Search Cleveland Catholic Cemeteries with iPhone App

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Yesterday (16 Dec 2016),  the Catholic Cemeteries Association, Diocese of Cleveland, introduced a FREE iPhone App for searching nearly 700,000 burials dating back to the mid-1800s in Catholic cemeteries throughout Northeast Ohio.

Some other features:

  • Save loved ones and cemetery info to your profile for easy access later.
  • Use GPS navigation to your loved one’s final resting place (currently available for All Saints Northfield and Resurrection Valley City). Other cemeteries will be available in coming weeks, according to the announcement.
  • Access cemetery maps, driving directions, and visitation/office hours.

To download the app, go here.

Currently, 15 of 19 cemeteries are available for online search.

The online search is currently available for the following cemeteries:

  • All Saints, Northfield
  • All Souls, Chardon
  • Assumption of Mary, Brook Park
  • Calvary, Cleveland
  • Calvary, Lorain
  • Holy Cross, Akron
  • Holy Cross, Brook Park
  • Resurrection, Valley City
  • St. Joseph, Avon
  • St. Mary, Cleveland
  • St. Mary, Cuyahoga Heights
  • St. Mary, Elyria
  • St. Mary of the Falls
  • Elmhurst Park, Avon
  • Holy Trinity Avon

Work is ongoing at the following cemeteries:

  • St. Joseph, Cleveland
  • St. John, Cleveland

To search for ancestors in this database, go here (creating an account (free) and login are required).

This list accounts for 17 of the 19 cemeteries. No word was available on the Association’s website for St. Mary Cemetery in Cleveland and St. Paul Cemetery in Euclid, which round out the list of 19 cemeteries affiliated with the Association.

If you want to check St. Mary Cemetery for an ancestor, go to Find A Grave for 7,694 burial listings, of which 65% reportedly are photographed.  Find A Grave also has listings for St. Paul Cemetery in Euclid, with 1,684 burials, 77% photographed.

 

Timeline for Grandma Grace, My Maternal Grandmother

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Today, I was using Copernic to search my desktop computer for timeline files. I was really looking for any medical timelines that I had created for my wife and myself.

Copernic turned up a timeline that I had created for my maternal grandmother, Grace Darling [born Bertha) Green (adopted Morley] Dingman/Tripp/Stafford. I had forgotten that I had created this timeline in 2014. Even at this later date, it seems pretty comprehensive so I am reproducing it here.

1879-1881. Grace used various birth dates throughout her life. The birth of Bertha Green was recorded as occurring on 7 Mar 1879 in Ashtabula County to parents J. R. and Mary Green. This is likely Grace’s birth and her name was changed before the 1880 Census.  Other dates she used are 7 Mar 1880, 12 Mar 1880, and 7 Mar 1881. Her mother’s maiden name was Sumner. Her father Jared R. Green died in Nov 1879. No record of their marriage has been found. The couple also had a son, Edwin D Green, b 16 Aug 1867 and d 7 Jul 1949.

1880 Census Conneaut, Ashtabula County, Ohio. Grace is living in the household of her widowed mother, Mary Green. This contemporaneous record reported Grace as being 1 year old, which is significant because enumerators for the 1880 census were instructed to report the month of birth if a person was born “within the year,” that is between June 1, 1879 and May 31, 1880. Mary evidently reported that Grace was born before June 1, 1879, so this census record lends support to Grace being born on 7 Mar 1879 with the birth name of Bertha.

1884 Grace’s mother, now Mary E. Furman, died in Ferry Township, Oceana County, Michigan, in the home of an uncle, George Sumner. At this point, Grace was considered to be an orphan, as Mary’s second husband, Stephen Furman, was living separately. No record has been found in Ohio or Michigan for the marriage of Mary and Stephan. Grace came to Andover to live with James and Jennie Morley shortly after her mother died.

1900 Census Andover, Ashtabula County, Ohio Age: 20 Grace is living in the household of James S Morley (age 72) along with Jennie Morley (age 58). She is listed as daughter of James, who is postmaster. She is working as a clerk in the post office.

