Flower Memorial LIbrary

Name Flower Memorial Library

Address 229 Washington St, Watertown, NY 13601

Phone (315) 785-7705

Website https://www.flowermemoriallibrary.org/

 

Front Entrance

The Flower Memorial Library is the library for Jefferson County in northern New York. It is located just south of the major intersection of downtown Watertown on Washington Street. Surrounded by commercial and governmental buildings, it can be occasionally hard to find parking spots. However, I have often been able to find on-street parking in front of or very near the library. There are also public parking lots available as can be found on this map. The above shows the front entrance to the library; there is also an entrance on the right-hand side of the building that is accessible without any steps to climb.

Hours from their website:

Monday-Saturday: Noon to 4:00 pm

Or call us to make an appointment 315.785.7711

Sign in when you enter the local history room. Almost everything is available on open shelving and in old style card catalogs. These cards are being put into databases that will soon be available for in-house use. Last weekend I asked about the possibility of remote access to them, but it is not planned for at this time. Copies cost 20 cents each. While I imagine you can make copies yourself, I never have. Terry, who seems to always be there and eager to assist you, is very glad to make copies and knows the copier well. He is quite a treasure of the local history room, as he knows where everything is and a great deal of history of the area.

 

A view of some of the room

Although on a beautiful spring Saturday afternoon, my husband and I were the only visitors in the local history room, other parts of the library were busy. The Saint Lawrence chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) had been by for a personal tour of the room on the day before. Often volunteers can be found in there working on various projects as well.

This library was opened in 1903 and was built in the classic ornate library architecture. While being very modern with microfilm readers and computers for your use, many areas of the library look like they are still in the early 20^th century. Reading rooms and exhibit rooms keep their classic look. Rather than trying to describe the beauty, I will let you see for yourself in pictures that I took there on our trip through on Saturday:  

One of the best things I find in this library are the family files. If you’re lucky, your family has an entire loose-leaf notebook full of information on them. Several of my surnames from the area do. Many others are just a small envelope in a file cabinet. Although less information, these likewise have some very special gems in them. There is a notebook readily available that lists the surnames alphabetically with a code to tell you which place to look.

Wordless Wednesday- Evergreen Cemetery, Scipio, NY

Upon Leaving The Cemetery

Oblong Meetinghouse built 1764

 Upon leaving the cemetery, don’t head directly for the highway. If your ancestors are buried there, then very likely they lived around here as well. Drive around slowly and look at the area. Sure, things have changed in 100 years, but things have also stayed the same. The terrain is likely the same. Some of the houses and public buildings will still be standing. Maybe you can even find your ancestor’s home! Family stories, old pictures or a search through the county land records can all lead you to where your ancestors lived.

While traveling one summer, I found an old church (actually a Quaker Meetinghouse) built in 1764. Although the congregation ceased in 1885, it is still standing and open to the public. I was the only person there as I quietly entered the building and looked around. Looking at this simple building I felt a great sense of welcoming as if the former members were there smiling and wanting to say hello to their visitor. It felt calming and serene much like the reputation of their form of worship.

Fascinating to me was not only that this building still exists, but also some of the records that are left from here. This is perhaps the most important part of discovering this meetinghouse. I found out that in June 1793, a couple by the name of Jane Hoag and Gilbert Titus were married there. Later this couple moved to central New York and became the parents of my g-g-g-grandfather!

When visiting the area, don’t forget to check out what research places there are in the area. Even if you can’t stop now, you can add them to your list for future investigation. I keep two lists on my computer in a file. The first one is a sort of address book with information on research places. Besides the address and phone numbers, I also list directions on how to get there, hours they are open, and specific resources that are available. If I know there are good, inexpensive places to stay or a place to eat nearby, I will list them as reminders to myself as well.

