Follow Friday: Western Michigan University Archives and Regional History Collection

My alma mater, Western Michigan University, in Kalamazoo, Michigan is the repository of records for 12 southwest Michigan counties:  Allegan, Barry, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun. Cass, Kalamazoo, Kent, Muskegon, Ottawa, St. Joseph, and Van Buren.

Some of the records one can find at WMU Archives and Regional History Collection include:  public records, county histories, regional manuscripts, diaries, letters, photographs, regional governmental records, state and federal census, university archives and much more. 

One of the interesting university archive collections is WMU's yearbooks.  The WMU archive website has online access for WMU's Yearbooks, 1906-1975.  I was excited when I discovered this as my father graduated from WMU in 1950.  I searched page by page to no avail.  I guess he was photo shy!  It was interesting to see the buildings and culture of Western while he was there though.

The archives can be found at Room 111, East Hall, on the East Campus of Western Michigan University, off Oakland Drive in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  Current hours are:  Tuesday through Friday 8-5 and Saturday 9-4.  The archives are closed Sunday and Monday.  Some metered parking is available as well as a $5 visitor parking pass. 

Check out the WMU Archives and Regional History Collection, a great resource for southwest Michigan.

Workshop Wednesday: Beyond the Basics-Church Records

Church records can be a great help in your genealogical journey.  The only church records I have used are those that are on the family search website.  Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana recently held a two day workshop:  Beyond the Basics.  It was an excellent workshop that I was glad I attended. 

Steven W. Myers M.L.S presented the session on church records.  Steve stated, "research is incomplete if you haven't checked church records."  He talked about the importance of these underutilized and valuable records. 

The types of church records kept include baptisms, marriages, burials, confirmation and communion.  Other church business related records may be found also, ie. meeting minutes, membership, financial, etc. 

Before you can identify church records you need to determine your ancestor's church affiliation.  Are your ancestors buried in a church cemetery?  Do you have a memorial card?  Check their obituary.   Does their marriage certificate list a minister?  These are all ideas of how to identify church affiliation.

Lastly, the workshop reminded us of etiquette when using church records.  If you are going to a specific church, it is a good idea to make an appointment, be courteous and make a donation.

What tips do you have for using church records?

Military Monday: My Brave Mechanics

Do you have one ancestor that intrigues you more than another?  I seem to be intrigued with my great great grandfather, Samuel Stillman Glover, Jr, lately.  Samuel is the civil war veteran who's pension file I ordered.  Once I found out about Samuel's civil war service I wanted to find out more.  I knew that he served in Company H, 1st Regiment of Engineers and Mechanics for Michigan.  So, when I discovered a book on the Michigan volunteers I headed to the library.

There is a book by Mark Hoffman, "My Brave Mechanics" that I should probably buy as every time I go to the library I read a little more of it. (It is part of the local history section and unavailable for checkout)  The book is a well written, sourced account of the brave men and their service in the Civil War.

The Engineers and Mechanics were a volunteer group organized to support the Corps of Engineers for the Union.  These volunteers gathered for training in Marshall, Michigan at the county fairgrounds.  This military camp became known as Camp Owen, named after the Michigan state treasurer, John Owen.  In Chapter 3, Hoffman describes the camp conditions.

The part of the book I was most interested in was on page 90, Hoffman describes General Buell's supply line.  He talks of the confederates attacking all along the supply line with the Michigan Engineers being in harms way.  He continues, "Samuel S. Glover was sent on July 13 as a mounted courier from Shelbyville south along the pike to Buell's headquarters at Huntsville.  While crossing over Elk Ridge near Fayetteville, Glover was shot in the right knee by bushwhackers.  In great pain he clung to his horse and barely escaped capture by outdistancing his attackers.  His wound never healed properly and was still troubling him thirty five years later"  Hoffman cited sources for this entry.  The sources included the Compiled Military Service Records, William H. Kimball Diary, Ezra Stearns Diary, Regimental Order Books, Special Orders and Regimental Descriptive Rolls.

The information on Samuel Glover supported the information found in his obituary and civil war pension file.  Each time I read about Samuel's civil war service I am in awe of his bravery and how close he came to being captured or even worse, killed.

Hattie's Bible: Marriages

Source:  Glover, Hattie L. "Fenn", family data. In The Holy Bible: with Revised New Testament. Chicago: GW Borland & Co., 1882. Original owned in June 2010 by Brenda Leyndyke, [address for private use].

The following marriages were recorded in Hattie L. Fenn's bible.  Frank H. Glover and Hattie L. Fenn were listed first.  The other marriages are of their children:  Claude R, F.H (Frank H. Jr, or Harry), Addie, and Merle.

