Shedding Those Genealogical Pounds

     

     As we move many of our genealogical tasks to digital formats, some of the tools we used years ago become obsolete.  They retreat further and further into the backs of drawers, closets, and attics, rarely to be seen.  Among those items in my household which qualify are:  more than one typewriter, the personal microfilm reader (this was sold by a microfilm rental company which has long been out of business), and the plastic film canisters (have kids now ever seen rolls of film?) filled with quarters and dimes, for those library jaunts requiring many trips to the copy machine.

     I ran across one item that I've decided to let go, but not without a pang of regret.  This is a briefcase given to me as a gift by my mother, Joan L. Eckerson Anderson, in the very early 1980s, at the start of my genealogical career.  It's nothing special in terms of value or appeal:  the brand is an Airway, and it seems to have been constructed of imitation everything.  But, its significance to me is that it represents the support and love of my mom.  She found my work in genealogical research something to be proud of.

     Recently, I finished Geoff Rasmussen's book, Kindred Voices, in which he talks about letting your ancestors guide you in your search for their stories.  He referenced a funny quote I'd never heard before.  It's something like, "I've never seen a U-Haul following a hearse," which is another way of saying you can't take it with you.  My mother ignored this, and really did try to take it with her.  Now that she's gone, however, I believe I can let the briefcase go without causing hurt feelings.
     She did leave me something to replace it with, in a roundabout way.  My sister sent me this lovely leather case that had been in my mom's house:  one of her thrift shop finds.  I had glanced at it once and admired its handsome construction.  The rumor was that it had belonged to a college instructor.  Its nearly-new condition may have had something to do with the fact that it weighs about 40 pounds empty!
     This Christmas season it found a new purpose:   housing a stuffed animal collection.  I'll find other ways to re-purpose it during different times of the year.  While this may be a comedown from the halls of academia, it's far better than hiding in the dim shadows of the closet, banished by the iPad.  
     

 Thanks, Mom!

Three Little Channell Girls

     My great grandmother is one of the three little girls pictured here.  From left to right they are:  Estella Rachel Channell Eckerson, 1878-1965, Emma Alice Channell Eshom, 1881-1958, and Mary Margaret Channell, 1875-1884.  They were the daughters of Edward Channell and Jane Foglesong, who had married in Van Buren County, Iowa.  The whole family came to Washington Territory in September of 1881, settling in Centralia, Lewis County.  As Mary Margaret only lived one day past her ninth birthday, she must not have lived very long after the visit to the photographer.  Note that the photography studio was "over Skidmore's Drug Store," in Portland, Oregon.  I love the prop fence, and the roll of hay-like material the toddler is sitting on.
     "Stella" Eckerson lived the longest of the three girls, which meant our lives actually overlapped for a time.  I, of course, remember her as an old, old, woman.  If you'd told me she was 150 years old, I probably would have believed you, but in reality she was in her eighties.  Her only son and her granddaughter, my mother, inherited her long, bony wrists.  All three of them looked very much alike in old age.  I remember our family going in the summer to visit her at her house, two states away, where she was always kind and welcoming, although I believe she had a rather wry wit.  She also came to California on a visit, very late in her life.  We have a few photos of her during that time.  She had on a dress, nylon stockings, and dress pumps; I don't think she owned any pants.  I remember her always in a dress of some sort, and a cover-all type of apron.
     Living alone, her one weakness seemed to be a collection of "Radio-TV Mirror" magazines.  Looking at copies online brings a smile:  they're filled with ads for products like Listerine and girdles, and have a lot of gossipy tidbits about the celebrities of the time.  The one I saw featured Art Linkletter on the cover.
     My great-grandmother lived a life that observed many changes, moving across the country from small-town Iowa to a different Territory, a country at war more than once, a long widowhood, the dawn of the space age, and being kept company by broadcast entertainment.
     A very long time, indeed, since she was the solemn little girl in the photograph.

Estella, Emma, & Mary Channell, l. to. r.
Photo in possession of the author

"New" Eckerson house - 100 years later

Pursuing our ancestors in the local newspapers of the time can reward us with some pretty specific nuggets, particularly if our relations lived in a small town.  The editors were always on the lookout for something to fill up the pages, some of which was pretty mundane ("Mr. Smith was in town yesterday doing business at the post office...he reports a fine litter of pigs was born at his place.").