Akin Library at Quaker Hill

The other list is a sort of “To Do” list arranged by repository and then surname. It lists specific areas that I need to research, either by person or families. For example, some of the entries are a reminder to look for somebody’s date of birth; others are leads on where a family grouping may have lived. This I keep in an Excel spreadsheet. As I find information I need to research, I add it to the list. One of them is items that can be located using the Internet. When I have some spare time, I will pick an item and start working on it to see if I can solve the problem or at least get closer to the answer. The repository pages are especially handy when I get an unexpected chance to go there. I look to see what I have wanted to research, but maybe have forgotten about. I then have a head start on creating a research plan for there!

This is especially useful if you have somebody like my husband in your life or perhaps even yourself. He will suddenly decide that this weekend we should head to this certain area and do some research. This is great, except that I haven’t thought about my research in that particular area in awhile and when he decides it is usually Thursday or even Friday evening and I have little to no time to prepare! Luckily my spreadsheet notes give me a good start and I don’t waste the opportunity.

Childhood Memories- Saturday Challenge

I’m running behind, but I’m finally getting to the Saturday challenge. I would like to add to this one, that I challenge everybody reading this to complete the challenge themselves and put it online and put the answers away in a safe place for your children or grandchildren to be able to read it someday. If like me, you have no children, consider who else would be interested in hearing about your childhood and make it available to them.

From Randy Seaver:

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

1)  Judy Russell asked six questions in her Keynote address at RootsTech 2014 to determine if audience members knew certain family stories about their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.  She demonstrated very well that family stories are lost within three generations if they are not recorded and passed on to later generations.

2)  This week, I want you to answer Judy's six questions, but about YOUR own life story, not your ancestors.  Here are the questions:

a)  What was your first illness as a child?

b)  What was the first funeral you attended?

c)  What was your favorite book as a child?

d)  What was your favorite class in elementary school?

e)  What was your favorite toy as a child?

f)  Did you learn how to swim, and where did you learn?

A view from my childhood window

a)    My first illness would have been colic. I don’t remember it as I was just a baby, but the rest of the family certainly does! Apparently every night for a number of weeks (months?) after supper I would start crying and couldn’t be soothed for a long time. I finally out grew it or did I? As this is excess gas in the digestive system, I have to wonder if that was the beginning of Crohn’s disease, an inflammable bowel disease that would surface as an adult.

The first major illness other than colds or stomach virus that I remember was getting the chicken pox. I told Mom one afternoon that I had a “boo-boo” on my hand and wanted an ice cube to sooth it.  She panicked a bit when she helped me get ready for bed, as she realized I actually had chicken pox and I had been icing a pox. Luckily, it didn’t cause any scarring. I remember riding to school with Mom when she went to see my teacher and get my schoolwork for while I was out. I had to wait in the car as I was contagious and couldn’t go into the school. I had a Halloween witch’s mask with me that I was playing with and a couple women walked by as I popped up with it on. They acted scared and I felt bad that I scared them, not realizing at the time that they were just humoring a child.

b)   I don’t think I actually ever attended a funeral until I was an adult. I went to calling hours with my parents various times over the years.

I have a vague memory of being at a place with a lot of strange people and wondering who they were. The thing that was most bewildering was that there were one or two men that looked kind of like my brothers, but they definitely weren’t them. I remember standing there and then my brother suddenly appearing from in the crowd and telling me he was going to take me home. The memory has almost a dream-like quality to it, but I think it was at the calling hours for my grandmother and I was looking at my mother’s brothers. This would have been about a week or so before my 5^th birthday.

c)    I didn’t really have one favorite book as a child. However, I definitely had a series of books that were my favorite. Remarkably, I still have the original ones I owned and they haven’t fallen completely apart from reading and re-reading. The series was the Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I lived and breathed Laura as a child. Around the time of the bicentennial my Mom made me a prairie dress and a bonnet to wear just like hers. This was, of course, when the television show Little House on the Prairie was on the air as well. I could tell anyone who would listen what was true about the current episode and what wasn’t. I always wanted to be related to her, especially since my paternal grandmother’s maiden name was Ingalls. However, I cannot connect the two families to each other. My family was in Jefferson County in northern New York about the same time as Pa’s family was in Allegany County in western New York.