F.H. Glover & Hattie L. Fenn May 12 1882

Claude R. Glover & Lizzie Bellinghausen Oct 7, 1905

F.H. Glover, Jr & Emma Winkler Oct 2, 1911

F.H. Glover, Jr & Lilla Watts Aug 25, 1919

Adeline Glover & Victor Tyson Feb 25, 1922

Merle M. Glover & V. Genevieve Dout May 31, 1927

Claude R. Glover & Edythe Sarasin Booker 5-17-41

Adeline Glover Tyson & Leonard G. McKie 4-24-46

Workshop Wednesday: Beyond the Basics-Military Records

Another Beyond the Basics Workshop topic offered by Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana was on Military Records.  Of all the topics offered during the two day workshop, this was the one I had the most experience with.  But, that doesn't mean I didn't learn a lot. 

Steven W. Myers M.L.S presented this session of the workshop.  I came home with 15 pages of sources compiled by Steven.  He covered everything from research on the internet to general references to references specific to individual conflicts back to colonial wars in the United States.

Some of the other topics covered included the types of records available, such as, registers, unit histories, journals, diaries, official records, lineage societies and blogs!  One thing that stuck with me was when Steven said, if there is one type of record available for one war, chances are it is available for another.  I have researched my civil war ancestor, Samuel S. Glover, Jr. and now plan to research a couple of War of 1812 ancestors, Daniel Fenn and Moses Poor.   

When I first started military research I found the research outline for U.S. Military Records at family search.org helpful.  What military records do you have experience with?

What I Want to Know about Nancy Mast

Nancy Mast is my maternal great grandmother.  She was born, 23 February 1871 in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.  She married Valentine Graf on 24 November 1888 in Miami County, Indiana.  She died 18 January 1908 in Brethren, Manistee, Michigan from septicemia.  She gave birth to 10 children, 7 survived.  The tenth child was born 12 December 1907.  Could this be a clue to her death, just a month later?

I would like to know more about her.  I would like to know about her childhood.  I would be interested to know how or why she moved to Brethren, Michigan from Indiana.  I would like to know if her death was related to childbirth.  I would also like to know how her family coped with their mother's death.  The youngest child was 3.  Her husband, Valentine, never remarried.  I would like to have a picture of her.

This is one of the reasons genealogy intrigues me.  There are always unanswered questions and the journey to find them is fascinating.  Do you have a female ancestor in your family you would like to learn more about?

The Genea Angel Award

Susan at Long Lost Relatives created a Genea Angel Award and I have been a recent recipient of it.  Thank you to Barbara at Life from the Roots for giving me this award.   According to the Long Lost Relatives blog, the Genea Angel Award is "a simple way of paying it forward - to recognize those people who have aided in your research, provided insight or otherwise given you inspiration and guidance in your family history journey. The recipient of the Genea-Angel award may display the image on their blog or web site if they choose."

I received the Genea Angel award a few days ago and have been giving thoughtful consideration as to how to pay it forward.  There are so many wonderful, generous genealogists and narrowing the list is hard.  I have chosen two to pass it on too.

First, is Apple of Apple's Tree-not only is she a 'Glover' cousin; but she has shared information about the 'Glover' line with me.  Plus, she introduced me to another 'Glover' cousin that I wrote about meeting last week.  So, Apple I hear by award you the Genea Angel Award.

Next, is Lisa at The Faces of My Family blog-Lisa was the first one to choose my blog as a "Follow Friday" selection.  I was so honored and surprised.  Lisa is supportive with comments to other bloggers and I feel she deserves the honor of being a Genea Angel. 

Many genealogists pay it forward so often and I hope to see many "Genea Angel's" awarded and gracing blogs soon.  Thanks, again Barbara for recognizing me as a Genea Angel.

A Genealogy Blessing: A Live One

So often in genealogy we experience joys when we find our ancestor's information.  Unfortunately, our ancestors can't talk to us or help us in our research.  So when Apple from Apple's Tree introduced me, via email, to a Glover cousin-I was excited.  As my Glover cousin says, "the biggest  bonus for me is finding a 'live one.'"  I agree.  Someone to talk to and share research with.  Someone who is into genealogy as much as I am.  I have been emailing my Glover cousin for the last six months, and we have exchanged pictures, stories and facts.  We are related through our great great grandfathers.  My ancestor, Samuel Stillman Glover, Jr. and her ancestor, Dennis H. Glover were brothers.

As we emailed and got to know one another I wanted to meet my Glover cousin, but she lives two states away.  During one of our emails, she mentioned her daughter just got accepted to college in Chicago.  My daughter lives in Chicago.  The wheels started churning!  Finally, this past weekend we met in Chicago.  Not only did Samuel's and Dennis' great great granddaughters meet-their great great great granddaughters met and will be living in the same city!

We had an enjoyable but much too short visit over lunch in Chicago.  As I have said before what started out as an activity to fill out a 5 generation pedigree chart has evolved into so much more than I have ever thought possible.  It's the 'live ones' that are a blessing.  And thanks, Apple, who happens to be a Glover descendant, too!