september 26, 2014 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 77 Comments

Researching Cherokee Ancestry

As genealogists, we're often asked to research the likelihood and details of a client's Native American heritage.

The Cherokee are currently the largest federally-recognized native tribe in the United States. Although they originally lived in the Southeastern United States, they were among the people forcibly relocated by the policies of President Andrew Jackson in the 1830s via the Trail of Tears. Today, many of their descendants are headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. They were known as one of the “Five Civilized Tribes,” and were known to have closely interacted and assimilated with the settlers in their areas. They even started becoming U.S. citizens as early as the 1810s and 1820s.

The Cherokee are particularly known for having the first written language of any North American native group, developed by a man named Sequoyah in the early 19^th century. As a result, the literacy rate for the Cherokee was quite high – better even than that of the Southern white settlers.

The strategy used in researching a person's Cherokee ancestry can be quite different than researching other ancestry.

Unlike European tradition, the Cherokee family is matrilineal. This means that families are traced maternally, and that a person is considered a Cherokee if his or her mother was Cherokee, not necessarily the father. The Cherokee people are divided into clans, named as follows:

Anigilohi (Long Hair)
Aniwodi (Paint)
Anitsisqua (Bird)
Aniwaya (Wolf)
Anigodagewi (Wild Potato)
Aniawi (Deer)
Anisahoni (Blue)

A person’s clan membership was considered private and personal. Though not secret, they were also never formally recorded by the tribes. Unfortunately, if the clan name was not passed down through the generations, there is no way to determine it today.

The Cherokee concept of surnames was more fluid, and there are no surnames associated directly with membership in a clan. For example, the children of a famous Cherokee leader may have borne their father’s surname (in the European tradition), but they were actually members of their mother’s clan, which was different.

Although determining Cherokee heritage can be difficult, many helpful rolls and enumerations were kept by various government entities beginning in the early 1800s. Some were created before the removal and others afterward, but all can be valuable resources. Native Americans were also recorded in regular historical documents, such as federal censuses and vital records, and the more intermarriage that occurred, the more they may be found in government records.

If you want to determine whether you have Native American ancestry, here are some suggestions:

Do regular genealogy research. Just searching your ancestry can help point you in the right direction as far as whether your ancestors could have been Native American. For example, we've had clients come to us with the belief that an ancestor was Native American, only to learn that the ancestor's parents were born in Europe.
Find your ancestor in all available U.S. censuses and check the race recorded (but keep in mind that most Native Americans at the time preferred to “pass for white” and reported themselves as white or mulatto to census takers rather than claiming Native American status). In addition to regular federal censuses, a database of Indian census rolls from 1885-1940 is available at Ancestry.com.
Get a DNA test. A test can give you an estimate of the various origins of your ancestry and can be a great starting place. Also, after some research has been performed a DNA test at that point can be extremely helpful because you'll have a specific goal in mind and information to work off of.
Search histories – colonial, state, and local.
Check Cherokee rolls. There are a number of records which list individuals who were Cherokee between about 1810 and 1925. These were often related to land allotments and relocations. The Dawes Roll, one of the more famous Cherokee lists, can be searched here.

Finally, it’s always helpful to dispel some common myths about Cherokee ancestry:

The “Cherokee princess” – according to the official website of the Cherokee nation, this concept of royalty never existed. Most people use this term when referring to the daughter of a chief, but to do so would be inaccurate.
If you have certain physical characteristics, you must be part Native – we’ve heard it commonly claimed that because a person has dark hair, brown eyes, high cheekbones, or an olive complexion that they believe they have Native American ancestry. While this certainly could be the case, using a phenotypic description solely to make claims about one’s heritage has a high likelihood of being incorrect. There are many other ethnic groups throughout the world which also possess those physical characteristics. Either way, a DNA test is a very helpful route to take to know for sure, and we can help in selecting and analyzing that test.

Though sometimes trickier than researching other groups, finding a Native American ancestor can be extremely rewarding when done correctly. Like any other form of genealogy, it requires a case built of strong evidence.

