Storybook Ancestor

Well y'all, it's been fun here, but I am officially retiring this blog. But don't worry, I'm not going away!

I am transitioning to my new website and blog, Storybook Ancestor, at www.storybookancestor.org. I'm very excited about this new project, and I hope you'll follow along. I'll continue to share my personal family history stories there as I did here, but this site will also be dedicated to stories from all of you!

The mission of Storybook Ancestor is to encourage children to explore their family history, and then to tell the stories they find there - the stories of themselves, their families, and their ancestors. The blog will be full of stories, writing tips, history and genealogy lessons, and book reviews.

 Currently, the landing page is live, and the full site will be coming mid January 2017. The exciting news for you right now: when you subscribe to the newsletter, you receive a free e-book  - Writing Family History for Kids: A Workbook & Guide. It's a basic introduction to family history for kids, and also a guide to writing the stories they discover as they talk to their elders and do a little research. And the exciting news for the kids who work through the book - they can submit the stories they write through the workbook and they'll be published on the site!

It's all about the power of story. Our stories help us understand the world around us, past, present, and future, and help us understand each other. Our stories have the power to heal and make the world a better place.

This blog will remain live, and please feel free to read through it, but do follow along at Storybook Ancestor for more! I hope to see you there.


www.storybookancestor.org

Connect with me on social media:

Storybook Ancestor:
Facebook: /storybookancestor
Twitter: @storyancestry
Instagram: @storybookancestor

Me:
Facebook: /katieandrewspotter
Twitter: @andrewspotter26
Instagram: @andrewspotter26

See ya around!

Katie

Thankful Thursday: On the Passing of my Great-great Aunt

I know I haven't written on this blog in a few weeks, and I suppose it's because I've been in a very reflective mode during this time. Just ten days after her 95th birthday in March, I got a text from my mom that my great-great aunt Betts had just been put on hospice care. She had likely had a heart attack overnight. She never woke up. She passed away just minutes before my husband and I made it to her care facility. She was surrounded by family when she died, and we all took hands and said a tearful prayer together. We thanked God for her life, and rested in the assurance that she was now with him. And then we said the Lord's Prayer together, all of us standing around her bedside. How surreal it was.

I'm our family historian. I'm only 30, and I've been the family historian since I was 16. My great-uncle actually just told me the other day they had a family history question for me. Me! But later that afternoon at Betts' care facility, as my family sat together reminiscing, it hit me. Aunt Betts had been my connection to our family history. She had always been there. She had always been a fiercely independent woman with a sharp wit and an even sharper memory. She was the granddaughter of Irish immigrants, and of Indiana pioneers. She was alive during the Depression, she could remember World War II clearly, though she didn't really speak of it. She knew more about sports than anybody I've ever known, and was quite the athlete in her day - she even is in the Indiana Softball Hall of Fame. And she loved her family. She told me so many stories about her parents, her grandparents, her fun in her childhood and youth with her brother and her sister - my great-grandmother, who died years before I was born. She was a standing pillar of history in our family. She was the one who kept the distantly growing different sides of our family together. Most of us really only saw each other once a year in March at her birthday parties. She was the last of an old age in my family, and now she's no longer with us to answer our questions, to tell us stories of the last 95 years, to laugh with us and play Euchre with us.

 

 

So today I choose to be thankful for her life. I'm thankful I knew her. I'm thankful she was "adopted" into our side of the family. That she spent all her holidays with us. That she faithfully sent us birthday and Christmas cards every year that simply read, "Love, Betts". That she was hilarious and could beat anybody at Euchre. That she kept friends that she had known since grade school her whole life. That up until her death, she was there for my entire life, my mother's entire life, and my grandmother's entire life, and my great-grandmother's entire life. I'm thankful I got to ask her what her parents and grandparents were like. I'm thankful I got to tell her her other grandparents' names, as she never knew them. I'm grateful to now be the caretaker of all her photo albums and memorabilia, because she knew how much I will treasure them. I'm thankful that she lived a long, full, life, and that she died peacefully. I'm thankful she was a part of our family.

Her passing has made a mark on me as a person, as a family member, and as a family historian. It has reminded me how important it is to gather our elders' stories while we can. It's made me grateful I started our family history work as a teenager, because I got to open my eyes to a whole other level to our family I would never have experienced had I been indifferent, and I got to spend precious time with Aunt Betts I otherwise may not have. Family history is so important. It shows you who you are, who your family is, it helps you appreciate who you came from, and provides you with a unique identity and pride. And boy, does it show you love. And today I'm thankful for love.

Our Irish Ancestors

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of all things Irish, I decided to write up a little overview of my Irish ancestors on my maternal grandmother's side (Jacqueline Ann Mulry Lutz, see the last post for more about her). So if you're related to me through her side, these are your ancestors, too!

Mulry, Reardon, Dunn

The Mulry family originally came to Indianapolis in the 1860s. John Mulry was born in 1845 in Co. Galway, Ireland and his wife Mary Ellen Reardon was born in 1848 in Co. Limerick. They came over the same year and met and were married in Boston, Massachusetts. John ran a blacksmith shop with his brother Lawrence in Indianapolis, and they lived in the Fountain Square neighborhood. They were members of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Fountain Square, and most of them are buried in Holy Cross Cemetery on the near south side.



John & Mary Mulry's grave in Holy Cross Cemetery in Indianapolis - buried with their young daughter Mamie

St. Patrick's Church in Fountain Square, Indianapolis.
Courtesy of the Archives of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis

 

John's parents were James Mulry and Mary Dunn. They were married in 1837 in Co. Galway. They lived in parish of Killian in the townland of Toomard.