1900 — 6 Jun James Morley dies at age 72.

1905 — 28 Sep Age: 25. Grace marries Wallace Betts Dingman (my maternal grandfather) in Andover, Ashtabula County, Ohio. They move to Conneaut where Wallace worked for one of the railroads.

1910 Census Conneaut Ward 2, Ashtabula County, Ohio. Age: 30. Grace is living in household of Wallace Dingman, her husband, who is working as a brakeman for a steam railroad.

1920 Census Conneaut, Ashtabula County, Ohio. Age: 40. Grace is living in household of Wallace Dingman, her husband, who is working as a switchman for a steam railroad.

1920 — April 1 Wallace Dingman dies at age 39. The death certificate does not identify a cause of death.

1922 (about) Age: 42. Grace marries John J Tripp (of Andover). I don’t have any record for this marriage.

1930 Census Andover, Ashtabula County, Ohio. Age: 50. Occupation: school teacher in Andover Public School. She was living in the “Morley house” on West Main Street, but separated from John Tripp. Her son Wallace Dingman, Jr., is living with her.

1935 (about) Age: 55. Divorce from John J Tripp

1935 Grace is living in the “same house” as enumerated in the 1940 Census (see next item).

1940 Census Andover, Ashtabula County, Ohio. Age: 60. Occupation: school teacher in Andover Public School. She was living in the “Morley house.” Also living there were Walfrid and Mary Huskonen (her daughter) and Wallace (me—her grandson).

1943 12 March Age: 63. She married Don A Stafford in Ashtabula County and moved to Cleveland. It was the third marriage for both. In August, she listed the “Morley House” in Andover for sale.

1945 Grace and Don hosted me for a week at their home in Cleveland. I was seven years old at the time. Check this post for details:

1947 (about) Grace and Don began vacationing in a winter home in Tampa, Florida.

1948 14 Jan. Florida death certificate reports Grace’s age as 67 [I’ve given up trying to reconcile this age with the birth registration of Bertha in 1879].  She died in Tampa, Hillsborough County, Florida. Don Stafford, her third husband, was the informant, but he wasn’t able to provide much information about Grace and her parents or birthplace (in fact, this was one of the least informative death certificates I have seen).

The following obituary appeared in the Ashtabula Star Beacon:

OH–Ashtabula Star Beacon….16 Jan 1948

GRACE STAFFORD–67: Andover; died at 11:45PM Wednesday at Tampa FL following a 2 week illness. She was born 7 Mar 1881 [sic] at Conneaut, a dau of Mr&Mrs Jared Green. She lived most of her life in Andover where she taught in the public schools. She also taught 5 years in East Conneaut schools. Mrs Stafford was a member of Floral Chapter 534-OES & Past Matrons Club. In 1905, Mrs Stafford married Wallace Dingman who preceded her in death in 1920. In 1943 she married Don A Stafford. The couple resided in Cleveland & were vacationing in Florida when her death occurred.

Beside her husband, she is survived by a dau: Mrs Mary Huskonen-Andover; a son: Wallace Dingman Jr-Buffalo & 7 grandchildren.

Services are to be held Sunday afternoon at Baumgardner Funeral Home here. Rev William Harrison–pastor of Andover Congregational Church will officiate. Interment will be in Maple Grove Cem here.

Obituary transcribed to Find-A-Grave by Diana Jo Csikos, added 14 Jun 2010, Find A Grave Memorial 53688001

Researching Catholic Records in Greater Cleveland

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I sometimes fall behind in reading material about genealogical research in Northeast Ohio. A case in point: The October 2016 issue of Lakelines, published by the Lake County Genealogical Society, a chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society. On page 11, the issue presented the following brief article entitled “Archives of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese”:

The Cleveland Catholic Diocese includes eight counties of northeast Ohio; Ashland, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lorain, Lake, Medina, Summit and Wayne. If you are researching Catholic ancestors who resided in any of these counties, be aware that the diocese maintains an Archive which may be of help. Further information is contained on their webpage http://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/chancellor/archives-office/

I am not Catholic, but from time to time, people ask me about researching in Catholic records, so I clicked on the link in the above article. I was presented with a concise description of the records that might be available in the Archives. Here are the main points (indented material or material within quotation marks is verbatim):

Access: “Our Diocesan policy is to keep our archive records closed. We can and do research information on a time available basis.” The website cautions that a response may take two or three months.

