It’s advice I’ve given lots of beginning researchers and I’ve recently encountered a situation that requires me to take my own advice.

Last year the Oklahoma Historical Society Research Division was fortunate enough to receive a grant to participate in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).  You may know this program as “Chronicling America.”  It is a wonderful, free site that provides digital images of newspapers published before 1923.  Newspapers from several states have been made available, and only recently, the first newspaper from Oklahoma was included.  These newspapers are keyword searchable, and I thought I should give it a spin.

My maternal grandmother’s family homesteaded in Beaver County.  I grew up in adjacent Ochiltree County, Texas.  So it is a part of the world I know fairly well.  I’ve written elsewhere on this blog about searching the Beaver County newspaper for an obit for my great-grandmother and instead finding a news story about her suicide.  My family did not “trade” in Beaver–they instead went across the state line to Perryton, Texas.

So while I didn’t think I’d find much, I thought I’d give it a whirl.  This time I found information about my grandmother’s grandfather.

James Anderton and his wife Sarah Davis Anderton came to Oklahoma Territory, probably about  1904.  There’s a record of a homestead filed 20 April 1905 in Beaver County and the subsequent “proving up” in 1910.  James and Sarah were in their early 60s when they came to Oklahoma from Marshall County, Alabama.  One of their sons homesteaded in Roger Mills County, but others, including my great-grandfather Robert, came on west to the panhandle.  My grandmother told me that her grandmother Anderton used to want to go back to Alabama, but she died in Beaver County, Oklahoma, 11  April 1915.  She is buried in Blue Mound Cemetery, a small country cemetery atop a slight rising in the western part of the county.

A few months later, in June, James applied for his Confederate Pension in Oklahoma.  He had served in Ward’s Battery Light Artillery from Alabama.  Oklahoma was the last state to offer pensions to Confederate vets, and James was awarded about $315 in September, 1915.  He evidently took his pension money and returned to Alabama.  He died in 1918 and is buried at Cochran Cemetery in Madison County, Alabama.

When I decided to try to search the Beaver Herald using the name “Anderton,” I expected to find several false hits on the name “Anderson.”  Instead what I found in the 15 Jan 1915 edition was an account of a the County Commissioners’ reimbursement to James Hood, for “helping arrest Jas Anderton and guarding him.”    In the same record, T. B. Jones is listed as being reimbursed for  ”car hire for Jas Anderton to Beaver.”  And then there’s the listing of B. W. Webber’s reimbursements: one entry for “board for Jas Anderton” and  one for  ”arrest of Jas Anderton, insane, guarding him and bringing him to Beaver.”

Insane?

Despite hearing lots about her family from my grandmother, I heard nothing of this incident.  Perhaps since she was 9, she wasn’t aware of it.  But my main question has to do with the nature of what precipitated this arrest.  The community where the Andertons lived was about 30 miles from Beaver, the county seat.  How did word travel to Beaver that an arrest out in the southwestern part of the county was warranted?  And what was great-great grandfather James doing to make this necessary?  Was it a case of dementia?  Was alcohol involved?  Seems like the record would indicate drunkeness if this was the case.

So many questions.  My next step for this incident is to look at court records in Beaver County courthouse.

Another example of being willing to take what is found and then needing to dig a little deeper.  As Michael John Neill said at the workshop I attended yesterday, we genealogists act like 3 year olds because we constantly ask “why?”

Because he has a distinctive name, Milo Demetrius Pettibone, more commonly known Milo D. Pettibone, I occasionally use him as a test when I’m surfing various sites.  A more systematic approach would be to use his name as a GoogleAlert, but usually I just search on his name from time to time.  This week I discovered a 1970 Ohio State University Masters thesis showing he was the first person elected to president of the newly formed Ohio American Anti-Slavery Society in 1842.  His daughter Annette Pettibone Little wrote in the second volume of the Daughters of the American Revolution magazine that her father has been “much interested in the abolishment of slavery…” but I had not be able to corroborate this.

A few years ago I was in Delaware County, Ohio doing some research on this family and in a conversation with the terrific folks at the Delaware County Historical Society, I found that they didn’t know much about this founding father for their area.  It’s not surprising–he died young and most of his family moved on to Cleveland.  But they couldn’t confirm his being an abolitionist either.

This was a surprisingly rewarding find.  It verifies the importance of checking a wide array of resources–theses and dissertations often contain a gem of information about an ancestor I might never have found otherwise.

Gamble, Douglas Andrew.  ”The Western Anti-Slavery Society:  Garrisonian Abolitionism in Ohio.”  Master’s thesis, University of Ohio, 1970.  accessed 17 Jul 2010 at http://etd.ohiolink.edu/.