Legacy Tree Genealogists has experts trained to know where and how to look for your elusive ancestors. We also have agents worldwide who can help obtain records not available online. Contact us today to let us know how we can help you learn more about your heritage.

september 15, 2014 by Legacy Tree Genealogists Leave a Comment

Ancestor’s Photographs: Worth a Thousand Words

Discovering an ancestor's photograph is one of the highlights of genealogy research. Bringing a face to a name is a priceless addition to any family tree. Here are a few ideas to help you locate ancestral photographs.

Photographs can be very interesting genealogical records, and we have been told are worth a thousand words. The picture above, taken sometime around 1908 at Warm River, Idaho, certainly tells something. Of particular interest is a couple in the back corner. They were Zina Gunter and David Howell, and at this summer family gathering, were courting, and by winter would celebrate a Christmas Eve wedding.

In the 1910 census, we find Zina and David living as husband and wife. Of note, 22-year-old Zina had given birth to one child, who had died. When one visits the cemetery where Zina was buried, one notices four brilliant-white grave markers within close proximity to hers:

A close study of the grave markers reveals that four children were born to Zina and David between 1910 and 1914, and all four children died. Looking into the faces of that courting couple staring out from the photograph, one wonders how this couple coped during those four years and withstood such unspeakable losses.

By the 1940 census, David had died and Zina was a 52-year-old widow living with her seven sons and one daughter. Within her lifetime, Zina delivered 12 babies and buried four, and then her husband. While documentation certainly fills in essential details, a picture really is worth a thousand words.

Here are some ideas if you're looking for photos of your ancestors:

Connect with cousins. Old photos tend to get passed down through generations, and a branch of your family may have ended up with them. Consider reaching out to relatives.
Search family tree databases. Large databases of family trees, such as at Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org, may have photos attached to ancestors.
Try a Google image search. Type the name of an ancestor into Google (surrounded by quote marks would be best), then click “Images.” For Google Search tips, check out our previous article, Google Searching Tips for Genealogists.
Search county histories. These often included photos with biographies. Many of these exist for the late 1800s in the Midwest and are at the Family History Library or online.
Connect with a local historical or genealogical society. Many local historical societies house collections of old photographs for their town, and many are not online.
Search naturalization records. Beginning in the 1900s, you may find a photo here.
Search passports. If you're lucky enough to have an ancestor with a passport, a photo should be there.
Search criminal records. If your ancestor landed in the penitentiary, you may get lucky with a photo.

Though not a photograph, a physical description of an ancestor can often be found in these resources:

World War I and World War II draft records
Passenger lists and naturalization records
Military records (pensions, etc.)
Some voter registration records

The professional genealogists and onsite agents at Legacy Tree are ready to assist you in extending your family history! Contact us to discuss which of our project options would best fit your needs.

september 1, 2014 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 3 Comments

Using Historical Context to Learn About An Ancestor

Understanding the historical context of the stories of your ancestry can provide important insight into your personal family history.

I recently had a project come across my desk where the client wanted to learn more about his father’s life during a 5-year time span that he was in the United States.

Unfortunately he arrived and departed between census records, so there was no way to locate him in the U.S. that way. However, by locating him on a passenger list we were able to learn the specific street address, city, and state he was headed to. Even with that information, he couldn’t be found in any available records, including city directories. However, when we used the information we did have – where he was from, his occupation, where he was headed – we were able to locate a newspaper article that talked about his exact situation. The article mentioned that people from his specific origin country came to that specific town during that specific time period to work in the steel mills. We then used maps to determine where each steel mill was located at that time (in the early 1920s), and when those were compared to his known address, we were able to determine which mill he likely worked in. Once that information was found, we were able to locate photos that were taken at that mill during the years our client’s father worked there. While it’s probably unlikely his father is one of the men in the photographs, they show what the day-to-day work would have been like for his father, and the article talked about the local area at that time as well.

