Places – Page 3 of 13 – Up In The Tree

May 1, 2017

Maybe, No, Maybe

I have identified a passport application for my husband’s great-great-grandfather, John Pope. The passport identifies the date John Pope was naturalized in San Francisco, California. I am currently on a quest to see if I can obtain a copy of the original naturalization paperwork or certificate. You can read about my progress in my last post – Yes, No, Maybe…

Last week, I drove into San Francisco to continue my research at City Hall. My first stop was actually across the street at the Superior Court of San Francisco. While I know the original was destroyed in the fire following the 1906 Earthquake, I also know that many people refiled their naturalization paperwork as “restored” records. MAYBE.

A search done by the records clerk showed my John Pope did not file a restored naturalization. While I was there, I went ahead and ordered copies of his probate packet and one for his son, John Rudolph Pope. These are kept offsite and will be available for viewing next week. The clerk in the records room were incredibly helpful and knowledgeable.

Next I walked across the street to City Hall. My first stop was the Recorder/Assessor’s office. While they do not hold naturalization paperwork, I have found in the past the clerk’s in this office are the most knowledgeable in the building about who holds what and where. I also cross checked the book/page number with them for the clue I found from John’s grandma Shirley. Then note indicated a copy of the naturalization had been filed with the Registrar of Voters. They did not have the said book/[age combination but pointed me downstairs to the Office of Elections.

The person in the office of elections was a more recent addition to the office. He was kind enough to go ask others in the office to see if the book and page from the clue were kept in their office. He returned to inform me that those records were old enough that they did not have them anymore. NO.

I came home with a mixed bag of outcomes. I am happy to get to see the probate files next week but I was totally bummed my initial MAYBE had not worked out. I decided to keep at my exhaustive search for available records. It was time to do some research into where else a copy of the naturalization paperwork or certificate would need to be filed to meet a requirement for something else.

This led me back to the Passport Application I found online. The application states:

I was naturalized as a citizen of the United States before the Superior Court of the State of Calif at San Francisco on the 30th day of March, 1904, as shown by the accompanying Certificate of Naturalization; that I am the identical person described in the said Certificate….

The digital copy of the Passport Application is just that – a copy. It need to get my hands on the original. I have made inquiries to the National Archives in Washington, DC where the passport applications are held. They informed me there are passport applications that do have additional paperwork attached. The new plan is to add a research trip to NARA while visiting my parents in Virginia this summer. So I am back to MAYBE.

April 18, 2017

Yes, No, Maybe…

Genealogy research moves at a slow steady pace most of the time. Sometimes research can move in leaps and bounds and then come to a screeching halt. In those cases, I hope you were wearing your seat belt! The whiplash of excitement and frustration can leave you dazed.

Today is the perfect day to tell you what I have learned in the last week. It was more of a seatbelt kind of week. It all started with DNA test results. All three DNA tests I ordered with the New Year’s sale had results posted last Monday, April 10th. For each account, I quickly logged in to view matches and estimated origins. I also created a gedcom file for each person to upload to their family tree.

I decided to take a quick look in Family Search and Ancestry.com before uploading the gedcom files to ensure I had the most complete tree possible for DNA matches to view. The first search was for the DNA profile for my husband’s grandfather. The family tree I have for him is on the limited on the paternal side. Grandpa John’s grandfather was the entryway ancestor on this line. John Pope (Poppe) arrived in the United States from Germany in the early 1880’s. By the late 1880’s he is living in San Francisco and owns a brewery with his partners.

To my surprise, there was a new hint for John Pope (1862-1917) at Ancestry.com. It turns into a jackpot moment! The hint contains a passport application from 1909.

The passport application confirms John Pope was born 3 April 1862 in Sandbostel, Germany. It also gives us new information that he immigrated to the United States about the 10th of April 1881 aboard the SS Salir from Bremen. The application also states John Pope had been living in San Francisco since 1889. The biggest jackpot was John Pope listed he had become a naturalized citizen in the Superior Court of San Francisco on 30 March 1904. YES!

