| Genealogy Gems: News from the Allen County Public Library at Fort Wayne, No. 247, September 30, 2024 | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Genealogy Gems (genealogygems genealogycenter.info)
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| Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2024 22:16:35 -0400 | |
Genealogy Gems: News from the Allen County Public Library at Fort Wayne
No. 247, September 30, 2024
In this issue:
*Family History Month 2024
*The Civilian Conservation Corps
*Voyagers to the West: A Review
*PERSI Gems:
*Preservation Tips: Resources for Preserving Your Family History Collection
*History Tidbits: The Saxon Hercules
*Genealogy Center’s October 2024 Programs
*Genealogy Center Bits-o’-News
*Staying Informed about Genealogy Center Programming
*Genealogy Center Social Media
*Driving Directions to the Library
*Parking at the Library
*Genealogy Center Queries
*Publishing Note
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Family History Month 2024
by Curt B. Witcher
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I trust many share my excitement at welcoming another Family History Month! I encourage all of you to make this year’s family history month the grandest ever. And by grandest, I don’t necessarily mean the biggest, or the most activity-filled, or the one where we do the newest things. All those are perfectly fine. It is also perfectly fine to do something you have wanted to do for a long time, something you’ve continually promised yourself you would do. Make this month a time to literally do something that advances your research objectives, that helps you find and tell your families’ stories. That will be truly grand!
In every corner of the country there will be engaging family history activities. Use these amazing lists of activities as opportunities to learn, do, and be inspired. Yes, many engagements will teach us new strategies and research techniques. Understand and deploy those new learnings. I am confident hearing some presenters talk about researching in a particular geographic area, detail sources for specific ethnic groups, or solve particularly challenging research problems will help us do more and do better. I am equally confident that participating in both in-person and online offerings will inspire us to get more creative in finding more sources, using better strategies, and most completely finding all our stories.
The Allen County Public Library’s Genealogy Center is pleased to be offering thirty-one days of engagements again for Family History Month 2025! While I realize the statement might be tired and possibly over-used, it is nonetheless true—we have something for everyone! Truly! Come explore our offering! Find our Family History Month Brochure here: https://shorturl.at/uOlUX
We have a good mix of in-person and virtual programs. The month begins tomorrow with a neat virtual welcome from the library’s executive director, Susan Baier. It is a must-view on Facebook and Instagram. Remember what I said about being inspired? There are five Wednesdays in October, and I am so pleased to be spending approximately thirty minutes each of those Wednesday’s sharing simple concepts about the importance of family history and some really basic but critical processes for finding, preserving and presenting our family stories. With all that is available to us in print and online, we often are tempted to skip the basics, to overlook sound methodologies. We typically stumble when we do. We also invite you to take a few polls throughout this month.
If you’re in the Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana area (or you want to make a trip here!), feel free to stop in and participate in the in-person programs. Some in-person programs are in a few of the library’s branches, so watch for the addresses of those. Our first Thursday (October 3) DNA Interest Group will be meeting in-person in the Genealogy Center’s Discovery Center at 6:30 p.m. When we tried a walking tour of a historic neighborhood last year, it was so successful that we decided to do it again. This year we chose a different neighborhood, the Kensington Boulevard Historic District. Likely the biggest in-person event, though, is the After-Hours Extravaganza on Friday, October 25 when the Genealogy Center will be open three extra hours, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. You will have three extra hours of access to one of the best family history collections in the world and a team of dedicated staff. No nightmares here—just the stuff of genealogical dreams!
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The Civilian Conservation Corps
By Allison DePrey Singleton
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The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC or C’s), established in 1933 as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, put over three million unemployed young men to work on conservation and recreation projects. The CCC transformed the American landscape while providing much-needed employment during the Great Depression. These young men worked on public and private lands across the country, helping to build trails, plant trees, and develop parks—contributions that still benefit the nation today.
Robert W. "Bob" Audretsch, a former National Park Service ranger, has become one of the leading historians of the CCC. Since his retirement in 2009, Audretsch has published over a dozen books and journal articles detailing the program’s impact, focusing on the contributions of the CCC in the American West. His works include We Still Walk in Their Footprint: The CCC in Northern Arizona, 1933-1942 and the two-volume The Civilian Conservation Corps in Colorado, 1933-1942. His book Shaping the Park and Saving the Boys: The CCC at Grand Canyon, 1933-1942 vividly documents the enrollees' work in one of the nation’s most iconic parks.
One of Audretsch’s key contributions is his focus on documenting enrollee names, making his work especially valuable for genealogists. He has combed through rare CCC annuals and records, many of which are housed in only a few archives across the country, to compile lists of enrollees from states such as Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Minnesota. For instance, his research into the 1937 annuals from these states revealed a list of 15,639 enrollees, including 935 African Americans. Similarly, his work on 1935-1936 CCC camps in Idaho, Utah, Montana, and Wyoming identified over 7,000 names from the region. In 1935 and 1936, photographers visited CCC camps, photographing the enrollees and their work. Audretsch’s research through these annuals led to the compilation of 6,900 names. Additionally, he uncovered nearly 20,000 enrollees in records from 1934 that covered Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, and South Dakota.
Audretsch’s publications are a gold mine for anyone researching family history, providing access to the names and stories of those who served in the CCC. His work also highlights how the CCC prepared these young men for future military service, with many later fighting in World War II. Through his meticulous research and dedication, Robert Audretsch ensures that the legacy of the CCC and its enrollees continues to be remembered and honored for future generations.
Audretsch books on the CCC in The Genealogy Center Collection:
- Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in Texas and New Mexico: a list of 6,900 names with 2,131 from New Mexico, 3,878 from Texas, Including 630 African American men during 1936 (976 Au28c)
- Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in Washington, Idaho and Montana: a list of 10,168 names from three annuals of Fort Lewis in 1937 and Fort George Wright in 1937 and 1938-39 (979 Au28c)
- An index of South Dakota and Minnesota Civilian Conservation Corps enrollee names: over 19,800 names from two annuals compiled by C.N. Alleger in 1934 (978 Au28in)
- Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in Idaho: a list of 7,458 names from 1935 and 1936 annuals including nearby Wyoming, Montana and Utah (979.6 Au28c)
- A Colorado Civilian Conservation Corps enrollee name index (978.8 Au28Co)
- The Civilian Conservation Corps in Colorado, 1933-1942: volume 1, U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs camps (978.8 Au28Ci)
- The Civilian Conservation Corps in Colorado, 1933-1942: volume 2. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Division of Grazing, Soil Conservation Service, State Park and National Park Service Camps (978.8 Au28Ci)
- Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in Wyoming: including more than 7,400 names from Wyoming newspapers, CCC Camp newspapers, annuals and photographs (978.7 Au28C)
- We still walk in their footprint: the civilian conservation corps in northern Arizona, 1933-1942 (979.1 Au28we)
- Shaping the park and saving the boys: The Civilian Conservation Corps at Grand Canyon, 1933-1942 (979.1 Au28sh)
- Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in California: a list of 6,573 names from two 1938 annuals, including 417 names of African American men (979.4 Au28c)
- Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in Nebraska, Missouri, South Dakota, and Kansas: a list of over 15,600 names from two 1937 official annuals (978 Au28c)
- Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in Arizona: a list of over 4,000 names from two 1936 annuals (979.1 Au28c)
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Voyagers to the West: A Review
by Logan Knight
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Passenger lists from the colonial era are rare. No real regulation existed concerning people coming to the Americas. Most of the immigrants came from the British Isles, and from a government perspective, it didn’t make much difference if one was in Somerset or Virginia. What few lists existed have often been lost to the ravages of time. This makes the discovery of a passenger list of every officially known person who left Britain for America from December of 1773 to March 1776 a truly immense historical find. The original is located in the Public Record Office in Kew, London.
