One Hundred Years of Social Media
An interesting thing has happened in the last few years: the explosion of social networking and social media. We have been able to be constantly updated about the activities of our friends and relatives like never before…but it’s only a 21st Century manifestation of our tendency to spy on each other.
In historical newspapers, many of which are available at Ancestry.com, you will often find a column labeled “Personal” or “Society” or equivalent, in which many events, trivial and otherwise, are recorded forever about the lives of our ancestors. Here are links to two examples from 1912, one hundred years ago next month (subscription to Ancestry required):
Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press, 3 January 1912, “Personal Pickups”
Translated to Facebook or Twitter parlance, they don’t seem too far out of place!
“In Milwaukee today!” – @Jbitter1912
“It’s a girl!!” – @MrandMrsJosephMeyer1912
“Love spending time with family!” – @MissLucileMooneyofGlenbeulah1912
“back in madison for another semester” – @HerbertMaurer1912
“Back east for 2 months it will be awesome!” – @MissMarySinclair1912
“Bridge party Thursday” – Mrs. John F. Torrence
(Will you be attending? [ ] Accept [X] Ignore)
You can learn all kinds of stuff, even if a lot of it is simply announcements of who is in town and who is visiting who. You could learn birthdates, a maiden name, a person’s hometown, whether a relative was still living by a certain date, and so on.
There are hundreds of thousands of newspaper images online, and on microfilm in local libraries. Don’t forget about this valuable resource!
Some Things You Never Miss Until They’re Gone
An evergreen tree up the hill in the neighborhood where I grew up was decorated with hundreds of lights every year for Christmas. For decades it has been a landmark in town during the holidays, visible from a distance. It can be found on a map-painting of the city which hung in City Hall.
Last week, an unusually powerful windstorm swept through the western United States, causing millions of dollars of damage. My hometown and neighboring towns are susceptible to winds funneling through the eastern mountain canyons, and were no exception this time. The tall tree, which reached 55 feet (it’s easier to measure now), was one of the hundreds of trees throughout the area felled by hurricane-strength forces.
My mom texted me the morning after the wind had come in and reported that the famous tree had been blown down. I was surprised to realize how much I would miss it! It had just been taken for granted that the tree would be lit for the Christmas season, a bright, festive annual treat for the neighborhood.
How many things, places, events are a part of your family traditions, or a part of your family’s collective memories, that are taken for granted? The car the kids drove when they turned 16, the elementary school all the kids attended, the treehouse in the woods, the city park where you walk the dog. Eventually, the car will be junked, the school will be torn down, the woods will become a subdivision, and the park will be remodeled. We don’t usally think to take pictures or videos of things and places such as these, but how many stories and experiences do they bring back to mind! Having a picture, a reminder of some kind, is like having a key to your memories. Better to have a backup on hand when the original disappears so you can more easily access those memories and stories in order to record them for posterity.
It’s too late for anyone to take their own picture of the old tree in all its glory, but it’s a good reminder not to take for granted those things which bring back good memories.
My pa didn’t have no pa! A beginner’s delight.
My interest in my family tree started early for me. When I learned in American History class that there were two Civil War generals with my surname (Johnston), I decided to find out how I was related to them. My first stop on the trail was that evening at dinner. I asked my dad what he knew about our Johnston family history. He admitted he didn’t know a lot. He directed me to his father, Troy Johnston, who just happened to live nearby.
On our next visit to my grandparents house I took advantage of my opportunity. So asked him what he knew about his Johnston family. He took down an old photo I’d seen many times in their hallway. He explained that this was a photo of his family, and that it included his “pa,” James M. Johnston, his “ma,” Nancy Ann Newsom, and his four older brothers; Warren, Jerdie, Carter and Wiley. At the time of the photo, my grandpa was a boy of about 11 years of age.
Only partially satisfied, I asked him who his grandfather was. He didn’t seem to understand the question. I asked again. Who was your father’s father. Once again, he failed to answer. I made one final try; who was your pa’s pa? This time he had an answer for me. He replied, “my pa didn’t have no pa.”
That was how I started my Johnston family research. How could his pa have no pa? Grandpa didn’t really know. He remembers something about a mean step-father that his pa didn’t like, but really had little more to offer. A few months passed when my grandma gave me another clue – a civil war written by William K. Johnston. Grandma said that when my great grandfather James M. Johnston died about 1942, that his son Wiley was his executor. Wiley got an old trunk from the estate which contained, among other things, the original copy of that civil war letter. Wiley had transcribed the letter on his old typewriter using four sheets of onion skin paper and four pieces of carbon paper. Once he was done, he sent one copy each to his four brothers. That was how grandma had come to learn about this letter.
