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Though The Genealogy Center will be closed on Thursday, November 28, we will reopen on Friday, November 29, with our regular weekend hours. Our hours this holiday weekend are:

by John

Thanksgiving is a most American holiday (though shared by our Canadian friends on an earlier date in the fall). It is also one of our most genealogical of national days, since it affords many a chance to remember the Pilgrims and the harvest feast they celebrated with the Wampanoag tribe in 1621. In an article written for Weekend Magazine in 2002, political commenters Cokie and Steve Roberts estimated that some 35 million Americans are linked by blood to the Pilgrims – and many probably don’t even know of their kinship. The Robertses make the point that while the original band of 102 passengers were Englishmen, their modern descendants comprise all manner of racial and ethnic identities. “Through the centuries,” they write, “the children of those first colonists have mixed with a continuous flow of newcomers, enriching the nation’s gene pool and helping to define our national identity.”

When we gather at the dinner table with relatives and exchange stories of family history, many of us are curious whether they have a direct Mayflower connection. (I descend from William Brewster, the Pilgrims' spiritual leader, and his wife Mary). A great many genealogical works are now in print about Pilgrims and their immediate descendants. The classic work and most authoritative is the series, Mayflower Families through Five Generations, compiled by various authors and published by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants (974.4 M45). Produced in 23 volumes with multiple parts, these volumes are easily recognized with their silver binding. This work is still on-going, and thus far volumes have been produced for the following passengers: Francis Eaton, Samuel Fuller, William White, James Chilton, Richard More, Thomas Rogers, George Soule, William Bradford, Francis Cooke, Edward Fuller, Edward Winslow, John Billington, Stephen Hopkins, Peter Brown, Degory Priest, Edward Doty, John Alden, Isaac Allerton, Richard Warren, Henry Samson, John Howland, and Myles Standish. More volumes are forthcoming (we Brewster descendants are still waiting for our silver volume and must content ourselves with the Mayflower families in Progress volumes, which are incomplete). Families treated in earlier volumes have been revised, in many instances, in later volumes of the series.

Another gem of genealogical research is Robert Charles Anderson’s The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony, 1620-1633 (974.402 P74pn). This work collects the Plymouth settlers from his larger Great Migration series, considered by many to be a modern genealogical masterpiece. In some cases Anderson revised the sketches from his earlier work. New discoveries about the Pilgrims are always being discovered, and researchers should keep regularly abreast of new articles in such journals as the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, American Ancestors, and the Mayflower Descendant.

For many genealogists seeking their Mayflower connection, the problem isn’t with constructing the five generations of immediate descendants from the Pilgrims in New England in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The brick wall comes later in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century in upstate New York, where many New Englanders moved in the decades following the close of the Revolutionary War. New York did not keep vital records in this period, and the search for a connection can often be exasperating. The New England Historic Genealogical Society’s recent book, Western Massachusetts Families of 1790 (974.4 UL44we) offers some help with families in Berkshire, Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin counties, Massachusetts, bridging the gulf for some families (additional families appear on their American Ancestors website). Most researchers will still have to go through deeds, court records, church records, and estate records to find additional clues.

Even if your ancestors didn’t come on the Mayflower (and millions more have connections to later arrivals in Plymouth Colony), we can all celebrate our collective diversity on this Thanksgiving and give thanks for the national heritage that they have bequeathed us.

by Delia

Many of us see the same occupations over and over within our families. Farmers tended to beget farmers. Miner's sons followed their fathers into the mines. Sons of doctors often traced their fathers' footsteps into the medical profession. Teachers, both male and female, may appear in other lines. We may have a general idea of what our ancestors' professions entailed, but perhaps not the details. Other times, we may have no idea what an occupation may be. The Genealogy Center has a number of sources to aid you in understanding your ancestors' work lives.

Of course, if you run across an usual job title, one fast and easy method to discover what that occupation entails is to check an unabridged dictionary or check an Internet search engine and easily discover that a cordwainer is someone who works with fine leather, often a shoe maker. But to discover that a girdleier is one who makes belts or shashes or a shuttleworker is a weaver one may have to use Trades and services of Colonial times ( 973.2 T675).

