Today I ventured down to the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis to do some research on the Hickeys. It's quite a hike for me (about 1 1/4 hours on a good day, even longer in heavy traffic), so it's always nice to come home with some information I can use. For the most part, I had a very productive 4 hours of research. I found some death records, a marriage record, and some wills. The best discovery I made today, though, was something totally unexpected.
The first roll of microfilm I looked at was a roll of Baltimore City death certificates. I was hoping to find death records for George Miles and James Hickey, my grandmother's cousins who drowned in 1895. (See my June 12 blog for the story of their deaths.) The certificates are filmed in sequential order, so as long as you have the certificate number it's pretty easy to find a specific record.
I quickly found certificates for the two boys and began transcribing the information. When I got to the bottom of the certificates, something caught my eye. The name of the physician who signed both certificates was P.V. Benson, coroner. It just so happens that P.V. Benson is Philander Virgil Benson, who is my husband's great-great-grandfather!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Looking at the big picture
I would have had a lot less trouble finding Mary Bailey Arrington (see my last blog) if I had remembered another lesson I've learned from my genealogy research: look at the big picture. Instead of focusing on one specific line of a family, I find it's best to look at collateral relatives as well. I learned early on in my research to take a very close look at godparents, confirmation sponsors, and witnesses of marriages. More often than not, these people are close relatives of the person being baptized, confirmed, or married.
This is especially true in German families. Parents often chose siblings or cousins as godparents for their children. When I was researching my German ancestors, I was able to "grow" my family quite a bit just by looking at these godparents.
Rather than having "tunnel vision," as some genealogists tend to have, I prefer to look at the family as a whole. After all, we are not isolated individuals living out our existence. We interact with family members and other members of society, and this interaction helps to make us who we are.
A few years ago, I had run up against a brick wall with my great-grandmother, Ottilia Margaret Schnapp. I had found her with her family in the 1870 census and had found her family (without her) in the 1880 census. However, I had never found her in the 1880 census. Since my great-grandparents were married in 1882, I was particularly interested in where she was living right before her marriage. I searched in vain for many months, but was unable to locate her.
I turned my attention, then, to another branch of the family. Ottilia's future father-in-law had several cousins who lived in the area and attended the same parish. (I had found them through the baptismal records.)
One of the cousins was a man named John Sebastian Deck. I was following his family through the census and came across his family in the 1880 census. Sebastian's family was listed at the bottom of one page, then continued at the top of the next page. When I went to the second page and scanned the names listed there, I could scarcely believe my eyes. At the end of the listing was the family's domestic servant, a 21-year-old woman named "Tillie Snapp."
I knew immediately that this was the great-grandmother for whom I had searched so long, and I had found her without even looking for her. If I had not been looking at the big picture and researching those cousins I never would have found her.
If I had just remembered this lesson while researching the Baileys, I might have found Mary Bailey Arrington a lot sooner. After I found Mary and her husband, I was looking back over some old notes from several years ago, where I had recorded a marriage record for Mary's sister, Cora. In my notes were the names of the witnesses at the marriage: Mary Bailey and Thomas Arrington.
This is especially true in German families. Parents often chose siblings or cousins as godparents for their children. When I was researching my German ancestors, I was able to "grow" my family quite a bit just by looking at these godparents.
Rather than having "tunnel vision," as some genealogists tend to have, I prefer to look at the family as a whole. After all, we are not isolated individuals living out our existence. We interact with family members and other members of society, and this interaction helps to make us who we are.
A few years ago, I had run up against a brick wall with my great-grandmother, Ottilia Margaret Schnapp. I had found her with her family in the 1870 census and had found her family (without her) in the 1880 census. However, I had never found her in the 1880 census. Since my great-grandparents were married in 1882, I was particularly interested in where she was living right before her marriage. I searched in vain for many months, but was unable to locate her.
I turned my attention, then, to another branch of the family. Ottilia's future father-in-law had several cousins who lived in the area and attended the same parish. (I had found them through the baptismal records.)
One of the cousins was a man named John Sebastian Deck. I was following his family through the census and came across his family in the 1880 census. Sebastian's family was listed at the bottom of one page, then continued at the top of the next page. When I went to the second page and scanned the names listed there, I could scarcely believe my eyes. At the end of the listing was the family's domestic servant, a 21-year-old woman named "Tillie Snapp."
I knew immediately that this was the great-grandmother for whom I had searched so long, and I had found her without even looking for her. If I had not been looking at the big picture and researching those cousins I never would have found her.
