Brenner Genealogy

Our US Records online study group has re-invigorated itself after a period of inactivity. We are turning to Chapter 10 in Val D. Greenwood’s The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy. In that chapter Greenwood writes:

“Someone has said that there is little point in digging up an ancestor if you aren’t going to make him live. If that is true –and I believe it is – your job is not finished until you feel a bit of what he felt, have shared vicariously in his joys and heartaches –perhaps shed a tear with him in his sorrow, laughed at the humor in his life and felt pride in his accomplishments.”

Part of our assignment is to reflect upon that statement and share how we go about that task.

Let me begin with a semantic quibble with Greenwood’s statement. While I like the general tenor of the statement, I don’t believe my job is to make my ancestors “live.” Instead, I believe it is my task as genealogist / family historian to tell their stories. My model for such ancestor story telling is based on the novel, Speaker for the Dead. This science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card continues the Ender saga. Ender, now known as Andrew Wiggin, is summoned to speak on behalf of Marcão, who died some years before. The Speaker’s job is to tell the truth of Marcão’s story, from Marcão’s perspective…

“Speakers research the dead person’s life and give a speech that attempts to speak for them, describing the person’s life as he or she tried to live it. This speech is not given in order to persuade the audience to condemn or forgive the deceased, but rather a way to understand the person as a whole, including any flaws or misdeeds.”   (see: Wikipedia)

As a pastor, I would often use this approach at a funeral service. The first time I tried it, I met with the daughter and son of the man whose funeral service I was to conduct. They told me many stories about their dad, a crusty old curmudgeon who found it difficult to make outward displays of caring and affection toward his family. There was always a distance between him and his children. After the funeral service had been completed, the son and daughter came to me with tears in their eyes saying, “You seemed to know our father better than we did.” “No,” I told them. “I only knew your father through your eyes; but your stories gave me permission to look at those accounts through his eyes. It was all there, packed into your stories.”

That is the challenge that I have undertaken as a genealogist / family historian – namely, to do the research that will allow me to unpack my ancestor’s story as she/he tried to live it, to understand them as a whole person, warts and all. Sometimes the needed research is many layers deep; at other times, a single picture / letter / newspaper article / etc. will suffice.

My 2g-grandfather, John Brenner, arrived from Germany in 1856 as an 18 year-old young man sailing alone. He was heading for Columbiana County, Ohio, where his older brother, Conrad, was living. Conrad had come to America a few years before John. According to John’s obituary in Rundschau, the German-speaking newspaper in Youngstown, Ohio, John’s 36 day ocean crossing was a storm-tossed one. His arrival in America was just as storm-tossed… as he was mugged on the dock and robbed of all his earthly possessions. An 18 year old young man who travels alone from Adelshofen, Baden, to LeHavre, France, to book passage on a ship to America has already shown something of a pioneer spirit. The obituary simply stated that, after being robbed, John walked from New York to Philadelphia where he knew of some friends from whom he has able to borrow enough money for train fare to Rochester, New York. After two years in Rochester, John finally made it to Conrad’s home in Ohio. The pioneer spirit and determination that under-girded the beginning of John’s journey in Germany, served John well in the New World.

So, I like to think of myself as a speaker for the dead or, to use another analogy, an ancestor whisperer – one who tells a truer story about my ancestors than vital statistics ever can.

On Sunday afternoon, 9 September 1962, Susan Frances Weaver and I were joined in holy matrimony at the Riverdale Methodist Church in Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, United States.  Today Susan and I celebrate 50 years of marriage.  Our son will be in from California; our daughter and her family live about 25 minutes away.  The whole family will go to church together in the morning, followed by a luncheon with family and friends.  Then, on Wednesday, Susan and I leave for Seattle for a couple days of sightseeing before we board the cruise ship for our trip to Alaska.  The bonus for me is that this cruise, sponsored by Wholly Genes (The Master Genealogist), will make 17 hours of genealogy workshops available while we are on the open sea (Thomas Jones, Mark Lowe, Debra Mieszala, Paul Milner, Craig Scott, and Thomas MacEntee).  Genealogy plus the Inland Passage, twin Sawyer glaciers, Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway.  What a way to celebrate!