A request for information involves filling out and submitting a Request Form (telephone requests aren’t accepted). A copy of the form is downloadable from the website. Click on ARCHIVE REQUEST FORM. (Note that the website also offers a Sacramental Record Request Form. Use this form only to request a Sacramental Certificate for when you received one of the following sacraments: Baptism, first communion, confirmation, or marriage.)

The website then proceeds to discuss what may be available:

Parishes have five kinds of Sacramental records:Baptismal (birth), Marriage, Death, First Communion, and Confirmation Records. Baptismal (birth), Marriage, and Death contain information that can vary from record to record and church to church. By the Code of Canon Law (Church Law which governs the administration of our parishes), pastors were required to maintain Sacramental Records. The Code specified what kinds of information were to be reported in those Records.

For a baptism –the child’s name, his or her date of birth (though some very early records omit this), his or her date of baptism, the parents’ names (including the mother’s maiden name) and sponsors’ names along with the name of the officiating priest.

Marriage records were to include the complete names of the bride and groom, the date of the wedding, and the names of the witnesses along with the officiating clergy. On marriage records some pastors would add the names of the parents of the bride and groom, perhaps indicate where the bride and groom had been born, or even occasionally note the ages of the bride and groom. This form of record-keeping was not consistent and the information noted did vary by parish and by priest. Even two records recorded at the same time by the same priest could and did have different amounts of information.

Death records are very inconsistent regarding the kind and quality of information because the Code was not specific as to exactly what information was required. Some pastor recorded only the person’s name and date of services. Other pastors recorded additional information. Records from the same time period and sometimes the same church can provide vastly different amounts of information.
The information contained in First Communion, and Confirmation Records is usually limited to name and date the Sacrament was received.

Parishes did not keep anything comparable to a census or detailed registration form on parishioners.

After 1908 a change in Canon Law mandated that the church and date of baptism be included on any Catholic marriage record for the Catholic bride or groom. Records created before that time (and unfortunately some after date) do not have that information.

Location of Sacramental Records:
Sacramental Records ordinarily are maintained by the parish which created them. Like many Dioceses, the Cleveland Diocese has closed some parishes. The records of closed churches were sent to the Archives Office.

The Archives also has microfilmed records from some of our older parishes throughout the Diocese. Unfortunately many early records were not maintained because of the mission status (and extreme shortage of priests) of Northern Ohio. Though Catholics were present in the city since 1812, our earliest Sacramental Records for the city of Cleveland date from the early 1840’s.

Being something of a history buff, I clicked on the home page for the website to find the section entitled:

History of the Diocese
The Diocese of Cleveland was created on April 23, 1847 for 10,000 Catholics. In 1848 the 1st Seminary, St. Francis de Sales Seminary, was opened however the name was eventually changed to St. Mary Seminary.

On November 19, 1848, the first priests for service to the Diocese of Cleveland were ordained.

The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist was constructed from 1848 until 1852 at the corner of Superior Avenue and Erie Street (now East 9th Street). It was dedicated on November 7, 1852.

The territory of the Diocese would fluctuate with the creation of the Diocese of Toledo (1910) and then again with the creation of the Diocese of Youngstown (1943). Currently the Diocese of Cleveland encompasses 8 counties of northeast Ohio (Ashland, Cuyhoga, Geauga, Lorain, Lake, Medina, Summit and Wayne).

In 1912, the first Catholic Charities office was opened at East 9th and Prospect.

