Two books to read and no time to do it!

I am still processing, reading, and organizing all the information that I gathered in Indiana last month. It is going to be a while before I can do any posts with significant information in them about what I discovered.  However, there were a couple things I found and I wanted to highlight them, mostly because they are so awesome.

While in Vincennes at the McGrady Brockman House I found and replicated the typed notes of my 2^nd great aunt Eliza Jane Combs Emmons Kinman.  On the front cover was a very nice memorial to the woman who put it together.  Since she is still living, and it gives her lineage I do not feel comfortable placing it here on line.  The compiler, Jean, is of my father’s generation and is the granddaughter of Eliza’s next oldest brother George Washington Combs.

This book is the typed record of all her research notes and diaries.  Jean does not state how she came to possess this information or where the originals were located at the time of transcription.  I would give anything to see the originals as I am already finding transcription mistakes like reversing of numbers when typed or hitting the 9 and not the 8 in the years.  You know, people weren't born 100 years after they died type of things.

Spanning the years 1966 to 1980 these not only gave me the opportunity to read along with how and when she made discoveries but also what was going on in the community and her family.  It was a little shocking at times to run across names of members of my family, but I knew that was to be expected.  After all, she was my great grandfather’s baby sister.  To keep all the information organized and flowing I purchased a notebook that I placed inside the three ring binder the photocopies are in.  I write facts, addresses (there are tons of correspondence notes), draw trees, and make comments about what I want to do to prove if the statement was true or not.

On a separate trip to the Carnegie Public Library in Washington, Indiana I made the amazing discovery of a family book that took one of my female brick wall lines back another four generations.  My 2^nd great grandmother was Rose Ann Brothers.  From records I have found I knew her parents were Jerome Brothers and Elizabeth Minerva Cissell.  That is all I knew.  I didn’t even know very much about her parents, it was a big wall.

Sitting on the shelf in the complied family history section of the genealogy library I discovered a binder about Cornelius Brothers and his descendants. I am sure you can imagine my excitement, and my father’s amused grinning, as I squealed and clapped my hands together.  It was an amazing, well researched, footnoted, and cited collection of information on this family. Of course at this rate my colonial Maryland ancestors are quickly outnumbering all the other colonial ancestors I have.

I have only skimmed it and it is next on the list of things to read after Eliza’s notes.  Fingers crossed I get to it by next spring since until then I am swamped with the BU course.  However, I did glean the following things:

•  Jerome Brothers was the son of Samuel S. Brothers and Catherine Gates.  Samuel was born about 1797 in Kentucky and Catherine about 1793 in Maryland.  They had 8 children from 1816-1834 and died in Indiana. 
• Samuel was the son of Jeremiah Brothers and Elizabeth Henry (widow of Basil Booth). Jeremiah was born in St. Mary’s County, Maryland in the 1770s.  They only had one child, Samuel Brothers.
• Jeremiah was the son of Cornelius Brothers and Elizabeth Thompson.  He is the earliest known ancestor for this line according to this report and was born in St. Mary’s County, Maryland in the 1740s.  They had seven children and died in Washington County, Kentucky.

As you can see, these two tomes of knowledge will have me busy for a long while.  It is going to be so much fun!

FGS, Indiana, and my trip so far

Well, we made it!  Sorry that I have not posted since last week, but I had family needs arise that caused me not to be able to write like I wanted to.  Not a problem, let’s play catch up now shall we?

After much discussion we left last Friday night. Why drive it all in one day (Virginia to Indiana) if you don’t have to.  Left home on Friday evening and drove to the half-way point, Charleston, West Virginia.  That made a much nicer drive as we arrived into my hometown just after lunch time on Saturday.   The next 4 days where a whirl wind of family visits, library hops, and history opportunities for me and my kids. 

Sunday I actually drug the whole family around Martin County visiting 5 different cemeteries. It should have been 7, but I was nice and didn’t make them backtrack to the 2 we accidently skipped.  The boys thought this was fascinating.  We found ancestors that were Revolutionary war Soldiers, War of 1812 Soldiers, and Civil War Soldiers.  I showed the boy the “howling cat” tomb, which, incidentally, is a lot smaller than I remember it!  Seeing these markers for myself was a moving experience.  Yes, I had seen them in other people’s pictures and on find-a-grave, but there is nothing, NOTHING, like seeing these stones for yourself.

