It's election day in the United States. I hope that everyone takes the time to exercise this wonderful freedom that we have. I always get excited on election day and voted this morning in my 11th presidential election. Today I thought it would be appropriate to talk about military service. It's through the military that we retain our freedom in this country.

My stepdad Joseph Edward Cornelius in his Navy uniform in 1944. I have "Ed's" discharge papers and a few other records of his service. It's easy to use your search engine (Google.com or Bing.com or whichever one you prefer) to find out more about the military unit, ship, training station etc. You'll find there are organizations for veterans and families of veterans. You can also post a military page for your ancestor on your Ancestry.com tree or on Fold3 My stepdad served on the USS Cook and later on the USS George W. Ingram. I was able to locate web pages that contained the history for both of these ships. I even found photos of the USS Cook.

It's very interesting to read about these historic ships and their battle history. Imagine your ancestor serving on these ships during wartime. What was it like for them? Who were their friends? Were they afraid? Did they write letters home? I always try to put myself in the shoes of the ancestor I am researching. Unfortunately, I didn't spend any time talking to my stepdad about his service in World War II. I remember bits and pieces of conversations about being a Navy SEAL or UDT (Underwater Demoliton Team) member. Thankfully, I have made contact with some of his brother's family and they have provided photos of Ed when he was in the service. That is another reason why it is very helpful to locate living family members. You'd be surprised what has been passed down through the years. It's important that we continue to honor those who have fought for our freedom. From the Revolutionary War to the current situation in Afghanistan and Iraq. Men & women who were our ancestors, have given their time and sometimes sacrificed their lives for our freedom.

My latest copy of Family Chronicle magazine came today. I'm sitting here reading it. Always more to learn. One of the articles concerns Revolutionary War pension application files. I am already a member of DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution), but would like to add other patriots to my membership. Earlier today I was looking at one of my ancestors, John Frampton, and reading an application submitted to the SAR (Sons of the American Revolution) in 1916 by his descendant John Ross Frampton. I found this application on Ancestry.com. That got me interested in the Revolutionary War again and then the magazine arrived. Coincidence? I think not. One site that I belong to is Fold3, formerly known as Footnote.

www.fold3.com

This site offers the pension application files for our Revolutionary War ancestors and many other types of files concerning military service. You can even create a military page on the site for your ancestor. I'm learning more as I read and will be back with tips.

It's been too long since I posted. I did that trip to Ohio & West Virginia & had lots of fun and met great people. Seems as though once I returned one thing or another has kept me from posting. That doesn't mean I haven't been busy working on the "family trails." In fact, just last week I received a package from a gentleman that I have been communicating with for about a year. This man doesn't use a computer, so everything we do is via snail mail. You know ..... the old fashioned way. The package he so kindly sent to me was a genealogy of the KING family. This is a line related to me via my Great Grandaunt, Ada Emily HUNTER who married William James KING. They had 6 children. Since Ada is the sister of my Great Grandmother, Florence HUNTER, I have a great interest in learning about her and her family. Here are pictures of William KING & his wife Ada HUNTER

I have several other pictures of Ada and other members of the family. What I'm doing now is going through this 46 page document (which is mostly individual family groups sheets) and comparing the contents to what I already have in my database. Of course, new information has emerged. That leads me to research online and find out more about the family. The next thing you know another lead pops up as I'm researching and off I go to that informaton. Genealogy research is funny that way. You'll be working on one family or branch and the next thing you know, you're off the road and onto another family or branch. But, I guess that what keeps it interesting. At least for me. I never seem to get bored of finding new information.

Friday, July 27, 2012 - Briggs Library, Hamner Room, Ironton, Ohio

First of all, it was exciting just to drive over the Ohio River from West Virginia. Now, I'm in Ohio for the very first time in my life. Driving in the area where dozens of family members lived their whole lives. After having a hearty breakfast (knowing that I probably wouldn't take a break all day), I arrived at the Briggs Library in Ironton at 10 a.m. Now, get the laptop, camera & iPad out and get started. This 7 hours will fly by. The first place I headed was to the family history shelves. These shelves contain the books, folders and binders submitted to the library by people who have created family histories/genealogies. These can simply be a handwritten genealogy, copies of family stories or Bible pages or extensive genealogy charts and group sheets created on computers or by hand. TIP: You may not find these any place else, including at the FHL (Family History Library in Salt Lake City). I located several books pertaining to family names; BOGGS, BOWEN, DUNFEE, HOLDERBY and others. TIP: When looking through these types of books keep in mind all your collateral lines. You may not find your direct line surnames on the label of the book or binder, but they may still be there, in association with those collateral lines.

