A Compelling Argument for Color Scanning

Hat tip to The Ancestry Insider blog (a must-read IMO for anyone using Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org).

Hat tip to The Ancestry Insider's recent post about color scanning.  A picture is worth a thousand words.

The details in the above image, taken from Ancestry.com's U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963,  wouldn't show up in a black and white scan.  How many times was this document handled and processed, by how many people? What is that yellowed stain on the left, tape?  What was it originally attached to?

Can you imagine if all the scanned documents on Ancestry and FamilySearch were like this, instead of this:

My great-grandfather Harry Slater's World War I Draft Registration Card.  from U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Elizabeth W. "Lizzie" Turner (1823 - 1890)

Unlike those of my other ancestors, this paternal great great grandmother's gravestone erected by her children in Cleburne Memorial Cemetery in Johnson County, Texas, tells us a lot about her, confirming what we find in the usual records.

[Created by: Weldon Collins, Find A Grave Memorial# 102531895]

Her parents, Richard Turner and Mary Henderson, were both Virginia natives whose families had moved to Georgia sometime after the end of the Revolution. Richard and Mary were married in Wilkes County* in about 1799 and that's where their oldest children were born. However by 1811 the Turners had moved to Jasper County where Elizabeth W. was born on January 27, 1823, and was counted in the 1830 U.S. Census as a free white female 5 - 10. There were 18 people in Richard Turners' household, seven of them slaves.

[Ancestry.com. 1830 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. 

Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Fifth Census of the United States, 1830. (NARA microfilm publication M19, 201 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record ]

Since Lizzie was still single at the time of the 1840 U.S. Census, she's one of the 2 free white females 15-20 enumerated in her father's Newton County household which now included 12 slaves.

[Ancestry.com. 1840 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. 

Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Sixth Census of the United States, 1840. (NARA microfilm publication M704, 580 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

On November 20, 1840, Elizabeth W. Turner and Henry H. Freeman were married by Elisha G. Crawford, Justice of the Peace for Newton County.

[Ancesrty.com. Georgia, Marriage Records From Select Counties, 1828-1978 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: County Marriage Records, 1828–1978. The Georgia Archives, Morrow, Georgia.]

After their two oldest daughters, Mary James (1842-1900) and Narcissa A. (1844-1871) were born, the Freemans moved to Cotton Valley, Macon County, in the fertile Black Belt region of Alabama in about 1845. Their oldest son, Thomas D. Freeman was born there as were the rest of their nine children including my great grandmother Nancy Elizabeth (1857-1934)**.

The 1850 U.S. Census shows the Freeman family, H.H., Lizzie and their five children. A 23-year old Tennessee-born carpenter is staying with them at the time of the enumeration. The 1850 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules for the district and the Alabama State Census for the same year do not show the Freeman household owning any slaves.

[Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

[Ancestry.com. Alabama State Census, 1820-1866 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA. Alabama State Census, 1820, 1850, 1855 and 1866. Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama Department of Archives & History.

Rolls M2004.0008-M2004.0012, M2004.0036-M2004.0050, and M2008.0124.]

Lizzie's father died in early 1852 in back in Newton County and in his will he left her $750 to be held in trust by her brother-in-law Benjamin Freeman***, something he did for all his daughters' bequests so that their inheritance would be preserved for them and their children and not become the property of their husbands. Her mother was still alive at this point but sadly we don't know when or where she died.

["Georgia, Probate Records, 1742-1990," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-30463-13550-21?cc=1999178&wc=9SBS-YW5:267728901,267884801 : accessed 30 March 2015), Newton > Wills 1823-1871 vol 1-2 > image 167 of 350; county probate courthouses, Georgia.]

In January of 1853, H.H. bought two of his late father-in-law's 17 slaves, John for $1,160 and Ann for $922, who were sold by the estate "on a credit untill [sic] the 25th of Dec 1853." Presumably they are among the seven enslaved people listed in the 1855 Alabama State Census.

[Ancestry.com. Alabama State Census, 1820-1866 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Original data: Alabama State Census, 1820, 1850, 1855 and 1866. Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama Department of Archives & History. Rolls M2004.0008-M2004.0012, M2004.0036-M2004.0050, and M2008.0124.]

