The GRIP Experience

Last week I attended the Genealogy Research Institute of Pittsburgh, commonly know as GRIP. This was my second time to attend GRIP. Last summer I took the Intermediate Genealogy: Tools for Digging Deeper coordinated by Paula Stuart-Warren. Paula exposed the class to often obscure and overlooked resources using her own experiences as examples. This summer, I decided to jump into the deep end and take the class, Advanced Research Methods coordinated by Tom Jones. Let me be perfectly frank, by no means do I consider myself an advanced genealogist. But I felt that to increase my knowledge it was important to  challenge myself. And boy did I ever!

Tom is a professor, researcher, editor and writer for the NGS Quarterly, and a much sought after educator. His latest publication is Mastering Genealogical Proof, (Arlington, VA National Genealogy Society, 2013). Despite all these credentials, he is quite personable and a great speaker. He wants his students to learn and understand the who, what, where, when and why for analyzing information found in different records. He constantly amazed me how one could determine various generations just by using tax records. Or even better who was a step-child. Tom strongly suggests to his students to make charts whether it be an Excel type or time-line to analyze information. I ashamedly admit that I don't often do this, keeping everything in my head. Which of course leads to going over things multiple times because I failed to write down what I found or even what I didn't find; and where I looked. This is my biggest sin! How many times have I looked at the same record over and over again is simply too embarrassing to even think about. Between the class projects we did and the assigned nightly homework by Friday my brain was ready to explode from information overload! I was exhausted.

Despite the exhaustion, the week was stimulating, challenging and overwhelming and I loved every minute! It was a week to get reacquainted with friends I met last year and to make new ones. But mostly I came away with renewed energy and confidence that I could move forward with my research. Everyone should have the GRIP experience. And yes, I would do it again in a heart beat.

Friends and Neighbors

I love the website Fultonhistory.com. If you are not familiar with it, it is a wonderful site containing thousands of New York newspapers you can browse and it's FREE!. This site has been a goldmine for me as my mother's side of the family all came from western New York. So naturally when I wanted to learn more about my cousin Jessie this is the site I turned too.

But first things first, from her death certificate I know that Jessie was born in 1894 and she was the daughter of John Lynch and Mary Kelly.

Jessie Lynch Mulvihill Gruber my personal picture

Now I turn to Fultonhistory.com and I find the following:

• 1910 Jessie's brother James drowns trying to save a friend

  

  James and Jessie Lynch 1898 my personal picture

• 1914 Jessie opens her first hairdressing salon; 
• 1915 She marries Edward Mulvihill. Bertha Habberfield is her bridesmaid.

  

  Bertha Habberfield my personal picture

• 1916 Jessie travels to Philadelphia to attend a hairdressers fashion show
• 1919 Jessie attends Martha Harper Hairdressing School in Rochester, NY
• 1920 Jessie and her husband Edward are both sick, he does not recover and dies
• 1922 Jessie marries Charles Gruber; she also participates in a Knights of Columbus production of "Under Cover", Donald Grady is one of the participants.
• 1926 Jessie buys another hairdressing salon
• 1929 Jessie advertises her salon will exclusively offer Martha Harper's hair products and techniques.
• 1930's Jessie and her husband Charles buy and sell houses; take and extended trip out West and also take a trip to Niagara Falls.
• 1933 The Gruber house has a small house fire causing $50 worth of damage.
• 1942 Jessie's parents celebrate their 62nd Wedding Anniversary
• 1950 Jessie's father dies
• 1953/1954 tragically Jessie's husband dies suddenly in Dec. 31 1953 while she is in Penn Yan caring for her ill mother who also dies. A double funeral was held on Jan. 4, 1954.
• 1977 Jessie dies she was 83 years old

But the most interesting thing is, Bertha Habberfield was a dear friend of my grandmother Marie Catherine Sauerborn. There was a significant age difference between them but Nonnie as we called her, remained friends with Bertha all her life.

Marie Sauerborn and Bertha Habberfield my personal picture

Then there's Donald Grady. Donald marries Marie Catherine Sauerborn in 1922.  Donald had a love for the theatre, and preformed in several plays during High School and thereafter. My mother, Mary Charlotte Grady inherited this love of theatre and preformed in many productions in Salt Lake City, UT and with the Dramateurs in Contra Costa CO, CA where I grew up. It really is a small world.

Though I had inherited all these wonderful pictures, I did not know how all these people were connected. Now to try and figure out how the Sauerborn's of Geneva, NY knew the Habberfield's of Penn Yan, NY.

What's For Dinner?

Going through the box that came from the house of my 2nd cousins in Penn Yan, NY, I found an old recipe book called the "DAILEY BREAD". The book was complied by Mrs. Flora Jillett, with Revisions and Additions by the Guild of the Presbyterian Church. It was published in 1878 with additional printings in 1881, 1915 and 1927. The book actually belonged to another cousin, Jessie (Lynch Mulvihill) Gruber. The inside page indicates it was a gift to Jessie Gruber from Louise Kipp.