My "Laura" dress

d)   I loved all grades in elementary school. The subjects that I liked the best were reading and social studies. I especially like history and I liked reading about people in other places and time periods, so much of our reading material was fascinating as well. Reading was originally hard for me. In first grade I was way behind and struggled with just being able to recite the alphabet at first. Suddenly, things clicked. I went from the lowest reading group in the class to being bored in the highest reading group and looking for even more books on a higher level to read.

e)    I had many dolls that I loved over the years, and of course, books. I loved riding my bike and playing outside. Probably the favorite toy for me though, was my Barbie dolls. I never considered them fashion dolls really. They were pioneers on the prairie building log cabins and growing food with Laura and Mary. They were going on camping trips. They were doing all kinds of different things. I played with them much longer than most girls did. As I got older I was playing with them acting out stories. I would play a scene and then stop, grab my notebook and write it. The stories were I’m sure quite bad and over the top with drama. Too bad I didn’t keep the stories; they might have made a good soap opera! However, that was the beginning of my creative writing, using them to visualize a scene and then recording it.

f)     I never really did learn to swim. I can do the doggy paddle and float on my back or side. However, I can’t do a proper stroke or be in the water over my head for very long as I have a need to either cling to the side of the pool or be able to stand. I have always had a distaste fear of getting my face under water. I totally freak out. As a child, I always loved to go swimming though. Most of time it was in the pool in our backyard. As the deepest part was probably around 4 ½ feet deep, I could splash around and have fun there without fear of getting beyond my abilities. I spent many a happy summer afternoon in that pool.

The backyard before the pool was opened for summer

7 Tips for a Reseach Trip

The lavender will soon be blooming again

The weather is getting better and many of us are thinking of taking trips to further our research. I know I am looking forward to various trips. NYSCOGO, New York State Council of Genealogical Organizations is combining their spring meeting with a trip to the New York State Archives and Library in a couple weeks. I am working on completing my plans for this trip right now. Whether it is to a library, an archive, a historical society or someplace else, here are seven tips that are helpful to make your trip successful.

1-    Check hours of repository

First things first! Check and make sure the repository is open when you’re planning on going. What days are they open and what are the hours? Do they close for certain holidays? Even obscure ones you’re never heard of are possibilities as they are important to the local area. Is there a renovation going on that has them unexpectedly closed? Do you need an appointment to research there?

Check out as much as you can doing a search of their website and any brochures that you might have. This will give you a good idea if your plan to go on a certain day is feasible. Then contact them. Either email or call and double check that they are open that day and at that time. A bonus to this is that many places will be willing to pull information for you about your research interest ahead of time and save you waiting for them to locate that obscure file. One place I visited last summer was small and crowded with files all over the place, as they didn’t have room to organize anything properly. However, when I arrived, the files I was interested in and a few books were neatly stacked on a research table waiting for me!

Albany skyline from across the Hudson River

2-    Check map/directions

Find out where the place is. Seriously. Don’t assume that just because the historical society is in a small town that you can find it easily or that everybody knows where it is. For those of us that don’t use GPS, also don’t assume that everyone can read a map! We once stopped at a AAA office for help as we had left the map we needed in our hotel room. The young girl behind the desk tried to help us, but she couldn’t even figure out how to find the town we were in on the map. Apparently, that skill is not taught in schools anymore like we were taught.

Have an idea of where you are headed. Either use GPS or have the directions and a map handy in the car. Chances are you will miss at least one turn or there will be a detour along the way that you’ll need to account for.

3-    Check about parking in the area

Where can you park once you get there? How much will it cost? Can you use a credit card or is it cash only or perhaps you need to buy a special card to use in those lots. Smaller places won’t have as many issues. Often in small towns you can pull into their driveway or park along the street. However, in larger cities, especially where the state library and archives are located, parking can be at a premium. Check out your options and have a two or three in mind in case your first choice is full.