But, as a genealogist / family historian, celebrations are an opportunity to look back, as well as forward.  So here is a simple pictorial retrospective of our 50 years together…  plus a poem written by my Great Aunt Katie to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her parents, my great grandparents, Lloyd and Mary Ellen (Cole) Brenner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Susan and I became the parents of two wonderful children, Russell and Cheryl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The family historian in me cannot resist a few 4-generations pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final part of this brief family retrospective is from my great-aunt, Katie.  Aunt Katie was my grandpa Brenner’s sister.  Among other accomplishments, she was a poet.  On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of  her parents, Mary Ellen (Cole) and Lloyd Brenner, she prepared the following poem:

They have traveled, side by side,

O’er life’s highway, fifty years.

Helped bear each other’s burdens,

Helped calm each other’s fears.

Thru stormy days and sunshine,

Thru times of smiles and tears,

They’ve climbed life’s hill together

Hand in Hand these fifty years.

‘Tis their Golden Anniversary

And the summit of the hill.

Now they’re standing smiling there,

For you see they’re sweethearts stil

Our wish for them on this day

Is just happiness and health,

For it they have both of these

They possess abundant wealth.

(K. B. Bode)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three to four years ago my son (he’s the “techie” member of the team) and I decided to develop a digital system for our genealogical research and its documentation. At the time we stated that our intentions were “to (a) extend our abilities in genealogical research and web development, (b) to develop a web presence where members of the extended Brenner-Weaver families can gather for genealogical research and to share family stories, and (c) make a significant contribution to genealogy’s move from the desktop to the web (web 2.0 / genealogy 2.0).” Ultimately, we envision a wiki-based online system that my son would develop. Since I am retired and he is still gainfully employed, we have sought intermediate solutions.

Phase 1: Desktop.  A key step was developing a desktop storage system for digital images (photos, documents, web clippings, notes) and using desktop software to organize the results. The first major decision was to digitize all our accumulated data (photos and documents) and then to work only with the digitized forms of the data. Newly discovered data was to be digitized and stored as quickly as possible. As I began to survey photos and documents held by extended family members, I would scan the originals and then return them. As I surveyed a variety of organizational systems for storing genealogical data, my growing impressing was that most systems were developed out of a paper-based understanding of genealogical research. So many of the systems I surveyed depended upon colored folders or multiple binders to store forms and documents. There was an inherent logic in these systems as they had been developed out of the experience of practicing genealogists / family historians. But, for me, their logic seemed paper-based, often with a primary emphasis on family groups – store an individual’s data with his/her family of origin until marriage; then, with the affiliational family established by the marriage.

I settled for a simple system, filing all an individual’s data in a folder on my hard drive. Of course, I made sure that those files were all backed up in multiple ways. I settled on long file names to assist in the organization – “Surname, Given Name(s) (Married Surname) (Event).extension.” (As an example, the transcription of my 2g-grandmother’s affidavit that was part of her application for widow’s benefits related to my 2g-grandfather’s Civil War disability pension was filed as “Welk, Catharine (Brenner) (Affidavit – Pension Claim).odt.” It is filed in the “Welk, 17.6 Catherine (Brenner)” folder. The reference number – 17.6 – is the Ancestral Lines Pairing System number that I have added to the folder names of all my direct line ancestors.

After using early versions of Family Tree Maker, we settled on RootsMagic for our desktop software. We found RootsMagic to be a robust software with a helpful interface that served our needs quite well. We are currently using RootsMagic 5.

Phase 2: Designing the Cloud-based System. The second step was migrating our desktop data to the cloud. We developed an online presence using Darrin Lythgoe’s The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding (TNG). Early decisions were based on extensive discussions about the tension between maintaining the integrity of our research results and making our results widely available. While I have posted one tree on Ancestry (to check out how well Ancestry’s “shaking leaf” function works), we have chosen to put our efforts in our TNG site, rather than to post the data to any of the growing number of cloud-based trees. An additional consideration is that I have not found many others who are researching our ancestral lines – the Brenners, Deeters, Miedings, Welks, etc.

We recently migrated this blog and our TNG site to a WordPress CMS system. As we progress, this blog plays a key role in telling the stories of our ancestors and articulating our analysis of data correlations.

