Pet Peeve1

You know the excitement you feel when you come upon a new record and look right away at how many sources are attached to your ancestor and see a large number like 18 or maybe 24.  When I come upon those ancestors I get excited to see what is attached and how much I can learn about this ancestor, given the number of sources that are attached to them.

As I dig deeper into the sources I come to find out that out of, say 20 sources, 17 or 18 of them don't even belong to that particular ancestor but belongs to children, spouse, or even parents.  This really frustrates me and is a HUGE pet peeve.  When I go to a particular ancestors' record I go there to get information on THAT ancestor.  Not his/her children, not the spouse, parents or anyone else.  

When I am on "Jane's" record, I want to learn as much as I can about Jane.  Yes, you want to learn how many children she had, but those children are listed on her record under details, so you know the children names, etc.  But on Jane's record I don't need or want to know the birth, death, marriage dates of the children in the source materials.    

I'm not quite sure why people attach records to people that aren't theirs.  I kinda get it, they are mentioned in the record, but it's not THEIR birth record.  So, when I come upon this scenario, I always end up detaching the records notating an explanation that this is not their record and can be found on the child listed in the source record.  Before I detach I always make sure the source is located with the correct individual.   I don't want to lose the source record unless it is listed somewhere.  

I love it when I can find a lot of different types of sources on an Ancestor.  It's exciting to learn more about them, but the source material attached to a person has to be their sources.  Any other records attached is just a nuisance.

My 3rd Cousin Walter

I recently received an email from Family Search notifying me of some ancestors that has Military Records.  I'm always in awe of individuals that serve their country in the military.  It is quite the sacrifice for the individual as well as their family.  So, I'm very interested to find out what ancestors of mine served in the military, what war, branch of service, where they served, and if there are any interesting stories.  I love the stories.

I have quite a number of ancestors with military records and I hope to highlight all of them in the Blog.  So, we'll start with the first one.  Walter Richard Ton.  He is my 3rd cousin, once removed.  He served with the Navy during WWI.  Unfortunately, none of his military records are available at this time, so I'm not able to learn anything right now of his military service. But I was able to find much more about him after the war. First off  I want to show his Draft Registration Card.

After the service Walter began working for the Postal Service.  He started as a Railway Mail Clerk and worked his way up the ranks to Inspector.  He married Doris Kemp in 1934 and from what I was able to find they had one daughter.  Unfortunately, Walter's life was cut way too short. Apparently, as part of his job, he was out west to pick-up some individuals who had committed crimes against the USPS.  On his trip him the plane he was in crashed.  There were no survivors.  He was 45.

What a horrible way to go.  I hope he didn't suffer.  It's hard to imagine what the last moments were before the crash.  He was way to young, still so much of his life to live.  Apparently, he was supposed to receive a promotion at work when he got home.  From all that I've read he sounds like he was quite the honorable man, husband and father.  His wife never remarried.  Always feel badly for children that grow up without their father.  I know that daughter missed out on a lot of things not having her father.  I just hope that there was someone in her life to help fill the void.  Walter had 2 brothers and Doris had several brothers, so hopefully her uncles helped out.  

He's handsome young man

Maternal Grandmother Immigration documents

 I received an email from MyHeritage informing me that they have recently come upon some records for my grandmother.  I occasionally receive notification emails like this from MyHeritage for my ancestors.  These emails are formulated when new documents have been uploaded by someone else, some agency has released documents, or some other way where new documents are found.

I was particularly excited about this email received as the documents that MyHeritage had uncovered were some Immigration records on my maternal Grandmother.  I am first generation American in my family, so that means my parents had to immigrate to the states at some point.

My father immigrated from Germany with his parents when he was 3 years old.  My mother immigrated from the Netherlands when she was in her 20s with her mother and sister.  Given my parents and grandparents all immigrated I am particularly eager to find any immigration records for them. I have done some preliminary searches to no avail.  

I was quite excited when I finally received these documents.  It's a hodgepodge of different type of documents. Civil Registries from Rotterdam, the city where she was born and then one from the city in which she currently resided.  Report from the police department stating that she was in good standing, different VISA applications, Certificate of Arrival and Alien Registration Card.  These documents are so cool.  

Here are a few of the documents included in the package:

Curious that both cities grandma lived in required them to attest to her "nature"

This document I found particularly intriguing.  The fact that they reported on her attitude towards their occupation by the Germans during the war.  I wonder if her attitude would be different would she have been able to leave?

Her official VISA application. Isn't she beautiful?

Her arrival document

Registration Card

Unfortunately, not included in this package are her Naturalization paperwork. I guess you first have to apply to become a citizen and then once you are finally declared citizen you get some paperwork on that too.  I'll need to continue searching the records, at least I know where I should start looking.  

In the meantime, I'd love to get these documents for my mother.  I searched in the appropriate databases online and unfortunately, my mother's paperwork is not yet available online. So, I submitted a request online for her paperwork.  It's been a month since I requested the info and I'm starting to wonder what's going on.  Apparently, they are short staffed and hence it will take many many months to fulfill my request.  I guess I need to be patient.  I guess I'll just wait then.  Not like I don't have other things I can do in the meantime.  😇

Bevolkingsregister..in other words - Population Registers

 As you work through any Dutch ancestor one Source Material you will find time and time again is the Bevolkingsregister......or as called in English, Population Registers.  The name of what it is kind of speaks for itself. It is a registration of a Dutch citizen.  This register follows them around as they move to new house, new city, add a family member, etc.  It can be a very handy and helpful piece of source material.  However, there is one confusing element to the record, and that is the date it was created.

When you pull up a record most of the time it has a date.  Sometimes the date shown is an accurate date as to when the record could have been updated.  Other times there is no way the date listed could be accurate as it is earlier than a birth date of the ancestor you are looking at.  This is where I started getting all confused.

When you add a source to your Family Tree on Family Search you need to have a date.  Plain and simple.  But what date?  You want to try and be as accurate as possible, so you don't want to add it on the date your ancestor was born, especially if a spouse or additional children are added.  

When I started out I was all confused about these particular sources.  I asked for some help on a Dutch group I'm a member of and finally got some help.  I understand the material a little better, but still a little confused, but I do at least know how to proceed when I come upon a Source Record for an ancestor.

These records are especially helpful when it comes to children.  As I stated above, this record follows the person throughout their lives.  So, spouses and children are added.  So, when you come upon a newer "Bevolkingsregister" for an ancestor you could find new information.  In fact, once or twice I have come upon an ancestor that listed a child or two that I didn't have on my Family Tree.  This ended up being extremely helpful in finding children or spouses that I didn't know existed.

I may still be a little confused with the concept and how they date these records, but I'm getting there.  I am open to any and all extra help on these records.