Month: December 2020

It is Not An “Immigration” FamilySearch

The search results for Ger* Miller in FamilySearch.org‘s “Illinois, County Naturalization Records, 1800-1998” lists several entries. The ones from Adams County, Illinois, were of particular interest. But the year given is referred to as an immigration year. They are not. While some declarations of intention do provide a year of arrival in the United States, […]

Share

Yes, but…

I usually hate the phrase “Yes, but…” because the “but” is often followed by an excuse. However there are times. The image in this illustration shows that “Penn” and “Tenn” could easily be confused by a transcriptionist or indexer. I realize that reading the entire page of entries would probably make it clear how the […]

Share

A String of Finds to Get to Ben

There’s a school of genealogical thought that essentially says “writing about the genealogy research process is not what matters. It is the finished product that matters.” While the finished product (the compiled genealogy or the analysis and correlation of records to make the case that a conjecture has been established) is important, the research process […]

Share

Bottling His Identity

The list of burials in the Vicksburg National Cemetery in Vicksburg, Mississippi, testifies to the number of soldiers whose final resting place is in that cemetery. The number of entries marked as “unknown” silently memorialize the large number of remains that were unidentifiable. Not all burials in the Vicksburg National Cemetery have identities that will […]

Share

Civil War Pension Files of Former Slaves Who Served

I was leafing through Voices of Emancipation and got to wondering if any of my forebears who owned slaves are mentioned in a Civil War pension application of one of those former slaves. Regosin and Shaffer discuss several applications where affidavits or statements reference the slaveholding family who held the veteran before the war, particularly […]

Share