BIOGRAPHY and THE WRITING OF YOUR FAMILY HISTORY : HERE'S AN INSPIRING EXAMPLE

I was attracted to this book at the library, England's Mistress - the Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton, by Kate Williams, because of its lovely cover. I've read many biographies and memoirs. This impressive one is about a person born in poverty, the lowest of the low, who managed to make it through the ridged English class system and become the wife of Sir William Hamilton. Born Amy Lyon, this woman went from being an orphan to working as a child laborer, from prostitute to mistress to wife. She also became an actress and singer, and was imitated as a force in fashion back in the day. She became the personal friend of a Queen or two. She was exceptional by beauty but also seized every opportunity to educate and improve herself. I think it's one of the most wonderfully written biographies I've encountered. But why?  Because the research and writing brought forth the realities of life in England - as well as Naples (Italy) - in the late1800's.

I present it here because I want to remind my readers to seek out biographies of their ancestors. They probably do not have whole books written about them hundreds of years after their deaths. However, you may find that a person is included in a local biography, a town book (like a yearbook created by a proud town about their pioneers and citizens), newspaper articles, and such. There are still many books on library shelves that have not been digitalized - not scooped up by the big names in genealogy databases.

But also, in writing your family history, in putting a person in their life timeline, you may want to also explain their times - the history of the place they lived - and what it was perhaps like for your ancestor to live in them. 

You of course quote and attribute the passages you use in your work.

Here are some excerpt examples from the book that are excellent.

From page 5, year 1764, in a small village just outside Chester across the Dee River.

Emma's parents were married on June 11, 1764, in Great Neston church. As the wedding was held on a Monday, it is unlikely that any relative...attended.  Like many workingmen, Henry was illiterate and signed the register with an X, Mary also signed with a cross....  First babies were often conceived outside of wedlock; indeed, many communities encouraged it to preclude the disaster or marriage to an infertile wife. .... At twenty-one, Mary was a drudge in a dirty hovel, her day consumed by domestic chores, in a village populated by people who were, in the 1850's according to visitors, "as primitive as their village was secluded."  At four she awoke to fetch water, light the fire, and prepare Henry's breakfast... After he left at five, she began her daily battle against the dirt that silted up the windows and covered every surface with a grimy film. (Coal dust) Outside her window lay a treeless expanse of  scrub scarred by heaps of coal waste, and cheap stone cottages blacked by sooty rain. She knew that soon after she gave birth, she would be expected to work in the mine with the other women.

WHAT DAY OF THE WEEK WAS THE MARRIAGE OF YOUR ANCESTOR HELD? WHAT MONTH? 

Excerpt page 6 : Emma was baptized on May 12. On the register, her name looks like 'Emy" but Emma herself always claimed it was Amy. a common name in the Kidd family. ... One in three children like Emma died within infancy, but she was born in the best season for survival; disease was more virulent from June to September, and babies died of cold from November to February. There was hard work ahead for the infants who lived. Denhall employed most children over nine or ten as cheap labor. All the girls born in Ness were, by the age of ten, pulling baskets to the surface every day, covered in dirt and regularly harassed by the men.  At the end of the day, they returned home to cook and clean for their family or, as was near as likely, since many women died in childbirth, stepmother.

WAS YOUR ANCESTOR EMPLOYED IN COAL MINING?  A CHILD LABORER? 

Excerpts such as these, when appropriate, add color to your family history book, but also give the reader an opportunity for understanding.

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THE ARCHIVES and LIBRARIES OF NATIONS : SOME RESEARCH NOTES

Each country's archives we visited so far have a different point of view about what is important, are at a different stage in the progress of digitalization, have different levels of help from archivists and librarians to the general public who are employed there, and the collections may specialize or have have categories that are different one from the other.

I believe strongly that historical research is important to any Genealogy quest. Research the location by city, county, country - watch how borders and governments (including Kings, Queens, and noble rule) and seek out maps too. If your ancestors have taken part of any historical event (such as the founding or development of the city) there may be biographies of them in history books. 

MY DIFFICULT RESEARCH INTO A PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN IMMIGRANT FAMILY : STEPS ONE and TWO : POST #1

Let's face it.  We think Pennsylvania, one of the 13 original states, and we think Germans!  So I want to tell you about a research problem I encountered and maybe you can learn from it.

My client has an illustrious American Historical figure on one side of her family.  Heavily researched.  Books written about. Historical house tours to go on. But her other side, her surname side, the side I researched, is simply not the same.  

Step One : Census research and checking over what family had already done.

Within hours of beginning the research, though I do not go first to databases such as Ancestry TM or FamilySearch TM to see what others have come up with (too many errors and confusion) I was aware that others, likely her family members, had used those databases and posted... Basically between these databases and Find A Grave TM a lot was posted that I did not find inaccuracies with. Clearly they were all waiting for me to make the break through. I told her my goal was to try and find out where in Germany - Prussia they had come from so we could go back further, an idea she loved.

The original immigrants were on the 1850 but because a member said to be born in Prussia might have been about 2 years old when he came, calculating exactly when they came, or if they came together was up in the air.  They are not on the 1840 or 1830 in any state. (Unless going page by page brings up horribly misspelled names.  Time wise I couldn't bill her for that.)

Step Two : Finding out what might have been published in books held by a noteworthy genealogy library.

I went to the main branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, genealogy section, and spent two afternoons.  I pulled every book in the Pennsylvania section that included the county and city. That first generation was on census in 1870 had settled in by then. 

I looked in the books INDEXs for surnames exactly like and sounding like the German surname.  THIRTY BOOKS and no mention of them.

I did find a family they had married with mentioned.  That family was in the Pennsylvania reserves, in the War of Independence, and were landowners as well as - some of them - in Find A Grave.  Also Germans.

If any of those 30 books had information, in particular a biography of a family member in it from the original group of immigrants, it might have been very valuable information. 

Posts in this series will be brought up using the label PA-GERM research path

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All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights

Woe! I had to go back in to repost a couple hours after the first post as some information got scrambled. Forgive me!