Lesson 9--History and Genealogy Resources
1. Well, I've been looking forward to this lesson since I first signed up for the course. I had no idea that the SD State Library offered this service before signing up. I figured that since I have been a faithful registered voter all my adult life that there would be lots of data about me on Ancestry Library. However, I found very little information about myself, even after refining my searches over and over! Not that I'm complaining, but my ego took did take a bit of a blow. :) There were many, many people across the country (and Canada) with the same name, but my own data showed up only once. I did have fun looking at pictures of these potential relatives in their yearbooks just to see if they may resemble my own family! This just goes to show that a librarian can be a real help. I'm sure that I'm out there in plenty of places, but I was running into dead end after dead end! Finally, I searched the database suggested in the lesson, "U.S. Phone and Address Directories." I do exist, apparently, as I did find my information here.
2. Moving on and hoping for better results in Ancestry Library, I searched for my maternal grandmother. Right away, at the top of the first list was an image of her marriage license, where I could see her signature alongside that of my grandfather, who passed away only ten years later. I was pumped and excited to dig for more! I found her again in the Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925, along with all of the rest of her family. The family tree was informative as I didn't have information on the half-sibling listed there before this. I'm going to do some further exploration on that soon!
3. I had no idea what to expect with this directive to look at pictures under the search for "South Dakota" in Ancestry Library. What a surprise! I first came to a list of professional baseball players with ties to South Dakota. Upon clicking on the image, I could see that person's picture in a primary source baseball publication. Going on, I decided to look under Family Trees in this same section and typed in my paternal grandfather's name. I came upon images of headstones belonging to my grandparents and those associated with my grandfather, including the images of my great grandparents' headstones in Iowa (which neither I nor my father has ever seen). I can see that the time is flying by and I've barely scratched the surface of what I'd like to see here! I went a little further, viewing the image bearing his name from the 1900 United States Federal Census, listing his immigration from Canada and his birth in Ireland. Good stuff!
4. I figured my fun had peaked after all the goodies in Ancestry Library, but I moved on to Heritage Quest with a positive attitude anyway. All teachers love learning, right? I started out doing a basic search for my paternal grandfather again and found information on him as a 24-year-old single man. I wondered if I could break through the barrier that I came to in my last search in which the trail ended at his parents' birth in Ireland. I clicked on the "Learning Center" portion of Heritage Quest and found that there were all kinds of mini courses that I could take to learn about how to do the very thing I was wondering about--even specific to Ireland! Perfect for a St. Patrick's Day project! I also did a search for my town in South Dakota, but had no luck, so I settled on my county. That brought up three books, one being a history of German Americans in World War I. I could view images of each page and read the information there, detailing the difficulties experienced due to hatred and persecution of German Americans during the war. I was wishing there was a way to jump to the specific page in which my county was mentioned, but I didn't find that tool if it is there. I'll just have to read the book, I guess!
5. Sanborn Maps proved to be a challenge as my town was not incorporated until 1968, and always has been very small, so no luck. I, instead, chose to search for maps of the town in which I teach, and struck gold there! I went to the 1893 map and looked at Main Street for anything familiar. I did find a bank in the spot in which a former bank still stands. I'm going to have to check for a dated cornerstone on the building to see if it's the same one that existed in 1893. Many of the stores on the 1893 were "general stores" and there was a tin shop just off of Main Street as well as an artesian well close to the railroad tracks. What fun to be able to step back in time!
2. Moving on and hoping for better results in Ancestry Library, I searched for my maternal grandmother. Right away, at the top of the first list was an image of her marriage license, where I could see her signature alongside that of my grandfather, who passed away only ten years later. I was pumped and excited to dig for more! I found her again in the Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925, along with all of the rest of her family. The family tree was informative as I didn't have information on the half-sibling listed there before this. I'm going to do some further exploration on that soon!
3. I had no idea what to expect with this directive to look at pictures under the search for "South Dakota" in Ancestry Library. What a surprise! I first came to a list of professional baseball players with ties to South Dakota. Upon clicking on the image, I could see that person's picture in a primary source baseball publication. Going on, I decided to look under Family Trees in this same section and typed in my paternal grandfather's name. I came upon images of headstones belonging to my grandparents and those associated with my grandfather, including the images of my great grandparents' headstones in Iowa (which neither I nor my father has ever seen). I can see that the time is flying by and I've barely scratched the surface of what I'd like to see here! I went a little further, viewing the image bearing his name from the 1900 United States Federal Census, listing his immigration from Canada and his birth in Ireland. Good stuff!
4. I figured my fun had peaked after all the goodies in Ancestry Library, but I moved on to Heritage Quest with a positive attitude anyway. All teachers love learning, right? I started out doing a basic search for my paternal grandfather again and found information on him as a 24-year-old single man. I wondered if I could break through the barrier that I came to in my last search in which the trail ended at his parents' birth in Ireland. I clicked on the "Learning Center" portion of Heritage Quest and found that there were all kinds of mini courses that I could take to learn about how to do the very thing I was wondering about--even specific to Ireland! Perfect for a St. Patrick's Day project! I also did a search for my town in South Dakota, but had no luck, so I settled on my county. That brought up three books, one being a history of German Americans in World War I. I could view images of each page and read the information there, detailing the difficulties experienced due to hatred and persecution of German Americans during the war. I was wishing there was a way to jump to the specific page in which my county was mentioned, but I didn't find that tool if it is there. I'll just have to read the book, I guess!
5. Sanborn Maps proved to be a challenge as my town was not incorporated until 1968, and always has been very small, so no luck. I, instead, chose to search for maps of the town in which I teach, and struck gold there! I went to the 1893 map and looked at Main Street for anything familiar. I did find a bank in the spot in which a former bank still stands. I'm going to have to check for a dated cornerstone on the building to see if it's the same one that existed in 1893. Many of the stores on the 1893 were "general stores" and there was a tin shop just off of Main Street as well as an artesian well close to the railroad tracks. What fun to be able to step back in time!
We love your enthusiasm, LuckyMom! You made some great finds! Here's a tip in the Heritage Quest books: When you click into a record, you have the choice to view image or view hits. If you view hits, you will be taken to the pages on which your search term appears, which might lead you to the exact spot you want to go. Thanks for your comments!
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