In his Pulitzer-Prize winning book, “Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution,” (New York: Vintage Books, 1988), GC 973 B15vo, Harvard professor Bernard Bailyn examines the list in question. He then synthesizes a quantitative analysis and uses historical methods to create a work that anchors the academic discipline of colonial immigration studies.
The first half is devoted to the list itself, a valuable genealogical source. By going through the data, Bailyn is able to present the reader with a view of a world that has long since faded. It is not simply an index of people who immigrated. Rather, the book digs into who they were, what they did for a living, where they came from, where they went, etc. The data is collated to understand these people in a way that makes them more than just names on a list. It should not escape the notice of genealogists how this is useful for tracing one’s family further back into Great Britain and placing them into historical context. The book does a fantastic job showing the minute cause and effect springs of immigration. For example, the ability of French silk makers to sell their product twenty-five percent cheaper in England than domestic producers ensured that a number of people employed in that industry immigrated to the colonies.
All of this motion is haunted by Bailyn’s description of the growing tensions between the colonies and the mother country. As people continued arriving, the formative events of the American Revolution happened. The Battles of Lexington and Concord occurred on April 19, 1775, and the list documents large numbers of immigrants arriving well into 1776. Bailyn’s book shines particularly when it shows how the increasing fear of a depopulated Britain led to the creation of the register in the first place. Genealogical records often depend on such strange quirks of fate, but rarely has an author done such an excellent job of developing the story as we see here.
Much of the second half of the work is devoted to individual evaluations of where the settlers went in the colonies. Areas such as North Carolina, upstate New York, and Georgia are all examined in detail. Interestingly, many of the chapters focus on areas that are often left out of the story, including Newfoundland and East Florida. By looking at individual incidents, such as the ill-fated attempt by James Hogg to settle Scottish Highlanders in North Carolina or the land grabbing machinations of William Johnson among the Iroquois in New York, Bailyn is able to put all of these immigrants into a larger and more fascinating context.
In short, this book is an excellent resource for those who may have ancestors who emigrated from Britain shortly before the American Revolution as well as those who wish to know more about the process and drama of immigration in the late colonial period.
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PERSI Gems: Gettin' Dirty
by Adam Barrone and Mike Hudson
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Some of my best genealogical discoveries have come with a bit of dirt, literal and figurative. I once used mid-19th-Century Indiana Tax Duplicates held in a dark basement of a county poor house to track the final years of my immigrant ancestor's life. After my search, I climbed the steps into the light to reveal dirt and disintegrated binding leather spread up and down my arms. Cemetery searching, I learned, could be even dirtier. In my youth, I dug my 3rd-great-grandparents' long-lost gravestone from the ground with my bare hands. Digging up dirt is part of a family historian's job description. Granduncle Dewey Barrone provided plenty on that front. A years-long quest to explain Dewey's decades-long disappearance revealed he abandoned his young wife and child, changed his name, and married at least six other women over the course of his life. He married wives #2 and #3 while still married to the mother of his child. A younger sister of wife #3, in her 90s by the time I asked about Dewey, described him as a womanizer. She came to this conclusion, in part, based on her own experience riding in a car with him in the 1930s.
I've scanned musty books and documents. I've perused books and papers at estate sales in filthy homes. From time to time, I've even encountered a bit of dust on our own shelves in the Genealogy Center.
If your typical genealogy searches leave you squeaky clean, I encourage you to roll up your sleeves, visit a library or archive, walk a cemetery, search an attic or basement, and get dirty.
The Periodical Source Index (PERSI) may be able to point you to some dirt. Try a search here:
https://www.genealogycenter.info/persi/
Adolph Hitler versus that dirty vermin Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse, 1933-1950s
Blumenbaum, Der (Sacramento German Genealogical Soc., CA), Vol. 34, Issue 1 (Jul 2016)
Allen Lester Halcomb recalls elementary school teaching, washing dirty little boy, n.d.
Kentucky Explorer, Vol. 34, Issue 4 (Sep 2019)
Dirty beds and inferior lodgings, vacations and complaints at channel resorts, 1830s-1900s
Bygone Kent (Maine), Vol. 36, Issue 1 (2015)
Dirty deal, Iron Mountain vs. Norway baseball game, umpire not fair, Menominee Range, July 11, 1889
Dickinson (MI) Diggings, Vol. 38, Issue 3 (Aug 2019)
Dirty Girl the dog dies at age four, 1980
Madison County, Florida Genealogical News, Vol. 6, Issue 2 (Apr 2001)
Floyd's Station offered dirty refuge, 1780
Jefferson County (KY) Genealogical and Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 3, Issue 1 (Sum 1992)
Fort Smith restaurants selling watered-down and dirty milk, Health Comm. report, 1917
Fort Smith (AR) Historical Society Journal, Vol. 41, Issue 2 (Sep 2017)
Hubbard Mans census enumeration, wife Catherine dirty as hell, critical census taker, 1880, Prussia
Maine Genealogist, Vol. 35, Issue 4 (Nov 2013)
Mary Ann Ruffy Tempest drunk, dirty and coarse, French Protestant Hospital report, d. 1879
Cockney (Eng.) Ancestor, Issue 110 (Spr 2006)
Mike Rowe, host of Dirty Jobs TV show, tribute to his grandfather Knoble, 2010, n.p.
Ancestry (MyFamily.com), Vol. 28, Issue 1 (Jan 2010)
Quartermaster dirty laundry of the 69th Inf. Div. at Camp Shelby photo, c. 1944
Fighting 69th Infantry Division Association, Inc., Bulletin, Vol. 49, Issue 1 (Sep 1995)
Roca Folly, a dirty looking girl sentencing, judge Robert, 2nd Baron of Carrington note, 1854
Origins (Buckinghamshire Family History Society, Eng.), Vol. 2, Issue 2 (1978)
Woman complains about loafing gentlemen, dirty crosswalks, Ottawa Old and New, 1861
Genie's View (LaSalle County Genealogy Guild, IL), Mar 2020
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Preservation Tips: Resources for Preserving Your Family History Collection
by Christina Clary
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Family History Month is upon us, which provides an excellent opportunity to look at your family history collection and assess what you have. Review old photographs, documents, and heirlooms, and consider their current condition. Are they stored in archival quality containers and in a safe environment? Do any of your items require special care or preservation? This month can be a great time to organize your materials, digitize important records, and learn how to properly store items so your family story can last for future generations.
