Monthly Archives: January 2015

Major Changes to the Genealogy Dept. at Columbus Metropolitan Library

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If you’re planning on doing any genealogy or local history research at the Columbus Metropolitan Library after February 1, take notice. The Genealogy and Local History department is going to be closed starting February 1 until sometime in April when they will reopen in a temporary facility in Whitehall (about 15-20 minutes east of downtown). Materials in the temporary facility will be limited. (See details below.)

UPDATE (30 March): The Local History and Genealogy Department will reopen at the former Whitehall branch, 4371 E. Broad St., on April 20. The materials are packed and will NOT be available during the OGS conference.

This is from an email I just received from the Columbus Metropolitan Library (emphasis added):

From Columbus Metropolitan Library:

We’re transforming Main Library to create a 21st century library for you. The renovation begins Feb. 1, 2015 and you’ll see significant changes to our Local History & Genealogy services.

The Local History & Genealogy division at Main Library will close on February 1. Staff will be available for phone and email reference (history@columbuslibrary.org).

Local History & Genealogy services will reopen in April at a temporary location in the former Whitehall Branch at 4371 E. Broad St., once the new Whitehall Branch at 4445 E. Broad St. opens to the public.

Full Local History & Genealogy services will be back and better than ever once the transformation of Main Library is complete in August 2016.

What you need to know:

The Collection

We’re digitizing portions of our collection so they will be available online.

The entire map collection will be available online. No physical maps will be available at the temporary location.

Columbus local history and Ohio genealogy books will be available and the collection of physical books will be smaller at the temporary location. Call or check the catalog before you visit.

The rest of the collection will be stored and returned to the shelves when services move back to Main Library after the renovation.

Microfilm

Microfilm will be unavailable until Local History & Genealogy services reopen at the temporary Whitehall location in April.

Only microfilm of Columbus genealogy records, the Columbus Dispatch and other Columbus newspapers will be available at the temporary location.

The rest will be available through a request process:

  • Requests for microfilm must be made at the temporary Local History & Genealogy Whitehall location.
  • The requested microfilm will be pulled from storage at Main Library and sent to the Whitehall location.
  • You will be called when the requested microfilm is available to be viewed at the Whitehall location.

Main Library’s Local History & Genealogy staff will be at the temporary Whitehall location, ready to help you with all of your research needs.

Visit our website for up-to-date information.

"An enhanced front plaza will greet customers along Grant Ave." Image courtesy of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

“An enhanced front plaza will greet customers along Grant Ave.” Image courtesy of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

52 Ancestors Challenge 2015: Week 1 Recap

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52ancestors-2015Welcome to a new year of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks! For those of you who are new to the Challenge this year, I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did last year! To the veterans of the Challenge, I hope you continue to find it rewarding.

This year, we’re shaking it up a bit with optional weekly themes. This week’s theme was “Fresh Start.” I enjoyed seeing everyone’s take on it. Some focused on ancestors who made a fresh start. Ms. Genealogy wrote about her ancestor Hugh Brawley, who left Scotland to make a fresh start in Pennsylvania. Cheri Hudson Passey’s great-great-grandfather may or may not have had a fresh start somewhere. Julia Dumas’s 3rd-great-great-grandfather Pierre Jacques Caire is her most recent immigrant to the U.S.

Other bloggers opted to look at ancestors who they wanted a fresh start with their researching. That’s what Eileen Souza decided to do with her 3rd-great-grandfather Peter Strausser.

I used a little bit of both. Stephen Amos Hibbs made a fresh start in Iowa after being a Confederate sympathizer in West Virginia. He’s also the brother of my 3rd-great-grandmother, rather than an actual ancestor of mine. It’s part of my fresh start this year on the collaterals in my family tree.

Who did you write about for Week 1? Leave a comment below with a link. We’d love to read it!

week1-twitterUpcoming Optional Themes:

  • Week 2 (Jan 8-14) – King
  • Week 3 (Jan 15-21) – Tough woman
  • Week 4 (Jan 22 – 28) – Closest to your birthday
  • Week 5 (Jan 29 – Feb 4) – Plowing through

 

Stephen Amos Hibbs: Bridge Burner, Literally (52 Ancestors #1)

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Stephen Amos Hibbs was the brother of my 3rd-great-grandmother Martha (Hibbs) Mason. He was born in 1826 in present-day West Virginia, the son of John and Jane (Amos) Hibbs.

West Virginia was formed in 1863 when the western counties of Virginia decided that they didn’t really want to secede from the Union. But just because they opted to become a Union state doesn’t mean that they were 100% behind the Union cause. Far from it. The state was pocketed with Confederate sympathizers. Among them: Stephen A. Hibbs.

On 1 May 1863, he was captured by Union forces for being a “bridge burner.” His record in the Union Provost Marshals’ Files notes that he was a “rebel.” Page 1 of the record names him as “Stephen A. Hibbs / Cit.” (short for “citizen.”) This last term isn’t indicating his citizenship (as in voting rights, etc.) It’s an indication that he was a civilian, rather than a member of the Confederate army.

