Update

In my last blog, I wrote about finding a divorce mentioned in a census reading on my great-uncle. I sent for marriage records to see if he had been married before, and nope, his marriage to Helen was his first. So was the census reading wrong? Nope, but guess what...it was not him in the census that I read. It was another Fred with the same last name and same age, living in the same town.

I share this to remind all that 1) always check all sources, and 2) don't always trust census readings!

This week I have been doing some genealogy for a friend of my parents and so far have found 4 birth date sources:

Civil War records: b. 1840
1880 census: b. 1842
1900 census: b. June 1849
IGI record: b. 1842

That's quite a difference between 1840 to 1849. Right now I am going to go with the 1842 as date of birth. Though not impossible, he probably wasn't only 13 years old when he enlisted in the Civil War. I am hoping to find a death certificate that might have a more accurate date of birth, although that is a secondary source. He came from Sweden with an incredibly common name, so I don't know that I will get as far as trying for birth records!

Dilemma

Well, here is an interesting, and all-to-familiar dilemma...today as I was entering some information into my RootsMagic database, I noticed some information was missing. My dad's cousin, Barbara (who turned 80 this year), had written to me answering some questions that I had asked her about her family. As I entered the data, I realized that I had never checked/entered the census readings for her parents. They were married in May of 1920, so I first checked the 1920 census. Well, the census there was taken in January of 1920, so her father was listed alone, as a "roomer" in someone's home. What caught my attention, however, was that he was also listed as "divorced". What? I never heard that before? I called my dad...he had no knowledge of Barbara's father having been married before he married Barbara's mother.

Now the dilemma...do I ask Barbara about it? Does she know that her father had been married before he married her mother? It is a sticky subject, as I have learned from past experience. The last time this happened to me was when I learned that my mother-in-law's father had been married before he had married her mother (again, found in the 1920 census). When I asked my mother-in-law about it, she became terribly upset and said that her father had NEVER been married before, and that was the end of that. I learned at her funeral from her nephew, that her father had been married several times before he married her mother...so I don't know if she knew that and didn't want others to know, or if she truly did not know that he had been married before. I am often surprised at how upset some people will get when faced with facts that occurred 50 or even 100 years earlier.

Anyway, back to the immediate problem. When I talked to my dad, he did not think that Barbara would be upset if I asked her about her father being married before, so I wrote a letter to her asking what she knew.

Meanwhile, I have written a request to the county where her parents were married to request their marriage applications. That should have on it if he had married before or if it was a first marriage. It is only costing me $3 to solve this one!

3/11/2024-it turned out that it was not Barbara's father. 

Just a reminder

Just a reminder to myself....I have spent the past week checking on what census reading were missing for my Smyth family. I have been working on this family for a good 10 or more years. When I went to check on census readings done for various members of the family, many were missing!

I always have to remind myself to go back and look over old work that I have done. I will invariably either find a new clue that I missed before or see something that I had missed and need to check out.

With 2010 quickly approaching, I am hoping that the 1940 census will be out soon. I need to at least be caught up with the 1930 readings! So this past week, I have chosen various family lines and reviewed the census listings that I have, then gone to find what is missing. I have found most of the missing. Where it hasn't been found, I make a note of it in the Notes section, so that at least I know that I have searched before.

I began working on a story that I came across last year about a young 9 year old girl whose father brutally raped her in the woods, and when she was finally convinced that her father could no longer harm her, she reported that he had killed her mother earlier that year (1889). The father was convicted and sentenced to 34 years in the penitentiary. When I had requested records from the penitentiary, it came back that they had no record of him. I have not been able to learn what happened to either the daughter or the father. I began going through what papers I had gathered on the story last year, and looked for areas that I might have missed. I came up with a few leads, so will be following up on those this week.

Again, Note to Self: always go back and review your research!

Influencing Others

Last week I was visiting an old friend in Colorado and I began talking about my genealogy obsession, uh, I mean adventures and she began asking questions. Before we knew it, we were on ancestry.com and I was showing her how easily one could begin looking at the old census records. She got hooked! She talked to her parents, and her father got enthused and her parents came up with some old records, notes, pictures, etc. and she is off and running!

That is the first time that I have gotten anyone interested in actually doing genealogy and it was a quite satisfying feeling! It was so nice to be able to share the enthusiasm and excitement of learning even the most minuscule detail of an ancestor's life. I just wish that we lived closer to each other! I have always told my husband that I need a genealogy friend!

I was not able to help her with choosing a program, however, because she is using a Mac and I use RootsMagic which doesn't appear to be compatible with Mac computers. So I don't know what she will end up using.

Researching

Well, today was a good example of all the hours needed for researching one tiny single thing of one's family, and how one little bit of information leads to more searching. 

 I started the afternoon trying to find out more about Crystal, Pembina County, ND, which is where my great-great-grandfather settled when he left Sweden in 1888 (leaving his wife and children behind for evermore). I did many Google searches looking for some history or any information and found little. I checked all of the genealogy message boards related to the state, etc. Posted a query on one of them requesting some history of the area. Checked eBay for anything related to the area. Nothing. 

