Genie Road Trip

My Great-Aunt Rachel York Elliott has fascinated me ever since my father told me about her. He remembers going to Arkansas to live with his Aunt Rachel for a year when he was about 4 years old. Rachel was a teacher and he went to school each day with her and attended Miss. Alexander’s class learning his numbers and letters. This is the only picture I’ve seen of her. She was the second child of Philip Henry York and his first wife Mary Wilfong and lived from 1898 to 1971. She married Fred Elliott in 1925, in Warren, Bradley Co, Arkansas.

This photo is from my grandmother’s photo collection.

Happy Hunting,

Jess

On this Thanksgiving Day I am thankful for so many things but I’ll confine my comments to my year in genealogy.

I started the year with a solid layer of dust on my research and a series of events made me rethink what was important to me in my hobbies and life in general.  One of the choices I made was to put more time into this hobby both for myself and for my family and to share as much as I can with them as I work. Hence, this blog was born. Throughout the year both leading up to this and since I started the blog I have received support, warm wishes and lovely advice from great readers I’ve never met, as well as my family and friends. Thank you all! I am also very thankful for my little cheering section—the ones I hear when I can’t decide what to write, who have inspired me with kind words and feedback. Thank you, Jeri, Bobbie, Kris, and Ariana!

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving!

Happy hunting,

Jess.

Thanksgiving has always been a holiday I associate with my father’s family. So, that’s the direction I wanted to go with my Not-Quite-Wordless-Wednesday post this week.

This picture shows four of my grandmother’s fourteen older siblings: Herman, Sandy Napoleon, Mary, and Preston Garet York. They are all the children of Philip Henry York and his three wives. Sandy was the second oldest and the son of Mary (Wilfong) York, Mary and Preston were two of Mattie (Phillips) York’s children, and Herman (like my Grandmother) was the child of Sally (Wheeler) York.

Happy Hunting & Happy Thanksgiving!

Jess

I’m somewhat winding down on my research on the Michigan State Sanatorium and it’s Follow Friday—both of which bring to mind the Look blog article which I had saved in my email (for almost two years) entitled “A Healing Place.” I don’t think I would have thought to search the archives for information on my great grandparents’ time at MSS if not for this article (even though I let it sit forever). And between Look and the rest of the amazing collections on SeekingMichigan.org I would heartily suggest you follow them—if you have any interest in Michigan history or genealogy.

Happy Hunting,

Jess

It’s seems the natural progression to come another step forward with the Porter’s from last week’s Wordless Wednesday post—especially since I have grander plan for introducing the Holdens (coming soon!). So, this week meet my Great-Grandmother Crystal (Porter Johnson) Bailey and my Step-Great-Grandfather, Harold Bailey, Sr. Grandma Crystal died in 1968 so my stories about her came mostly from my mother and Grandpa Bailey. I credit Grandpa as one of the people who helped me get started on my genealogy when I had to work on a family tree for a Girl Scout badge back in elementary school.

Here’s my first follow-up post from research inspired by sessions from the Michigan Genealogical Council’s 2011 Family History Month Workshop.

As I noted in an earlier post, Pamela J. Cooper’s Homestead Act session encouraged me try requesting a selection of the Federal Land Entry files for my ancestors.  On October 30^th I started out by ordering the file of Levi Hampton who was listed in the 1900 Census as my Great Grandfather’s uncle and is one of the few members of my Arkansas family to have a patent listed in the BLM database.  

I searched the BLM database for Levi Hampton in Bradley County, Arkansas (one can further limit a search under the “Miscellaneous” section switching the drop down menu beside “Authority” to “Homestead Entry Original”). I took the information in that entry to fill out the NARA order form. The request is currently $40—but it should be noted that this is a flat fee regardless of the size of the file. The deliverables can be photocopies or a digital copy.  I ended up requesting a digital copy to save myself the time scanning.

I was thrilled to receive the disk within 11 days—which is a little funny because it still shows on my NARA account as waiting to be sent. Levi’s file is 44 pages and includes his testimony, as well as that of two distant relatives—Wil Newton and Wilson Terry. I will admit that I really got my hopes up because Levi initially named my 3^rd great-grandfather Sam Trotter, his brother, Rial, and their stepfather James Newton all as witnesses. But when the time came for the hearing Newton and Terry were the only witnesses. But regardless, there is a lot of information that I can cull from the file and I’m looking forward to spending more time on it.

