Filed in Wordless Wednesday

Maybe I’m exaggerating just a bit. But not much.

I know that I’ve been spoiled by big-town libraries that have the budget to buy fancy microfilm readers that are connected to copy machines or better yet that you can put your thumb drive in and save images.

My visit to Mount Ayr, Iowa reminded me that not all libraries are in that category.

The library is tiny. The town is pretty small though, so I didn’t expect much.

They have a very nice genealogy room downstairs with lots of great books and histories. The staff is friendly and helpful.

They also have all of the local papers on microfilm. These papers are gold mines for genealogical information. It’s a small area, so they reported when people sneezed. If I had the time – and the budget to sit in a hotel for a week, I could probably track my great-great parents lives during the thirty years they lived there. I don’t have unlimited amounts of time though and my research was restricted to one day.

The only thing holding up my research on my trip this past week, was the fact that the microfilm machine was a dinosaur. Crank handle. Not so good lighting. No copier! {shudder}

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I had to find the article I was looking for, and then take a picture of it with my camera. In the end, it all worked out, so I can’t complain too much.

But if you’ve got a grant of some sort that you’re wanting to give out to a genealogical society or library, can I suggest Mount Ayr, Iowa? I’m sure that it would be much appreciated! At least by me. 🙂

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Filed in Cemeteries,Tombstone Tuesday

I stopped at a few cemeteries on my genealogical trip to Iowa.  It’s nice to get outside in the fresh air after spending the morning in a musty courthouse.

At the Halferty Cemetery in Keokuk county, I was able to find the gravestones of my great-great-great grandparents.  Their stones were worn, but in tact and still readable (I will post them on another day).

I was appalled at the fate  of the neighboring gravestones though.

After spending a couple of days in rural Iowa, I can imagine that it sometimes gets boring.  I had little to no cell phone coverage.  There wasn’t a Starbucks or a movie theater or a shopping mall in sight.  I get that.  Kids get bored and look for things to do.

I have heard of farm kids going “cow tipping” before, but have you ever heard of “gravestone tipping”?

I have to admit that I”m making some assumptions here.  I don’t know exactly what happened in this cemetery.  All I know is that it wasn’t Mother Nature that knocked these down.  And I’m assuming that it had to be some adolescent punks, because I can’t imagine anyone else doing this.

Many of the gravestones were pushed over, off of their bases, left in the grass.

undefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedundefinedThe funny thing is, the cemetery appears to be maintained.  The grass had been mowed sometime in the past couple of weeks.  There is a fence surrounding it.

How could someone do something like that? 🙁

I wasn’t sure what to do or who to complain to.  It isn’t a church or city cemetery. Even though it wasn’t my ancestors, I was still upset.

But I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t do anything.  I took my pictures and drove on to the next county to do some more research.

What would you have done?

Should I try to contact someone – perhaps the local genealogical or historical society?

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Filed in Madness Monday

I am most definitely not an expert on courthouse research.  I have a lot to learn.

I’ve done some here and there over the years though and I now know when I’ve hit the genealogical jackpot so to speak – or when I’m in for a painful day of begging for records.

I’ve  physically researched in the following courthouses (I’ve sent letters to many more):
Douglas County, Kansas
Leavenworth County, Kansas
Indiana County, Pennsylvania
Bedford County, Virginia
Montgomery County, Virginia
Washington County, Iowa
Keokuk County, Iowa
Buena Vista County, Iowa
Crawford County, Iowa
Ringgold County, Iowa
Dakota County, Nebraska

It never ceases to amaze me that even though most of the courthouses contain the same types of documents, they are so completely  different in how easily accessible those documents are.

I’m not going to come out and say which ones stink for research.

With my luck, those county clerks would find me in GoogleLand and never help me out again. 🙂  If you want to know about a specific one from the list above, you can drop me a line and I’d be glad to let you know my opinion (if I can remember it).

I would just like to point out that you never know exactly what to expect when it comes to courthouses, so be prepared for anything!

The Good:

  • A large room with wide open counters to place the fifty pound books on is always a plus.
  • Being left to your own devices to pull whatever books you want off the shelves.
  • Making your own copies and paying at the end.
  • Being able to scan or take pictures of documents.
  • Great indexes – some even online!

The Bad:

  • Cramped rooms with no space for opening the books.
  • Having to ask for copies to be made for you – especially when the people working there are busy with “real work”.
  • When they don’t know where the older records are stored.  I’ve seen them searching under boxes of Christmas decorations before.  They were (thankfully) eventually found in the attic.
  • When very delicate pages of old books aren’t protected in any way.

And the Ugly:

  • Having no direct access to the books yourself.  Not being allowed behind the counter. Having to ask for each specific book and have it handed over the counter to you.  And then having to ask for them to make specific copies for you.  Annoying.
  • Being made to feel like you are inconveniencing the people who work there.  They have “real work” to do and apparently playing “go between” between me and the books isn’t their idea of real work.
  • Expensive copies.  50 cents a copy seems pretty steep to me – especially when I want full probate files copied.  I seriously spent $60 getting two probate record files at one courthouse.  (I really hope my husband doesn’t read this….) 🙂
  • Strange hours.  Closing at 2:30 after taking an hour lunch break?  Really?
  • No scanning.  No picture taking.
  • When the books/documents are no longer even at the courthouse!  Having to write a letter and send money across the state to get a copy of a probate file.  Ridiculous.

