Funeral Card Friday - Mother Alphons

Front and back of card for Mother M. Alfons

"Jesus! Mary! Joseph! 'We have loved her in life, let us not forget her in death.'

In Loving Memory of our venerable

Mother M. Alfons

Superior-General of St. Joseph's Convent Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Born Apr. 3, 1850  Died Apr. 5, 1929

'My Jesus pardon and mercy through the merits of Thy Sacred Wounds.'"

This is one of over 200 memorial cards that were passed on to me.  I don't know who Mother M. Alfons was to the family, but she meant something.  Was she a relative or a beloved nun?  Or both?  Some day I hope to find out.  "We have loved her in life, let us not forget her in death."  We will not.  Your memory be preserved, Mother Alfons.

I had hoped to do a "Follow Friday" post today, but the air conditioner died yesterday afternoon.  With temperatures still over 100 degrees here in Killeen, TX I've got to limit the time I spend on the computer so it doesn't overheat.  It's a chilly 80 degrees outside right now, so a quick post and then back to waiting for the repairman and hoping he has all the parts he needs.  It could be a long weekend.  How on earth did our ancestors do this?

Wedding Wednesday - Villers Laurent

Add caption

"Villers-Laurent

 (hand-dated Aug 31, 1963)

A wedding trip to Mackinac Island is the honeymoon planned by Mr. and Mrs. Larry Cletus Laurent, who were married at 10 o'clock Saturday morning, Aug. 31, in St. Martin Catholic Church, Tonet.  The bride is the former Miss Ruthann Irene Villers, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Villers, Algmoa, R. 2.  Mr. and Mrs. Norman Laurent, Luxemburg, Rt. 3, are parents of the bride-groom.

Maid of honor was Mrs. Wayne Cayemberg, with Miss Shirley Degrave and Miss Mary Ann Malcore as bridesmaids.  Wayne Cayemberg was best man, with Dale Romvald and James Romvald as attendants.  Ushers were Harvey Villers and Francis Queoff.

The newlyweds will return to Luxemburg, Rt. 2, after their honeymoon."

NOTE: This clipping was passed on to me by family in Green Bay, Wisconsin and was in a scrapbook full of old newspaper clippings.  It does not contain any publication information.  It most likely was published in the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

Tuesday's Tip - Inputting Data on the 1870 U.S. Census

1870 U.S. Federal Census

Last time I posted the inputtable census form for the 1860 Schedule 2 (Slave Schedule).  Today, I've got the form up so you can download, input your data and save to your computer information from the 1870 U.S. Federal Census!

No more slavery!  Remember this census was taken a mere 5 years after the Civil War concluded and one of the most noticeable changes (apart from not needing another schedule and not having "Free inhabitants" written at the top) is that last question...good ol' #20, "Male Citizens of the U.S. of 21 years of age and upwards, whose right to vote is denied or abridged on other grounds than rebellion or other crime."

Why was this needed?  Here's the excerpt from the Instructions to Assistant Marshals:

1870 Instructions to Assistant Marshals - U.S. Census Bureau

Since the Civil War had been concluded, what a perfect time for the Federal Government to ensure that those former slaves are not being denied the right to vote via illegal laws (that should have been repealed and are null and void).

The entire 26 pages of Instructions to Assistant Marshals are actually quite interesting, and truthfully all instructions should be read so that you can fully understand the intent of the questions asked as well as the enumerators' responsibilities.  You'll most likely get more out of the census if you do!

These instructions as well as other great information on the 1870 census can be found on the U.S. Census Bureau's website.

Again, 1930census.com gives us the map of the U.S. at the time of the census and a historical chronology for the decade of the census to help put it all in perspective.  Their link for questions asked is empty (bummer!), but we can easily get that information by looking at the census.

The census form I created is in landscape view as opposed to portrait like the original.  I did take a tip from Ancestry.com's sheet (which is also in landscape) when creating this spreadsheet.  It was possible to create one just like the original census, but my concern was that the questions would be too difficult to read and defeat the purpose of the form.  As a result there are only 6 lines to input the family data for an ancestor.  I know...many of our ancestors had more than 6 people in their family, but you can easily continue on another sheet.  The goal is digitization and not so much paper (at least for me).

The spreadsheet is still locked so you can't accidentally type over the form data, but I left the section on the far left unlocked so you can change the numbers to correspond with the numbers for your ancestors.  They are currently numbered 1 through 6 but can easily be changed.

As always, just let me know if there are any problems with the spreadsheet and I'll get them fixed.  The spreadsheet still looks like it's multiple pages in Google Documents, but will be one page once it's downloaded.

Until next week, when I hope to get the 1880 U.S. Federal Census up, have fun tending those roots!

Free Immigration and Travel Records on Ancesty.com!

Well, the Subject line kind of says it all.  For those of you without access to Ancestry.com (or without full access), you can view their immigration and travel records from August 29th (today!) through September 5th.  So this Labor Day Weekend make sure you do some laboring on your genealogy and family history!

