Voting Registers Help to Fill Gaps Between Censuses

One of the new genealogy record collections on Ancestry.com is California Voter Registrations, 1900-1968.  Since my family history includes California, this is an exciting new database for me to explore.   I did a quick search to see if my mom, Jill Cimino would show up in the database.  I was disappointed that I could not find her.

I read the background information about the Voter Registers and learned why I could not find Mom.  The records for Sacramento County range from 1900 to 1944.  My mother did not reach voting age until 1956.  It appears that my grandparents would be better subjects for investigation given these dates.  I then searched Elaine Kelly in Sacramento County.  I immediately found previews of three results that matched in 1940, 1942 and 1944.  The actual register page for 1940 is below:

You can see here that Elaine Kelly is listed at the same address as her husband, George W. Kelly.  They apparently had differing political views since Grandma was a Democrat and Grandpa was a Republican.  This listing of both husband and wife show how the Voting Registers are similar to a census record because all the registered voters in the household will be listed.  

One of the great new features on Ancestry.com is the ability to open up a filmstrip view of the record set.  Most of the digital images that have been collected at Ancestry.com have originated from microfilm.  The ability to scroll back and forth with the film strip view speeds up the process when you need to move around in the microfilm.  In this case I wanted to page back to the beginning of the electoral precinct.  The header shows the information that you can get from these voting registers including: Name, Occupation, Address and Political Affiliation.  Here is the first page of the precinct which shows the precinct number and the Assembly District at the top of the page and the filmstrip view is shown at the bottom of the page.

To show an example of a father and son listed together in a household, I searched for the surname Fairbanks in Sonoma County.  I found Hiram Talbert Fairbanks, my 3rd great grand uncle listed in Petaluma Township.   The image below shows that his son, Dolphes Brice Fairbanks was listed.  These earlier registers give the full names, ages and post office address but not the street address.  A scan of the other names in the precinct reveals that there were several relatives on the list.  The Hill and the Higbee families were related to H.T. Fairbanks.  

One thing you might notice is that there are no women on this page.  Women got the right to vote in California in 1911 so they start appearing in these registers in 1912.  

When you look at the image you will see that the registers from 1900 to 1912 are grouped together.

The only way to figure out the exact year is to page back in the register  and look for the date.  The filmstrip view makes it easier to see the title page as you are scrolling through the images.  Each of the precincts was listed alphabetically in this case.  Here is the title page which shows that this register was dated 1902:

I hope you have enjoyed this little primer in the use of the California Voter Register collection.  Please contact me if you have any questions about your family history.

City Directories Contain Pieces of Your Ancestor Puzzle

Twenty five years of experience has taught me many lessons when looking at family history records.  City directories are an example of a genealogical record that requires meticulous analysis.  On the surface, a city directory provides somewhat limited information about a family. City directory listings usually give the name, address and occupation of an individual.  Upon closer examination, you will see much more information in City Directories than you might expect.

For example, let’s use city directories to help piece together the puzzle of two of my ancestors.  The oral history passed down to me by my grandmother and grand aunt was that their mother, Mae Blanche Moss 1882-1963 and her mother Anne B. Lanstein Moss 1860-1922 lived in Sacramento in the 1890s.  There is a women named Annie that is listed in the Sacramento City Directory in the 1890s.  This could be my ancestor but I have not yet found any other records that would definitively corroborate that it is her.  If I could have found Annie and Mae residing at the same address that would have been more definitive but alas it is not to be at least for now.  I keep looking for more evidence.

Annie Moss in 1895 Sacramento City Directory

Mrs. Annie B. Moss in 1896 Sacramento City Directory

Mrs. Annie Moss in 1898 Sacramento City Directory

My grandmother and her sister also told me that Annie and Mae were living in San Francisco together during the 1906 Earthquake.  Mae had been working for Mr. C.L. Goetting in a fancy fruit and vegetable market as a cashier.  When the earthquake struck they had to evacuate their lodging near the current site of the Fairmount hotel  on Mason and California Street.  Mae was able to get a gentleman to help her carry her trunk up California Street.  Mother and daughter made their way to Golden Gate Park.  Eventually they were rescued by Mae’s fiancé, Ernest Coffman and taken to live with his aunt, Viola Coffman Hughes in Oakland.