Little, Annette Pettibone. “”Ancestry of Annette Pettibone Little.”  The American Monthly Magazine. vol.  2. 1893. GoogleBooks.  http:///www.books.google.com : 2010.

But I am a little sad, too.  And I was reminded of this as I was reading through many fellow geneabloggers’ posts about their Revolutionary War ancestors.  As far as I know, I have no direct Revolutionary War ancestors who were soldiers during that War.  I haven’t given up finding one, but so far, none.

I have lots of ancestors who provided patriotic service, including a 6th great-grandmother, Amy Williams Jackson.  She filed in June 1783 from Union County, South Carolina for reimbursement for various supplies furnished to the troops.  Her petition is under her own name rather than her husband Ralph’s.  I am curious about this as women weren’t usually listed under their own names.  Her husband had died the previous month, so perhaps this is the reason.  Amy and Ralph has sons who served in the Revolution, but not my direct ancestor, Ralph Jackson, Jr.

There are others–the Mitchells who were in North Carolina and then Maury County, Tennessee, my 4th great-grandfather, Christopher Osborne in North Carolina.  My husband’s 4th great-grandfather John Spindle in Virginia.  All these persons are listed in the DAR database as having provided patriotic service–supplying everything from forage to beef and brandy.

I do have an War of 1812 vet–a 4th great-grandfather John B. Cromwell who served in the Georgia militia.  His son, John Wesley Cromwell, served in the Confederate Army–First Cherokee Mounted Volunteers, Co. A.  I also have a Mexican War ancestor–another 4th great-grandfather, John Mitchel who joined up at the age of 56 (!) from Texas and died in Mexico in 1847.  A second great-grandfather, John B. Cooper, died in the Civil War, along with 3 of his brothers.

None of my grandfathers or great-grandfathers, as far as I know, served.  I have to get to the great-great grandfather level before I find direct ancestors who served–and those all in the Civil War on the side of the Confederates.  [My then 8 year old son asked me years ago if I couldn't find any "winners" who were our relatives in the Civil War.  I told him he was born into the wrong family if he wanted northerners.  He's since reconciled himself to this sad fact.]  :-)

I am grateful for the service provided by ALL of our ancestors.  I have uncles who served in WWI, WWII, and Korea.  God bless them for their sacrifice and their service.  My dad always said my brother and I were his “deferments.”  His brothers just older than him and just younger both served.  So once again, I’ve missed having a direct ancestor who was a veteran.  I guess I’ll have to be happy with the older generations having served AND the fact that some of my relatives may have enabled some of yours to serve in NC, SC, and VA by providing supplies.

Happy Independence Day to us all.  God bless America, from sea to shining sea!

I was searching the Lawton newspapers for obituaries and I was struck by the scarcity of them.  Marriages were regularly listed–Fort Sill was nearby so there was a plethora of young men.  Births appear less frequently, and usually in the “about town” column that records visits from out of town relatives or the amount of rain received south of town.

There were two newspapers at this time period–the Lawton Constitution and The Daily News and Star. On the front page of the 10 Jul 1913 edition, there was an interesting mix of stories. Mrs. Mattie Payne calls for a meeting of all the ladies who settled in Lawton any time during 1901 to phone or write her. She is organizing a club of such “as an auxilary [sic] to the men’s club just organized.”  This reminded me of the story about the establishment of the Daughters of the American Revolution–the men wouldn’t allow the women to join their organization, so the ladies started their own.  And we all know how that turned out.

There’s also a list of the visitors to nearby Medicine Park–the holiday weekend, no doubt.   This resort was apparently established shortly after statehood and is still in operation.  I’d love to know how some of my relatives spent their July 4 holiday.

Then there was the story about John Tremont, who, together with Mrs. Ada Woodward and Emma Rivers, was charged with having killed Mrs. Woodward’s husband Sherman by administering “rat biscuits placed in sardines.”  The jury in neighboring Chickasha evidently could not reach as verdict so the jury was discharged.

Here’s the one obituary I found among these stories on the front page.  Interesting that 62 was considered aged.  William, one of  ”the Hogg boys” was 30 if the 1910 census is accurate–

Aged Lawton Lady is Death’s Victim

Mothes [sic] of Mrs. G. F. Japp and Hogg Boys Succumbs to Reaper

Mrs. Mary Hogg, 62 years of age, died at her home, 207 Park avenue, at 6 o’clock last night, after an illness of the past several weeks.  The body will be buried tomorrow morning, 10 o’clock, from the residence, the Rev. T. J. Irwin to preach the fueneral [sic] sermon.