After my celebration dance at the dining room table, I took the time to analyze each piece of information. This is when my YES turned into a NO. It also ties into why today is a good day to tell this story. Today, April 18th, is the 111th anniversary of the 1906 Earthquake in San Francisco. The 1906 earthquake killed approximately 3,000 people and left over 80% of the city in ruins after the fires broke out. Most genealogists who do research in this area divide their research into before and after 1906 due to the fires and the documents which were destroyed.

The naturalization papers filed in 1904 are most definitely gone.

I was still really excited to share this new document with Grandpa John this past weekend when we visited for Easter. On Saturday, my husband spent some time with his grandfather assisting him with some computer issues. While they were occupied, I took the Pope binder off the shelf to browse. Grandma Shirley was a genealogist and did an incredible amount of research in the pre-internet days. She left 3-ring binders for each family with all the research she had accomplished. About 10 years ago I scanned everything in the binders to ensure the information is not lost in case of disaster.

I realized flipping through the binder this weekend, I had not done a complete job of scanning documents. I had scanned all the certificates, newspaper clippings, photos, etc. I did not scan the handwritten notes in the pockets of the divider pages. This was a major mistake.

In the binder divider, I found this sheet:

These undated handwritten notes are in Grandma Shirley’s handwriting. They clearly state the original filing of the naturalization paperwork. They also state the papers were re-filed with the courts in San Francisco on 26 March 1908. MAYBE…

The rest of this week I already have planned but next Monday or Tuesday, I will be in San Francisco trying to get copies of the re-filed naturalization paperwork. It has been a fun ride in the last week. I am glad I had my seatbelt on. Hopefully we will continue this story by returning back to YES.

April 18, 2017

Blog Birthday Fail

OOPS!! I missed my own blogiversary this month. The bad news is the anniversary was two weeks ago. The good news is I was in Virginia talking all things family history with my Mom and her cousins when I missed the big day.

My mom’s cousins flew to Virginia for a visit. I had been in town the few days before their arrival so I stayed an extra day for some family time. We spent the day traveling to Page County, Virginia. I was able to show them the area my ancestors helped found in the mid-1700’s. The highlight was driving to the Strickler-Louderback house.

The Strickler-Louderback house is on the banks of the Shenandoah River in Page County, Virginia. My 3rd great-grandfather, David Strickler, built the brick home that stands today. The Strickler’s owned the home for many years and then sold it to the Louderback family. It was so fun to share this history with family!

Happy 6 Years to my blog!!

February 19, 2017

So This Is What They Look Like – The John B Fuller Family

Cousin Bait is defined by genealogists as putting your research online as bait for unknown cousins to find you and compare information. It works.

Late last fall I found another way for cousin bait to work. This time I was contacted by a man through Ancestry.com regarding my husband’s family. I replied to him with confirmation that my husband is a descendant of John Buchanan Fuller who passed away in 1938 in Custer, Nebraska.

Our next round of emails revealed the twist. This man was not a cousin. He had purchased items from an estate sale. Using the information on the back of a photograph, he had done a search on Ancestry.com to find someone who was researching the family. He had for sale a photograph of the John B. Fuller family together at his funeral.

After a couple of quick checks to ensure this was a legit deal, I purchased the photograph. The original photograph from 1938 arrived approximately a week later. I was thrilled to find that not only were names listed on the back of the photograph but someone had written names on the front to indicate who belonged to each name.

Fuller Family at funeral of John B Fuller, December 12, 1938.

It was time to take a look at the research I had already completed for the family. I was hoping to match up the names on the photograph to the names in my family tree. I was happy to see I had already identified the family unit mostly using census records.

John Buchanan Fuller and his wife Emma Jane Shipman had ten children. The first three did not survive childhood. My husband’s great-grandfather, Percy, was the first child to life to be an adult. He was followed by Gladys, Clara, Clarence, Roy, Irene, and Alma.

The family was based mostly around the towns of Ord and Custer, Nebraska. I also found an obituary for John B. Fuller that painted a fuller picture of the family and their life in Nebraska. You can read the obituary here.

