I've been a member of the American genealogical community for a number of years now, and one thing I've learned is that my research is different from the vast majority of both amateur and professional genealogists in America today. 

My family's American story began in 1893, when my first immigrant ancestor arrived on a ship in New York City. His wife immigrated in 1898, and all of my other great-grandparents arrived in the 1910s and 1920s. Virtually all of my research in America is 20th-century research.  

When I joined the genealogical community, I did feel somewhat marginalized due to the limited scope of my family's history in America. I have no Civil War or Revolutionary War ancestors. I have no 18th or 19th-century pioneer stories in my family tree. I am not eligible for lineage societies. And as I started attending more and more genealogy conferences, I noticed that probably at least 75% of the research-oriented lectures about American record sets could not help me learn more about my ancestors.

The lectures and webinars that DO focus on 20th-century record sets almost always involve WWI and WWII records and Naturalization records. And, don't get me wrong, these are important documents to include in our family history records, but what if, like me, you've already researched and located those? What if you want to discover other sources that could tell you more about your ancestor's 20th-century life?

I want to learn if there ways in which to access 20th-century union, school, fraternal/ethnic organization, and medical records that might give me insight into my ancestor's life. I want to know how to access 20th-century deeds, appraisals, business permits, tax records, and probate records. I want to know if there are legitimate ways to gain access to some of the more recent records that may be protected under privacy laws. These are the educational needs for genealogists researching 20th-century ancestors.

There is always a drive to push the family tree further back in time. You will hear genealogists ask each other, 'How far back have you traced?' I understand, because I fall into this trap when I am scrolling through Old World church books on microfilm. And I think conference and webinar planners sometimes fall into this trap, too, because they know that 'going as far back as possible' is the main goal of many of their constituents. But are we neglecting our more recent ancestors in this drive to continually extend family trees back?

There is also an assumption among some genealogists that 20th-century research is 'easy' compared with 18th or 19th century ancestor research, and therefore doesn't deserve as much educational focus or attention. And while the paper trail of a 20th-century ancestor may indeed be more robust than that of a 19th century ancestor, that doesn't mean that finding and gaining access to those records is any easier. In fact, due to privacy laws, it's often more difficult.

So, my question to the genealogical community at-large is, are we doing enough to help and educate people whose American story has begun within the past hundred years or so? Are we marginalizing entire segments of potential genealogists by not putting enough focus on some of the more recent records and resources we can dig up to learn our our family stories?

Think about all of the families who became Americans within the past 100 years. These are people from six continents and many different faiths and cultural traditions who have made America their home. They, too, have left behind paper trails for their descendants to discover. Is the genealogical community giving these descendants of 20th-century immigrants enough educational resources and tools to begin and then continue their journey into family history? 

©2017 Emily Kowalski Schroeder. All opinions are my own.

Frances M. Drees Grilliot passed away 17 Feb 1988 in Sidney, Ohio. She was the mother of my husband's paternal grandmother, Naomi Grilliot Schroeder. Her funeral card lists her husband and all ten of her children.

Frances's obituary was published in The Community Post of Minster, Ohio on 25 Feb 1988.

Frances's birth is recorded in the Shelby County, Ohio probate birth records. She was born 28 Dec 1900 in Van Buren Township, Shelby County. She was the youngest child of J.M. "Mike" Drees and Mary Wilkens Drees. Mike was 49 years old and Mary was 43 years old at the time of her birth. (Click on image for larger view.)

Birth Record Source: "Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X6ZX-TZR : accessed 01 May 2013), Frances Drees, 1900.

For more information about the GRILLIOT Family click HERE.
For more information about the DREES Family click HERE.

©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder

This is the First Holy Communion certificate of my husband's great-grandfather, Anthony Schroeder. Isn't it beautiful? 

Here is a close-up of the written section of the certificate. The writing is faint, but still legible (thank goodness!). He received his first communion on May 31, 1908 in St. Patrick's Church in St. Patrick (Shelby Co.), Ohio. The presiding priest was Rev. J. H. Metzdorf. 

