How Can I Help? And What Do I Get Out Of It?

I know what you're thinking.

"This woman is amazing! I'm eternally grateful for the knowledge she's sharing with the world!"

Ok, maybe not... but you may be thinking something like, "I'm not at all interested in doing research, but I hope she continues to work on it so that I can access the stories and pictures." If so, awesome! Cause that's what I love to do!

But there is a way you can help, without doing any research at all! There are two major things that a non-genealogist can do to help out the genealogist in the family (in our case ME):

1.) Share your family's information
-full names, birth date & place, marriage date & place, etc
-same info for your children, grandchildren, etc if applicable
-same info on your siblings if you're feeling generous : )
-same info on your parents or as far back as you know/have time for

HERE is an excel file of a family group sheet that can be edited or printed. I'm planning to customize my own later.

-ALSO (and this can be a fun & enlightening exercise even if you're not sharing) a mini-biography. Include milestones, occupation, church, education, hobbies, defining personality traits (especially inherited), accomplishments, even goals/bucket list items. This not only fills in genealogical gaps that interest family historians, but preserves a snapshot of who you are for future generations. It can be as short as a simple paragraph, or include several pages of personal and family memories. My Paw Paw, Robert McGrath, began one that he never finished, and it is one of my most precious things I have from him. Think of it as a cross between a resume, journal entry, and letter to your grandchildren... You're creating a family treasure!

*just a sidenote* Online genealogy sites hide the information of living people. Unless you give me permission, I will do the same. But even then only for private sharing. Never to post publicly.

2.) Family archive awareness
-You may not be aware the you are the curator of a family archive, but its likely that you are. Even if its just of you and your kids. Look through the things you listed in your bio, then think if you have physical evidence of those things: diploma, newspaper article about you winning the debate tournament or making the game-changing point(s) for your sports team in high school, occupational license, scrapbooks, baptism certificate, photograph of you skydiving, marriage license, etc. This is your personal archive and a family heirloom in progress. (I'm not suggesting that you need to be a pack rat. On the contrary, keeping only the most important things adds to the rarity/value of the collection.)
-If you're interested in this topic or inherited an archive that you don't know what to do with, check out Denise Levenick's book How to Archive Family Keepsakes: Learn How to Preserve Family Photos, Memorabilia and Genealogy Records. I have this book and absolutely love it! Genealogy Gems podcast episode 144 has a 10% off coupon.
-Now that you're aware of what you have, are you willing to share? Are there vital records, old family letters, a family bible, or old black and white photographs that you would be willing to scan and make available? Digital photography, scanning, and file sharing make inter-family digital archives so super easy! You don't have to give up your precious family treasures, just make good digital representations and then share, share, share!!

I'll start the sharing.


Florence Ellen Hayes McGrath and her children
Anyone recognize this picture? Feel free to share in the comments below!

I have no pictures at all of either John or Florence Hayes McGrath's parents (Peter and Margaret Gamble McGrath and Ellwood and Isabella Park Hayes, respectively). Can anyone help me out? Have any old unidentified photos that might include these guys and gals?

Ok, so here comes the part where you get something out of it! Below you'll see a beautiful descendant chart linking William to me AND a 4-generation pedigree chart. If you follow the link above and fill out the family group sheet excel file and email it back to me, I will send you a PDF of one of these charts, but with you as the primary person! I can tweak the charts some if you want changes. You can print it at pretty much any size!



Now, you're thinking, "Wow!! What a deal! A FREE customized family tree that I can put in a scrapbook, display in my home, or give as a gift. This day couldn't get much better."

So... Get going! ; )

William and I thank you for helping us on our journey.

Pension Record Goldmining

Yesterday I finally talked my hubby into letting me order William's Pension record! I'm super excited as these can be a goldmine of information.

"What is a military pension record and why do I care?"

The federal government gave pensions to officers, disabled veterans, and widows or orphans of veterans who served in the military. Not every veteran received or even applied for pension, but rejected applications were still filed and may include all of the same papers. They can contain an incredible amount of vital information, and since they were filled out by the veteran himself (unless its a widows pension) it is a PRIMARY SOURCE!


Using William as an example, I am hoping to find primary source documentation for the following:
-Birth
-Birthplace - which gets its own line because of its importance in continuing my research beyond the US, which I will discuss in detail in an upcoming blog post "The Holy Grail of Crossing the Pond"
-Marriage documentation on his remarriage to Catherine (from the widows pension)
-Details about his experiences in battle from doctors examinations of battle wounds and from fellow soldiers
-Details that reveal his everyday life, like his income, health, family, work, etc


"OK, so how do I get one of these pension record things?"

There are lots of ways to get pension files. They exist for most military service. We'll focus on Civil War (Union) pension records. If you want to search for a confederate pension record you'll need to check state archives as these are not kept at the federal level (for the obvious reason that they served the army of another country in fighting AGAINST the US).

If you're not sure whether you ancestor fought in the Civil War, or you know he did but you're not sure which regiment or how to get started, then this video from familysearch.org is a good primer.

This is an amazing overview of pension records done by archives.gov which discusses what is found in a pension file based on pension laws and procedures. It's both brief and, well, awesome.

Also, here is a link to a blog post at "Reclaiming Kin" that emphasizes the color that witness statements can add to your ancestor's story. These witness statements make up a huge percentage of the papers in a pension file.

Anywho...
Pension records are housed at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington DC. There are 5 possible ways to access these records:
1.)Go there. Make copies.
2.)Visit one of the regional centers. Civil War pensions are only in DC, but check out this link for locations and holdings.
3.)Order online here. It costs an arm and a leg, but that's still cheaper than airfare or gasoline for most of us.
4.)Hire a researcher. If you need to do some digging or there are several records you need, then hiring a researcher might be your best option.
5.)fold3.com While there are no pension records on this paid-subscription site, they do have a complete pension index which will expedite each of the other 4 options. They have also begun putting the widows pension records online.

I have decided to go with choice #3... order online. I spent $80 on a COMPLETE file because... well, I guess because I can't do anything halfway. We'll see later if I regret that, lol!



This is the order form I sent in. It includes all the info they ask for when you order. Don't worry! Only some of it is required.

Unfortunately, it takes "42 - 120 days" to ship, so... Let the waiting begin! One down... 41 - 119 more to go.

*whistling Jeopardy theme*


*UPDATE*

I ended up realizing after I ordered the record that it would be more economical and MUCH faster to hire a researcher. In most cases the prices were WAY above me, but there were one or 2 researchers that were below $100. I ended up using Vonnie Zullo. She is a professional genealogist and researcher out of Fairfax, VA and has done work for the popular genealogy show on NBC Who Do You Think You Are. She got me hi-res scans in a PDF of both William's compiled military service record AND his entire 37 page pension/widows pension file (her max without an additional charge is 60 pages) for $75!!! No travel, copy, or postage expenses. This means that I got $115 worth of documents (by NARA rates) for $40 less than that. Not to mention that I got the files from her less than a week after I sent her a confirmation email. I gave her the go ahead, she emailed me back that she had the files, I mailed her a check on a Monday afternoon, and Wednesday at noon I had the PDF in my inbox. Amazing! I know you're curious what I found, but you'll have to wait for my special St. Patrick's Day post on Sunday. ; )

Fame!

William and I are FAMOUS!!!

My family and I went out of town for Christmas, and it was my job to make the 6 hour drive home. Music isn't enough to keep me awake when I'm driving at night, so armed with snacks and drinks I fired up my trusty iPhone to listen to all the great podcasts I had missed. I had been out of the genealogical loop for about eight months, so imagine my surprise when THE Lisa Louise Cooke (of Genealogy Gems Podcast, Family History: Genealogy Made Easy Podcast, and Family Tree Magazine Podcast... not to mention sought-after speaker and author of many genealogy books and videos) started reading from the "mailbag" and began reading MY LETTER!!!

I had written her an e-mail months ago about a website she had done a story on called 1000memories.com and she responded a few weeks later by e-mail. I was not in a million years expecting her to use my letter on her show. She has been podcasting since 2007 and is listened to in 75 different countries by thousands of genealogy fans.
She even mentioned THIS BLOG on the air!
Can you tell I'm excited?????

Anyway, here is the link if you'd like to listen to that show or read the show notes... which say MY NAME!!!

**Warning... Warning... Super genealogy nerd alert in your area... Be advised**

OK, I think I've embarrassed myself with my nerdy-ness enough for one day. I'd like to think William is proud of me though. = )

New Year's Resolution

Happy 2013, All!!!

It's the first Monday after the New Year. I'm afraid William and I have grown apart. It's nothing either of us have done, just what happens naturally when you have other priorities. I have 3 children, and he, of course... is dead. One of my resolutions this year is to rekindle the passion I once had for William and my search for his story. This may be a slow process of getting to know each other again, so to hold you all over. Here are 2 simple memorial pages I set up in his honor.

Here is his military page at ancestry.com

This is a memorial page at fold3.com (fold3 holds digitized records from the National Archives)

Honoring Our Civil War Ancestors with the Grand Army of the Republic

I used to love Memorial Day, because I got the day off of school.  Then I grew bitter towards Memorial Day, because my kids got the day off of school.  Only recently did I learn the origin and true spirit behind Memorial Day.  Now as a lover of history and genealogy , I am learning a greater admiration and understanding of Memorial Day, its founders, and the military men and women it honors.

The day we now know as Memorial Day was started in 1868 by the Grand Army of the Republic.  The Grand Army of the Republic was a fraternal organization of Union Civil War veterans established in 1866.  It was then known as "Decoration Day", and was begun "for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in the defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land.”  Today, of course, we take this opportunity to honor all veterans who fought for our country.

A few days ago I had no idea what the Grand Army of the Republic was.  I was haphazardly searching through tidbits of William's life when I came across a phrase in his obituary that caught my attention.

Philadelphia Inquirer 13 Aug 1910 www.genealogybank.com

As Philadelphia death notices go, this one is a goldmine.  Many only contain the death date and funeral services.  From this one obituary I already know:

• William died 12 Aug 1910 in Philadelphia
• He had a son named William
• His wife was named Catherine
• He was 86, therefore born circa 1824
• He lived at 1230 Olive (good info for comparing to the census or checking Google Earth)
• He is buried at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia

But... what the heck is "E D Baker Post No 8" or "118 Corn Exchange"???  At first I looked past this information, and what a HUGE mistake that was.  We'll skip the Corn Exchange for now, but some well placed Google searching would have given me years worth of continued research in about 5 minutes... there will be many, many posts on this blog to follow up that cryptic statement.

Ok, so here was my less than 5 minute discovery process, using Google.  

• About 2 weeks ago I decided to Google "E D Baker Post No 8 Philadelphia" and see what came up.  The 1st link on the results page was this one.  It seemed unhelpful at first, being just an index of many similar phrases, but the title of the page was "Grand Army of the Republic."  
• When I turned around and Googled that (my spell check says "Googled" isn't a word, but surely that can't be true), the 1st hit was the wikipedia article which  told me EXACTLY what I needed to know.  
• I finally searched "Grand Army of the Republic genealogy Pennsylvania".  Which brought me to a wonderful article from the Every Name Index Blog.  
• From  this article I followed links to the webpages of the GAR Museum and Library in Philadelphia and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, which is the derivative organization that is still accepting members.

*Whew*  There are an incredible number of possible ways to follow up on this, all stemming from a small piece of information that I initially overlooked.  

And so, on this Memorial Day, let us all strive to leave no genealogical stone un-turned 

                 ...and no veteran's grave un-decorated.

God Bless Our Veterans!

How to Know What You Know

Ok, we've all been there. You find some genealogical nugget online about an ancestor you were previously stuck on, when it happens...
           a storm of clicking.
You open up all your previous records and then think, "oh, now I can check this city directory" or "I wonder what they have on this county website" or "hey, that would make a great Google search term" and on and on and on. Before you know it you have a file of random things saved on your computer, a stack of papers on your printer, too many ideas to know what to do next, AND...
           a head-ache.

So what's an overexcited genealogist to do???

This is what has been happening over the last two weeks between William and I. So I beseeched my beloved ancestor, "Where do I go next?"

The answer came to me from Emily Croom's book The Sleuth Book for Genealogists, which I will review later. At the VERY beginning of this book, Croom points out that before you can ask "What is the answer?" you must know "What is the question?". There is something to be said for genealogical spontaneity, but total randomness is almost never productive.

 Before we can start searching for what we don't know, it's important to know what we do know. So here are the steps I -and all of us- must take when starting a project, figuring out what to do next, or regrouping when we hit a brick wall. (Just so you know, Croom suggests establishing an organization system before you start this process, see her book for more.)

1. Identify the problem: Which ancestor, family, place, etc are you working on and what's the goal? 
2. Gather all the information you already have on the person or problem: I prefer to print it all out.
3. Organize your sources chronologically by the date they were created.  Make sure you've properly sourced everything .
4. Update relevant family group sheet(s). 
5. Make a timeline of every detail of your ancestors life in chronological order with sources.
6. Search for holes in your timeline and major record types.
7. Identify the problem (again): What information or sources you do want to find next and where will you look for them?
8. PUT IT IN WRITING!!! A plan isn't a plan if it isn't down in black & white

So this is my next (or first) step. I am in the process of printing all my documents I have found and creating a spreadsheet with a chronological biographical summary, AKA timeline. I will be posting it when I'm finished.

Initially it feels like we're cramping our style to stop forward motion in our research. But if we want to get serious about our genealogy research, we need to learn to think like a sleuth!

Welcome to the William Park Family History Blog

Welcome to my new geneablog!

I started doing genealogy when I was assigned a family history project in high school in 2001. I have since married and had 3 beautiful children. Genealogy is even more important to me now that I have a family of my own, but as I'm sure you all understand sometimes life forces your genealogy onto the back burner. Well, with the release of the much anticipated 1940 Federal Census, I decided it was time to crank things up again. 

Recently I developed an intense passion for one ancestor in particular, my "PawPaw's" great-grandfather, William Park. He is my most recent immigrant ancestor, having immigrated in 1852 from Ireland. I discovered this fact by using the 1910 census and ancestry.com's passenger list records confirmed by background research on the family as a whole... But that's it's own post. :)

William is a genealogists dream, because studying his life has taken and will take me through nearly every record type. Also, being from a big city like Philadelphia there are an incredible number of records available.

I am excited to embark with you on this journey to
              knowing William.