This example shows why it is important to look at the historical context of the area(s) and time period(s) our ancestors lived in. In this case, even though we couldn't find information specifically about the man we were looking for, we were able to paint a pretty clear picture of his life during those 5 years by looking for information about the community around him. There are a lot of records out there to use for this type of search. County histories, newspapers, and city directories are a few of the most available ones, and you can also use online search engines to look for other histories and articles as well.

Sometimes it’s fun to pick an ancestor you don’t know a lot about, find out where they were living at a certain time (census records are good for this), and then learn all you can about what that area was like at the time they were living there. By the time you’re done, you’ll feel you know them better!

Do you want to know more about the lives of your ancestors? Contact us for a free quote so that our genealogy experts may begin helping you recover the stories of your ancestors that lie waiting in thousands of documents available from around the world.

august 29, 2014 by Legacy Tree Genealogists Leave a Comment

Keeping House in the 19th Century

The occupation of “keeping house” in the 19th Century, was no easy task! Here's a look at what such an occupation may have entailed for your ancestors.

Fanny Belle Kough was eighteen years old when she began her vocation of keeping house, as noted on the 1880 United States Federal Census:

Becoming the wife of Hatch Harman on 16 December 1879, Fanny Belle kept house for a man more than twice her age and his eight-year-old son from a previous marriage. Eventually, Fanny Belle would also keep house for the five children she and her husband would have together. The daughter of an Irish immigrant and a Kentucky native, Fanny Belle lived forty of her forty-two years in Hickman County, Kentucky. Her final resting place was in the beautiful, tree-lined Oakwood Cemetery in Hickman County, just a few miles from where she was born.

Fanny Belle and Hatch Harman lived during a time of certain cultural expectations and familial patterns. One of those expectations was painted in bold colors on the 1880 United States Federal Census. Nearly every wife enumerated on the census reported her occupation as “keeping house.” What did “keeping house” mean to Fanny Belle and the families living in 1880? What were the expectations?

The Culture of “Keeping House”

Advice literature during the 1880s educated women about the nobility found in keeping house. “To be a homemaker is…a privilege which none dare think slightingly of,” expressed Mrs. John A. Logan, “for is not the position of homemaker one which, nobly performed, will bring to every good woman the promise spoken of in the Bible, that ‘her children will arise and call her blessed?’”[1] Keeping house was the way in which a woman nurtured her family, as expressed by Shirley Murphy in her book, Our Homes and How to Make Them Healthy. “A clean, fresh, and well-ordered house exercises over its inmates a moral, no less than physical influence,” counseled Murphy, “and has a direct tendency to make members of the family sober, peaceable, and considerate of the feelings and happiness of each other.”[2] A messy, unkempt home indicated a less than moral family and probably a less successful family than one who resided in a well kept home. “Many a day-laborer, on his return at evening from his hard toil is repelled by the sight of a disorderly house and a comfortless supper,” lamented Mrs. M. H. Cornelius in her book, The Young Housekeeper, “and he makes his escape to the grog-shop or the underground gambling room.”[3] A wife who failed at keeping house caused irreparable harm to the members of her family.

A woman keeping house could expect to be measured by the state of her home. In their book, The American Woman’s Home, Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe lamented that women were not trained for their vocation of house keeping the way men were trained for their worldly vocations. They wrote, “Women are not trained for these duties as men are trained for their trades and professions. . . .nor is there any qualified body to certify that a woman is duly prepared to give proper instruction in her profession.” [4] Beecher and Stowe worried that as mistress of the home, the unprepared woman would not be able to “honor and enjoy” her duties. They explained that a woman’s profession “embraces the care and nursing of the body in the critical periods of infancy and sickness, the training of the human mind in the most impressible period of childhood, the instruction and control of servants, and most of the government and economies of the family state.” [5] Proper housekeeping was to be the goal of every lovely woman.

The “Christian house” as depicted in The American Woman’s Home

In reality, keeping house in the 1880s involved hard manual labor including sewing, cooking, cleaning, laundry, nurturing children, and often outdoor work like milking, gardening and caring for animals. Nineteenth-century kitchen ranges were fueled by coal or wood. Water had to be hauled in and boiled on laundry day. Food was preserved in jars. While men slaughtered the larger animals, women keeping house “killed and dressed poultry and did all the rest.”[6] Butter had to be churned, coffee grinded, and bread baked. Laundry was termed the “weekly affliction” and was most often done on Monday, followed by an entire day of ironing on Tuesday.[7] The items being washed were often hand made by the women keeping house. And the one keeping house was to do all this with a “cheerful temper” and be one who “carries an atmosphere about her which imparts a soothing and sustaining influence.”

Keeping house in the nineteenth century was full-time, all-encompassing work seen as the salvation of the family, employing nearly every married woman of the day.

The experts at Legacy Tree Genealogists have the knowledge and experience you need to help navigate the various nuances you may encounter as you explore your heritage. Our network of researchers extends all over the world, meaning we can access records necessary to extend your genealogy as far as possible. Contact us today for a free quote!

[1] Mrs. John A. Logan, The Home Manual, (Boston: A. M. Thayer and Company, 1889) quoted in Norton Juster, So Sweet to Labor: Rural Women in America 1865-1895 (New York: Viking Press, 1979) 103.

[2] Shirley F. Murphy, Our Homes and How to Make Them Healthy (London: Cassell & Co., 1883) 312, Books.google.com, accessed August 2014.

[3] Mary Hooker Cornelius, The Young Housekeeper’s Friend (Boston: Tagard & Thompson, 1868) 9, Archive.org, accessed August 2014.

[4] Beecher and Stowe, 14.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Harvey Green, The Light of the Home (New York: Pantheon Books, 1983) 66.

[7] Ibid., 72-73.

[8]Beecher and Stowe, 212.

august 27, 2014 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 2 Comments

Using Local Libraries and Historical Societies for Genealogy Research

One of our genealogists shares examples of how local libraries and historical societies can be a great asset for genealogy research.

The Hoyt Public Library in Saginaw, Michigan

In family history research, when it is discovered that a family lived in a particular town for an extensive length of time, contacting the local library and historical society can be a great investment of a genealogist's time and potentially yield great dividends. For instance, when we found that a family lived in Saginaw County, Michigan for over three generations, we looked at the Saginaw County library website to see what resources they offered. Come to find out, they offer an excellent obituary index compiled from the old local newspapers. We searched the index by the ancestor's surname and came up with nine pertinent obituaries. These obituaries provided priceless information about family members.

Using the Museum in Pennsylvania

For another research project, we found that a family lived in Bristol, Pennsylvania for three generations. We contacted the local museum and the curator was able to answer questions about cemetery locations and provide a detailed history of a still-standing masonic lodge, a building used by the family we were researching.

Cultural Transition in Utah

Library in Brigham City, Utah

In another case, the Brigham City (Utah) library had a copy of a master’s thesis wherein the writer explained the culture of the town at the turn of the nineteenth century, shedding light on the actions of a particular family that lived in the town at that time. Also of value was the thesis bibliography that contained a gold mine of otherwise unknown resources.

Marriage Documents in Texas

During other research, a librarian at the Mason County (Texas) Library turned out to be a member of the historical commission who was able to locate a crucial marriage document because she was familiar with what records were available and how to access them. The librarian also scoured other records for mentions of the surname under research, finding additional information. She was also able offer a theory for the actions of a young, nineteenth-century mother, who left her children behind and moved east to the Louisiana/Texas border and died shortly thereafter. Knowing local culture and geography, the librarian explained what probably happened, pointing us in a new direction of research.

Local libraries and historical societies are invaluable resources for gathering genealogy information, as they are staffed by friendly individuals who are passionate about their communities and willing to help disseminate information.

At Legacy Tree Genealogists, we leave no stone unturned when searching family history documents. Leave the sleuthing to us and let us discover and preserve your family stories! Contact us today to request a free quote.

august 22, 2014 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 3 Comments

Building A Family Tree: How Long Will It Take?

