It's Like Christmas Every Day

Okay maybe not everyday but some days in genealogy really to feel like Christmas has come.

I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Those days when you put in a name not really expecting to find anything new because you have only looked up this person like a thousand times and then bamm, a new record that you have never seen and all of a sudden you are back in business. It's like a total rush when that name pops up and you get all gitty and start doing little happy dances in your chair. You want to rush out and tell the world what you found, show them the record and make them understand the importance of such a find. Sadly, most people won't get it but us genealogist do. Each and every time we will always get it.

I had such an experience this weekend. I went to genealogy conference in my local area last Saturday and there was some great information passed out to us all but the best news that I received all day was that familysearch.org updated their site. Seriously, if you haven't been in awhile you need to check it out. This is where I had my great find.

I came home exhausted from the early morning wake up (6am) and although I wanted to jump on the computer and play around with my new found knowledge I simply could not keep my eyes open. After a much needed nap I did actually get on the computer but I went straight to Facebook as per my daily routine (I hate it and I love it). Once I was done stalking my normal folks I decided to give this new familysearch website a try. I typed in Henry Ellis which most of you know has been the bain of my search and of course nothing popped up. Big shocker (not my sarcasm). Then I decided to try his son Mack B. that has been just as much of a pain as Henry considering I have never found him on any census record with Henry or Cassie or any of his sisters. I sat waiting for the wrong records like always to come up but lo and behold the first two records were marriage records which could be him as I am not sure how many times he was married but the third record was what had me jumping out of my seat. The third was a 1930 census that listen Mack B. with his mother in one household. OMG!!!!!

That is not only the first time I have seen him on a census but the first time I have linked him to his parents and it also gave me another clue about Henry as Cassie was listed as single. That would mean that by the thirties they were no longer married and it would mean that I need to be looking for Henry either in a household alone or re-married. I couldn't believe it. It also shed some light onto those two marriage records. If Mack was living with his mother and single in 1930 then he couldn't have married either of those women in the twenties. Deck the halls!

I was so excited that I continued to look for more information and sure enough didn't find anything else on Henry but I was still excited. To finally find this family in the thirties was amazing. Too prove that there was at least one census that had my great uncle listed with at least one of his parents was wonderful especially since I remember this uncle. I was young but I remember visiting him and his wife, I remember them coming up to see us, and I remember going to his funeral because it was one of the creepiest funerals I had ever or have ever been too. It would have sucked to never have found him attached to my family when I knew that he was but now I have someplace to look and a record to build on. Fa-la-la-la-la!!!

Ran Away With The Dish and The Spoon

I know, I know....it's been ages since I updated this blog. But I guess if I am admitting that then I have to admit that it has been ages since I've done any real genealogy work. Allow me to explain.

I started taking a few graphic design classes and between that and normal life it seems that genealogy kinda fell through the cracks. But I am ready to get back on the horse so to speak and the opportunity to do it might be just around the corner.

My family is planning a trip to Chicago in the next month just as a get together of sorts but the great part is that I have a few relatives in Chicago that I am looking forward to contacting. I am hoping that they will remember some of the names that I have for the Sprolls side of the family and let me know if I am on the right trail and if they have pictures will that would just be an added bonus.

Also I don't know if you remember my great trip to Mississippi but we might have a reason to go back and if we do then I am going to try and see if Arkansas is not to far away and maybe we can make a stop there also so that I can look up some other family.

Until then, I do have some research that I have to find here in good ol' Missouri but I need the money and the time for a trip downtown to the records office and hopefully I will be back on track.

So I just wanted to give a small update on where I'm at and let you know that I haven't given up and that there is more information to come. Talk soon.

Why Can't I Find Henry?

Alright I have been looking for all things Henry as you all know so well. I have looked high and low for this man and he is just not cooperating.

I now know that he died in Missouri but I am thinking that it would help to have at least a year before I try to find going to the records department. I'm not sure if I will find someone willing to look through every death certificate for a decade.

Anyway, I finally found a website called kindredkonnections.com that had a great list of Social Security death indexes. On it I found his wife's death index, my grandfather's death index, my great grandfather's death index but not his and there were close to fifty Henry's that died during the 1960's.

I completely don't understand. You would think that it wouldn't be this hard to find information about him in my own state. In Mississippi I was finding things left and right and now that I'm back it's like he had dissappeared again. I simply don't understand.

I know that he was a black man living in the middle of the end of slavery, segregation, and the freedom movement but you would think that if I can find information on his wife, who was a black woman living through the same things, than I could find something about him.