Lizzie must have been pregnant with her youngest child at the time of the 1860 U.S. Census as Julia was born in October of that year. Note that the enumerator got both parents' names wrong (Hugh H. and Mrs. Ellen) but their children's names are correct.

[Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

During the Civil War, H.H. and Lizzie's oldest boy, 16-year old Tom, enlisted as a private in Company H, 45th Alabama Infantry in 1862 and was wounded on October 12th of the same year at the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky. He died shortly afterward.

The next record we have for the Freemans is the 1866 Alabama State Census which finds them still in Macon County.

[Ancestry.com. Alabama State Census, 1820-1866 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA. This collection was indexed by Ancestry.com World Archives Project contributors. Original data: Alabama State Census, 1820, 1850, 1855 and 1866. Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama Department of Archives & History. Rolls M2004.0008-M2004.0012, M2004.0036-M2004.0050, and M2008.0124.]

In the Fall of 1869, the Freeman family, together with a lot of their relatives, left Alabama forever and moved to Johnson County, Texas, where in December of that year H.H. bought 320 acres.

The 1870 U.S. Census shows Lizzie with five of her children still at home and daughter Narcissa and husband John A. McBride and their two children living next door. Josiah, her oldest surviving son, is farming with his father.

[Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

By the 1880 U.S. Census, it's William's turn to farm with H.H. New additions to the household include a 40-year old Mulatto servant Salina Prickard and her two children, Anna W. (7) and Charles Guy (5), William C. Carmichael, a 29-year old White farm laborer, Elizabeth Baker, a 35-year old Black servant with three children, Adaline (7), Ellen (5) and Thomas (3), and two more White farm laborers, 20-year old Stephen H. Hester and 27-year old James H. Brandon. From the number of employees that have been added, I think it's safe to assume that the Freemans have prospered in intervening decade.

[Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA.© Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

After serving as Johnson County Commissioner in 1880-1882, 1884-1886, 72-year old H.H. died of pneumonia on December 29, 1887, and was buried in the Cleburne Memorial Cemetery.

A little over 2 years later, Lizzie joined him.

Dallas Morning News Jan 24, 1890 

Cleburne, Tex., Jan 23.--- Mrs. E. W. Freeman, aged 67 years, died last night at her residence seven miles east of the city. She was in her usual health upon retiring last night. When her daughter went to call her to breakfast this morning she found her dead in her bed. She had been troubled with heart disease for several years, The remains will be interred in the Cleburne Cemetery.

Her will was probated on March 5, 1890, and her estate, valued at $4,000, was divided among her four surviving children: Josiah C., Watts William (W.W.), Mary (Glass) and Nanny (Warren). Although there were four heirs, the estate was divided into 5 shares with W.W. receiving two shares.

I would like to know what her middle initial W. stands for. Maybe someday I will.

*Possibly in what is now Lincoln County.
**Known as Nanny she married J.T.S. Warren.
***Also one of the named executors of Richard Turner's will.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive

Something for everyone. Take your pick!

[Encanto, 1955, from my personal collection]

And here's your soundtrack.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Evernote for Genealogy

I've just gotten into Evernote (yes, I'm a late adopter).  A few links to get the juices going on how to use this amazing program:

• Cyndi's List - Evernote for Every Genealogist
• Colleen Greene - Evernote for Genealogy: The Foundation for My Research Organizational System
• How To Use Evernote for Genealogical Research (Jordan Jones for the Evernote blog)
• Evernote for Genealogy (.pdf from Dennis Hogan for the Rochester Genealogical Society) 

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday: Currey/Grenfell

Here I am between Harold Delbert Currey and Bernice Grenfell, the parents who raised me. They were trailer-camping in the Sierras and George and I drove up to visit them in June 1966.

[My personal collection]

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: StoryCorps.me

The Library of Congress just announced (as of yesterday):

"Today we celebrate the official release of StoryCorps.me, a global platform where anyone in the world can record and upload an oral history interview. This effort is a wish come true for StoryCorps founder Dave Isay, the 2015 recipient of the TED Prize. The prize comes with $1 million to invest in a powerful idea. Dave’s was to create an app, with a companion website at StoryCorps.me, that guides users through the StoryCorps interview experience from recording to sharing the story online. Hear him talk about his vision in Vancouver last week. The website will serve as a home for these recordings, and also provide interviewing and editing tools.

All stories shared to StoryCorps.me during the first year after launch will be archived at the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress."

We all have stories. And StoryCorps makes it so easy. First step: "Choose someone to interview."

[Setting Up Video and Audio Equipment For Interview

Paradise Valley Folklife Project collection, 1978-1982 (AFC 1991/021), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress]

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

School Days: My Certificate in Pond Biology

I was in a Math/Science curriculum in elementary school. In 5th grade we had a short course/module on pond biology, which included holding a frog.  After that I became a "Pond Biologist." Note that was written in quotes, which reminds me of Chris Farley's character Bennett Brauer's air quote skits:

I'm a "Pond Biologist."

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday, Genea-Envy Edition: Henry Ambridge (1694 - After 1764?), Member of the Worshipful Company of Butchers, City of London

We all have them: those fascinating, well-documented ancestors that aren't ours, but we wish they were.

My genea-envy is evoked by Henry Ambridge, the paternal fifth grandfather of my best friend. The son of Henry and Ann Ambridge, he was christened in St. John at Hampstead on September 16, 1694.

[Original Data: London Metropolitan Archives, St John at Hampstead, Camden, Composite register: baptisms, marriages & burials, 1560-1737, Images produced by permission of the City of London Corporation Libraries, Archives.

Ancestry.com. London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA]

On June 9, 1720, Henry, bachelor, and his bride-to-be Ann Briggs, spinster, were named in a marriage bond in the parish of St. Andrew Holborn.

[Original data: Marriage Bonds and Allegations. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives. Images produced by permission of the City of London Corporation Libraries, Archives.

Ancestry.com. London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1597-1921 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.]

Then there are their marriage lines, dated June 12, 1720, also from St. Andrew Holborn. Note that the couple were married by Lycence* which enabled them to marry without the banns being announced in church for three successive Sundays, a choice that cost more but was more private and had become fashionable.

[Original Data;London Metropolitan Archives, St Andrew Holborn,Register of marriages,1720-1735/6, Images produced by permission of the City of London Corporation Libraries, Archives.

Ancestry.com. London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA]

As a member of the Worshipful Company of Butchers, one of the Livery Companies of London, Henry was granted Freedom of the City** in 1723.

[Original data: Freedom admissions papers, 1681 – 1925. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives. COL/CHD/FR/02. London Metropolitan Archives

Ancestry.com. London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1925 database on-line. Provo, UT, USA]

On July 22, 1748, Henry signed an Indenture by which his son Harry*** apprenticed himself for the token sum of one penny to learn the butcher's trade. Four years later Henry did the same for his youngest son William (without the fee).

[ Original data: Freedom admissions papers, 1681 – 1925. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives. 

Ancestry.com. London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.]

We know that Henry's address was in Little Swan Alley in 1750 from a Poll Book**** of that date.

[Original data: London, England, UK and London Poll Books. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library.

Ancestry.com. UK, Poll Books and Electoral Registers, 1538-1893 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA]

[Plan de la Ville de Londres et aes Fauxbourgs,  Paris, 1764; Bellin, Jacques Nicolas Bellin, 1703-1772.

Source: Davis Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

And from here on we have too many records for Henry. Or rather we have too many Henrys. Is he the Henry Ambridge who owed a land tax for two properties in Faringdon Without in 1764?

[Original data: London Land Tax Records. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives. Images produced by permission of the City of London Corporation Libraries, Archives.

Ancestry.com. London, England, Land Tax Records, 1692-1932  [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA]

If so, he can't be the Henry Ambridge (from London) who was buried at St. Mary at Finchley, Hendon on June 3, 1755.

[Original data: Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1812. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives. Images produced by permission of the City of London Corporation Libraries, Archives.

Ancestry.com. London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA]

Then there's the Henry Ambredge who was buried at St. Martin's Church, Ruislip, in 1762. I wonder who he is?

[Original data: Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1812. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives. Images produced by permission of the City of London Corporation Libraries, Archives. Ancestry.com. London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA]

I've managed to trace the Ambridge line in Hampstead two generations farther back, to the 1640s. The thing that impresses me the most about them is that, from the earliest time when signatures were required on documents, both male and female Ambridges were able to sign their names even when their spouses could only make their mark.

*License

**Here is a short video explaining about the Freedom of the City, "one of the oldest surviving traditional ceremonies still in existence today."
***My friend's fourth great grandfather.
****As a freeman Henry was eligible to vote for the Mayor and Sheriffs of the City of London.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Memento Mori: In Loving Remembrance of Eva Slater Meyers

Sarah Eva Slater, undated photo, courtesy of Olive Kennedy.

Sarah Eva Slater (1869-1890), daughter of George W Slater and Sarah M Matthews, sister of Lewis Logan Slater and twin of James Everett Slater, and wife of Bruce A Meyers (b abt 1864), died on January 25, 1890.  Her place and cause of death are unknown to me as yet, although it was likely in Kansas where she lived as late as 1885 (according to the 1885 Kansas census).

Memorial cabinet card* for Eva Slater Meyers, courtesy of Olive Kennedy.

*For more examples of memorial cabinet cards like the one above see this 2010 post from the blog A Land of Deepest Shade.



© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Sarah A. Lynchard (1819 - 1879)

There's so much more that we would like to know about this maternal great great great grandmother, like what her maiden name actually was since her father Thomas's surname* seems to be spelled differently every time it appears.

We're not sure if Sarah was born before her father died but by the time she was about a year old, her mother Prudence (Talbot) Lynchard was listed as the head of a household with six children under the age of 16 in the 1820 U.S. Census for Owen County, Kentucky.

[Ancestry.com. 1820 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Fourth Census of the United States, 1820. (NARA microfilm publication M33, 142 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

Prudence married a man named William Bowman, a butcher by trade, a year or two after the 1820 census and the family moved to several more locations in Kentucky before settling in Cincinnati, Ohio, perhaps as early as 1825 and certainly by 1829.

When Sarah was about 15 she lost her mother and she may be one of the three "Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29" in her older brother Henry Clay Lynchard's household in the 1840 U.S. Census for Cincinnati Ward 1, Hamilton County, Ohio.

[Ancestry.com. 1840 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data: Sixth Census of the United States, 1840. (NARA microfilm publication M704, 580 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

In Cincinnati on June 20, 1841, Sarah A. Lynchard married Thomas J. Taylor, a 33-year old widower with three daughters under the age of 10. From city directories we know that Thomas was working as a drayman** during that period.

["Cincinnati-in-1841" by Klauprech & Menzel -- Printer Of plates - http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?54780.Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cincinnati-in-1841.jpg#/media/File:Cincinnati-in-1841.jpg]

The couple's oldest four children were born in Ohio*** including my great great grandmother Elizabeth in 1845. By the 1850 U.S. Census however, the family had moved to the North Side of Old Town in McLean County, Illinois, and Thomas had become a farmer, owning land worth $1,600.

[Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

However the 1860 U.S. Census shows the Taylors living in Crawford Township in Washington County, Iowa, with the James McKee family, whose relationship to the Taylors (if any) we don't know about. It doesn't appear that the Taylors owned any land at this point--perhaps because of the financial Panic of 1857?

[Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

In the 1870 U.S. Census records for Wapello County, Iowa, we find Thomas, Sarah and three of their children in Richland Township. Thomas is listed as a farmer owning land worth $3,200 and personal estate valued at $800. A teenager named Sarah A. King, employed as a domestic servant, is living with them.

[Map of Wapello County, State of Iowa. Chas. Shober & Co., props., Chicago Lith. Co. (Published by the Andreas Atlas Co., Lakeside Building, Chicago, Ills. Engraved & printed by Chas. Shober & Co., Props. of Chicago Lithographing Co.)

Source: David Rumsey Map Collection]

[Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

Although the Taylors seem to be doing well financially, tragedy had struck the family over the years with the deaths of six of their ten children: Emma (1852-1855), two infants, Charles W. (1858) and Lydia (1861), Eleanor H. 1851-1861), Elizabeth (1845-c1863), and John W. (1843-1865)****.

Sarah died on August 28, 1879, of what the U.S. Federal Mortality Schedule for 1880 calls "Abscess of the Liver" and is buried in Westview Cemetery in Kirkville in Wapello County where she had lived for 13 years.

[Ancestry.com. U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. A portion of this collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors. Original data: United States. Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Iowa, 1850-1880. T1156, rolls 54-62.National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.]

Thomas survived Sarah by 11 years and is buried in Westview Cemetery also.

Thomas and Sarah are the grandparents of my great grandmother Rufina Ellen Tomlinson Slater.

*Examples include: Lynchard, Linch, Lenchard, Lincher, among others.
**Someone who drives a dray used for deliveries, often of beer. Since German immigrants to Cincinnati begun to expand the number of breweries there by 1840 perhaps that's what his work entailed.
***Probably Cincinnati.
****John W. enlisted in Company E, Iowa 13th Infantry Regiment on October 24, 1864, and died of "Chronic Dysentery" in Bridgeport, Alabama, the following January.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: Old Time Music

Genealogy as commonly practiced is a quiet undertaking. But we have to remember that the people we're researching didn't live in a silent world (and it wasn't always just chickens and cows they were hearing).

[Music's Charms, c1896 Photo by Leo D. Weil.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA]

Our immigrant forefathers (and mothers) brought music with them from their homelands, whether they arrived in the early 17th century or stepped off the boat at Ellis Island one hundred years ago.

When Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the lyrics to our national anthem after seeing the flag still flying over after the British had bombarded Fort McHenry in 1814, he set it to an old popular tune, The Anacreontic Song, originally from London. But not all American music of the period was imported from abroad as the sheet music below demonstrates.

[The heroe of New Orleans battle of the memorable 8th January 1815 - composed ... by P. Laroque

Date Created/Published: Philadelphia : G. Willig, 1818

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540]

Music was used to stir up support during political campaigns like this 1840 tune for William Henry Harrison and his running mate John Tyler:

[Tippecanoe and Tyler too! A comic glee, Published Philadelphia: G.E. Blake 1840

Library of Congress, Music Division]

Just as our 19th century ancestors had access to fashion trends no matter where they lived, the same improved printing methods made a wide variety of sheet music available to consumers all over the country.

[Sweet Memories of Thee, c.1849 Original Copyright by Wm. Hall & Son. Lithograph by Sarony & Major, N.Y.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540]

North and South had their patriotic songs during the American Civil War, and songs to mourn the fallen afterwards.

[Chicora the original name of Carolina. Respectfully dedicated to the patriotic ladies of the Southern Confederated States of North America, 1861. Drawn by F. Roeth. Published by Thomas Sinclair, Philadelphia.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540]

[Hail! Glorious banner of our land. Spirit of the Union, c1861 Gibson & Co. (Cincinnati, Ohio).

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540]

[O'er graves of the loved ones Poetry and music by John P. Ordway, M.D

. Boston : Published by Oliver Ditson & Co. ; c1867.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540]]

And of course enslaved Africans brought their own musical traditions that profoundly influenced American music, beginning with Spirituals and Gospel, continuing through the Blues, Ragtime, Jazz, Rock and beyond

[Summit Avenue Ensemble, Atlanta, Georgia; Photographer: Thomas E. Askew, 1850?-1914

Part of  W.E.B. Du Bois albums of photographs of African Americans in Georgia exhibited at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900

Daniel Murray Collection (Library of Congress)]

We're fortunate that we can re-capture some of the sounds our ancestors enjoyed through collections to be found at Smithsonian Folkways and the Library of Congress.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Starting Directions for State and Country Research

"The information on Macon County, Alabama, is severely lacking in this cloth book, people." With my parents on my 1st birthday, from my personal collection.

I came across this .pdf for Alabama research from Brigham Young University the other day.  It is very comprehensive and it probably written for students and researchers coming from the LDS Family History Center angle, but it can be used by anyone.

I was happy to discover that they have these guides for the U.S., as well as other countries, through the Research Outlines (pdf) at the Brigham Young Family History Center.

In a related note, Ancestry's Wiki also has some great starting points and background, including information from the classic works Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources and The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy.


© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.