 One way to verify that claim is to look her up in the City Directories of San Francisco.  In the 1900 San Francisco City Directory we find:

                Moss, Anne widow, r. 7 Liberty

Moss, Mary A. Miss, dressmaker, r. 7 Liberty

This seems very promising!  It is always wise however to continue to scan the listings for the surname to see if there are any others listed at the same address.  If we look a little closer we see:

Moss, William P., bookkeeper, r. 7 Liberty

Anne Moss & Mary Moss at 7 Liberty Street in 1900 San Francisco City Directory

Since Mary A. Moss is listed as a “Miss” it is clear that she is an unmarried woman.   It is very common to see widows enumerated in City Directories with their children in the same household.  We do not know for sure but we can theorize that Mary A. and William P. Moss are the children of the widow, Ann Moss. 

At first I thought these might be my people.  My great grandmother, Mae Blanche Moss was always a good seamstress but she worked as a cashier for most of her working life.  Is it possible that she tried her hand at dressmaking before settling in as a cashier?  Her name was Mae not Mary.  Her middle initial was “B” not “A”.  But it was awfully close to our family story.  Did Grandma Mae have a brother?  Why didn’t my grandmother and her sister mention him?  [SOURCE: 1900 Crocker-Langley Directory of San Francisco, page 1254 accessed on Ancestry.com. ]

I conducted an exhaustive search of the 1900 census to try to find this family.  I found the enumeration district of the census that includes the address 7 Liberty.  I searched all of the names on Liberty Street.  I found a listing for 9 Liberty Street but nothing for 7 Liberty.

The 1901 and 1902 directories of San Francisco are not available at Ancestry.com. 

In the 1903 Crocker-Langley Directory of San Francisco we find Miss Moss, the dressmaker is May not Mary.  That seems even more promising!

Moss, May A. Miss, dressmkg. 139 Post, r. 459 Guerrero

But her family is listed differently:

                Moss, Bridget, widow. r . 459 Guerrero

                Moss, Patrick W. r. 459 Guerrero

In the 1904 City Directory we can’t find Mary/May but we do find the following listings:

                Moss, Bridget widow, r 459 Guerrero

William P, tilesetter, r 459 Guerrero

Comparing 1900 with 1903 and 1904 directory listings we see variations in the names.  The dressmaker is seen in 1900 as Mary A. and in 1903 she is May A.  The widow Moss is first listed as Ann but later listed as Bridget.  The first listing for the presumed son is William P., the second listing is Patrick W. and the third listing is William P.

We found Bridget and William P. in the 1910 census with a new addition to the family.  William was again working as a tile setter which helps to confirm that this is indeed the same family.  The census listing follows:

1910 United States Federal Census about William P Moss

Name:  William P Moss

Age in 1910:        31

Birth Year:           abt 1879

Birthplace:          California

Home in 1910:   192 Douglas Street, San Francisco Assembly District 34, San Francisco, California

Race:     White

Gender:               Male

Relation to Head of House:          Son

Marital Status:   Single

Father's Birthplace:         Ireland

Mother's name:               Bridget A Moss

Mother's Birthplace:       Ireland

Household Members:   

Name    Age   Relation

Bridget A Moss 60  Head

William P Moss  31  Son

Margaret Moss 4  Granddaughter

Bridget is shown with a middle initial “A” which helps to tie the family together.  Most likely her full name was Bridget Anne Moss.  It is very common to see first names and middle names used interchangeably in genealogy records.

The census does show that William P. was indeed her son.  His full name is most likely, William Patrick Moss as we have seen with the names William and Patrick used interchangeably in the records.

However now that we know that Bridget Ann Moss was born in Ireland and that she had a son, William Patrick Moss born 1879 in California, it appears fairly certain that this is not my family.  Annie Lanstein Moss and her daughter, Mae Blanche Moss came to California in 1890.  There is nothing in our oral tradition about a brother nor is there anything about Irish heritage on the Moss line.  There is enough variation in the names to make it difficult to make these puzzles pieces fit together properly.

This analysis shows that genealogical research can be very painstaking work.  Sometimes you spend a lot of time analyzing records that don’t belong to your ancestors.  This can be very frustrating to those who prefer instant results.  However, this meticulous analysis is required to insure that we thoroughly prove that a record belongs to a particular ancestor.

So why are Mae Moss and her mother, Annie not showing up in the San Francisco City directory prior to the 1906 earthquake?   The story about Mr. Goetting seems to fit as there are plenty of records that show that he and his fruit and vegetable market did actually reside in the California Market.   Is it possible that Mae had another name?  She married Ernest Coffman in Oakland on the 5^th of February 1907 and the marriage record lists her as Mae Moss, resident of San Francisco.  Perhaps she had only recently arrived in San Francisco.   The mystery remains unsolved after 25 years of diligent effort.  Stay tuned for more episodes of this story.

California Market was a grand shopping market with meats, produce and groceries for the citizens of San Franciso. California Market covered an entire city block from Pine to California, between Montgomery and Kearny. Omey and Goetting offered domestic and tropical fruits and produce from Stalls 28, 29, 30, 67, 68, and 69 according to an advertisement appearing in the Council Cook Book dated January 1, 1909 and published by the San Francisco Section of the National Council of Jewish Women. This book was found on Google Books Extracted 3 Nov 2014

November Dates to Remember

Our daughter got married this weekend.  It was an extravaganza, a celebration par excellence.  Suzy and Todd were the third generation in our family to be married in November.  The dates include November 15, November 20 and November 25.  These three generations represent a combined total of 102 years of marriage.  Our family has a lot to celebrate this month.

We also celebrated Veterans Day on the 11th and in honor of the occasion, Fold3 has made  their World War II record collections available for free until November 30.  

Most of the major genealogy websites provide these free access periods and it is always a good opportunity to explore the wealth of records.

Mae Moss about 1903

November 1963 was a traumatic month for me.  November 9, 1963 was the day that my Great Grandma Mae Moss Coffman Forbes died.  On November 22 President Kennedy was shot.  I remember that many of the children in my elementary school were distraught and crying when we found out.  Grandma Helen Stewart Mayne died on November 23.  On November 24 the family was gathered in El Cerrito, California and we were watching the television reports about the assassination of President Kennedy.  Then we heard that Jack Ruby had killed Lee Harvey Oswald.

November 12, 1935 was my mother's birthday.  On her first birthday the family celebrated by driving from San Francisco to Oakland across the newly constructed Oakland Bay Bridge to visit her Grandma Mae.

Today, November 17 is my brother's birthday.  Happy Birthday Vince!

Vince Cimino

 November 20 is our anniversary.  I love you Robin!

Robin and Nick Cimino
November 20, 1976

Special events in your family life should be recorded in a timeline fashion. Intersperse those dates with events in our collective history that affect us all.  This will help to give the historical context to your family history.

Elephind.com & William Phebus, Oklahoma Lawman

Old newspapers can contain wonderful stories which illuminate the lives of our ancestors.  I use dozens of newspaper sites to conduct these searches but Elephind.com has been touted as the new "one stop shop" for newspaper searches.  Dick Eastman blogged about it this morning in his blog entitled: Eastman'sOnline Genealogy Newsletter.  Does Elephind.com truly allow you to search "all of the world’s digital newspapers from one place and at one time."

Eastman ran a simple search and the very first article on the list was from the San Francisco Call of 6 September 1891 about a Vermont moonshiner named Eastman:

• Darling Eastman, the long-sought-for Vermont moonshiner, is under arrest in this city. Eastman’s capture and escape at Corinth, Vt., last April, was the most sensational that has occurred in the State for twenty years. Orange County has been notorious for its stills. The most daring and successful operator in that section was J. Warren Eastman, who lived in an isolated quarter of Corinth. In April last a large posse of officers made a descent on the Eastman homestead. In an old blacksmith shop they discovered a still of the largest and most approved pattern in full operation. The father, Warren Eastman, his son Darling and his son-in-law were captured in their beds and heavily manacled.
• Eastman’s comment was: “Yes, that sounds like one of my relatives! Admittedly, I have never found this family in my family tree before but they certainly sound like they might belong.”

William Phebus 1868-1950
photo taken 5 Jul 1901 probably at his farm near Carbon, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory

The moonshine article reminded me of one of our family’s favorite ancestors: William Phebus, 1868-1950, who was an Oklahoma lawman who was particularly active during prohibition.  I put “William Phebus” into the search at Elephind.com and instantly found an article that I had not seen before in the Durant Weekly News of January 14, 1921:

GOOD CORN LIQUOR LOST

  A tip that an auto loaded with booze was due to go through McAlester between midnight Saturday and sun-up Monday morning, produced the biggest haul in many a day for James B. Dowell, federal enforcement officer, who along with William Phebus, chief of police of Krebs, and John Larison, McAlester officer, intercepted the auto at 3 o'clock Monday morning, getting sixty-nine gallons of corn whiskey.

  One of the men who gave the name of John Smith, of Hollis, Arkansas was captured, but the driver of the car eluded the officers.

The reason that I had not found this article before was that I had been focused on papers from Pittsburg County, Oklahoma.  Elephind.com had already proved its usefulness in one simple search.  However, I know from prior research at the Chronicling America website and the Gateway to Oklahoma History website that there were many more articles about William Phebus than the two articles found at Elephind.com.

I tried another search for “Phebus + McAlester” and a few more articles appeared but still not as many as I had already found.  Suffice it to say that Elephind.com is a helpful website for newspaper research but continue to use the search engines at the federal, state and local newspaper sites that seem to be emerging daily.

Heirloom Reunions

When I am browsing at antique shops or estate sales I always look for items that include names, dates and places that might help to identify their original owners.  Some of my favorites are photographs, family bibles, letters, and postcards.  I have also found several autograph books which tell very interesting stories about their original owners.

A recent example was an autograph book owned by a fourth grader named Carolyn Reeves.  Several of the early entries were dated 1957.  The name of her school was Sally Curtis and her home address was 725 Yount Street.  

A Google search for Sally Curtis School revealed Sally Curtis Elementary School at 6225 North Circuit Drive in Beaumont, Texas.  The Beaumont Enterprise featured an article dated Aug 27, 2012 – “Sallie Curtis Elementary opened this morning, bringing the district one step closer to finishing up the $389 million bond...”  This made me wonder if the school had been moved to a new location so I decided to look for a listing in the Beaumont City Directory on Ancestry.com.  The City Directory for 1957 listed Sally Curtis School at the same address.

A search of Google maps revealed that the Reeves home at 725 Yount was just a few blocks away from the school.  Looking for Reeves in the City Directory, I found that Carolyn’s parents were Eugene J. and Nalda Reeves.  Eugene was a chemical engineer at “Mag Pet Co.”  I was not sure what that abbreviation stood for so I went to the page with the “Mag” listings and found Magnolia Petroleum Company located at the east end of Burt Avenue in Southeast Beaumont, Texas.

Eugene & Nalda Reeves, 725 Yount Street, Beaumont, Texas City Directory

OK so now I was hooked on this little Ancestor Puzzle!  I began searching for all of the records that I could find on Eugene, Nalda and Carolyn Reeves.  I estimated that Carolyn was born about 1947 and that her father Eugene was born 25 years earlier in 1922.  Several searches later I ran across a listing on FindaGrave.com for Eugene Joseph Reeves born January 26, 1921 and died January 8, 2010.  The FindaGrave memorial included his obituary which stated that he was a chemical engineer.  He was survived by his wife Naldia Peteete Reeves of Beaumont and daughter Carolyn Jean Reeves of Clear Lake, Texas.

At the bottom of the FindaGrave memorial there was a “Family Link” to his daughter Carolyn Jean Reeves (1947-2011).  Carolyn’s obituary was also included on FindaGrave.  She was a math teacher at Clear Lake High School before her retirement.  She loved her family, playing blackjack, eating Mexican food, steamed crabs and traveling on cruises.  I contacted the husband of a friend who also retired from Clear Lake High School and they knew Carolyn very well.  He offered to arrange an “Heirloom Reunion” with a family member.

Do you have an heirloom that you would like to reunite with a descendant?  I have been able to facilitate many reunions by searching for descendants.  I would be happy to offer advice on your search or do the research if you prefer.  I have many more of these stories to tell. I enhance the stories with visual aids and it makes a fun presentation for your club or society meeting.

Who Are Your Saints?

“Oh When the Saints Go Marching In” is one of my favorite songs.  I want to be in that number!  Who were the saints in your life?  I can think of several.  First and foremost are my parents.  Mom and Dad gave us lots of love that sustains me every day of my life.  All of my grandparents were saints to me and I had seven!  One died before I was born.  I knew the other six really well.   I was closest to Grandpa Dick, Grandma Macy, Gram Elaine, and Grandpa George  in Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.  I loved going to San Francisco to visit Grandpa True and Grandma Helen  as a young child.  Are you thankful for your parents and grandparents?  Were you lucky enough to have a great grandparent in your life?  All Saints Day is a good time to honor your parents and grandparents.

