Genie Road Trip

I’m getting a little antsy about traveling… which is kind of annoying because my road trips tend to fall in the spring and autumn. And, other than a few day trips that I’m trying to figure out how to fit in, I’m fairly tied to the area for the foreseeable future. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get out and explore. A few events on my radar here in the Great Lakes region include:

• The Palatines to America National Conference is being held June 22^nd-June 25^th in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for those looking to kick start research on their German speaking ancestors.
• The Abrams Foundation Family History Seminar hosted by the Michigan Genealogical Council and the Archives of Michigan in Lansing, Michigan on Jul 8^th and 9^th. This year’s featured speaker is professional researcher, lecturer and writer, Amy Crow Johnson.
• MAAGI—Midwest African American Genealogy Institute will be hosted at Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Jul 12^th-July 14^th. They offer 3-Day Tracks including a new DNA & Genealogy course.
• Midwestern Roots 2016 hosted by the Indiana Historical Society is being held July 15^th and 16^th in Indianapolis, Indiana. They offer a great list of nationally recognized speakers.
• FGS 2016 National Conference will be held Aug 31^st-Sep 3^rd in Springfield, Illinois featuring many of the nation’s leading genealogical experts.

I was seriously eyeing everything in that two week span in July until life intervened—luckily “stuck” in the area means the Abrams Foundation Seminar is a definite. Hope to see people there!

Happy hunting!

Jess

Another major focus of my winter research was working my back a little farther on Shea-Macumber lines in New York. I comber through land records and wills and probate for St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison and Cortland Counties trying to track the Macumbers in particular in the hopes of more substantially identifying Teresa and Amy (Macumber) Shea’s mother. I believe she was Pulchara Jaquay but I can’t as yet tie her to any of the Jaquay families in the area. She is listed in one lone document that I’ve found so far—selling land in Lewis County with her husband in 1836.

In the process I have figured out that Rufus was a junior, the son of a Rufus Macumber of Otsego, Madison, and Cortland counties. He probably had a brother named Moses who married Sarah “Sally” Crumb who was, in turn, probably their stepsister by Rufus Sr.’s second wife, Polly Whaley Crumb McUmber. Polly and Rufus also had a t least 4 children, two of which—Nathan and Waity Ann—finished out their lives an hour and a half away from me in Van Buren County, Michigan.

I’m exhausting my online resources and really need to go back to planning a New York State research trip.

Happy hunting!

Jessica

One of my winter projects was to write about my family’s experiences during the height of the Tuberculosis epidemic in the late 19^th and early 20^th century.  That means I have a nice list of resources I’d suggest for people researching in this era. My primary focus has obviously been Michigan but if you’re researching a TB patient or anyone involved in the epidemic—activists, medical staff, etc.—consider that there could have been a comparable organization in the area you’re researching.

Track down the Tubercular hospitals, such as the Michigan State Sanatorium (pictured above), for which you can find:

• Patient records held by the Archives of Michigan and available with death certificate of patient.
• Historical collections regarding the hospital held by Howell Carnegie Library
• Reports of the Board of Trustees held by the Library of Michigan, some available through Google Books
• Michigan Official Directory and Legislative Manual. Includes a short history of the Sanatorium with a listing of the Board of trustees.
• Tuberculosis Hospital and Sanatorium Construction by Thomas Spees Carrington, National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis, New York, 1911.

Find out how the locale you’re researching responded to the epidemic. For Michigan that includes State reports and Legislation:

• Report of the Tuberculosis Survey of the State Board of Health compiled under the supervision of John L. Burkart, by the authority of the State Board of Health, Lansing, Michigan, 1917.
• Public Health (quarterly periodical) by the Michigan State Board of Health, Lansing, Michigan. 1907-1951.
• Michigan Tuberculosis Association Records, held by Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections.
• Ralph H. Childs/Grand Rapids Anti-Tuberculosis Society Collection held by Grand Rapids Public Library.

Broader discussion of the treatment of Tuberculosis:

• The Open Air Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis by F. W. Burton-Fanning, Cassell and Company LTD, 1909.
• Clinical Tuberculosis by Francis Marion Pottenger, Second Edition, 2 Vol., C.V. Mosby Company, St Louis, 1922.

It’s fascinating and often heartbreaking research.

Happy hunting,

Jess

So… it’s been forever. On the plus side, I’ve definitely been working on my genealogy. But outside of answering your very encouraging and informative comments–thank you all for those!!—I’ve mostly been trying to figure out what to write next. Part of my issue is that I’m researching in probably way too many directions at once… but I also have to get over the need for a perfect post. I forget sometimes that I wanted to track the journey here as much as the findings. So, I have a goal to get past this bit of writer’s block and continue my research journey here.

Wish me luck & happy hunting!

Jess