Tell Me A Story

I have always loved to read. I love mysteries and true life stories among the many different genres I frequent. Maybe that is why genealogy appeals to me. It is like the ultimate mystery and it's been written so long ago. Take my great, great grandparents for instance. I know that they have been the subject of many a blog but they are who I am currently researching.

Henry own quite a bit of land in Mississippi if the records that I have found are truly him. It would have been considered significant back then (1899-1910) for anyone but especially for a black man and especially in the south. He marries had three girls and lives on this land for at least ten to twelve years. Yet somewhere between 1910 to 1930 he leaves his land and moves to Arkansas. Why would he do that? What happened that was so significant or even insignificant that prompted such an act?

I know that many black people during that time moved a lot for better jobs, opportunity, or to avoid lynchings but generally they moved north. They didn't move a couple of states over. Yet that is what my ancestor did. He didn't leave the south until he was sick and that was at the urging of his daughters that brought him to Missouri, if my information is correct.

This is a real mystery to me and one I might never solve. It's not like I can call him up and ask and my great grandmother who might have known the answer passed away years ago. I feel like I can research and research but census records won't tell me the why of the move they will just help me pinpoint a date or timeframe.

I love a good story but sometimes the story is too good. When you have a mystery infront of you and no answer in sight then what do you do?

Rest, Relax and Recharge

We got back from our Mississippi trip a few days ago and I am still getting back on my feet. That would be the funny thing about research trips I now know. It takes a while to get back on track but I guess that is to be expected. You're on such a high while your there.

Up at six in the morning heading out to find all that you can. Staying up till eleven, twelve or one o'clock in the morning to go over what you found and add it to your family tree. Talking about nothing but who you're looking for, who you found, and where the information might take you. It's a little draining. Truthfully I haven't been able to look at a family tree since we got back.

But I'm back now and ready to get back in the swing of things. I want to find my great, great grandparents death records since I now know that they both died in Missouri which I didn't until I actually asked my aunt where in Mississippi they died and she told me they were in Missouri. I also found that they lived in Arkansas so now I'm all over finding them there. I'm also hoping that if I can find them there then I can find their youngest son who I haven't been able to find on any census.

Okay so back to the keyboard. Wish me luck.

Lights, Camera, Action

The other day I was watching this webinar on Ancestry.com (they have great videos on genealogy) and I got some amazing tips but two really stood out and I wanted to share them here.



The first one was "don't get on the internet to quickly". My father also found this one helpful but mostly because it made him feel as if he had done his genealogy right. See it was years before he got on a computer to look but as he admitted most of that had to do with not understanding how to get on a computer.



I liked this one because it reminded me of what I had said a little here. That you need to speak to your relatives first to get all the information that you can. First because they are your best resource for living history and second because they probably know things you don't. But one of the best reasons is because right now if you are looking for information on anyone living past 1930 then they are almost all that you have.



The 1940 census won't be out until 2012 and you can always and should always go down to obtain court records for your immediate family but without dates, full names, and city's where they were born, lived or died then you still won't get very far and who do you think knows those things? However, don't take everything as hard facts. This leads into another tip that I had forgotten until now;"Don't take everything your family says as gospel". Not that your family would lie to you. More that they might be telling you what someone told them and that person might not have been sure. This is expecially true with African-American history. If someone was born during salvary your ancestors could have had everything wrong from the date of birth to the place. Records weren't kept even by the individual.



The best tip that I believe he shared was to "Record your interviews with your relatives". This was one that I hadn't thought of but as he said it I thought back to how great it would be to have a recording of my great grandmother telling her life and the lives of our family. That would top "Roots" and almost any other movie that thought to tell the history of our country or it's families. Think of those closest to you and those that you might not talk to all the time. How would you feel if something happened to them and the knowledge that they had was lost forever? But how would you feel if you not only had interviewed them but had a tape recording or video recording of them sharing all that they could about life and history, theirs and your family. I have lost many family members way to soon and I tell you if I had tapes of them somewhere speaking or a video that showed their personality as well as their life I would treasure them.



So that is my biggest tip that I can share and it wasn't even mine. Don't just interview your family; record them. You'll be glad you did. I know I will just as soon as I get a video camera :).




Ps. The webinar was called "Avoiding Traps of African-American Genealogy"(the photo is from there). It's with Tony Burroughs who is a well known genealogist and the author of "Black Roots: A Beginner's Guide To Tracing The African-American Family Tree". It is free as is all their webinars and you don't have to be a member to see them. They quite a few and I suggest you watch/listen to a few of them. The link is here for the webinars and here for Tony Burroughs website. He has some great videos that you can see as well as other helpful information.