Mappy Monday -- Location Counts

When researching an ancestor, knowing where they lived can be important to identifying both them and other family members. Maps are a wonderful tool for location, when they can be found. I had a find in a series of 1875 newspaper articles, but needed to use a map to see if my ancestor was the man identified.

Was George Fostler, an old German tenant farmer who found gold, my ancestor, George Vossler? Combing through three newspaper articles, here are the clues:

• Published July, 1875
• Old German tenant on farm
• 3.5 miles west of Decatur, IL

• Has boys
• Lives on the Springfield Road

• Lives on 88 acres purchased by Kepler from Martin Forstmyer

• Limited ability to speak English

•  Mention of John Hostetler

Where did George Vossler live during the 1870 census, five years previously? We see that George Fossler is living next door to John Hostetler, both in Decatur Township, Macon County, Illinois. He has several young boys in his household and he was born in Wuerttemberg. Already, without a map, it seems like the same man. Having all these clues, I needed a map, which fortunately I already had collected. The newspaper told me where to look, something I had never known before.

This Decatur Township map is from 1874, about four years after the census and one year before the newspaper article. This map was available on microfilm from the LDS Family History Centers and recently showed up on an old map website, also.

The regular layout of square miles in Illinois makes it easy to see that 3 and a half miles west of downtown (the black area) is near the west edge of Decatur Township. Working with the full-sized map, I looked along the road to Springfield and was easily able to find M. Forstmeyer, with 87 acres next to J. Hostetler. Israel Gring was above Hostetler on the 1870 census and the map shows some of his property on the other side of Hostetler.

All clues taken together led me to the conclusion that George Vossler had indeed been misspelled as Fostler, similar to the misspelling on the 1870 census. The map validated that my assumption was correct.

These old landowner maps are a wonderful resource. Be sure to look for them as you research farmers and landowners in your family.

Simple Saturday

It's just simple to pick Simpson. 

That was the gist of a tongue-in-cheek email comment I received on my previous post. Unfortunately, when researching family history, simple is not always right. With the two-men / same-name problem, simple is a word that just does not apply. Interestingly, we also learn far more about our families when the research is difficult and we delve deeply into time and place.

If you have this sort of problem, it's essential to examine every piece of evidence and try to assign it to the right man.

If I were to ignore the Ancestry users who chose Simpson Alexander as the father of Thomas Jefferson Alexander, I would not be doing thorough research myself. Although I've studied this problem for over 10 years, it was important to see what everyone else has found.

Revisiting the Ancestry public trees, I looked at the sources cited for Jeff, Simpson and other family members. I found not one shred of evidence that was new to me. The most often cited sources were "that person said so" and census records.

Using a census record is acceptable, but when there are two conflicting census records, choosing one and ignoring the other is incorrect. You can't just ignore it as an inconvenient truth. Also, remember that a census record is not a primary source. So by disregarding census records and other users as sources, there is no evidence. None.

What evidence does exist?

One key record has recently come online for our use. Jefferson Alexander's error-filled death certificate names his parents as Sampson Alexander and Beulah Ann Nix.

You say, well there's your proof -- no need for further debate!

Did you know that a death certificate is not considered a primary record for the birth of the deceased? If the informant is a parent, it's more likely to be accurate than when the informant is a child, sibling or spouse.

In this case, the informant is his wife, Rebecca. The errors on the death certificate include Jeff's first name and his birthplace. Those glaring errors then make the entire document suspect and leave his parents names still open to debate.

In the absence of any other evidence, this is the one record we have found to rely on. Interestingly, a few of the Ancestry users had attached this death certificate as a source, yet kept Simpson and Delilah as the parents.

Now we learn that Sampson is the simpler choice, but is he the right choice?
 

DNA Endgame? Maybe Not!

There's a lot of buzz in the genealogy community right now about DNA and that trend is not going away. A recent technology article at The Verge predicts that DNA will end genealogy research, as we know it, within the next twenty years. It makes sense that DNA genealogy will change how we research and document our family history, but I don't see it ending the hard research.

Picture my granddaughter, 40 years from now, deciding she wants to know about her heritage. She gives a DNA sample to the premier testing company and within minutes she receives a pretty printout of her family tree. But think about what's on that chart. Where did the information come from?

That's right. You got it. The family tree of tomorrow is born from the research that we and our cousins are doing today and sharing with companies and organizations such as Ancestry, Family Search, My Heritage, and many more. The accuracy and completeness of our research will be critical to future generations.

I decided today to gather some statistics on one of my longest-standing puzzles. The two-men / same-name puzzle is often very hard to solve and this one is made even more difficult by the previous generation.

We have two cousins named (Thomas) Jefferson Alexander born a year apart, with fathers Simpson and Sampson. The fathers may have been twins, brothers or cousins. My ancestor married Rebecca. But who were his parents? Jeff and Rebecca had many children, but not a one was named for grandparents.

On Ancestry.com today there are 30 public trees and 8 private trees showing Jeff with wife Rebecca and the right death date. There are perhaps 20 others with a death date and no wife, or with no death date.

Focusing only on the first 38 trees, 39% have no parents for Jeff. I applaud those researchers for not taking the easy route!

By far, most researchers have chosen Simpson as the father. Only one has chosen Sampson.There is one record that strongly suggests Sampson is the correct father, but it's a secondary document. Yet it is the best source known today. My own "no parents" is changing to "Sampson".

What tree will my granddaughter receive in 40 years? Will it be Simpson based on "votes"?

DNA may definitively solve this puzzle someday, based on the wives of Simpson and Sampson. For now, continued research in obscure record sets is the only way to unravel this tangled tree.