The Genealogy Center has several excellent books in our collection that provide preservation guidance for non-archivists. “How to Archive Family Photos: A Step-by-Step Guide to Organize and Share Your Photos Digitally” and “How to Archive Family Keepsakes: Learn How to Preserve Family Photos, Memorabilia, and Genealogy Records” by Denise May Levenick offer practical advice for those interested in saving their family’s history and records. Levenick explains preservation principles in ways that are easy to understand and user-friendly, particularly for people preserving materials outside of an institution. Both books include worksheets and checklists that can be copied to help you stay organized. “Family Photos” is especially useful for anyone interested in digitizing and organizing family photographs. Levenick goes into depth on various types of scanning software and equipment, even providing a spreadsheet comparing them.
“Caring for Your Family Treasures: Heritage Preservation” by Jane Long, though older, remains a relevant resource for anyone looking to preserve family heirlooms and antiques. The book covers every type of artifact you might encounter in a family collection, including clothing, furniture, jewelry, ceramics, glass, and military memorabilia. Long provides a checklist at the end of each section, summarizing key points and clearly stating the do's and don'ts of caring for specific types of artifacts. This book is excellent for anyone whose family collection consists more of physical objects as opposed to paper and photographic records.
The last book I will highlight from our collection is “Downsizing with Family History in Mind” by Devon Noel Lee and Andrew Lee. This guide provides an interesting approach to viewing your family history. The Lees encourage readers to focus on the priorities of their collection and ask themselves what its intent is. What information and stories about your family do you consider important for future generations to know? So often, people view preservation with a “quantity over quality” mindset, when in reality, it is about safeguarding a family’s or person’s story by caring for the materials that help tell it. Which items in your collection best serve this purpose? Once you’ve identified them, the book guides you on how to best maintain them and what to do with items that don’t fit into your family story.
There are many other resources that cover a wide range of topics related to preservation and conservation. We encourage you to visit us and explore our collection to find the tools you need to ensure that your family's history is protected for future generations.
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History Tidbits: The Saxon Hercules
by Logan Knight
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It is said that everyday people are weird while the rich are eccentric. Yet, if there was ever a person to contradict that statement, it was Augustus the Strong. As Elector of Saxony and later King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Augustus had one of those lives that just seems bizarre. Born in Dresden in 1670, he seemed destined for a life of relative obscurity. However, when his brother died of smallpox acquired from his mistress during the carnival season in Venice, Augustus found himself catapulted into history as the new Elector of Saxony.
Augustus earned his nickname, “the Strong,” by being, well, incredibly strong. To entertain guests, he would straighten horseshoes with his bare hands. He also demonstrated his power by participating in the disturbing blood spot of animal-tossing. Animals would be thrown into a large cloth parachute and then launched into the air. Two strong men would be at one end of the parachute, Augustus on the other, using only one finger to toss a hapless fox far into the air. Apparently, it also referred to his fecundity of having fathered a rumored more than three hundred children (historians have pared this down to a more reasonable ten).
The King-Elector had a love of practical jokes. Once, the nearby King of Prussia was visiting with his young son, the future Frederick the Great. Augustus took them to a room where a curtain dropped to reveal a woman completely disrobed. The icy king of Prussia was not amused and dragged his young heir out of the room while Augustus roared with laughter.
The Elector had ambitions far beyond Saxony. Augustus wanted to become a king. However, a king needs a kingdom. Fortunately, the Kingdom of Poland had an elective monarchy, and its king died in 1696. Augustus mortgaged practically the entire Electorate of Saxony in order to bribe the various electors to support him, and he did succeed in winning. This also meant that he had to convert to Catholicism, a bitter pill for his Lutheran subjects. Christine Eberhardine, his wife, left him over this conversion (although she did not divorce him). Thus began perhaps the most unfortunate rule of any Polish monarch (quite an achievement in the often-tragic history of that country). He launched a treacherous attack on the young King of Sweden, Charles XII, which saw both Poland and even Saxony overrun by the Swedes. While the war would end with Augustus on the winning side, his disastrous decisions would eventually see Poland partitioned among its rapacious neighbors.
His greatest achievements were in the realm of art. Like his Roman namesake, it could be said that he found Dresden a city of brick and left it a city of marble. His buildings would earn Dresden the nickname, “the Florence on the Elbe.” He built the Zwinger, a palatial complex of buildings and gardens in what had been a dead zone of fortifications. The Elector collected paintings by masters such as Raphael, Van Dyck, Titian, and Vermeer, which makes up the bulk of Dresden’s Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Gallery) one of the world’s finest art museums. Most famous is the Green Vault (Grünes Gewölbe) named for the green malachite columns that decorated it. The Green Vault hosted arguably the largest treasure collection in the world and has claims to being the oldest operating museum in Europe.
Augustus rescued a young alchemist, Johann Friedrich Böttger, who was on the run from Prussia. He had made extravagant promises regarding his ability to transmute lead into gold and had not delivered. The Elector promptly locked him in a dungeon, promising to execute him if he didn’t produce gold. Motivated by such threats, Böttger searched for a way out of his predicament. He couldn’t make gold (no one has figured that out) but his experiments created something almost as valuable. Böttger figured out (or possibly stole from a fellow scientist) how to make high quality porcelain. The Chinese had discovered the process centuries ago, but no European had. Delighted, Augustus established a porcelain factory at the town of Meissen. To this day, Meissen Porcelain or Meissen China is a world-famous luxury item. Enthralled by the new creation, Augustus attempted to have an entire castle built out of porcelain. Fortunately, he was dissuaded from the attempt.
Driven by his enormous appetite, Augustus the Strong became increasingly debilitated by diabetes, an amputated toe, and riotous living. Musing that his entire life had been a waste, he died at the relatively young age of 63. The King-Elector’s body was buried in Wawel Cathedral in Warsaw, but his heart was carved out and lies in Dresden’s great cathedral as seems appropriate. His artistic legacy as the founder of the “Florence on the Elbe” remains as strong as ever, despite his own failings and the destruction wrought by Allied bombers during the Second World War.
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Genealogy Center’s October 2024 Programs
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Join us for another month of free, virtual and in-person programs!
