Will the Real Bernard Slowey Please Stand Up?

Working with the momentum from my "epiphany" the other day, I was trying to determine which Barney/Bernhard Slowey belonged with my family.  It has not been an easy road.

I started with my tried-and-true Excel spreadsheet.  I listed out the pertinent details that might differentiate the two men down the left side of the worksheet, then the sources from which I intended to extract the information.  Besides, I think better with a spreadsheet.

Because I had them both listed in the 1930 census, and technically I'm supposed to be working backward anyway, I figured I would go back to the 1940 and see what I could find.  I wasn't expecting to find the REAL Barney because he died on 12 April 1939 (according to his death certificate).

Unfortunately, 1940 was a bust.  As were 1920, 1910, etc.  I was only able to find duplicate Barneys in the 1930 census.  I found no Barneys in the 1880 and 1900 censuses at all.  I was beginning to think that Farney (faux + Barney) was part of an elaborate conspiracy to throw off my research (I'm still kind of leaning that way ...)

So I decided to kick Barney and Farney to the curb and concentrate on Fisabel (wife of Farney).

I found Fisabel on the 1940 census living with granddaughter Adella (daughter of Hans and Mary Hansen) in 1940.  She is listed as "single" and not "widowed," but Hans and Mary are next door, so I feel pretty confident she is "Fisabel."  Farney is not listed on the next page or anywhere nearby.  However, as luck would have it, Fisabel was chosen to answer the supplemental questions.  It turns out that she was married more than once, the first time at age 16.  She has had 12 children.  

I could not locate the REAL Isabel anywhere in 1940, although on the 1910 census, it does indicate that her marriage to Barney is her first, and they were married 32 years prior (in approximately 1878).

I found someone named Isabelle Slowey listed in the 1935 South Dakota state census (card no. 566).  Her maiden name is listed as McKethie (pretty close to McKeachie - and the same as Barney listed on his census card (no. 567)).  Honestly, I'm not sure anyone in the family knew how to spell her maiden name.

Isabelle's death certificate

Barney's death certificate

Barney's 1935 census card

But wait ... her address ... it's 112 West 5th.  In Yankton.  That's the same address (well - 5th vs. 6th) as Adella's family in 1940 and the address she and Farney shared with the Hansens in 1930!

1935 census card

Isabel Slowey's death certificate

1940 US census

A cunning, sadistic picture was beginning to emerge.  I think that Barney/Farney and Isabel/Fisabel (intentionally or not) found a flaw in the system.  The enumeration date for the Hansen address was 3 April.  The enumeration date for Barney/Isabel was 25 April.  I'm beginning to wonder if Farney/Fisabel were visiting the Hansens when the enumerator came by, and then by the time the enumerator got to their actual address, they were back home.  Of course, this is pure speculation on my part.  But it makes a little bit of sense because the inaccurate information provided by (probably) their son-in-law would not match what they told the enumerator themselves.

Obviously this is going to take a LOT of additional research, but now come the real questions.  Was Isabel really married before?  Why did she say it was her first marriage?  Did she really have 12 children?  Where are all these other children (I only show the couple had 7 children, but there IS an 11-year gap between the last two)? 

I'm beginning to understand how Barney and Isabelle both died from senility.

Do we share any ancestors? 

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

Does This Count as an Epiphany?

So there I was, working on Lesson 5 of the Home Study Course, which is all about census records. Yawn ... I've been using census records for a long time and the references are a little outdated (they didn't even mention the 1940 census release - !!!), so I was reading the lesson and taking very few notes.

Then I got to the assignments. (Here's where the epiphany part gets a little murky)
The first assignment was to do a census research checklist. Essentially list out all the census years in which a particular ancestor could be found. Okay, I already do that, so that wasn't very hard. But then list out where you expect to find them (county, state, etc.), their approximate age, and the capacity in which you expect to find them (head of household, child of __, etc.). Well, that's new. So here are the results for one of my ancestors:

Wait ... I still haven't gotten to the epiphany part.

The next assignment was to do a census search report. Find the ancestor on the census, then do a search of the entire county for people of the same surname (or variations thereof), and transcribe the entries onto the appropriate blank census form, citing your sources, of course.

Usually, when I find someone in the census, I look a few pages forward and a few pages back - or sometimes I look through the entire enumeration district if it's not a gajillion pages - and see if I can find any other family members, making note of any surnames that look familiar (maybe the children of my ancestor married into these other families or something). But I never searched the entire county.