Stephen A. Hibbs, Union Provost Marshals' File Of Paper Relating To Individual Civilians, National Archives microfilm M345, page 2. Downloaded from Fold3.com.

Stephen A. Hibbs, Union Provost Marshals’ File Of Paper Relating To Individual Civilians, National Archives microfilm M345, page 2. Downloaded from Fold3.com.

How do I know this is 1863 when there is no year on the record? It’s stated that he was captured in “Marion Co., Va.” — not West Virginia. West Virginia didn’t become a state until 20 June 1863, making that the latest that this record could have been (accurately) created. (Yes, there’s the possibility that they wrote “Va.” out of habit, kind of like how it’s usually February before you start writing the correct year on your checks.) It also states that he was 37 years old. Census records consistently place his birth year in 1826. 1826 + 37 = 1863.

After the war, Stephen left Marion County, West Virginia and settled briefly in Warren County, Illinois. He then moved to Wayne County, Iowa, where he was a practicing physician and cattle farmer.1)Biographical and Historical Record of Wayne and Appanoose Counties, Iowa (Chicago: Inter-State Publishing, 1886), p. 395. Available on Google Books.

Did his Southern sympathies cause him strife after the war? (His sister Martha was married to a Union soldier. That could have made for an awkward Christmas dinner… ) Is that what precipitated his move west? Or was he simply looking for more opportunity for himself and his family than what was available in Marion County? Either way, it looks like he made a fresh start.

A Note About the Other Stephen A. Hibbs

Many people have combined this Stephen with the Stephen A. Hibbs who served with the 7th Iowa Infantry. That is a different Stephen A. Hibbs. According to his pension file, he was born in 1845, much too late to be the same one.2)Stephen A. Hibbs, Civil War pension file, application 1196430. Available online at GenealogyCenter.info.

Stephen Amos Hibbs in Review

Stephen Amos Hibbs first married Malinda Yost. After her death, he married Eliza (Blue) Glover, the widow of Stephen Glover. In 1865, he and his family moved to Warren County, Illinois and to Wayne County, Iowa in 1868.3)Biographical and Historical Record of Wayne and Appanoose Counties, Iowa (Chicago: Inter-State Publishing, 1886), p. 395. Available on Google Books. He died 11 March 1902 and is buried in Southlawn Cemetery, in Seymour, Wayne County, Iowa.4)Dr. Stephen Amos Hibbs memorial, FindAGrave.com.

References   [ + ]

1, 3. ↑ Biographical and Historical Record of Wayne and Appanoose Counties, Iowa (Chicago: Inter-State Publishing, 1886), p. 395. Available on Google Books.
2. ↑ Stephen A. Hibbs, Civil War pension file, application 1196430. Available online at GenealogyCenter.info.
4. ↑ Dr. Stephen Amos Hibbs memorial, FindAGrave.com.

How to Link to a Specific Blog Post and Why You Should

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This isn’t about doing genealogy, but it could help you share those stories about your ancestors. If you’re blogging about your ancestors, you need to know the different types of links to your blog and when (and how) to use them.

How Blogs are Structured

By default, most blogs are set up so that the main page  shows the most recent posts, starting with the last one that was posted. As more posts are added, the older ones get pushed down the page. Eventually, they go off of the main page. Those posts are still accessible — they’re just not on the blog’s main page anymore.

Two Basic Types of Links

A link to your blog (in general) will point people to your blog’s main page. The URL would be something like http://www.nostorytoosmall.com or http://familytrees.wordpress.com. When you want people to take a look at your blog, but you don’t care which post they see, send them this link. They will see whatever the most recent posts are.

A link to a specific blog post will take visitors to that post. The URLs are much longer. For example, the URL for my post about finding the origins of my great-great-grandmother is http://www.nostorytoosmall.com/posts/how-i-found-my-orphaned-milkmaid-susan-tucker-kelley/ . This is the kind of URL what you want to use when you want to point people to something specific.

How to Get the Link for a Specific Blog Post

Blogs on Blogger and WordPress (and most other platforms) are designed by default so that when you click on the post’s title, it will take you to the URL with just that specific post.

If I want someone to see my post on 2015 being my “year of collaterals,” I can click on the post’s title:

specific-linkWhen I do that, it will take me to the URL for that specific post:

specific-url
I can now copy/paste this URL when I want to point someone to just that post.

Why You Should Use the Right Link

Sending people the link to your blog (in general) is fine when you’re introducing them to your blog. Maybe you want to send an email to your cousins. “Hey, everyone! I’m blogging about our ancestors! Here’s the link: http://example.wordpress.com.”

But, let’s say you’ve been researching with Cousin Joe and you’ve written a post about how you just broke down your shared brick wall. “Hey, Joe! I finally broke down that brick wall! I just wrote about it on my blog. Here’s the link: http://example.wordpress.com. ” That’s all well and good right now…  But Cousin Joe is wintering in Florida and he doesn’t get around to reading your email and doing anything with it for about 2 months. When he clicks that link, he’s going to see the most recent posts. And if you’ve been blogging regularly, that post you wanted him to see isn’t going to be on the main page.

