They Survived the Johnstown Flood?! How to Reconstruct Your Ancestors' Stories with Sunny Morton

Second St. East from Walnut, Cincinnati, Ohio, during the Great Flood, April 1913, postcard (Cincinnati: Kraemer Art Co., 1913); image ocp001189pcpfb, "Greater Cincinnati Memory Project," Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County Digital Library (http://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/collection/p16998coll6 : 2018). Reproduced with permission of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

1907, 1913, 1937, .... What Cincinnati floods did your ancestor survive?

Sunny Morton's ancestors survived the Johnstown Flood. Learn how Sunny researched in a variety of sources to uncover a heroic rescue, a love story, and a 30-foot wall of water. Sunny will demonstrate how to reconstruct fascinating experiences from your own family history.

Sunny Morton is an internationally-known, award-winning genealogy writer, editor, and speaker. She will be presenting this lecture live from a remote location. There will be an opportunity to ask questions following her presentation.

When: Saturday, May 12, 10:30-11:45 am

Where: North Central Branch, PLCH, 11109 Hamilton Avenue

For more information, see our website, https://hcgsohio.org/eventListings.php?nm=142 .

"Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps: The Google Maps of their Day" with Jill Morelli, CG

Sanborn Fire Map

HCGS is pleased to sponsor a free webinar "Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps: The Google Maps of their Day" with Jill Morelli, CG on Jun 6, 2017 8:30 PM EDT. 

Jill Morelli, CG

The Sanborn Fire Insurance maps were generated for insurance purposes between 1880 and 1930. Over 55,000 maps were made of communities large and small from New York City to Ackley, Iowa. These maps are particularly helpful for genealogists tracing a reluctant urban ancestor or for providing historical context to the lives of our ancestors. We will review the history of the maps, how to read the maps and where to find the originals. Various uses of the maps will be illustrated using case studies.

The webinar will be presented by Jill Morelli, CG. A passionate genealogist, Jill Morelli, CG(sm) lectures about her Midwestern, northern German and Scandinavian ancestors nationwide. Her lively presentations on intermediate and advanced methodologies, unique records sets, Scandinavian research and house histories convey information that is readily usable by attendees whatever heir skill level. She blogs about her experiences researching, writing and receiving her credential as a Certified Genealogist at http://genealogycertification.wordpress.com.

Please preregister for the webinar at:

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/regist…/5243217293044865794

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Submitted by Liz Stratton, Education Director and Webinar Content Creation Committee member.

"How Could a City Named 'Porkopolis be Anything but Funny?" by Robert J. Wimberg

This looks to be an entertaining presentation-a perfect outing for April Fool's day!

"Humor in History or How Could a City Nicknamed 'Porkopolis' be Anything but Funny" by Robert J. Wimberg

Saturday, April 1, at 11 am in the Genealogy and Local History Program Space, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County Main Library

"From its original name of Losantiville to Mrs. Trollope's Bazaar to August Herrmann's love for wursts, German fried potatoes and baseball, Cincinnati has provided the stuff to make us smile if not burst out laughing.  From a trained bear that escaped the People’s Theater in Over-the-Rhine to beer suds popping sewer lids, our town has hundreds of humorous stories that are a part of its history."

This program is sponsored by the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. 

 

The September Tracer Now Online

The Tracer is one my favorite publications. Filled with research guidance and the latest upcoming events, I eagerly read each new issue from cover-to-cover to find the nugget that might lead to new discoveries about my ancestors. “The Foreign Population in Cincinnati, 1912” is a fascinating reprinting of a pamphlet published in 1912, “Report on the Survey of the Foreign Population in Cincinnati.” The reprint is one of many great articles in the September issue, now available to members online. Headlines include:

The Foreign Population in Cincinnati, 1912

Chapter Programs

            September 25: “Choosing a Genealogy Software Program”

October 1, 8, 15, 29: “Learn to Read Old German Script”

October 6: “It’s a Small World Even in a Big City”

Family History Month

            October 6, 27: HCGS Tech Programs during Family History Month at the Library

            October 6: Day with the Experts including a library tour, Expert tables, “Researching Your

                              Civil War Ancestor Online,” and “General William Haines Lytle”

            October 8, 15, 20, 22: “Falling into Genealogy,” introductory genealogy class

            October 27: Genealogy Lock-In

Chapter and OGS News

             November 3: Heritage Luncheon

             OGS Conference Coming to Cincinnati in April 2013

             Get your OGS Lineage Society Honors in Cincinnati Next Year

             Congratulations, Pat!