October 1, 2024, 7:00 p.m. ET “All About That Place: Pacific Edition” with Allison DePrey Singleton and Karen de Bruyne - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11780176
October 2, 2024, 2:00 p.m. ET “Wednesdays With Witcher: The Power of Story Revisited–It Is a Big Deal” with Curt Witcher - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773274
October 3, 2024, 6:30 p.m. ET “IN-PERSON DNA & Genealogy Interest Group: Getting Started” with Sara Allen - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11775801
October 5, 2024, 10:00 a.m. ET “IN-PERSON Beginner Genealogy Research” with Logan Knight - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11777015
October 8, 2024, 2:30 p.m. ET “Exploring My China Roots: A New Database for Researching Chinese Ancestors” with Clotilde Yap - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11772522
October 9, 2024, 2:30 p.m. ET “Wednesdays With Witcher: Are We (Really!) Fully Using Compilations? A Quick Look at What We Might Be Missing” with Curt Witcher - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11772685
October 9, 2024, 7 p.m. ET “Fort Wayne Through Time” with Randy Harter, an Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana program, In-person and online - https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RoFfXkyqQxyZkYCk0lNvEQ#/registration
October 10, 2024, 6:30 p.m. ET “Introduction to Banyan DNA” with Leah Larkin - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11772777
October 12, 2024, 10:30 a.m. ET “Walking Through History: A Walking Tour Through the Kensington Boulevard Historic District” with Elizabeth Hodges and Mike Vorndran - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11772917
October 15, 2024, 2:30 p.m. ET “Listening to the Voices of Your Ancestors” with Megan Reilly Koepsell - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773150
October 16, 2024, 2:00 p.m. ET “Wednesdays With Witcher: Tips for Doing Reasonably Exhaustive Research” with Curt Witcher - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773287
October 17, 2024, 6:30 p.m. ET “The Power of Voice and the Joy of Interviewing” with Rhonda Lauritzen - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773343
October 18, 2024, All Day, “A Day of Virtual Learning in the Genealogy Space!” with the Genealogy Network of Texas - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11775402
October 19, 2024, 2 p.m. ET “Research Tools & Tips: What’s in a Name?” An African American Genealogical Society of Fort Wayne program – In-person in the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center and online - https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WTryubpoTEWr7YUj0gRGfA
October 22, 2024, 2:30 p.m. ET “The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692: History and Sources” with John D. Beatty - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773382
October 23, 2024, 2:00 p.m. ET “Wednesdays With Witcher: Organizing Your Research to Pass it On” with Curt Witcher - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773541
October 24, 2024, 6:30 p.m. ET “U.S. World War Draft Registrations” with Peggy Ash - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773701
October 25, 2024, 6:00 p.m. ET “Extended Hours at The Genealogy Center - *IN-PERSON* - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11775430
October 29, 2024, 2:30 p.m. ET “The Lincoln Family Album” with Abbie Meek - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773882
October 30, 2024, 2:00 p.m. ET “Wednesdays with Witcher: Telling the Stories of Our Lives” with Curt Witcher - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11775223
October 31, 2024, 6:30 p.m. ET “Who Walked These Streets? How to Build an Online Platform for Historic Neighborhood Research” with Elizabeth Hodges - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11775273
Please register in advance for these engaging programs.
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Staying Informed about Genealogy Center Programming
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Do you want to know what we have planned? Are you interested in one of our events, but forget? We offer email updates for The Genealogy Center’s programming schedule. Don’t miss out! Sign up at http://goo.gl/forms/THcV0wAabB.
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Genealogy Center Bits-o’-News
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Have you visited the Allen County Public Library’s online merchandise store? You really need to check it out--we think you will enjoy the offerings! There is a special Genealogy Center section of the store with some pretty cool items. http://acpl.dkmlogo.online/shop/category/4726261?c=4726261 An added benefit is that your purchases support the Friends of the Allen County Public Library, and they in turn support the Genealogy Center.
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Genealogy Center Social Media
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GenealogyCenter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genealogycenter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ACPLGenealogy
Blog: http://www.genealogycenter.org/Community/Blog.aspx
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/askacpl
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Driving Directions to the Library
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Wondering how to get to the library? Our location is 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the block bordered on the south by Washington Boulevard, the west by Ewing Street, the north by Wayne Street, and the east by the Library Plaza, formerly Webster Street. We would enjoy having you visit the Genealogy Center.
To get directions from your exact location to 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, visit this link at MapQuest:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&addtohistory=&address=900%20Webster%20St&city=Fort%20Wayne&state=IN&zipcode=46802%2d3602&country=US&geodiff=1
>From the South
Exit Interstate 69 at exit 302. Drive east on Jefferson Boulevard into downtown. Turn left on Ewing Street. The Library is one block north, at Ewing Street and Washington Boulevard.
Using US 27:
US 27 turns into Lafayette Street. Drive north into downtown. Turn left at Washington Boulevard and go five blocks. The Library will be on the right.
>From the North
Exit Interstate 69 at exit 312. Drive south on Coldwater Road, which merges into Clinton Street. Continue south on Clinton to Washington Boulevard. Turn right on Washington and go three blocks. The Library will be on the right.
>From the West
Using US 30:
Drive into town on US 30. US 30 turns into Goshen Ave. which dead-ends at West State Blvd. Make an angled left turn onto West State Blvd. Turn right on Wells Street. Go south on Wells to Wayne Street. Turn left on Wayne Street. The Library will be in the second block on the right.
Using US 24:
After crossing under Interstate 69, follow the same directions as from the South.
>From the East
Follow US 30/then 930 into and through New Haven, under an overpass into downtown Fort Wayne. You will be on Washington Blvd. when you get into downtown. Library Plaza will be on the right.
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Parking at the Library
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At the Library, underground parking can be accessed from Wayne Street. Other library parking lots are at Washington and Webster, and Wayne and Webster. Hourly parking is $1 per hour with a $7 maximum. ACPL library card holders may use their cards to validate the parking ticket at the west end of the Great Hall of the Library. Out of county residents may purchase a subscription card with proof of identification and residence. The current fee for an Individual Subscription Card is $90.
Public lots are located at the corner of Ewing and Wayne Streets ($1 each for the first two half-hours, $1 per hour after, with a $4 per day maximum) and the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Harrison Street ($3 per day).
Street (metered) parking on Ewing and Wayne Streets. On the street you plug the meters 8am – 5pm, weekdays only. The meters take credit cards and charge at a rate of $1/hour. Street parking is free after 5 p.m. and on the weekends.
Visitor center/Grand Wayne Center garage at Washington and Clinton Streets. This is the Hilton Hotel parking lot that also serves as a day parking garage. For hourly parking, 7am – 11 pm, charges are .50 for the first 45 minutes, then $1.00 per hour. There is a flat $2.00 fee between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m.
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Genealogy Center Queries
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The Genealogy Center hopes you find this newsletter interesting. Thank you for subscribing. We cannot, however, answer personal research emails written to the e-zine address. The department houses a Research Center that makes photocopies and conducts research for a fee.
If you have a general question about our collection, or are interested in the Research Center, please telephone the library and speak to a librarian who will be glad to answer your general questions or send you a research center form. Our telephone number is 260-421-1225. If you’d like to email a general information question about the department, please email: Genealogy [at] ACPL.Info.
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Publishing Note
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This electronic newsletter is published by the Allen County Public Library's Genealogy Center, and is intended to enlighten readers about genealogical research methods as well as inform them about the vast resources of the Allen County Public Library. We welcome the wide distribution of this newsletter and encourage readers to forward it to their friends and societies. All precautions have been made to avoid errors. However, the publisher does not assume any liability to any party for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, no matter the cause.
To subscribe to “Genealogy Gems,” simply use your browser to go to the website: www.GenealogyCenter.org. Scroll to the bottom, click on E-zine, and fill out the form. You will be notified with a confirmation email.
If you do not want to receive this e-zine, please follow the link at the very bottom of the issue of Genealogy Gems you just received or send an email to sspearswells [at] acpl.lib.in.us with "unsubscribe e-zine" in the subject line.