Mrs. Hogg was the mother of William and Percy Hogg of this city and Mrs. G. F. Japp, residing southeast of town.  She also has a daughter, Mrs. Emma Rupert, residing in Lincoln, Nebraska.

A bit of background.  Oklahoma was not a state until November 1907.  As you can imagine, this wreaks havoc on those of us who had ancestors here early and want vital records.  Registrations was mandated early, but neither birth nor death records are consistently held until the mid 1930s.

Amy over at WeTree is one of the “victims.”  She has an ancestor who died in Oklahoma in 1919 who, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health, does not have a death certificate.  (Never mind that they found one for this ancestor’s spouse who died in 1913–we don’t really expect consistency, do we?)  So I was browsing through the Lawton newspaper to see if there was an obituary.  I found this article about compliance with the Health Board Regulations.  It explains a lot:

COUNTIES REPORT BIRTHS TO STATE

One-third of Counties Complying Health Board Regulations

Oklahoma City, Nov. 22–Nearly one-third of the counties of the state are not complying with state health department regulations on reporting births and deaths to the vital statistic bureau, according to a report just made to Commissioner Arthur R. Lewis, by Ethel Hawley, state registrar.

Last month 23 counties made absolutely complete reports of all births and deaths.  In September there were only 19.  In 258 out of 399 registration districts, reports were made.  There are 46 districts with no registrars and 85 registrars who didn’t report.

Reports for October show 2753 births and 989 deaths, an increase of 244 births and 102 deaths over September.

Recently I had the occasion to need some birth, death, and marriage certificates from California. The birth and death came from Sacramento fairly quickly–about 2 1/2 weeks. Surprisingly enough, they are sending me a refund for the two they didn’t find. Of course, the two they didn’t find, a birth in 1862 and a death in 1883 are the two I wanted most.

But I have another issue with the marriage record requested from Sierra County. They sent me a letter of “No Record Found,” and they had the wrong name for the groom on that form. Now, I’ve checked. I sent the correct name. Did they check the right name and put the wrong one on the form? Did they check the wrong name? And how do I diplomatically address this?  I’m hoping an oh, so polite telephone call tomorrow will help settle this for me.

This year, we spent some time in La Grange in Fayette County, Texas, looking for our great-great grandmother Mary Mitchell Cooper.  She supposedly died there shortly after the Civil War, leaving her two children George C. and Rebekkah Ann, known as Annie, orphans.

I didn’t really expect to find anything about her there, but I had to try.  I’d found some court records regarding the guardianship of the children back in Johnson County, Texas, where their grandparents lived.  The family story is the children were surreptitiously taken from La Grange by their Uncle Job Cooper–the “escape” had been planned earlier in the day when Job had found young George and talked to him about the arrangements.  Because of the children leaving under these circumstances, I didn’t expect to find anything “official.”

And finding a marked place of Mary’s burial is probably hopeless.

However, as I said, I had to try.  I don’t count trips like these as a waste.  I always enjoy being where my ancestors lived–something about just being in that place provides me with some sense of being in touch.  It was a beautiful day–I was hoping to see more bluebonnets but I was a little early, according to the locals.  My brother and I had a good time traveling through the countryside and visiting about our families, past and present.

The county courthouse in Fayette County was remarkable–it had evidently been remodeled a few years earlier.  Restored might be a better word.  There was a beautiful atrium inside so it was not one of those dark places that late 19th century county courthouses often are. Wooden shutters were on all the windows and the floor inside was beautiful black and white marble tiles.

Here’s what I found on top of a small table in the ladies’ room:

I love Texas.

And I loved the old original wooden doors.  The door sills were wonderful–here’s one of the side doors.  See the worn limestone on the right?  The one on the front door was even more worn.

The people at the Museum and Archives were very helpful–they even remembered a letter I’d written earlier in the year.  They said they kept those types of requests on file in the event someone else wrote on the same subject.  Here’s hoping.

When I posted about my quest in La Grange, I did hear from two folks who know people in the area and they said they too would keep an eye out.  So maybe some seeds were planted that will produce something in the future.

My brother and I are already planning our next year’s Spring Break Court House tour.

I’ve seen some people saying they liked the Smith story so much better than the first story with Sarah Jessica Parker, but in some ways, that is like comparing apples to oranges.  I learned from both of them–SJP had no idea she had other than German ancestry from her growing up in Cincinnati, and it was fascinating to see her journey unfold as she learned about the gold miner 49′er in her family on the west  coast and the great-grandmother who was accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts in the 1600s, on the east.