Calendar of Upcoming Events

Hamilton County Early Surveys and Maps, JIM DEMPSEY

Hamilton County Records Online: Probate, 1940 Census

New Library Catalogs, War of 1812, Newspapers

An Irish Rose By Any Other Name..., MARY ANN FALOON

Probate Record Extracts before 1821 in Support of Hamilton County Lineage Programs, JEFFREY HERBERT

Hamilton County Recorder’s Office Early Indexes and Records, JIM DEMPSEY

Hamilton County Probate and Naturalization Records on FamilySearch

Using Fold3: A Powerful Internet Research Tool, BRENT MORGAN

German-Americana Collection at University of Cincinnati

Public Library Acquisitions, MARK SCHMIDT

Book Reviews BY COLLEEN PHILLIPS: Literary Cincinnati: The Missing Chapter by DALE PATRICK BROWN

Queries, COMPILED BY BARBARA WEGLEY

New Members, EILEEN MUCCINO

The Tracer is available online to all members on our website, http://hcgsohio.org/membership.shtml. Additional information about upcoming programs are also available on the calendar, http://hcgsohio.blogspot.com/p/calendar.html.

Submitted by Liz Stratton

Cincinnati: Searching the Census by Address

I recently posted "Finding Smith, Jones and every other Tom, Dick and Harry in the Census" on my personal blog giving an example of using Obtaining Enumeration Districts (EDs) and Streets  for the 1900-1940 Census. I was looking for Loretta Smith in New York City with very few details other than a name and address.  The good news is that Obtaining Enumeration Districts is also available for many other large cities including Cincinnati!

In Cincinnati, we have the added advantage of the online access to most Cincinnati City Directories on the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County's Virtual Library. Downloadable directories are available for most years from 1819-1934.  A name and address from a record you know pertains to your ancestor is all you need to get started. You can track family moves using the online directories to aid in determining their residence in a census year.

In the 20th Century, many records include an address should you not be able to positively identity your ancestor in directories. Death registrations, cemetery records, social security applications, obituaries and other news items, etc., are just a few of the records that might include your ancestor's residence. Many of these records are available online.

Once you have an address, use  Obtaining Enumeration Districts to quickly locate your ancestor in the census. Clicking on 'View Microfilm' will take you to the enumeration district on Ancestry.com. Page forward through the enumeration district to find the street address.

While the example in my blog dealt with a common surname, the technique is also effective for finding families whose surnames were prone to misspelling in the census. There are some amazingly creative renditions of names in the census! Wally Huskonen wrote about using the tool in Getting Ready to Research in the 1940 Census. When the census is first released, it will not include a name index. But you will be able to search by street address.

Thanks again to all the people who provide access to these important historic records and research tools! This is but one of Steve Morse's One-Step Tools for locating your ancestor in records. For more see One-Step Webpages by Stephen P. Morse.

Happy Boxing Day!

Sources:
Huskonen, Wally. "Getting Ready to Research the 1940 Census." Ohio Genealogy News, Winter 2011, page 22.

Morse, Stephen P., Joel D. Weintraub and David R. Kehs.  Obtaining EDs for the 1900-1940 Census in One Step (Large Cities). http://stevemorse.org/census/ : 2006.

Stratton, Liz. "Finding Smith Jones and Every Other Tom, Dick and Harry in the Census." Attics and Old Lace. http://atticsandoldlace.blogspot.com/2011/12/tuesdays-tip-finding-smith-jones-and.html : 20 December 2011.