure there is a Trial Pie and for those who’ve overeaten, a Minnie Pie or even a Zero Pie. There are also those who just want Cake.

Cleanup

• Eventually you have to deal with the Dishes as well as the Silver Ware – why she was bland, I know not except that may have been her maiden name. Wash the Glasses, even the ones that are Chip and gather up all the Napkins.

* * *

And if we’re lucky and fortunate, we’ll all be back to do it again next year! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Photo: Thanksgiving Leftovers via Flickr, used under Creative Commons License 3.0.

Disclaimer: See Disclosure Statement for more information on the material connections I have with Ancestry.com and various genealogy and non-genealogy vendors.

© 2011, copyright Thomas MacEntee

The Montgomery County, NY Archives Needs Your Help

As mentioned by my genealogy colleagues Dick Eastman and Marian Pierre-Louis, among others, there is a petition being circulated on the Internet to help prevent cutbacks at the Montgomery County, New York Archives.

I have used this site several times for researching my Putman and Fonda ancestors and if you have Mohawk Valley ancestry like I do, you know how important this repository is for genealogists and family historians.

I don't ask for this very often, but if you can take just one minute out of your busy day, please click here to sign the online petition. While the county government in Montgomery County is thinking locally, they don't understand the impact that such cutbacks would have on the genealogical community.

Thanks!

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Reflections on Salt Lake Christmas Tour 2010

I am finally back home in Chicago - and made it just in the nick of time before that blizzard arrived! Last week, from Monday, December 6th through Friday, December 10th, 2010 I delivered 8 different genealogy and technology related lectures as part of the Salt Lake Christmas Tour.

I wanted to share some of my thoughts and observations on this wonderful event:

• While attendance was slightly down over previous years (I blame the economy), there are about 100 fellow genealogists from all over the country and from all walks of life.

• There are many social events during the week, some organized and scheduled and some spur-of-the-moment such as the nightly dinner club.

• My favorite event was the daily breakfast (at the not-so-favorite hour of 7:00 am) where I could talk with folks and see how their research had progressed the day before. Also there were prizes given away each morning and also many people brought genealogy-related gift items for sale and on display.

• All the staff involved are phenomenal and so friendly, from Leland and Patty Meitzler, to Donna Potter Phillips in her role as "den mother," to Bill Balter who makes sure lecturers like me have everything they need to teach, to Dick and Dee Cattaneo who prepare breakfast each morning.

• While many of the attendees have been coming each year for over 25 years, newcomers are instantly made to feel welcome and part of the family.  This is sort of like "genealogy camp" and by the end of the week you don't want to leave all the new genea-friends you've made!

• Sure there are lots of fun and games, but there is some serious research taking place.  The professional researchers including Arlene Eakle, Loni Gardner and others are available for consultation and to guide you to the resources and methodologies you need to break down those brick walls. The ratio of professional researcher to attendee is usually around 1 to 7.

• The chance to research at the Family History Library during a period when there are plenty of microfilm readers available. All those tapes you usually order and wait for are there waiting for you!

And I'm happy to report that there are 356 days left until the 2011 Salt Lake Christmas Tour and that I'm scheduled to participate again next year! Leland Meitzler and I will hammer out a list of presentations - including some hands-on mini-classes - and sign a contract by the end of January.

I'd love to see some of my readers and fellow genealogists there for a week of research, education and holiday fun! You'll be hearing more from me next year about the 2011 tour - stay tuned!

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Having Fun at Salt Lake Christmas Tour

Just a quick note before I go teach my 9:30 am class this morning (the topic is Build a Genealogy Blog) at the Salt Lake Christmas Tour.

I am having so much fun here in Salt Lake City this week and here's why:

• I am speaking and teaching to a very enthusiastic group of genealogists and family historians. They are very appreciate of the content I am trying to deliver and they also love to interact with me and the other attendees.

• I get to meet many colleagues such as Arlene Eakle, Dear MYTRLE, A.C. Ivory and more while I am in the Salt Lake City Area.

• I also get the opportunity to meet with various genealogy vendors including FamilySearch and "talk shop" about the genealogy industry.

• And finally, I get to visit the Family History Library and work on my own research!

Who could want anything more? Talk about a great Christmas present.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Genealogy Blog Power - Update on Marjorie Pauline Frost Story

Talk about the power of having a genealogy blog. Here, once again, is proof. This time at my very own site, Destination: Austin Family. Readers might remember my series on Marjorie Pauline Frost from October, 2009 which, to make a long research story short, involved a baby book from 1928 left in an Oneonta, New York bookstore with other items for sale.  During the course of a day (yes, a day) using Twitter and other social media applications, the genealogy community was able to reunite the baby book with a descendant of its subject, Marjorie Pauline Frost.

Old news, right?  Well old news gets picked up by search engines like Google when it is fresh news. And such news has a way of hanging around only to be found by others in the future.  That's exactly what happened.  Not only did someone make a connection with their own genealogy research, but I was able to provide valuable clues to a burial location and more.