Military Monday - Lance Cpl. Dan A. Van Erem

"Lance Cpl. Dan A. Van Erem

Lance Cpl. Dan A. Van Erem, 21, 124 Jacobs St., was killed in action in Vietnam [sic] on January 5.  He graduated from Preble High School in June 1967 and enlisted in the Marines in November 1967.  His mother is the former Myrtle Willame.

Survivors are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Van Erem, one brother, Lawrence Jr., Sheboygan; four sisters, Mrs. Harold (Deloris) St. Thomas; Mrs. Richard (Lorraine) Gay; Mrs. John (Shirley) Hyer; Mrs. David (Nancy) Badeau, all of Green Bay; maternal grandmother, Mrs. John Willame, New Franken.

In state at Malcore Funeral Home after 6:30 p.m. Thursday.  Rosary 8 each evening, Friday by the Rev. Edward Haessly.  Funeral 10 a.m. Saturday, St. Bernard Church.  Burial in Allouez Cemetery.

A memorial fund has been established."

"Lance Cpl. Dan A. Van Erem

In State at Malcore Funeral home after 6:30 tonight.  Rosary 8 tonight, and Friday by the Rev. Edward Haessly.  Funeral 10 a.m. Saturday, St. Bernard Church.  Allouez Cemetery.  A memorial fund has been established.  Cpl. Van Erem was killed in action in Vietnam on January 5."


NOTE:  These clippings were passed on to me by family in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  It was in a scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings and had no publication information.  It may have been published in the Green Bay Press-Gazette

Sunday's Obituary - Frank Villers

"Frank Villers, 63, Dies This Morning(hand-dated - Sept 1, 1954)

CASCO, Wis. - Frank Villers, 63, died at 2:30 this morning at his farm home at Rosiere after an illness of four years.

Mr. Villers was born on the Lincoln Township farm Jan. 28, 1891, and was married to Mary LaCrosse May 20, 1913.  he was a member of the Holy Name society of St. Hubert Church, Rosiere.

Survivors include his wife; a son, Louis, at home; one grandson, Marvin; a brother, Joe, of Green Bay, and two sisters, Mrs. Louis Villers and Mrs. William Wendricks, Green Bay.

Friends may call at the Wiesner - Massart Funeral Home here beginning Thursday afternoon, and the rosary will be recited at 8 o'clock Thursday and Friday evenings.  The last rites will be conducted in St. Hubert Church at 9:30 a.m. Saturday by the Rev. Henry Zelinske and burial will be in the church cemetery."

Sadly, this clipping tells me nothing of his parents.  Don't you love it?  Luckily, I can find by looking at the 1930 U.S. Federal Census (Lincoln, Kewaunee, Wisconsin) that his parents, Louis and Emmerance Villers, were living with Frank and Mary Villers.  At least that mystery is solved.  Now to find out where Frank belongs in my tree, because we have Villers, but no Frank, Louis or Emmerance Villers...

NOTE:  This clipping was passed on to me by family in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  It was taken from a scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings an does not have any publication information.  The date written on the article is most likely the date of death and not publication.  The clipping was most likely taken from the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

When the 2010 Census is Released...

In 2082 when the 2010 U.S. Federal Census is released there will be something new on there.  Something that really was never tracked before.  Something that will shed light on families in a new way.  The census will show same-sex couples.

It doesn't really matter what your personal opinion is about whether same-sex marriage is right or wrong.  This is data, and last I checked, we as genealogists/family historians are supposed to deal in facts.  Or at least try to figure out as close as possible what those facts are and how they pertained to our ancestors.  Won't this do that for those researchers that come after us and are researching their ancestors?  Wouldn't you have loved to have known those relationships when looking at old census records?

I wasn't planning on a post tonight.  It's been a hectic week with my kiddos starting school on Monday, but as I was getting ready for bed, I decided to do a quick check of the news and this headline on CNN caught my attention, "Census: More Same-Sex Couples in More Places."  As a genealogist, how could I not click on a census news story?

The article tells us that, "...for the first time the decennial census results report counts of same-sex partners and same-sex spouses, regardless of whether same-sex marriage is legal in their states."  The results won't technically refer to the partner as a spouse but rather as an unmarried partner (marriage wasn't legal in any of the states at the time of the census).

Granted, the article isn't about how useful this will be to future generations of genealogists, but a genealogist/family historian doesn't really need to be told.  Just lead us to the information.  We understand it's significance.  Well, we usually do.

What the census does not record is the sexual orientation of the people enumerated.  Some said that it should have been included in this census and therefore they didn't go far enough.  I'm sure that we'll see it enumerated at some point in the near future.  Maybe in the 2020 census.  Who knows, but no doubt future researchers will enjoy seeing the changes in the census just as we have!