Jessie was married twice. Her first husband was Edward Mulvihill and they were married in June 1915. In 1917 Edward, aka Ned, is taken seriously ill.


Penn Yan Democrat, Friday, February 23, 1917

Edward Mulvihill and Jessie appear together in the 1920 U.S. Census. Edward dies however sometime after the census of 1920 and before 1925.  After his death, Jessie marries Charles Gruber, the date of their marriage is unknown. But Jessie appears in the Penn Yan Democart, April 17, 1925 as Mrs. Jessie Gruber.

In the preface of the book Mrs. Jillett writes: "...Many a wife in blissful ignorance of the first principles of physiological science, knows full well that the time to prefer requests to he lord is after she has regaled him upon his favorite dishes...Let no the food offered to any modern Adam be made an apology for his shortcomings. If fall he must, let him not be able to say, "It was the food she gave, of which I did eat."."

Was Louise trying to tell Jessie something or did she just have a great sense of humor? Charles survives Jessie's cooking and lives to be 60 years old. He dies suddenly of a heart attack on Dec. 31, 1953.

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

Last summer I attended the Genealogy Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP). It was an amazing week full of great people and wonderful presentations by professional genealogists. The class I took was headed by Paula Stuart-Warren (Intermediate Genealogy). It was four fast paced days full of information and group discussions. By Friday my brain was fried! 

Because my experience was so positive I decided to sign up again. This time I chose the class being presented by Tom Jones (Advanced Methods). In the course description he said that he would have some "homework" for us to do prior to class. He also stated that there would be optional "homework" during the week as well. I thought, OK, how bad could it be.

WELL! This past week I received an email from Tom that had two attachments for us to read. He also strongly suggested we make a chart that lays out all the data. Again I thought that's not too bad I can do that...then yesterday ANOTHER email came with two more attachments. This time the attachments are from Rick Sayre who will also be presenting for the class. One of his attachments is 43 pages long! 

 I'm officially terrified! Thank goodness I have two weeks before I take off for Pittsburgh.

Genealogy Is More Than Dates

Recently, well actually it was back at the end of May, I was wanting to find out more about my southern family that came from Greenville, South Carolina. I have all their dates for birth, marriage and death but it seemed so stark. What was the rest of their story? 

I decided to take a stab at some records that I had previously overlooked, the record of the Freedmen's Bureau. But first I need to understand what was the purpose of the bureau. On www.Civilwarhome.com I found an article,"Freedman, The Freed Slaves of the Civil War". The article gives a brief history and explanation of this short lived bureau. The bureau was first conceived in 1863 and finally acted on by Congress in 1865. The war department in response to the Confiscation Act of 1862 felt there was a need to help the newly freed slaves become self-reliant. It's main purpose was to provide an education and provisions such as food, clothing and fuel. The funding for all this was to come from the Department of War. But it was also required to resolve disputes between the white employers and the newly freed men demanding fair wages. Surprisingly it was to last only one year.

While browsing the records on Familysearch.org for Freedmen's Bureau, I came across a letter to the local agent for the Abbeville District in South Carolina. It clearly denotes the exact portions of what the provisions are to be for adults and children and how often.

Portion of letter to Capt. C. R. Becker from William Stone, Bvt. Maj; FamilySearch.org; SC Freedman's Bureau Field Office Records 1865-1872, Abbeville Courthouse (agent) Roll 32, Letters received Mar 1866-Nov 1866; image 13 of 206

Reading on, the next letter had the term Vagrant Act.

Portion of letter from Capt. C.R.Becker to Bvt. Maj. William Stone; SC Freedman's Bureau Field Office Records 1865-1872, Abbeville Courthouse (agent) Roll 32, Letters received Mar 1866-Nov 1866; image 14 of 206

What? Never heard of that before. Even my friend Sandra Rumble was not familiar with that term. So I turned to Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist.(www.legalgenealogist.com) Judy not only sent me an article to read, she then used my question for her blog that explained the who, what, where and why. ( See her blog post for May 26, 2015.)

In a nutshell, it appears if newly freed slaves were found not to be providing for his or her family, or were found to be gambling, peddling without a license or if their behavior could be considered disorderly they could be arrested, tried and sentenced to hard labor. Remember, the jury would have been the free white males, the very plantation owners they had just left. Can you imagine the resentment these men would have toward their former slaves or any other person of color?

I started out looking for anything that might tell me more about my family from South Carolina and ended up learning more about the prevailing attitudes and unfairness that existed after the Civil War. To understand who our ancestors were, how they may have thought and the issues they dealt with every, family historian/genealogist must understand the laws and records of the past. Genealogy is more than dates and names. Genealogy is a search for the joys, the grief, the triumphs, the struggles, the disappointments, the fairness and yes the unfairness that comes with every day life.

Thank you Judy for your help and insight.