I’m sure that you veteran courthouse researchers out there have had similar experiences.  What would you add to the list??

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Filed in AgeeTags: ,

I have been wondering about the details of my great-great grandmother’s accident since I was a little girl. I remember by Grandma Donna telling me that her grandmother had lost her arm in a carriage accident.  She didn’t tell me any details though – or maybe I just don’t remember them.  Grandma Donna unfortunately died before I started on my genealogy journey, so I couldn’t ask her again about the family stories she knew.

I was later given confirmation of this story, when a distant cousin sent me this picture of Sally Jane (Lee) Agee:

She did indeed only have one arm.  And she quilted!! I think this is especially amazing since I can’t even quilt with two arms – and a sewing machine! 🙂

I also had the following information in her 1934 obituary, which I found on my first trip to Mount Ayr, Iowa.  “Twenty-two years ago Mrs. Agee lost her arm in an accident and through all the years has been a constant sufferer.”  So, I knew that she probably lost her arm in about 1912.  Unfortunately, I was short on time and couldn’t search for it.

That was years ago and I’ve been wondering about the accident this whole time.  This past week, I talked my husband into taking a day trip up to Mount Ayr again.  This time, I was completely prepared to read through the entire year’s worth of newspaper (or more) to find out what happened.  Thankfully, I only had to read through half the year, because I found this in June 1912 in the Mount Ayr Record-News:

“Mrs. A. Agee, of Delphos, who with her daughter Viva and son John, were going to visit her daughter, Mrs. Guy Fisher, south of Delphos Friday afternoon.  When going down a hill the shaft came down, caught in the ground and overturned the buggy.  The occupants were thrown out and Mrs. Agee’s arm was broken above the elbow in such a way that the doctors were unable to set it.  She was taken to the hospital in St. Joseph Saturday morning where the arm was amputated.  Mrs. Agee underwent the operation nicely and at last report she was getting along as well as could be expected.”

I was so happy to finally have some of my questions answered.  I hadn’t realized that her daughter Viva (my great-grandmother) was in the buggy with her.

It must have been a horrific thing to have happened to her.  They transported her to St. Joseph, MO – which is about 100 miles away.  And in the days before airlifting people by helicopter, that was a long ways to go.

She seems to have recovered from her trauma soon enough, because just a couple of months later, I found newspaper tidbits, saying that she was out visiting people.

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Filed in Follow Friday

I’m still in Slow-Speed Internet Land and have been spending lots of great time with family, so I haven’t done quite as much blog reading as normal.  Honestly, I’m horribly behind.  I did finally download a blog reader for my iPhone though, so hopefully I can start getting caught up when I have a spare moment or two.

I am going to have to postpone my “Shopping Through The Ages” series until I get to my new home.  I just don’t have the internet capabilities here to quickly browse the catalog. 🙁

We will be heading to El Paso this weekend and getting the keys to our new home on Wednesday. Another week after that and our stuff will show up. Then I’ll be knee deep in moving boxes for a while until I can get our house set up properly. One thing that I will make sure I have this time is a great workspace – just for me!

I talked my wonderful husband into taking another “quick” trip up to Iowa for a day of research earlier this week. I had some great finds, which I will be posting about in coming weeks. I really appreciate his support. 🙂 Do your family members humor you and happily stop at courthouses and cemeteries while you’re on vacation?

I wanted to give a quick shout out and thank you to Bruce Buzbee of Roots Magic.  He heard Ellie and me on the Geneabloggers radio show last week and asked Ellie if she’d like a copy of RootsMagic.  She jumped at the chance for free software and was so ecstatic to get not only the basic program software, but also a user’s manual, Personal Historian and Family Atlas!!  I was quite jealous. 🙂  She has already installed all of them on her laptop and started entering in some information.  I decided that I’m not going to give her my gedcom to open – at least not at first. I’m going to make her start a bit on her own so that she can get a feel for some basic research.  I think she’ll like the challenge. 🙂

Here are a few of my favorite finds this week.

  • Can you imagine finding a tombstone in your cellar?  Heather over at Nutfield Genealogy posted about her cousin’s amazing find.
  • Susan at Nolichucky Roots had a neat post about her family’s “Abe Lincking” game.  Who could get the closest connection?
  • I love reading about all of the clues that you can find in old photographs.  I also love it when a connection is found to an unknown photo.  Head over to Shades and the Overstuffed Baby Make a Connection to read the wonderful story.
  • My cousin Wendy, over at Shaking Leaves, had a great post, entitled “Those Places Thursday: Joseph Rooks in Grundy County, Mo“.  I think it’s great that she was able to use Earth Point and Google Earth to find their land!  She also had a great tip about Getting Yourself Out There.  Genealogy becomes so much easier when we find connections to living cousins!  I’m so glad that Wendy found me last year. 🙂
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