One such item of interest to me appeared in the Centralia Daily Chronicle (Lewis County, Washington).  The issue of Friday, November 7, 1913 published this brief entry:

The Mr. and Mrs. Eckerson, were John and Estella Channell Eckerson, parents of Harold L. Eckerson.  Harold was 11 when they moved into the house, which was located on Harrison Avenue in Centralia.

This photo shows how the house looked some time later, after some shrubbery had matured.

John & Stella Eckerson house, Harrison Avenue, Centralia, WA

Stella was widowed in 1922, and lived out much of the rest of her life in the house alone, except for the period of time she offered room and board to her bachelor uncle, Sam Channell.

Sadly, the house declined over time, and  is now the home of a used car lot, with traffic whizzing by on the widened road.  Going to visit today is like picking a scab, you know you shouldn't do it, but you can't help it.  Interesting to note that some of the leaded glass panes are still in place.

Two different bookends to the life of a house:  the newspaper announcement of a fresh beginning, and its final chapter as a forlorn sales office.

Levi Eckerson Bamber - Man in Motion

The "FAN" approach to ancestral research (Family, Associates, & Neighbors) teaches us to widen the net in gathering information.  Studying people beyond our direct ancestors can often yield clues to the puzzle.  And, making the effort always adds a richness and texture to the story, when learning about family members in the context of a certain time and place.   

I had put aside the family of Mary Eckerson Bamber, daughter of my direct ancestor, Levi Eckerson, when the trail went cold many years ago.  Picking up the threads of her story again, I was fascinated by the journey taken by her son, Levi Eckerson Bamber.  I am frankly unsure how I would ever have followed his trail, without having learned to use the variety of digitized and indexed sources that are now available online.

Looking at the events in the lives of Levi E. Bamber and his family, one can imagine that being on the move probably took a toll.  I wonder whether they all moved together, or did the family break apart permanently at some point.  Did his wartime experience have an impact on his emotions?

I created this table to remind me how much more there is to a family tree, besides just going backwards in time.  

LEVI ECKERSON BAMBER - MAN IN MOTION

Date	Location	Comment
17 July 1850	Franklinville, Cattaragus Co., NY federal census	Age 5.  Living with parents John & Mary Eckerson Bamber, and siblings.
1855	Nora Twp., Jo Daviess Co., IL state census	Age bracket of 10-20.  Living with parents John & Mary Eckerson Bamber, and siblings.
27 July 1860	Centre, Lafayette Co., WI federal census	Age 14.  Living with parents John & Mary Eckerson Bamber, and siblings.
25 Dec 1861	Enlistment, age probably no more than 16.  Living in Darlington, Lafayette Co., WI	Enlisted in Company I, Wisconsin 16th Infantry Regiment.  Regiment raised in Madison, WI. Musician.  Regiment saw service at Battle of Shiloh (TN) and many others.
Winter, 1864-1865	Camp Joe Holt Hospital, Clarksville, Indiana	20 years later, an army comrade sought Levi Bamber’s address, indicating they met here about this time.
13 April 1865	Jeffersonville, Clark, Indiana.  Directly across the river from Louisville, KY	Married (1) Mary J. Mitchell.  Did this marriage officially end, before his second?  Was it a wartime romance, which ended with his departure from the area?  Did she die shortly after the wedding?
12 Jul 1865	Louisville, KY	Mustered out (two months after his wedding in the vicinity)
4 July 1869	Kane Co., IL	Married (2) Josephine Peck
19 August 1870	Plato, Kane Co., IL federal census	Age 24 - Farmer & Dentist.  With wife and 1 child.
27 February 1873	North Plato, Kane Co., IL	Appointed postmaster (new postmaster assigned 1877).
1 November 1876	Alameda Co., CA great register of voters	Age 29 (1847?).  Clearly registered as “Bamber, Levi Eckerson.”  Nativity, New York.
1 November 1876	Alameda Co., CA great register of voters (another print version).	As above.
7 July 1879	Twp. 3, Amador Co, CA great register of voters.	Age 31 (1848?).  Nativity, New York.
11 June 1880	San Rafael, Marin Co., CA federal census	Age 34 – Dentist.  With wife and 5 children, all living with brother-in-law, Edgar Peck.
1882	Denver, Colorado	Listed in city directory as dentist.
1883	Denver, Colorado	Listed in city directory as dentist.
1 June 1885	El Paso County, Colorado state census.	37 – Dentist.  Described as a “bachelor” and divorced.  Living alone.
17 July 1887	Colorado	Filed for pension.
1887-1890	Steamboat Springs, Ruott Co., CO.  Death presumably took place in this area during this time.  Unsourced genealogy forum posting states he died crossing the Colorado River on horseback.	There is a listing for an L.E. Bamber in the Steamboat Springs Cemetery, per FindaGrave.com.  No dates.  Probably about 45 years of age at time of death.
1890	St. Michael, Madison Co., MO	Widow Josephine listed on Civil War pension enumeration.