In 1925, a new St. Mary Seminary was dedicated on Ansel Road in Cleveland.

From 1946 until 1948 the cathedral along with adjacent diocesan buildings were rebuilt and remodeled. The new cathedral was consecrated on September 4, 1948. In 1977 the sanctuary of the cathedral was renovated to bring it up-to-date with the liturgical changes from the Second Vatican Council.

Another source of information about Catholic ancestors is the Cleveland Catholic Cemetery Association database of burials. Go to http://www.clecem.org/ and click on “Burial Search.” To search the database for names and burial locations, you need to create an account. Once you create the account and log in, you will find that conducting the search is easy. If you find an entry for your person of interest, it should contain that full name, address, date of death and date of burial, age, and cemetery with the grave location.

The online search is currently available for the following cemeteries:

• All Saints, Northfield
• All Souls, Chardon
• Assumption of Mary, Brook Park
• Calvary, Cleveland
• Calvary, Lorain
• Holy Cross, Akron
• Holy Cross, Brook Park
• Resurrection, Valley City
• St. Joseph, Avon
• St. Mary, Cleveland
• St. Mary, Cuyahoga Heights
• St. Mary, Elyria
• St. Mary of the Falls
• Elmhurst Park, Avon
• Holy Trinity Avon

Work is ongoing at the following cemeteries:

• St. Joseph, Cleveland
• St. John, Cleveland
• St. Paul, Euclid

Wow! Nine Hints for 7GGF Johann Valentine Landt from Germany

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When I opened my Huskonen-Dingman-Van Court-Scheppelmann Family Tree on Ancestry.com this afternoon, I saw that 99+ ancestors and collateral relatives had “hints.” I clicked on the first name on the list: Johann Valentin Landt from Germany who is my 6th great grandfather. Here is how I am descended from Johann on my tree:

  • Johann Valentine Landt (1695 – 1791) 6th great-grandfather
  • Velton Landt (1739 – ) son of Johann Valentine Landt
  • Elizabeth Landt (1754 – ) daughter of Velton Landt
  • Jacob Dingman (1788 – 1871) son of Elizabeth Landt
  • Nelson Dingman (1818 – 1907) son of Jacob Dingman
  • Andrew Simpson Dingman (1853 – 1909) son of Nelson Dingman
  • Wallace Betts Dingman (1881 – 1920) son of Andrew Simpson Dingman
  • Mary Jane Dingman (1908 – 1975) daughter of Wallace Betts Dingman
  • Wallace Dingman Huskonen You are the son of Mary Jane Dingman
Ancestry.com claimed that there were nine hints attached to Johann. In opening up the list, I found that one from the Netherlands was no longer available. Another hint was for Velton Landt, Johann’s son. So there were seven hints to check out. And I was very interested in doing so because I have been turning more attention to my German ancestry, which comes from my mother’s side. There are other family lines involved, in addition to the line outlined above.
Incidentally, I think that it is interesting that Elizabeth Landt, with her German ancestry, married Rudolphus Dingman, my fourth great grandfather, who was of Dutch ancestry.
Here are the hints any my first take on each:
Ancestry Member Trees

This hint compiles information from 15 other Public Ancestry Member Trees.

Name Johann Valentine Landt

Birth 1695 – , , , Germany

Death 8 Aug 1791 – Claverack, Columbia, New York, United States

This hint has considerable information in the 15 trees and many appear to be well-documented. I will have to spend some time reviewing the data, including parents of Johann and names and dates for children.

Dresden, Germany, Weekly Church Reports of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1685-1879
Birth, Marriage & Death
Name Johann Valentin Lindt

This record is for Johann Valentin Lindt [sic] and is hand-written. This will take some time to translate and evaluate before I add anything to Johann’s record on my tree.

Germany, Select Marriages, 1558-1929
Birth, Marriage & Death
Name Valentin Lindt

This record is only an index entry about the child of Valetin Lindt as Johann Valentin Lindt. This probably is Johann. More checking is necessary.