There are also directories and lists of practitioners of various occupations, such as Patsy Page's Directory of Louisiana physicians, 1886 (976.3 P14D) and the 1881 and 1896 editions of The Bankers' directory and list of bank attorneys (929.11 R15B). There are also volumes from societies that cater to certain professions, such as the 1941 and 1949 editions of  Roster of the Maine State Grange Patrons of Husbandry (974.1 G75RO). There are also business records available, like that for Sand Lake, New York's Lumberman's account book, 1839-1843 (974.701 R29LU) and the Finis Hurt Store account book, 1889-1890 (976.901 AD1WL) in Adair County, Kentucky. 

But one of the best ways to understand your ancestor in his or her profession could be to read diaries from other members of that profession, such as Laurel Ulrich's A midwife's tale: the life of Martha Ballard, based on her diary, 1785-1812 (974.101 K37U) and The 1805 diary of the Rev. Dr. James Muir: minister of the Old Presbyterian meeting house in Alexandria, Virginia (975.502 AL27MUI). Of course, these diaries may also provide biographical information the people in the area.

So when you want to understand your ancestor, take some time to investigate his or her occupation to add a deeper understanding of their lives.

by Delia

Our ancestors worked hard all week, on the farm, in the shop or factory. At the end of the day, they went home, ate dinner and went to bed. On the weekends, they attended religious services.

Well, not really. They did have many chores, no matter the station in life, but there was often time for play, and they did play. And The Genealogy Center owns sources on all manner of play in our ancestors’ lives.

Our national pastime, baseball, is represented nationally in a number of sources, including The baseball necrology (973 L512BN) by Bill Lee, The biographical encyclopedia of the Negro baseball leagues (973 R453BI) by James A. Riley, and Today's News (973 AL512TA), the journal of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Players' Association. But there are also volumes relating to locations, such as Larry Lester and Sammy Miller's Black baseball in Kansas City (977.802 K13LES) and Robert Ashe's Even the Babe came to play: small-town baseball in the dirty 30s (971.502 SA28AS). 

Basketball is not forgotten in our collection, with Todd Gould's Pioneers of the hardwood: Indiana and the birth of professional basketball (977.2 G737P) and Rankine Smith's The history of basketball in New Brunswick, Canada, 1892-1985 (971.5 Am596H).

A number of sources pertain to sports in academia, such as Ken Kessinger's Sioux Falls Washington High School sports heritage, 1899-1989 (978.302 SI7KE), and Jim O'Brien's Hail to Pitt: a sports history of the University of Pittsburgh (974.802 P687HAI). 

But it's the more unusual accounts of recreational activities that catch my interest. Norman Peterson's Index of about 11,000 1911 Michigan and Wisconsin billiard hall & saloon merchants (977.4 P442I) provides a list of what towns in those states hosted the dreaded pool halls that lured men into drink and play. And From buckskin to baseball; glimpses of Tiogans at work and play (974.702 T49FR) provides just the sort of overview to a community at play that should interest all researchers.And some are rife with history, such as Timothy McCann's Sussex cricket in the eighteenth century (942.2501 SU82P, V.88), and William Perkins Bull's From rattlesnake hunt to hockey; the history of sports in Canada and of the sportsmen of Peel, 1789 to 1934 (971.3 B87FR), which was limited to a thousand copies in 1934.

So when you are investigating the lives of those that have gone before, pay attention to what they did in their free time to add another layer to the stories of their lives.

by Delia

Where were you and what were you doing when you heard that John F. Kennedy had been shot? It may very well be the defining moment in American history for those currently age 55 and older. For most of us, it’s a moment frozen in our minds. Just after 12:30 PM CST, shots rang out in Dallas, Texas, ending the life of the President of the United States. Days of mourning culminating in a televised funeral, then years of investigation, theories and accusations, but what most of us who were alive then remember is what we were doing.

I was a fourth grader in a Catholic school in central California. We were herded into the fifth grade classroom, along with the sixth graders, to listen to events unfold on the radio. A Michigan colleague was in third grade, and recalls hearing the president died which was followed by three days of televised coverage. Another colleague was a high school student in Columbia City, Indiana, and just happened to be in an assembly when the announcement came. Another, only four years old at the time, recalls how shaken his parents were by the news. All are very vivid memories from four different people in four places, all about the same event.