After realizing the names on the photo matched up with the children of John, it was easy to identify the people marked as me and mom. Genevieve, Emma Opal, and Liata are all grandchildren of John B Fuller. Unfortunately, not everyone in the photo is identified. I suspect a couple of the younger people are also grandchildren of John B. Fuller.

My mother-in-law was very excited to see this photo. She did not know her grandfather, Percy. Percy and his daughter did not have a good relationship due to Percy and Lauretta Palmatier divorcing when Grandma June was young. This was the first time my husband’s family knew what their family looked like.

I have added to photo to FamilySearch so it is available for everyone. I want to make sure it will not be lost to history a second time. If you would like a digital copy of this photo without the names added in I am happy to share my tiff file!

January 2, 2017

First Genealogy Black Hole Of 2017

Genealogy researchers all laugh at the memes about getting sucked into an online genealogy black hole. We can laugh because we have all done it. Some of my favorite memes come from the Twisted Twigs on Gnarled Branches blog. They are pretty on point and funny.

Tonight is shaping up to be one of those nights for me. The infamous genealogy black hole has sunk its claws into me. I was just going to check FamilySearch quickly to see if the church records from Cossano Canavese, Italy have been digitized. They have not but…. there are now civil records from the town available and they are digitized!!!

Who cares if they are in Italian?! I have done enough research to read some key words, the months, and count to 31 (handy number to match with the days of the month.) For everything else is Google Translate.

Who cares if they are not indexed?! They are browse-able and I have dates for most of my family after hours spent with the church records on microfilm. I jumped right in by finding my great-grandparents marriage record. They are on the right hand side of the page.

Civil Marriage Record of Matteo Ciardonei and Adele Siletto, Cossano Canavese (Torino).

The only thing that has stopped me from working through as many birth, marriage, and death records as possible is my children. They demanded dinner tonight. The good news is they are now asleep in bed and I can go back to my wonderful black hole. I have to thank my kids though because dinner gave me time to create a plan of attack so no one gets missed.

Wishing you all a successful genealogy black hole of your own in 2017!

December 29, 2016

Adding A Sibling To The Family Tree

There are many family trees posted to the big genealogy websites. My personal opinion about these trees, in relation to my own research, is they should be used a hints. I always try to contact the tree owner to see if they have any sources of their information. I am cautious about the online trees but I am also optimistic.

Towards the end of the summer, I received a hint about my grandfather’s family on My Heritage. I took a look at the family trees posted and noticed a sister named Anastasia Adele Ciardonei was part of the family structure.

My grandfather, Celio Capelli, immigrated to the United States in March 1920 at the young age of 5 after the death of his mother, Adele Siletto. Upon the ship’s arrival in New York, my great-grandfather, Matteo Ciardonei, was detained at Ellis Island after being diagnosed with tuberculosis. My grandfather’s aunt (Adele’s sister) Mary Siletto Capelli, traveled from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to pick up my grandfather from Ellis Island. Matteo was deported back to Italy and Celio became part of the Capelli family. Sadly, Matteo passed away a little over a year later in Cossano Canavese, Italy. My grandfather grew up in Pittsburgh in the home of his Aunt and Uncle, Mary and Frank Capelli, with his cousins as his siblings.

I had heard a story that Adele Siletto had passed away in childbirth. I considered this story very likely to be true. When reviewing the family trees at My Heritage, it seems I had finally might have proof of this story.

I contacted a friend on Facebook, Lily, who lives in Cossano Canavese, Italy. You can read about how we were introduced and the wonderful presents she gave to me here. I had received the church death record for Adele Siletto from Lily last year. What I did not know at the time was to ask if there were any records for this possible sister, Anastasia Adele.

I asked Lily to take another look at the church records to see if there was a birth record for Anastasia Adele Ciardonei in the same month Adele had passed away. Lily became my hero once again when she sent a digital copies of Adele’s death record and Anastasia’s birth and death records.