An important decision was to develop a wiki-based online storage system to store and organize our images and documents. My son installed MediaWiki on our website and I began to learn MediaWiki markup language so I could develop the site as our Research Wiki. Here our data files are stored by Record Type (Baptism/Confirmation… Birth… Census… Death… Immigration / Naturalization… Land / Deeds / Other Legal… Marriage… Military… Location Files… Signature Files…). The Research Wiki also contains individual files grouped under the surnames of my son’s 8 grandparental lines (Brenner… Deeter… Gregg… Hill… Mieding… Smith… Spitzer… Weaver…). My great-granfather’s individual entry is as follows:

       Brenner, Lloyd (1867 – 1947)     (1.5)

see also, data stored in: Baptism… Birth… Census Records (1870, 1880, 1900, 1920, 1930, 1940)… Death… Immigration… Other Legal… Marriage… Military… Location… Signatures…

Did a thorough search for the 1910 Federal Census record for Lloyd Brenner in Youngstown, Ohio. No record was found.

1889-90 Youngstown, Ohio Directory (no image)

Ancestry.com. Youngstown, Ohio Directory, 1889-90 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. Original data: Youngstown, OH, 1889-90. N.H. Burch & Co., 1889. subscription database, <http://www.ancestry.com/>, accessed December 2009.

This indicates that I have 6 census records for him (both from his family of origin and his affiliational family), as well as Death and Marriage records. A click on those links will take me to that Record Type where the data is filed alphabetically by Surname (and, for Census records, by Year then by Surname). The Record Types with strikethroughs are ones for which I have not yet found data. This is also a place where I can indicate unsuccessful searches (1910 Census for Lloyd Brenner) and other data. When I enter a data record (either in the Record Type or in the Individual’s record) a citation of the source is also included.

Other Surname lines are filed under the one of  8 grandparental lines to which it is related:

Phase 3: Migrating to the Cloud. So, up to this point in time, our system has been operating in two venues – on my desktop and on our website. That has not been helpful. I have maintained RootsMagic 5 as the primary management software for our data. TNG has simply been a place to display a particular interation of that data. Periodically I will export a GEDCOM file from RM5 and import it into TNG. And then it just sits there. I had separated out “pruned” database of direct line ancestors and their affiliational families (about 700 individuals) for publication on TNG. My full RM5 database of about 5000 individuals (which I have called my “research” database) has remained on the desktop. I am now getting that full database ready for publication on our TNG site. This has meant a thorough cleaning and re-organizing of my Master Source list and my Places list. I have organized my Master Source list with a series of broader categories (Book… Cemetery… Census… Church Records… Civil Records… Court Records… Family Bibles… Family Trees… Immigration… Military… Newpapers… Person… Researcher…). As needed, I can add categories as I go. I am just about ready to export the full database to a GEDCOM which I will import into TNG. At that point, I will manage my data using TNG, rather than RM5.

I have also used the Research Wiki to store source citation templates. I have enjoyed using RM5′s Source Templates and may continue to count on them when I am in a pinch. I will, however, continue to expand my own source citation templates on the Research Wiki. That makes everything a simple copy and paste operation.

I still have data files on my hard drive and in Evernote that have not been migrated to the Research Wiki. That will be the next great task – that is, getting all those files moved. I am still debating whether I want to store my photos primarily in the Research Wiki or utilize an online service, such as Picasa. At this point, I leaning toward sticking with the Research Wiki.

Phase 4: Genealogy 2.0. Once I have migrated my RM5 database to TNG and have moved all data files from my hard drive to the Research Wiki (and, of course, backed up all the files), I will then be able to do my work in the Cloud. Instead of a hybrid of genealogy 1.0 and 2.0 systems, I will have completed the move to a genealogy 2.0 system. I will store all data and citation information in the Research Wiki and do all data entry (with full source citations) directly in TNG. This will probably necessitate my installing TNG and MediaWiki as “localhost” on my desktop. This will give me access to the data when I have not internet access, as well as a backup. I will also update my Gedstar Pro (Android tablet and phone) and GedView (iPad) apps with the latest GEDCOM so that I will have my data available whenever I need it.

One of the features introduced to later versions of TNG was the possibility of integrating Wiki pages for individuals. My son has added this module to our TNG site. I had previously begun to develop Wiki pages for individuals in the Research Wiki. I did this in anticipation of the development of our own Wiki-based application. I have only done this for one individual (my 2g-grandfather, John Brenner) with a Profile page (basic information about the individual), Notebook (extended information, stories, etc), and Research Journal (a check-list of record types to track where research has been done and/or needs to be done). I am in the process of replacing the individual Research Journal with another tracking system. (That will be the subject of a follow-up post.)