Slovakia, Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1910
Birth, Marriage & Death
Name Johann Lant
Spouse Eva Elisabetha
Gender Male

This record is for the birth of Johann Gottlieb Lant, child of Johann Lant and Eva Elisabetha. Given the source of the record in Slovakia and the differences in names, this probably is not my guy.

U.S., Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783
Military
Name Johannis Landt
Military 27 Apr 1780 – New York

This is not my Johann, who would be 85 in 1780, but probably is his grandson. This needs to be confirmed before adding it to his grandson.

U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s
Immigration & Emigration
Name Johannes Lantz
Arrival 1710 – New York, New York
Here is another record that could apply to my Johann, as he would have been 15 years old in 1710, but this needs more research to confirm that it applies. Ancestry.com provides this detail about the source: JONES, HENRY Z., JR. The Palatine Families of New York: A Study of the German Immigrants Who Arrived in Colonial New York in 1710, Volume I. Universal City, CA: Author, PO Box 8341, Universal City, CA, 1985. 624p.

New York, Genealogical Records, 1675-1920
Immigration & Emigration
Name Johannes Lant
Vital 1759 – Claverack, Columbia, New York, United States
Residence 1759 – Claverack, Columbia, New York, United States

This is another index entry with no other qualifying data, but the date and location are appropriate for Johann, so it probably is good information despite the slight variation in surname spelling. I will add the residence info to Johann’s record.

There remains the hint for Velton Landt:
Germany, Select Marriages, 1558-1929
Birth, Marriage & Death
Name Valentin Lindt
This is “index only” entry for Valentin Lindt, father of male child Johann Valentin Lindt. The Source Information states that the original data was taken from Germany, Marriages, 1558-1929. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. It is not clear from the online information why the index record would seem to be about a birth when the title of the database suggests it is about marriages. Following the link provided on Ancestry.com yields the information that there were many Valentins with similar surnames including Lindt, Landt, Lintz, Lentz, Luentz.

I will probably add data to Johann’s profile from only three or four hints of the nine presented. Ancestry.com tends to cast a wide net in suggesting family tree hints. It is easy to add information to your tree from these hints, but care is needed to add only relevant information.

Voting in Election 2016 Should Be Fraud-Free

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MJ and I voted today in the 2016 Election. Obviously, since there are 19 days to go before the November 8 Election Day, we voted by mail. For four years before this spring’s primary, I worked as a poll worker in Brecksville. The Cuyahoga County Election Board encouraged poll workers to vote by mail, and as a result, I learned the advantages: you don’t have to wait in line (in 2012 at my polling place, waits of a half hour were common), and you also can study the ballot at your leisure and make sure that you are voting the right way for officials and issues.

Several weeks ago, I requested our mail ballots on the website of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections–after confirming that we were registered.  I simply entered last name and the date of birth for each of us.

The ballots were mailed out on October 12 as mandated by Ohio law.  I got mine two days later and MJ’s arrived after three days.  Over the past weekend, I researched the recommendations for the various judgeships that were on the ballot for Cuyahoga County and the State of Ohio. There also was an election for the state school board to be studied. Local issues are pretty straight forward.

As far as the national, state, and county elections are concerned, we pretty much voted for Democrats, which included Hillary Clinton and Tom Kaine for president and vice president.

Until recently, I maintained an independent status, and I was considered an independent when I served as a poll worker. Our four-person poll worker teams consisted of one or two representatives of each party along with me as an independent, depending on the election. Certain functions could be performed only by two registered voters with each party represented.

A year ago, the “Party of No” (Republican) finally got to me, and I voted in the Democrat primary, making me a registered Democrat.