Blauvelt Family - Genealogy to Gossip, in Record Time

It's like opening a buried treasure chest, every time I attempt to track down some documentation from my ancient file folders.  The original goal becomes forgotten, as I page through various scraps of paper, some of which are gems.

Take this example:  through my Eckerson ancestors, I apparently connect to several Dutch New York surnames, one of which is Blauvelt.  The Eckerson and Blauvelt names occur regularly throughout colonial New York, so I'm certainly not unique.  I admired how quickly this little paragraph, about a published Blauvelt family history, went from establishing its source citation, to some juicy gossip.

"BURIED IN THE LIBRARY.  In the Library of Congress is a document entitled The Blauvelt Family Genealogy, which covers the history of the family from 1620 to 1956.  Published in 1957, it can be found under Catalog Card No. 56-10936.  On Page 884, under the title "Eleventh Generation" is the notation of the 12,427 descendent (sic) - Durie Malcom.  It reads "We have no birth date.  She was born Keir (my note:  obit says Kerr), but took the name of her stepfather.  She first married Firmin Deslodge, IV.  They were divorced.  Durie then married F. John Bersbach.  They were divorced, and she married, third, John F. Kennedy, son of Joseph P. Kennedy, one time Ambassador to England.  There were no children of the second or third marriages.  Official records show that Kennedy was married on September 12, 1953 to Jacqueline Lee Bouvier.  But there are no records of Kennedy divorcing Durie."

One might question a book that offers so little evidence, but perhaps the newspaper author whittled it down for the purpose of brevity.

I didn't note the date this was published, but since the next article is about the Michelangelo computer virus, (which would affect DOS programs!), I've determined that it must have been about February/March of 1991.   I had cut the Blauvelt piece out and tossed it into a folder which contains a hodge-podge of vaguely-related Eckerson material,  mysteriously titled "permanent holding."  Perhaps that means:   hang onto it until you need it, or forget why you wanted it!

Naturally, I had to do a Google search on this individual.  The rumor is very well-known.  Durie's obituary from 2008 tells of a pretty worldly existence, which sounded like a TV miniseries.  It says she denied the Kennedy rumor, but what it really states is that she never talked about it.

Lambert Eckerson: party animal?

     Over the years, I've come to think of my distant ancestors as not having much dimension.  While I admire them tremendously for facing the hard work, financial setbacks, and personal loss many of them experienced, none of what I learned about them suggested much time devoted to "fun."  As genealogists, we access things like census, land, court, and vital records, most of which make for matter-of-fact reading.  The pictures available to us are usually formal poses, with the subjects frozen into rather stern expressions.

     So, imagine the jolt I got, when I read the following article published in the Hornellsville (NY) Weekly Tribune of 20 October 1899.  It reprints an advertisement for a dance to be held in January of 1847, with tickets available "at the bar" for $1.50.  My ancestor, Lambert Eckerson, is listed among the managers of the committee hosting the event, which started at 1:00 p.m. and continued into the following morning.  The 1899 comment is that the venue was "the hottest old place in that section of the county." 

     Lambert Eckerson, 1821-1903, was almost two years away from his wedding to Harriet Graves at the time of the dance.  Would she have been allowed to attend such an event?  She would have been 21 at the time, but perhaps being in the vicinity of "the hottest old place" wasn't encouraged!