When I did the assignment (using the 1930 census), I found a lot of Sloweys in Yankton County, which I expected. However, there were a few that didn't ring any bells as being related. No shock there, right? Here's the rub: I stumbled upon a Bernhard Slowey (age 77) married to Isabel (age 75) listed in the same enumeration district as my ancestor, only about 8 pages later. It seems I stumbled upon my ancestor's uncle Bernard and his aunt Isabella! (insert happy dance here). 

But wait ... in the same county (different E.D.), I came across Barney Slowey (age 76) and Belle (age 76) listed as father- and mother-in-law of Hans Hansen. Well this is definitely a monkey wrench. The Hansen surname meant nothing to me, but Hans' wife's name is Mary and she is 47 years old. Turns out that Bernard and Isabella had a daughter named Mary in 1883, which would make her ... 47 years old. Hmm. The couple had been married since age 24, or 52 years. My Bernard and Isabella were married in 1878 - 52 years before. (Perhaps my happy dance was premature) Could this be my Bernard and Isabella? Clearly, this will require further research. 

Okay, here's the epiphany part (or my "light bulb" moment, as Oprah would say).

 

By searching the entire county where I discovered an ancestor on the census, I was able to find 8 other families with the same surname. I haven't figured out how (or if) they are all related to my Sloweys, but it sure will be a time-saver if I ever find out they should be added to my tree, because I'll already have the census searches done! 

Now I just have to get started on all the other ancestors in all the other censuses (censi?) ... and find somewhere to keep all these blasted transcribed pages.

Do we share any ancestors?

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

Anatomy of a Death Certificate (or ... more confessions of an Intermediate Genealogy Noob)

Ahh, the death certificate.  So much information in such a small amount of space.  Some of it is even reliable!

I'm going to share two examples.  The first might be one of the most accurate death certificates in my possession.  The second is definitely the least accurate.  Still, there is a lot of information in both that can be used.

I encourage you to take a look at Elizabeth Shown Mills' explanation of sources, evidence, and proof here.  (Take a minute to look at all of her QuickLessons while you're there - they are invaluable!)  These death certificates are considered to be original sources with both primary and secondary information.

According to this death certificate, my great grandfather, Thomas Patrick Slowey, died on March 14, 1963 after suffering from a myocardial infarction (heart attack) for 30 minutes.  Fortunately, this certificate is quite detailed as far as time of death and the doctor provided an actual time of death instead of just a date.  Thomas died at 3:50 p.m.

This information is considered reliable, since it was the attending physician who provided it at or near the time of death.  Of course, not ALL the information on this certificate is reliable.  Of course, I can't be certain who provided the personal information about Thomas, but I'm pretty sure that he lived at 812 Douglas Avenue longer than "minutes," as it shows in #1(c).  With the exception of that little morsel, the rest of the information given on the certificate is correct.

Noob alert:  When you are reviewing a death certificate (or any research document), always read and re-read and then read it again.  If you look over on the right hand side - yep, right there under the cause of death - it says that an autopsy was performed.  I've had this death certificate for over a year and I didn't even notice this until a few days ago.  I will try to obtain the autopsy report (if it still exists) to see if it contains any other useful information.

So ultimately, what sort of assertions does this death certificate actually make?
1. Thomas died on March 14, 1963 at 3:50 p.m. 
2. Thomas' cause of death was cardiac standstill due to myocardial infarction lasting 1/2 hour due to coronary atherosclerosis lasting over 2 years.
3. Thomas suffered a myocardial infarction in October 1960.
4. Thomas was born on December 29, 1895 in South Dakota, and he was 67 years old when he died.
5. Thomas died in Yankton, Yankton Co., South Dakota, at Sacred Heart Hospital.
6. Thomas' residence at the time of his death was 812 Douglas Avenue in Yankton.
7. Thomas' occupation was a foreman at the stockyards.
8. Thomas' parents were John Slowey and Theresa Burns.
9. Thomas was married and his wife was Anna Huber Slowey.
10. Thomas was buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery on March 18, 1963 in Yankton, South Dakota.
11. Thomas was never in the military.

You may have heard me cursing talking about this next death certificate.  It is for my great great grandmother, Eliza Bourke Lanctot.

As before, the doctor supplied the information regarding the time of death and cause of death.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of conflicting information on this one.  Her date of birth is given as February 2, 1859.  However, if we subtract her "age" (70 years, 10 months, 20 days) from the date of death (December 22, 1930), her birth date is calculated as February 2, 1860.  Which is correct?  Where did the information come from?

This is where the REAL errors begin.  Her son, Art Lanctot, was the informant.  He must have been very confused and/or grief-stricken (or both) at the time.  He listed Eliza's mother as "Eliza Bourke" and her father as "Zenophile."  That's all well and good except that those are HIS parents, not Eliza's, which does not help me in the least when it comes to finding Eliza's parents.  So pretty much every detail that Art Lanctot provided has an underlying question mark.