Last week, I received the following email from a Nancy Frost in Michigan (duplicated with her permission):

"Dear Thomas,

Yesterday, on my lunch hour here at work, I decided I would Google an ancestor and see what I could come up with. I chose my great-grandfather, Otis D. Frost. I came upon many old newspaper articles and even his obituary which was wonderful since I didn't know when he died. My main reason for doing this was the hope that I just might find out my great-grandmother, Neva's, maiden name. I tried Googling her but came up empty handed. After going through many pieces of information, I stumbled upon your site. My search for Otis Frost in Springfield, NY brought up your reports from a year ago recounting your search for the owner (or family of) a little girl's baby book. You were looking for information on Marjorie Pauline Frost. Turns out, she was my grandfather's (Kenneth David Frost) sister-in-law. Her father, my grand uncle Devere, was the man who was murdered in the bar room brawl about which you wrote. I never knew that. The "Aunt Mabel" you wrote about as being the nurse who delivered Pauline was my dear grandmother. You included her obituary which I had never seen. In that obit., it gave me the location of where she is buried. I've been searching for that information for years. The only thing I knew about where Nana Mabel and Grampy Ken were buried was that it WASN'T in the Cherry Valley cemetery.

I won't go on and on, but I did want to thank you so much for publishing this work. You helped me fill in some missing information that is so important to me. All because you wanted to reunite a child's baby book with someone who would care about it. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Well, if that doesn't just feel good to get an email like that, I don't know what does.  Not only does it speak to the serendipity in genealogy and family research but also says that Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness do have a reward. Plus it is good karma to help others out - you never know who will write a blog post on one of your ancestors for you to find on Google down the road.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

The Genealogical Truth . . . and Nothing But The Truth!

Just an FYI: I've posted an interesting item at my new website, High-Definition Genealogy, which relates a recent legal case in Ohio involving a lawsuit and one family's history.

I won't go into detail of the legal proceeding - you can read more here - but I think the situation highlights what can be a problem especially for beginning or novice genealogists.  As a researcher I always follow the Genealogical Proof Standard in documenting family history whether it is my own or that of a client. As long as you can stick to the facts and be able to substantiate your conclusions with source citations, you should have no fear of any legal proceedings.  If someone - a colleague or a family member - disagrees, then let them prove their own theories and conclusions using the same process and standards.  This become scholarly dialog - not a reason to go to court.

However, if as part of writing a family history, you take family folklore or mythology and make it appear as fact, you are treading down a murky path.  At the very least, if you feel the need to include such stories then make sure you label the source, as in "as told during the 2009 family reunion in Funks Grove, IL by Aunt Susie Silvertongue" or something along those lines.  I would also make certain that I got the story correct and check with Aunt Susie - it also doesn't hurt to ask permission to include the story.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

My Grandfather's Will - In My Grandfather's Voice?

An interesting story in today's online version of my local newspaper The Chicago Tribune discusses the restoration of Roger Ebert's voice using modern technology.  If you remember, Ebert of the famed Siskel & Ebert from the US television show At The Movies, has been battling cancer for several years and his latest series of operations has robbed him of the ability to speak.

Technology to the rescue in a most ingenious way:  technicians were able to take DVD commentaries that Ebert had made before his cancer progressed and have created "snippets" that can now be used as Ebert types to create an audio message.

As I read the story I thought of a genealogy angle: wouldn't it be neat if we could capture sound from a video or a tape recorded interview and do the same for our grandparents or aunts and uncles?  And then transcribe documents that they created such as letters, wills, etc.?  Granted, you may not be able to encode the inflection or the emotion involved with such a document, but it would definitely make a "3D" version of a simple document transcription.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

The Full Wiki

The Full Wiki is a great resource for genealogists and family historians, especially when working with family members and trying to place history in context.

Basically, The Full Wiki is a "mashup" of Wikipedia and Google Maps plus a few other resources including Wikiquote and it allows you to search for a term and view the information in several different formats.

Entering a term such as "family history library" will display the standard Wikipedia content for that term:

Clicking on the Map tab at the top of the screen will also display the Google Maps information:

And interestingly, there is a "Topic Tree" tab which seems to diagram the term with links to other articles on WikiPedia:

Check out The Full Wiki and see if it can be a useful resource for your family history research.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Sex Offender Database as Genealogy Source?

Recently while I was working on a research project for a client, I found myself in an awkward situation: the only way I could verify the date of birth for a relative was by using that person's entry on a state database listing current sex offenders.

In most states and some localities, it is a requirement that those convicted of sex-related crimes must register and have their information publicly accessible on a registry.  Citizens are then able to look up such information either using their own Internet connection or can walk into a local law enforcement office and use a public terminal.

While the person I located on one such registry is not a direct relative, these are the questions that using such information posed:

• the information was for a living individual so what are my duties in terms of privacy? Does it matter that the information such as date of birth is available to anyone with Internet access?

• what is my duty as a professional genealogist to disclose the source of such information, especially if it cannot be verified in any other manner?  In this case, the person was too young to have appeared on the 1930 United States Federal Census.

• should I have simply entered an estimated date of birth or left the field blank?

• should I have entered the exact date of birth without a proper source citation?

• do these registries get updated especially if an offender dies? How permanent is the information accessed?

What is your take on sex offender registries as a genealogy source?

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

A New Years Resolution Checkup

While I was performing research on my past entries for the Carnival of Genealogy, I came across a post I did here in December 2008 entitled New Years Resolutions for 2009. Normally, I am not someone who looks back at my own actions - I tend to be a forward-looking person who lives life with little or no regrets. I prefer to look back at the lives of my ancestors!

But I was surprised in several ways about the resolutions I'd written almost a year ago:

• I actually succeeded in completing several actions to which I had committed
• Looking back I really think I could have had more goals!

