Skeletons in the closet

I have to admit to having a few ancestral skeletons in the closet. But then again, who doesn't? Many people that can trace their lines back even a few generations tend to run in to one or two black sheep.

Am I embarrassed? Absolutely not!

You see, I want to know the stories, not just the names, dates, and places. The stories help fit ancestors in to the fabric of history as well as flesh them out in to real people.

One two lines on my father's side, I discovered how two of my ancestors had died. We had had death dates for years in the family group sheets but no places and no sources cited. Thanks to genealogical websites like USGenWeb and Ancestry.com and Heritage Quest, I have found the answers to when, where and how they died. On one line, the (almost) end of line ancestor Anthony Amend ended up being shot to death by his son-in-law over an argument about a child. Various county histories fleshed out the story somewhat. One said he was shot at around noon. They all agree that the son-in-law, John Pierce, fled, was captured and held for trial but lynched before that could happen. Another history said John Pierce was known for his temper and often carried a weapon around with him. John was also the school teacher for the community. John's wife, Ann Amend, ended up a widow with one son and lived with her mother for several years. On another census, however, she has two sons. I guess one skeleton begets other skeletons later on. No one wanted to marry the widow of a patricide (in-law).

The other line ends up in a similar vein. The death date is even more muddled than ever but the death place and why are fairly clear. Around the week of October 1st, 1883, newspapers across the country carried a short paragraph about the stabbing death of the Amite County, Mississippi sheriff by Eugene McElwee. Apparently, they were arguing over politics. Both were Democrats and highly connected. Eugene was shot right after the stabbing by someone in the crowd that gathered. He was dead in under 10 minutes. The death date is in doubt because the newspapers all have slightly different references to the date it happened. One lists the 30th of September (a Sunday). One lists, "the previous Saturday", or the 29th. Because they are quoting another, longer news article, I don't know whether to believe it or not. I am working on a way to get a local article looked up for me to confirm details.

So, a several times great uncle murdered one several times great grandfather and another several times great grandfather was a murderer. Skeletons - yes. Something to hide - no, at least not any more. It is a success story. I now know what happened.

I can also see why we didn't know for so long. Shame, embarrassment, and fear would cause the families to just not talk about it. Eugene's widow moved within two years with her father's family, siblings, etc in a great migration to Waco, Texas. She remarried sometime in there and stayed in Texas the rest of her life.

I hope to be able to flesh more out on my pedigree soon. If I find more skeletons, so be it. It will be fun.

Missing Persons

How many times has someone told you "It's all been done before; there's nothing left to do"? Or they say something like "I don't know; my mom/grandma/aunt/uncle/cousin has done it all." I always try to tell them to ask who ever is doing it. You never know when a new set of eyes will spot a missing person.

After getting a subscription to Ancestry.com, I decided to start documenting my ancestors. I would take a family and follow them backwards through the censuses for starters. I wanted to be sure all the families were complete. That is where I stumbled on to my first missing person: 1900 Census - mother of how many children - 3/number living - 2. Wait, who is the third one? Of course, it would be the 1900 Census with the 20 year record gap to the 1880. The 1880 only shows the young couple and child number 1 (or is she number 2?). I continued on for a while looking up other Federal Censuses for that and other families. Still I wondered, who was this missing child?

A few months later, I was going over a Family History compilation from a family reunion. One of the things included were obituaries of various family members including the mother of the missing child. There it stated that mother had been preceded in death by Addie who had died at age 6 of scarlet fever. I knew the name. And I could eliminate the possibility of Addie being the oldest. She didn't show in 1880 and the couple were only two years married with a one year old. It narrowed down her possible time frame to 1880 (after the census) to 1884. It was possible that Addie was the twin of the second (third?) child.

No more luck until the State Censuses came on line at Ancestry.com. Iowa State Census for 1885 provided the last link. There she was: Addie, born 1884 in Mills County, Iowa. Her birth date I found on the USGenWeb, Iowa GenWeb, Mills County extracted birth records. I still need to confirm the validity of this but I have filled in the blanks. Now I just need to confirm death information.

What's in a name?

Now that I have decided to join the blogging community, I have to make all sorts of decisions, such as, "What do I title this thing?" and "What look do I want?" I want this blog to focus on genealogy. I looked at other genealogy related blogs and liked what I saw, but I didn't want to be a copycat. I wanted something that would relate a little about me and my experience.

I finally settled on "A Pro-Am Family Historian" as a title after reading about it in Wikipedia. To quote:

• "Pro-Ams - people pursuing amateur activities to professional standards" —excerpts, The Pro-Am Revolution (2004)

That settled it. I have a Bachelors in Family History from BYU, but I haven't (yet) accredited or certified. I have worked in the field for companies and worked on my own. I have done it as a volunteer and as an employee. It is a passion as well as an interest. Once I can accredit or get certified, I will, by all accounts, be considered a professional. I am trying to do all my work to that standard now.

Now I have to decide on a look. Wish me luck.