Phase 5: Completing the System. As mentioned above, I have developed the Research Wiki with the goal in mind of my son’s developing our own genealogy research and data management application. Since he works full time and has other enduring commitments, I don’t expect that application to be developed soon. It may not be until he approaches retirement. If and when he decides to begin developing code for such a system, we have a good start. If, on the other hand, he chooses not to pursue it, our current system can be further developed within the confines of WordPress, TNG, and MediaWiki. It will serve our needs well for the foreseeable future.

 

 

 

I’ve been tidying up my RootsMagic 5 research database.  This is the “full” database, not the pruned one currently displayed on our BrennerFamilyTree website.  Hopefully, as I check through sources and citations, as well as places and facts, I will have the database ready to transfer to the website before too many months pass by.

As I was reviewing the record for my father, Donald George Brenner, I made my first foray into searching the 1940 census.  No! I hadn’t rushed headlong into the NARA images on April 3rd using Steve Morse’s Unified 1940 Census ED Finder. Nor had I breathlessly turned to Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org as soon as they had completed indexing and publishing the results for Ohio (stalking grounds for most of my 1940 ancestors).  I figured that the information would still be there in 6-8 months so I have been in no hurry to dig into the 1940 census.  Today,however, seemed like a good day to begin…  with the added bonus of distracting me from the detail work of tidying my database.  I easily found records for my parents and Brenner grandparents.  I entered the information into RM5 and, after creating a Master Source for “Census, U.S. – 1940,” I provided source citations for the entries.  I could easily have returned to my tidying at this point, but the Princes of Serendip began to call.

The Three Princes of Serendip is an old Persian fairy tale.  Giaffer, king of the country of Serendip, provides for an excellent education for his three sons, but fearing that they have been too sheltered, sends them out into the world.  The three princes prove themselves to be filled not only with wisdom, but also with remarkable intuitive sense arising from their keen attention to detail.  Our word “serendipity” is coined from the fairy tale.  It refers to the accidental discovery of things not searched for, of finding far more than expected.  I know that a “research plan” is an essential ingredient for many genealogists and family historians; but, unless I am planning a trip to the Family History Center or the Midwest Genealogy Center, I like to “wing it.”  Since I often let my genealogical search take me on rabbit trails and side roads, I am always hopeful that the Princes of Serendip will accompany me.  Today they did.  Things began to get rather interesting when I searched for Mom’s father, Harley Hartman Deeter.

Mom’s mother had died in 1937. Both Mom and her younger brother (Gilbert D. “Pete”) had been married in 1939, the last of the Deeter children to leave home. (To confirm Uncle Pete’s marriage, I did a search on FamilySearch.org.  I found his marriage to Helen Louise Luth (3 August 1939) in a West Virginia marriage index and an image of their marriage application, license, and certificate from the Hancock County Clerk’s record book.  Another gift from the Princes of Serendip.  Mom’s maternal grandparents had been living with the Deeters (found in both the 1920 and 1930 census). Mom’s grandmother (Emma Lavina Barthel) died in 1929. So I expected to find Mom’s dad (Harley Hartman Deeter) and her grandfather (Dayton W. Smith) at their home, 216 South Hazelwood Avenue, Youngstown, Mahoning, Ohio. A search for “Harley Hartman Deeter” (“Youngstown, Mahoning, Ohio, United States”) in the 1940 census on Ancestry.com had not yielded any prioritized results. As I quickly scanned down the page of results, looking for “Youngstown,”  I saw an entry for “Harley Deiter” residing in “Youngstown, Mahoning, Ohio.” That person was born “abt 1882” in “Ohio” and was listed as a “Lodger.”

A quick look at the record for Harley Deiter made it seem possible that this was my grandfather (although he spelled his surname “Deeter”). Harley Deiter was listed as 58 years old (my grandfather was born 15 October 1881…  that fits). The census record had his birthplace listed as Ohio (my grandfather was born in Tennessee… that doesn’t fit, but it is likely that my grandfather was not the informant for this household.  Ohio would be a likely guess…  wrong, but reasonable). The census record listed occupation as a Rail Road Conductor (my great-grandfather was, indeed a conductor for the Eire Railroad).