Left to right: My great grandmother- Mae Moss Coffman Forbes, my great grand aunt-Viola Coffman Hughes, my grandfather- George Kelly, my grand aunt- Vivian Coffman McGrath, her husband- Lou McGrath and my "Gram Elaine"-  Elaine Coffman Kelly.

Mary McCrory Cimino and husband, Richard "Sebastiano" Cimino 1950

I had other saints in my life.   All of my teachers encouraged me and broadened my horizons.  I took an Italian language class in high school with Mrs. Tornabene.  She told me that I had the “most beautiful American accent.”  Lon Eakes was my favorite English teacher.  We read “Native Son” by Richard Wright and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”.  His class was transformative like no other.  Byron Clemons was our advisor for the Student Government class.  He complemented me on my contributions to the debates.  Did you have teachers that were saints in your life?  All Saints Day is a good time to thank them.

What about your leaders in sports or youth organizations?  My scoutmaster was Jack Myers.  He helped to instill the Scouting values such as trustworthiness, good citizenship, and outdoors skills, through a variety of activities such as camping, aquatics, and hiking.  He also encouraged me to be a leader and presented leadership training for our troop.  I will never forget the three steps for training fellow scouts that I learned in that class:  1) know your stuff, 2) show them how and 3) let them try.  What about your coaches and youth leaders?  All Saints Day is a good time to honor them.

I encourage you to comment on this blog or Facebook or Google Plus to remember the saints in your life.  All Saints Day is a good time to pay tribute to them.

All Hallows Eve 2014

Halloween or Hallowe'en, also known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve, is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. [Wikipedia]. 

In the Methodist Church, the word "saints" refers to all Christians, so for me All Saints Day is a celebration of all the Christians that have profoundly affected my life with acts of charity and mercy.  My grand aunt Aline Mayne Cavanagh 1902-1995 was a genealogy saint.  By the time I began my genealogy quest in 1989, my maternal grandfather, True Mayne had been long gone having passed away in 1967.  Fortunately I was able to connect with his sister, Aunt Aline.  She had preserved so much of the precious family history and she was eager to share it with me.

Left to right: The Mayne Siblings: Aline, Virgil, Paul, True [my grandfather], Joseph and David

Aline had books, letters and photographs that have truly become treasures to me.  She lived in Wilmington, Delaware at the Methodist Country Home.   She was in her late 80s when I first was able to visit with her at her home.   I sat with her and identified all of pictures that she had not already identified.  I asked her if I could borrow her family heirlooms so that I could copy them.  Fortunately she said yes.  I was able to get copies made of all of the material and then sent it back to her.

Some of the treasures included:  tintype photographs from the Civil War, letters written by Aline’s mother, Anna Elizabeth Banford Mayne in the 1890s, a letter describing the death of Aline’s great-grandmother, Ann Nevin in 1878 and dozens more photographs of Mayne and Banford family members.

Here is a transcription of the text of one of the letters that I received from Aunt Aline in 1990. Aline's note in the margin indicates that the letter refers to the death of her great-grandmother, Ann wife of Thomas NEVIN.  The letter has many misspellings.  I have left the spelling, punctuation and capitalization exactly as the author wrote it.

 April the 4 1878 

Dear cousin it is with pain that I right this evning or with distress for I will halve to tell you that death has bin a mong us and taken hour Dear granma away from us to heaven.  We buried her to day.  She took sick monday march the 24 and died thursday april the 3.  I received your kind and most welcom letter and was glad to here from you all and it was the 29 of march and on saturday and I red it to granma and she was glad to here from you.  She was on her death bed.

I will right more in a few days for I was up all night last night and I don't feel like righting mouch.  The doctors said her disease was old age and the stopping up of her breath.  She choked to death for want of getting breath. That was what killed her.

In my next letter I will tell you as mouch as I can and send you some picturs to and you must send me your pictur to or I will not send you any more.  I will right soon and I want you to right soon as you can.

So I must close for I am offel sleepy and I feel verry bad this evning.  Some of the family are going to the post office tomorrow.

So good by from your affectioned cousin.

S. T. Ashworth

Ann Nevin 1804-1878 and Anna Elizabeth Banford 1860-1938
Taken at J.P. Ball's Photographic Gallery, on 4th St. between Main & Walnut Streets, Cincinnati, Ohio.

After researching this letter for several years, I was able to discover that it was written by Stephen Thomas Ashworth 1859-1883 to his cousin [my great grandmother] Anna Elizabeth Banford.

Newspaper article describing the death of Stephen Thomas Ashworth.