Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Tech Tip Tuesday - Footnote.com

At my genealogy group meeting we had a demo of Footnote.com and were able to coordinate a group purchase at a discounted price. Looked good, so I gave it a try. After doing a bit of searching I did not feel it was something that would benefit me until I discovered the city directories. Wow, what a treasure those are! I have had so much luck finding my ancestors, especially in St. Paul MN. The city directories have helped me to trace my family's movements and I have discovered some new relatives, including my g-g-g grandmother, Mary Harkin Maloney and her daughter Ellen Maloney Hoban (sister of my g-g grandmother). I had assumed (just a thought here, NEVER assume in genealogy) the parents of my g-g- grands had stayed in Ireland. Well, they did not, so now I have some more work to do. YAY!


Check out Footnote.com. There are a lot of good records there. And even without a group discount, the service is reasonably priced.



I am in no way connected with nor did I receive anything for my endorsement of Footnote.com.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Next Generation - On My Mom's Side

the Irish


Quill


Margaret (Maggie) Quill  b 1856 Camden New Jersey d Waite Park MN 1896
                     m. Albert Litzinger in St. Paul MN
John Quill - my g-grandfather b 1858 Philadelphia d 1927 Chicago IL
                     m Kate Rochford in St. Paul MN 1880


Thomas Quill  b 1861 Philadelphia   d 1880 St. Paul MN
James Quill     b 1863     d1864 Philadelphia
Mary Quill      b 1866 Philadelphia d after 1930 in Oregon
                      m. John McPherson
                      m. Saunders Reid in St. Paul MN
James William Quill - b 1868 Philadelphia or Ohio d 1888 St. Paul MN


Rochford


Mary Rochford        b Cohoes New York d.
                              m. Nicholas Baumhofer
Catherine/Kate Rochford- my g grandmother b 1863 Cohoes NY d 1950 Chicago IL
                             m. John Quill in St. Paul MN 1880
James J. Rochford   b New York   d 1943 St. Paul MN
                              m. Marie Moosbrugger
Anne Rochford        b New York  d 1938 St. Paul MN
                              m. Stephen McEllistrem
Caroline/Carrie Rochford   b New York  d. 1915 St. Paul MN
                                       m. John Strecker
_____________________________


 the Germans


Herbst


Henry b 1844 Germany died in the Civil War in Tennessee Jan 1862
Emma
George
Ida Julia - my g grandmother b 1863 in Leyden Twp Cook Co. IL  d 1945 Evanston IL
and probably of couple of others who died very young
                 m. Ernest Dettman in Chicago


Dettman


Emilie b 1852 Germany m. Otto Meyer/Mayer
Otto b Germany m. Minnie Mialke
Ernst - my g grandfather, b 1863 in Chicago or at sea d 1921 Chicago IL
                  m. Ida Julia Herbst in  Chicago
Charles  b Chicago
William b Chicago
Gotthardt b Chicago
Emma b Chicago
Clara b Chicago m. Perry Wilburg

Missing Mary

Mary Quill, sister of my g-grandfather John, and daughter of Jeremiah & Hannah, has been a mystery for the last 6 years. She was born in Philadelphia in 1866, and moved with the family to Ohio where they lived for a undetermined period of time. The family then moved west to St. Paul MN. I have her married name, from an IGI record on FamilySerach.org, and confirmed on the Civil War pension file for her father, but there the trail ended in 1891, no census or death records to be found.


One day  a few weeks ago I decided to search for a Mary McPherson (first husband's name) thinking maybe she married again. I found a marriage between Mary McPherson and Sonders Robert Reid on the FamilySearch website in St. Paul MN. in 1894.


I checked the 1900 census and the family was living in St. Paul MN with children and a border, who just happened to be the 13 year old daughter of Mary Quill's older sister,(who would become my great-aunt Mayme). In addition, Mary's birth place was Pennsylvania and both parents were born in Ireland.
Brick wall down!


I have been able to trace Mary through the census records in 1911(moved to Canada for a time), 1920 & 1930. She did not remarry and lived with her daughters which is what made it easy to keep track of her. In 1930 she lived in Portland Oregon. Next step, get her death certificate and obit if there is one.