Donald Trump, in his failing campaign as the Republican presidential candidate, is claiming that the system is rigged; that it will be rife with fraudulent voting.  Based on my experience as a poll worker, and being exposed to the procedures that the Cuyahoga Board of Elections follows to 1) register and track voters, 2) check them in at the polling place, and 3) collect and count the ballots, I can say that Donald doesn’t know what he is talking about–at least in Ohio. First of all, you have to bring proof of your identity to the polling place. Beginning with this first step it is impossible for somebody to vote more than once as each voter is checked against a poll book compiled for the specific election. Then every voted ballot is entered into a sealed voting machine for counting by optical scanning. The paper ballot is collected by the machine as backup if a recount is needed. The machine count and the ballots are then turned over to the Election Board where they are added to the county vote totals. There are many checks and balances in this system, which is in place across the state of Ohio. There might be some voter fraud  in other jurisdictions across the country, but not in Ohio.

In closing, the Board of Election tracks our ballots from request through to counting. We received text messages that they were mailed, and the website also indicated that they were mailed.  In a couple of days, I expect to be notified that our ballots were received and submitted for counting.

Mary Jane’s Piano and Pizza Parties

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My wife, Mary Jane (MJ for short), has been diagnosed with dementia. This condition has been developing for awhile, and in fact, because of it she had to give up her piano teaching practice in the spring of 2014. Since that time, we have been slowly working on sorting piano music, written records about students, and miscellaneous other paper materials. We have been throwing out some papers and preparing other materials for donation to Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory.

Today I found a copy of an email MJ submitted to a piano teachers discussion group on Yahoo in 2004. I read it with joy because it reminded me of the MJ I knew for more than 50 years. Today, she isn’t able to operate her computer, much less organize an event like this and communicate about it with this much information. I am publishing her email text it its entirety here:

From: “mjhuskonen”<mjhuskonen@ameritech.net>
To: <piano-teachers@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 9:03 AM
Subject: [piano-teachers] Re: Holiday parties & gifts from students

I have a Holiday pizza party for students only. Each student plays two of their favorites pieces. In most cases, one or both are Holiday pieces. We have a number drawing to determine the order in which they play. I select one student to play “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” as a “sing along” to end the recital portion of the party. I started a new tradition last year of giving a miniature bust of a composer as my gift to each student. One student is chosen to play the mystery tune to “guess the composer.” Last year it was “Ode to Joy” (Beethoven) and this year my six year old December beginner is playing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” (Mozart). She knows she is playing something VERY SPECIAL but, since she wasn’t here last year, I’m not telling her why. it is special. She is very excited to find out why and is delighted that she is playing somethng special. (I hope someone guesses this one.)

I started using the composer statues since I found it difficult to find anything that could be given to anyone from ages 5 to 75 years. I previously have given a couple of sheet “new music” pieces to each student, but found wrapping little boxes with composers much less time consuming. For next year, I’m considering having each student play something from the “Nutcracker” and therefore everyone will be playing the “mystery tune.”

The first student to arrive is assigned the job of giving out pre-printed name tags. I put names on all the giffs and the person who first guesses the name of the composer passes the gifts out at random. Each student then has to match the name on the gift to a name tag. It serves as a “mixer” and then it’s off to the kitchen for pizza and punch. After eating, we fill whatever time is left with “painting” decorations on Holiday cookies which they take home to their families. Some, of course, are eaten here. I set out paint brushes and a variety of colored icings. It’s amazing how many students are also very good artists. (One of my adult students is a high school art teacher and I’11 use his talent to inspire anyone who needs help.)

Regarding gifts, I haven’t had the courage to request that they not bring me anything. Some take great pleasure in bringing, candy, cookies, ornaments, or something special they have made. I immediately open any gifts brought to a lesson, but set aside and open later, any that are brought to our Holiday parly. Thank you notes are mailed to everyone who brings a gift. My favorite gifts are Christmas tree ornaments which every year remind me of students “from the past.” No matter how many years old they are, I still fondly remember which student the ornament came from.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

MJ

Look for me to publish more information like this in this blog in the future. I aim to do so because of attending a meeting of the Cuyahoga Valley Genealogical Society a couple months ago and hearing Dr Deborah Abbott make the case for writing down what you have done with your life for your children and other descendants.  In this case, I am acting on behalf of MJ, for the benefit of her children, grandchildren, and other descendants, and I hope to record other aspects of her life, along with some of my own experiences.

 

The Question of Writing Dates

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In an online article “Data Entry Standards for Genealogists & Research,” there is a section on Dates. Here is what this guide says about entering dates:

  • The most readable and reliable format for presenting dates is day, month, year; this style is least likely to create confusion when entering, matching, or merging data.
  • Abbreviate months as: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec without a period. Enter days with double digits and present four digits for the year.
  • Dates can be estimated, if documented as such, by preceding the date with one of the following codes which are all entered without a period: about = “abt” after =“aft” before =“bef” between =“bet” calculated =“cal”

Go here to read the entire article: https://www.geni.com/projects/Data-Entry-Standards-for-Genealogists-Research/3102

I bring this up because I still see many date entries in online family trees using the practice common in American English of entering a date in all numerals with the month, day, and year separated by slashes. Thus, the 4th of July 2000 would be written 4/7/2000. The Cambridge Dictionary Online website uses this specific example to illustrate how American English differs from British practice, pointing out that the date would be 4/7/2000 in British English. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/dates

The practice in genealogy outlined in the geni.com article above is preferred because it spells out a date precisely. The reader will not misunderstand the day of the month or the month. Also, there is no confusion about what century is referred to, as in 1916 or 2016, which there possibly could be with the year presented only with two digits as 16.

I find that I am so conditioned to using the genealogical approach to writing out dates that I date my handwritten checks (I still use these for some payments) in the format two-digit day, three-character month, and four-digit year.

I do use another format whenever I am entering dates into my Evernote application on all my devices, which sorts everything automatically and will find anything I want to retrieve. It is the ISO style for dates. Here is how the Chicago Manual of Style describes it:

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recommends an all-numeral style consisting of year-month-day (i.e., from largest component to smallest), hyphenated. The year is given in full, and the month or day, if one digit only, is preceded by a zero. Thus January 19, 2010, appears as 2010-01-19. Among other advantages, this style allows dates to be sorted correctly in an electronic spreadsheet and other applications.

This is found in the Chicago Manual of Style online at http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/ch09/ch09_sec037.html

Again, this is the date entry style I use for notes in Evernote. Each note with a date in the title is filed chronologically, either in ascending order or descending order, depending on my setting at the moment for sorting for the database.

For further reading on dates in genealogy:

MyHeritage Blog pont of 12 Jan 2015 entitled “Understanding Dates: Five common mistakes to avoid” at http://blog.myheritage.com/2015/01/understanding-dates-five-common-mistakes-to-avoid/

“Introduction to Genealogy, Lesson 1e: Recording Dates” is a comprehensive article about the subject at About.com Genealogy. Go here: http://genealogy.about.com/library/lessons/blintro1e.htm

 

 

Online Guide to Historic Maps of Cleveland and the Western Reserve

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Did you every wonder if a map was available for a specific location in the Cleveland area and for a specific time period?

Well, there is a website for that: Cleveland Cartography at http://www.clevelandmemory.com/speccoll/maps/clevmaps.html

The website was created and is maintained by Bill Barrow, head of special collections at Cleveland State University. You can read about Bill and the Special Collections at CSU at http://library.csuohio.edu/speccoll/

The objective of the Cleveland Cartography website is to provide “Information about historical and contemporary maps and map-related happenings in and about Cleveland and the Western Reserve region of northeastern Ohio.”

One of the pages on the website provides some useful background on maps and Cleveland history: “Using Maps to Study Local History in Cleveland, Ohio.” Bill Barrow created this brief tutorial to instruct you on what is available and how to use it to learn about neighborhoods and related topics. You’ll find it here: http://www.clevelandmemory.org/speccoll/maps/USING/. Be sure to click through the links he provides to get the full value.