Adele Anastasia Antonia Ester Ciardonei was born on 12 September 1919. Her mother, Adele Siletto, passed away a few days later on 18 September 1919. Anastasia was baptized two days after her mother’s death on 20 September 1919. Sadly, she did not survive and passed away when she was 29 days old on 10 October 1919. Just 5 months later, Matteo and Celio would be on a ship steaming towards the United States.

My heart breaks for Matteo Ciardonei. In less then a year he loses his wife and newborn daughter, tries to reach a better life in America but is deported, and leaves his son with family on another continent. I am also so eternally grateful for the decision he made to leave my Grandfather with Mary and Frank Capelli.

I want to send a huge Thank You to my extended Italian family who placed Anastasia’s name on an online family tree. Without their help, I would not have been able research this important story in my family history. Every piece of the story adds up to explain how so many decisions came to be.

December 17, 2015December 13, 2015

When It Starts To Make Sense

At the beginning of the month, I had the opportunity to present with another member of my local genealogy society to a local breakfast club. Our topic was “Getting Started With Researching Your Family.” During the presentation I realized I do not have any of my ancestors added to my watchlist in FamilySearch.

Last week, after adding all direct ancestors and their siblings to my watchlist on FamilySearch, I was taking a look at the family of John F. Flock and Amner Caroline Ramsey. I noticed that I did not have death dates for several of their daughters. The shiny blackhole was calling my name again.

Did I jump in? Of course! I started by reviewing each daughter’s details page. The key was to notice that Laura Flock had marriage information added by another researcher. Using the married name, I was able to locate a gravestone on FindAGrave. I was excited to see Laura’s memorial page had been linked to some of her siblings. I suddenly had married names for several of the other daughters.

Along with many new facts to add to the family tree, there was an obituary added to the memorial page at FindAGrave for Elsie Clara Flock. The obituary stated that Elsie and her husband had moved to Fall River, Kansas about 1910. And it all started to make sense!!

I had always wondered why Effie Flock and Abraham Strickler had moved to Fall River, Kansas. Now I have a clue, Effie and her family moved at the same time as her little sister, Elsie, and Elsie’s family. I am still not sure what enticed the families to move such a distance. Maybe someday that little piece of information will float to the surface.

Effie and her daughters left Fall River only a couple of years later after Abraham passed away. Elsie remained in Fall River, Kansas until her husband passed away in 1938. Elsie then moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

I started by adding people to my watchlist to see what facts were getting added/changed to people I am related to. I ended up adding more information because another researcher had done just that. The one marriage fact opened up a whole can of new facts about the family. I have heard people voice concerns about others being able to make changes in FamilySearch. This is just another example of why it is a great idea. Distant cousins have different information then I do, together we can paint the fuller picture of our ancestors.

October 15, 2015October 12, 2015

Wedding Wednesday – Matteo Ciardionei and Adele Siletto

In my last post, I told my story of how social media led me to some important documents for my Italian line. You can read about it here. The first document is the marriage record of my great-grandparents, Matteo Ciardonei and Adele Siletto.

Using a couple of different sources, I was able to piece together a rough translation:

Act of Marriage

Number 14

Ciardonei and Siletto

The year one thousand nine hundred thirteen the 23 of December of three publications made in the church of St. Stefano, presented to the parish priests

Marriage was celebrated according to the rites of the Church between

Ciardonei Matteo, twenty-four, native of Cossano, living in Cossano, son of the deceased Pietro, who was son of the deceased Matteo, and son of the deceased Ciamporcero Antonia, daughter of the deceased Stefano.

And Siletto Adele, twenty, native of Cossano, living in Cossano, daughter of the living Guiseppe, who was the son of the deceased Stefano, and daughter of the living Maglione Anastasia, daughter of the deceased Giacinto.

Present as witnesses: Maglione Giovanni, son of deceased Lorenzo and Arsalice Pietro, son of deceased Pietro

With the consent of the present

Signed by Matteo Ciardonei, Adele Siletto, Pietro Arsalice, Giovanni Maglione and Guiseppe C?rieu (priest)

October 12, 2015

Facebook Friends

Last month my local genealogy society (Marin County Genealogical Society) held our annual workshop meeting. One of the topics presented was Using Social Media To Further Your Genealogy Research. I want to follow-up what our members learned by sharing a success story about how social media has aided my research.

Several years ago, while working on my father’s Italian line, I sent a message to a woman using the messaging service on Ancestry.com. This woman (I will refer to her as Minnie for privacy) was the owner of a family tree which included a person who was listed above my family member on the passenger manifest for the trip from Italy. What caught my eye and made me contact Minnie is both men were from the same very small town in Italy.

Minnie and I have not found a link to prove a relation between us but it is still possible since there are only about 12 surnames in this town. Since our initial emails, we have helped each other with our research. I found and sent digital copies of church records to Minnie. When she visited Italy a couple of years ago, Minnie sent me a book about Cossano Canavese which includes a photo of my great-great-grandfather. More importantly, Minnie and I became Facebook friends.

As part of her trip to Italy, Minnie became friends with several of the people she met in Cossano. Minnie friended her Italian friends on Facebook as a way to stay in touch. Minnie also suggested to me that I friend one of the women (I will refer to her as Lily for privacy) as she had a lot of knowledge of the town and its history. At the time I friended Lily we exchanged a couple of messages about who we were related to and our interests. I have enjoyed seeing the photos of Cossano that Lily posts to her Facebook account.

Last month, I was reviewing my research and realized that while I had supporting documents for my Italian line to 1899 (when the microfilm ended) I was missing a few critical items from 1900-1921. I sent a message to Lily to ask her what was the best way to get the documents. Who should I contact and what do I need to say? Does it have to be in Italian? I included in my message that I was looking for the marriage of my great grandparents, baptism of my grandfather, and death records for both great grandparents.

Two days later, I had a message back from Lily. She had walked down to the church in town and had taken photographs of all the documents!! She also informed me that the current vice-mayor is one of my relatives who remembers my grandfather. I have the contact email for her and Facebook information for her son.

If I had not reached out to other family history researchers and created relationships using social media I would not have these special documents right now. I now have a copy of both of my grandparents signatures and more of the story of how my grandfather came to the U.S. has been filled in. I also have started new relationships with distant cousins in Italy.

Social media lets you connect and collaborate with other researchers and distant family. You never know how those connections may lead you to a piece of the missing genealogy puzzle!

October 6, 2015

Tombstone Tuesday – Moses McSpadden

In June of this year my Dad and I embarked on a cross county adventure. The purpose of the trip was to deliver a large yellow truck full of items for my Mother to my parent’s house in Virginia. About halfway across country, I was looking at the route we planned to travel and realized we would be passing through Washington County, Virginia. As you pass from Tennessee into Virginia on Interstate 81, you enter Washington County.

About ten miles north of the state line sits Abindgon, Virginia. I have identified several direct line families who settled just outside of town along the Holstein River. These early settler families contain my 6^th great grandparents. Specifically, the family of Moses McSpadden lived across the river from the family of Hugh Berry. One of Hugh’s sons would marry one of Moses’ daughters and the rest was history…

I have previously located the gravestone for Moses McSpadden on FindAGrave.com. Knowing he was buried in the graveyard of the Green Spring Presbyterian Church, I convinced my Dad to take a detour off the interstate to pay our respects.

I am so thankful for AliceP, James Archer, and Belle who all the way back in 2003 posted information of Moses McSpadden’s stone. If I did not have the photo to use as a reference to locate Moses’ gravestone, we probably would have missed it. I also would not have been able to read as much of the engraving as Belle did.

Moses’ gravestone is no longer standing. It appears a tree used to stand nearby and the stone now lies on the soft ground of the decomposing roots. The stone is now barely legible. Here are a couple of photos of the gravestone as it is today.

Moses McSpadden stone is in the middle on the ground.

It was a wonderful afternoon to reach out and touch some history. My Dad, who was skeptical when we arrived, was just as excited as I was when we left the cemetery.

The next day, after a visit to the Historical Society of Washington County Virginia, I learned there was a reason why Moses was buried in the cemetery where we found him. Stay tuned for my next blog post to get the story.