Curt B. Witcher and John D. Beatty, CG, co-editors
No. 247, September 30, 2024
In this issue:
*Family History Month 2024
*The Civilian Conservation Corps
*Voyagers to the West: A Review
*PERSI Gems:
*Preservation Tips: Resources for Preserving Your Family History Collection
*History Tidbits: The Saxon Hercules
*Genealogy Center’s October 2024 Programs
*Genealogy Center Bits-o’-News
*Staying Informed about Genealogy Center Programming
*Genealogy Center Social Media
*Driving Directions to the Library
*Parking at the Library
*Genealogy Center Queries
*Publishing Note
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Family History Month 2024
by Curt B. Witcher
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I trust many share my excitement at welcoming another Family History Month! I encourage all of you to make this year’s family history month the grandest ever. And by grandest, I don’t necessarily mean the biggest, or the most activity-filled, or the one where we do the newest things. All those are perfectly fine. It is also perfectly fine to do something you have wanted to do for a long time, something you’ve continually promised yourself you would do. Make this month a time to literally do something that advances your research objectives, that helps you find and tell your families’ stories. That will be truly grand!
In every corner of the country there will be engaging family history activities. Use these amazing lists of activities as opportunities to learn, do, and be inspired. Yes, many engagements will teach us new strategies and research techniques. Understand and deploy those new learnings. I am confident hearing some presenters talk about researching in a particular geographic area, detail sources for specific ethnic groups, or solve particularly challenging research problems will help us do more and do better. I am equally confident that participating in both in-person and online offerings will inspire us to get more creative in finding more sources, using better strategies, and most completely finding all our stories.
The Allen County Public Library’s Genealogy Center is pleased to be offering thirty-one days of engagements again for Family History Month 2025! While I realize the statement might be tired and possibly over-used, it is nonetheless true—we have something for everyone! Truly! Come explore our offering! Find our Family History Month Brochure here: https://shorturl.at/uOlUX
We have a good mix of in-person and virtual programs. The month begins tomorrow with a neat virtual welcome from the library’s executive director, Susan Baier. It is a must-view on Facebook and Instagram. Remember what I said about being inspired? There are five Wednesdays in October, and I am so pleased to be spending approximately thirty minutes each of those Wednesday’s sharing simple concepts about the importance of family history and some really basic but critical processes for finding, preserving and presenting our family stories. With all that is available to us in print and online, we often are tempted to skip the basics, to overlook sound methodologies. We typically stumble when we do. We also invite you to take a few polls throughout this month.
If you’re in the Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana area (or you want to make a trip here!), feel free to stop in and participate in the in-person programs. Some in-person programs are in a few of the library’s branches, so watch for the addresses of those. Our first Thursday (October 3) DNA Interest Group will be meeting in-person in the Genealogy Center’s Discovery Center at 6:30 p.m. When we tried a walking tour of a historic neighborhood last year, it was so successful that we decided to do it again. This year we chose a different neighborhood, the Kensington Boulevard Historic District. Likely the biggest in-person event, though, is the After-Hours Extravaganza on Friday, October 25 when the Genealogy Center will be open three extra hours, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. You will have three extra hours of access to one of the best family history collections in the world and a team of dedicated staff. No nightmares here—just the stuff of genealogical dreams!
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The Civilian Conservation Corps
By Allison DePrey Singleton
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The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC or C’s), established in 1933 as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, put over three million unemployed young men to work on conservation and recreation projects. The CCC transformed the American landscape while providing much-needed employment during the Great Depression. These young men worked on public and private lands across the country, helping to build trails, plant trees, and develop parks—contributions that still benefit the nation today.
Robert W. "Bob" Audretsch, a former National Park Service ranger, has become one of the leading historians of the CCC. Since his retirement in 2009, Audretsch has published over a dozen books and journal articles detailing the program’s impact, focusing on the contributions of the CCC in the American West. His works include We Still Walk in Their Footprint: The CCC in Northern Arizona, 1933-1942 and the two-volume The Civilian Conservation Corps in Colorado, 1933-1942. His book Shaping the Park and Saving the Boys: The CCC at Grand Canyon, 1933-1942 vividly documents the enrollees' work in one of the nation’s most iconic parks.
One of Audretsch’s key contributions is his focus on documenting enrollee names, making his work especially valuable for genealogists. He has combed through rare CCC annuals and records, many of which are housed in only a few archives across the country, to compile lists of enrollees from states such as Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Minnesota. For instance, his research into the 1937 annuals from these states revealed a list of 15,639 enrollees, including 935 African Americans. Similarly, his work on 1935-1936 CCC camps in Idaho, Utah, Montana, and Wyoming identified over 7,000 names from the region. In 1935 and 1936, photographers visited CCC camps, photographing the enrollees and their work. Audretsch’s research through these annuals led to the compilation of 6,900 names. Additionally, he uncovered nearly 20,000 enrollees in records from 1934 that covered Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, and South Dakota.
Audretsch’s publications are a gold mine for anyone researching family history, providing access to the names and stories of those who served in the CCC. His work also highlights how the CCC prepared these young men for future military service, with many later fighting in World War II. Through his meticulous research and dedication, Robert Audretsch ensures that the legacy of the CCC and its enrollees continues to be remembered and honored for future generations.
Audretsch books on the CCC in The Genealogy Center Collection:
- Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in Texas and New Mexico: a list of 6,900 names with 2,131 from New Mexico, 3,878 from Texas, Including 630 African American men during 1936 (976 Au28c)
- Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in Washington, Idaho and Montana: a list of 10,168 names from three annuals of Fort Lewis in 1937 and Fort George Wright in 1937 and 1938-39 (979 Au28c)
- An index of South Dakota and Minnesota Civilian Conservation Corps enrollee names: over 19,800 names from two annuals compiled by C.N. Alleger in 1934 (978 Au28in)
- Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in Idaho: a list of 7,458 names from 1935 and 1936 annuals including nearby Wyoming, Montana and Utah (979.6 Au28c)
- A Colorado Civilian Conservation Corps enrollee name index (978.8 Au28Co)
- The Civilian Conservation Corps in Colorado, 1933-1942: volume 1, U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs camps (978.8 Au28Ci)
- The Civilian Conservation Corps in Colorado, 1933-1942: volume 2. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Division of Grazing, Soil Conservation Service, State Park and National Park Service Camps (978.8 Au28Ci)
- Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in Wyoming: including more than 7,400 names from Wyoming newspapers, CCC Camp newspapers, annuals and photographs (978.7 Au28C)
- We still walk in their footprint: the civilian conservation corps in northern Arizona, 1933-1942 (979.1 Au28we)
- Shaping the park and saving the boys: The Civilian Conservation Corps at Grand Canyon, 1933-1942 (979.1 Au28sh)
- Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in California: a list of 6,573 names from two 1938 annuals, including 417 names of African American men (979.4 Au28c)
- Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in Nebraska, Missouri, South Dakota, and Kansas: a list of over 15,600 names from two 1937 official annuals (978 Au28c)
- Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in Arizona: a list of over 4,000 names from two 1936 annuals (979.1 Au28c)
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Voyagers to the West: A Review
by Logan Knight
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Passenger lists from the colonial era are rare. No real regulation existed concerning people coming to the Americas. Most of the immigrants came from the British Isles, and from a government perspective, it didn’t make much difference if one was in Somerset or Virginia. What few lists existed have often been lost to the ravages of time. This makes the discovery of a passenger list of every officially known person who left Britain for America from December of 1773 to March 1776 a truly immense historical find. The original is located in the Public Record Office in Kew, London.