 

August Scheppelmann: His Two Arrivals in New York

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On 11 Aug 1922, August Scheppelmann, grandfather of my wife, Mary Jane Van Court Huskonen,  arrived in New York on the SS George Washington. The passenger manifest provides some important details: August’s home address was simply RFD Linesville, PA. He was a U.S. citizen by naturalization, which took place in District Court [Federal] Pittsburg [sic] PA, on 18 Oct 1902.

SS George Washington

The transatlantic voyage of the George Washington, of the North-German Lloyd Service, began on 2 Aug 1922 in Bremen. Many of the passengers had what appeared to be German surnames, and most were naturalized in a wide variety of federal and local courts  Also, they gave home addresses from all over America.  It is possible, even probable, that a tour operator made arrangements for these German-Americans to visit the land of their birth, almost exactly four year after the end of WWI in November 1918.

August Scheppelmann was returning to the United States after visiting his family in Nienburg, Germany. He had emigrated from Germany in 1897, arriving in New York on 15 Oct on the SS Normmania, of the Hamburg-Amerika Linie. His occupation: blacksmith, and his destination: Pittsburg [sic]. He was traveling to meet a cousin, whose name I have yet to decipher.

ss-normannia-1890-1898

We’ll have more on the life and times of August Scheppelmann in future posts.

Grandpa Huskonen Becomes a U.S. Citizen

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My paternal grandfather, Evert Huuskonen, immigrated to America in 1902. He arrived in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, on the SS Tunisian, and entered the U.S. at Buffalo, New York on 29 Oct 1902. He left behind in Finland his wife, Ida Maria, and four children: Edith, Emil, Wilma, and Mary. They would join him the next year in Conneaut, Ashtabula, Ohio. The family would later change the spelling of their family name to Huskonen.

Evert was literate, and liked to read Finnish newspapers, according to my cousin, Joyce Huskonen White. Over the years, he learned enough English to finally petition for citizenship on 10 Oct 1935 in the Common Pleas Court in Jefferson, the county seat of Ashtabula County. He was naturalized three years later on 22 Apr 1938 at age 64.

In the 1940 Census, he was enumerated with the designation NA in the citizenship column, which indicates that he was naturalized. In earlier censues, his citizenship status was AL, for alien.

Based on this census record, I went to the website for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and requested a search for his C file (citizenship file). The cost for this search was $20. If I had known his Citizenship No., I could have avoided this search step and simply ordered his C file.

After a few weeks, I received a letter back from USCIS confirming that Evert did become naturalized and providing his citizenship file number. I could order his C file for for an additional payment of $20. Alternatively, I could have driven to Jefferson and obtained a copy from the Common Pleas Court. Because of the 1.5-hr drive to and from Jefferson,  I opted for ordering the C file from USCIS.

I received copies of the papers in Evert Huskonen’s C file a few weeks later. The file included his Declaration of Intention (aka first papers), his Petition for Naturalization, and a copy of his Certificate of Citizenship.Declaration of Indent -- Huskonen, Evertb
Petition for Citizenship -- Huskonen, EvertThe Declaration and the Petition both listed Rautalampi, Finland as his birthplace, and listed the names and residences of family members, starting with his wife, Ida Maria, my grandmother, and continuing with daughter Edith Nikkari, living in New York City; son Emil, Ashtabula, Ohio; Wilma Seppelin, Warren, Ohio; Mary Siekkinen, Ashtabula, Ohio; son Hugh, Williamsfield, Ohio; and Walfrid (my father), Andover, Ohio. In addition, the Petition gave birthplaces in Finland of Ida Maria (Kongikangas) and Edith, Emil, Wilma, and Mary (Rautalampi). Son Hugh was born in Conneaut, Ohio, and son Walfrid in Ashtabula, Ohio.

An interesting item from the Petition for Naturalization is that my maternal great uncle, Walter Dingman, gave an affidavit that he know Evert. At the time, he was a farmer in Williamsfield. Another witness was B M Coursen, a farmer living in Andover.Certificate of Citizenship -- Huskonen, Evert