My Trails into the Past

On 12 July 1973, a fire broke out at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, destroying 80 percent of Army personnel files and 75 percent of Air Force files. [1] I submitted an order for my great-uncle, Jack C. Sullivan’s file in 2017, and received the dreaded letter that there was no record for him. I have, since that time, worked at discovering substitute records to tell the story of his military service during World War I. [2] What You Can Get from the NPRC Although there was no personnel file for Jack, I did receive the final pay voucher for ten men who were discharged at Fort D. A. Russell in Wyoming on 6 August 1919, and he was included. He was listed as: Jack C. Sullivan, Sergeant, 568973, enlisted 4 June 1917, from Anaconda, Montana. He was part of Detachment 4th Engineers. He received $153.41. The net pay was $112.76 plus a $7.00 insurance premium allotment, plus $40.65 for travel pay. It included his signature. [3] Later, I visited the NPRC and viewe...

We all have challenges in conducting genealogy research. Some of us may call them brick walls, those places in the family tree where we are stuck and cannot take our genealogy back another generation.  These challenges may be caused by several reasons: record loss due to a natural disaster or war access to the records not being allowed our lack of knowledge about what records are available not understanding the records we have already found To work through these challenges, I follow the following steps: Review prior research . This includes reviewing each document I have previously found and ensuring I have squeezed out every bit of information from them. While I’m doing this, questions will come to mind. Record those questions. Resist the urge to go right to researching. Create a timeline . As I review the documents I have, I create a timeline that includes the date of the event, the location, who else was present, and the source of the information. A timeline will show gaps in th...

Last night, Melinda Kashuba gave the first of two presentations to my local genealogy society, Contra Costa County Genealogical Society , about using maps for genealogy. It was recorded and members will be able to view the recording on the website. She will give part two next month. If interested in seeing part two, register using the link above. The presentation was wonderful as she explained about cadastral, fire insurance, bird’s eye view, and other types of maps. At the conclusion, she gave us homework to do before the next session in June. We are to: Construct a timeline for one ancestor Find a gazetteer for one place in the timeline Find two historic maps for that one place She gave us several places to search for these resources. Timeline for the life of Julia Sievert (1854-1928) who married Johan Anton Hork : [1] Julia was born in Joliet, Will County, Illinois on 31 October 1854 She lived with her parents, Vincent & Susanna (Raduntz) in 1860 in Joliet. Her fath...