There was also another interesting name listed as a lodger at the same address (445 Warner Street). The other person was “Lottie Kracker/Krocker.” This caught my eye because within the next year or two, Harley Hartman Deeter was to marry Charlotte Krocker.  “Lottie” / “Charlotte” …  could be!?

Before jumping to a conclusion, however, I had to discover what had happened to Harley’s father-in-law, Dayton W. Smith. A search in Ancestry.com brought the result of a “Dayton Smith,” head of the household, residing alone at 3425 (rear) Mahoning Avenue, Youngstown, Mahoning, Ohio. Dayton was 82 and listed “Dayton” as his birthplace (my great-grandfather was born in Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, 12 April 1859… it fits). I was pretty sure at this point that I had found both my grandfather and my great-grandfather in the 1940 census.

I was curious about their former residence at 416 South Hazelwood. This time, using Steve Morse’s Unified 1940 Census ED Finder, I quickly found the correct census page which indicated that the “Christine Kazy” family was now residing at that address. The interesting serendipity, however, was to see George Simstad, who would become my uncle, residing at the next enumerated house. He was living with his sister’s family. There was a vague memory, rattling around somewhere in my head, of my Uncle George and Aunt Dorothy talking about Milton. It would have been his brother-in-law (and head of the household), Milton Freshwater, Jr. This was before George married my Dad’s sister, Dorothy.

Earlier, shortly after discovering the Harley Deiter and Dayton Smith entries in the 1940 census, I had called my 97 year-old mother to see if these facts coincided with her memories. I didn’t get an answer at that time. It was now time to try again. When Mom answered, I told her what I had found. She confirmed that her Dad had moved out of the house on South Hazelwood and was boarding in a house “down near the hospital.” When I mentioned Warner Street. She indicated that Warner was the location of her father. She also told me that Charlotte Krocker’s sister Lottie was living in the same area… that was how Harley met Charlotte. I told Mom that Lottie was boarding in the same house. That seems to have cinched it… Yes, “Harley Deiter, “ lodger at 445 Warner Street was Harley Hartman Deeter, my maternal grandfather. As a lodger, Harley was probably not the one who gave information to the census enumerator. It would have been quite easy for the information-giver and/or the enumerator to write down either “Deiter” or “Dieter” instead of Deeter.  As mentioned earlier, the enumerated birthplace (“Ohio”) was probably just a guess by the person providing the information.

When I mentioned that Dayton Smith was residing at the “Rear” of 3425 Mahoning Avenue, Mom informed me that her granddad had noticed an abandoned chicken coop behind one of the houses down the street. He had asked the owners if he might fix it up for a place to live. Dayton W. Smith was a carpenter and a house builder… so, fix it up he did and then he moved in.  Isn’t it nice when all the data seems to gel at once.  The Princes of Serendip were smiling on me today. I had not spent much tine researching Charlotte Krocker / Crocker.  I decided to try this side street next.  I did find a death certificate (on FamilySearch.org) for Charlotte Wickham Deeter, born 3 November 1881 (the same year Harley H. Deeter was born).  This Charlotte Deeter died on 16 Cotober 1961 in a nursing home in Canton, Stark, Ohio.  (My grandfather died in the Mary Day Sanatorium in Massillon .  Canton and Massilon are next door neighbors, about 7-8 miles apart.  Charlotte’s death certificate indicated that she was born in Dayton, Ohio. It named her father as Frank Marshall and her mother as Henrietta Darlington. 