Are you wondering how much time it will take to build your family tree? Here's a breakdown of what to expect, and why it may help to hire a professional.

As professional genealogists, a question we receive frequently is, “How long will it take to build my family tree back as far as possible?”

If by, “as far as possible,” we mean as far back as the records go – which is usually considered around 1500 unless you connect into royalty – the answer is: a very long time!

Putting In The Time

First, consider the exponential rate at which family trees grow the further back they go. Generation 1 is only one person: yourself. Generation 2 is only two people: your parents. However, Generation 3 is four people, Generation 4 is eight people, Generation 5 is sixteen people, and Generation 6 is thirty-two people! This only usually goes back to the mid-1800s for most people alive today.

It is around generation 16 that you reach about the year 1500 in a typical pedigree. A family tree that goes 16 generations back on all lines would include 65,535 people! At only five minutes per individual for a genealogist to simply record names, dates, and places, that is 5,461 hours and 15 minutes. And that is only direct ancestors – it does not include all the siblings, spouses, aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives that are part of the whole family.

Consider Record Availability

Another factor to consider is the quality of the available records. In the United States and Canada there never was a national church where births, marriages, and deaths were recorded. Although this freedom of religion is appreciated, it does complicate genealogy research. Neither were major life events required to be recorded with the local government as they are today, and our ancestors were often too busy settling the country to bother paying attention to their birth date or writing down their parents’ names. Any existing records often only contain scattered bits and pieces of genealogy information.

Even in countries where everyone brought their newborns to the local church for baptism and therefore left many records, these are usually handwritten and often do not contain indexes. They can be organized according to all sorts of methods which require page-by-page searching to find one specific record. Doing family history research within these old records can be a careful and time-consuming process.

Genealogy “Brick Walls”

Finally, keep in mind the potential for brick walls. These are the sticky spots in a family tree where a parent cannot be identified for one reason or another. Sometimes (though we pride ourselves on this not being often) it truly is a dead end, but every possible avenue of research should be pursued before this can be determined. There are many methods for breaking through brick walls in genealogy – building a case of circumstantial evidence, collecting every possible record on the ancestor, searching for clues through the ancestor’s children’s records or those of neighbors, DNA evidence, etc. – but they all have one thing in common: time. Leaving no stone unturned can take a lot of time!

Analyzing Your Family Tree

One more thing to consider is accuracy. If you want your pedigree to truly reflect your heritage and ancestry, it is important for it to be accurate. One wrong connection in a tree can send the rest of that line in the wrong direction! Therefore, it is important to take the time to document, verify, and ensure that each connection is true and accurate. An online tree going back to Henry IV can be tempting to snap up and claim, but it should be very carefully reviewed.

Genealogy is fun and important because it helps us understand who we are, but good genealogy is not quick. Large family trees that go back to the beginning of the written record take a long time to build. So enjoy the journey, enjoy each triumph and step along the way, and celebrate each new ancestor added to your growing tree. Genealogy is a labor of love…and patience!

Do you need help tracing your ancestors? With genealogists specializing in all different types of research and onsite agents worldwide, we can help you track down those elusive records that might provide the clue(s) needed to extend your family line. Contact us today and request a free quote.

august 13, 2014 by Legacy Tree Genealogists Leave a Comment

Robin Williams – Genealogy and the Whole Person

A younger Robin

Genealogy affects each and every single person who has ever and will ever, live on Earth – including the beloved Robin Williams. Although a celebrity, Robin William's family history is rich just like each of ours.

We love that genealogy celebrates people as whole individuals – not just people in their vocations or locations but as people who had parents and ancestors, people who were born, grew up, married, and experienced life.

Robin Williams made a significant contribution to our culture and to the world, and beyond that he was a person like every person – one with ancestors who came before him, one with hopes, with struggles, and with successes.