The BOGGS book I located had a lot of information. I decided that instead of trying to take pictures of every page I would check on Amazon.com. Sure enough they had the book and I purchased it. When it arrives at my house I will be able to take my time going through it. Any book that you purchase during your travels or research can always be donated, at a later time, to a library or historical society. Or you could even sell it on eBay. The rest of my day was spent looking at obituary indexes, marriage record, births and court indexes. I gathered a lot of good information and was well rewarded for the time I spent. And, no, I didn't take a break or leave the library for any reason. Good thing I had that big breakfast. Afterward I met my friend at Jim's Restaurant in Huntington for some very delicious and famous spaghetti. Not pasta, but spaghetti. Turns out that President Kennedy ate at this restaurant while he was in office. I hope my photos show up in this post in right places. You know, since I'm out of practice on here. I also hope that the tips I'm including and the links, will assist you in your research. Until later, Michigan Girl

Researching on the road - Ohio and West Virginia

We have a lot of fun researching our ancestors lives. One of my favorite things to do is hit the road and travel to places my family members have lived. This week I'm in Huntington, West Virginia right on the Ohio River. Lots of family history here and just across the river in Lawrence and Gallia Counties in Ohio. I met up with a local researcher who has a website I've been using for years. It's a great source for Lawrence County Ohio information, here's the link A sister site which is also a tremendous source of information is http://www.miles-shute-kouns-families.com/ So, if you have family from southeastern Ohio or Cabell County, West Virginia you will find these websites very helpful. Today I met up with my friend, and we went to Marshall Univeristy, Morrow Room. They have a collection called the Lambert files. It's a collection put together by one man back in the 1930's. He interviewed people all over the Cabell County area and wrote down the conversations. Along with that he collected letters and photos from these people about their families. As a result you have information, much of which is not available elsewhere. I certainly hit pay dirt, including a photo of a 3rd Great Granduncle, Richard Lundsford and one of his wives. In the afternoon, after stopping by Hillbilly Hotdogs for a taste of some local food, we headed for Cabell County Library. My friend has been there many times and knew just what books to pull off the shelves. You should have seen that stack of books. I thought to myself "how am I ever going to get through all those in only 4 hours?" You know, they do close at 6 pm. Well, we did get through them because we worked together. She used my camera to take pictures of the pages and I used my iPad. TIP: When you are looking at all those books and want copies of the pages, take photos with your digital camera or your iPad. For one thing it's much quicker and it saves you a little money. In my case we took over 200 pictures today. Standing at a copy machine would have been laborious, and depending on the per copy cost, I saved from $20-50. Since we want our libraries to stay open and times are tough I suggest you make a donation to any library that you visit. Tomorrow is another day and I'll have more tips and more to report from my current genealogy adventure. Til then, happy hunting, Michigan Girl

Back after two years away

I started this blog back in 2010 because I wanted to share my experiences in researching my family history. So much has happened since I began this journey back in 2003. New cousins, a new brother, new friends, traveling to new places to do research. Oh my, the things I have done. Of course I couldn't do any of it if it weren't for my wonderful husband, Ron. He has put up with my story sharing, the screams of happiness when I finally get a hit on someone I've been looking for, my hours and hours on the computer, trips to libraries, ordering documents and books, attending genealogy society meetings and traveling without him to do research. Yup, that's the life of the spouse of a crazed genealogist. Did I mention that he does all of that without complaining (too much). LOL! I am going to try this blogging gig again and hope family, friends and others will find my blog and enjoy reading it. It won't be like some of the other blogs that cover other websites or give you hints on now to do this or that. Mostly it will be about the journey and what I find. However, along the way there will be lessons learned by me and by you too. I will include good websites and tips when they relate to the story. That's all I'll say for tonight. For one thing, I'm typing this on my iPad and it's not as easy as using the computer. Bye for now Michigan Girl

More cousins and a laptop crash

Yup, it's been a few days since I've written. For one thing I ended up with a stupid virus on my laptop. Had to have the entire hard drive wiped and re-formatted. Good thing that all my family files are on my desktop computer and backed up on external hard drives and flash drives. This is one thing I cannot stress to you enough. Backup, backup and backup some more. This is absolutely critical for all reserachers and has saved me more than once. I'm happy to say that after about five days I have most everything back on my laptop. Most importantly my family database.
On to happier things. I drove about 3 hours up the coast to visit my 2nd cousin. She's related to me on the Lindsay side. Seems like all of us Lindsay descendants are coming out of the woodwork lately. It was a real nice visit. We talked a lot and looked at family pictures and exchanged information. We even called her sister in Detroit and talked to her for a while. Since my 2nd cousin's sister is about 14 years older than her, she has more memories of Grandparents and family lore. Certainly there are mysteries and curiosities to uncover in this Lindsay clan. Children born "out of wedlock" back at the beginning of the last century and marriages up in Canada with some questionable information on the certificates. Children given up for adoption. Who were the fathers of these children? We are certainly trying to unravel all these interesting stories.
Of course you know that if we'd been smart enough to talk to our Grandmothers and Grandfathers back when they were still with us, we would have some of these answers. So this would be another thing I cannot stress enough. If you have family members on any side of your family that may be getting on in years, please take the time to interview them now. Don't wait. Either record you conversation or take really good notes. Boy, what I wouldn't give for 10 minutes with any of my grandparents or even my Dad.
That's all for today,
Michigan Girl