4-    What can you bring in there or must leave behind.

Are there restrictions on what you can bring into the repository? Are laptops allowed? Is a notebook of research or must you just bring in a few loose sheets of paper? Pens or pencils only? What about cameras or scanners? Is flash photography allowed-- probably not. Can you bring a bottle of water in if it is in a secure container? Archives usually have the most restrictions followed by libraries. Find out what they are and make sure you don’t bring along anything that isn’t allowed or that you can secure it somewhere while you are visiting. Many places with strict restrictions in place have lockers where you can secure your personal possessions while you’re there. It’s always good to find out ahead of time.

5-    Cost for research

Is there a fee to research? Some places charge for the day or by the hour. If you’re a member it might be cheaper or even free to use the facilities. Find out so you aren’t caught by surprise. Some places might be exact cash only, for example. Sometimes if you’re doing a lot of research in one place, it is less expensive to become a member if only for that year.

6-    Copies and other restrictions.

Along with the restrictions I mentioned above, find out what you can copy and how much each copy will cost. Sometimes you can copy items yourself, other times you’ll need to request copies and wait for staff to make them. In the latter case, you might have to wait awhile for the copies, come back another day, or have them sent to you. Find out ahead of time so that you’re not caught unawares! Along those lines, bring a camera along if you’re able to. Even if they make copies, photocopiers break down, and other things happen that might prevent you from getting those copies. Some places will let you take digital pictures of the items instead. I actually prefer this method as I have less paper to carry and there is no need to scan when you get home. 

7-    List what you’re researching!

You already started this didn’t you? Make a list of what you want to look for at this repository. Which people are you researching that lived in the area that they collect information about? Create a research plan before you go. It doesn’t have to be a formal plan like a professional might create. Just list off the things you are looking for. Check their online catalog or listing of resources. Have the call numbers written down and other information ready to go. This will save you a lot of time while you are there.

Along with this, list off your goals of what you want to accomplish. This will help you stay on track and not go off on tangents where you find a lot of interesting information, but forget to look for that very important fact that you were primarily interested in finding out. Set priorities in case you can’t get to everything that you want to. Alternatively, it’s also good to have ideas of things that you might like to look for, but aren’t really necessary in case you get through your list quickly. Be ready to make the most of the opportunity no matter what you find.

NERGC Looking Back and Forward

Portland, Maine Headlight from 2015

Providence Rhode Island last year, Manchester New Hampshire 2 years before that, and Springfield Massachusetts next year. At regular intervals, my thoughts have turned to New England vacations in the spring. Yes, New England is a beautiful place to visit in the springtime. I have many ancestors that lived there. But why is there a theme about the time of year developing?

The reason is that every two years I can combine a trip to New England to research and tour an area with some education and meeting up with other great genealogists. A year ago this morning we were heading home from the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence from that year’s The New England Regional Genealogical Consortium, Inc. (NERGC). It consisted of two and a half days of over 95 lectures in total. Many of them were geared towards research in Rhode Island itself, but they covered subjects all over New England and general topics as well.

 

Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts

It wasn’t just about the lectures either. In just about every class, I sat next to somebody I had met before. Walking between classrooms and in the vendor hall I ran into people that I know. Genealogists from all over New England, New York and beyond were gathering there to learn and discuss genealogy. There is huge serge in energy at such a place. If you’ve never been to a conference, you really must go to at least one to see what it is like. I always come home from such a conference exhausted, but with renewed eagerness to dive into more genealogy.

Next year we will be headed to Springfield a little later in April. The theme for the conference is: Using the Tools of Today & Tomorrow to Understand the Past and will be held April 26-29 at the MassMutual Convention Center in Springfield, Massachusetts. Although I don’t personally have any direct ancestors that lived in the area, I am sure there will be many lectures that I will look forward to hearing. 