Basically, I succeeded with the following resolutions:

• Increase Outreach Efforts. At the time, GeneaBloggers was only in existence within the world of Facebook as a group. Little did I know that within a month of that post, I would set up GeneaBloggers as a .com domain and watch it grow to the vibrant community that it is with close to 750 genealogy blogs listed.

• Write More Articles. Despite the demise of Digital Genealogist over the summer, I have been asked by several magazines, websites and blogs to contribute written articles and posts about genealogy and more specifically about technology. In the Spring of 2010 I will have two submissions printed in upcoming issues of Family Tree Magazine and I am happy to be part of one of my favorite genealogy magazines!

• Attend Genealogy Conferences. I attended the Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree in late June 2008. Not only did I have a blast and meet so many interesting folks, but I knew by the end of the weekend, that the rest of my year would be spent working on a career transition from the information technology field to being a professional genealogist.

Area in which I was not successful:

• Cleanup My Database. I've been so busy with writing and taking on pro bono research clients as I build experience, that I haven't committed myself to my own research. I need to get with the program and just do it!

• Finish Scanning The Box. Again, utter failure here. I really do need to just let the scanner run one day while I am putzing around on the computer. There are so many photos I could use for Wordless Wednesday or other posts! Plus I need to do a better job of organizing my old letters and make sure they are preserved archivally.

For the next six weeks, I'll be formulating my genealogy resolutions for 2010 and looking back at my successes and failures in 2009 has helped quite a bit!

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Interview with Forgotten Bookmarks

[Editor's Note: I had such a great time helping Michael from the Forgotten Bookmarks site locate the family of Marjorie Pauline Frost, that I thought the readers here at DAF would like to know more about Forgotten Bookmarks and how the site got started.]

How did you come up with the concept for the Forgotten Bookmarks blog?

I run the family used and rare bookstore, and the bulk of my day is sorting through boxes and boxes of books, many of which are well over 100 years old. As you can imagine, going through that many books will uncover some interesting bits of ephemera. I ended up with boxes of these bookmarks saved up; things that seemed just too interesting to throw away. About three years ago, I came across a large pot leaf inside a microwave cookbook—it was just too funny not to share. I scanned the leaf with the book, and sent the picture to a few friends. After that, whenever I would find something really fascinating or humorous, I would take a picture and share it. It didn't take me long to figure out I wasn't the only one who found these items interesting.

How long has the blog been running? How often do you post to it?

It's been in one form or another since 2007. I started posting nearly every day about a year ago.

Have you blogged before or is FB your first blog?

I dabbled a bit with a blog for our bookstore, as well as a few other projects here and there, but I just didn't have the discipline to keep up with it. Once I started getting comments on Forgotten Bookmarks, it was easy to keep up on it.

You state on your blog that you work in a rare and used bookstore. Does your employer know about the FB blog?

My employers, technically, are my mom and dad. They know about it, in fact, the most popular post I've had - the Harry Potter-esque photo (http://www.forgottenbookmarks.com/2009/07/my-gift-to-internet.html) -
was actually found by my dad, who had started saving things for me.

Boxers or briefs?

I actually just bought these Hanes tagless no gap fly boxers. Highly recommended.

Have you always worked in bookstores?

It is the family business, so I've been puttering around with books in one way or another since I was seven.

How often do you find family heirloom items like the Frost baby book in a carton of books brought in by people?

Quite often, actually. When people are cleaning out a house, either because of a death or because they are moving, they will group together all the paper items with the books, so I will come across wills, love letters and wedding photos.

Are you usually able to reunite the item with the original owner?

It's pretty rare. For one, it can be hard to track down who even sold them to me, as we do a lot of buying at auction or estates. Most of the time, even if you find an original owner, they won't have any real interest in getting the item back. I always was surprised by that.

Paper or plastic?

Tyvek. I think that's what those reusable bags are made of. At any rate, we have a few of the canvas ones as well. At the bookshop, we just reuse old Walmart plastic bags, or the paper bags Office Depot gives out when they have the $20 a bag sale.

What’s your opinion on the future of small independent booksellers in this age of e-books, online book vendors and mega-chain bookstores?

I think there will always be a place for stores like ours. I have seen just about all the older bookshops in the area go under in the last 10 years, but it's been because places like Amazon and B&N have exposed their weaknesses. I think to thrive as an independent, you have to embrace the internet. We were lucky to get started early on the web. Other than that, I would offer that you can either offer a little bit of everything, or pick a genre and specialize.

What’s in store for FB in the future?

I just launched the sister site for Forgotten Bookmarks, which is handwrittenrecipes.com. It features just the recipes I find. I am hoping to team up with someone who can cook and take pictures of some of the recipes, as that is something that just isn't feasible for me. I'd also like to put together a book at some point.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Web-Based Tools For Locating Living People

Perhaps you are searching for long-lost cousins or other relatives for your next family reunion; or you are trying to find the original owner of a family heirloom bought at a flea market; or your name is Mrs. Mazumba from Nigeria and you must, must give away $10 Million dollars waiting to be claimed by the rightful heir - the truth is we all need to locate living people from time to time.

Here are some great web-based tools to help you on your search.

