Michael John Neill's Genealogy Website
Focke Janssen Goldenstein was born in 1857 in Wrisse, Ostfriesland, Germany and died in Golden, Adams County, Illinois, in 1913. He married Anna Dirks in Coatsburg, Adams County, Illinois. Some things I’ve learned about research from Focke: the importance of migration chains. Focke’s parents and two siblings remained in Germany, but he was part of a […]
Anke Hinrichs Fecht was born in 1860 in Wiesens, Ostfriesland, Germany and died in Elvaston, Hancock County, Illinois in 1941. She married Jann Mimken Habben in Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois in 1881. Some lessons and clues I learned from researching Anke: Take care with getting non-English names correct. For years, I thought Anke’s birth name […]
The Pension Department contacted Eli Short in 1889 as a part of their investigation into the pension claim of Riley Rampley. Short responded in his own hand a few days later and the letter appears in Rampley’s pension file. Short was not the only comrade of Rampley’s that was contacted by the Department. It’s a […]
[this joke was published on our old site in 2015, but was so popular that I’m reposting it here] I’m not certain of the origin of this joke, but I’m paraphrasing it here. I’m fairly certain this joke first crossed my path at least ten years ago… ——————————————————– A widow had “discovered” genealogy and found […]
Jan Mimken Habben was born in Wiesens, Ostfriesland, Germany in 1859 and died in Elvaston, Hancock County, Illinois in 1939. He married Anke Hinrichs Fecht in Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois in 1881. Some clues about research and lessons learned from Jan’s life: Make certain your mother has clear title to property before she bequeaths it […]
Fredericka Marie (Sartorius) Janssen was born in Adams County, Illinois, in 1865 and died in Hancock County, Illinois, in 1913. She married Jans Jurgens Janssen in Adams County in 1888. A few things I learned from Fredericka: Children can spend significant time with their grandparents even if their parents are alive. Fredericka is enumerated with […]
I’ve ordered Tips & Quips for the Family Historian by Elizabeth Shown Mills from Genealogical Publishing Company. It’s not meant as a how-to guide, but is intended as (quoting the website) “bedside reading.” The way my mind operates, reading any genealogical material while trying to sleep means that I won’t sleep as it will only […]
There are many lessons in this 1918 letter from the Ashland, Nebraska, postmaster to the Pension Examiner, J. H. Himes. The first is that it is buried in the pension file of John Osenbaugh whose only connection to John and Dudley Pollard of Ashland, Nebraska, was that Osenbaugh married as his third wife Emmar (Sargent) […]