The History of The Williams' Family

Anselm J. McLaurin

Robin Williams was born in Chicago on July 21, 1951. His middle name of McLaurin comes from the maiden name of his mother's grandmother – Stella May McLaurin. She was the daughter of senator and Mississippi governor Anselm J. McLaurin. The McLaurin name was passed on in the middle name of Stella's daughter, then to Stella's grandaughter, and then to her son Robin.

Robin's Williams line hails from Tennessee. His great-grandparents, Haywood Williams and Mary Riley, were both born in Tennessee and were apparently married there in the 1850s. Not long before the birth of their fourth child, Robert, they moved to Evansville, Indiana, where several more children were born. Here is the family in the 1880 census. You can see Haywood and Mary at the top. Robert, Robin's grandfather, was eight years old at the time (and apparently not in school yet).

1880 Census, Evansville, Vanderburgh, Indiana

By 1920, Robert was married with two kids, Robert F. (Robin's father) age 13, and Gordon F. age 5 (the census entries were split across two pages).

1920 U.S. Census, Evansville, Vanderburgh, Indiana

Robin's father would later move to Chicago where Robin was born. He died in Tiburon, California in 1987. Robin Williams passed away earlier this week in the same city. We wish his family peace as they struggle with this loss.

Legacy Tree Genealogists provides the research necessary to bring your family tree to life. Contact us today for a free quote.

august 11, 2014 by Legacy Tree Genealogists Leave a Comment

Decoding Property Records: Genealogy and the Base and Meridian

Property records are full of genealogy information! Here's how understanding the baseline and meridian in land records can help in your genealogy research.

Back in 1855 when the state of Utah was getting organized, the Salt Lake Meridian was established and it was from this very point that the entire state of Utah was surveyed. The stone post in this photo is essentially the center of Utah, and the baseline (or latitude) and meridian (longitude) is still surveyed from here. This was an accurate way to survey land, as opposed to the system used by the original thirteen colonies, that of metes and bounds. With metes and bounds, the description of your property would read, “…goes until this big rock, then west to the large maple tree, then north to the bend in the creek.” This system of property description met challenges when someone removed the rock or the tree died, or the creek changed its course.

Today’s modern way of surveying began in Ohio just after the Revolutionary War, with the establishment of the Public Land Survey System, where set points were established, or rather, one major north-south line, the meridian, and one major east-west line, the base. From this came the borders and descriptions of property.

What does this have to do with genealogy?

Discovering Precious Documentation

In doing research for a family who lived in Jefferson County, Nebraska for over sixty years, we found the following 1886 land patent:

The family’s property in Jefferson County was described like this:

The North half of the South East Quarter of Section Eleven and the West half of the South West Quarter of Section Twelve in Township One South of Range Two East

How do you interpret this description?

Decoding Property Records

Nebraska, and all states using the Public Land Survey System, was divided, or surveyed, into squares, with the Baseline and Meridian intersecting as the center point. Each square on the grid was described by where it was in relation to the baseline and meridian. Each square on the grid is called a township and is 36 square miles. Each township is divided into 36 squares, each one square mile. Each square is numbered and called a section. Each section is divided into quarters.

From http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilmaga/landmaps/range_map.html

This land patent was describing two pieces of property, both in Township One South (T1S) of Range Two East (R2E). When the land patent says this property was in Township One South, we know that the property is located on the first line south of the baseline. When the land patent says Range Two East, we know that the property is also two blocks east of the meridian.

Finding the location of a property can help when you need to learn more about an ancestor's neighbors and trace what may have been a joint migration into or out of town. It can also be helpful in tracking the succession of that property into your ancestor’s hands and then into the hands of another in case one of those people was related to or connected to your ancestor. Plus, finding an ancestor’s location is just plain fascinating, especially if you can visit that spot!

Legacy Tree Genealogists’ team of experts leave no stone unturned in pursuit of your ancestors. Whether scouring record page by page or utilizing our network of onsite agents to access records in an archive or repository, we have the knowledge and experience to extend your family history as far back as records will allow. Contact us to discuss which of our project options would best fit your needs.