WANDERINGS FROM YOUR PRESIDENT
BY GAYLE STUART
My family tree is full of NOT holes. It’s NOT him; it’s NOT her.
How many of us have thought we had found what we were sure was the right family and it turned out that it was NOT?
So many people back in the 1800’s had the same name and, if you were lucky, the wife may have had a name that was different. Not every Ole, Swen, James or John married a Mary or an Anna.
I still volunteer at the family history center in Elk Horn and right now I am working on one that I am questioning the information that the person sent us. I was almost certain I was on the right family, but I started looking closer at the information on the 1930 and 1940 censuses and this doesn’t coincide with what the person sent us.
This is a good example of having more than one source of proof. I will be going back over all the information that I have found from when this person left Denmark. There are lots of names that are the same but I will have to look closer at ages and what else I have for clues.
So far this summer, we have had a surprise visit from a von Lackum cousin from California. (Leo’s mother’s side) We heard stories about her family, but no new information on ancestors.
In July, we will be traveling to Canada to meet with a Stuart relative, who descends from a brother of Robert Stuart who came to America and is Leo’s great-grandfather. We have not met this person before and did not know there were any Stuarts of the same family in Canada.
Again this summer, we have had Erika Lees working for us in the genealogy room. Hopefully, she will have both Layton Township and St. Patrick’s Cemeteries in a database and the stones all on Find-A-Grave by the end of the summer.
I hope that all of you are having a good summer and finding more information about your families.
gbs