 Finally, in desperation, I began going through each of his children and looking to see if there was missing information on any of them. Began searching the Social Security Death Index and came up with 5 dates of deaths to take to the library for obituary searches. That was very worthwhile. However, I still couldn't find anything on Charles and Ida Seeber's last child, Earl. I did know that his wife had remarried after his death. She would be about 89 now. She isn't listed in the SS Death Index so I am guessing that she may still be alive. I did a Google search with her name and came up with an article from the LA Times written in 1998 after her second husband died. It listed the married name of Earl's only child. 

 Thus began another search, trying to find an address for her with the information given in the article. I Tried many different searches, and finally, I may have found who I was looking for! In fact, I am positive that it is her. Now, is the address current? I have written a letter to the name and address and here's hoping! 

 Meanwhile, 4 hours online have passed by. Do I feel like it was wasted time? Heck, no! These were possibly huge finds for me! And if I get a response back, and it's her, the whole family will rejoice! After Earl died, the family didn't have much contact (they lived in CA and we are in IL), so we are all anxious to learn how they are, etc. More to follow! Never give up!

Follow-up: 3/11/2024-there was never a response to my letter.

60 Years Celebrated

My parents, Dick and Pat, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in April. I am remiss in not remarking on it until now, but it is certainly of a historical, genealogical nature! 

 They married in Peoria in 1949 and moved to Chicago where Dad was working. They remained there until shortly after I was born in December of 1949 and then returned to Peoria, where they both were born and raised. Dad was hired on at Caterpillar Tractor and they settled into married life. They went on to have 3 more children, Mike, Bill, and Sandy. In 1973, Dad was transferred to Marinette WI, where they stayed for 3 years. It was quite a change for them, living up north. They learned to ski while living up there and had many enjoyable ski trips over the years. Bill and Sandy went to high school while in WI, and Bill went on to college in Milwaukee. 

 Mom and Dad came back to Peoria in 1976. Dad retired from Caterpillar in 1986 and they had 23 blissful years of retirement. They spent most winters in either Florida or Alabama, and all spring, summer, and falls in Indiana at the lake. Sadly, during this time, Mom and Dad lost their 2 sons. Bill died in 1990 in San Francisco, and Mike died in 2005 in Peoria. Mom and Dad were blessed with 6 grandchildren: Emily, Maggie, Alex, Mandy, Lee, and Rich. So far, they also have 5 great-grandchildren: Lexie, Chris, Connor, Libby, and Lucy. All in all, 60 years produced much of what life is composed of great joy and sadness, and many, many blessings.

Matilda Hertel Segh

Matilda Hertel was born in 1853 in Herrestad parish, Ostergot lands, Sweden. She married August Jonasson Segh in 1871 and they settled in Vadstena (Wadstena). After 2 years of marriage, August and Matilda (now 30 years old) became parents of twin sons. Karl Oscar Fromhold Segh (my great-great-grandfather) and Gustaf Adolf Segh were born on November 6, 1873, in s:t Per parish in Ostergotland, Sweden. Around July 1874, when the twin boys were 9 months old, Matilda became pregnant again, and on April 18, 1875, another son, Johan August Segh, was born. Around January 1876, Matilda was pregnant again. Her twin sons would have just turned 2 years old, and Johna was about 9 months old at that time. On September 9, 1876, a fourth son, Axel Edward Segh was born. Now Matilda had 4 sons, all under the age of 3 years old! Nine months later, Marilda was pregnant again with twins. On March 14, 1878, a daughter, Matilda Sofie Segh was born, It was reported that she was a twin, however, her twin must not have survived. Now she had 4-year-old twins, an almost 3-year-old, a 1 1/2 year old, and a new baby. 

 Sadly, baby Matilda died on August 1st at age 4 1/2 months old. Around October of that year, Matilda was pregnant with twins again. In January of 1879, Matilda and August's son, Axel, died at 2 1/2 years old. She delivered another daughter, Elin Mia Segh, on July 11, 1879, and again, it was reported that she was a twin, but the other twin did not survive. Tragedy struck the family when baby Elin died in September at almost 2 months old. It is incredible to think that within 6 years, Matilda had 5 pregnancies, 8 children, and 5 of the 8 children had died. By this time, Karl and Gustaf were almost 6 years old and Johan was 4 1/2 years old. 

 August Segh died in 1901. It appears that Matilda lived with her son, Johan until she died. Her son Gustaf died in 1908, and his twin Karl, died in 1933. Matilda died in 1934, having survived 7 of her 8 children. Johan remained in Vadstena until he died in 1952. He was a single man. I am struck by all of the hardships and tragedies that Matilda must have gone through. She lost at least 5 children very early, and 2 more later. Her oldest son, Karl, left for America in 1892 and she never saw him again. Interestingly, Karl Oscar appears to be the only one of Matilda's children who had children. Matilda had 6 grandchildren that she was never able to meet. Such a sad story!