Home Is Where the Heart Is: Exploring Home Sources for Research
Home is where the heart is—especially in successful genealogical pursuits.Advances in technology have provided us with remarkable databases of millions of names and an almost equal number of document images. Web pages and intuitive search interfaces are valuable to both novice and experienced researchers. But not to be lost in all these good things is the value of “home sources.”Home sources—items found around the house like diaries, yearbooks, passports, photographs, letters, and family Bibles—are still among the best first places to explore for genealogical information and unique sources of data. Genealogists should look upon the home setting much like a crime scene investigator—carefully and methodically.
People—The Heart of the Home
When investigating a particular family line, good genealogists should interview every family member they can identify. No one should be deemed so inconsequential as to warrant being passed over.We often hear family members lament the fact that they have no one to talk to about the family’s genealogy. Frequently, what they are really saying is that they are not aware of any older members of the family with whom they can speak. What they forget is that they can also extract valuable information from cousins, nephews, and nieces. The children and grandchildren of uncles and aunts may have had all kinds of information passed down through their family lines that others in the extended family may have no knowledge of. And the possibility exists that in talking with younger family members of related or collateral lines, you will learn of previously-unknown older family members with tremendous treasure-troves of family data.It is amazing to note how many people there are who haven’t spoken with more than one family member about their family’s history and how many others haven’t even started to explore all of their home sources.
Interviewing family members about genealogy requires prope r preparation to net beneficial results. All-purpose questions and requests like “Tell me everything you know about Grandpa” net mediocre results at best.
Instead, ask personal, direct questions. Ask open-ended questions—try to never ask a question that can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” Divide the life of the person being interviewed into stages or segments, and craft questions for each segment to maximize results.
Consulting books and websites on interviewing family members for genealogical purposes can help you craft appropriate questions. The Library of Congress’s American Memory site links to a number of interviewing and oral history projects such as “The Grandparent/Elder Project” that have a host of useful questions you can borrow. Dick Eastman and others have published questions available on RootsWeb. JewishGen InfoFile on the Web contains another set of nearly one hundred questions.
When looking for details about a particular person, a crime scene investigator would question all other people “involved with” the crime. In the same manner, as a genealogical investigator, you should ask specific questions of all individuals “involved with” the ancestor you’re researching. Such questions could include the following:
- What is your earliest memory of Grandpa?
- What did you used to like doing with Grandpa?
- What did family members say about Grandpa?
- What did Grandpa most like to do? What did he least like to do?
- Where were you when Grandpa died?
The more specific an open-ended question is, the more information you will get, and the more opportunity you will have to ask meaningful follow-up questions.Try to make the interview more conversational rather than a simple question-and-answer session. A great way to do this is to have photographs, letters, and other memorabilia present at the interview—there is nothing like actually seeing a photo, an old baseball glove, or some other personal possession to bring back memories.Looking for Clues
Using a crime scene investigator strategy, there should be nothing of the ancestor’s that escapes a critical look. Collections of letters can provide names and locations for further investigation. Identified photographs are a treasure but don’t forget to carefully look through the albums (or shoeboxes) of unidentified photos. Even the photos that may be identified only by a place and date could point to another area to research.An old yearbook on a closet shelf should elicit some questions. Why is it here? What family members are listed inside? A box of old newspaper clippings should be sorted by date and location. Even if the individuals in the clipping aren’t known, check for mentions of geographic areas, organizations, or specific groups of people. Medals, certificates, ribbons, and awards may point to military service, meritorious work performance, or interest in a hobby. Pay stubs may point to employment records as well.While conducting my own research, I came across an extraordinary communiqué—a twenty-three page progressive letter written between eight of nine siblings in their twilight years. The letter provided wonderful details of the “good ol’ days” on the “home place” in rural Kentucky, including a discussion of early school days, mining activities, political happenings, and places the family used to frequent. Without careful exploration, I may have never found this jewel of a document.
