Holiday shopping for a genealogist

This post is just for fun! Since holiday season is rapidly approaching, consider buying something genealogy related for the family historian in your life. Below are a few examples I've collected, but I'm sure there are lots of other great gift ideas out there!

Family tree charts
Most of the genealogists I know go through a lot of family tree charts, pedigree charts and family group sheets and prefer to gather most of those for free online or at their local libraries. However, there are specialty items, poster sized charts, and other goodies that may be perfect for a genealogist.

Scrap-booking materials

Archival quality preservation materials

Eccentric genealogist clothing

Family themed home and office gifts

Books! Because I am a librarian by trade, I always love receiving books as gifts. And looking through thrift stores for books. And looking through commercial bookstore for books. Consider buying a book about genealogy or a certain local history book for your friendly genealogist!

National Origins: Scotland

**The content of this post will be made into a new page on our blog in the near future. For now we are excited to share what we have discovered so far!**

Since I have been researching Scotland recently, I have decided to compile some of my Scottish resources as a way to organize my own research. This post will serve as sort of a libguide for Scottish genealogical research that I hope will help others as well.

Introduction to Scottish Research

Starting with the basics is key to any genealogical research. To research Scottish genealogy, one must first establish and prove a connection to Scotland. This step may be quite easy if you or your parents were born in Scotland, but others may be researching ancestors that are removed by several generations.

Below are some basic resources for Scottish genealogical resources. More will be added, along with annotations before this content is made into its own page.

General Genealogy Resources

Ancestry.com

FamilySearch.org

GENUKI

Scottish Genealogical Resources 

Getting Started in Scottish Genealogy

Scottish Genealogy Society

Scottish Records

National Records of Scotland

Scotland's People 

Scottish Records Association

Family History Case Study: Martin Family History

As we prepare for the holidays, I hope you have lots of family with which to visit, celebrate, and reconnect. I always find November and December to be a particularly reflective time for me and I do a ton of writing during these two months. I find myself looking over oral histories and transcribing them, volunteering to index names for my local genealogical society, and just wanting to conduct in-depth genealogical research.

I thought November would be a great time to share some of my own family history research. Portions of the content below (employment information and residences in Champaign, IL) were originally published by the Champaign County Genealogical Society in November 2015 for their quarterly journal.

Perry Newton Martin (1875-1956) and Mary Olive Keltner (1875-1965)

Perry Newton Martin is my second-great-grandfather and is my father’s direct male line ancestor. Perry Newton Martin was born in Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana on 13 November 1875. His parents were Valerian I. “Valley” Martin (1851-1931) of Crawfordsville and Mary Jane Corn (1850-1928) of Henry County, Kentucky. Perry’s parents were married 14 September 1871 in Crawfordsville.  Perry’s father, Valley Martin was employed as an engineer by the Crawfordsville Casket Company for over twenty years and was a lifelong resident of Crawfordsville, Indiana. Mary kept house and cared for Perry and his three younger brothers: William, Walter, and Clarence.

Perry Martin married Mary Olive Keltner (1875-1965), daughter of Jacob Keltner and Margurete “Maggie” Cain, on 8 April 1895 in Montgomery County, Indiana. Their three eldest children, Arthur (b. 1896), Harry Ellsworth (b. 1898) and Lee Otis (b. 1900) were born in Montgomery County, Indiana. Perry was listed as a machinist on the 1900 census when he was living with his family in Union, Montgomery, Indiana and Mary was listed as keeping house. The company of employment is not listed with Perry’s occupation, though according to his retirement records Perry began working for Illinois Central Railroad in 1899.

Perry’s obituary states that he had been a resident of Champaign, Illinois since 1902. By 1904, Perry is listed in the Champaign-Urbana city directory at 308 S State Street, working as a fireman for Illinois Central Railroad, so Perry and his family may have traveled to Illinois for work opportunities. This is the first record of Perry and his family living in Illinois and it is certain that the family moved from Indiana to Illinois between 1902 and 1904.

By 1906, Perry had begun his lifelong career as an Illinois Central Railroad Company locomotive engineer. Perry worked for IC as an engineer for 46 years, retiring in 1945.  The Martins welcomed their fourth child--and only daughter--Thelma Madeline on 20 April 1906. Their fifth and last child, Ernest Walter, was born in 1912. While Perry worked for the railroad, Mary Olive kept house and raised their six children. She later worked as a telephone operator for Illinois Bell Telephone Company.

The family rented homes throughout the city of Champaign until 1920 when they purchased their first residence at 1111 Champaign Avenue in Champaign; both Mary Olive Martin and Perry Newton Martin are listed as the grantees.  From 1902 - 1920, the family lived in at least six different rental properties in Champaign.

