Charles August Smith, Chicago Policeman

About 1912 Chicago Illinois

My grandpa, Charles A. Smith, was nicknamed Cully. He was a police officer for the city of Chicago. His police career ended long before I was born, but I know his limp was the result of an accident he had while on the motorcycle beat. Now I know when it happened thanks to his WWI draft registration card which I found on Ancestry.com. According to the draft reg card he completed on 12 September 1918 Grandpa had a broken right leg (last April) and was using crutches. This nifty resource also has his  age, birthdate, address, my grandmother listed as his nearest relative, his build and height listed as medium, and he had blue eyes and brown hair. Also noted is he was a native born U.S. citizen. And it has his signature!

Elsie Carr Smith & Charles A. Smith
The back porch swing
July 1962

I also found his WWII draft reg card on Ancestry.com. By then Grandpa was retired from the police department and was working for Illinois Bell Telephone Co. in the Claims Department. The address on the card is for the apartment on Milwaukee Avenue that I remember well. You could see the parachute drop at Riverview from the back porch. It was a toss up which was better, the coffee cake from Burney Bros. bakery my grandma always had in the pantry or sitting on the back porch swing waiting for the parachute to drop.

Herbst family- another look

In looking over the online census record from 1850 I found an older couple, with the same last name, right under my g-g grandparents, Henry & Louisa Herbst, (indexed as Hass). Could this be my g-g-g grandparents? This couple, Heinrich and Freidrike are the right age to be Henry's parents, but I cannot find them in the 1860 census, nor do I find them buried in the cemetery where Henry & Louisa are buried.

I did find a  Henry & Fredrike Herbst buried in Monee,Will County in the early 1860's and the birth years seem to jive. Will Co is not too far away but too far to make sense if they were living in Leyden Township. Why would they be buried there? What took them to Will County?

I have searched the 1860 census for them in Will county and have come up with some other Herbst families. Could there possibly be some brothers of my g-g grandfather?

When the weather clears up a bit I will get myself down to Monee and see what I can find.

Getting Organized

Spent some time today going through genealogy files on my PC. There is a folder, Genealogy, with a subfolder for each surname of my great-grandparents. This is where I put all my online discoveries. And where  documents, such as birth marriage, death, etc. will go as I scan them. Each surname folder will have a sub-subfolder for scanned photos. 

In my file cabinet are my paper files (folders, again by surname) with a research checklist I created so I know what I have and what needs to be located at a glance.

The new FamilySearch now has so many records that include images. What a time and money saver! But all these records I am saving need to be saved so I can find them again and that is what prompted today's file cleanup. 

With all the new additions to new FamilySearch I have been finding much information, including naturalization cards from the Illinois, Northern District Naturalization Index, 1840-1950. I have found the entry for my g-g grandfather, Carl/Charles Dettman(n). Since all of my family immigrated before 1880 the immigration records do not have much info, but every little find is helpful.

A Day Early

It arrived today, a day early actually, Evidence Explained, Second Edition, by Elizabeth Shown Mills. I am very excited! Now I can really get those source citations in shape. What a great beginning to the new year. As a librarian I have always been pretty sticky about creating proper citations, but even MLA, APA, Turabian and Chicago Manual have left me hanging,  genealogy wise. So that bowl of popcorn is going to have to wait (probably a good thing) while I spend some time reading my new book.

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.

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.