However, there are still some assertions made by the document that must be taken into account:

1. Eliza died at 1:00 a.m. on December 22, 1930 in Armour, Douglas, South Dakota from lobar pneumonia with contributing factors of senility and obesity.
2. Eliza was a proprietor of a hotel.
3. Eliza may have been born on February 2, 1859 or 1860 in Michigan.
4. Eliza was a widow at the time of her death.
5. Eliza was buried on December 24, 1930 in Armour, South Dakota.

Now I can take the assertions made by each of these documents and plug them into their related proof arguments.  This is when the information becomes evidence (direct or indirect), and it can be evaluated accordingly in context with other evidence.

Do we share any ancestors?

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

... In Which I Do the Genealogy Happy-Dance!

I was so busy doing the happy dance, I almost forgot to provide an update on my post (here) about the genea-angels at the Douglas County Historical Society in Armour, South Dakota!

When I sent my letter to the Douglas County Historical Society requesting information on the Armour House hotel, of which my 2nd great grandparents were proprietors, I fully expected the same response I had always gotten, which was "no."

To my surprise, I received a response rather quickly, and it wasn't "no!"  (Okay, I was kind of doing a little happy dance at this point).  The Society did, indeed, have a couple of photos of the interior of the hotel, and it was believed that my 2nd great grandfather was in one of the photos.

To say I was excited might be the understatement of ... well, ever!

I came home from work last Monday and there was a large envelope from the Society in my mailbox.  It was all I could do to walk ALL the way back to the house (about 50 feet) before I opened it! 

The first picture I saw was of the dining room of the hotel:

The next photo was of the lobby:

Now, before I go any further, I would like to point out that this was the photo said to show my 2nd great grandfather.  However, they said it was the gentleman behind the desk in his shirt sleeves.  I think they're wrong.  I believe the gentleman standing between the desk and the stove is Zenophile Lanctot (mainly because the other man is too thin to be him).  Here's his photo - you be the judge (just imagine him with a mustache):

Incidentally, after I scanned it, I enlarged the lobby photo enough to be able to tell that the calendar on the wall behind the desk was showing the month of November and the first day of the month fell on a Sunday.  I consulted my handy-dandy perpetual calendar and discovered that November 1 occurred on a Sunday only in 1908 and 1914.  Zenophile died in 1913, so the photo must have been taken in November 1908.  (Of course, this hinges directly on the hope that my inability to remember to change the calendar on the wall was not an inherited trait).

The final photo is of the kitchen area:

This photo was the one that caused me to do the happy dance ... like, for real.  The woman standing at the stove with her hand on the skillet?  That is, without a doubt, my 2nd great grandmother, Eliza Bourke Lanctot!  No one ever mentioned that she might have been in these photos!  Here she is (and you can see why I'm so sure that's her):

In addition to the three photos, I also received a photograph of the couple's grave marker and a copy of the deed to the two lots upon which the hotel was situated (I'm saving that for a later post).

Now I just have to try to identify all the other people in the photos.  Maybe they are their children and/or siblings!  I can't wait!!

Do we share any ancestors?

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

J is for ... JEWEL!

Special thanks to Alona at Gould Genealogy for coming up with the Family History Through the Alphabet challenge!

J is for ... JEWEL!


We find jewels in the most unexpected places, especially when we aren't even looking for them.

My 2nd great grandparents, Zenophile and Eliza Lanctot, were proprietors of the first hotel in Armour, South Dakota from around 1900 until about 1913.  It was called Armour House.  When Zenophile died in 1913, Eliza ran the hotel by herself for the next three years, until she sold it.

This couple has always intrigued me, mainly because Zenophile is one of my "gateway" ancestors (immigrated to the U.S.), and because in those days it wasn't very common for a woman to be calling the shots from a business standpoint.

I've known this information for quite a while, but I've never been able to find a photo of Armour House.  Apparently, it's because I was looking in all the wrong places.

Thanks to the suggestion of my geneabuddy Laura, and some brainstorming on my part, I discovered the Douglas County Historical Society in Armour, South Dakota.  I honestly didn't even know there WAS an historical society.  I mean, the town only has a population of about 700 people.

So I wrote a letter to them and dropped it in the mail last Thursday.  This evening, I received an email from the President of the Society, a wonderful woman by the name of Sharon Wiese, letting me know that they have three photos of the interior of the hotel, and that at least one of those photos purports to show my 2nd great grandfather, Zenophile!  They will be happy to send them to me.  (OMGOMGOMG!)