In the 1920s, Perry vouched for all four of his sons as a reference for work at IC.  Arthur worked briefly as a clerk from 1916-1917, Walter worked as a fireman from 1920-1922, and Harry and Lee began as brakemen in 1922. After resigning his post with IC, Harry went on to become a truck driver and eventually returned to Illinois Central in that capacity.  Harry’s son Donald worked for IC for nearly forty years as a laborer, brakeman, and yard clerk.

Perry retired from IC in 1945 and lived for nine more years. During that time he and his wife traveled to visit family members and opened their home from time to time as a temporary home for children and grandchildren. Mary Keltner Martin lived for nearly nine years as a widow after Perry’s death. Mary made her home with her daughter, Thelma Martin Hughes and her daughter’s husband John B. Hughes at 916 West Tremont Street in Champaign during her final years. For her 89th birthday Mary’s granddaughter invited all of her friends and family to an open house celebration and dozens of people attended. A write-up of that party was featured in the Champaign News-Gazette.  That was her last birthday.

Goodbye Family History Month, Hello Winter Research!

It is not quite winter yet, so enjoy any warm Autumn weather that is left! As the days become shorter and more of our time is spent indoors, genealogical research can be a fun, productive way of keeping busy. Now that family history month has past, our blog will revert to once weekly in-depth posts on Tuesdays with other tidbits posted here and there. If you're new to Tangled Branches, now is a great time to catch up on our Beginner Genealogy series; all of the posts begin with the phrase "Beginning Genealogy" and have the "getting started" tag. As always, feel free to comment or contact us via the form to the right. Happy searching!

Upcoming Topics: November 2015

Upcoming November topics will include:

Beginner Genealogy -- because there is so much to cover when starting your research, we will continue this series throughout the fall and into winter. The cold weather months are a perfect time to start your genealogical research in a warm, cozy library or archive! 

Archival Resources -- In this series we will profile different record types and include examples and visuals when available. 

Beginner Genealogy -- Biographical sketches

When conducting family history research, sometimes we find interesting facts or anecdotes that we want to share, but maybe this information does not fit into a pedigree chart or family tree. Writing a short biographical sketch about an ancestor is a good way to keep track of anecdotal or more complex or in-depth genealogical data. You can include almost anything in a biographical sketch, but some typical information to provide is: full name; birth, marriage, death location(s) and dates; names of parents, spouses, and children; residence information; stories or legends; accomplishments; occupation, career, military service, and/or education; etc. Many towns and counties will have a "History and Biography" or "Biographical Sketches" of town leaders or pioneers. These relatively brief life stories can be filled with helpful family history leads!

Below are links to a couple of examples of biographical sketches. Remember that bios do not have a particular narrative style, length, or voice. Try your hand at sketching some family history biographies!

Beginner Genealogy -- Collateral Lines

As promised, this post will cover what genealogists call "Collateral Lines." In a nutshell, a collateral relative is a blood relative who is not in your pedigree, or your direct line. An example of a collateral relative would be an aunt, uncle, cousin, niece, nephew, or even your siblings. In genealogical research, these collateral relatives are often many times removed from you, for example you may be searching for a great-great-great-grand uncle. Collateral lines are the lineages of these relatives. When you start researching people who were born several generations back, sometimes your direct ancestors have less of a paper trail than their siblings or other relatives.

It is important to remember that even if you are researching a line that is 2, 3, or more generations removed, eventually a common ancestor will be shared. Then, all of the previous generations before that ancestor are shared for that line. For example, if you research a cousin who shares a 3rd great-grandparent with you, then the 4th great grandparents and generations beyond them are also shared. So, working on collateral lines can lead to excellent genealogical breakthroughs.

Where to start searching for collateral relatives 

U.S. Federal Census
Any source that indicates family relationships is worth looking at. Depending on the year in which you are searching, a US Federal Census record will usually begin by listing the head of household and follow with any other person living at the residence and their relationship to the head of household.

Obituaries
Obits are hit-or-miss when looking for genealogical information. They can be wealth of birth, marriage, and death dates along with maiden names, parents' names, sisters, brothers, children, spouses, etc. They can also be a few sentences regarding funeral arrangements.

Probate records
If a person left a will or an estate, it never hurts to search through the paperwork. When a will is probated, all living individuals who may have a claim to the estate are listed along with their relationships to the deceased.

Marriage license applications
Depending on the year and the state in which the application was filed, public health information was collected from both the bride and groom when they filled out a marriage application.

Family trees
Search Ancestry, Family Search, or other sites the find related family trees. Maybe someone has information on their direct ancestors who are your collateral ones. Many people have family pictures, stories, and even records that may be indirectly related to your family.

Family Bibles
It used to be common practice to keep vital information stored in family bibles--and lots of people kept track this way for generations, creating many possible collateral lines for a descendant to search.

Death certificates
If you are looking for an ancestor's parents, try searching for records related to your ancestor's siblings. If a death record exists and parents names are listed, you will at least have a starting place for research.