We aren’t going to go into the history and aftermath here. There have been many books, documentaries, movies, articles and investigations over the years for that. We are interested in making sure that all of us pass along for posterity our experience and reaction at the time. And we invite all of you to share, either here in a comment to this blog, or on our Facebook page, one or two sentences about your memories of that day. Where were you when you heard?

by Delia

So, maybe you’ve got the day off to celebrate Veterans Day. You could go to the various sales and spend some money. You could sleep late, relax, watch television all day. But, really, it’s Veterans Day, a day set aside to honor all veterans. So you could…

• Organize information about the various veterans in your family history, making sure that you have all of the facts you can locate about his or her service. The Genealogy Center is open regular hours (9A to 9P) to make research convenient.
• Or just pick one veteran, gather photographs, service records, pension information and a brief biography to be published in a journal, or send a digital copy to The Genealogy Center for inclusion in Our Military Heritage website.
• Research a veteran, using websites like Fold3, Ancestry or FamilySearch. Write a letter (or an email) to a county court house to see if the officials there have the veteran’s discharge papers, or to a library to get the veteran’s obituary.
• Seek out a veteran, a relative, friend or neighbor, asking about military service, as well as other biographical details of his or her life. You can preserve these details in various ways, including sending us a copy for Our Military Heritage. Just being asked will remind the veteran how much that service is valued.
• Add a World War II veteran into the National World War II Memorial Registry. This website allows you to honor any WWII veteran with his or her name, service, photo, etc. This is a great way to insure a veteran's service is remembered.
• Or you can place flowers or a small flag on the grave of a veteran. Go ahead and take a photo while you are at it, note the information on the headstone and add any details you know. Send the photo and notes to Find a Grave or Billion Graves. 

So you can just take the day off, or you can really use Veterans Day to recall our veterans!

For many years, the 1914 to 1918 conflict was known as the Great War, the European War or the World War, because of the wide reaching effects of those hostilities. Optimistically, it was also known as the War to End All Wars, until unrest in the 1930s brought about another wide-ranging conflict. The date the the Great War ended, November 11th, was first celebrated as Armistice Day in 1919. In 1926, that date became an officially recognized day and in 1938, it became a federal holiday. In 1954, recognizing the great contribution of soldiers in World War II and the Korean War, the name changed to Veterans Day, in honor of all veterans.

From “Four score and seven years ago…” to “…shall not perish from the earth” Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address contained many phrases that ring through time. Lincoln was not the featured speaker that day, but his short speech of November 18, 1863 is the one that is recalled by Americans today.

This Sunday, November 10, Sara Vaughn Gabbard, Director of the Friends of The Lincoln Collection of Indiana, will discuss “The Gettysburg Address 150 Years Later,” focusing on how his words still resonate today. In the speech, Lincoln said, “The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here,” but the truth is that the words and phrases still speak to Americans today.

Join us Sunday, November 10th, at 2:00 PM in Meeting Room A & B, in celebration of this this important event in history.

by Delia

Time keeping in the United States, indeed, in many parts of the world, was very much a local option based on the movement of the Sun, until railroads began to cross great distances in short amounts of time. The variations in local times caused confusion to travelers and employees alike, so in 1883, the railroads established a standardized time for the country, allowing for movement of the Sun by creating time zones.

Some areas were reluctant to have big business, in the form of railroads, dictating something as personal as time, but by the time of World War I, so much of the country had accepted it that when the Calder Act was passed in 1918, it was just a legal acknowledgment of what was common practice. However, the Calder Act also established Daylight Saving Time, which did not meet with approval by many and was repealed in 1919.

The advent of World War II resurrected the idea of Daylight Saving Time, making it year-round in an effort to conserve energy. The end of the war signaled the end of Daylight Saving Time as a standard, but communities were allowed to use it as a local option, usually from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in September, although some areas extended it to the last Sunday in October.