• 5 Best People-Search Engines (via Lifehacker)

• 8 Tools to Find Someone Online (via Lifehack)

• 15 Websites to Find People On The Internet (via makeuseof.com)

• 25 Free People Search Engines to Find Anyone (via findermind)

• 33 Web Tools for People Searches (via Technologizer)

• How To Conduct A Free Criminal Background Check Online (via makeuseof.com)

• Top 8 Sites to Identify The Owner Of A Phone Number (via makeuseof.com)

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Do's and Don'ts When Researching The Living

Readers who have been following the series of posts about Marjorie Pauline Frost understand that there are certain challenges involved when attempting to locate living persons and perhaps subsequently writing about them on your blog.

While the research techniques may be the same or similar to those used when looking for our dead ancestors, there are certain approaches which work the best, and certain precautions which should be heeded.

Public vs. Private Information

As genealogists, most of us understand the need to protect private information especially for living persons.  This is why we often privatize GEDCOM files before posting them on websites, etc.  The same is true when attempting to locate living persons especially in a public, collaborative space such as Facebook or Twitter.

• Keep private info private.  Don't post names, addresses (including email addresses), and telephone numbers of living persons publicly.  On Twitter don't tweet publicly, use the Direct Message option.  On Facebook send an email, don't post such info on The Wall.

• Link where possible.  Although the data might be publicly available through a "people finder" site such as ZabaSearch, post a link to the page, not the data found on the site.

• Twitter: follow the leader.  If using Twitter, appoint one person as the collector of "leads" and have others participating in the research direct message the data to that person.

• Facebook: this group is closed.  If using Facebook, use a closed group and monitor access,  This allows you to post data and control who can and can't see the data.

Contacting Living Persons

• Expect hesitancy.  While contacting living people via telephone is preferred, understand that the person who answers might feel you are a scammer.  Consider sending an email with links to your blog or website in order to build legitimacy.  Or send a letter using the snail mail method, providing the recipient with your contact information.  Let them contact you if and when they feel comfortable.

• Expect to be rejected.  Some people are distanced from their families for a reason, and at their own choosing.  Respect their desires without judging.

Be Careful What You Write

If you decide to document your research experience, understand that while you can't defame the dead, you can be accused of defamation and/or libel when posting information about the living especially if it is untrue.

• Just the facts ma'am.  While blogs are often forums for personal views and free speech, play it safe and avoid injecting opinion when posting the facts which can be publicly located about a person.  Don't let your personal judgments get in the way.  Let readers come to their own conclusions.

• Do your own research.  When I locate family tree data online, I always try to verify the information even if it is properly sourced and cited.  The same goes for supposedly public information on living persons.  Don't just copy from another site or blog without knowing the source of the data.

• Consider the source.  Just as in genealogy research, certain sources are better than others and carry more weight.  Some sources may not be useful or may be biased.  When in doubt, don't include the fact if you don't feel comfortable with the reputation of the source.

• Admit when you are wrong.  If after posting you realize you made an error in research or stating a fact - make a correction.  And make the correction obvious - don't just edit the original post.  Some bloggers will use the "strikethrough" function and add an update in bold at the top of the original post explaining the edit.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

A Tripple Play

[This is Part 5 in a series of posts about how I was able to use Twitter and genealogy resources to reunite a baby book from 1926 with the original owner's family]

Previous posts:

Search For The Living - Honing Your Research Skills

The Search for Marjorie Pauline Frost

So Many Questions - Whither Marjorie Pauline Frost?

A Bar Room Brawl

Continued posts:

Do's and Don'ts When Researching the Living

Interview with Forgotten Bookmarks

So after I set Michael from Forgotten Bookarks off on the Pullman and Petriski wild goose chase, I remembered something: there was mention of Mable Frost as the nurse that helped deliver Marjorie Pauline Frost in 1926.  And in Michael's research and contacts, he found out that Mable died in the 1980s.

It seemed odd to me that the nurse at the hospital who delivered our Pauline had the same last name.  But then I remembered that in upstate New York it was not uncommon in the mid-1920s to still have a child delivered at home perhaps by the local doctor or midwife.

Mable Frost could not have been Devere Frost's sister - she did not show up on any of the US Federal Census records.  So perhaps she was Kenneth Frost's wife - the sister-in-law to Devere and aunt to Pauline.  And sure enough, the 1930 US Federal Census record for Kenneth Frost shows his wife as Mable Frost, both with children living in Cherry Valley, New York.

* * *

As I pursued further research, something else was bugging me.  In the back of my mind I kept wondering why the obituary for Pauline's maternal grandfather - Louis Crossway/Crauseway - didn't mention her but did mention other grandchildren.  While it can be disturbing and a bit sad that someone would seek to settle a score through the writing of a death notice, perhaps Pauline had conceived her child out of wedlock, thus the early marriage, and this caused embarrassment to the family.  But then why would the grandparents and parents release a birth announcement for Pauline's child in 1943?

* * *

So while that small piece of "collateral" or "sideways" research on Mable Frost - where one researches brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and even neighbors of the main subject - seems insignificant, the obituary for Mable Frost would make me feel glad that I did go sideways.

Mable Frost died on Tuesday, May 25, 1971 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  This might be our aunt to Pauline since the 1930 US Census report also showed she had been born in Michigan.  The obituary filled in the gaps:

"Mrs. Mabel B. Frost, 76 of Ypsilanti, Mich., a former resident of Cherry Valley, died Thursday, May 25, at Huron View Lodge in Ann Arbor, Mich. . . . She was married to Kenneth D. Frost . . ."