     Another smile when taking a peek into the lives of my ancestors.

    

Naming children for public figures

Among my ancestors are those who not only honored earlier generations by naming children after them, but also mined the names of public figures for inspiration.  A few samples:
     Benjamin Franklin Singer, 1840-1924
     Francis Marion Singer, 1841-1903
These were the half-siblings to my ancestor, Allen Ives.  Named for two American patriots of an earlier generation, the famous statesman and inventor, and "The Swamp Fox" of military fame during the Revolution.
     Thomas Jefferson Eckerson, born about 1827
     Andrew Jackson Eckerson, born about 1828
     William Henry Harrison Eckerson, born 8 Dec. 1841
These were brothers to my ancestor, Lambert Eckerson (probably named for his grandfather, Lambert Smith).  They were named for three U.S. Presidents, one a founding father, one a former military hero, and the last who died after only a month in office.  This occurred the same year his namesake was born. 
     Millard Ives, 1869-1874.  Son of my ancestor Allen Ives.
     Millard Fillmore Ives, born 1 February 1873.  Cousin to Millard Ives, above.  His father was Oren Ives.    U.S. President Millard Fillmore served between 1850-1853, and he didn't die until March of 1874.  I have no idea what fueled such admiration in this family.  
       


    
     

Eckersons in Civil War

Several of the men in my family have served the U.S. during military conflicts, stretching all the way back to the wars of early Colonial times.  Two examples are the Eckerson brothers:  William Henry Harrison and Charles W., who came to Lafayette County, Wisconsin with their parents, Levi & Hannah Smith Eckerson.  William Henry Harrison Eckerson, born 8 Dec. 1841 in Wyoming Co., NY, enlisted in Company I, 16th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, on 12 May 1861.  Charles was born 16 Sept. 1837 in Angelica, Allegany Co., NY., and enlisted on Christmas Eve, 24 Dec. 1861 in the same company and regiment, following his younger brother into the Union Army.


The application Charles W. Eckerson submitted for a pension of 1890 contains the following notarized statement:


"...in the service and in the line of duty at Corinth in the State of Mississippi...June, 1863 he received a kick from a mule in the abdominal region.  Also that while on detached service and in line of duty at Savage's Landing, near Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, about April, 1864, he was poisoned by having arsenic or other poison placed in his drink or food by a Confederate sympathizer which has ever since affected his stomach.  Not treated at any hospital."

On a 2010 visit to Vicksburg National Military Park, my husband and I located the monument for Wisconsin.  It's one of the few states which named all participants, not just the casualties.  William and Charles are both shown on the monument. 

Lambert Eckerson-Harriet Graves marriage, 1848

     It's easy to collect masses of data about a family when doing genealogical research, and I'm among the guilty.  Too often, we are seduced by finding a pedigree chart online, and are tempted to accept it as fact.  Or, information gets copied over and over into various books and articles, many of which cite no sources.  The trick is to determine how much of what we stumble across can be backed up with primary evidence.  A case in point is the marriage of my ancestors, Lambert Eckerson and Harriet Graves.  A large file found online under the title "John Graves, 1635 Settler of Concord, MA and His Descendants, has some excellent clues.  Among them is the statement: "Harriet Graves, b. 20 July 1825, m. Lambert Eckerson (of Pike, NY), 1854, d. 5 Oct. 1880."  I can imagine that this information has found its way into dozens of family group sheets and publications, some of which I've collected.  However, a closer look can reveal a better result.

    During an era when marriage records were kept in many states at the county level, New York has few examples.  There are, however, a few pleasant exceptions.  A quote from the New Horizons Genealogy website states the following:   "New York State enacted a law in 1847 to require school districts to record Vital Records including birth, marriage and death records within their districts. However, some areas completely ignored the law and others adhered to it, but generally did not keep complete records, even for the years that were recorded. Unfortunately this law was terminated in 1849."

   A trip to Wyoming County in the year 2000 revealed how valuable making an on-site visit can be.  Among the holdings I was l was a slim volume of marriage records kept during the late 1840s.  Sometimes miracles DO happen:  the last entry for the year 1848,  was the marriage of Lambert Eckerson to Harriet Graves, on December 24.