In his Pulitzer-Prize winning book, “Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution,” (New York: Vintage Books, 1988), GC 973 B15vo, Harvard professor Bernard Bailyn examines the list in question. He then synthesizes a quantitative analysis and uses historical methods to create a work that anchors the academic discipline of colonial immigration studies.
The first half is devoted to the list itself, a valuable genealogical source. By going through the data, Bailyn is able to present the reader with a view of a world that has long since faded. It is not simply an index of people who immigrated. Rather, the book digs into who they were, what they did for a living, where they came from, where they went, etc. The data is collated to understand these people in a way that makes them more than just names on a list. It should not escape the notice of genealogists how this is useful for tracing one’s family further back into Great Britain and placing them into historical context. The book does a fantastic job showing the minute cause and effect springs of immigration. For example, the ability of French silk makers to sell their product twenty-five percent cheaper in England than domestic producers ensured that a number of people employed in that industry immigrated to the colonies.
All of this motion is haunted by Bailyn’s description of the growing tensions between the colonies and the mother country. As people continued arriving, the formative events of the American Revolution happened. The Battles of Lexington and Concord occurred on April 19, 1775, and the list documents large numbers of immigrants arriving well into 1776. Bailyn’s book shines particularly when it shows how the increasing fear of a depopulated Britain led to the creation of the register in the first place. Genealogical records often depend on such strange quirks of fate, but rarely has an author done such an excellent job of developing the story as we see here.
Much of the second half of the work is devoted to individual evaluations of where the settlers went in the colonies. Areas such as North Carolina, upstate New York, and Georgia are all examined in detail. Interestingly, many of the chapters focus on areas that are often left out of the story, including Newfoundland and East Florida. By looking at individual incidents, such as the ill-fated attempt by James Hogg to settle Scottish Highlanders in North Carolina or the land grabbing machinations of William Johnson among the Iroquois in New York, Bailyn is able to put all of these immigrants into a larger and more fascinating context.
In short, this book is an excellent resource for those who may have ancestors who emigrated from Britain shortly before the American Revolution as well as those who wish to know more about the process and drama of immigration in the late colonial period.
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PERSI Gems: Gettin' Dirty
by Adam Barrone and Mike Hudson
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Some of my best genealogical discoveries have come with a bit of dirt, literal and figurative. I once used mid-19th-Century Indiana Tax Duplicates held in a dark basement of a county poor house to track the final years of my immigrant ancestor's life. After my search, I climbed the steps into the light to reveal dirt and disintegrated binding leather spread up and down my arms. Cemetery searching, I learned, could be even dirtier. In my youth, I dug my 3rd-great-grandparents' long-lost gravestone from the ground with my bare hands. Digging up dirt is part of a family historian's job description. Granduncle Dewey Barrone provided plenty on that front. A years-long quest to explain Dewey's decades-long disappearance revealed he abandoned his young wife and child, changed his name, and married at least six other women over the course of his life. He married wives #2 and #3 while still married to the mother of his child. A younger sister of wife #3, in her 90s by the time I asked about Dewey, described him as a womanizer. She came to this conclusion, in part, based on her own experience riding in a car with him in the 1930s.
I've scanned musty books and documents. I've perused books and papers at estate sales in filthy homes. From time to time, I've even encountered a bit of dust on our own shelves in the Genealogy Center.
If your typical genealogy searches leave you squeaky clean, I encourage you to roll up your sleeves, visit a library or archive, walk a cemetery, search an attic or basement, and get dirty.
The Periodical Source Index (PERSI) may be able to point you to some dirt. Try a search here:
https://www.genealogycenter.info/persi/
Adolph Hitler versus that dirty vermin Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse, 1933-1950s
Blumenbaum, Der (Sacramento German Genealogical Soc., CA), Vol. 34, Issue 1 (Jul 2016)
Allen Lester Halcomb recalls elementary school teaching, washing dirty little boy, n.d.
Kentucky Explorer, Vol. 34, Issue 4 (Sep 2019)
Dirty beds and inferior lodgings, vacations and complaints at channel resorts, 1830s-1900s
Bygone Kent (Maine), Vol. 36, Issue 1 (2015)
Dirty deal, Iron Mountain vs. Norway baseball game, umpire not fair, Menominee Range, July 11, 1889
Dickinson (MI) Diggings, Vol. 38, Issue 3 (Aug 2019)
Dirty Girl the dog dies at age four, 1980
Madison County, Florida Genealogical News, Vol. 6, Issue 2 (Apr 2001)
Floyd's Station offered dirty refuge, 1780
Jefferson County (KY) Genealogical and Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 3, Issue 1 (Sum 1992)
Fort Smith restaurants selling watered-down and dirty milk, Health Comm. report, 1917
Fort Smith (AR) Historical Society Journal, Vol. 41, Issue 2 (Sep 2017)
Hubbard Mans census enumeration, wife Catherine dirty as hell, critical census taker, 1880, Prussia
Maine Genealogist, Vol. 35, Issue 4 (Nov 2013)
Mary Ann Ruffy Tempest drunk, dirty and coarse, French Protestant Hospital report, d. 1879
Cockney (Eng.) Ancestor, Issue 110 (Spr 2006)
Mike Rowe, host of Dirty Jobs TV show, tribute to his grandfather Knoble, 2010, n.p.
Ancestry (MyFamily.com), Vol. 28, Issue 1 (Jan 2010)
Quartermaster dirty laundry of the 69th Inf. Div. at Camp Shelby photo, c. 1944
Fighting 69th Infantry Division Association, Inc., Bulletin, Vol. 49, Issue 1 (Sep 1995)
Roca Folly, a dirty looking girl sentencing, judge Robert, 2nd Baron of Carrington note, 1854
Origins (Buckinghamshire Family History Society, Eng.), Vol. 2, Issue 2 (1978)
Woman complains about loafing gentlemen, dirty crosswalks, Ottawa Old and New, 1861
Genie's View (LaSalle County Genealogy Guild, IL), Mar 2020
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Preservation Tips: Resources for Preserving Your Family History Collection
by Christina Clary
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Family History Month is upon us, which provides an excellent opportunity to look at your family history collection and assess what you have. Review old photographs, documents, and heirlooms, and consider their current condition. Are they stored in archival quality containers and in a safe environment? Do any of your items require special care or preservation? This month can be a great time to organize your materials, digitize important records, and learn how to properly store items so your family story can last for future generations.