"Obituaries - Mrs. Mabel B. Frost," The Oneonta Star, 27 May 1971, online archives (http://access.newspaperarchive.com: accessed 25 October 2009), col. 1, citing original p. 11.

Well it's the same Mable.  More collateral info, right?  Read on:

"Surviving are . . . two nieces, Mrs. Pauline Pullman, Greene . . ."

* * *

"Oh Snap!" Well, at least it sounded something like that when I said it out loud.  Our Pauline Frost was Pauline Triple and now was Pauline Pullman? So Louis Crossway/Crauseway's death notice dated 1953 might not be incorrect or a slight to Pauline - it listed a Mrs. Willard Pullman as a grandchild.  And the article about Devere Frost's murder, dated 1947 listed Pauline as Mrs. Pauline Triple/Tripple - could Pauline already have been separated from her own husband as well? And later remarried - to Willard Pullman?

It is notoriously difficult to order vital records from New York State - I have first-hand experience - and in this case I couldn't justify the time and expense since it involved finding the original owner of a baby book.  So further research along the Pullman line might be needed.

* * *

In the meantime, Michael was already working Zaba Search and the phones looking for Pauline Triple/Tripple.  I had not been able to tell him we had been "Tripple played" as it were.  Oh, the trouble with Tripples.

Basically Michael came to find out that Pauline Frost Tripple Pullman had passed away by contacting the Tripple family.  No wonder when he called the families were perplexed - Pauline may not have stayed in touch with the Tripple family after her remarriage to Willard Pullman.

But after several phones calls and his own sleuthing, by 12:53 pm he was able to locate a niece of Marjorie Pauline Frost who lived about 40 minutes away from the bookstore and stopped by to retrieve the book.  Michael says that the woman did not really know our Pauline that well.

* * *

I know in the previous post, I had said this would be the last in the series.  I've tried to keep these "episodes" short and to the point and at the same time I didn't want to drag out the eventual resolution for days or weeks.

There will be more posts coming up having to do with Marjorie Pauline Frost.  Some will be a review of research pitfalls and the research process.  One will be an interview with Michael of Forgotten Bookmarks.

Stay tuned.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

A Bar Room Brawl

[This is Part 4 in a series of posts about how I was able to use Twitter and genealogy resources to reunite a baby book from 1926 with the original owner's family]

Previous posts:

Search For The Living - Honing Your Research Skills

The Search for Marjorie Pauline Frost

So Many Questions - Whither Marjorie Pauline Frost?

Continued posts:

A Tripple Play

Do's and Don'ts When Researching the Living

Interview with Forgotten Bookmarks

Well in the words of Kylie from those annoying Windows 7 commercials on television, "This is getting good!"

When we last left our search to reunite Marjorie Pauline Frost with her baby book from 1926, I had come upon a series of newspaper articles which taken as a whole left more questions unanswered than answered:

• did Pauline Frost really marry and have a child at age 17?

• were Devere and Marjorie Frost divorced or separated (based on her name appearing as "Mrs. Marjorie Frost" instead of "Mrs. Devere Frost")?

• if Pauline Frost's married name is Tripple, is it possible to locate her or a living relative to contact about the book?

* * *

I thought I had exhausted all my available newspaper resources, having worked with Ancestry, footnote, and GenealogyBank since I have purchased subscriptions to all these online databases.

Somehow, I forgot that I also had access to Newspaper Archive but not directly.  This was a benefit of my membership with the Southern California Genealogical Society (SCGS).  Even though I have no California ancestry, I wanted a way to support a great genealogy society even from afar in Chicago.  One benefit was being able to access SCGS databases onlne from my home, including Newspaper Archive.  So for $30 a year vs. $9.99 a month directly through Newspaper Archive, membership was a "no-brainer."

* * *

And what did I find?  That Devere Frost, Pauline's father, was killed in a bar room brawl.  And my connection to this story gets more bizarre - Devere died in the same hospital where I was born in Liberty, New York

From the Middletown Times Herald (which would later merge with The Record to become the Times-Herald Record, the local hometown paper I grew up with), Friday, December 26, 1947:

"A first degree murder charge was lodged against Miss Anna Ackerly, thirty-seven, of White Sulphur Springs today as a result of the death in Maimonides Hospital, Liberty, Wednesday evening of Devere Frost."

"Victim of Knifing Dies; Woman Is Held for Murder," Middletown Times Herald, 26 December 1947, online archives (http://access.newspaperarchive.com: accessed 25 October 2009), col. 4, citing original p. 12.

The last paragraph of the article is key to all the pieces of the Frost family and their story coming together:

"Frost who was born at Springfield, Otsego County, was the son of Otis Frost.  He was a veteran of World Wars One and Two and was forty-eight years old.  Survivors include a brother Kenneth, a daughter, Mrs. Pauline Triple, and his wife from whom he was reportedly separated.  The body was taken to Cherry Valley yesterday for services and burial."

Id.

And a check of the 1910 US Federal Census (keeping in mind that if Devere Frost fought in World War I, he would not likely be living with his parents for the 1920 US Federal Census), confirms this information as to Devere and his father and brother.

The census page shows Devere living in Springfield, Otsego County, New York with his father Otis and brother Kenneth.

