Upcoming Events at the NEHGS!

I got an email from the New England Historic Genealogical Society the other day and they've got tons of really great stuff coming up!  I'm seriously jealous that I'm too far away to attend!  If you are lucky enough to be within driving distance of the society, head on over and take advantage of what are sure to be some great programs!  Not within driving distance?  They've got some great trips planned too!

So here it is right from NEHGS:

June New Visitor and Welcome Tour

Make plans to start your genealogy with this great tour.  This program begins with a thirty-minute introductory lecture and will be followed by a tour of the NEHGS library and its vast holdings.

June 1, 2011 from 10:00am-11:00am

99-101 Newbury Street

Boston, MA 02116-3007

Come Home to New England

Dubbed as one of the society's most popular programs, "Come home to New England," is a fun-filled week of family history discovery and education.  This program features research, individual consultations, interesting lectures, group meals, and other exciting activities.

June 13, 2011 9:00am - June 18, 2011 5:00pm

NEHGS

99-101 Newbury Street

Boston, MA 02116-3007

Talking Back to your Ancestors:  Reweaving the Family History

Dr. Barbara B. Reitt will describe what she learned in a four-year search for truths long hidden by the family and what compelled her to respond to her late father's memoirs by researching and writing a biography of his grandmother.

June 22, 1011 6:00pm - 7:00pm

99-101 Newbury Street

Boston, MA 02116-3007

A Tour Through Ireland and Irish History

Please join NEHGS as we explore our Irish immigrant ancestors' native land, the rolling hills of Ireland.  We will discover spectacular scenery, and enjoy legendary Irish hospitality in internationally renowned hotels and restaurants and elegant private homes.

[OK...I'm seriously bummed that I'll be on vacation and can't do this.  I would take this trip in a heart-beat!  It sounds fabulous!]

July 5, 2011 5:00pm - July 15, 2011 5:00pm

Ireland

Please email education@nehgs.org if you wish to be place on a waiting list for the event.

Weekend Research Trip to Albany, New York

Join NEHGS as we explore the vast resources of the New York State Archives.  The weekend includes individual consultations, lectures, and a group dinner.

July 13, 2011 3:00pm - July 17, 2011 11:00am

Albany, New York

English Research Tour

Discover the wealth of information available in London's repositories as NEHGS returns to London in 2011.  Participants will take part in two group dinners, consultations, and guided research tours through the Society of Genealogists (SOG) and the National Archives (UK).

September 25, 2011 3:00pm - October 2, 2011 12:00pm

London, United Kingdom

Like anything you see?  To learn more go to AmericanAncestors.org/Event.  You can register online or print the registration and mail it off to:

NEHGS, Education  & Tours

Attn: Joshua Taylor

99-101 Newbury Street

Boston, MA 02116-3007

If you have any questions you can call 2-888-296-3447 or email education@nehgs.org

Even if you can't go to the programs or on the trips, be sure to check out the great stuff on the American Ancestors website!

Tuesday's Tip - Inputting Data on the 1800 U.S. Census

1800 U.S. Federal Census

The next in the series of inputtable census forms!  This time the 2nd US Federal Census, a.k.a. the 1800 US Federal Census.  Again, I don't have tons of experience using the 1800 census since all of my known ancestors came over around potato-famine-time, or later.  A positive aspect with creating these forms (aside from the obvious, being able to actually input and save your data on a copy of the form) is that it forces me to become a bit more familiar with a resource that I have not really dealt with.  I'm still no where near being an expert, but a bit less of a novice!

Again, I've tried to keep the form as close to the original as possible.  Not entirely easy since the forms still varied slightly by region and by census taker.  Not all forms have the header at the top either, so using this form will at least help to remind you what each column is referring to!

The last column on the census varies from district to district, but refers to the total number of persons enumerated for that household.  For lack of a better term (and lack of a term given on the form) I've titled it simply "Totals".  You won't see this column on all census forms, but occasionally it pops up.

I love the fact the the US Census Bureau had information for the various Federal Censuses, and while they didn't give overwhelming details about the 1800 census on their page, they did give some important details:

"A February 28, 1800, act provided for the taking of the second census of the United States, which included the states and territories northwest of the Ohio River and Mississippi Territory. The guidelines for the 1800 enumeration followed those of the first enumeration, except that the work was to be carried on under the direction of the Secretary of State....The enumeration was to begin, as in 1790, on the first Monday in August, and conclude in 9 calendar months."

So the administration of this census was more centralized under the direction of the Secretary of State as opposed to the 1790 census which was carried out under the direction of the U.S. Marshals of the various judicial districts.