So Cousin Joe gets confused when he doesn’t see what you’re talking about. The golf course is beckoning, so he says, “The heck with this” and he never bothers to look for the awesome article you wrote.

Don’t do that to your Cousin Joe. Send him a link to that specific post.

Why I’m Declaring 2015 “The Year of Collaterals”

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If there is one thing that blogging in 2014 has taught me — and it has taught me many things! — it’s that I’m good with documenting identities and relationships, but there are definitely holes in knowing the person.  Nowhere is this more evident than in my collateral relatives.

First, Some Definitions

If you want to be technical about it, ancestors are those from whom you descend. Your great-great-grandfather is your ancestor. Your 4th-great-grandmother is your ancestor. Your 4th-great-grandmother’s brother is not. He is a relative, but he’s not your ancestor per se. He’s a collateral.

Why Look at the Collaterals

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve paid attention to those “other” people in my research. There are a few who I have really researched — but usually only so that I could identify my ancestor (like with Susan Tucker Kelley, my orphaned milkmaid). For many, I have recorded their vital stats as I have come across them. But there are few that I’ve really looked at, really explored, really gotten to know.

Think about your siblings and your cousins. Chances are they’ve had an impact on your life (for good or for bad). Whether it’s sibling rivalry or older ones standing up and supporting the younger ones in times of trouble, those people have helped shape who we are. It was the same for our ancestors.

Those “other” people in our family trees had an impact on our ancestors. We often think about our great-grandmothers and what it was like for them to lose a child, but what was it like to lose a sibling? When a great-great-great-uncle went off to war, what did the siblings think? When a sister moved far away with her new husband, how did the siblings who stayed behind react?

Looking at the collaterals beyond the simple recording of their name and birth date that we grabbed off the census also gives us a chance to learn more about the whole family. Learning their story can help us better understand the people from whom we descend.

2015: The Year of the Collaterals

This year, I’m going to focus my research on the collaterals, those “other” people in the family tree. I want to get to know them. I want to know more than just when and where they were born. I want to learn their stories.

Ok, there’s also a part of me that hopes that I discover more about my ancestors in the process 😉

Ideally, I should have been doing this all along. I’m thinking of this as my own version of Thomas MacEntee’s Genealogy Do-Over. (I’m just not willing/able to chuck everything that I have and start all over!)

Regarding 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, I’ve encouraged people all along to define “ancestors” however they want. Some have done strictly ancestors, other have included collaterals, some even included their inlaws (gasp!). In 2014, I included only my ancestors, but 2015 will feature a mix.

Our family trees are made of more than just those people from whom we descend. Their stories helped shape our ancestors’ stories. That’s why I want to know more about them.

year-of-collaterals

5 Things I Learned While Blogging in 2014

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2014 was quite a year. I wrote more than I had in recent years, met some wonderful bloggers, and dug into more of my research. I also learned quite a bit while blogging. Here are 5 things I learned while blogging in 2014:

5. Blogging Is a Lot Like Exercising

You know how they say that when you want to start exercising more, it works best to tell your friends so that they’ll hold you accountable? That’s how the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge got started. I wanted to blog more regularly, so I set myself a goal of writing about one ancestor per week. I thought, “Hey, if I announce this on my blog, I’ll be more accountable for doing it.” Let’s just say it worked.

4. Genealogy Bloggers Are Incredibly Supportive

When the 52 Ancestors challenge took off in January 2014, I had no idea how popular it would become. In the early months, I compiled a weekly recap. I added the participating blogs to my Feedly reader and copied the links to the 52 Ancestors posts from the previous week. (Being the librarian that I am, I had to put them in alphabetical order.) When it got to be too much – regularly taking several hours each week – I had to decide what to do. Everyone was very supportive when I had to go to the current format of publishing a recap post and participants leaving links in the comments. It was a hard decision, but it was one I needed to make. I appreciate everyone’s support and understanding.

3. Cousin Bait Works

I found several cousins in 2014. Rather, they found me thanks to my blog posts. Think you need to wait until you know everything about ancestor to blog about them? Think again. Write up what you have. You never know when a cousin out there will see it and help fill in the gaps.

2. Calendars Are Wonderful Things

Having been an editor of several genealogy society periodicals, I know the value of a good editorial calendar. They keep you on track. Unfortunately, I didn’t follow my own “best practice” before I went to Europe back in June. I intended on getting the posts for those 2 weeks written and scheduled before I left, but… And once I fell behind, I never got caught up again. (Which is why I posted my last 10 ancestors in the last 2 weeks of the year :(

1. Writing About Your Ancestors Is an Incredible Research Tool

Where will this keyboard take me in 2015?

Where will this keyboard take me in 2015?

Ok, this one’s cheating a bit, since I already knew it. But 2014 absolutely drove home this point. This is nothing like writing about an ancestor – even writing about one specific aspect or event in his or her life – to help you see where the holes in your research are. Suddenly you’re faced with the fact that you’ve never found them in all of their censuses or you don’t have his World War I draft record. You also get lots of new ideas for places to look. Don’t think of writing as something you do when your research is “done.” Think of it as another research tool.

What did blogging teach you in 2014?