* * *

So I've got confirmation that Marjorie Frost was separated from her husband - when this began I'm not sure - but it explains the use of Mrs. Marjorie Frost in newspaper articles. In fact, later articles about the murder trial of Miss Anna Ackerly would describe her as Devere's common law wife.  And confirmation that Pauline's married name is or was Triple/Tripple.

* * *

In the meantime, is Michael at Forgotten Bookmarks making any progress with the links I had sent earlier?  Well not really:

Using the obituary for Pauline's grandfather and possible married names of Petriski and Pullman, he was unable to find any definitive contact information for Pauline or her relatives.

The next step was to send him information confirming Pauline's married name as Triple or Tripple.

Stay tuned - for the final chapter of this series.  More amazing newspaper stories and finally contact with someone related to Pauline.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

So Many Questions - Whither Marjorie Pauline Frost?

[This is Part 3 in a series of posts about how I was able to use Twitter and genealogy resources to reunite a baby book from 1926 with the original owner's family]

Previous posts:

Search For The Living - Honing Your Research Skills

The Search for Marjorie Pauline Frost

Continued posts:

A Bar Room Brawl

A Tripple Play

Do's and Don'ts When Researching the Living

Interview with Forgotten Bookmarks

Well I now had a maiden name for Pauline's mother - Crossway - and thought I should try to find a marriage announcement for Pauline in the newspapers using the Old Fulton NY Postcards site.  This way I'd have a name to use when searching the white pages and seeing if Pauline was still alive.

One note on the timeline of this process - some readers have already asked, "How long did it take from start to finish to find Pauline or her family?"  Well, I don't want to give that away right yet, but remember from our first post that on Twitter this all started at 9:12 am (CDT) as shown here.  I'll summarize the timeline so far at the end of this post but let's just say that by 10:37 am, phones calls were being made!

* * *

The next challenge was coming up with a search syntax that would allow me to easily locate marriage information for Pauline.  I figured I could use "Marjorie Frost" +daughter + marriage +Pauline but perhaps "Devere Frost" would be better.  Women would have been referred to as "Mrs. Devere Frost" and not "Mrs. Marjorie Frost" unless she were widowed.  Also as for time, if Pauline were born in 1926, I assume the marriage could have been anywhere from 1944 onward.

Well using "Devere Frost" . . . I only found four newspaper articles, all 1936 or earlier.  I also made certain to try "De Vere" and "Devere."  No luck.

But I did stumble upon an obituary which mentioned "daughter Mrs. Marjorie Frost" and was dated 1953. Well it appears Devere would have died and perhaps the death notice had the married name for Pauline.

"Warren," Richfield Springs Mercury, 1953 August 13, online archives (http://www.fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%202/Richfield%20Springs%20NY%20Mercury/Richfield%20Springs%20NY%20Mercury%201953-1954.pdf/Richfield%20Springs%20NY%20Mercury%201953-1954%20-%200251.pdf: accessed 22 October 2009), Col. 4, para. 1; citing original p. 4.

Well on the plus side, the fact that Louis Crossway was born in Germany matches up with the 1930 US Federal Census sheet for Marjorie Frost where the census enumerator listed Germany as her father's birth place. So Pauline should be listed as one of the grand children right?

Well to make a long story short, much time was wasted trying to find a Pauline Pullman or a Pauline Petriski. I won't go into the details but I am going to surmise that either our Pauline was omitted from the obituary or erroneously listed as a great-grandchild which were listed without names.

* * *

Where to go next? Well I thought a syntax of "Marjorie Frost" +announces +wed to see if that picked up something. And it did - but not what I expected.

A birth announcement for the son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Tripple: "The mother is is the former Pauline Frost, daughter of Mrs. Marjorie Frost of Mohawk."

"Warren," The Otsego Farmer, 1943 August 27, online archives (http://www.fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%20Disk3/Cooperstown%20NY%20Otsego%20Farmer/Cooperstown%20NY%20Otsego%20Farmer%20&%20Republican%20Grayscale%201942%20-%201943/Cooperstown%20NY%20Otsego%20Farmer%20&%20Republican%20Grayscale%201942%20-%201943%20-%200711.pdf: accessed 22 October 2009), Col. 3; citing original p. 2.

So, this would mean Pauline had her child at age 17? And would have been married at barely 17 or earlier?

* * *

I think I need a break, need to regroup my strategy and see what the next step is. The problem is that as I am finding items, I am "tweeting" them live. So @forgottenbkmrks is a little ahead of me in terms of contacting the living:

The tweets show other articles that we've found as well. Note the time - it is 10:37 am which means we've only been at it for about 90 minutes.

Stay tuned . . .

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

The Search for Marjorie Pauline Frost

[This is Part 2 in a series of posts about how I was able to use Twitter and genealogy resources to reunite a baby book from 1926 with the original owner's family]

Previous posts:

Search For The Living - Honing Your Research Skills

Continued posts:

So Many Questions - Whither Marjorie Pauline Frost?