Former Cowboy football superstar Emmitt Smith’s trip was emotional.  He understood going in that his family had probably come from slaves but when he was actually in front of the records, it opened another whole dimension.  I wrote about the discovery of slave documents in my husband’s family and how powerful that was–how much more potent that experience would have been had it been my family who were the enslaved.  It felt like a privilege to go with Smith on his journey.  Listening to the experts talk about the meaning of his enslaved family being kept together and the strength and savvy of his 4th great-grandmother Mariah was both heart-wrenching and captivating.

There is much to learn about records generated at these difficult times in our history, when we mistreated persons–the court document accusing Parker’s great-grandmother of witchcraft and knowing that it could mean the end of her life is almost not believable.  The documents listing persons by only first names with monetary values are difficult to even look at, much less contemplate the impact.  The reality of slaves being bred and then families separated and sold is cruel beyond belief.  But as Emmitt Smith graciously notes, “I’m glad I’m not like him”–even though he is referencing his 5th great-grandfather.

Fascinating stories.  Educational experts.  Illuminating records.

You can catch up and read more at the NBC website.

As you probably know, most of the 1890 federal census was destroyed, leaving a huge gap in searching families as they began moving west as the lands started opening up.

On the eve of preparing for statehood in 1907, a census was taken of Oklahoma Territory.  At the time, this included 7 counties, though that number is deceiving.  For example, what was then called Beaver County encompassed all of the panhandle and what was then called “No Man’s Land”–much more than the current Beaver County.

For some unknown reason, this census was never sent to Washington, DC.  We have the original sheets at the Historical Society.  Within the last year or so, this census became available on Ancestry.com, though it is not included in the search when “U.S. Census” is chosen.  It was badly scanned and badly indexed, both originally and then at Ancestry.

The new scans are much clearer.  And the new index is much better.  “We” probably still have mistakes.  Some of the handwriting is incredibly bad and by census takers who obviously could not follow directions and may have been only minimally literate in the English language.  But those of us who have worked with census records know this is the way it works.  This time, however, the index was done by genealogists–persons who are used to working with these sorts of records.

Later I will post about a project I’ve pulled from this census.  I’m still mulling it around in my head, but it took initial shape as I was indexing page after page of the digitized scans.

March 7 — Share a favorite recipe from your mother or grandmother’s kitchen. Why is this dish your favorite? If you don’t have one that’s been passed down, describe a favorite holiday or other meal you shared with your family.

Cooking was not my mother’s joy or strength.

She did it and she did it fairly well–especially since her boundaries were fairly fixed.  We lived in a rural area where it was almost too hot to have a garden–at least for my red-haired, fair-skinned mother.  And we always had beef in the locker in town, and later, in our home freezer.  I was shocked once to hear a friend’s mother talk about how tired she was as a child of eating lobster.  But she was a child of maritime Canada–I was a child of the Texas plains, and we ate beef.  My mom was known to sneak in a package of bologna or liverwurst occasionally, but it was never put on the table as the main dish.  She did pass to me her skill at making gravy–one of the secrets is letting the flour cook a bit first–I later learned this was called “making a roux” in official cooking terminology.  The other secret is having the right utensil to stir to keep from having lumpy gravy as the liquid (usually milk in our case) is added.  Mom’s utensil of choice was some sort of coiled, springy metal thing probably originally intended to beat egg whites or somesuch.

But at some point she had a great recipe for a dessert that has been lost.  She got it from her best friend Phyllis, and when I moved to the same city Phyllis left our small town for, I called her, but she couldn’t remember the recipe.  I can see it written on a scrap of paper and stuffed in the recipe drawer, but I cannot re-create it nor can I find one despite handy sites like AllRecipes that let you type in the ingredients and provide you with a recipe using those foods.

It started with graham cracker crumbs.  I think it probably had sugar and seems like some whipped egg whites folded in.  These, along with some undoubtedly additional forgotten ingredients, were patted down into a 9 x 13 pan and baked for a bit.  Then, what made it truly amazing, a boiling mixture of crushed pineapple and I can’t remember what else poured over it right as it came out of the oven.  This resulted in a yummy gooey bar that was so good, at least as I remember it.

And maybe it’s the best kind of recipe.  I certainly don’t need the calories, but I relish the memory of cooking in my mother’s kitchen, from recipes she’d scrawled on scraps of paper, making food that had come from her shared friendship with other women at the church.  I was able to locate her “quick” fruit-cake recipe after many years through the magic of the Internet, so perhaps the pineapple, graham-cracker bars will eventually appear as well.