Here is a newspaper clipping from The Minster Post listing the small group of first communicants that day. Anton Schroeder is named first in the list.

©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder

For several years now, I have been in love with the BBC TV series Call the Midwife. The show documents both secular and religious order midwives as they serve London's working-class East End community during the 1950s and 60s. Call the Midwife is wonderful, because it gives you a sense of just how important midwifery was to the health and overall well-being of the entire community. I've always loved looking at my family's Catholic baptism records from the "Old Country," because they sometimes list the midwife who delivered each baby. In this 1845 baptism record from Brzezna, Poland, my great-great-grandmother, Sophia Golonka, was delivered by Marianna Golonka, who was her paternal aunt.

Despite my fascination with these Old Country midwives, I had never really thought about the midwifery networks in my ancestors American neighborhoods. All that changed, however, when I started doing some genealogy research for my sister-in-law's family. Like mine, her ancestors were late 19th - early 20th century immigrants who came to Cleveland to work in the booming industrial factories and foundries. I located her great-grandfather's 1900 birth return. His parents were Polish immigrants.

I immediately thought that something looked familiar about this birth return. The handwriting looked very distinctive to me. I went back and looked at some of the birth returns on MY mom's side of the family. This is my great-uncle's birth return, also from 1900. His parents were Croatian immigrants.

The same midwife, Bertha Ullrich, delivered both babies. So, of course, I searched for her in the 1900 census to try to learn more about her. She is in her 40s, married, has one living child, and immigrated from Germany around 1890. She has indicated that she can speak English.

So, here are two babies, from two recently-immigrated families of completely different nationalities and languages, neither of which is the same as Bertha's. Both mothers indicated in their respective 1900 censuses that they cannot speak English. Can you imagine trying to guide a person through childbirth without words? How frightening must it have been for these immigrant women to realize that the one person assigned to help them in this difficult and dangerous task may not be able understand their needs? Did Bertha speak any languages besides English and German? Did she perhaps study key words and phrases in the languages of immigrants most common in her neighborhood to try to be prepared? Or perhaps she was able to arrange translators before the birth to assist her and the mother when the time came.

I ask myself these types of questions, because it helps me add a certain amount of humanity to the factual information found within these genealogical records. When (If) I ever get around to writing a complete family history, I want to be able to write about these types of situations and about these people who came in and out of my ancestors' lives and helped them navigate through the trials and joys of life.

By the way, midwives often have their own section in city directories. Here is Bertha and a slew of other midwives from the 1903 Cleveland City Directory, p. 1643:

Sophia Golonka Baptism Record: "Poland, Tarnow Roman Catholic Diocese Church Books, 1612-1900," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XPYN-L77 : accessed 17 Jul 2014), Anna Bawotek in entry for Sophia Golonka, 15 Feb 1845, Baptism; citing p. 27, Brzezna, Brzezna, Kraków, Poland; FHL microfilm 1895995.

Gawryszewski Birth Return: "Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-23317-12804-61?cc=1932106 : 21 May 2014), Cuyahoga > Birth returns 1900 > image 1 of 9030; county courthouses, Ohio.

Bellan Birth Return: "Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-23316-98739-26?cc=1932106 : 24 May 2016), Cuyahoga > Birth returns 1900 > image 7678 of 9030; county courthouses, Ohio.

Ullrich 1900 U.S. Census: Year: 1900; Census Place: Cleveland Ward 23, Cuyahoga, Ohio; Roll: 1256; Page: 21A; Enumeration District: 0112; FHL microfilm: 1241256

©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder

Genealogy bloggers know the value of putting their family history on the Internet. It makes it easier to share information with far-flung family and it serves as "cousin bait," so that, hopefully, we are able to find more people who share our ancestors. But one recent experience has made me realize the positive impact that putting my family history online can do for other family historians who are completely unrelated to me or my husband.