A Bar Room Brawl

A Tripple Play

Do's and Don'ts When Researching the Living

Interview with Forgotten Bookmarks

After I contacted Michael via Twitter, he posted photos (as seen above) of the baby book using Twitpic. With the name of the baby (Marjorie Pauline Frost), the name of the birth mother (Marjorie Frost) and a possible birth date of February 1926, I went to work. I also took time to read the narrative from the My First Outing page which gave me geographical information:

My first trip away from home was on March 20, 1926. I went to Mohawk and stayed at Aunt Cora's & Uncle Charlie's all night. I seen my G. Grandmother Frost while I was there. Then I went to Fort Plain and visited Aunt Mable & Uncle Kenneth for a couple of days. I also seen my Grandfather & Grandmother Frost. Then I went to Warren called on my great grandmother & Grandfather Forte. From there I went to visited my great grandfather & grandmother Crossway. I stayed two night there. On March 25, I went back to Watertown.

My assumption all along was that since the book was found in an Oneonta, NY bookstore that Marjorie Frost grew up in the area. The geographical locations of Mohawk, Fort Plain, Warren and Watertown confirm this. Also I now had surnames including Forte and Crossway.

* * *

First stop: Ancestry.com since I knew Michael had already tried online resources such as Google and the white pages to locate Marjorie or living relatives.

I looked to the 1930 US Federal Census and tried to locate a Marjorie Frost born 1926 in New York and assumed she still lived in New York in 1930. Result: nothing that matched upstate New York records although there were some possibilities located in the Bronx and other areas.

My thoughts: the family could have moved down to the city since it was the start of the Great Depression and employment opportunities were better near or in the big cities.

But rather than waste time I used this search syntax under the Refine Search link for the 1930 US Federal Census: First Name - Marjorie, Last Name - Frost, birth date - 1926, birth place - New York, residence - New York.

* * *

And bingo! While the result didn't show Marjorie, it did show an entry for a Marjorie Frost b. 1899 married to Devere Frost b. 1899 and a daughter Pauline aged 4 1/2 years. So it turns out our Marjorie Pauline Frost went by Pauline.

The census page reveals that Marjorie Pauline's parents were Devere (b. abt. 1899) and Marjorie Frost (b. abt. 1899) and they lived in German Flatts, Herkimer County, New York. German Flatts is not too far from Mohawk and the other locations mentioned in the book. Marjorie's father was born in Germany and Devere Frost worked as a contruction engineer for the state road department.

* * *

So where next? Well I knew that given the geographical region that I could go to the Old Fulton NY Postcards website and search over 10,000,000 digitized newspaper pages from before the 1900s through to the present day. If I could get a marriage announcement for Marjorie Pauline, I could learn her married name and then see if there was a record in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) for her. I still hoped that at age 83 she would still be living. Also, I'd like to learn the maiden name for Marjorie Frost, Devere's wife.

Just for shiggles and because I couldn't resist (and because I am a good genealogy researcher who looks at all documents and records to see what does and doesn't fit), I thought I'd do a new Ancestry search using the first name Pauline. Well, this is where it gets complicated.

What turns up? Well an SSDI record for a Pauline Frost, born 1926, died January 1994, last known address in Chemung County, New York. Hmmmm. Could be that Pauline never married.

But as I looked more, I found this was a different Pauline Frost - a Pauline E. Frost and Frost was her married name. Basically a listing in the U.S. Veterans Gravesites database confirmed she was married to Leslie M. Frost and couldn't be my Marjorie Pauline.

* * *

I decided to start with a search on Devere Frost since the first name is rather unusual. Several articles appeared from the 1930s and mention Mohawk, New York:



"Warren," Richfield Springs Mercury, 1932 July 7, online archives (http://www.fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%202/Richfield%20Springs%20NY%20Mercury/Richfield%20Springs%20NY%20Mercury%201931-1932%20pdf: accessed 22 October 2009), Col. 1, para. 6; citing original p. 8.

I noted that the article mentions Pauline's mother visiting her own parents and the last name is Crausway. This seems to match Crossway mentioned in the baby book. I will need to search on variations of Crossway in the local newspapers. So one goal is reached: Marjorie Frost's maiden name was Crossway or some variation.

While looking further I was able to find the wedding announcement for Devere Frost and Marjorie Crossway which helped me confirm Marjorie's maiden name:



"Herkimer County," Richfield Springs Mercury, 1920 June 3, online archives (http://www.fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%202/Richfield%20Springs%20NY%20Mercury/Richfield%20Springs%20NY%20Mercury%201919-1920.pdf/Richfield%20Springs%20NY%20Mercury%201919-1920%20-%200615.pdf: accessed 22 October 2009), Col. 3, para. 2; citing original p. 12.

Just as I was about to begin another search, one article caught my eye since it mentioned the small town where I grew up in New York. The article from 1939 states "Mr. and Mrs. Devere Frost and daughter, Pauline, of Liberty, N.Y. . . ." Wow. Maybe this is my connection with the baby book and why this project called to me. My thinking is that if Devere worked for the state road department, he and his family may have moved around the state quite a bit as he worked helping to build highways.



Mrs. Daniel Smith, "Warren," Richfield Springs Mercury, 1939 June 28, online archives (http://www.fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%202/Richfield%20Springs%20NY%20Mercury/Richfield%20Springs%20NY%20Mercury%201939-1940.pdf: accessed 22 October 2009), Col. 4, para. 3; citing original p. 4.

* * *

The next step would be to find a marriage announcement for Marjorie Pauline Frost. Stay tuned.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

How To Cite A Find A Grave Headstone

I just finished reading a great post entitled Citation: Is it ever okay to enhance the standard? Opinions, Please..." by Herstoryan at her blog. In it she wonders about the proper citation format for a gravestone located on Find A Grave and whether or not it is permissible to go beyond that standard source citation formats of MLA and others.