The letter raised as many questions as it seemed to answer. Grandpa was born in Tennessee and he did know that his family was from Tennessee. Why then did the W.K. Johnston ask his wife to write and tell him who all had to go [to war] from Alabama? The letter did contain several important clues which helped me figure out how it might fit in. W.K. wrote he’d be happy if only he could bounce his “little Jim” on his knee. Could this “little Jim” be by great grandfather, James M. Johnston? The next step was to get a copy of his file from the National Archives. When that packet arrived there were more clues; two in particular. William K. Johnston enlisted in “Sawrenceburg, Tennessee.” Both the onion skin letter and the military record both clearly said Sawreneburg. I asked others what this might mean. I couldn’t find any city by that name in Tennessee. You’ve already guessed that in the time period of the civil war the letter “L” and the letter “S” often appeared to be indistinguishable. The town of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee was in Lawrence County, Tennessee.
Once I’d learned which county to search census records helped out. William K. Johnston had three sons in his home in 1860; Samuel B, John H, and James M. So now I knew for sure that my grandpa indeed did have a dad but why didn’t my grandpa ever hear about him?
That civil war file also revealed that Pvt. William K. Johnston, Co. D, 32nd Tennessee Infantry died as a POW in March of 1862. “Little Jim” would have only been 2 years old.
After learning how to read for clues, and discovering how to use them, the rest of my family research really started to fall into place.
What about that question in the letter about the “boys from Alabama” and who all had to go: well the Johnston farm bordered the Alabama/Tennessee state line. The closest community to them was in Alabama, not in Tennessee.
Timeline Pedigree Charts
Genealogists often love charts. One of the first things I’m interested in when I use a new piece of genealogical software is to see what kinds of charts they can generate. A lot of us family historians are “big-picture” people who like to see everything at once, so the more ways to do it, the better!
I’d like to share one way to visualize the people on your family tree. It is more interesting visually than the typical pedigree chart and does a better job of quickly showing the age dynamics of your tree without becoming anoverly complicated diagram.
A timeline pedigree chart for Marjorie Helen Oliver
The chart is one big timeline, with older dates to the right. I’ve started this chart with my great grandmother, Marjorie Helen Oliver. She died in 1988, which marks the leftmost boundary of this chart. Her box continues to the right until her birth in 1901, at which point her parents’ boxes begin. Likewise, their boxes continue to the right until their births, in 1868 and 1872 respectively, at which points their parents are revealed, and so on.
This isn’t a standard-issue chart you’ll find in most genealogical software packages, but it is fairly simple to create in a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel if you are familiar with the software. The boxes can be filled in with the exact birth, marriage, and death dates, like a standard chart, or whatever information you like.
To create a 5-generation timeline pedigree chart with yourself at the base, here are the basic steps:
1 – In a new spreadsheet, shrink the columns so they are small enough to see about 150 at once. This is the year timeline.
2 – Label the top row with years from the present to the birth year of your oldest great-great grandparent. (There is a shortcut – in Excel, type 2011 in A1, then 2010 in B1, select both cells, then drag the little box in the bottom right-hand corner to the right to have Excel automatically number the cells as far back as you like.)
3 – Format the top row of cells to read vertically instead of horizontally, and adjust the formatting of the row so you can read the years if all you see are ‘#’ signs.
4 – Starting in cell A2, select an area of cells that is 16 rows high and wide enough to reach the year of your birth from the timeline. When these are selected, merge the cells into one giant cell, and then click on it and enter your name.
5 – For your father, starting in the first unmerged cell in row 2, select an area that is 8 rows high and wide enough to reach his year of birth. Merge the selected cells together and click on the new cell to enter his name.
6 – Repeat this process for your mother beginning directly below your father’s cell.
7 – Repeat for your grandparents, using only 4 rows per cell this time.
8 – And so on for your great-grandparents, using only 2 rows, then your great-great-grandparents, who only get one row each.
9 – Select the 16 rows your pedigree is on, and select to create borders around all cells.
10 – Select the cells which belong to your pedigree and fit them to one sheet of paper in order to print on one page.
Now you can impress your family and friends with your great-looking, unique pedigree chart!
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