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Sunday, January 30, 2011

New Discovery.... Article about Chicago Genealogy and Railroads

This is truly a thrilling discovery for me. I have three ancestors that worked on the Chicago North West Railroad during their life times.
http://www.examiner.com/genealogy-in-chicago/whose-been-working-on-the-railroad-a-genealogy-gem-berwyn-il

Christian DeYoung
1892: marriage certificate: ) marriage certificate: Dec 20, 1892. Christian's father is listed as John (could be Jan depending on how Dutch sounds when pronounced) DeYoung; Christian's Mother: Catharina Wassamarr (or Wassenaar) born in Holland. Wife's maiden name is: Jane Hausman.
Registration of Marriages: No. 495
name of husband: Christian DeYoung
name of father of husband: John DeYoung
name of mother of husband before marriage: Catharina Wassaman (or Wassamar) (Friesland, Dutch Archives website: spelling: Wassenaar)
Occupation of husband: Foreman on Railroad
residence of husband: Waukegan, IL
Birthplace of Husband: Holland
Full name of wife previous to marriage: Jane Hauseman, name of mother of wife: Hille Schilsten; Birthplace of wife: Holland: Date Marriage was contracted: Dec 1, 1892; Place or town, and county where marriage was contracted: Racine, Racine Co. WI
Names of subscribing witnesses: John Schlitz and Nellie Schlitz; name of person pronouncing marriage: CK Percival (Racine WI) Dec 15, 1892: Date of registration: Dec 20, 1892. Source: Marriage Certificate, Racine County, City of Racine Courthouse
working as a foreman of Irish and Mexican gangs who laid Chicago Northwestern Railroad in the late 1890's." (page 14) (Christian DeYoung helped build the Chicago NorthWestern Railroad when he brought his PARENTS from Holland to Racine, my mother's birthplace"(page 2)Source: Alice Sankey. Hey Don't Write Me Off . Unpublished Manuscript and interview with Alice Sankey on January 30, 2001
(Alice was my grandmother)

Philip Dahlberg and Gustav Dahlberg:
1903-1906: Illinois, Cook County, Chicago: worked with his step father (Gustave Dahlberg) as a carpenter and on Chicago Northwest Railroad in dining car. [Alice Sankey. "Hey Dont Write Me Off". Unpublished Manuscript.]

This month's assignment for ProGen Transcription

I felt a little intimidated by this assignment! I really enjoyed it after I got into it. I was unsure if I needed to put all that survey info (Chains and links anyone?) into my abstract. My friend who teaches a course on Land Records for our local genealogy society suggested that I keep the survey info in addition to the land description. I really like deeds because I worked with auditing deeds in mortgage banking. You never know what skills you will need later! Mortgage banking helped me understand some of the legalism that we find in deeds. I look forward to my group comments on my transcription. One transcription I could not do was a monument inscription in Europe. It was in Latin. My friend who is a writer helped me with it by working on it with her daughter when she was homeschooling and learning Latin. They tackled it together. Now we know what that Riddell family member did. I have other things I need to transcribe but mostly they are family letters and one of the other Riddell items has already been transcribed at: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/malquery.html search for Key word: John L. Riddell to Abraham Lincoln
Letter is dated December 1863: This one is already transcribed. John Leonard Riddell was my direct ancestor's brother. If you would like to know more about this interesting character please contact me by email and I will be happy to share with you.

Monday, January 24, 2011

My Transitional Genealogy Steps

Hobby Genealogist: Several years personal genealogy research. Volunteered at Genealogical Society as Photo Archivist, Lost Treasures Chairperson and library volunteer; read blogs for new developments in the field, blogging my research results, updating my website. Scanning and fixing Civil War photos from my own collection.(Photoshop Elements)

1. Genealogy seminars from local genealogical societies and Genealogy Conferences like Jamboree, bus trips to Los Angeles Public Library.
2. Join Association for Professional Genealogists (has directory) and the Southern California Chapter
3. Join the APG forum
4. Pro Gen Study Group - I really like this because we have a CG as a mentor and we can bounce ideas off each other and get feedback.
5. SBDC business classes-- They provide a mentor after the classes to get you started.
6. The Transitional Genealogist Forum was helpful but email intensive so I had to unsubscribe.
7. Future: NGS home study course; conferences as I can afford them.
8. Future volunteer: Unclaimed Persons Group volunteer and possibly Find A Grave volunteer photographer.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Getting Orginized Sate Research Guides

I finally made a large binder for all those genealogy articles I have collected.
So far I have collected some state guides for:
-Virginia...on the Virginia/Pennsylvania boundary dispute in 1681-1785 where both states claimed the same land. One of those areas was in what is now Washington County, Pennsylvania where I am trying to locate my ancestor Aneas Graham who was the father of Alexander Graham. Alexander Graham was the father of my direct ancestor DeWitt Clinton Graham (of Monongahela)
-Illinois, where my grandmother Alice Sankey was born. Also in Illinois: Kramer, Stonequist, Dahlberg, Nauta (Swedish and Dutch ancestors)in Chicago.
-Massachusetts, where my Dow, Thayer, Riddell, Gates, Darling families resided before the Revolutionary war until about 1850.
-Missouri; where my ancestor Christian DeYoung homesteaded according to family tradition. (I am still working on this one.)
-Ohio, where my Graham, Ward, Pementor, Malcolm, Andrews, Byal, Hawkins, Graff, Palm, and Rowland ancestors lived.
-Pennsylvania (other than Graham mentioned earlier in this post): Applegate, Behanna, Sankey, Runkle, Gilliland, Cowden, Sankey(Centre County), McChesney, Adams, Rose, Lewis, Hawkins, Byal ancestors.
-Wisconsin: Riddell, Dow, Coon, Pattee, Congdon, Bodish, Wescott, Avery, DeYoung, Corrigan, Donaldson, Moore, Knapp, Dahlberg, Sankey, Kramer, DeYoung(Step Dad's family: Bartnicki, Luczynski)

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Happy New Year

Our tradition for the last three years has been to watch Groucho Marx movies and toast with Martinelli's at midnight. This year I did not fall asleep at 10 pm as I have in the past. Also, we always watch the Rose Bowl Parade. My step sister works on at least fifteen of the floats. I don't know which ones she worked on this year. Unfortunately, I slept until 9am and missed half of the parade.

One of the things I would like to do again is to pull apart the British "cracker". These nifty noise makers make a "pop" like the old fashioned pop guns and are filled with little toys and paper hats. It is great fun for kids of any age.