For those in the same predicament as to how to properly cite sources, I highly recommend Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace by Elizabeth Shown Mills. You can get an E-book version via Footnote or a hardcover version via Genealogical Publishing Company. Also Dear Myrtle just mentioned that the 2nd Edition is now available.

Herstoryan decided to use the following format to cite the headstone:

Headstone: Mary Nancy McCaskill Massey. 1974. Llano Cemetery, Amarillo, Texas. Digital Image by Walter Dunn. Findagrave.com Memorial #15616487 created 04 Sept 2006. Accessed 21 Oct 2009

But following Evidence Explained (p. 229), it might look something like this:

Source List Entry
Find A Grave.com Digital images. http://www.findagrave.com: 2009.

First Reference Note
Find A Grave.com, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com: accessed 21 October 2009), photograph, gravestone for Mary Nancy McCaskill Massey (1881-1974), Amarillo, Texas.

Subsequent Note
Find A Grave.com, photograph, gravestone for Mary Nancy McCaskill Massey (1881-1974), Amarillo, Tex.

As to the question of "enhancing" a citation standard, my opinion is that it is permissible as long as 1) the enhancement clarifies instead of confuses and 2) you are consistent in that new format.

Consistency is important especially when using genealogy database software because if you later want to change the format, you can probably use a "search and replace" function. Having consistent citations for Find A Grave images would make it much easier to update all of them at one especially if there were a Source List Entry.

Personally, I would add the following: 1) give credit to the photographer if possible and 2) include the memorial number which is 15616487 but make sure you reference it as Find A Grave's memorial number otherwise readers may think it is a number used by the cemetery.

So my version for the First Reference Note might be:

Find A Grave.com, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com: accessed 21 October 2009), photograph by Walter Dunn, gravestone for Mary Nancy McCaskill Massey (1881-1974), Find A Grave Memorial #15616487, Amarillo, Texas.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Search for the Living - Honing Your Research Skills

[This is Part 1 in a series of posts about how I was able to use Twitter and genealogy resources to reunite a baby book from 1926 with the original owner's family]

Continued posts:

The Search for Marjorie Pauline Frost

So Many Questions - Whither Marjorie Pauline Frost?

A Bar Room Brawl

A Tripple Play

As a continue on my journey of becoming a certified professional genealogist, one area I constantly work on is honing my research skills. One way is to seek out opportunities since they don't always fall in your lap.

I'd like to relate a research project that came my way on September 21, 2009 via Twitter. Thanks go out to on of my "tweeps" @ForgottenBkmrks who also runs the wonderful Forgotten Bookmarks blog.

What started out as a request for help in locating the owner of a 1926 baby book turned into a group research project on Twitter and called upon resources that the typical person would not know about but resources with which most genealogists are familiar.

* * *

On September 21, 2009, I read the following messages from a fellow Twitter user @ForgottenBkmrks:



The first message: "ok, twitter. what should i do? found someone's baby book from 1926. want to track down the owner do i pay for those find-a-person services?" was followed soon thereafter by the second message: "difficulty: owner's name not in any of the local phone books, no real results via google."

I knew that through my experience with Unclaimed Persons (a wonderful group of genealogists and cyber-sleuths who help match up bodies in county morgues with next of kin) that various online tools existed to located living persons, or if the subject of the 1926 baby book had passed away, her descendants.

* * *

So how does one come into possession of a baby book for one Pauline Marjorie Frost who was born sometime shortly before March 1, 1926? As mentioned in the Forgotten Bookmarks Q&A section, Michael works at a used and rare bookstore and it is common to buy entire boxes of books from customers. Sometimes there are hidden treasures (photos, notes, mementos) - the "forgotten bookmarks" of life hidden inside. And sometimes there are entire books which must still have sentimental value for the original owner or the family of that owner.

For me there was an immediate attraction to Michael's finds which are detailed almost every day in blog posts at Forgotten Bookmarks. Plus it doesn't hurt that he is located in Oneonta, NY not far from where I grew up and where my ancestors lived for two centuries.

Photos: 1926 Baby Book of Marjorie Pauline Frost. Digital photographs. Privately held by Forgotten Bookmarks, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Oneonta, New York. 2009. Via Twitpic.

* * *

Next: The Search for Pauline Marjorie Frost - how I took the known information from the baby book and began to use online genealogy research databases to locate Pauline and/or her family.


© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Finding A Grave Marker Its Rightful Owner

Just a quick note: I was mentioned at the PatriotLedger.com which is the website of the The Patriot Ledger newspaper in Quincy, Massachusetts today.

Last week, the site ran an article - The Mystery of the Heart-Shaped Grave Marker - trying to match up what was thought to be a grave marker with the proper grave. The only information available was the date of birth and date of death of the woman, Fran Galvin.

Thinking this was a chance to help out, I put my research skills to work and was able to locate the grave at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne. Realizing that Fran Galvin was buried there with her husband Donald, I figured that the marker which was found must have been a personal commemoration which somehow got separated from its owner.

There are many ways in which genealogists can leverage their research skills and access to online databases to help out others. One fine example is the work that Unclaimed Persons does to match up unclaimed bodies at morgues and medical examiner's offices with their families.

So next time you are reading the news or scanning tweets on Twitter, see if your research savvy can't help out someone else.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee