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Mullin' Marrow & Ponderin' Pith

A genealogical blog of reflections about my family history and my experiences as a genealogist.

Genealogy Alerts

3/12/2017

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Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Online records are great.  Until you can’t find the one you’re looking for and the repository lies, as the crow flies, a day’s journey away.

Keep the faith and don’t lose heart.  Documents are being digitized and added to online databases at a record clip these days. It is important to periodically return to the info dumps to see if anything you need has surfaced.

When you utilize a large number of said info dumps, it becomes hard to remember what you need to go back to.  After all, websites don’t publish a list of what records they are adding to which databases and when they’ll be available. At least not the ones I access. 

One option is to go forward in your calendar and schedule your return to the web page. 

That doesn’t work for me.

Another option is to sign up for alerts.
​
In most cases, you can sign up to receive content updates from websites you like to use under the notifications/preferences/settings tab on your account page.  

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About two weeks ago, I received an email alert from Ancestry.com advising the addition of new records to the site.

Thirteen new collections have been added and new records have been added to 15 existing collections!  It was GEEK-OUT time for me as my eyes tore through the list.

While I saw nothing to help me in my research this time, below are a few I thought would be interesting and could be helpful for other people.

NEW:

American Protective League Correspondence, 1917 – 1919
The APL was comprised of citizen volunteers operating as “support” for the FBI. The volunteers monitored the actions of fellow citizens and reported people suspected to be enemies of the state and “suspicious behavior” that might be construed as anti-American. Think “See Something, Say Something” one hundred years ago.  There are two different series with ten and 25 browse-able offerings, respectively.  The “Correspondence with Field Office 1917 – 1919” series contains letters regarding investigations in Arkansas, California, Kansas and New York. The “Correspondence on Investigations 1918-1919” series contains letters about reports of whom today we would call “persons of interest.” You can check to see if your ancestor may have been a post-WWI “person of interest!”

Pennsylvania, County Slave Records 1780 - 1834
This collection contains records for Adams, Bedford, Bucks, Centre, Cumberland, Dauphin, Fayette, Lancaster, and Washington counties and Lancaster City.  The records include petitions, records of children, birth and residence registers, apprenticeship records, bills of sale and manumissions. You can find names, sex, owner, birth date and, infrequently, mother’s names. This collection could be a veritable treasure trove for those researching African-American roots!

New York and Vicinity, United Methodist Church Records, 1775 – 1949
The records in this collection pertain to Hartford and Wethersfield, Connecticut, Newark, New Jersey, and eight New York cities or boroughs.  There is a “Miscellaneous Records” tab which contains over two dozen assorted volumes of stories, baptismal and marriage records, lists of pastors and sermons.
 
UPDATED:

Tennessee, State Marriages 1780 – 2002

Kentucky, Death Records 1852 – 1964


​US Passport Applications 1795 – 1925


If you’ve struck out with those three in past, go back.  The record you seek may be there now.

​Don’t forget to go and set up your email alerts!
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You’re Not Privy Until You Reach the Privy

3/8/2017

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“Hey Mom, I know you were a little kid, but do you know if Granddaddy did any WPA work?” I asked this question about five or six years ago.

“Yep! He sure did!” *giggle*

What in the world is she giggling about, I thought. Oh well, whatever.

“Cool!  I’m going to do some research and figure out what he did.”

“Help yourself.” *giggle*
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So I did.

PictureImage: Wikimedia Commons
The Works Progress Administration was established in 1935 during the Great Depression. The basic goal was to provide work for pay to one person of each household, thereby helping people to get off “the dole.” To be eligible, the person had to be:
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  • a U.S. citizen
  • 18 years of age
  • able-bodied
  • unemployed

If a person met the requirements AND was confirmed to be “in need” by a WPA-approved public relief agency in the local area, he or she was placed in a project based upon previous experience. Pay was based upon location, prevailing wage and the individual’s ability.

As I dug into figuring out what he did, I found a particularly helpful website entitled The Living New Deal. Not that the National Archives wasn’t/isn’t helpful, it is. I just found what I was looking for a LOT faster at TLND. It allows you to search WPA projects by state and locale.

There, on the second page of “West Virginia” information, a little ways down, I found it!


“Post Office – Alderson WV
The historic post office in Alderson, West Virginia was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which was constructed in 1936, is still in service.
”[1]

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Image: Christopher Ziemnowicz
My Grandfather helped build the post office in my home town!  WOW!  How commendable!

I quickly called my mother to tell her about my find.

“Hey Mom!  I found out what Granddaddy did for the WPA!”

“You did?” *giggle*

What is with the giggling already? I wondered.

Not to be sidetracked, I plunged ahead.

“He helped build the post office!” I announced proudly.

Belly-laughing.

It continued for a full 30 seconds.

Finally composing herself, she giggled, “Are you sure about that?”

Two clicks north of highly peeved, I managed to grit out, “Yeah. Well, I think so. That’s what the website I found said.” Gathering my nerve, I continued, “And what is so funny?”
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“You might want to go back and check your web business. The post office wasn’t the only WPA project we had.” 

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More laughing.

Frustrated at not being in on the joke, I blustered, “Well, what else was there? What did he do?”

“He helped dig the outhouse up at the Alderson’s.”

Hysterical laughter.

What? 

More hysterical laughter.

This time, from both of us—we laughed until we cried.

“Thanks Mom, I’ll talk to you later,” I managed and hung up.

I went back to TLND. I began the search again, carefully reading the first page of projects, then the second—there’s the post office, LOTS of post offices—on to the third page. And there it was:


Sunset Hill Privy – Alderson WV
The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a privy at the historic Sunset Hill residence in Alderson, West Virginia.”
[1]
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Over 50 years later
I continued through to the end to make sure I didn’t miss anything else, but that was all.

And what did I learn? 

Don’t stop your research when you see something you like. Keep going to the end, doofus!

I found that I wasn’t “privy” until I got to the “privy.” 


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[1]“States and Cities: West Virginia,” The Living New Deal (https://livingnewdeal.org/us/wv/page/2/), p. 2.
[2] Ibid., p.3.

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    Cynthia Maharrey
    Born and raised in a small town in West Virginia before the turn of the century, Cynthia has always been fascinated by the intricacies that make up her own family history.  As a result, she has been researching and studying it since the late 1900's.
    Memberships

    -Association of Professional Genealogists
    -African American Genealogical Group of Kentucky
    -Kentucky Genealogical Society
    ​-Kentucky Historical Society
    -Greenbrier County (West Virginia) Historical Society
    -Monroe County (West Virginia) Historical Society

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