I started this with a note on Facebook and it was suggested that it would make a good meme for bloggers. The idea is to publicize your surnames and locales to see if anyone elseknows something about them. For me on Facebook, I got several research-helpful replies. So how much better to take it to [...]
This photograph was found in St Louis, Missouri, along with many others depicting members of the Micheau family of Prairie du Rocher and Sparta, Illinois. No living relative among those that I interviewed had anyy idea who he might be. Is this a family member? A friend? How old? Occupation? Just what is his story? [...]
Is the honeymoon with the new year over already? I’m betting that by Monday morning, that’s what of us will be thinking! But I’ve had a good first three days! On the one hand, I missed the Carnival, which broke one of my resolutions, but it was unavoidable. Plagued by connectivity problems all week (which [...]
FamilySearch Record Search has added marriage records for Cook County, Illinois. The collection is currently what FamilySearch calls an “early access collection,” meaning that the collection is accessible though not yet entirely complete. What’s there now are records from 1900-1920. The entire collection ulitmately will go back to 1871. [H/T to Tom Kemp at the [...]
You recall that last summer I cane into a windfall of literally thousands of photographs. Well, we’ve spent some time on photo-triage, so every now and then I display some of the pictures most compelling or most in need of rehabilitation. This is another of such posts. We start with a good one. These portraits [...]
Readers recall that in the summer of 2007, GeneaBlogie’s research trip took us to the St Louis area and southern Illinois. We visited the Micheau family ancestral homeland of Prairie du Rocher, Illinois, a village founded by the French in 1722. I didn’t know then what I know now: that in 1889, a phantom funeral [...]
Continue reading about The Phantom Funeral of Southern Illinois
This photo postcard was found in family pictures in St Louis, Missouri. Living family members do not recognize the man. He may be from St Louis, or possibly from the Southern Illinois region encompassing Randolph, St Clair, Union, Monroe, and Jackson counties. One clue as to the time frame is on the reverse side. There [...]
Through a series of unfortunate circumstances, I’ve been blessed with a bounteous trove of genealogical riches, nearly more than one person can handle. We’ve been slowly and carefully going through boxes of documents and photographs (and at the rate we’re going, we’re likely to spend the next 15 years at this! For this Carnival, I [...]
Continue reading about Carnival Carousel: Harvesting & Sharing the Bounty
Le vingt deux fevrier mil huit cent treize a ete baptiste George ne de Julie esclave de fem Mv LaChange ont ete parrein Ignace et marrein Marguerite tous deux esclaves de Mde Ve D’Amour So it says in the records of the Catholic Diocese of Belleville, Illinois, referring to one George Micheau. What does this [...]
Continue reading about From Catholic Records to Illinois Slave Records
So I broke away from all the other toys to actually do some hard genealogy. I’ve written many times about Record Search at FamilySearch Labs. I noted awhile ago that I had found there the records of the Catholic Diocese of Belleville, Illinois, which includes an area of my research interest, the village of Prairie [...]
Continue reading about Doing Some Hard Genealogy With Catholic Records