Garrity, Walsh, O'Donnell, Hessian

This side of the family lived in and around Connersville, Indiana. My great-great grandmother, Katharine Garrity Fox, was my grandma Jackie's maternal grandmother. Katharine was the daughter of John Garrity and Anna Walsh and was born in Connersville in 1889.

John Garrity was born in 1857 in Indiana to Irish immigrants Patrick Garrity (Geraghty) and Hannah O'Donnell. Patrick was born in 1829 in Co. Mayo, and Hannah was born in 1832 in Co. Galway to Pat O'Donnell and Mary Hessian. Patrick and Hannah were married in 1849 in Co. Mayo, and their first child was born there in 1850. They then immigrated to Wayne Co., Indiana, during the Potato Famine, and had several more children in Indiana.

Anna Walsh was born in 1859 in England to Irish parents, Edward and Winifred Walsh. Edward died young, and Winifred and their three children, Anna, Mary, and John immigrated to Connersville, Fayette, Indiana in the early 1860s. They were members of St. Gabriel's Catholic Church, and many of them are buried in the Connersville City Cemetery. Anna was left to care for many young children when her husband John died young in 1895. Anna passed away in 1905 in Connersville, and her younger children went to live with her sister Mary in Indianapolis. This is how Katharine Garrity Fox came to live in Indianapolis.

Katharine Garrity Fox

All of our Irish ancestors were Catholics, and so we owe their faith originally to St. Patrick! My great-great uncle, Larry Mulry, told the story:

“The best story of all that I ever heard of all of them was the one about Grandma wanting to make a priest out of my father Lawrence. As you can plainly see, it is a good thing that she did not succeed because none of us would be here now as he was the only one to have any children to carry on the name.”

 

So now you know we really have the luck of the Irish!

 

This photo was taken by Beautiful Ireland Photography specifically for my Mulry Family History book. This road is near Toomard, Killian, Co. Galway, where the Mulry family was from.

A keepsake of my great-grandfather's brother, Larry Mulry "Mike"
 

 

 

Have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day, and to my family - keep your Irish pride alive!

 

Katie

 

This Day in my Family History: Grandma Jackie Mulry Lutz

This day in my family history is particularly special, as it is my grandma's birthday. She was born Jacqueline Ann Mulry on March 10, 1945, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to James and Mary Ann Fox Mulry. She was a very special lady, and tragically passed away in a car accident in 1993, when I was 7. But I still have many memories of her, and thought I'd share some fun memories of her on this post, as well as those of some of my other family members.

Me & Grandma

Remembering her as a young child, the first things that pop into my head are the funny memories. I remember her doing the splits in her kitchen, and wearing a funny hat in the convertible driving ahead of us. One thing I don't really remember, but have seen on video, is when I was a flower girl at my aunt's wedding, I think I was 4. I was up front pouting and throwing a silent temper tantrum, and she was sitting in the front row snapping at me to come sit next to her. Ha! Another time I was in the car with her, probably heading to the salon, and she was whipping around the corners a little fast and I told her, "Grandma, you have to be careful with me!"

Apparently she was a trickster, too. She and my uncle would pour cold water on each other in the shower. James, my uncle, would also put fake snakes in the bathtub to freak her out, because she hated snakes. One time when the family was camping at SNH Campground, which they did often, she and two of her friends stayed up half the night making the word "COLD" out of paper and taped it up on the camp shower house so that it read "COLD SHOWERS" because they were tired of taking cold showers there!

She loved animals, which is I think where all of us get it. She had always had cats, and loved her white cat named Zero. One time she was serving a big chicken dinner and Zero got up on the table and ran all the way across it, making a huge mess. I also remember her waking me up when I spent the night at their house to show me the raccoons on their porch.

Grandma loved her family, and she loved Jesus. I know we'll see her again some day. Happy birthday, Grandma!

This Day in my Family History: Glenn D. Andrews

Glenn Daniel Andrews

1911-2000

My grandpa, or "Papaw", was born in May 1911 in Abingdon, Illinois. His name was Glenn Daniel Andrews, "Glenn D." or "Shorty" - named after his father and grandfather, as I would come to discover. He was on my mind today, as he passed away on this day in 2000. I was 14 when he died. Just two years later was when I first started researching my family history, so I never got to ask him about his family. My grandma, his wife, didn't know much about them, and he didn't really have any photos from his younger years. Or so I thought.

We were doing some spring cleaning today, and my husband pulled out an old, sealed envelope addressed to my grandparents from the 1960s or 70s. Sealed? I eyed my husband and opened it up. Inside was a letter from my grandpa's sister, Louise Andrews Dunlap, and with it were photos of my grandpa and his family.

I'm still trying to pick up my jaw off the floor. I have never in my life seen a childhood photo of my grandpa, until today, sixteen years to the day after he died. In addition were photos of Louise, their other sister, Ruth, and their mother Helen Lucky Andrews - someone else I have never seen a photo of. Excuse me while I freak out. These pictures have been right under my nose all these years, and I didn't know it until today. That's the thing about researching your family history, isn't it - even after doing it for years and years, there is always more to find.

Here are the pictures:

(Probably) Ruth & their mother, Helen Lucky Andrews, 1938

 

 

My grandpa

And my favorite:

Louise (left) & Glenn (right)

 

Never stop searching. You never know what you'll find.

This Day in my Family History: In Search of Mary Mulry Bland

I'm finally back at the blog challenge- "this day in my family history." Anybody else at it, too? Comment with a link to your blog.

On this day 103 years ago, January 25, 1913, my great-great aunt, Mary Elizabeth Mulry, was born. She was born in Indianapolis to Lawrence and Nellie Hitchcock Mulry. She grew up with three brothers, Larry, John, and James.