Her husband even went above and beyond, heading over to the cemetery to take a photograph of the couple's grave marker for me!  Hindsight being what it is, I'm pretty sure my reply email sounded like a 14-year-old girl who was just given free tickets to a Justin Bieber concert, but whatever.

Mr. and Mrs. Wiese are JEWELS.  Not only did they respond to my request faster than lightning, they went above and beyond the call of duty, AND they are sending me the photos at no charge.  They simply asked that I make a donation to the society.  Well, of course I will!

I have been truly fortunate to have crossed paths with these two wonderful people.  I am definitely putting the museum (yes, they even have a museum!) on my list of places to visit when I finally make the trip to South Dakota.

Do we share any ancestors?

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

Ancestor Spotlight: Theresa Burns Slowey 1864-1945

Theresa Burns is my Great Great Grandmother.  Her page can be found here.

Theresa "Trasey" Burns was born on 23 July 1864 in Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri, the fourth of five children born to Peter Dennis Burns and Mary Casey.  She was christened at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral Parish in Kansas City on 31 July 1864.  Peter Burns died sometime before 1870, and Theresa's mother remarried to a man named Louis Nero.  The blended family is listed on the 1870 US census and the 1875 Kansas State census in Wyandotte County, Kansas.  


When Theresa was about age 10 (around 1874), the family moved to Yankton County, Dakota Territory.  (This would eventually be South Dakota, but the Dakotas would not become states for another 15 years.)  Theresa married John Charles Slowey on 24 February 1886 at St. Kyran Catholic Church.  By the time the 1900 census rolled around, the couple had 8 children.  By the 1910 census, they added 4 more, but had lost two in infancy.


The couple purchased a farm shortly after they were married.  The original farm was 189 acres, all on the north side of what is now Highway 46, in Mayfield Township.  They later bought an additional 54 acres on the south side of the highway, in Walshtown Township, in about 1900.  John was a grain farmer, and received help on his farm from son Clarence.  Theresa was well known as a midwife and was much in demand at childbirth and also other sickness.

John Charles passed away in 1928, and Theresa kept up the farm with the help of her two youngest sons, Clarence and Clement.  She is found on the 1940 census, still living on the farm with her son Clarence, his wife, and their five children.  She remained there until her death on 22 July 1945.  She is buried at Mayfield Cemetery in Yankton.

Do we share any ancestors?

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

Ancestor Spotlight: Christina Ann Huber Slowey 1895-1982

Christina Ann Huber Slowey is my great grandmother.  Her page can be found here.

Christina Ann Huber was born on 30 Sep 1895 in Yankton, Yankton Co., South Dakota.  She was baptized on 20 Oct 1895 at St. Columba Parish in Yankton, Yankton Co., South Dakota.  She is the second of six children born to Joseph E. and Emma T. (Rothmeyer) Huber. In 1914 Anna received her teaching certificate from Yankton College and worked as a Rural Schoolteacher in Yankton, South Dakota.  She continued working as a schoolteacher and lived with her parents and siblings in Yankton Co., South Dakota until 1917 when she married Thomas Patrick Slowey.

Anna and Tom were married on 17 Apr 1917 in Yankton, Yankton, South Dakota.  Tom is the son of John Charles and Theresa (Burns) Slowey. They remained in Yankton Co., South Dakota - in Mayfield until 1932, then Utica until 1944 when they ultimately settled down at 812 Douglas Avenue in Yankton.

The couple had six children: Elinor, Vernon G. ("Bud"), Claire Maxine, Lois, Rita, and Richard Raymond ("Dickie").

Tom passed away in 1963. Anna lived in Yankton until she died from cerebral thrombosis due to cerebral arteriosclerosis on 28 Nov 1982 at the age of 87 at Sacred Heart Hospital.  She is buried at Sigel Cemetery in Yankton.

Do we share any ancestors?

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

Who Did I Find First on the 1940 Census?

As I am typing this, it is noon on April 2, 2012.  I thought I would be indexing all day today (and took the day off to be sure I could do just that), but apparently the images won't be available for indexing until later this afternoon.  Instead I decided to utilize the hours of prep work I did to search for some of the people on my list.


I have a total of 37 people/families in 16 different enumeration districts to locate on the 1940 census.  Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours, right?  WRONG!


To be fair, I knew the NARA servers would be overloaded and very slow.  With all the hype, how could it be any other way?  Another reason I took the day off from work.  (It is entirely on principle that I am not doing any searching on Ancestry today).


In the last 3 hours since the census images were officially released, I have managed to download one enumeration district, for Mayfield, Yankton Co., South Dakota.  In that one district, I found 4 people on my list.