Friday, July 9, 2010

G-G Grandparents on my dad's side

Paternal g-g grandparents - the Swedes and the Danes


Pedar Bengston married Katerina Johansdatter in Virestad, Kronosberg, Smaland Sweden; both were born in Sweden, as were all their children and the family immigrated to Chicago in the early1870's.


Smith - all I know is they were from Sweden and this is not the original name.


Kjaer - stayed in Denmark, around Holstebro. My dad's first cousin has done a very detailed family history and has graciously shared it all with me.


Sorenson - stayed in Denmark and like the Kjaer's, cousin Jim has done a wonderful family history on them as well.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

G-G Grandparents on my mom's side

These are my g-g grandparents:


Maternal - the Irish and the Germans


Jeremiah Quill married Hannah McCarty, both born in Ireland; married in 1856 Camden NJ
lived in Philadelphia, Ohio and St. Paul MN


James S. Rochford married Bridget Maloney, both born in Ireland; married before 1862, place unknown
lived in NY state and St. Paul MN


Heinrich/Henry Herbst married Louisa Lindroth, both born in Germany; married in Germany before 1845 
owned a farm in Leyden Twp, Cook Co. IL, an area referred to as Mannheim


Charles/Carl Dettman married Frederika Bahr, both born in Germany; married in Germany before 1860
owned a grocer shop in Chicago, IL on Lincoln St. (not Lincoln Avenue)


My Quill's have also been spelled and indexed in various databases as Ouill, Quesal, Quale, Duill and Gill.


The Rochford's are listed as Rockford, Rochefort, Rocheford.


Dettman sometimes has one 't' and two 'n's' or one 't' and one 'n'  or 2 't's' and 2 'n's'


Bahr is also listed as Barr.


Lindroth is more of an educated guess than a certainty, all sorts of spellings on that one.


I have found census records for all of the families above, from their first appearance in the US Census until their deaths. I also have all the death certificates, with the exception of the Herbst's. I have also been to the grave sites for all my maternal g-g grandparents, pretty amazing experience each and every time!


The most amazing thing is that I have found these family members at all. When I started all I knew where the first and last names of my great grandparents. As I began to research it was funny how all of a sudden some long buried tidbit would pop into my brain.  The death certificate for my grandpa Quill, Thomas J. (we called him Boo) had him born in Chicago. But then while searching for John Quill in FamilySearch.org I found one married in St. Paul MN to a Kate Rochford. Bells went off and I remembered my grandpa talking about St. Paul. Sure enough, my grandpa and 3 of his sisters were all born in St. Paul MN, not Chicago.


A census record for my great grandma Kate's brother listed one of his children named Clementine. Another bolt in the brain sent me looking through a box of photos and there it was, a picture of me with my grandpa's cousin Clemmy at my parents house in 1967.

Monday, July 5, 2010

My Genealogy Story

I began researching my family in 2002, grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles all long dead. My maternal grandpa, with Irish grandparents, always said the Quill's were from Dingle Bay. My maternal grandma, of German grandparents, taught me to count in German and talked about the farm in Mannheim, in what is now a suburb of Chicago. One day while my dad was visiting I asked him about his family, his Danish and Swedish grandparents. He had 43 first cousins and I sat and scribbled names on a piece of steno paper. Most of those had the last names Johnson and Smith.


One day at school another teacher who had been working on genealogy for many years showed me the 1920 census online. I typed my great-grandfather's name, John Quill and Chicago and sure enough, there he was, with wife Kate and and couple of my great aunts. I was hooked! Every spare minute I spent online, searching census records and the Family Search website hoping to find more information. That folded up piece of steno paper was still in the address book and that came out and names were typed into any database I could find. I was certain I would find the family trees all ready for me.


Well, it has been eight years and so far the only family trees I have are the ones I have created from my own research. Some relatives have surfaced along the way and have added wonderful information and even some pictures. But my journey continues into finding the mysteries of my family, Irish, German, Swedish & Danish. Not so much of a melting pot as some families, but a fine mixture never the less.


This is where I am going to share my genealogy journey: my family, my research, the successes, frustrations, challenges, research tips, and links.