The Uniform Time Act was passed in 1966, which standardized DST as the last Sunday of April to the last Sunday in October. States were allowed to opt out, and Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Indiana, and Michigan did so. Over the years since, some of these states have opted in and and out, as the various populations pushed. Indiana finally went to all DST in 2006, after many years of wrangling in the state legislature.

Daylight Saving Time has had an impact on many lives through the years. My uncle, a farmer in Kentucky, railed against it every year. His day, like that of most farmers and many others, ran by when the Sun came up in the mornings, and altering the pattern of the day seemed foolish. My father always considered my oldest sister's birth day "wrong" because she was born during WWII, and without DST, she would have shared her birthday with George Washington. But growing up, I never minded Daylight Saving Time. With a birthday in late October, it was thrilling to a 13-year old to have an extra hour in her birthday!

So use this extra hour this fall to consider what effect standardized time and DST have had on you and your family, and remember to pass those stories along to the next generation!

Have a brick wall in your research? Would you like a greater understanding of some aspect of your research? The Genealogy Center is offering 30-minute personal research consultations with a staff member on some troublesome aspect of your research. The available appointments are on Thursday, November 7th, 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM, and Thursday, December 5th, 2:00 PM to 4:00 pm. Call 260-421-1225 or send an email for an appointment, providing basic information concerning the nature of your quandary. A staff member will be assigned and a time established for your consultation. Be sure to bring your research notes to your consultation.

Space is limited, and pre-registration is required. Register today!

Monday starts our last few days of Family History Month with Cynthia telling us about "Finding Research Facilities Using the Internet," at 2:00 PM on Monday, October 28th in Meeting Room A.

Melissa will guide us in "Telling Our Story," on Tuesday, October 29th, at 2:00 PM in Meeting Room A. Oral history is a great way to begin research, and is suitable for all ages.

Big city problems? Sara will help in "Beginning Chicago Research," on Wednesday, October 30th at 2:00 PM in Meeting Room A. remember that techniques learned about Chicago may also be applicable to other large metropolitan areas.

To wrap up Family History Month on Thursday, October 31st at 10 AM in Meeting Room A, Dawne will share the woes for researchers with "Murphy's Law Applied to Genealogy."

For more information about these events, see the brochure.

Call 260-421-1225 or send an email to register for any of these free classes.

The final program in the 2013 Lincoln at the Library Series will be presented on Sunday, November 10, 2013, at the Allen County Public Library’s Main Library, 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, in Meeting Rooms A-B at 2:00 p.m. The program, “The Gettysburg Address: 150 Years Later,” will be presented by Sara Vaughn Gabbard.

President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is one of the best-known speeches in American history. Lincoln delivered his address on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg. Edward Everett delivered a two-hour oration before Lincoln's three minutes of dedicatory remarks, yet it is Lincoln's words that are remembered. Come to this engaging program to learn why that is.

Sara Vaughn Gabbard is the Executive Director of the Friends of the Lincoln Collection of Indiana, Inc. She is the editor of the acclaimed Lincoln Lore and has co-edited three works about Lincoln for the Southern Illinois University Press—1863: Lincoln’s Pivotal Year; Lincoln and Freedom: Slavery, Emancipation, and the Thirteenth Amendment; and Lincoln’s America, 1809-1865—with a fourth book to be published in 2015. She is also co-editor of the Concise Lincoln Library for the SIU Press and is widely recognized in the field of Lincoln scholarship.

Make plans today to attend this free event on Sunday, November 10, 2013, in Meeting Rooms A-B at 2 PM!

This week starts with Tech Talk II on Monday afternoon, October 21st at 2 PM in The Genealogy Center. Delia will provide an in depth look at using and printing from microfilm and microfiche.

On Tuesday October 22nd, Dawne will discuss the problems of researching people who may, or may not, be the "Same Name, Same Person?" at 2 PM, in Meeting Room A, and John will cover "Allen County in Print," on Wednesday October 23 at 2 PM in Meeting Room A.

Curt will advise about "Helping Our Families Tell the Stories of Their Lives: Basics of Interviewing," on Thursday October 24th, at 10 Am in Meeting Room A.