Mary's 61st birthday - 1974

Mary married three times, first to a Leroy Heinrichs in 1929. She had two children with her second husband, Thomas West, - Robert "Bobby", and Marilyn. Tragically, Marilyn was killed in an accident while riding her bike when she was only 12 years old. Mary married a third time to Ralph Bland, and they had five sons - Ralph, Larry, Johnny, Kenny, and Gilbert. She lived in Beech Grove for much of her life, and passed away in 1985. She is buried at Washington Park East Cemetery in Indianapolis.

John, Mary, Larry, & Jim
Mulry siblings at Mulry family reunion 1974

For the past five years now, I have been researching and writing a book about the Mulry family of Indianapolis. I have been able to collect a plethora of information- genealogical details, stories, memories, photographs, and more- about the families of Mary's brothers, Larry, John, and James. (I am descended from James.) I have not had such luck with Mary's family. Despite the potential for many descendants with six sons, I have not been able to locate Bland or West relatives and therefore I know next to nothing about her side. There have been some memories of Mary and her family shared with me by relatives on her brothers' sides, but none of them have any idea of the whereabouts of her family nowadays. If on the off chance that you are related to Mary and you happen upon this blog, I would absolutely love to hear from you. I have been wanting to publish the Mulry Family History for some time now, but there's one thing holding me back and it's this gaping hole in the book that is the Bland family. I would love to complete the family history book, but it may just not be possible. I may just need to bite the bullet and publish it as is, but something is holding me back. If any of you are out there...help?

 

Mary Elizabeth Mulry Bland

  1913-1985

         

 

Wayfaring Stranger: A Song That's Stood the Test of Time

The minor key gets me every time. The passion of the voice, the violin, strum of a guitar, the words. That song took root in my soul years ago, it's tattooed on my foot, I listen to it nearly every day. It reminds me of what’s to come, it reminds me to focus on the Lord, it grounds me and centers me. That song… My ancestors sang it, the pioneers in the mountains, the African slaves of the south sang it, and the characters in my books. It’s called Wayfaring Stranger.

The song has a long history, and it’s so shrouded in mystery. It's said to be an Appalachian folk song, others say it’s a slave spiritual. It could very well be both. It's been sung throughout America for two hundred years, and it's stood the test of time, as recording artists are still creating new versions every year. It was sung at revival meetings, and it could have been code for freedom among the slaves - "going over 'Jordan'" could have meant the Ohio River, bordering slave and free states. It just grabs at you with its heartfelt, haunting tune, its words about longing for heaven and to be done with the trials of this earth. It reminds me of the verse from Romans 8, that we long to be set free, that all creation groans for redemption, for the next life. I’ve been listening to this song nearly every day for seven years straight, and I never tire of it. It’s a part of me now.

A Treasury of American Song tells the song was first recorded as having been song as early as 1830, but was likely around for years or decades before then. One source claims it dates to 1784. Spiritual Folk Songs of Early America says the song is found in the first edition of Sacred Harp in 1844, and a note along with the song reads: “the compiler, John G. McCurry, Hartwell, Georgia, ‘when eight years old, learned the air of this tune from Mrs. Catherine Penn.’ That was therefore 1829.”

 

Today, the song lives on in homes and churches around the country, and artists from Johnny Cash, Andy Griffith, Emmy Lou Harris, Alex Boye, Jack White to Ed Sheeran have created their own versions. Log in to Youtube or Spotify and just scroll down the list. There are hundreds of versions of this song, and no two are alike. That’s the beautiful thing about old folk tunes such as this—you can take it and run with it and make it your own. Violin to acapella to guitar, you can do anything with this song. The words lend themselves to creativity, and yet I have not found a version that was not true to its original intent. Some versions I can listen to over and over again and am still moved by them every time. Find your favorite version and leave it in the comments. I’m always looking for more versions to add to my collection.

 

 

I am just goin' over Jordan

I am just goin' over home

 

What song means the most to you?

This Day in my Family History: Carrie Goldquist Luckey

My 3rd post in the This Day in my Family History blog challenge! Are any of you doing it? Comment below with a link to your blog to share it with others. Maybe we'll have ancestors that shares a birthday...you never know!

The ancestor I want to write about today I'm not even entirely sure what name she went by. I've found her listed as Ruth Carolyn, Carolyn Christine, Ruthie C., and Carrie. But since her granddaughter Ruth, my great-aunt, recorded her name as Carrie, I suppose we'll stick with that.

Family tree of Helen Lucky Andrews, daughter of Carrie Goldquist Luckey, written by Ruth Andrews Fairchild

Carrie Goldquist was born on January 7, 1860 in Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois, to Olof and Fredericka Petersen Goldquist. Her parents were Swedish immigrants and were among the first settlers in the county. Her father, Olof, died when she was still very young. Carrie was the fourth of five children, and she lived almost her entire life in Knox County. She graduated from Galesburg High School in 1878 and married Joseph M. Luckey on December 21, 1880. We find the family in the 1900 census with six children. In 1910 they are living on East Main Street in Galesburg with the youngest four of their children, and Joseph is working as a machinist for the railroad. In this census we first see the musical talent recorded that ran in the family, as her daughter Josephine is listed as a pianist. Later her daughter Helen (my great-grandmother) would go on to attend the Knox Conservatory of Music, and Helen's son-in-law, Donald Fairchild, would become a well-known pianist and composer.

Carrie continued to live in Galesburg until she and Joseph moved to Muhlenberg, Kentucky, presumably to live with their daughter Josephine's family. Carrie passed away in 1929, and her burial site is unknown. Joseph is found living with their daughter Josephine and her husband in the 1930 census, and he passed away in 1931.

The Luckey family is somewhat of a mystery. Helen Luckey, Carrie's daughter, was my great-grandmother, my paternal grandfather's mother. My Papaw died in 2000, two years before I began my genealogy work, and therefore I never got to ask him about his family, and my grandma, his wife, knew next to nothing about them. My grandpa was born in Knox County, Illinois, but came to Indianapolis when still quite young, and apparently did not have a good relationship (or any relationship) with much of his family. I've pieced together a story over the years, and have made contact with some family members who still live in Illinois, but this whole side of the tree is still shrouded in secrets. For now, I'll just keep researching!

This Day in my Family History: William & Almira Holsclaw's Wedding

I hadn't planned on writing today but while looking over events in my family history in January, I discovered today is the wedding anniversary of my favorite couple in my family tree. William and Almira King Holsclaw were wedded on January 2, 1862 in Jennings County, Indiana. They were married an impressive 68 years before William passed away in 1930, and Almira soon after him in 1931. They were survived by five of their eight children, many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. They were buried in the Summerfield Cemetery (also known as the Vawter Cemetery), which lies on a hilltop above the Muscatatuck River in Selmier State Forest in Jennings County.

Two newspaper articles follow, published on January 2, 1924, and another on January 2, 1929, their 62nd and 67th anniversaries respectively. Many thanks to Don Stanwyck for passing them on to me.

January 2, 1924

On Wednesday, the second day of January this year, Mr. and Mrs.

Holsclaw celebrated in a very quite (sic) manner their 62nd wedding

anniversary.

    To be blessed with long life is a gift from God and to live for 62

years as man and wife, sharing together the joys as well as the sorrows

of this world is more than a blessing.

    We frequently read where some happy couple have lived to celebrate

their their 60th anniversary, but how often do we hear of one living to

celebrate their 62nd anniversary and as is the case with Mr. and Mrs.

Holsclaw in apparently good health.

    Mr. Holsclaw has one sister living, Mrs. Agnes Fredenburg, age 78 of

Westport, Ind., and Mrs. Holsclaw has a brother, George Alvin King of

Lincoln, Neb.

    Three brothers of Mr. Holsclaw's served thruout (sic) the Civil war.

    Mr. and Mrs. Holsclaw are noted thruout the neighborhood for their

generosity and kindness and it is with the fondest hopes that all their

friends wish them many more years of wedded life.

 

January 2, 1929

 

NORTH VERNON, Ind., January 2.
Mr. and Mrs. William T. Holsclaw today celebrated the sixty-seventh anniversary of their marriage at their home in Jennings County, just east of this city. They entertained their children and their families. Mr. and Mrs. Holsclaw were married by Mrs. Holsclaw's grandfather, the Rev. William Vawter, January 2, 1862 and their married life has been spent in what is known as the Deer Creek neighborhood. Mrs. Holsclaw was born at Deer Creek and is now eighty-six years old. Mr. Holsclaw was born in Garrett county, Kentucky, and is now ninety-three.

Their living children are: Ezra Holsclaw, living near Franklin; Mrs. Jennie Carson, Seymour; Mrs. Oscar Beeman, Jennings county; Harry Holsclaw, Auburn, Cal., and Mrs. H. A. Searles, Spokane, Wash. The have thirty grandchildren, sixteen great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

 

 

William and Almira are among my favorite ancestors, and I love to read about their life together. Have you found events in your ancestors' lives to write about on the anniversary of their happening? Let me know if you've joined the (temporarily named) This Day in my Family History challenge!

This Day in my Family History: Blog Challenge

Growing up with a daily newspaper in our house, I always gravitated towards the This Day in History section. I loved feeling a connection with the past by reading what was happening on that day at different points in history, all around the world. But I’ve been thinking, how cool would it be to create a This Day in Family History record. It would be a huge undertaking, scouring records and lists for hours to find all that happened on that very day throughout your entire family tree. But how about for a start creating a blog challenge dedicated to it? Pick one event on certain days throughout the year and blog about it, then share it with your readers, and especially your family! It could be about anything—but I’ll probably stick to birth, marriage, and death dates. So, what about you? Is this sparking any ideas in your head? What should we call this? Fernando Hidalgo (@Genealogistapro) on Twitter suggested “A Day in the Life” like the Beatles song (I heard the news today, oh no). More ideas? Are you on board? Amy Johnson Crow, you inspired me to do this with your #52Ancestors challenge, which I fell off of too soon, but I kept up reading your blogs. I hope to inspire others to write about their ancestors the way you did! So, y’all, are you with me? Comment with a link to your blog and let me know!

 

 

 

So, I looked through my family tree to find an event in my family history on January 1, and ended up landed in the year 1868. I thought this was very fitting, since I’m a little fascinated with this branch, the Potter family, but the funny things is—it’s not my ancestry, it’s my husband’s! I figure it counts since it’s my kids’ tree too. So, on January 1, 1868, Lewis Edward Potter was born in Brown County, Indiana to William and Mary Rogers Potter, their second son. William and Mary were married in 1864, and just five months later William joined the 145^th Indiana Volunteer Infantry in the Union Army, and spent time in Georgia. Lewis was born a few short years after the Civil War ended. Even in 1868, Lewis was a third generation Hoosier. The Potters reportedly came to Brown County because they heard it was pretty! Lewis, or Lew, grew up in the area, and married in 1890 to Ella Story Bracken, who was also a native Hoosier, having been born just over a month later in neighboring Monroe County—likely in a little log cabin, which her father John Bracken wrote about in his letters home while he was in Ohio finding work. The conditions surrounding Lewis’ birth is not certain, but apparently he and his brothers with their father William built a home on Tunnel Road near Unionville, including a solid walnut stairway.

Lewis and Ella were married in Martinsville, which their grandson William speculates may have been the romantic thing to do at the time. They lived north of Bloomington when their first child, Ethel, was born in 1891. Their grandson William tells of houses they lived in being on Boultinghouse Road and Shuffle Creek, two roads which I have tracked down and daydreamed my way through the drive. (These place names in genealogy can be magical when you have a little imagination.) They suffered a house fire and were living in Bloomington by 1896, lived in the country once more, when their son William was born, my husband’s great-grandfather, and then they built a house in Bloomington in 1906, where they stayed and continued to remodel. Lewis took positions as a janitor at the high school and a church. Lewis and Ella had a total of eight children between 1891 and 1911. Lewis passed away in 1950, Ella in 1954, and they are buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Bloomington.

 

A big thanks goes to my husband's great-uncle William Potter, who researched and compiled the Potter family history. I'm very grateful for his hard work!

 

Leave a comment with your ideas, your thoughts, your links, and let’s get to writing!

P.S. I'm still working on #StorybookAncestor with my daughter. I'd love to have some company in that, too. See a few posts below for that one!

Motivation Monday: Free Online History & Genealogy Courses

I'm a lifelong learner. I'm one of those people who used to drool over course listings in college, and then get all giddy as I looked through the syllabus. I started graduate school this year, finally studying something I've always loved - American History. I'm taking it slow, only one or two courses a year, especially since I'm homeschooling my kids and they come first. But I am still dying to learn more in the fields of history and genealogy, and bringing those worlds to kids through my writing, so when I discovered that universities and organizations offer free (or mostly free) online courses that you can attend at your own pace - well, hello!

Maybe you're with me? Maybe you don't want to make the commitment to go back to school but you still want to learn. Below is the list of history and genealogy courses I want to take over the next year, along with the websites and schools that offer them. Let me know if you see any you want to take, too,  or if you have other recommendations! Maybe we can take them together and discuss.

HISTORY

* Citizenship & U.S. Immigration - Coursera - Emory University
* History of the Slave South - Coursera - University of Pennsylvania
* African American History: Emancipation to Present - Openculture - Yale University
* Colonial & Revolutionary America - Openculture - Stanford University
* Europe in the 19th Century - Openculture - UC Berkeley
* European Civilization: 1648-1945 - Openculture - Yale University
* European Cultural History: 1500-1815 - Openculture - Univesity of Wisconsin-Madison
* History of the United States since 1877 - Openculture - Missouri State
* The Civil War & Reconstruction Era: 1845-1877 - Openculture - Yale

www.coursera.com
www.edx.org
www.openculture.com


GENEALOGY

* Helping Children Love Your Family History - Brigham Young University
* Vital Records - Brigham Young University
* Family Records - Brigham Young University
* Military Records - Brigham Young University
* Germany Research - Brigham Young University
* Huguenot Research - Brigham Young University
* FamilySearch courses - on anything and everything! - https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/home.html
http://is.byu.edu/site/courses/free.cfm#

Also- National Genealogical Society has very affordable courses. I'm going to become a member soon and take their courses.
http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/educational_courses

EDUCATION

* Teaching Historical Inquiry with Objects - EdX - Smithsonian
* The Art of Teaching History: A Global Conversation for Secondary Educators - Coursera - Rice University


That's just a sampling of what's out there. What do you see that you'd like to learn about? Check out all those websites and let me know. I'm serious  I'd love a study buddy. Happy learning! :)

#StorybookAncestor

Grandma has an exciting story to tell about her life. Grandpa has told us how he walked three miles to school in the snow, uphill both ways. Your Great-great aunt has passed on exciting stories about her grandparents, who were born just before the Civil War started. These stories have taken up a special place in your heart, and you want them to survive. Keeping stories alive about someone in your family that was a witness to the Civil War is so important to you, but the genealogy bug hasn't gotten to your kids yet, and in order for family history to survive, we need to pass it on to the younger generations.

If you like classic television, you’ve surely seen The Andy Griffith Show. In one of my favorite episodes, Andy gets stuck in a bind with his son’s teacher over History homework. The teacher gets so frustrated with her students’ apparent lack of interest in their History studies that she is on the verge of quitting when Andy steps in and tells the boys that they don’t want to learn about all that “dull stuff” anyway –about “Indians, and Redcoats, and cannons, and guns and muskets and stuff.” The boys get all excited that Andy seems to be in agreement with them, and then they pause, turn, and look at him quizzically. Then one pipes up: “What about Indians and Redcoats and cannons and muskets and guns and stuff?” Andy brushes it off, saying, “Oh, you know. Indians and Redcoats, and you know…history.” And with that, the boys are hooked.

Andy then engages the boys (and his deputy, Barney Fife) in a heart-pounding rendition of the tale of Paul Revere, and with every word, the boys’ eyes grow wider, their jaws drop further, and they are drawn more and more into the story. “He says the British is comin’, the British is comin’, get your guns, we’re gonna have us a revolution!” When Andy is finished, they demand to know just where he got that story! Andy just replies, “Oh, your history book.” But the bait is already sunk. The boys have been won over. History has come alive for them through the power of storytelling, and they wanted to know more.


Barney and the boys listening to Andy's story

 

(If you want to see the entire episode, it’s called Andy Discovers America, and it’s on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zYFC0-f7Qs. The excerpt I discussed starts at the 10:15 mark.)

