Unanswered Questions

The thing about researching is how easily the objective can be derailed. Well, at least in my genealogy research. How I get distracted I can't say specifically, but yesterday I found myself on my son's branch of his family after seeing an intriguing news article on Newspapers.com.  The last several years of his great grandfather's life have some unanswered questions.

According to a "Special to the Inquirer" news article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Fred Wegelin disappeared from his New Jersey home in November 1914 without mentioning anything to his wife, Minnie. After several days of absence, Minnie reported Fred missing.

I knew the Wegelin family line had ties to Birmingham Alabama, so my research went in that direction on a hunch. Narrowing down the search for Fred to Alabama newspapers and a time period starting from 1914, I hoped to find an article with the answer to this mystery. What I found was a vague item reporting his death in December 1917.

My next step was to find the death certificate. This record type shows the cause of death among other vital dates and information. Unfortunately, Alabama has not digitized their death records for online research. A copy can be obtained from the state for a fee or looked up in person at the repository where it's archived. The index information (the county of record, book volume number and page number) for Fred's record was found online and is a great help requesting the death certificate in person. The death being indexed also confirms the date and event is true, in light of the vague blurb in the newspaper.

Fred's will and his wife Minnie's petition of probate (to have the will authenticated) were found online.  This online transcript is of the court proceeding and Fred's will, not the original will document. According to the transcribed details of the will, it was written by Fred and witnessed by two gentlemen on March 3, 1917 in Birmingham Alabama, nine months prior to his death.

It's unclear to me if Minnie had to travel to Birmingham to petition in person or have a lawyer handle the process. A sentence in the petition transcript suggests to me she had the will in her possession and presented it to the Alabama authorities, but the transcription does not state she signed any document or was present at court as far as I can tell. The two witnesses signed a short statement confirming the will was the one they signed as witnesses in March 1917 and the judge officially sealed it.

The unanswered questions remaining are: Why did Fred leave his family without notice in 1914? Did Minnie have the original will? If so, did Fred return to New Jersey to give her the will or did he mail it to her? Where was he between November 1914 and the writing of the will in Alabama? Was Fred in some trouble during this period making him fear for his life and write a will at the age of 37? Was his death an accident (and what kind of accident) or was he killed?

"Update" ... After rereading the transcription of Minnie's petition closely, I find that she signed the petition in front of a Notary Public in Atlantic County New Jersey, close to her Egg Harbor City home. The NP mailed the sworn statement to Jefferson County Alabama to start probate of her deceased husband's will.

Data Management

After collecting family tree data at the Schuylkill County Courthouse Archive Department last week, I'm anxious to see it all in its place on the tree. Unfortunately, it doesn't just jump to the branch it belongs. So, rather than pick an ancestor to highlight this week, let's put the horse before the cart in my journey.

The new details must be analyzed against the current information on my family tree. And, just because it's on my tree, it doesn't mean it is correct. (News flash! I hadn't perfected my search plan when I first started this journey several years ago). My enthusiasm to get to the story outweighed my common sense to record all sources and evaluate what I found. The records I collected this year will be used to confirm or disprove research data I filed earlier on my computer.  The more the merrier, right?

I'm not afraid of research, in fact I enjoy researching any data that interests me. Having an abundance of data gives confirmation to the true facts and adds to the stories of my families. My main sources for facts are online ancestry websites and state archives. My favorite source for stories of my family is an online newspaper website. The articles I find tell of my ancestors' activities in school, social clubs, at work, their health issues, injuries, civil obligations, travel and talents. Some articles include information I can used to confirm birth, marriage, family members, where they live and death information.

I have an online family tree with ANCESTRY.COM that syncs with FAMILY TREE MAKER 2019 program on my computer. I can work online or on my computer and the changes made in either program will be synced. Currently I'm working in FTM 2019.

The app(lication) I use to store and manage my data is EVERNOTE. In my opinion, the best filing system for digital finds and scanned documents. It's akin to Microsoft's OneNote but more powerful. So I'm in the trenches daily analyzing my finds so my stories can be published as non-fiction.

Archive Research Day

First let me say this trip was more fun than I anticipated!  Meeting my 3rd cousins from Michigan after being research partners for a year was the highlight.  We all had the same drive to learn as much as we could and hopefully find some missing links. Researching with family on the same project is refreshing.

The Schuylkill County courthouse archive department is in the basement, not surprisingly, with a designated area for researchers...two large tables with comfortable chairs surrounded by shelves of index binders, first by category, then alphabetically by date and sometimes gender. Those books hold the information needed to find the records in the record room.  The department was small and cozy, nothing like the industrial, high-ceiling, uninviting room I envisioned.

Ken and Ron ran a smooth tag-team. Ken announced the ancestor and what records were needed as Ron scoured the indexes for the ancestor's name. Sound simple? Not with 8 to 10 different Lithuanian surname spellings and given names repeated through the generations. Josephs, Peters, Annas, Marys over and over. This made Ron pause and recall what our god-fearing grandparents vocalized when something was "unbelievable" ....
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph!"

So there they were with open index binders and post-it notes keeping the research under control. The post-it notes were handed to our helpful assistant Abby, sending her into the depths of the record room to return with whatever we required.  The record books were huge and would fit right in the "Alice in Wonderland" world.

Ron, Kris and Ken

I assisted the guys using my prepared research on our shared family branch.  I jumped in where needed and took phone pics of what we found. Some records needed to be discussed to determine we had the correct family member. A few made us pause when we realized we were looking at our ancestor's own handwriting.

As my cousins "branched off" to another area of their family research, I had time to run down several records for my German branch before they locked the doors. The three of us were the only researches in-house and we made a day of it from open to close!

Fast forward to the aftermath...Our archive dive did not expose new information for our Mystery Man, Peter Jamitis, however, that's not to say there aren't hints to be found in the many new record images we have to reread and analyze. I'm ready to dig in!

Today's the Day

Heading off to Schuylkill County shortly in search of my Lithuanian ancestors' story.  I'm rarely late for any event and this is no exception. It's a curse sometimes because I'm too early and have to fill the time until I leave the house. So, here I am!

My Surface Pro tablet, paper tablets, phone, chargers, extra glasses (you never know, I could drop my only pair in excitement of a find!) and several pens...check, check, check.

My cousin called ahead and found the courthouse staff very helpful, digging out a few items for us to get a head start. I have several indexes to pull in case the staff cannot locate anything for us by surname. I already told you about the Lithuanian surname debacle, so this will be no surprise. The indexes will keep this trip from becoming a bust.

Once I get the hang of archive research, I'm quite sure this trip will be one of many.  The Lithuanians are my main concern, but I want to know more about my German, Irish and English branch, too.

Stay tuned...