Leaving Home
In addition to exploring the nearly endless lists of clues in the traditional home, you may want to consider investigating other types of homes, when applicable, including orphanages, maternity homes, soldiers’ homes, and institutions.The records kept by these non-traditional homes can include official records such as admissions and discharges, payments, employee lists, and resident rosters. These homes may have also produced published records such as annual reports and compiled histories and may become the heart of your research.For example, there are millions of adoptees in the United States, many of whom did not have traditional homes during their formative years. Some of these individuals may have been raised in orphanages or maternity homes, and such institutions should be explored to uncover near-home sources of information. True, finding and accessing the records of orphanages and maternity homes can be challenging, but it is well worth the effort even if only small pieces of information are discovered.
Accessi ng extant institutional records of orphanages and maternity homes is best done employing a consistent strategy. First, identify any such institutions that may have existed in your area of research. While dated, consulting Adoption Agencies, Orphanages, and Maternity Homes: An Historical Directory (Garden City, N.Y.: Phileas Deigh, 1981) will give you an idea of the institutions that existed along with affiliation data and location information. Second, look for published histories and annual reports of the institutions that might be housed in area public and academic libraries as well as state libraries and the libraries and reading rooms of area religious organizations. And third, explore all published histories of the area.
Soldiers who became indigent or unable to care for themselves often sought aid in another kind of home—soldiers’ homes. These institutions often kept detailed records and reported their activities in published annual reports. If the veterans’ or soldiers’ home is still in operation, querying the specific institution is a good first step. Identify the person for whom you are seeking information and inquire about available records. Identifying yourself as a direct descendant may help. Also ask if published annual reports of the institution (if still in operation) are available. If not, check the holdings of the local public library, historical society, or state library. Remember that some annual reports of soldiers’ homes have also been published as government documents, either state or federal.
The Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the National Soldiers’ Home for the fiscal year ending 30 June 1882 is an amazing federal government document (47th Congress, 2nd Session, House of Representatives, Misc. Doc. No. 13). It contains details about the operation of the home and its branches including money spent, rules and regulations enforced, operational reports of its four branches, and even how many typ es of citizen employees as well as military employees and officers were engaged for services and goods.
Perhaps the most consequential part of the report is the detailed information about the veterans themselves. The report also includes each facility’s list of “effects of deceased inmates,” for example: “Sophie Stephenson, daughter, for effects of James Eutrican, War of 1812”; “Jacob Hoff and Mary Zehner, children, for effects of George Hoff, late Company A, Fortieth Ohio”; and “P. A. Burke, overseer of the poor, of Karns City, PA, for $87.89, funeral expenses of Andrew J. Kistler, late Company F, Seventy-Eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers.”
Plus, the majority of the publication is devoted to lists of all the residents of the National Home facilities. Each state’s veterans are listed together by unit. And each soldier’s entry provides his full name (including aliases when known); his company, rank, and length of service; the state or country where he was born along with his age; his pension per month; his disability; when he was admitted; and his status.
In previous generations, schools for people who were mentally or physically challenged often doubled as homes for these individuals. The records of these schools can be extensive. As with veterans’ homes, a significant number of these schools published annual reports; and further, if these annual reports are extant, they can be found as state government documents in the state libraries where the schools existed and in the collections of major research libraries.
When exploring these institutional records, you may find nativity information for the residents, the names of one or both parents, the hometowns of the residents, their dates of admission, and sometimes even the cause of their disability. Occasionally, particularly in reports for schools of the deaf and dumb, you’ll find lists of residents w ho were involved in extracurricular activities and even a photograph.
Some institutions have published extensive histories which provide even more details about students, their hometowns, and their accomplishments both at the school and beyond. For example, Indiana School for the Deaf, 1843–1994, Sesquicentennial: A Commemorative Yearbook and Historic MSD: The Story of the Missouri School for the Deaf, both list details about the students and their lives. You may also be able to find more information on the Internet in sources like DeafBiographies.com.
Regardless of where the “home” is, remember that thorough research requires more than just looking around. Conducting an investigation that gets to the heart of the matter, and uncovers clues buried deep inside an ancestor’s home, is a sure way to reap the greatest research rewards.
Curt B. Witcher, MLS, FUGA, is the Historical Genealogy Department Manager at the Allen County Public Library and a former president of both the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the National Genealogical Society.
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