An Ancestry.com search for “Charlotte Wickham Marshall” yielded more interesting data.  First, in the an entry in the “Ohio, Births and Christenings Index, 1800-1962″ a “Lottie Marshall” is listed as being born on 3 November 1881 to Frank and Ettie (nee Darlington) Marshall. The location was Dayton, Ohio.  Just as in the story of the Three Princes of Serendip the pieces are starting to fit together in a consistent whole.  I had not only found my maternal grandfather, but I had also found his third wife.  In addition to a birth record, I found two 1900 census records for Charlotte Marshall in Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio.  Both records indicate an 18 year-old who was born in Ohio in November 1881.  One was living at 307 Perry Street with her mother, Etta Marshall, 5 younger brothers and sisters, and 13 boarders ranging in age from 1 to 57 years old.  The other Charlotte Marshall was a boarder with the Wickham family at 305 S. Perry Street (about a half mile away).  What caught my attention was that both Charlottes were born in Ohio in November 1881.  One is living with her mother Etta (Henrietta?) and the other boarding with a family whose name (Wickham) is listed as the middle name on Charlotte Wickham Deeter’s death certificate.  The two houses are about a half mile apart.   Etta Marshall’s household was enumerated on June 1st; the Wickham’s, June 6th & 7th.  Each was enumerated by a different enumerator.  Is it possible that Charlotte Marshall was enumerated twice in 1900?  Without further data, one cannot say for sure… but it seems as if that might be a possibility.  And, if there were two Charlotte Marshalls,which one would eventually be married to Harley Hartman Deeter?  Did Charlotte Marshall eventually marry a Wickham (most likely Harry who was born in June 1881… both were 18 at the time of the census enumeration).  Lot’s of questions; not so many answers at this time.  Perhaps another trip with the Princes of Serendip at a later time.

Wait a minute!  All this research on Harley H Deeter’s third wife, raises another rabbit trail to pursue…  I am well aware of Harley’s second wife,  Mabel Estelle Smith.  She was my Mom’s mother, my grandmother.  But there has always been a mystery about Harley’s first wife.  We know that they were married for only a short time (2-3 years at most).  She must have died about 1906, because Harley purchased a number of grave sites at the Forest Rose Cemetery in Lancaster, Fairfield, Ohio in 1906.  My Mom and sister visited Forest Rose Cemetery a number of years age. Harley’s parents and a large number of his mother’s relatives are buried at Forest Rose Cemetery or other cemeteries in Fairfield County.  But they could find no records of Harley’s first wife.  I knew from the 1900 Census that Harley H. Deeter was living in Basil Township, Fairfield County.  

I searched for Deeter (no given name), death in Ohio between 1902 and 1908 in FamilySearch.org’s “Ohio Deaths and Burials, 1854-1997″ index. on FamilySearch,org. The sixth entry on the results page was for Sarah E. Deeter, born in 1881 (Cosnachton, O); died 26 March 1906 at Lancaster, Fairfield, Ohio; her residence in 1906 was Lancaster.  Once again, a marvelous gift from the Princes of Serendip.  While acknowledging that there is no mention in the record of the burial place, Sarah E Deeter’s residence and place of death fits with the Deeter/Knepper family connections with the Forest Rose Cemetery in Lancaster and with Harley’s purchase of a plot there in 1906.  I was puzzled by “Cosnachton, O” as Sarah’s birthplace.  I know of Coshocton city and county in Ohio, but have never heard of Cosnachton.  Since I was dealing with an index and not an original image, I was pretty sure that Cosnachton was a mis-reading of Conshocton.  To be sure, however, I did a Google search for “Cosnachton, Ohio.”  All the results were for Coshocton.  I next searched the “Ohio, County Births, 1856-1909″ index and images for Sarah E. (no surname), born in Coshochton County between 1880 and 1882.  Two results look promising:  Sarah Elizabeth Corder, born 22 August 1881 in Virginia Township, Coshocton, Ohio, to J. W. Corder and Mary Bird;  and Sarah E. Didinger, born 21 January 1880 in Clark Township, Coshocton, Ohio, to Jonas Didinger and Lany Wilson. 

There is more work to do here, but I don’t want to over-tax the Princes of Serendip…  and, beside, I’m tired and it’s bedtime…  so my strange odyssey into the land of Serendip must come to an end for the day.  But it was quite a day!  Yes, indeed, quite a day!

   

  “Ohio, Deaths and Burials, 1854-1997,” index  “Ohio, County Births, 1856-1909,” index and images

 

 

I had not spent much time researching Charlotte Krocker / Crocker.  I decided to try this side street next.  I did find a death certificate for Charlotte Wickham Deeter, born 3 November 1881.  This Charlotte Deeter died on 16 October 1961 in a nursing home in Canton, Stark, Ohio.  Massillon and Canton are next door neighbors (7-8 miles apart)

Betsy Sparrow, Jenny Liu, and Daniel M. Wenger (“Google Effects on Memory:Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at our Fingertips”)  suggest that “the Internet has become a primary form of external or transactive memory, where information is stored collectively outside ourselves.”    Their studies, while not specifically about genealogy or family history, indicate what most geneabloggers understand either explicitly or intuitively — namely, that the explosion of available information on the Internet has changed the way we do genealogical research.  No, we still have to go to county court houses and cemeteries for a lot of basic information; but increasingly those court houses and cemeteries are putting their records online.

1. Off-loading memory to the Internet

Because we have off loaded so much data to the internet we tend to be able to spend more brain time for significant thinking.  I no longer have to remember everyone’s phone number because they are all stored in my cell phone’s memory and in my online Contacts file. This all has paved the way for the brain to reorient its memory system from content to process. Now, instead of remembering all the facts, I have learned to remember how to access the facts.

I regularly get feeds from about 85 genealogy blogs. Do I get from them information about members of my family tree? No! Do I read and inwardly digest each post from the 85? No! I scan them looking for interesting information about standards and procedures — that is, about how I can more effectively access information about members of my family tree.  If someone blogs about their family and simply offers an Ahnentafel chart, I am not very interested unless my family connects with theirs.  If, however, they write about developing their research plan for identifying new locations to search for information about their ancestors, I will read their post with great interest.

The Sparrow/Liu/Wenger study reports that “ believing the information was saved externally enhances memory for the fact that the information could be accessed, at least in general.” Blogging, therefore, provides at least two primary services:  1) to publish data from one’s research for a) oneself, b) one’s family, and c) extended family (“cousins”) and 2) to chronicle methods, procedures, clues, hints, learning, etc., that have been a part of one’s research and discovery.  This latter function is a service to the broader genealogical community. Blogging, therefore, tends to enhance our confidence in the general ability to access and retrieve information, much more than it enhances memory of the information that we have reported.

 2. A New Approach to Intimacy,  Friendship, and Collegiality

Stefana Broadbent (digital ethnographer at University College London) speaks about “How The Internet Enables Intimacy.”  Some have suggested that texting, Facebook, IM, etc., are having a negative impact on human intimacy.  Broadbent’s research suggests just the opposite:  contemporary technology has enhanced our capacity to cultivate deeper relationships.  Friends and family members separated by distance or institutional barriers (workplace or school, for example) have the means to be more refularly in contact with one another.  Moreover, the Internet provides a vehicle for broadening the base of contacts (e.g., number of “friends” on Facebook or number of people in “circles” on Google+).  Research shows that we tend to only be actively engaged in regular communication with a very limited number of them, likely only 3-5. That regular communication may be via IM, email, Skype, et al.  The broader base of contacts, however, does provide opportunity to increase our friendships.

Because of my blogging,  l would count Thomas McEntee, Randy Seaver, and Jill Ball as friends.  No, they are not intimate friends, but if we are at a conference together I will seek them out because they are important to me.  Two years ago, at my first genealogy conference, I was on my way seeking out Thomas.  Before I could introduce myself to him, he reached out his hand and said “Bart Brenner, it’s good to meet you.”  At RootsTech 2012 Randy and I encountered one another in the Exhibit Hall.  That lead to a discussion about the Presbyterian Church (Randy’s a Ruling Elder; I’m a Teaching Elder).  Jill and I had corresponded by email a couple of times prior to RootsTech.  What a delight to meet her in person and to have her introduce me (as GeneaPopPop)  to Audrey Collins and Amy Coffin.  Intimates, no: but genea-friends, decidely yes! Also, because of my online presence I have become colleagues with “cousins” that I never knew I had. Arlene and I have worked together to identify our common Brenner 3g and 4g grandparents.  Deb (we are connected through collateral Messeralls) rescued my 2g grandmother’s family Bible from a local historical society museum and provided me with photos of all the inscribed pages.

The website that my son and I maintain has provided my with a genealogical presence in cyberspace; but it is mostly a presence of data.  My blogging, on the other hand, has given my presence personality and character. And, that blogging presence causes me to reflect regularly upon my research and the information generated by that research (and, of course, it gives me a platform to think out loud as I am doing in this post. My relational network has definitely expanded, and all to the best, because of my presence on the Web.

 3. Feeding Our Need for Achievement & Social Recognition

Many bloggers are participating in the Summer Genea-Blogger Group Games (or Genea-Lympics, as Randy Seaver calls them).  I participated in a similar experience during the last Winter Olympics.  A variety of tasks which are central to genealogical research are entered as “contests” (with the caveat that participants are competing against their on expectations and each contestant is his/her own judge) — “Cite Your Sources;” “Back UpYour Data;” Organize Your Data;” “Write, Write, Write;” and “Reach Out & Perform Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness.”  When I participated, I got a lot of basic “catch up” work done.  The “games” provided an opportunity to do those tasks I knew I should be doing (but wasn’t doing as much as I could).  They fed my “need for achievement” and make me accountable to myself for that achievement.  In addition, I was able to award myself Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, and Platinum medals to acknowledge those achievements.  Because this was all done “in the open” — that is, reported in blog posts, the accomplishments and the Badges! Badges! Badges! provided some measure of social recognition.  Likewise, I was able to share in the recognition of the accomplishments of other competitors.

Each of us has a differing level of need for achievement and recognition.  It seems pretty clear to me that all of us geneabloggers have, at some level, acknoweldged those needs by the simple act of creating a blog.  The presence of the “Comment” function in our blogs recognizes the importance of our inter-connections with other genealogists and family historians.

4. Attention

The Sparrow/Liu/Wenger report concludes: ”Finally, the individualized metrics available from computer teaching is what promises to have the greatest impact on the future of learning by keeping us in our seat and paying attention. The frontal cortex and other specific brain regions are active when we pay in attention in ways that help us learn. Our attention is fickle, and the right challenge at the right time helps capture and channel that attention.”

I live in a retirement community that makes available to residents a computerized program for brain fitness. We have learned that old age and decreased brain functioning are not necessarily synonymous.  ”Use it or lose it” is the best motto regarding brain function  for seniors. In some ways geneablogging might be considered analogous to brain fitness programs for seniors.  Geneablogging is one of the tools for keeps us “in our seat and paying attention.”  The previously mentioned Genea-Lympics provide participants with activities that help us “pay attention in ways that help us learn.”  Geneablogging is, at its roots, an activity of attentiveness.

 5. Research Plans, To-Do Lists, Wikis, and Cheat Sheets

Sparrow/Liu/Wenger report that “We are becoming symbiotic with our computer tools, growing into interconnected systems that remember less by knowing information than by knowing where the information can be found.

Some of us will do the vast majority of our genealogical research online and at the local library and the local Family History Center without many having many opportunities to visit county court houses and cemeteries where we could find more information about our ancestors.  Fortunately, more and more data is being brought online; and, if you can get it online, you don’t need to take the time to use it at a repository.  Instead we go to FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, Fold 3, Google Books, BYU online library, … So, we develop tools to assist us in accessing the information. Data storage, once we find the information, has become relatively easy.  There are desktop software packages (Roots Magic, The Master Genealogist, Legacy, Behold, et al) and online sites (WeRelate, WikiTree, MyHeritage, FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, et al) that provide increasingly sophisticated storage systems for genealogical data. Most of us have learned how to maneuver our data through one or more of these systems.  The key, especially for those of us who are not professional genealogists, is the variety of resources we use to help us find and access the information that will eventually be entered into our desktop and/or online software. The key to enhancing genealogical brain functioning is to “become [increasingly] symbiotic with our computer tools” while growing in our ability to understand and access the interconnected systems that are available to us.

Over the past year there have been a couple of discussions including a number of geneabloggers about the genealogical “community” (if, indeed, there is such a community).  I would contend that the” interconnected systems … where [genealogical] information can be found” and the variety of interconnections between those of us who are accessing those information systems (by writing and/or reading blogs) is what the genealogical community is all about.  Like “intimacy, friendship, and collegiality” each of us has a unique set of relationships with the genealogical community and we each value those relationships differently.

So, does geneablogging enhance brain functioning?  I think it does! To paraphrase one initial observation from Sparrow/Liu/Wenger, geneablogging (like the Internet itself) “has become a primary form of external or transactive memory, where information is stored collectively outside ourselves.” I like to think of geneablogging as a function of “transactive” memory — that is, each geneablogger participates in a brain function (i.e., memory) transaction between his/her research, her/himself, other geneabloggers, and readers.  And I think that is rather impressive.