Children need to know that their ancestors’ lives were a series of stories. There were times your ancestors probably picked up their son or daughter on their knee and told them the story of the time they did this or that. Pa Ingalls in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House book series was an expert storyteller. Laura preserved those stories in her books, always just as exciting as when Pa told it to her.

And that is what I want to challenge you to do with your children. Capture your family stories in a homemade storybook. Write out their stories in narrative form, with dialogue and action verbs and illustrations by your child. Turn that story your grandpa told you into a storybook. Turn the family legend of your ancestor’s crossing of the Atlantic into a storybook. Was your 7^th great-grandfather a teacher in a small town in Germany? His story can be in a storybook. Was your 3^rd great-grandfather a Union soldier? That can be a storybook, too.

An illustration by my daughter, Ellie, about our ancestor Jesse Vawter

 

Will you and your children join me? I’d love to create a community of people turning their family history into storybooks with the help of your children. Or you can do it on your own, and present the book to your children or grandchildren as a gift. It’s up to you! Whatever you do, share it with the rest of us! Use the hashtag #StorybookAncestor or simply comment on this blog with your link. I’ll be sharing the storybooks I create with my 7 year old daughter and I'll check in every week to share everyone else's. I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with. Best wishes!

Friday's Faces from the Past: The Mystery of Salome Clouse Hitchcock

I have one particular ancestor whose story has really thrown me for a loop.

Salome Clouse Hitchcock 1815-1893

Her maiden name was Salome Clouse, and she was born in 1815 in North Carolina. She married her sister's widower, Isaac Hitchcock, and they moved to Hope, Indiana. Her granddaughter is my great-great grandmother, Nellie Hitchcock Mulry. Now, the story goes in the Mulry family history that we have "deep roots in the South, as your great, great, great grandmother was a Cherokee Indian." Later, it mentions that Salome was "half Cherokee Indian." The man who wrote about Salome in the Mulry history was born only 11 years after she died, so I would assume the story may have come directly from Salome. But it remains a mystery, because...

...when I did some research on Salome, I found that her parents were John Clouse and Catherine Lachenauer, who has deep French roots. I wondered if maybe Catherine was John's second wife, and if she was recorded as Salome's mother because she raised her--perhaps Salome's mother died when she was young. But where would this story have come from that Salome was half Cherokee? Did she find out as a questioning young teenager, or was it something that she had known all along? Or was Catherine Lachenauer really her mother? Or maybe she was descended from Cherokee much further back, and the story somehow morphed into her being "half." She did come from North Carolina, where the Cherokee made their home.

I have Mulry relatives that have said their grandmother, Nellie Hitchcock Mulry, told of Indian roots, and one person mentions a photo of Nellie all dressed up in "full Indian garb", but that photo has been lost. This is just something I may have to continue to speculate about, as there may never be any real proof to substantiate the family story. I would be proud to have Cherokee blood flowing through my veins, but I may never know for sure if I do or not.

What about you? There are so many stories about Native American roots floating about nowadays, but often little evidence. I'm excited to read more by my co-writer at The In-Depth Genealogist, who writes about Native American genealogy. I have a lot to learn, and a lot of curiosity to lead me there!

Indiana History Unit Studies

Now that I've completed my first course of graduate school studying History, I'm ready to dive in and finally start creating those Indiana history unit studies I've been talking about for so long. My first course taught me how to do historical research, and my next class will teach me how to write history. My tentative plan will be to release my first unit study near the time I will be completing my second course next summer. 


What will it be about? The first unit study on Indiana history will be all about the Prehistoric Peoples of Indiana, beginning with the arrival of the Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago, and on up through the Mississippian peoples who made this area their home. As part of my research for the study, I have visited sites such as Mounds State Park in Anderson, Koteewi Park in Strawtown, and I have future plans to visit such places as Angel Mounds in Evansville, and a big trip to Cahokia Mounds in Illinois. The unit study will include vivid photographs from my trips, accompanying field trip tips to those sites, and of course, exciting history all about the peoples who called the Midwest and specifically present-day Indiana home, tailored for a 4th grade student beginning their study of Indiana history.



The Great Mound at Mounds State Park, Anderson, Indiana

I have a Bachelor's in Elementary Education and have taught in schools, but am relatively new to homeschooling. My daughter went to a charter school for Kindergarten, but we decided to transfer her to home school for 1st grade on. My son is two, and loves having his big sister home to learn alongside her. I develop unit studies especially for my daughter, mostly focusing on Language Arts. She is a very inquisitive little girl and I often let her decide what she wants to study. We just finished a three-week study on Space, and this week we switched gears and are doing a little study on Native Americans. For this, we went to Koteewi Park in Strawtown and went on a little walk (their Taylor Center for Natural History was unfortunately closed). But as we were walking the grounds and talking about the people who lived there, I realized something. I have the perfect co-writer. My daughter! I realized again just how creative and inquisitive she is, and concluded she just must do my research with me, and write my Indiana history unit studies along with me. It needs a child's touch, after all.

I'll be launching an author website in the near future, and keep in touch - I'll also be posting free lesson and activity ideas on this blog and that website, designed by my daughter and I. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me!

White River, or Wapahani, at Mounds State Park

Society Saturday: Indiana Genealogy & Local History Fair

The view from my booth at the Indiana State Library

I participated in the Indiana State Library's Genealogy & Local History Fair today, and it was a wonderful experience. Genealogists are some of the nicest bunch of people, I'll tell ya. We may like hanging around dead people, but we're still friendly with the living.


Well, I was there to promote my books, and I did sell a few, glad to say, but I also spread the word about The In-Depth Genealogist, which I now proudly write for. But the best part was the connections that I made! I sat across from the ladies at the Clinton County Genealogical Society, and we discussed my husband's Ploughe ancestors who lived in Clinton County. I also met Naomi from Scott County, and she purchased my books. (I hope you like them, Naomi.) I don't have any Scott County ancestors, it's one of the few counties in Indiana I'm not connected with, but I hope to maybe see them again next year.

But I was very excited to make a connection with the Society of Indiana Pioneers. I have been toying with the idea of joining their society for years now, and today after meeting their genealogist, Michele, I think I'm finally going to do it. I know I qualify- I am a 9th generation Hoosier on both sides, after all, and I've already found my ancestor Jesse Vawter on their list of approved ancestors, I just have to track down all the documentation to prove I'm his descendant. But for me, the big Indiana history guru to not be a part of their society by now, is a little silly, dontcha think? I know, about time.

Side note, I'm also joining the Indiana Genealogical Society. If you join now, you get an extended membership to the end of 2016. That's worth it, I'll say.

I'm excited to make more connections and maybe travel a little, if not in person, then at least on the page. I just finished my first research proposal before writing this blog post, which completes my first course of graduate school towards my Master's in American History. And after today, I'm more inspired than ever to keep writing, and keep researching. Will you join me?

An Indiana Tradition

There are certain times when I feel like a super-Hoosier, and I love it. I love my Indiana heritage, and all the traditions that go along with it. We had a chance to go to Myrtle Beach this week, but decided not to, and although it would have been a lot of fun, I'm kind of glad to stay here right now. Indiana in autumn is simply beautiful, and my favorite time of year.

There's one tradition that I haven't missed once in my lifetime, and that's what's known as the "Stewfest". When I was younger we just called it "Joe & Darlene's".

Every October, my Great-Uncle Joe and Aunt Darlene host a get-together in their big red barn, and my maternal grandpa's side of the family gathers, Uncle Joe cooks stew over the fire, we roast marshmallows, we catch up, and, if the weather cooperates, we go on a hayride. Uncle Joe and Aunt Darlene live out in the country in Morgan County, Indiana, down a windy road, their big house with the wrap-around porch set up on a hill in the trees overlooking the wide open fields. My immediate family has even had a tradition of listening to a particular album on the way down to their house since I was probably in elementary school - the Last of the Mohicans soundtrack - but we can't turn it on until we get to SR-67, and the brightly colored hills are all around us. This tradition took on almost mythic proportions for me as a child, and to this day, even now in my 30s, it seems almost magical.

Uncle Joe & Aunt Darlene with the famous stew

The hayride is my favorite part of the whole thing. This year was the first in three years that we got our hayride. Two years ago the fields were too wet, and last year it was pouring down rain, so heavy we could hardly hear each other over the pounding on the barn roof, and my brother Nicholas and cousin Allie and I agreed it didn't really feel like the Stewfest and went home rather bummed. But this year, as the Stewfest has entered a new age with its own hashtag on Facebook among family members, this year was perfect.



My mom with her 3 grandchildren - Micah, Kira, & Ellie - the 5th generation of the Lutz family to attend the Stewfest

We huddle up next to each other in the hay in our sweatshirts and hoodies as Uncle Joe pulls us on his tractor. The Milky Way is clearly visible above us, and we point out all the constellations we know. Aunt Robin starts singing the Brady Bunch song. My son Micah is snuggled in my lap, one of the 5th generation of Lutz family members to attend the Stewfest. My sister Kristin has her little daughter, Kira, at her first Stewfest. And then when we're way out in the field, my mom recites James Whitcomb Riley's "The Gobble-uns'll getcha ef ya don't watch out" as we all chime in on that part, we all go "wooo-oooo" with the wind, and "have the mostest fun." After that, my brother Nicholas takes after my uncle Isaac and cousins Joey and Kevin, and climbs silently out of the wagon and scares my cousin Jameson half to death. The trees finally clear enough for us to see the whole Big Dipper and I point it out to my daughter Ellie. The tractor rumbles on and we joke and laugh and then we're back and it's time to get out and trudge back up the hill to the barn. We roast some marshmallows, catch up around the fire, and then I hate it but it's time to go. We have a long drive home and it's late. The night was so perfect it could definitely go down in the books as the Stewfest to beat.

I don't know October without it, and I'm already looking forward to next year.

"and the gobble-uns'll getcha ef ya don't watch out!"

 

What fall traditions does your family celebrate?

Sentimental Sunday: A Collection of Foxes

Yesterday I woke up to a phone call from my aunt Sherrie, and my kids and I ended up spending the morning with her. We went out to breakfast, and then we did something that was really hard for me. We went over to my great-great aunt's apartment and went through her things, and I got to choose which things of hers that I wanted to take home. In her credenza, a big note was taped over a collection of old photo albums and memorabilia that read: Katie's Korner. All of that was mine for the taking. She wanted me to have all of it. It was exciting for the genealogist in me: my great-great grandparents' marriage certificate, her high school diploma, an old Bible, old photos, but it was all very difficult at the same time, because of what dividing up all of these things meant. It was hard walking through her apartment without her there, even though she is still living, and deciding to divide up her things. One thing I knew I wanted: a fox. Her name is Betts Fox, and over the years she has collected foxes. Other relatives had already come and taken most of the foxes, but I found a painting of a fox by a local artist in a corner, so I took that, and will hang it in my office. So then we took all of the historical items, paintings, and other odds and ends and loaded up my aunt's car, and then we went over to visit Betts at the nursing home. 




Ellie & Micah with their Great-great-great aunt Betts

We surprised her with our visit, and she was excited to see us. She is 94 years old, and even though she may be in her last months, is still as vibrant as ever. She has always been full of life. She is a Euchre queen, has always kept up with her family and old friends, loves sports and her "soaps".

Betts with her nephew, Jim Mulry, playing Euchre at her birthday party


 

Happy birthday!

Some day I will write out her life story on my blog, but for now, I just wanted to write out about what was going through my mind as we were going through her things yesterday. This coming week I will be seeing her again, and this time, I'm going to record an interview with her about her life story, memories, and the changes she's seen in her life time living in Indianapolis. I'm so grateful to have gotten to know her. And to my family - take the time to go visit her while you still can. She would love the visit. More to come.

Wishful Wednesday: An Enigma

                           "My brother and your father - a good man - an enigma"

These are the words of my great-great uncle, Ralph Holsclaw, written in a letter to my grandmother, Mary Holsclaw Andrews. Her father, Hubert Holsclaw, or "Herb", had just died, and he was writing to her about his death. But neither one of them had known him at the time of his death. Neither one of them had seen him for years before his death.

Hubert Holsclaw had walked out on my grandma and her mother, Helen, when my grandma was only seven years old. She was an only child. My grandma and her mother lived with Helen's parents from that time on, and her grandparents, Elmer and Lottie Oder, became very close to her. But to my knowledge, from the age of seven, my grandma never again saw her father, and I don't believe she ever spoke to him again either.

So in 1973, Ralph wrote a letter on a typewriter to my grandma Mary in response to one she had written to him, telling him there were many things she wished to know. We had never heard about this letter, and only discovered it in her house after she had died. Ralph begins the letter by harkening back to 1927, the year Hubert walked out. He left, relocated to Boston, remarried, and later moved to Miami, where years later, he divorced again. But he was a hard worker, and did, it seems, keep a few close friends, but it seems he had trouble with relationships, and as Ralph later notes, he had a pattern of rejecting the people who loved him. He never did mention a daughter to anyone he came in contact with. He died suddenly, without any warning, at the age of 75.

Ralph writes, "Seventeen elderly persons attended his funeral and signed the register. I met them all as they came in and asked if they had the time to wait after the service so that I could talk with them. We all met in the back of the chapel and each and every one of them expressed to me that they had never known a finer and gentler man. None had laid eyes upon him since he bowed out upon them without a goodbye. An elderly couple who, because of their infirmities, could not attend the service, had a friend drive them to the door of the chapel and asked that I come out and talk to them, which I did. All of their questioning eyes formed the one word - WHY. They and you and I will never know the answer. None of these friends had ever heard of the existence of a brother or a daughter except Mrs. Gasche and she had not heard about you. My brother and your father - a good man - an enigma. I am sure you have detected a pattern in your father's life, as I have - a rejection of the people who loved him....."

These are the times in genealogy when you wish you could have been a fly on the wall. When you wish you could have known Mrs. Gasche, or Ralph, or Ralph's daughter that he mentions, who apparently Hubert favored. But at the same time it gives me insight to my grandmother's childhood, and what pain this man must have caused her. But having only known him to the age of seven, she couldn't really tell me much about him when I asked, or...she didn't really want to. I couldn't tell. An enigma indeed. All of genealogy really is, isn't it?

Travel Tuesday: Lutztown Road

The Lutz line of my genealogy research used to be a huge brick wall for me. It was finally broken down after I was able to look through some things from my great-grandmother's old cedar chest, and then resources from local libraries helped me climb my way up the tree.

Here is my Lutz family tree: 

George Lutz b. 1772 m. Catherine Wolf b. 1777
    - Baltzer Lutz b. 1803 m. Nancy Eby b. 1803
        - Moses Lutz b. 1828 m. Nancy Ann Shafer b. 1833
            - Ervin Lutz n. Ida Slagle
                 - Earl Moses Lutz b. 1886 m. Alma Bertha Bruns
                      - Harold Lutz b. 1920 m. Virginia Bunce
                          - Robert Earl Lutz b. 1944 m. Jacqueline Ann Mulry


This past week we vacationed in upstate New York, and since it was the 4th of July weekend, we decided it would be neat to swing by Philadelphia to see where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Immediately the thought crossed my mind that we would be coming home to Indianapolis heading due west, and the Lutzes were from an area we would be driving through. A quick Google Maps search confirmed this and I headed straight to Findagrave.com to locate the cemetery where George and Catherine Wolf Lutz are buried. They lived in Churchtown, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and are buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery. I also knew from reading in an old county history book that the area where they lived and for three generations engaged in wagon and coachmaking was known as Lutztown. When we arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the next road by the cemetery was called Lutztown Road. I was standing in the very area the Lutzes must have lived and worked.

We then took to the cemetery. It was a pretty large cemetery, across from a gas station, otherwise surrounded by cornfields. (I was also excited to discover it was very near to the Appalachian Trail.) For once it didn't take me long to find the graves I was looking for.

It was raining so I didn't stay long at their graves, but it was so neat to see them and feel the rough stone. George is the earliest Lutz ancestor I can trace. He was born around 1772 in Switzerland and came to America because of religious persecutions. He settled in Pennsylvania, eventually making his way to Cumberland County. He married Catherine Wolf, and they had nine children. Our ancestor is their son, Baltzer Lutz, who came to Muncie, Indiana, and his son Moses, who was a blacksmith in Muncie.

(To my Lutz relatives, I have much more information. Send me an email and I can send the rest to you. Let me know if you have any questions too! Someday I will turn this all into a book like I'm doing with the Mulry family.)


Long story short, if you ever find yourself traveling near an ancestral homeland, take the extra hour or two out of your day to visit. It's worth it.

Reference:
History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania.
Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages,
Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and
Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and
Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc.  Illustrated.  Chicago: Warner, Beers
& Co., 1886.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm