Terms of use: EllisIsland.org

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Judy G. Russell

Don’t post Ellis Island site images

SS Geo Washington, image NOT from EllisIsland.org

Terms of use (or terms of service) are a real issue for genealogists, and The Legal Genealogist began an occasional series on terms of use back on April 27 with “A terms of use intro.”1

As a quick reminder, terms of use are the agreements we are asked to abide by when we access information — even information that is purely factual and/or purely in the public domain — on a website.

Today, next in this occasional series, we’re going to look at the terms of use of a website many genealogists use and where we may not stop and think about the restrictions the website has imposed on the use of its information: it’s the website of the The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. (SOLEIF), on the web at http://www.ellisisland.org.

Now SOLEIF is a private foundation working in partnership with the National Park Service to restore both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.2 Its website contains “25 million arrival records and over 900 ships of passage pictures in the Ellis Island Archives” and the intent of the website is to make those records “available to everyone.”

Not so fast. Available, yes. Useful, maybe not. And that’s because of that website’s terms of use.

In particular, the terms of service provide that “you may use, access, download, copy, store, manipulate, reformat, print or display any Information (from the website) and solely for your personal, non-commercial use” and that “you may not otherwise copy, download, store, manipulate, reformat, distribute, display, publish (including, but not limited to, on the internet), create a derivative work from, resell or make any commercial use of, or make any other use of, the Service or any Information contained therein.”3

What that means, in plain English, is that you can find the record showing your grandfather’s arrival in the United States and download a copy to your computer for your own personal use. You can print a copy and hang it on your wall, but you may not post it in your blog or on your website or send a copy to Aunt Mabel in Seattle. Not because the record is copyrighted — it’s not, since U.S. government records created by govenmernt employees for governmental purposes can’t be copyrighted — but because your contract with that website says you can’t.

There happens to be a good reason for this restriction: the Foundation is supported by selling copies of the ship manifests and images, and if folks just grabbed them and posted them online without restrictions, the Foundation’s income would be severely hampered. So it simply doesn’t allow general use of the actual images it posts on its site.

Like most other websites, the Ellis Island website says you can go ahead and ask for permission to make other uses of the information. It provides contact information on the site and specific information as to how to get broader permissions (“please contact SOLEIF by writing to SOLEIF Copyright Agent, 17 Battery Place #210, New York, NY 10004”).

But the bottom line is, if you use EllisIsland.org, don’t post the images from that site on your website, or your blog, or anywhere else online. If you do, the Foundation, “in its sole discretion, may terminate your access to the Service, or any portion thereof, without notice for any reason, including but not limited to if SOLEIF believes that you have breached these Terms of Service. SOLEIF may, in its sole discretion at any time, change the content or services offered on the Service or discontinue providing the Service, or any portion thereof, without notice.”4

Take it or leave it.

SOURCES

Image source: Wikimedia Commons, citing U.S. government sources.

  1. “A terms of use intro,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 27 Apr 2012. ↩
  2. See “About the Foundation,” EllisIsland.org (http://www.ellisisland.org : accessed 7 May 2012). ↩
  3. “Terms of Use,” EllisIsland.org (http://www.ellisisland.org : accessed 7 May 2012). ↩
  4. Ibid. ↩
Posted in Terms of use | 6 Comments

Law School at NGS 2012

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Judy G. Russell

NGS Law School for genealogists

So… you always wanted to go to law school but became a genealogist instead, huh? And now you’re headed off to Cincinnati for the 2012 National Genealogical Society Conference — maybe you’re already there, sitting in your hotel room with your syllabus, trying to decide which sessions to attend?

Well, you’re in luck. Because you can combine both of those interests over the next few days.

Here are The Legal Genealogist‘s recommendations for Law School for Genealogists at the NGS conference.

Wednesday, May 9

Start out on Wednesday morning at 11.m. with W123, “Solving Problems with Tax Records,” presented by Victor S. Dunn, CG. Of all the records various laws required to be created, tax records may be among the most useful, allowing us to track even landless families where few other records exist.

Thursday, May 10

Those who were lucky enough to pre-register for the hands-on workshop, T203, “Understanding Court Records,” by J. Mark Lowe, CG, FUGA, are in for a real treat. But even if you didn’t manage to get into that workshop and can’t snag a late registration, there’s a lot to choose from on Thursday.

At 2:30 p.m., Jana Sloan Broglin, CG, OGSF, will present “Ohio’s Common Pleas Court,” T245. The Common Pleas Courts throughout early America were the courts closest to the people and their records are genealogical goldmines. Though this focuses on Ohio, what you’ll learn is easily transposed to any similar court anywhere.

At 4 p.m., there are two choices. First, Barbara Vines Little, CG, FNGS, FVGS, presents the Helen F.M. Leary Distinguished Lecture “Locating and Understanding the Law”, T253. And Gail Jackson Miller CG presents “Using Kentucky Equity and Criminal Court Cases to Complete Your Research,” T257.

Friday, May 11

There are three solid choices for Friday attendees starting with F313 at 9:30 a.m., “Chancery Records: The Secrets They Hold, the Families They Reveal,” presented by Barbara Vines Little, CG, FNGS, FVGS. Chancery courts were the courts of equity, handling all kinds of cases involving family matters that weren’t the usual lawsuit for money type of court case.

At 11 a.m., Michael J. Leclerc presents “Advanced Probate Research,” F323. That means going beyond the simple will to the many additional types of records that could be created in connection with a death.

And for those who are still a little leery about even looking at the law, at 2:30 p.m. Debbie Mieszala CG presents “Taking the Awe out of the Law Library,” F345.

Saturday, May 12

There aren’t any specific law-related lectures scheduled for Saturday. But there are some awfully good offerings. Listen to Pamela Ann Weisberger tell about finding conflicting court records and tracing the story of “When Leopold Met Lena: Marriage, Divorce, and Deception at the Turn of the Century,” in S402 at 8 a.m. Or go hear my friend Michael Hait at 8 a.m. in S407, “African American Genealogy: Tearing Down the Brickwalls.”

And don’t forget to stop by the Exhibition Hall booth of the Board for Certification of Genealogists between, oh, 10:30 and noon or so on Saturday, and I’ll be happy to help answer your questions about going ahead and trying your hand at getting certified as a genealogist. (And loads of others will be staffing the booth throughout the whole conference — ask any of us!)

Posted in General | Leave a comment

More bang for DNA test bucks

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Judy G. Russell

Making the most of your DNA testing dollars

Here it is, DNA Sunday again at The Legal Genealogist. And the big news in genetic genealogy this week is the launch of autosomal DNA testing by Ancestry.com. That brings to three the number of major players in the DNA testing world that offer this sort of test: Family Tree DNA and 23andMe are the others.

There’s a lot that isn’t known yet about the Ancestry testing. For more information on the test generally, both Blaine Bettinger of The Genetic Genealogist (see here and here) and CeCe Moore of Your Genetic Genealogist (see here, here and here) have written about it.

It’s only being offered at the moment to Ancestry.com subscribers — even subscribers have to sign up and wait in line to be offered the test — and all we know about pricing is the introductory price of $99 for the test.

Now I’m a total DNA junkie. I’ve never met a DNA test I wouldn’t take. So, yeah, my name is on the list, waiting to get my chance at the Ancestry test to go along with the tests I’ve already taken at Family Tree DNA and 23andMe. There are real advantages to testing as widely as possible: you’re looking to find people who match you, and the key person who can help you break down your brick wall may have only tested with one company.

The issue here is one of cost. Nobody is giving away DNA tests. So… how do you get the most bang for the DNA buck?

I’ve said it before: if you’re serious about using DNA as a tool in your genealogy toolkit and you can only afford to test with one company, then the company to test with is Family Tree DNA. It has more to offer the genealogist than anybody else in terms of the number of serious genealogists who use it and the features and ease of use it offers.

But that leaves you out in the cold for matches at 23andMe and Ancestry. So what do you do? Walk away from those potential matches?

Nope. Here’s what I would do:

Step 1. If you’re an Ancestry.com subscriber, get in on the $99 introductory offer. You can bet your bottom dollar it won’t ever get any cheaper. That gets you a shot at all your future matches with folks who test with Ancestry.

Step 2. Test with 23andMe using the monthly or prepaid subscription plan, then convert the subscription plan to lifetime at the end of the year. The thing I like least about 23andMe is its goofy pricing and the changes in its pricing. (I paid much more for 23andMe testing because I tested when it was changing its prices and it didn’t offer those of us who’d tested at the high end a refund.)

Right now, a 23andMe test costs $99, but you have to buy at least a one year subscription to what it calls its Personal Genome Service. That costs $9 a month, or $207 for the first year including the test, or you can buy a lifetime subscription for $399. But at the end of the first one-year subscription, you can convert your subscription into a lifetime subscription for $99, for a total of $306 for 23andMe.

Step 3. The minute you get your 23andMe results, transfer them to Family Tree DNA for $89. When I say “transfer,” that doesn’t end your 23andMe matches, it just gets you into the Family Tree DNA system with all of its benefits.

What that gives you is all your matches with all three companies for just under $500. Not cheap, for sure, but the best bang for your DNA buck on the market right now.

Posted in DNA | 14 Comments

Remembering the birthday boy

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Judy G. Russell

May 5th birthdays

Four members of my family are recorded with birthdays on the 5th of May. Three are living today: the oldest is my brother-in-law Mike; in the middle is my nephew Tim; and the baby is my great niece Sydney, who still isn’t a teenager no matter how much she thinks she is.

I love them dearly, and wish them the happiest of birthdays, but it’s the remaining May 5th birthday boy who’s on my mind today. Not just because there will be no more birthdays for this member of my family, but because he only ever had so few. So little is known about him, and he needs to be remembered.

Sammie Cottrell was born on 5 May 18871, probably in Clay County, Texas. That’s where his parents and older siblings had been recorded in the 1880 census,2 and the family isn’t found in the records of Wichita County, Texas, until 1889.3

He had an older brother John4 and four older sisters — Effalie5, Nettie, Addie and Theo.6 And he was just about three weeks shy of his fifth birthday when he died, on 11 April 1892. He was buried in the family plot, where his grandfather was already interred, at Highland Cemetery in Iowa Park, Wichita County, Texas.7

There are no existing photos of Sammie. I’d like to think that he’d have grown up looking a lot like my Great Uncle Gilbert, the brother born only months after Sammie’s death, or like my grandfather, born years after this older brother had passed on.

And literally nothing is recorded in family lore about his life or his death. Texas didn’t begin requiring death records until 19038 and there is nothing to tell us what happened to this little boy.

Was he lost to fire or flood? Did he perish in a storm? Or was he cuddled in his mother’s arms as he passed on from illness? We’ll never know.

What we do know is that he was loved and cherished and sorely missed. Alone of my family’s burials in that plot, Sammie has a tombstone placed at the time:

Sammie Cottrell, 1887-1892

The inscription at the bottom of the stone reads:

We miss thee from our home, dear Sammie,
We miss thee from thy place,
A shadow on our life is cast,
We miss the sunshine of thy face.

Rest in peace, Sammie. And rest assured, you’re remembered still.

SOURCES

  1. Highland Cemetery (Iowa Park, Wichita County, Texas; on Rodgers Road 0.1 mile west of the intersection with Bell Road North, Latitude 33.96704, Longitude -98.6595041), Sammie Cottrell marker; photograph by J.G. Russell, 9 Nov 2002 ↩
  2. 1880 U.S. census, Clay County, Texas, Precinct 4, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 164, p. 492(B) (stamped), dwelling 17, family 17, M.G. Cottrell household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 May 2012); citing National Archive microfilm publication T9, roll 1296; imaged from FHL microfilm 1255296. ↩
  3. The first recorded transaction was a deed showing Sammie’s father, M.G. Cottrell, as grantee. Wichita County, Texas, Deed Book O: 64-65, 19 Sep 1889; County Clerk’s Office, Wichita Falls. ↩
  4. See 1880 U.S. census, Clay County, Tex., pop. sch., Precinct 4, ED 164, p. 492(B), dwell. 17, fam. 17, J.W. Cottrell. ↩
  5. Ibid., M.E. Cottrell ↩
  6. 1900 U.S. census, Wichita County, Texas, Iowa Park, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 127, p. 238(A) (stamped), dwelling 86, family 86, Martin Catrell household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 May 2012); citing National Archive microfilm publication T623, roll 1679. ↩
  7. Highland Cemetery (Iowa Park, Wichita Co., Tex.), Sammie Cottrell marker. ↩
  8. See “Frequently Asked Questions About Texas Vital Statistics Indexes,” Texas State Library and Archives Commission (https://www.tsl.state.tx.us : accessed 4 May 2012). ↩
Posted in My family | Leave a comment

Readers respond to “We paid in blood”

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Judy G. Russell

Reader comments on “We paid in blood”

Rarely have I touched as many emotional nerves as with last Sunday’s post “We paid in blood.”

In that post, I was trying to work through the intensity of my own reaction to the episode of Who Do You Think You Are where Rob Lowe discovered that his 5th great grandfather was a Hessian soldier at the Battle of Trenton on Christmas Day 1776 … the same battle where my 4th great granduncle Richard Baker was killed.

I couldn’t believe the intensity of my own reaction to something that had happened, what, 236 years ago. And then I was bowled over by the reader response. Since many folks subscribe by e-mail and haven’t seen the comments, please let me share a few with you. And if you have a moment, stop back by the blog later and read them all here. The comments are that good.

The one who really got it

First, let me highlight one, because this reader got it — really got it — with what I was struggling to convey:

From Skeeter:

(W)hat I’ve found most fascinating … is … your emotional journey watching the Rob Lowe episode of WDYTYA and how i(t) brought up emotions for you regarding your ancestor. … It was amazing that you had emotions as if your ancestor was sitting on the couch right beside you watching that particular story together. And you felt every emotion that that ancestor’s crumbs of a legacy left behind for you to get to know their story with your heart, mind, and soul of what those experiences must have felt like. … I was moved by the fact that right now you would stand up for your ancestor and emotionally defend their value for their important life. Those that do genealogy care very deeply for our ancestors (good, bad, indifferent, or whatever description you want to tag to them).

Other real patriots

Others took the time to share their own stories of their patriot ancestors. Among my favorites were these:

From Jill Groce:

Female patriots are particularly amazing. My grandmother’s 1896 proof doesn’t quite stand up to today’s DAR standards, I dunno why, but my 6th great-grandmother, Kerenhappuch Norman Turner, was a heroine and even has a statue in her honor. (My blog at http://jglookups.blogspot.com tells some of her story) She nursed soldiers after the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, including saving the life of her grandson. It took him a year to heal, and his children were born after that. I’m sure there were a lot of brave women nursing the wounded, whether their stories have come down to us or not.

From Patricia Adkins:

(M)y 4x great grandfather, Col. William Montgomery, was a member of the 6th Virginia Regiment. His pension application states, “He was in engagements at Trenton and Princeton, was at Saratoga at the taking of Burgoyne, and had a hard engagement at the White Marsh”. Another 4x great grandfather, Abraham Estes, was also a soldier in the Revolutionary War. I am so proud of my ancestors, and in doing family research, I’ve been surprised to realize a new love and respect for my family members from so long ago. It’s a connection I can’t explain, but it is oh so real.

The DAR-SAR Patriot requirements

Some readers generously took the time to educate us all on the eligibility requirements to be considered a Patriot for purposes of a descendant’s membership in the Daughters or Sons of the American Revolution, including those from foreign forces that supported the American side such as Lafayette’s troops.

From Michael E. Pollock:

Actually, the DAR does recognize the “allies” as qualifying ancestors for membership and the Society actually has a chapter in Paris that consists of both French nationals and Americans living overseas.

Cathi Desmarais, 29 April:

My understanding is that for the DAR you only need to prove direct lineal descent from a person who supported the Revolution – e.g. was sympathetic to the cause. That doesn’t imply that a person who supported the cause financially was equal to one who fought as a soldier, just that descendants of both were on the “right side” of the conflict.

The disquiet over the Hessian as a Patriot

More than a few people shared my disquiet over the decision to recognize Lowe’s ancestor John Chrisopher East — the former Johann Christoph Oeste — as a Patriot by DAR and SAR.

From Susan Clark:

I have long struggled with DAR membership because one of my ancestors who demonstrated Loyalist beliefs and abruptly left South Carolina is enrolled in the DAR based on possible participation in the Chickamauga Wars. I am, to say the least, not comfortable claiming him as a Revolutionary War Patriot. It does seem that those who literally bore, raised and fired arms against Washington’s army ought not be considered Patriots. At least not to the United States.

From Patricia Adkins:

I was left wondering how on earth this Hessian soldier could so easily be “transformed” into an American patriot. The explanation was vague and I am offended by the ending. My ancestor fought in the revolution. … I do not belong to the DAR, and after seeing this story, I’m not sure I would want to.

From Wendy G Walter:

I understand that Rob Lowe’s ancestor came to fight in a land he probably knew close to nothing about out of economic necessity (as a landless youngest son) and chose to stay because there was nothing for him economically back in Germany. Here, there was land available to almost anyone. He probably made a decision based at least partly on economics, and also probably became a proud American at some point. However, I think there were a few years between those points, and going from Hessian mercenary to paying a tax within a few years, does not make one a Patriot (with a capital ‘P’).

The debate over the DAR-SAR rules

A lot of people took issues with the DAR-SAR rules.

From Laura C. Lorenzana:

I AM a member of the DAR. I chose to become a member mainly because it was a dream of my Mom’s to be a member, and I felt it was something valuable we could do together. … What’s more, currently, the DAR does so much good work to support our troops, and for that alone I’m happy to be a member. However, … (i)t seems unconscionable that someone would even attempt to imply that paying a tax equals blood shed for our liberties. I certainly can’t change the manner in which members were accepted prior to my joining the DAR. Do I wish their membership criteria were different? Indeed I do.

From Shirley:

I may have paid my last dues to DAR as a result of that insulting move on their part to equate fighting against our revolution and then paying taxes with the six years of sacrifice made by my grandfather who served with Washington.

From Ken MacCallum:

I was also struck by the apparent ease with which the DAR, and then the SAR, would have accepted Mr. Lowe’s ancestor as qualifying him for membership – and without an application or apparent sponsor, no less. Payment of ‘taxes,’ in an area and at a time where non-payment owuld likely have severe consequences, seems a rather thin basis on which to base member and demeans the servies of those with ‘real’ military service.

From Michael E. Pollock:

I would also like to comment about the “donating of supplies” (as a qualifying action). Those supplies were frequently collected by ARMED men. How many people would have refused to “give” supplies under those circumstances? I understand the rational of including serving as a juror, justice and in other civil offices, as well as providing supplies, as there is an implicit acknowledgment of the legitimacy of the “revolting” government, but it also bothers me when no effort is apparently made to dig a little deeper to determine if there was a larger “truth”.

And from Cathi Desmarais, a thought that hadn’t occurred to me:

If only military support qualified, then that would pretty much exclude a descendant qualifying on the basis of a female patriot. What seems more inappropriate to me is that you cannot qualify for DAR based on the blood with which your family paid – the service of your uncle who gave his dear young life for the cause. If one of your grandfathers/grandmothers hadn’t also provided military or patriotic service, you couldn’t join, despite the payment in blood. Yet, Rob Lowe could. Assuming that your uncle had no children, he can’t be a qualified DAR patriot. In my (humble?) opinion, that’s where the real problem lies. You should be able to honor your uncle’s and your family’s sacrifice by qualifying for membership through him.

Others defended the DAR-SAR, even if not the position taken on Lowe’s ancestor.

From Tim:

I am a recently inducted member in the Sons of the American Revolution. … I wanted to join because it was a source of pride for my family. Not because I had joined but because I had a family member who championed all the ideals I feel so strongly about. … For me, it serves as a reminder of the sacrifices made by my ancestor. It also serves as a reminder for my kids and their kids that they ought to be respectful of the past achievements and hard work of their ancestors. Likewise, it promotes the continuance of some of the greatest ideals ever conceived by one nation.

From Harold Henderson:

What we know as the American Revolution was a very unpleasant, very personal civil war. Up-close accounts like 1776 show how improbable the actual outcome was. The “smart money” was on the British Empire. If that much is accurate, then I can understand how a lineage society might choose to honor anyone who took any kind of stance in favor of such an underdog cause.

And from Caroline Pointer — who has both Patriot and Loyalist ancestors — came a more nuanced point of view:

This country’s forefathers saw revolt as a last resort solution. They were deeply conflicted by the decision as well as they should’ve been as evidenced in their letters to each other on the matter.

Many fought and died for what they believed in, but there are others who had other reasons to fight just as there are today in modern wars. Without some firsthand evidence of how our ancestors felt and believed, we’re left with making conclusions based on evidence and circumstantial evidence.

(So) why (join DAR) in the first place? Just a personal preference. My family tree is what it is regardless of a lineage society membership.

Oh, and to be contrary, I’m going to do my DAR application at the same time I do my United Empire Loyalists application. It’s who I am. Literally.

Wow. As I said, I was bowled over. Completely bowled over.

Posted in General | 19 Comments

Thanks, past and future

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Judy G. Russell

Thank you… past and future

If you ever ever get a chance to be a speaker for the Ocean County, New Jersey, Genealogical Society, say yes. I don’t care when it is, what the topic is, or what else you have to put off. These folks are just so much fun.

Can you tell that I had an absolute ball last light presenting an hour’s worth of DNA testing basics to the OCGS? Great group, great questions and oh my… they even laughed at my jokes. It doesn’t get much better than that!

So a great big thank you to the Ocean County Genealogical Society. And, yes, thanks! I will come back next year.

And while I’m on the subject of presentations, I’ve been remiss in mentioning what else is coming down the pike for me. I keep telling people I’ve never been good at blowing my own horn. (Well, not directly, that is…) But there have been enough requests that I’ll take just a moment here and let you know about three upcoming events where I’d love to have you join me.

Patchogue-Medford Library, Patchogue, New York

June 23, 2012
How Knowing the Law Makes Us Better Genealogists

The lives of our ancestors were governed by laws, and we use legal records to reconstruct their history. Understanding the laws in effect when those records were created, from English common law to federal statutes, helps us understand the records and why our ancestors acted as they did.

Legacy Family Tree Webinar

August 29, 2012
Building a Family from Circumstantial Evidence

Most genealogists learn very quickly that it’s a rare family where direct evidence supplies all the proof needed to connect one generation to another and tie brothers and sisters to each other. In most cases, it’s necessary to build the case for family relationships from bits and pieces and hints and clues gathered from a wide variety of sources. Find out more about how to build a family from circumstantial evidence.

The webinar is free online. Register here!

The Genealogy Event, New York City

October 26-27, 2012
The ABCs of DNA

When the paper trail runs cold, evidence locked in our genes may provide clues to point us in the right direction… or stop us from heading down a blind alley. Learn about the three big types of DNA testing for genealogists and how they can help add to your family history.

Registration isn’t open yet for this event so keep tabs on the website.

IMAGE SOURCE
Image courtesy of Julio Bahar, Open Clip Art Library.

Posted in General | 2 Comments

The Joker, NGS and me

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Judy G. Russell

Yet another Official Blogger

So… here I am, an Official Blogger for the National Genealogical Society conference next week in Cincinnati. And I can’t get that quote from the Joker, in Dark Knight, out of my mind.

You know the one. It’s his answer to the accusation that it was his plan that ended in a character’s death:

Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it! You know, I just… *do* things.1

And why is that quote stuck in my mind, you may ask? Hmmm… Could it be because, um, it pretty much sums up the story of my life? And maybe because, now that I’m the dog that’s caught this particular car, I haven’t a single solitary clue just what exactly I’m supposed to do with it?

I’d say I was honored, and I am delighted to have any official association with NGS, howsoever brief. But then again I have a sneaky suspicion that all of us who put our names forward were vetted for, oh, about 30 seconds at the outside (“Website, yes? Check. Blog, yes? Check. Pornographic content, no? Check. Approved!”) before we all got our shiny new credentials. (They’re pretty spiffy, though, you have to admit.)

I’d say I was humbled, but hey… you know me better than that, so I won’t even try that one.

I’d say that I’d faithfully report everything that goes on in Cincinnati so that everybody who can’t make the conference this year can join in the fun. But that’d be a bald-faced lie. The first NGS conference I went to, I went to everything. I mean everything. I hit my first session at 8 a.m. and didn’t quit ’til the social events of the evening were over. And by Friday afternoon, I thought my head would explode from information overaload. I don’t even know who the last speakers were, much less what they said. I don’t do that anymore.

I’d say I was going to tell you all the news that comes out of the NGS conference, but you’d wonder who was writing this blog and whatever happened to the Judy Russell who has her feet planted firmly in, oh, the 18th or 19th century.

I’d say I have a great plan for what I’ll do to keep The Legal Genealogist full of NGS-related material all week long. But you’d say I didn’t look like a blogger with a plan. (And you’d be right.) Me and the Joker… we just *do* things.

So I’ll just say what I said to NGS when I decided to chase this particular car. I’m doing this because I think it’s gonna be fun.

And because you never can tell where the journey’s gonna take us.

Stay tuned.

SOURCE

  1. “Memorable quotes for The Dark Knight (2008),” IMDb.com (http://www.imdb.com : accessed 1 May 2012). ↩
Posted in General | 12 Comments

Law Day=Family History Day

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Judy G. Russell

Law Day – Family History Day

Celebrating Law Day Family History-Style

It’s May 1, officially declared as Law Day in the United States,1 and for this self-proclaimed law geek it’s definitely my kind of holiday.

Law Day as a day to celebrate the rule of law and its role in creating and protecting American freedoms was first recognized in 1957 with a proclamation by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1961, a joint resolution of Congress called for an annual proclamation of Law Day, and each year the American Bar Association chooses a different theme. For 2012, it’s No Courts, No Justice, No Freedom.2

But hey… this ought to be celebrated throughout the genealogical community. We should call it Family History Day, because — without laws and the records created because of laws — there sure as heck wouldn’t be much family history for any of us to find. Our theme can be No Laws, No Courts, No Records.

Think about it for a minute. Think of all the bits and pieces and clues we use to piece together the stories of our ancestors. So very many of the records we rely on were created because of some legal requirement.

I know that my very distant ancestor Nicholas Gentry was a colonial militiaman in York County, Virginia, in 1680 because he got into a tussle with a creditor who got a court order garnisheeing his pay.3

I have a marriage bond for Boston Shew and Elizabeth Brewer in 1816 in Wilkes County, North Carolina.4 It exists because the law required it.

I have the 1895 Chicago birth certificate reflecting when and where my father’s aunt gave birth to her first and only child, in Chicago, in 1895.5 Why? Because the law required it.

I have death records for two great grandfathers, both born in 19th century Texas6 because the law required the deaths be recorded.

I have the passenger list for S.S. George Washington, the ship that carried my father and his parents from their home in Germany to their new home in America in 19257 because the law required it. I have my grandmother’s birth certificate from Germany — attached to the visa application the law required her to fill out to come to America.8 I know where they lived in 19309 and, as of 2 April when the 1940 census was released, I know where they lived in 1935 and 194010 — because the law required those censuses to be taken.

And I have that affidavit filed by my fourth great grandfather David Baker outlining his service in the 3rd Virginia in the Revolutionary War where he mentioned the death of his brother Richard at the Battle of Trenton11 that I wrote about this past Sunday.12 Why? Because, if David was to qualify for a pension, the law required it.

Just about everything our ancestors did that ended up being recorded on paper got there because some law required it. Without even trying, I came up with 20 different types of records that wouldn’t exist at all or in anything near the volume we have if it were not for the law:

     • Burial permits;
     • Census records (both state and federal);
     • Civil and criminal court records;
     • Copyrights;
     • Divorce records;
     • Estate records (probate and will records);
     • Immigration (visas, entry records);
     • Jury lists;
     • Land records;
     • Military draft, enlistment, pension and service records;
     • Naturalization records;
     • Passports;
     • Patents;
     • Prison records;
     • School records;
     • Social Security records;
     • Tax records;
     • Trademarks;
     • Vital records; and
     • Voting records.

I can’t imagine doing family history research without the records required by law. It’d be a nightmare. It probably wouldn’t even be possible.

So let’s hear it for Law Day. For a genealogist, it’s the best holiday there is.

SOURCES

  1. See 36 U.S.C. §113 ↩
  2. See “Law Day: Research Guide,” Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/ : accessed 30 Apr 2012). See also American Bar Association, “Law Day 2012” (http://www.americanbar.org : accessed 30 Apr 2012). ↩
  3. November 1680, order as to Nicholas Gentry, York County, Virginia, Deeds, Orders, Wills (1677 – 1684) 6: 268; York County Microfilm reel 3, Library of Virginia, Richmond. ↩
  4. Wilkes County, North Carolina, Marriage Bond, 1816, Boston Shew to Elizabeth Brewer; North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh. ↩
  5. Cook County, Illinois, Return of a Birth, Benjamin Franklin Ernest Schreiner, 4 July 1895; Couty Clerk’s Office, Vital Statistics Department, Chicago. ↩
  6. Texas Board of Health, death certif. no. 13603, Martin Gilbert Cottrell, 26 Mar 1946; Bureau of Vital Statistics, Austin. Also Oklahoma State Board of Health, death certificate 3065 (1912), Jasper C. Robertson; Bureau of Vital Statistics, Oklahoma City. ↩
  7. Manifest, S.S. George Washington, Jan-Feb 1925, p. 59 (stamped), lines 4-6, Geissler family; “New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957,” digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 Feb 2012); citing National Archive microfilm publication T715, roll 3605. ↩
  8. Bremen birth certificate, attached to visa application, Form 255, 4 December 1924, Marie Geissler; photocopy received 2004 via FOIA request by Judy G. Russell from U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (now U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services). ↩
  9. 1930 U.S. census, Cook County, Illinois, Chicago Ward 16, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 17, page 223(B) (stamped), sheet 18(B), dwelling 155, family 386, Hugo Geissler household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 Apr 2012); citing National Archive microfilm publication T626, roll 441. ↩
  10. 1940 U.S. census, Cook County, Illinois, Chicago Ward 13, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 103-867, page 1,429(B) (stamped), sheet 61(B), household 52, Hugo Geissler household; digital image, Archives.gov (http://1940census.archives.gov : accessed 2 Apr 2012); citing National Archive microfilm publication T627, roll 947. ↩
  11. Affidavit of Soldier, 26 September 1832; Dorothy Baker, widow’s pension application no. W.1802, for service of David Baker (Corp., Capt. Thornton’s Co., 3rd Va. Reg.); Revolutionary War Pensions and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, microfilm publication M804, 2670 rolls (Washington, D.C. : National Archives and Records Service, 1974); digital images, Fold3 (http://www.Fold3.com : accessed 28 Apr 2012), David Baker file, pp. 3-6. ↩
  12. “We paid in blood,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 29 Apr 2012). ↩
Posted in General | 6 Comments

The goodies in statute books

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Judy G. Russell

The laws of Texas — the Republic, that is!

As the daughter, granddaughter, and great granddaughter of Texans, it’s always fun to have time to poke around in old Texas records. I had a chance this weekend to poke around in really old Texas laws — those of the Republic of Texas. Not because I was looking for anything in particular but just because it’s fun. You never know what you’re going to find.

Act for relief of Ministers, 1837 TX

On just one day, 12 June 1837, acts covering a wide variety of subjects were presented by B.T. Archer, Speaker of the House of Representatives,1 and Jesse Grimes, President pro tempore of the Senate,2 to the President of Texas, Samuel Houston,3 for his signature.

It was likely the last day of the special session called in May, just after the capital had moved to the City of Houston.

Money was clearly on the minds of those legislators. The first thing signed into law that day was an act to impose import duties on goods brought into the Republic. And by looking at the duty rates, we have a pretty good sense of what things must have actually cost and what was valued in the new Republic. The import duties included:

     • Provisions and groceries, free;
     • Coffee, one cent per pound;
     • Brown sugar, two cents per pound;
     • White sugar, four cents per pound;
     • Pepper, pimento or allspice, five cents per pound;
     • Cinnamon, cloves and other spices, ten cents per pound;
     • Mustard, 25 percent of the value;
     • Vinegar, free;
     • Ready-made clothes, 30 percent;
     • Hats, 25 percent;
     • Jewelry, 33-1/3 percent;
     • Drugs and medicines, 20 percent;
     • Playing cards, 50 percent;
     • Seeds, free;
     • Fire arms and munitions of war, free.4

And the very next statute signed was a tax on real and personal property of one half of one percent of the value. The act also set up business license fees, mostly on places that sold liquor or had a billiard table, charged a head tax of one dollar on every white male over age 21, and imposed a fee on pedlars.5

Yet another law that day was to sell off Galveston Island and all other islands belonging to the Republic in 10-40 acre tracts to the highest bidders. The proceeds were to go half to pay for the Republic’s army, one fourth to the navy and one fourth to the general treasury.6

What does that tell you about the priorities of politicians, then and now?

Some of the law were entirely mundane — to print thousands of copies of the laws,7 to authorize the hiring of extra clerks for the public auditors office,8 to fix the meeting date for the Republic Congress for the first Monday each November.9

Others are a chilling reflection of just how precarious life was in Texas at that time, as bills were signed into law:

     • Authorizing the President to call out the militia as needed.10

     • Authorizing the President to send a flag of truce to Mexico to try to arrange the release of prisoners of war especially those from the ships the Independence11 and the Julius Caesar,12 but not limited to those.13

     • Suspending the operations of the General Land Office if Texas was invaded.14

     • Ordering a mounted force of 600 men to serve for six months at a time, assisted by companies of spies from friendly Indian tribe, to protect the northern frontier.15

There was a law calling for vacant land to be surveyed and sectioned in 640-acre and 320-acre tracts,16 another establishing the County of Houston (not to be confused with the city of the same name)17 and an act authorizing the President to appointed a commissioner to run and mark the boundary with the United States.18

But I think my favorite of all the bills passed that day was when the Republic of Texas exempted “all ordained ministers of the gospel” from military service.19 It’s a sure bet it wasn’t because they were particularly peaceful men. Circuit-riding preachers back in their day didn’t have a choice but to defend themselves, and their flocks, from all kinds of threats. My guess is, the Powers That Be figured the troops would behave better if there were preachers preaching to them rather than fighting alongside them.

You never know what you’ll find in a statute book.

SOURCES

  1. See Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.com), “Branch T. Archer,” rev. 12 Apr 2012. ↩
  2. See Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.com), “Jesse Grimes,” rev. 17 Mar 2012. ↩
  3. See Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.com), “Sam Houston,” rev. 27 Apr 2012. ↩
  4. An Act To raise a public revenue by Impost Duties, Laws of the Republic of Texas, in two volumes (Houston : p.p., 1838), 1: 253; digital images, University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History (http://texashistory.unt.edu : accessed 29 Apr 2012). ↩
  5. Ibid., An Act To raise a Public Revenue by direct Taxation, 1: 259. ↩
  6. Ibid., An Act To Dispose of Galveston and other Islands of the Republic of Texas, 1: 267. ↩
  7. Ibid., Joint Resolution For Publishing the Laws and Journals, 1: 262. ↩
  8. Ibid., Joint Resolution Employing extra Clerks in the Auditors Office, 1: 269. ↩
  9. Ibid., An Act Regulating the Meeting of Congress, 1: 275. ↩
  10. Ibid., An Act Authorizing the President to call out the Militia, 1: 267. ↩
  11. Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.com), “Texas schooner Independence,” rev. 12 Feb 2012. ↩
  12. See generally Texas State Historical Association, Handbook of Texas Online, “Booker Shields,” (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online : accessed 29 Apr 2012). ↩
  13. Joint Resolution Employing extra Clerks in the Auditors Office, Laws of the Republic of Texas, in two volumes 1: 269. ↩
  14. Ibid., An Act Supplementary to an act entitled “an act to establish a general land office for the republic of Texas”, passed Dec. 22, 1836, 1:263. ↩
  15. Ibid., An Act For the better protection of the northern frontier, 1: 274. ↩
  16. Ibid., An Act Supplementary to an act entitled “an act to establish a General Land Office in the republic of Texas”, passed Dec. 22, 1836, 1: 266. ↩
  17. Ibid., An Act Establishing the County of Houston, 1: 270. ↩
  18. Ibid., An Act To authorize the President to appoint a Commissioner to run the Boundary line between the United States of America, and the Republic of Texas, 1: 271. ↩
  19. Ibid., An Act For the relief of Ministers of the Gospel, 1: 272. ↩
Posted in General, Statutes | Leave a comment

We paid in blood

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Judy G. Russell

WDYTYA, the Battle of Trenton and lineage societies

Most of the time, when I watch Who Do You Think You Are, the power of the emotional hits the celebrities take at times during their discoveries comes as no surprise to me. One of the things that hooked me, completely, on genealogy back when I first started was how very much every single discovery of what my family lived through has made history come alive for me.

So I was feeling kind of sorry for Rob Lowe as I watched this past Friday night. He wanted so very badly to be descended from a genuine American hero — a Revolutionary War soldier — and it must have come as something of a shock when it became clear his ancestor John Christopher East was really a Hessian soldier Johann Christoph Oeste.

Anybody who goes from supporting Michael Dukakis to appearing on Hannity isn’t going to feel warm and fuzzy about that.

And then the program disclosed that Oeste had been at the Battle of Trenton. A Hessian soldier in uniform under arms at the Battle of Trenton. That’s a battle I happen to know a lot about… and to have had a very personal stake in.

David Baker pension application

And that’s what gave me my shock of the evening: an absolute gut-level visceral reaction I never would have expected. Logic went out the window, and pure emotion took over.

It wasn’t that I didn’t know much about Lowe’s Hessian ancestor and his comrades. It’s that I felt like I knew too much.

Because, you see, in the thick of that battle on the other side — the American side — was the 3rd Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line.

First authorized in December 1775, the 3rd Virginia Regiment of Foot began actively recruiting to fill its 10 companies in February 1776. The 4th Company of the Regiment was headed by Captain John Thornton and raised in Culpeper County on 12 February 1776. Among those who enlisted in the company were James Monroe, future President of the United States, and John Marshall, future Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, as lieutenants.1

And serving in the 3rd Virginia, in the very same company with Monroe and Marshall under Captain Thornton, were two brothers from Culpeper County, Virginia. The older, David Baker, was my fourth great grandfather. He signed up the day the company was formed and served as corporal throughout his two-year enlistment from 1776 to 1778.2

The younger was Richard Baker. My fourth great granduncle and, because of cousins marrying cousins, a first cousin many times removed.

The conditions the brothers faced in the assault on Trenton were appalling. One of Washington’s aides, believed to have been Col. John Fitzgerald, recorded:

It is fearfully cold and raw and a snowstorm setting in. The wind is northeast and beats in the faces of the men. It will be a terrible night for the soldiers who have no shoes. Some of them have tied old rags around their feet; others are barefoot, but I have not heard a man complain. They are ready to suffer any hardship and die rather than give up their liberty.3

These were the American patriots that Lowe’s ancestor and his Hessian comrades were trying to kill. They weren’t just trying to kill George Washington. They were trying to kill members of my family.

And, my family’s history records, Richard Baker, who was born 23 December 1753 in Culpeper County, Virginia, died 26 December 1776.4 At the Battle of Trenton. He was just three days past his 23rd birthday when he was killed. By the Hessians. At Trenton.

There aren’t any details of Richard’s death. Just a poignant and quiet statement by his brother David many years later when David applied for a pension:

In a few days after we joined the main army the battle of White Plains was fought. We retreated & recrossed the Deleware The next Battle was at Trenton the 26th of Decemb – I was guarding the Baggage during the battle & had a Brother by the name of Richard killd in that action.5

Little is known or written about casualties among enlisted men at Trenton. David McCullough in his masterful 1776 could document no American troops killed in the fighting, but noted two froze to death in the terrible winter conditions.6 But David Baker’s use of the phrase “killd in that action” rather than saying “he died” to describe his brother’s fate suggests a death in combat, and at least one relatively contemporary account records:

Our loss is only two killed and three wounded. Two of the latter are Captain (William) Washington and Lieutenant (James) Monroe, who rushed forward very bravely to seize the cannon.7

Washington and Monroe were both officers in the 3rd Virginia. Monroe was a lieutenant in the Baker brothers’ own company. If the officers were rushing forward, it stands to reason the enlisted men were too, and a biography of Monroe says they were.8

We’ll never know for sure if that’s how and when Richard fell, but it well may be.

So I sat there listening to and watching the WDYTYA episode, getting more and more upset. It’s one thing to have history coming alive in your family history; it’s something altogether different to have the dead hand of your own family history playing out on the tube while somebody else is trying hard to justify his ancestor’s role in your family member’s death.

I couldn’t help but think of David. He was a young man, not yet 30, who had just lost his little brother. He must have been grief-stricken and guilt-wracked. He was the older brother who couldn’t save the younger. But his concerns were so much bigger than the Hessians’ “humiliation” of being marched through Philadelphia.

He and the rest of the 3rd Virginia didn’t get a rest in the Newtown Church the way the Hessians did. He had to keep on after that battle:

The 27th the cannonading at Trenton took place on the 28th the Battle of princetown was fought & General Mercer of Virginia was killd from princeton we went into Winter quarters at princetown Morristown The next Battle I was in was the Battle of Brandewine. Lafayette was one of our Generals Washington commander in chief. 46 were killd & wounded of our regiment. I think Colo Heath was then our Colo. Next Batle was that of Germantown Washington commander & General Stevenson was broke of his command for misconduct in that battle I was then marched to Valey forge & there stationd untill I was discharged in february 1778 by General Woodford.9

Two years of service. Marching in the snow with bare and bloody feet. A brother’s death. The terrible winter at Morristown followed by the even more terrible winter at Valley Forge. That’s what David Baker endured. I knew that, just as I’ve known for years that not everyone supported the Revolution. I don’t ordinarily get worked up over things that happened more than 230 years ago.

So I didn’t expect to be as angry as I was at the end of the program. I didn’t expect to be as bothered by the whole thing.

I particularly didn’t expect to be sitting here, even now, thinking that something is very wrong when organizations like the DAR and SAR think the payment of a tax ought to qualify somebody as an American patriot. When selling a cow — not giving it, mind you, but selling it — to the American forces qualifies someone’s descendants for DAR or SAR. And looking at the list of eligibility requirements I’m getting even more steamed.

The kinds of service performed by an ancestor that qualifies you to join the DAR includes your ancestor buying his own way out of military service by hiring a substitute or furnishing supplies that he got paid for.10 SAR’s eligibility requirements are a little mushier: your ancestor has to be “a recognized patriot who performed actual service by overt acts of resistance to the authority of Great Britain,”11 which — we saw Friday night — includes paying a tax.

Now I really don’t want to take away anybody’s pride in his own family history. The transformation of the Hessian Johann Christoph Oeste into upstanding American John Christopher East is a great story.

But it’s hard for me to accept it as a DAR- or SAR-worthy story of American patriotism.

Because my family didn’t pay to help build this country in coin.

We paid in blood.

SOURCES

  1. E.M. Sanchez-Saavedra, A Guide to Virginia Military Organizations in the American Revolution, 1774-1778 (Richmond : Virginia State Library (1978), 29-40, 71. ↩
  2. See generally Affidavit of Soldier, 26 September 1832; Dorothy Baker, widow’s pension application no. W.1802, for service of David Baker (Corp., Capt. Thornton’s Co., 3rd Va. Reg.); Revolutionary War Pensions and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, microfilm publication M804, 2670 rolls (Washington, D.C. : National Archives and Records Service, 1974); digital images, Fold3 (http://www.Fold3.com : accessed 28 Apr 2012), David Baker file, pp. 3-6. And see Compiled Military Service Record, David Baker, Corp., 3rd Virginia Regiment, Revolutionary War; Compiled Service Records of Soldiers who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, microfilm publication M881, Roll 951 (Washington, D.C. : National Archives Trust Board, 1976); Fold3 David Baker file, pp. 12-17. ↩
  3. George F. Scheer and Hugh F. Rankin, Rebels & Redcoats: The American Revolution Through the Eyes of Those Who Fought and Lived It (1957; reprint, New York : Da Capo Press, 1987), 211. ↩
  4. John Scott Davenport, “Five-Generations Identified from the Pamunkey Family Patriarch, Namely Davis Davenport of King William County,” PDF, p. 27, in The Pamunkey Davenport Papers: The Saga of the Virginia Davenports Who Had Their Beginnings in or near Pamunkey Neck, CD-ROM (Charles Town, W.Va.: Pamunkey Davenport Family Association, 2009). ↩
  5. Affidavit of Soldier, 26 September 1832; Dorothy Baker, widow’s pension application no. W.1802, Revolutionary War; Fold3 David Baker file, p. 4. ↩
  6. David McCullough, 1776 (New York : Simon & Schuster, 2005), 281. ↩
  7. Scheer and Rankin, Rebels & Redcoats, 213. ↩
  8. See Harry Ammon, James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity (Charlottesville, Va. : Univ. of Virginia Press, 1990), 7-8, 13 (the officers “led the company in a charge”). ↩
  9. Affidavit of Soldier, 26 September 1832; Dorothy Baker, widow’s pension application no. W.1802, Revolutionary War; Fold3 Bavid Baker file, pp. 4-5. ↩
  10. “Eligibility: Acceptable Service,” National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (http://www.dar.org : accessed 28 Apr 2012). ↩
  11. Article III, SAR Constitution, National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (http://www.sar.org/ : accessed 28 Apr 2012). ↩
Posted in My family | 86 Comments