The Genealogy Center has several excellent books in our collection that provide preservation guidance for non-archivists. “How to Archive Family Photos: A Step-by-Step Guide to Organize and Share Your Photos Digitally” and “How to Archive Family Keepsakes: Learn How to Preserve Family Photos, Memorabilia, and Genealogy Records” by Denise May Levenick offer practical advice for those interested in saving their family’s history and records. Levenick explains preservation principles in ways that are easy to understand and user-friendly, particularly for people preserving materials outside of an institution. Both books include worksheets and checklists that can be copied to help you stay organized. “Family Photos” is especially useful for anyone interested in digitizing and organizing family photographs. Levenick goes into depth on various types of scanning software and equipment, even providing a spreadsheet comparing them.
“Caring for Your Family Treasures: Heritage Preservation” by Jane Long, though older, remains a relevant resource for anyone looking to preserve family heirlooms and antiques. The book covers every type of artifact you might encounter in a family collection, including clothing, furniture, jewelry, ceramics, glass, and military memorabilia. Long provides a checklist at the end of each section, summarizing key points and clearly stating the do's and don'ts of caring for specific types of artifacts. This book is excellent for anyone whose family collection consists more of physical objects as opposed to paper and photographic records.
The last book I will highlight from our collection is “Downsizing with Family History in Mind” by Devon Noel Lee and Andrew Lee. This guide provides an interesting approach to viewing your family history. The Lees encourage readers to focus on the priorities of their collection and ask themselves what its intent is. What information and stories about your family do you consider important for future generations to know? So often, people view preservation with a “quantity over quality” mindset, when in reality, it is about safeguarding a family’s or person’s story by caring for the materials that help tell it. Which items in your collection best serve this purpose? Once you’ve identified them, the book guides you on how to best maintain them and what to do with items that don’t fit into your family story.
There are many other resources that cover a wide range of topics related to preservation and conservation. We encourage you to visit us and explore our collection to find the tools you need to ensure that your family's history is protected for future generations.
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History Tidbits: The Saxon Hercules
by Logan Knight
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It is said that everyday people are weird while the rich are eccentric. Yet, if there was ever a person to contradict that statement, it was Augustus the Strong. As Elector of Saxony and later King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Augustus had one of those lives that just seems bizarre. Born in Dresden in 1670, he seemed destined for a life of relative obscurity. However, when his brother died of smallpox acquired from his mistress during the carnival season in Venice, Augustus found himself catapulted into history as the new Elector of Saxony.
Augustus earned his nickname, “the Strong,” by being, well, incredibly strong. To entertain guests, he would straighten horseshoes with his bare hands. He also demonstrated his power by participating in the disturbing blood spot of animal-tossing. Animals would be thrown into a large cloth parachute and then launched into the air. Two strong men would be at one end of the parachute, Augustus on the other, using only one finger to toss a hapless fox far into the air. Apparently, it also referred to his fecundity of having fathered a rumored more than three hundred children (historians have pared this down to a more reasonable ten).
The King-Elector had a love of practical jokes. Once, the nearby King of Prussia was visiting with his young son, the future Frederick the Great. Augustus took them to a room where a curtain dropped to reveal a woman completely disrobed. The icy king of Prussia was not amused and dragged his young heir out of the room while Augustus roared with laughter.
The Elector had ambitions far beyond Saxony. Augustus wanted to become a king. However, a king needs a kingdom. Fortunately, the Kingdom of Poland had an elective monarchy, and its king died in 1696. Augustus mortgaged practically the entire Electorate of Saxony in order to bribe the various electors to support him, and he did succeed in winning. This also meant that he had to convert to Catholicism, a bitter pill for his Lutheran subjects. Christine Eberhardine, his wife, left him over this conversion (although she did not divorce him). Thus began perhaps the most unfortunate rule of any Polish monarch (quite an achievement in the often-tragic history of that country). He launched a treacherous attack on the young King of Sweden, Charles XII, which saw both Poland and even Saxony overrun by the Swedes. While the war would end with Augustus on the winning side, his disastrous decisions would eventually see Poland partitioned among its rapacious neighbors.
His greatest achievements were in the realm of art. Like his Roman namesake, it could be said that he found Dresden a city of brick and left it a city of marble. His buildings would earn Dresden the nickname, “the Florence on the Elbe.” He built the Zwinger, a palatial complex of buildings and gardens in what had been a dead zone of fortifications. The Elector collected paintings by masters such as Raphael, Van Dyck, Titian, and Vermeer, which makes up the bulk of Dresden’s Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Gallery) one of the world’s finest art museums. Most famous is the Green Vault (Grünes Gewölbe) named for the green malachite columns that decorated it. The Green Vault hosted arguably the largest treasure collection in the world and has claims to being the oldest operating museum in Europe.
Augustus rescued a young alchemist, Johann Friedrich Böttger, who was on the run from Prussia. He had made extravagant promises regarding his ability to transmute lead into gold and had not delivered. The Elector promptly locked him in a dungeon, promising to execute him if he didn’t produce gold. Motivated by such threats, Böttger searched for a way out of his predicament. He couldn’t make gold (no one has figured that out) but his experiments created something almost as valuable. Böttger figured out (or possibly stole from a fellow scientist) how to make high quality porcelain. The Chinese had discovered the process centuries ago, but no European had. Delighted, Augustus established a porcelain factory at the town of Meissen. To this day, Meissen Porcelain or Meissen China is a world-famous luxury item. Enthralled by the new creation, Augustus attempted to have an entire castle built out of porcelain. Fortunately, he was dissuaded from the attempt.
Driven by his enormous appetite, Augustus the Strong became increasingly debilitated by diabetes, an amputated toe, and riotous living. Musing that his entire life had been a waste, he died at the relatively young age of 63. The King-Elector’s body was buried in Wawel Cathedral in Warsaw, but his heart was carved out and lies in Dresden’s great cathedral as seems appropriate. His artistic legacy as the founder of the “Florence on the Elbe” remains as strong as ever, despite his own failings and the destruction wrought by Allied bombers during the Second World War.
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Genealogy Center’s October 2024 Programs
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Join us for another month of free, virtual and in-person programs!