Monday was Daviess County day.  The morning was spent driving though Oak Grove Cemetery looking for my father’s ancestors.  We didn’t make it to the second cemetery, St. John’s, as we spent 4 hours at the first one.  Amazingly the caretaker was there mowing.  He rode over after he saw us wandering around (we knew where some of the markers are) and asked if he could help.  After talking to us for a few minutes he went and retrieved the “dead books” from his home.  One was the index, by last name, of every stone in the cemetery which appears to be updated every 10 years.  The other was the burial registry of all internments after 1955.  He wouldn’t let me take images of these pages (I asked…3 times) but I did get to see my grandparents’ entries and several aunts, uncles, and cousins entries. 

GRC Memorial
Vincennes, IN

After the hot and humid walk through the graveyard my dad, my boys, and I went to the local library.  This is where I made a couple great finds.  First off, lots of local indexes, records, and resources for multiple counties that I needed.  Most amazing of all was a typed up family history of the Brothers family, which was done by a local resident.  It looks amazing because, you know, it contains citations and footnotes!  I have not made it through the 150 page document, yet, but it looks like it gives me good sources and leads for 4 generations I didn’t know about!  This helps with my mother’s line, and made the family dinner with her cousins that night very interesting.

Tuesday was Knox County day, and the only thing I wanted to get on my whole trip, the Eliza Jane Manuscript.  For those of you have read my blog on and off you may recognize this name.  Eliza Jane was the baby sister of my great-grandfather.  She was the family historian that my grandmother received all her information through. In the genealogy library in Vincennes, Indiana there is a typed copy of her research journals that a cousin of mine created.  I skimmed it while I photocopied it and I can’t wait to devour it later.  Lots and lots of good things!

We took the boys over to the George Rogers Clark Memorial also.  They loved it, and I have to say it always takes my breath away.  If you get to go make sure you watch the video and have the ranger on duty take you inside the monument.  The murals inside are breath taking.  Plus, how else can you learn about the amazing capture of Fort Sackville during the Revolutionary War?

Wednesday was the drive from Southern Indiana to Fort Wayne.  My parents, the boys, and I registered quickly that afternoon and explored a bit.  They were all tired from the trip so I sent them back to the hotel while I stuck around the conference center.  I enjoyed meeting up with some fellow IDG people and being talked into writing a lot more.  I know, more, can you believe it? 

We all went over to the opening night social and had a good time talking.  I meet quite a few people, heard some interesting things, received good advice, and laughed so much!  The down side was that my kids did not get to bed (because I made them go) until after 10pm.  This was not a good thing as they were up at 7am.

Thursday, today, my first full day at the conference, and there is a lot of stuff!  We missed the keynote but it was more important for me to get my kids up and fed than it was to rush them here.  All 5 of us wandered around the exhibit hall and quickly checked out of the vendors.  I received my honorable mention certificate in Category II from the ISFHWE and had my picture taken. (WHOOT!)  Next we wandered over to Family Tree Magazine where I met Diana Haddad and Allison Dolan in person.  It is always great to meet people in the flesh after you have talked to them over email and phone in the past. 

My parents decided to take the DNA track today.  Dad said it was so he could understand what I was doing better.  Mom went with him even though she already knew all this.  She is a doctor after all.  The boys attended 2 lectures with me.  They were well behaved, I was thrilled.

First up was Tom Jones’s “Planning and Executing Efficient and Effective Research: A Case Study.” Even with the technical difficulties around the projector, it was a great presentation.  I enjoyed just sitting and listening to him present the family history, the evidence, and taking us step-by-step through the process.  It reminds me a lot of his new book.  Which, I absolutely love.  I had planned to have him sign a copy of my Mastering the Genealogical Proof, but I forgot it in the hotel room.  Good thing I have 2 more days.

After lunch I took the boys to the BCG Certification seminar.  This is something I really want to do.  I can’t explain it, almost like I want to prove I can do it.  Also, in my gut I feel like this can give the “new kid” some credibility.  I may be completely off base here, but I did learn a lot that will help me make that decision later. 

The boys did fine until about 4pm when they completely crashed and burned.  8 hours in a conference is pretty good for any small person you have to admit.  We were killing time in the exhibit hall waiting for my parents and the final straw was the brother on brother brawl at The Irish Ancestral Research Association.  You have to admit, that is kind of funny considering their ancestry.  However I had one in tears and the other fit to be tied after I grounded them from TV and video games for the night.  Luckily the grandparents showed up just then and whisked them away. 

So here I sit, in the media hub, getting ready to go wander around the booths again and waiting for the door prize drawings.  Feeling like I should go grab a drink too, after all someone has to come back and get me in a few hours.