As I write our series of tips about how to do Civil War genealogy, I think regularly about my own ancestors in the Civil War. My great great grandfather, Newell Elijah Gile, comes to my mind very often. He fought hard to receive an adequate pension for wounds he received during the conflict. I imagineContinue reading “My Ancestor’s Struggles with the Civil War Pension Office”
Tag Archives: Kansas
Caroline Gile’s Scrapbook
This is my great-great grandmother, Caroline Jane Webber Gile, as a new mother with her first child, as an old widow with her grandson, and a scrapbook with poems and jokes she collected from newspapers, no doubt to help her smile and carry on in her widowhood and old age. She experienced much tragedy inContinue reading “Caroline Gile’s Scrapbook”
The Cliffords, Part 2: Family Scandal
This is a continuation of my account on the Clifford family. For more information, see Part 1. In 1878, Sophia Clifford sold the land that she and Lewis had bought in Iowa. Apparently her sons (Fred was 20 and Charles was 15) wanted to seek more opportunities out west rather than stay and work theContinue reading “The Cliffords, Part 2: Family Scandal”
Can Census Records be Wrong?
Featured Image: Taking the Census. Illustration in Harper’s Weekly, 1870. Found in Library of Congress Digital Collection. A few decades ago, it was very difficult to find one’s ancestor in a census record. You had to go to an archive or library and really know what you were looking for to find the record. Today,Continue reading “Can Census Records be Wrong?”
Why You Should Share Your Family History Online
Martha Bryan was the one ancestor my grandmother could never find. Her great-grandmother on her direct maternal line, and she only knew her married name. After my grandmother passed away and I caught the family history bug at around twelve years old, I was determined to break down the brick walls she had left behind.Continue reading “Why You Should Share Your Family History Online”
Little Jonnie Lathrop, or, Child Deaths in Great Plains Genealogy
This is my great-great-grandmother, Caroline Jane (Webber) Gile. I love this picture. Usually in pictures this old the people don’t really smile. Old photos of babies usually have them by themselves or in mother’s lap. Half the time baby is blurred out because she is moving too much for the camera to focus. But inContinue reading “Little Jonnie Lathrop, or, Child Deaths in Great Plains Genealogy”
The Handwritten Past
My Grandpa lives in a little brick house in a small town in Kansas. Just outside of town is the land where his grandfather first built a Kansas homestead. Grandpa has driven us grandkids around on those dirt roads in Kansas and showed us that old homestead. On that homestead lay the ruins of theContinue reading “The Handwritten Past”