Update for the mailbox waiting game

So a couple of weeks ago, I sent off for a copy of my grandfather, Wesley John Blom's death certificate.  I also sent off for my great-great grandfather, Arie Blom's death certificate and naturalization documents.

I still have not heard anything back regarding the death certificates, however one of the checks I mailed off has been cashed so hopefully I will see the one for my grandfather soon!

I did, however, get a letter today from the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Illinois's office regarding the naturalization documents.  They found the documents and were sending me a letter detailing the cost of photocopies and mailing fees, a total of $17.94.  So once again I am playing the waiting game as I mailed off the check this morning before going to the grocery store.  At least now I know the process a bit more so that when I go to order the naturalization documents of my great-great grandfather Henry J Moes, his wife Gertrude Hillegonds and Henry's mother Jennie, I will be better prepared. 

1900 US Federal Census handwriting...

I've been catching up on my source citations in my rootsmagic database, and I am struggling to figure out what the occupation of my 2nd great-grandfather Henry Moes is for the 1900 US Federal Census. 

The image I found on ancestry.com is below:

Year: 1900; Census Place: Chicago Ward 34, Cook, Illinois; Roll: T623_290; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 1115.


Anyone out there who thinks they know what the occupation is, I would be really grateful for the help!  

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - My Very Best 2010 Research

This post is in answer to Randy Seaver's posting on his Genea-Musings blog.

From his blog post:

It's Saturday Night again (I know, you just celebrated New Year's Eve - are you home for the night?) -- time for some Genealogy Fun (what else is there?)!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  Decide which of your (many?) genealogy research adventures was your "very best" (your definition). 

2)  Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Status report or comment on Facebook. 

I think mine would definitely have to be finally finding the marriage date of my great-grandparents John A. Blom and Jeanette Moes.  The Blom/Moes lines have always seemed to elude me ever since I started researching my family tree around 1996 and I had always gotten stuck trying to get past my great-grandparents. 

This past August I recently got back into researching my family with a passion, and after listening to hours and hours of podcast episodes of Genealogy Gems and The Genealogy Guys, I tried going about my research a little differently, using ideas heard throughout the shows I had been listening to.

I initially had guessed that my great-grandparents had been married between 1920 and 1930 based on the 1920 and 1930 US Federal Census Records I had found for each of my great-grandparents.  I had been browsing newspaper articles and on archives.com, had found an article in April of 1926 that had listed my great-grandmother Jeanette Moes under her maiden name.  Well, my grandfather was born on July 4, 1930.  I found my great-grandparents living together in the 1930 census with my Great Aunt Lois, so I knew by 1930 they were married. While browsing further newspaper articles though, I found a birth announcement for my grandfather's oldest sister, Lois from October of 1926.

Using this information I had successfully narrowed down the marriage date to being between April and October of 1926 but I still didn't have an exact date.  Until I found an index online of the Lake County, Indiana Marriage Indexes.  The index only listed up to 1920 but something compelled me to check anyways just in case, and wouldn't you know it... I found them!  Under both bride and groom listings there before my eyes on my laptop screen was the names, date of marriage, date of application, date the license was filed, the book and page numbers of the applications.  So, $3.00 plus a mailed request later, I was able to get my hands on the documents that confirmed that my great-grandparents were married on April 15, 1926 in Lake County, Indiana. 

What I realized after I reviewed the marriage license applications and the marriage certificate and re-visited the newspaper article mentioning my great-grandmother in April of 1926?  Great-Grandma was about 3 months pregnant with my Great Aunt Lois when they got married.  The "miscellaneous" shower mentioned in that April news article must have been in reference to both a bridal and baby shower unless I am mistaken on that.  

I think the above case is my best research of 2010 because I had to use several different sources to investigate and narrow down the exact date that my great-grandparents were married.  It was so exciting when I finally found them in the marriage index, and I'm sure my husband thought I was crazy when I did my little genealogy happy dance the day the marriage documents had finally arrived in the mail to confirm what I had found in the marriage index and proving just how useful the research techniques I had learned from the podcast episodes were. 