Think about your life. How many people, unrelated to you, have you befriended, interacted with, or just simply crossed paths with? Hundreds? Thousands? And for how many of those interactions were there physical records made? Think about group photos, union and military newsletters, newspaper articles, yearbooks, graduation and wedding programs, school alumni reports, and church bulletins and rosters. We, as family historians, all have some of these sources within our possessions - sources that would prove valuable to many other family researchers out there, and I'm here to argue that it's our mission to more or less "advertise" these more personal sources of information within our family websites and blogs.

At the end of May, I received an email from a gentleman who had found my blog post, "Jesse Owens & My Grandpa." He had recently discovered a high school track team photo picturing his grandfather and Jesse Owens, but the photo didn't label any names, so he wasn't 100% sure it was his grandfather. So, he was now on the hunt for his grandfather's 1933 high school yearbook. He had looked everywhere online and in local libraries, but could not locate a copy. 

I had a copy.

The only way he knew I had a copy was because of my blog post.

The yearbook resides at my parents' house, so when I visited them for Father's Day a few weeks later, I snapped a few photos of his grandfather's photo in the yearbook, and then I also took photos of the commencement program, also listing both of our grandfathers' names. I emailed them off to him, and he was ecstatic and very grateful. 

This experience has made me view my family history 'holdings' differently. I realize now that I have sources that no library or online database does, and that these sources may mean as much to another family as they do to ours. It has made me want to transcribe and share more of these personal types of sources on my website and blog, in the hopes that other family researchers, whose ancestors crossed paths with mine, will find them.

©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder

This past week, I was re-scanning some of my grandmother's old photos from her service in the U.S. Coast Guard SPARS during WWII. (I wrote a short blog post about it here.) In many of these photos, my grandmother is pictured with fellow SPAR women, and a few military men as well. The great thing about her photo album is that, for nearly every photo, she wrote down each person's name and where they were from. 

So, as I was scanning, I came across several photos of an Army man by the name of Bart Noland from Iowa. I was curious. I Googled 'Bart Noland Iowa army,' but didn't really come up with anything. I went to Ancestry and searched for him. In a public tree on Ancestry, I found a Bartley W. Noland from Iowa who was born in 1918, so I decided to message the owner and hope for the best. 

The next day, the owner of that tree wrote me back and told me a little bit about their family's Bart Noland. (The tree owner turned out to be a cousin of Bart's wife.) He sent me his email address, I sent him scans of the photos, and he sent those scans to one of Bart's living children, who confirmed that this was indeed her father, who had passed away in 2001. (Lesson: Keep a family tree PUBLIC on Ancestry, even if it is just the basics. I would not have found Bart's family if this gentleman's tree had been private.)

Even though she now has all of the photos in digital form, I will be sending Bart's daughter the physical photos of her father, as well as a photo of his barracks he stayed in while in Florida, and some scenic snapshots he sent my grandmother during his time in Hawaii. They belong to her and her family. I can always have the photos of him reprinted if I want to fill in the empty holes in my grandmother's scrapbook.

Are you in possession of any old photos of non-family members? If you have names attached to those photos, I urge you to use your research skills to try to find living descendants of those pictured, and, if possible, return those photos (or at least email the scans) to living family members. Bart's daughter was SO grateful to me for reaching out and finding their family - She found out about these photos on her 35th wedding anniversary and said she felt like this was her Dad "remembering" this special day for her.

My mission now is to try to find some of these women pictured in the photos. Most of them married after the war and, of course, changed their names, so it may be much harder to find any of their children or grandchildren with whom to share these photos. But I will still try.  :-)

©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder

I haven't posted on this blog recently, but that doesn't mean I've haven't been busy in other genealogy-related ways. If you read my blog frequently, you know that my husband's family, past and present, hail from western Ohio. Last month, I took a trip to the village of Minster, Ohio, which is located in the southwestern part of Auglaize County. I visited the Minster Historical Society and Museum, and wanted to share a couple of the resources available to researchers who have ancestors from this portion of western Ohio.