Friday October 25th offers a double header with Kay providing the "Basics of Adobe Elements Workshop" from 10 AM to 3 PM (with a one hour break for lunch) in the Computer Classroom. You can still register for this workshop, but space is limited, so register soon.

Then our Midnight Madness Extended Research Hours begin at 6 PM. You will be able to stay to research and visit with other genealogists after the rest of the library closes, just be here by 6 PM!

On Saturday, October 26th, Melissa will guide us to "Overlooked Records for Hurdling the Census Chasm," at 10 AM in Meeting Room A, and the weekend wraps up on Sunday October 27th with Dawne providing instruction on "Making the Best Use of Citations & Notes," at 1 PM in Meeting Room A.

For additional information, see the Family History Month brochure.

Monday October 14th begins the week with the crackle of electricity as "Tech Talk I" provides a hands-on demonstration on using the copier/scanners and the digital sender at 2:00 p.m. in The Genealogy Center. At 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 15th, Kay Spears will show you "How to Look at Your Photographs, Analyze & Organize," in Meeting Room A.

On Wednesday, October 16th, John Beatty will tell you about "Writing Your Family History." This 90-minute session starts at 2:00 p.m., in Meeting Room A. Stay the afternoon and attend the Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana's Computer Interest Group Meeting at 7 p.m. in Meeting Room B.

Thursday, October 17th has Melissa Shimkus providing a "Gateway to Your Pre-20th Century Immigrant," at 10:00 a.m., in Meeting Room A, and on Friday, October 18th, Sara Allen will discuss "Finding Your Ancestral Homeland," in Meeting Room A at 10:00 a.m.

On Saturday, October 19th, at 10:00 a.m., we will offer a "Tour of The Genealogy Center," and on Sunday, October 20th, Delia Bourne will discuss "The New PERSI" at 1 p.m., in Meeting Room A.

For more information about any of these free classes, please see the Family History Month brochure. To register for any of these classes, send an Email, or call 260-421-1225. Don't let these great opportunities pass you by!

The Genealogy Center, like all agencies of the Allen County Public Library, will be open regular hours on Monday October 14, 2013 on the observance of Columbus Day.

A holiday to honor Christopher Columbus, the Genoa native who "sailed the ocean blue" in 1492 has always been a contentious notion. In the 1800s, many Americans were opposed to the idea because of its significance to immigrants, especially Italians, and Catholics. In the Twentieth Century, awareness of the effect of European settlement on the native peoples had a negative influence on the popularity of honoring Columbus.

October 12th became a national holiday in 1934, and in 1970, the observance was shifted to the second Monday in October. But even now, not all states observe the holiday as Columbus Day, but rather as alternative holidays.

All Federal offices, many state and local government offices and schools will be closed as usual, but the library will be open! So come on in and make your own discoveries!

Do you have brick walls holding you back in your research? Would you like a few new ideas for tackling those pesky road blocks? Want to hear how others have circumvented their obstructions? Come to the monthly gathering of the African American Genealogical Society of Fort Wayne on Thursday, October 10, 2013, at 6:30 PM, in Meeting Room B. Members will discuss new genealogical finds, as well as research brick walls, what's  available and what avenues can help you overcome barriers in your research.

Non-members welcome! Bring your finds and your brick walls!

Family History Month continues on Monday, October 7th, at 2 p.m. in Meeting Room A, when Cynthia Theusch will talk about School Records, how they may be useful in your research and how to find them. And then on Tuesday, October 8th, Delia Bourne will be Introducing the New PERSI, in Meeting Room A at 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday evening, October 9th, the Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana will hold their monthly meeting in Meeting Room C at 6:30 p.m., featuring Debbie Muntz on Research by Reading Abstracts. Non-members are welcome to attend.

The African American Genealogical Society of Fort Wayne will welcome all to their meeting on Thursday October 10th, in Meeting Room B for a lecture of African American genealogy.

On Sunday afternoon, 1 p.m. in Meeting Room A, John Beatty will discuss Mapping Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana, illustrating how the early maps of the region can aid genealogists and historians.

For more information about any of these programs, see the Family History Month brochure, call 260-421-1225 or send us an email. Take advantage of as any of these educational opportunities as possible!