If I had just remembered this lesson while researching the Baileys, I might have found Mary Bailey Arrington a lot sooner. After I found Mary and her husband, I was looking back over some old notes from several years ago, where I had recorded a marriage record for Mary's sister, Cora. In my notes were the names of the witnesses at the marriage: Mary Bailey and Thomas Arrington.
Monday, August 16, 2010
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again
One thing I've learned in my many years of family history research is that it's often helpful to stop researching a particular line for a while, especially when coming up against the proverbial brick wall. After a few months, or even a few years, I go back and take a fresh look at the family. Many times this results in fresh leads.
I had an experience with that just a few months ago. I had spent many years researching the Hickey line of my family. I found plenty of information, but also had plenty of gaps. A few years ago, I switched gears and started researching my husband's family.
Now that I am ready to write a book about the Hickeys, I've been going back over my research to see what I know about the family and what I still need to find out. A few months ago, I was looking over the family of Mary Ann Hickey (James and Sarah's oldest daughter). I noticed that I did not have a death date yet for Mary Ann's son, Harry Columbus Bailey, so I went on Ancestry.com and did a search for Harry. I did not find any information about his death. However, in Harry's WWII draft registration, I found a new piece of information about another member of the family.
Mary Ann Hickey and her husband, John Louis Bailey, had 5 daughters. I had found marriage information for all but one of the daughters: Mary Ann Bailey. Years ago, I had searched and searched for a marriage record, but to no avail. Imagine my delight, then, when I saw the following on Harry's draft registration: "Name... of person who will always know your address: Mrs. Mary Aaronson - 3658 Ash St. (sister)."
I could scarce believe my eyes. Now that I knew Mary's married name, I could find her in the census and other records (or so I thought). I immediately did a search on Ancestry and other sites for Mary Aaronson. To my disappointment, though, I came up with nothing, zilch. I could not find a single reference to Mary Aaronson.
After many frustrating hours searching for Mary, I gave up. Then, a few days later, I had an inspiration. Since I had Mary's address in 1942, I decided to try to find her in the land records.
The Maryland State Archives has digitized all the land records for Maryland and put them on line at http://www.mdlandrec.net/. The search engine for Baltimore City records allows searches by street address for records created after 1972. The later records always cite the previous records for that property, so that you can follow a chain back in time to previous owners of the property.
I did a search for 3658 Ash St. and was able to get back to 1926, when the property was purchased by Mary A. and Thomas Arrington. Eureka! Now that I had the correct last name and the first name of Mary's husband, I was easily able to find them in the census and other records. I even found one of their descendants on Ancestry, who is also researching the family.
So, as the old adage says: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." You never know what you might find.
I had an experience with that just a few months ago. I had spent many years researching the Hickey line of my family. I found plenty of information, but also had plenty of gaps. A few years ago, I switched gears and started researching my husband's family.
Now that I am ready to write a book about the Hickeys, I've been going back over my research to see what I know about the family and what I still need to find out. A few months ago, I was looking over the family of Mary Ann Hickey (James and Sarah's oldest daughter). I noticed that I did not have a death date yet for Mary Ann's son, Harry Columbus Bailey, so I went on Ancestry.com and did a search for Harry. I did not find any information about his death. However, in Harry's WWII draft registration, I found a new piece of information about another member of the family.
Mary Ann Hickey and her husband, John Louis Bailey, had 5 daughters. I had found marriage information for all but one of the daughters: Mary Ann Bailey. Years ago, I had searched and searched for a marriage record, but to no avail. Imagine my delight, then, when I saw the following on Harry's draft registration: "Name... of person who will always know your address: Mrs. Mary Aaronson - 3658 Ash St. (sister)."
I could scarce believe my eyes. Now that I knew Mary's married name, I could find her in the census and other records (or so I thought). I immediately did a search on Ancestry and other sites for Mary Aaronson. To my disappointment, though, I came up with nothing, zilch. I could not find a single reference to Mary Aaronson.
After many frustrating hours searching for Mary, I gave up. Then, a few days later, I had an inspiration. Since I had Mary's address in 1942, I decided to try to find her in the land records.
The Maryland State Archives has digitized all the land records for Maryland and put them on line at http://www.mdlandrec.net/. The search engine for Baltimore City records allows searches by street address for records created after 1972. The later records always cite the previous records for that property, so that you can follow a chain back in time to previous owners of the property.
I did a search for 3658 Ash St. and was able to get back to 1926, when the property was purchased by Mary A. and Thomas Arrington. Eureka! Now that I had the correct last name and the first name of Mary's husband, I was easily able to find them in the census and other records. I even found one of their descendants on Ancestry, who is also researching the family.
So, as the old adage says: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." You never know what you might find.
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