Maybe the most interesting moment for me in reading the file was when I got to the presiding Judge, W. J. Hickman’s note on the change of witnesses. He comments, “I think myself that this witness is as good as either one of the others as he has been raised in the neighborhood of the said claimant. They are all Colored and one is as good as the other not withstanding his name does not appear in the publication.” I’m not sure why but it momentarily took my breath away to see that stated so plainly in a federal document. But as my parents noted when I shared it with them… it was a different time.

These files are definitely worth the price and slowly but surely I’ll start ordering Shea, Cunningham, Wilfong, and other family files.

Happy Hunting,

Jess

Mine is not, in contemporary times, what I think of as a military family but I have cousins, uncles, and both grandfathers that served in the U. S. Army. And as I follow my lines back I have found whole generations shaped by the family’s military personnel and the trials and opportunities that came with that vocation.  So I couldn’t let Veteran’s and Remembrance Day pass without expressing my respect and appreciation for the dedication and hard work of our military servicemen and their families. Thank you, all!

Cheers,

Jess

My grandfathers: Sgt. William Eugene Johnson and Sgt. Levie Trotter.

These are my 2^nd Great-grandparents Lula V. (Holden) and Charles Erwin “Wynn” Porter. Charles was the second son of George E. Porter (from last week’s Wordless Wednesday Post). He was a farmer and is noted in the Rockford Register for making key plays for the Rogue Rex baseball team. Lula was the daughter of Chapin and Lois Holden and was a favorite of my grandma—both of them being noted gossips!

Happy Hunting,

Jess

I’m playing a game of catch-up as this happened two weekends ago but… I genuinely enjoy going to genealogy workshops and conferences because I get to talk to fellow researchers, bounce ideas of people and reconnect with friends. But, more than anything I pay very close attention to my sessions because even when the topic is a resource I feel comfortable using I always come out with a new way to search, a new trick or just a fresh perspective that leaves me reinvigorated and ready to research.

This year’s Michigan Genealogical Council’s Family History Month Seminar was no exception. I attended five informative sessions—two by keynote speaker Pamela J. Cooper (one on finding church records and the other on the Homestead Act of 1862); a great intro to the Burton Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library by the Coordinator fo DPL’s Special Collections, Mark Bowden; a session on search strategies for SeekingMichigan.org given by State Archivist Mark Harvey; and a session on Fold3.com (formerly known as Footnote.com) by Kris Rzepczynski of the Library of Michigan.

I’m not going to give a rundown of the sessions other than to say they all are great presenters. In many ways everything covered was really practical but I came out of all of the sessions with plans on how to use what we discussed. At the top of my “To Do” list after the workshop was to order the Land Entry File for Levi Hampton (my great grandfather Harrison Trotter’s uncle) to see what that might include—I’ve had the patent for years but never taken the step of ordering the rest of the file. I’m also very interested in heading back to the Burton to further my Massy family research—I’m still trying to find Naturalization records for Henry or his brothers. And there’s a lot I haven’t done on SeekingMichigan.org and Fold3. And if you read this Kris—I have deleted Footnote  (in place of Fold3) more times than it shows up in the published blog post—but really, it hasn’t been that long since they changed their name!

Anyway, I would definitely suggest the MGC Workshops (usually held in October and July each year at the Michigan Historical Center) for beginners and veteran researchers alike. I always come home with new information and a renewed energy in my research.

Now, if I can just carve time for all of my plans!

Happy Hunting,

Jess

Sarah Elizabeth Morningstar (1859-1924), her husband George Erwin Porter (1856-1942) , and their youngest daughter Rhea Agnes (1903- 1974). George like his father, Seth, was a very successful miller in Kent County, Michigan. Among other endeavors he owned and operated Porter Mill at Porter Hollow on Stegman Creek in northern Kent County. Sarah and George married 15 April 1876 in Cedar Springs, Michigan. Rhea was the youngest of six children including my 2nd great grandfather, Charles Erwin Porter.