The first person I located was my 2nd great grandmother, Theresa (Burns) Slowey, on page 4A, line 19.  

She is listed as a 74-year-old widow with a 5th grade education, living with her son Clarence (also the informant), his wife, and their 5 children.  She was living in the same house in 1935.  Clarence has an 8th grade education and is listed as a farmer.  He is also listed as having been employed in non-emergency government work during the week of March 24-30, and having received more than $50 in income other than wages/salary.  I wonder what that was.


(There is also a Nate B. Slowey listed on line 32, but I have no idea who this person is.  A little mystery I get to solve, I suppose!)


I also found Clarence's brother Clement listed on page 7A, line 22, with his wife and son.  He has an 8th grade education and is listed as a farm laborer.  He is also listed as having been employed in non-emergency government work and receiving more than $50 in incoming other than wages/salary.


Another relative, Peter Slowey, was found on page 6A, line 28.  He only has a 3rd grade education and is listed as a farmer.  His wife, Maud (Cook), is on line 29, which means she gets to answer the supplementary questions.  She's the only one I have found so far who falls into that category.  I know that this is her first marriage and she married at age 34, and her parents were both born in South Dakota.  Unfortunately, that's all these supplemental questions tell me.  I suppose it is much more fortuitous if the persons on lines 14 and 29 are male veterans who are employed.


So I have a few questions to answer: (1) Who is Nate B. Slowey and does he fit into my tree somehow? (2) What is this "other" income of $50+?  (3) What falls into the category of "non-emergency government work?"


Now ... to formulate a proper citation for these records.  That may take the rest of the day.




Do we share any ancestors? Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

Yankton High School - Yankton, South Dakota

My paternal grandparents graduated from Yankton High School.  My grandfather in 1938 and my grandmother in 1939.  I had a hard time finding any photos from that far back, so I began looking on eBay.  Who knew so many people had picture post cards from Yankton, South Dakota?


Yankton High School was the first high school in Dakota Territory back around 1875.


I'm not positive when these photos were taken, since none of them have dates, so I've done my best to put them in chronological order.

This is obviously the earliest photo, since the addition hasn't been built yet.

These two are probably from around the same time, just different angles

This is what the school looks like today (since roughly 1996).

What a difference a century makes, right?


Incidentally, although he did not attend until a little over a decade later (he wasn't born until 1940), Tom Brokaw also graduated from Yankton High School and went on to receive a Bachelor's Degree from the University of South Dakota.  (Woo hoo! I found someone famous from Yankton!)


Wow ... this is my 200th post! 

Do we share any ancestors?

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

St. Columba (South Dakota) Parish Church Registry 1881-1927 - N Surnames

I have come into the possession of a copy of a Church Registry for St. Columba Parish, South Dakota that includes the baptism, marriage, first communion, confirmation, and death records for the Yankton townships of Walshtown, Mayfield, Idylwilde, Jamesville (Sigel) from 1881 through 1927.  The entire list of surnames posted to date can be found here.  If any of these names belong to you, let me know and I will gladly forward a copy of it to you.

Last Name First Name Page Comments Naescher Caroline 53 (m. Schaefers) Naescher Johanna Aloysis Elizabeth 9 Naescher Mary Catherine 2 Neff Agnes 1 Neff Thomas 5 Nero Emil Clarence 43 Nero Francis 36 Nero Joseph 37 Nero Mary 41 Nero Thomas 46 Nipp Agnes Marie 47 Nipp Aloys 53 (m. Huber) Nipp David 60 (m. Erstgaard) Nipp Mrs. David (nee Erstgaard) 47 Nipp Emil Edward 30 Nipp Helen Mary 21 Nipp Johanna Catherine 34 Noonan Cecilia 46 Noonan Clement Michael 48 Noonan Dennis M. 57 (m. Murray) Noonan Elisabeth 60 (m. Murphy) Noonan Henry 35 Noonan Katherine Margaret 14 Noonan Margaret 53 (m. Campion) Noonan Mary Helen 16 Noonan Mary J. 54 (m. Gill) Noonan Martin 22 Noonan M.M. 57 (m. Murphy) Noonan Mary Catherine 43 Noonan Rose Ellen 41 Noonan Thomas M. 56 (m. Smith) Noonan Veronica Cecilia 42 Noonan William Jr. 27 Noonan William 51 (m. Murphy) Nooney John 61 (m. Slowey) Nooney John 2 Nooney Mathias 10 Nooney Mary 57 (m. Murphy) Nooney Thomas 6 Nooney William 49 Nordman Klara Elisabeth 20

Do we share any ancestors? 

 Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com