Diary of a Beginning Genealogist part 6
27 February 2003
Looking back, I can call this experience my first genealogy client. At the time, it was me just helping a friend find Oscar Amos Page. It had not entered my mind to become a professional genealogist. He had mentioned his family had looked researched off and on with no luck. I decided to take on the challenge as a learning experience.
At the time, I did not know you should research with a goal in mind. The goal helps you stay focus and have an ending point. You can get excited at your accomplishment since family history research is never-ending. As you finish one goal, you move on to the next or start researching other people's families. There is always another person to find and explore. Enjoy the search, and if you get stuck, set that goal aside a few days, months, or years and come back to it. Be sure to record the research you have already done, not to repeat it when you start again. New records are being released every day. Maybe all you need is to think about a different way of reaching your goal.
Today, I filed and researched Oscar Amos Page. I've been able to find him so far to 1870 in Central City in Linn County, Iowa. I just can't locate him on the 1925 census. Because Linn County, which is the Cedar Rapids area, has eights and no index. Like you, I have no clue what I was saying in the last sentence. 😊
I've looked in Maine Township, which has Center City. Jackson township and under Central City. Some years Central City has been separated out but not this year. I'm trying to find Oscar's father's name [my goal], which the 1925 census would give. I found his mother's name on the 1880 census, but she's widowed.
1 March 2003
I found Oscar Page's father. His name is James, and my goal was reached.
Today was slow. I looked for death records on all the older King's from Kentucky. I'm trying to prove their father is the same Henry King I'm tracing. I've found Henry, Jr.'s marriage record in Indiana. I also found two listings for Pilcher's death records. Also, their step-brother Alex's [Stine] death record. Maybe I can find something about Margaret's [his] step-mom on his [death certificate].
I also think I found the marriage records for the Missouri [King] kids, Alvin, Ann Eliza, Louisa, and Margaret (Maggie). If the information is correct, none of them married in Ralls County.
My thought after the marriage sentence was, who is Alvin? I looked at my records and have no Alvin in my tree. The information I was correct for the people I found. The data was not valid for my family members. It turned out to be people with the same names.
5 March 2003
I went to the Latter Day Saints (LDS) library looking for information. I went to my local Family History Center. The only good thing out of the trip was they have death records for Ralls County, Missouri. So, I might find Henry's death certificate or Margaret, his wife's. My friend went with me to look for information on Oscar Page and his father, James Page. The only thing he found was an ancestral record. He'll have to go back and look at it because the computer crashed. I wonder if he ever went back.
The local Family History Center is not open much today or before the pandemic. The good news a lot of their records are now online. If you are researching at www.familysearch.org and get a message "Images Available," you can access them at the Iowa Genealogical Society, an affiliate library. They are also open. Call before you go; you never know when they will be open rules during the pandemic can change anytime. Their phone number is 515-267-0287, and they are in Des Moines, Iowa.
8 March 2003
Helped a few people today. I also had some volunteers help me while we were waiting to open. They had gone to the Mid-Continent library [Midwest Genealogy Center] in Independence, Missouri. They have every census from every State and a ton of other information. Remember, easy access to all the census was not easy because Ancestry.com was not a big thing yet.
They told me about interlibrary loans, and even though they are a research library, they will loan books to a public library. I was able to find six books in their library that might help me. I'll have to do it outside the [genealogical sociey] library since they don't do inter-library loans. I was lucky to be able to do ILL through Drake University. I was attending Drake at the time, and this journal was kept as part of my class project.
InterLibrary Loan (ILL) is a service that allows you to get books or microfilm from a library outside your area but in the United States. You will want to check with the sending and receiving library about their policies and fees. Not all libraries do ILL. Sorry, I do not know if other countries have ILL or something similar for their country. I am pretty sure you will not be able to do ILL between countries. It never hurts to check maybe one will.
The State Historical Society of Iowa will share some records between Des Moines and Iowa City for free.
While filing books back, I happened to see a book called "Free Negro Registers." I looked at the King's in the back, and there was a child named Henry King freed in 1825. This is around the time frame of the Henry King I'm tracing. This Henry's mother is named Alice and came from Spotsylvania County, Virginia. If they followed the Cumberland trail when they migrated west, this could be the same family by the counties I've found them in on the census. Now I have to prove or disprove this is the same King family. It's funny I actually missed the first few words in the book title "District of Columbia" if I had seen them, I'm not sure if I would have looked at the book. Thank goodness it was at the end of the District of Columbia shelf and West Virginia's beginning. Alice King is listed in the District of Columbia because the Hanson's who freed her and her kids were living there at the time. It's not clear if Alice was also in D.C. and where her kids were located. The full book title is District of Columbia Free Negro Registers.
I now believe this is not my Henry King. I did a little research on this family but did not too much over the years. When I got the chance in 2012 to attend President Barack Obama's second inauguration, I was more excited to visit the National Archives. It was my first trip to Washington, D. C. I spent my time researching Alice King and the Hanson family that set her free—pulling and copying the information referenced in the book I found. Although this most likely is not my family, I had a great day at the National Archives. Looking back, I think I knew this was not my family at the time, but I wanted to be able to research someone while I was in town. Maybe one day, I might find a connection to this family who knows. I still have not done further research on this family.
This trip was a year before my first genealogy conference. Looking back, I can see how I moved closer and closer to finding or getting official genealogy training. Although, at the time, I had no clue I was seeking something.
Previous diary post:
Names mentioned 6 February 2003:
Henry King
Caroline King
Louisa King
Ann Eliza King
Abraham Lincoln King
Ann King
Margaret King
Hezakiah "Hez" King
Catherine Denny
Harriett "Hattie" King
Willis Campbell
Names mentioned 17 February 2003:
Henry King
Pilcher King
Prentess King
Margaret King
Margaret Stine
Lafayette Stine
Lulu King
Names mentioned 27 February 2003:
Oscar Amos Page
James Page
Henry King
Pilcher King
Alex Stine
Alvin King
Ann Eliza King
Louisa King
Margaret (Maggie) King
Alvin King
Ann Eliza King
Louisa King
Alice King
Running to-do list from the journal still needing to be completed:
· Need Minnie's birth certificate.
· Did Henry King die soon after returning from the boy scout camp?
o Compare death certificates with newspaper stories about the boy scout camp.
o Will add to the story of his life if correct.
· Who is E?na in the household of Edward King on the 1900 Missouri census?
o When did she die?
· Kenney/Kinney family free people of color
o Read document saved as Kenney-Kinney Family, free people of color
o Dilse Kenney/Kinney is mentioned
o My Kinney family is from Louisa County, Virginia, and Albermarle County, Virginia area.
o I have not done much Kinney research, but family is from both counties.
· Could Aaron Simms be Ida's birth father?
o DNA matches might provide the answer to this one.
o The paper trail leads to a different man.
· Did Betty Gaskins have a son die in the war?
o Did she go overseas because of his death?
o Look for a passport.
· Is there a Tark Hulse living near Ralls County, Missouri of Edward and Ida King in 1915-1920?
· Contact Uncle Michael about a copy of Lulu's written family history.