October 1, 2024, 7:00 p.m. ET “All About That Place: Pacific Edition” with Allison DePrey Singleton and Karen de Bruyne - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11780176
October 2, 2024, 2:00 p.m. ET “Wednesdays With Witcher: The Power of Story Revisited–It Is a Big Deal” with Curt Witcher - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773274
October 3, 2024, 6:30 p.m. ET “IN-PERSON DNA & Genealogy Interest Group: Getting Started” with Sara Allen - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11775801
October 5, 2024, 10:00 a.m. ET “IN-PERSON Beginner Genealogy Research” with Logan Knight - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11777015
October 8, 2024, 2:30 p.m. ET “Exploring My China Roots: A New Database for Researching Chinese Ancestors” with Clotilde Yap - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11772522
October 9, 2024, 2:30 p.m. ET “Wednesdays With Witcher: Are We (Really!) Fully Using Compilations? A Quick Look at What We Might Be Missing” with Curt Witcher - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11772685
October 9, 2024, 7 p.m. ET “Fort Wayne Through Time” with Randy Harter, an Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana program, In-person and online - https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RoFfXkyqQxyZkYCk0lNvEQ#/registration
October 10, 2024, 6:30 p.m. ET “Introduction to Banyan DNA” with Leah Larkin - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11772777
October 12, 2024, 10:30 a.m. ET “Walking Through History: A Walking Tour Through the Kensington Boulevard Historic District” with Elizabeth Hodges and Mike Vorndran - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11772917
October 15, 2024, 2:30 p.m. ET “Listening to the Voices of Your Ancestors” with Megan Reilly Koepsell - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773150
October 16, 2024, 2:00 p.m. ET “Wednesdays With Witcher: Tips for Doing Reasonably Exhaustive Research” with Curt Witcher - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773287
October 17, 2024, 6:30 p.m. ET “The Power of Voice and the Joy of Interviewing” with Rhonda Lauritzen - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773343
October 18, 2024, All Day, “A Day of Virtual Learning in the Genealogy Space!” with the Genealogy Network of Texas - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11775402
October 19, 2024, 2 p.m. ET “Research Tools & Tips: What’s in a Name?” An African American Genealogical Society of Fort Wayne program – In-person in the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center and online - https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WTryubpoTEWr7YUj0gRGfA
October 22, 2024, 2:30 p.m. ET “The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692: History and Sources” with John D. Beatty - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773382
October 23, 2024, 2:00 p.m. ET “Wednesdays With Witcher: Organizing Your Research to Pass it On” with Curt Witcher - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773541
October 24, 2024, 6:30 p.m. ET “U.S. World War Draft Registrations” with Peggy Ash - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773701
October 25, 2024, 6:00 p.m. ET “Extended Hours at The Genealogy Center - *IN-PERSON* - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11775430
October 29, 2024, 2:30 p.m. ET “The Lincoln Family Album” with Abbie Meek - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11773882
October 30, 2024, 2:00 p.m. ET “Wednesdays with Witcher: Telling the Stories of Our Lives” with Curt Witcher - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11775223
October 31, 2024, 6:30 p.m. ET “Who Walked These Streets? How to Build an Online Platform for Historic Neighborhood Research” with Elizabeth Hodges - https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11775273
Please register in advance for these engaging programs.
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Staying Informed about Genealogy Center Programming
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Do you want to know what we have planned? Are you interested in one of our events, but forget? We offer email updates for The Genealogy Center’s programming schedule. Don’t miss out! Sign up at http://goo.gl/forms/THcV0wAabB.
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Genealogy Center Bits-o’-News
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Have you visited the Allen County Public Library’s online merchandise store? You really need to check it out--we think you will enjoy the offerings! There is a special Genealogy Center section of the store with some pretty cool items. http://acpl.dkmlogo.online/shop/category/4726261?c=4726261 An added benefit is that your purchases support the Friends of the Allen County Public Library, and they in turn support the Genealogy Center.
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Genealogy Center Social Media
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GenealogyCenter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genealogycenter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ACPLGenealogy
Blog: http://www.genealogycenter.org/Community/Blog.aspx
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/askacpl
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Driving Directions to the Library
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Wondering how to get to the library? Our location is 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the block bordered on the south by Washington Boulevard, the west by Ewing Street, the north by Wayne Street, and the east by the Library Plaza, formerly Webster Street. We would enjoy having you visit the Genealogy Center.
To get directions from your exact location to 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, visit this link at MapQuest:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&addtohistory=&address=900%20Webster%20St&city=Fort%20Wayne&state=IN&zipcode=46802%2d3602&country=US&geodiff=1
>From the South
Exit Interstate 69 at exit 302. Drive east on Jefferson Boulevard into downtown. Turn left on Ewing Street. The Library is one block north, at Ewing Street and Washington Boulevard.
Using US 27:
US 27 turns into Lafayette Street. Drive north into downtown. Turn left at Washington Boulevard and go five blocks. The Library will be on the right.
>From the North
Exit Interstate 69 at exit 312. Drive south on Coldwater Road, which merges into Clinton Street. Continue south on Clinton to Washington Boulevard. Turn right on Washington and go three blocks. The Library will be on the right.
>From the West
Using US 30:
Drive into town on US 30. US 30 turns into Goshen Ave. which dead-ends at West State Blvd. Make an angled left turn onto West State Blvd. Turn right on Wells Street. Go south on Wells to Wayne Street. Turn left on Wayne Street. The Library will be in the second block on the right.
Using US 24:
After crossing under Interstate 69, follow the same directions as from the South.
>From the East
Follow US 30/then 930 into and through New Haven, under an overpass into downtown Fort Wayne. You will be on Washington Blvd. when you get into downtown. Library Plaza will be on the right.
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Parking at the Library
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At the Library, underground parking can be accessed from Wayne Street. Other library parking lots are at Washington and Webster, and Wayne and Webster. Hourly parking is $1 per hour with a $7 maximum. ACPL library card holders may use their cards to validate the parking ticket at the west end of the Great Hall of the Library. Out of county residents may purchase a subscription card with proof of identification and residence. The current fee for an Individual Subscription Card is $90.
Public lots are located at the corner of Ewing and Wayne Streets ($1 each for the first two half-hours, $1 per hour after, with a $4 per day maximum) and the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Harrison Street ($3 per day).
Street (metered) parking on Ewing and Wayne Streets. On the street you plug the meters 8am – 5pm, weekdays only. The meters take credit cards and charge at a rate of $1/hour. Street parking is free after 5 p.m. and on the weekends.
Visitor center/Grand Wayne Center garage at Washington and Clinton Streets. This is the Hilton Hotel parking lot that also serves as a day parking garage. For hourly parking, 7am – 11 pm, charges are .50 for the first 45 minutes, then $1.00 per hour. There is a flat $2.00 fee between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m.
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Genealogy Center Queries
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The Genealogy Center hopes you find this newsletter interesting. Thank you for subscribing. We cannot, however, answer personal research emails written to the e-zine address. The department houses a Research Center that makes photocopies and conducts research for a fee.
If you have a general question about our collection, or are interested in the Research Center, please telephone the library and speak to a librarian who will be glad to answer your general questions or send you a research center form. Our telephone number is 260-421-1225. If you’d like to email a general information question about the department, please email: Genealogy [at] ACPL.Info.
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Publishing Note
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This electronic newsletter is published by the Allen County Public Library's Genealogy Center, and is intended to enlighten readers about genealogical research methods as well as inform them about the vast resources of the Allen County Public Library. We welcome the wide distribution of this newsletter and encourage readers to forward it to their friends and societies. All precautions have been made to avoid errors. However, the publisher does not assume any liability to any party for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, no matter the cause.
To subscribe to “Genealogy Gems,” simply use your browser to go to the website: www.GenealogyCenter.org. Scroll to the bottom, click on E-zine, and fill out the form. You will be notified with a confirmation email.
If you do not want to receive this e-zine, please follow the link at the very bottom of the issue of Genealogy Gems you just received or send an email to sspearswells [at] acpl.lib.in.us with "unsubscribe e-zine" in the subject line.
Curt B. Witcher and John D. Beatty, CG, co-editors
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