Once again, I've locked the form, so you don't have to worry about inputting data into the header.  You'll only be able to input into the appropriate blank fields.  I'm still a novice with Google Docs (looking forward to Thomas MacEntee's webinar on Legacy Family Tree "Google Forms for Genealogists"  this Wednesday), so if you have any problems downloading the spreadsheet or encounter any other problems with it, please let me know and I'll do my best to fix it. 

When you click on the census in Google Docs to view it, for some odd reason (yet again) it appears to be 3 pages long and in landscape format.  It will be one page and in portrait when you download it.  I have no idea why this happens, I'm just happy that it seems to download correctly!

Next week, I hope to have the 1810 census ready to post, but Cub Scout Day Camp is all next week in the evenings so I'll have to play it by ear.  I may be forced to post somewhat less time-intensive posts!  We'll see!

Military Monday - Central Texas Casualties 2005

Faces of the departed - 2005

Roll Call

SSG George T Alexander

SPC Jeremy O Allmon

SGT Julia Atkins

SGT Christopher Babin

SPC Katrina Bell-Johnson

SPC Bradley Bergeron

CPT Orlando A Bonilla

SSG Stacey Brandon

SPC Adam Noel Brewer

SPC Jimmy D Buie

SPC Taylor J Burk

SPC Adrian J Butler

SFC Kurt Comeaux

2LT Matthew S Coutu

SGT Andrew J Derrick

SPC Michael Evana II

SPC Huey PL Fassbender

SGT Robin V Fell

SPC Aaron M Forbes

SPC Armand Frickey

CPL Steven Gill

SGT Lee M Godbolt

SFC Peter J Hahn

SPC Paul M Heltzel

SPC Robert T Hendrickson

PFC Timothy J Hines Jr

PVT Aaron M Hudson

CW2 Charles S Jones

SSG William F Manuel

SPC Joshua S Marcum

SPC Jeremy McHalffey

PVT Joshua M Morberg

SPC Warren A Murphy

SGT David J Murray

SSG Regilio E nelom

SGT Nicholas J Oliver

SPC Christopher Ramsey

SSG Jonathan E Reed

SSG William T Robbins

SSG Joseph E Rodriguez

SPC Lyle W Rymer II

SPC Lance S Sage

CW4 Richard M Salter

CW2 Isaias E Santos

SPC Bernard L Sembly

SGT Isiah J Sinclair

CPT Christopher J Sullivan

SGT Robert Sweeney III

SPC John O Tollefson

SPC Seth Trahan

SPC Javier Villanueva

 May our Soldiers come home soon.

Sunday' Obituary - Clarence Boegel

 





















[handwritten - Jan 29, 1977]

"Clarence Boegel

Clarence R. Boegel, 71, who was employed by Line Material Co. at Barton for 15 years, died Saturday at Samaritan Home, West Bend, where he resided for 13 years.

He was born May 29, 1905, in rural Campbellsport, a son of the late John and Bertha Rosbeck Boegel. He never married.

Surviving are a brother, Roman of rural Campbellsport; and a sister, Mrs. Leona (Romand) Kuehl of rural Campbellsport.  A brother preceded him in death.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Miller's Funeral home, 215 Forest Ave., Kewaskum, and at 10:30 a.m. at St. Kilian Catholic Church at St. Kilian.  The Rev. Arthur Kulinski will officiate and burial will be in the parish cemetery.

Visitation will be after 4 p.m. today at the funeral home."

Clarence was my husband's great uncle.

Clippings were passed on to me by my mother-in-law, Dolores, Cayemberg nee Kuehl.  It is unknown which Wisconsin newspaper the clippings were from.

Wordless Wednesday - Repaired Card Photo

Before

After

Tuesday's Tip - DANGER, Will Robinson!!!!!

I've never actually watched Lost In Space.  I guess that just shows how that phrase has worked it's way into our culture!  Anyway...

I was intending on posting the next census form this week, but I started messing about on Ancestry.com while waiting for an appointment and made some pretty good discoveries that I will be seeking to verify in the immediate future.  What discoveries, you may ask?  Well, after posting George Rosbeck's obituary yesterday, I figured that I'd try to locate his name on the passenger lists on Ancestry.com.  I do believe I found him and it wasn't terribly difficult.  The names are a good match as are the dates of birth.  Not having any other information yet to verify his parents or siblings, I will be digging deeper until I have conducted my "reasonably exhaustive search" (I loved learning all that stuff at the NGS conference!).