Old town hall or schoolhouse Exeter, Rhode Island

The call for papers has closed, and they are still working on deciding which lectures will be presented. Some of the categories included repositories across New England, and many areas of technology. Other topics on the call for papers included: genealogy research focused within social, cultural, racial, or ethnic groups; and family history writing and publishing in print and on the web. So, there will be quite a variety of topics presented no matter which people are selected to present.

The website at http://www.nergc.org/ is still mainly giving information about last year’s conference, but it should be updated before long. Many volunteers are working behind the scenes to get everything ready for Springfield in 2017. Until then, we will just sit back and dream of New England and next year’s conference. I hope I will see many friends old and new there!

Spring Meeting- Lisa Alzo

The meeting begins

Yesterday was the all day April meeting for the Central New York Genealogical Society (CNYGS). On a beautiful, sunny and warm spring day--practically the first one we’ve had in Central New York; there was an estimated 89 people in attendance.

The low point of the day was, of course, missing our Hospitality person, Clarissa Stalknecht. I don’t think Clarissa missed a meeting in the last ten years as she has put out refreshments and luncheons for the all day meetings. President, Chris Wilcox, did a beautiful tribute to her at the beginning of the meeting. The luncheon went on as she had originally planned before her sudden death, but it took a rumored 18 people to do what she usually accomplished alone! That fact alone shows her dedication and work that she did for the organization.

Almost time for lunch break

The high point of the day was our speaker Lisa Alzo. She did four separate presentations. First addressing the Packrat in all genealogists and ways to cope with all the stuff that we tend to accumulate. Then both before and after the lunch break she discussed different methods to help us get our family stories written and out there for others to be able to read. Lastly, she did a brief over-view of many different applications that can help us to get organized, find the time, and to actually write. I have heard Lisa present many times at different conferences and through online webinars. Yesterday I came away with even more tips and ideas as well as inspiration.

Lisa and I

Networking during a break

Getting ready for the afternoon session

Languages- Eastern Europe

I just came across a great chart thanks to John Michael Neill and his Tip of the Day website.

Just a teaser from yesterday's CNYGS meeting

People will sometimes ask me about words related to genealogy in different languages. The ones that are particularly hard are those of the eastern European countries. Often there are no speakers of these languages around to help with translations unless you are lucky enough to live near a large university that has foreign language professors and students from these areas. Even then, they are busy and may not have time to help you with a "quick look at this record" type of request.

Well Christina George has helped us out with a chart of commonly needed terms in looking at records for genealogical purposes in eight different languages that are common across Eastern Europe! What is even better, she is giving the chart as a free download! These are languages that I rarely, okay never in the areas I research, come across with the exception that if I need to look at Catholic Church records they are often written in Latin. However, I downloaded the chart to keep handy for those times or when somebody is looking for help with these languages.

https://christinageorgegenealogy.com/2015/03/02/genealogy-common-terms/

Still A Billion Records until April 20th!

 Remember when I wrote last week that American Ancestors, the online databases of New England Historical Genealogical Society were offering a billion records for free for a week? That's all the records that they have online available for just signing up for one of their free accounts. Well the offer has now changed- and for the better. It has been extended and will be available until April 20th, that is until NEXT Wednesday.

Here is a write-up about it from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter:

https://blog.eogn.com/2016/04/12/american-ancestors-by-nehgs-extends-the-offer-for-a-billion-records-free/

You now have more time to take advantage in the virtual sense of visiting their library in Boston.

The entrance to NEHGS

A few of the in-person records

Siblings Day? Only-Child Day? What about Almost Only-Child Day?

Sunday was Siblings day. Today is Only-Child Day. I think my siblings might understand that I identify more with Only-Child Day. What I really want though is Almost Only-Child Day. When I was young, somebody asked me where I fell within my siblings. I answered: “I’m the youngest of three and the oldest of three.” The answer was not as crazy as it appears on the surface. In fact, I can narrow it down to my having said this sometime between age 5 and age 7 just from the logic of the statement.

Many parents worry when a child is about to arrive about making sure there are emergency babysitters in place for the older siblings. My parents did not worry one bit in this way about my brothers just before I was born, I’m sure. Perhaps making sure my one brother had a car to get him somewhere might have come into consideration at the very most. You see, he was a senior in high school at the time and was the younger of my two brothers. My older brother was a senior at college. I am the youngest of three.

The youngest of three

When I was three years old, that older brother made me an aunt when his oldest daughter was born. Two years later, my other brother gave me a nephew. I am the oldest of the three.

They and my nephew’s brother who came along two years after that were often my playmates growing up. That is how I know approximately how old I was when I made that seemingly crazy statement. I never did know where I really fit in.

The oldest of three four.

My mother referred to me as an almost only child. And that was what I was. My brothers were much too old to be traditional siblings growing up with me. We have two completely different reference points. When I mention home, Jim, the oldest, thinks first of a house in Auburn and then realizes I mean the farm that belonged to our grandparents while he was growing up. We agree that in a way we belonged to two entirely different sets of parents. Although they were the same two people, he had the “young” parents and I had the “middle-age and early retirement” parents. Two different time periods and completely different emphasis on how they spent their time.

I think that this situation has something to do with how I got involved with genealogy. As a child I was around people that were older. While my friends’ parents were in their 20s and 30s, mine were in their 40s and 50s.

Not only did I not have brothers and sisters to hang out with, but also I felt almost like I didn’t belong. I heard about cousins, but almost never saw them. They were all much older than me and really of the previous generation. From hearing stories of the older generations and looking for that place that I actually fit into, the urge to search for family began. Through putting together the puzzle of the family through many generations I began to see where my place in it was. So when is that Almost Only-Child Day?

Transcription vs. Original

Why do you not depend on the index or transcription to a record even if the listing contains all the information? Or rather, why shouldn’t you depend on it?

Often times in a search you will find a transcribed record that is typed rather than the hard to read handwriting of the original document. An index can often have very detailed information within it. In fact sometimes on Ancestry or Family Search databases you can’t see a facsimile of the original document.

Although these records are easier to read and to take information from, we are cautioned not to depend on them. The experts that are writing books or teaching us will warn about mistakes being made. If you have done genealogy for very long yourself, you have probably encountered a few of these differences yourself and know the wisdom of looking towards that original source. However, often we tend to forget or want to opt for the easy way out. I was once again reminded to be careful.

Today I was looking at some records of a family that I became interested in researching over the weekend. Originally I was helping my niece to research some of her ancestors and push back into New England on the line where she had some unsubstantiated information. A paper read at a reunion of the family in the early 1900s hinted at Rhode Island roots for the family, but had no evidence beyond the recollections of a granddaughter who had written the paper.

With my experience in early New York State and Rhode Island families I was able to find some starting points for her and she is now well on her way to establishing that one of the lines mentioned is from Westerly, Rhode Island.

Meanwhile, I started following some of the children to see what might be found there. I came across a couple brothers and at least one sister who became involved with the LDS (Mormon) church early in its history. Palmyra, New York is, as many know, where the Mormon Church began. What I have found interesting is the number of people several counties east of there in the Mohawk Valley that were early followers and move west with them.

Screenshot from Family Search

That is the long version of how I came to be looking at this census record for Alfonso Green in the 1870 census[1].  Looking at the transcription in the clip, you can see that he is mulatto. Or is he? I had no indication of a mixed race in this family. The mother’s line goes back to those in early Rhode Island mentioned above and all seemed to be white. If you look at the actual census, however, you can see that in the race column is a hastily written letter that could be either a “m” or a “w”.  All before and after are listed as white, and unless I find further information, I would read this one as that as well. Sometimes what you think of as a simple fact can be muddled in a transcription!

---

[1] "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNCY-KZS : accessed 11 April 2016), Alfonso Green, Utah, United States; citing p. 29, family 209, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 553,111.