Monday Mailbox

So my husband checked the mail this morning and a couple of documents I had been waiting on have finally arrived!

The first document was the death certificate for my great-great grandfather John A. Blom. 

A few posts back, I posted a copy of my great-great grandfather's obituary and looking over the death certificate it looks like a great deal of that information is confirmed by this.  More importantly, I now have an exact date of birth rather than just the year of birth for him.  Next up on my todo list for my great-great grandfather is a copy of his birth certificate and his SS-5.  Eventually I also want to track down academic records for him from Northwestern University and I imagine there will be quite a few church records to track down as well.  

The other documents I received in the second envelope were the marriage license applications for both great-great-grandparents, John A. Blom and Jeanette Moes, as well as their marriage certificate: 

 

So now, after looking over the applications, I am wondering what my 3rd great-grandfather Henry Moes was a Foreman of.  I am also wondering what a Hod Carrier (sp) is as that is the occupation of my other 3rd great-grandfather Arie Blom.   

Isn't it funny how answering questions in genealogy generally leads to more questions?

Hidden Gems in Plain Sight

I have been searching extensively for a few months trying to track down the marriage date of my great-grandfather John A. Blom and great-grandmother Jeanette Moes without much luck.  That is... until earlier today!

I was browsing around at archives.com and found a couple of newspaper articles from The Hammond Times paper, and in April of 1926 my great-grandmother was mentioned under her maiden name because her friends threw her a "miscellaneous" shower.  A few months later in October of 1926 there was a birth announcement mentioning my great-grandparents being the parents of a 9 pound baby girl.  This information matched what I had already narrowed down by census records.  I had guessed that my great-grandparents had been married sometime between 1920 and 1930 as on the 1920 Census my great-grandmother was still using her maiden name Moes, and in the 1930 Census she was living with her husband and daughter. 

I decided to do a search for Lake County, Indiana marriage indexes because I knew that both great-grandparents had died in Indiana and had spent a lot of time living in the Lake County area.  I came across a site containing the Lake County, Indiana Marriage Book Index with links to listings both by Groom's surname and Bride's surname.  I wasn't sure I would find anything as most references to the Indiana Marriage indexes seemed to show the latest year to be 1920, however I decided to look anyways just to see.

Well, it turns out, I hit the jackpot!  I found them listed in both links with the same information!  I now know that I will need to a copy of page 77 of book 59 for their marriage that occurred April 15, 1926 in Lake County, Indiana.  I am going to be sending that request by mail on Monday morning, and I can't wait to have it in my hands!

Narrowing down a date and place

So I have been trying without luck so far to find when and where my great grandparents on the Blom line. 

My great grandmother Jeanette Moes is found under her maiden name living with a different family in the 1920 US Federal Census.  In the 1930 US Federal Census she is found living with my great grandfather John A. Blom and their daughter. 

So at least I have narrowed down the decade.  Now I just need to find the date and place. 

Double the Records... Double the Fun

Well, it has been a few days since I last posted and since then I have researched the other two records I found over at familysearch.org.  After consulting my Uncle Mike, it seems I have found the digitized birth records for my great-grandmother Jeanette "Jennie" Moes.  Not only did I find the birth certificate, but the site also had the digitized pages from the birth registry so I was able to save a copy of the birth register page for her as well.  The register page was a little harder to read but it is still fascinating to have nonetheless. 

Here is the birth certificate, and the reason I know it is hers is because not only does the birth date match the information I already had, but so do the parents names and parents birthplaces.

And here is the page from the Register of Births.

I highly recommend that if you have not tried searching over at familysearch.org that you start now!  I never thought the site would have anything useful on my lines but boy was I wrong.  I am definitely glad I started looking there.