So what's my tip?  Well, after realizing that George and his parents arrived in 1857, I attempted to see if I could find them in the 1860 US Federal Census.  If they are my Rosbecks they hopefully found themselves a nice place in Wisconsin by then.  I couldn't find them.  I initially cursed the new Ancestry search, but then decided it would be more productive to adjust my search parameters.  After all I need to figure out how to use their new search since it's only a matter of time before they eventually take that "Old Search" button away!  So I stopped searching for an exact match with my "Geo* Rosb*" search and used the default settings.  It worked, but I was almost tempted to not click on the result.  Thank goodness my brain was working because this was what I found:

I guessed that the transcriber may have gotten the born in "Australia" bit wrong.  Since my husband's Rosbecks are from Germany (for lack of a better region at this point in my research...if you know the history of the region at all you'll understand what I mean!).   So once I pulled up the image it was exceedingly clear that George and his family were born in AUSTRIA not Australia. 

Excerpt of 1860 US Federal Census - for the city of Wayne, Washington County, WI - John Raseback household

Lesson #1 for today - Keep an open mind and expect errors in the indexes...we all make mistakes!

The surname, while listed as Raseback on the census is close enough to Rosbeck.  It is certainly possible that the name changed over time.  It is just as possible that the census taker wrote the name phonetically. Either way, the spelling difference isn't an enormous concern.

Now for Lesson #2.

I wanted to see what else I could find, so I went back and expanded my search to "all categories".  I was intrigued by the "Photos" section, but they were all private and the information didn't seem to match up very well, so I cringed and clicked on the "Family Trees" tab.  There were 147 trees.  The first few that I clicked on were submitted by people I had been in contact with.  I didn't explore them very far.  I just wanted to see if anyone had made the jump to having Anna and Johannes (John) as his parents and if they had, did they use more than the passenger list and census to make that jump.  I clicked on a few more trees and then came to one that was created by someone I did not recognize so I opened it up.

Yikes!  That's really all I could say at first.  This person had made the jump, but I was no longer really interested in looking at the sources, because of one huge, glaring error that s/he had not bothered to fix or annotate.  Can you see it?  I put some pretty arrows there in case you're feeling a bit tired today:

So daddy died about 11 years before his son was born?  According to this tree he did.  Father, Johan, died in 1841 and son, George, was born in 1852.  A medical miracle.  Particularly since daddy was on the passenger list in 1857.  What you can't see from the image above is that this person has daddy down as dying in 1841 in WISCONSIN.  Yep, that would be 16 years before the family arrived in America.  It could be a typo.  Either way, most genealogy programs will point out glaring errors like that.  Does that mean that all the other information on this tree is wrong?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  I mean this person had a few more generations back for my husband's Rosbeck line, and the surname Hassel is vaguely familiar.

So, Lesson #2 - family trees that are posted (on any site) are subject to errors.  Some are subtle.  Some are pretty big.  Does that mean we shouldn't use these trees?  Of course not!  They can be a great way to try to further your research and get through a brick wall or two, but you need to verify the validity of the specific bit of information you are looking for and conduct your own reasonably exhaustive search.  Any researcher worth anything won't mind you testing their conclusions.  After all, researching our genealogy and family history isn't about us being right.  It's about the facts being right.

Amanuensis Monday - George Rosbeck Obituary

George Rosbeck

George Rosbeck is my husband's Great-Great Grandfather.  This obituary was sent to me by a distant cousin of my husband's, Dennis Wondra.  It's great when you find family members that want to collaborate, and sharing copies of the originals is extra awesome!

Thanks, Dennis!

Kewaskum Statesman, 17SEP1927

"GEORGE ROSBECK

After an illness of five weeks with dropsy, George Rosbeck, an esteemed and well known citizen of St. Kilian, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. John Boegel at St. Kilian on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 1927.  Deceased had attained the age of 75 years, 5 months and 9 days.  He was born in Germany on April 3, 1852.  When still a young man he came to America with his parents and settled in the town of Wayne.  he was married to Margaret Thelen 50 years ago at St. Martin's church in Ashford.  He is survived by three sisters, Mrs. Wenzel Janous, Mrs. Joseph Wondra, and Mrs. John Petersick, Besides he leaves, his wife and the following children:  Frances (Mrs. Peter Steichen) of Milwaukee; Bertha (Mrs. John Boegel) of St. Kilian; Anna (Mrs. Wm. Pesch) of New Fane; John of Minnesota; Herman of Knowles; Martin, Adolf and Alfred of Milwaukee.  The funeral was held Friday at 10:00 a.m. with services in the St. Kilian Catholic church.  Rev. John B. Reichel officiated.  Burial was made in the adjoining cemetery."

George Rosbeck, St. Kilian Cemetery, WI