Minster Obituary File: The historical society has collected, translated, and organized obituaries for area residents, and, in some cases, non-residents who have family ties to the area. The important information has been extracted from newspaper obituaries, places on index cards, and organized alphabetically in a card catalog. It was easy to find the names on my list, and then I simply used my phone to snap a photo of the cards. Each card referenced the original source of the obituary, which is usually (but not always) the town newspaper, The Minster Post. Anyone can access past issues of The Minster Post at this site for FREE, so you would easily able to track down the original, as-published, obit. Truth be told, I had already tracked down most the obituaries I needed just by using the newspaper database from home, but there were a couple of names for whom I had no idea when they passed away, so searching through issue after issue of the newspaper was not practical. Found them in this file, and - voila - obituary found! Here is an example of one of the obituary file cards:

Minster Funeral Card Collection: The Minster Historical Society and Museum boasts a collection of over 20,000 funeral cards, and they are adding more all the time. This collection was again housed in simple card catalog draws and arranged alphabetically and with the deceased's birthday at the top. The important information from the cards was photocopied and then pasted right onto the index card itself. Again, I just used my phone and snapped pictures of the cards pertaining to my husband's family. (Of course, they aren't all in German - these are some of my favorites, though!)

I should mention that ANYONE can send in copies of funeral cards to add to their collection. I recently received my grandmother-in-law's collection of funeral cards and I'm in the process of scanning them right now. From what I saw on my trip, I know that they already have a lot of the cards I have, but they also DIDN'T have some, so I will make sure I send them copies of those.

If your family or clients have any ancestors that may have had ties to western Ohio (even as far north as Toledo or as far south as Cincinnati), I highly recommend you check out these sources. The obituaries can be searched through the Rutherford B. Hayes Obituary Index, but the funeral cards must be searched on-site. (I've been told by a reliable source that they are working on getting the funeral cards online at some point as well.)

©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder

Last week, my family and I spent part of our spring break touring Washington D.C. We visited Arlington National Cemetery, and, more specifically, the Women in Military Service for America Memorial. The structure is more than just a memorial, though; it also serves as a small museum dedicated to all women, past and present, who have served in the American military.

As I've mentioned before on this blog, my maternal grandmother, Dina Licciardi Bellan served in the U.S. Coast Guard SPARS during World War II. Unfortunately, she passed away several months before this memorial was opened, so she never got to see it. We took our kids to the memorial to look around. I stumbled upon their Register room, where patrons are able to look up service women on computer. I typed in my grandmother's name, and there was her record. The record included her dates of birth and death, along with service dates, rank, birthplace, and military decorations she received. There was ALSO a photo of her in her SPARS uniform that I had never seen before. I was standing there trying to take a good photo of the computer screen when one of the volunteers mentioned that they could give me a color printout for $10. And so I have it!:

Notice that area at the bottom entitled 'Memorable Experiences.' I mentioned to one of the volunteers that my grandmother had written a little about her first experiences in the Coast Guard in a journal she kept towards the end of her life. She gave me instructions about how I can go online and add those memories to my grandmother's record.

Unfortunately, the database of women is not available online, according to their website. However, there is plenty of contact information on this page and this page, so if you have a family member who might be registered in the database, it wouldn't hurt to contact them and find out if they can send a print out to you. I did not have to give any physical proof of my relationship to my grandmother to obtain this printout - I just told them she was my grandmother and that was it. (They might be more strict if the person about which you are inquiring is still alive, however.)

©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder

Today, I'm sharing the obituary of Bernard Otto Grilliot, the father of my husband's paternal grandmother, Naomi Grilliot Schroeder. He was born 16 Nov 1898 in Yorkshire, Patterson Twp, Darke County, Ohio to Nicholas Grilliot and Amelia Magoto. He was their third of ten children. He married Frances Drees on 31 May 1921 and they had ten children. His obituary does a nice job of listing his address and naming his parents, all of his children, and his surviving siblings.

Three days before Bernard passed away, his younger brother, Cletus, died. His obituary is found in the same edition of the newspaper, right next to Bernard's. They were both members of Sacred Heart Church in McCartyville, Ohio and they are both buried in the church cemetery.

For more about the Grilliot Family of western Ohio, see this link.

©2015, Emily Kowalski Schroeder