My Favorite Genealogy Tools

There are many tools that genealogists use to do their research. Some are good, some are mediocre, and some are just not good. Today I will discuss one of my favorite tools.

Census The census is a great tool. The only caveat with this is that the census only publishes a new census every 12 years. For example, 1940 is the latest census to be published. It is not fully indexed, at this writing, so you have to be creative in how you find someone. The census, depending on the year it was taken, has a lot of valuable information. The first recorded census was 1790. It only lists the name of the head of household, how many free white males and females were in the house (by age groups), and how many slaves. Not a lot of information here. The 1880 census starts telling you how old the person was. This is a great addition. It might help to weed out people with the same name. It tells their marial status, relationship to the head of household, if they were insane (ok, who would say yes to this?), and where they and their parents were born.

Most of the 1890 census were destroyed in a fire. But some information can be found in state census records. The 1900 census adds asking how long the person has been married and how many children were born along with how many are still living. It also asked about the person's occupation and whether the home lived in was owned or rented. So there is some really good information here.

As I stated, this is a good tool. We can find out education, family members, occupation, and nativity from the census records. We can also see neighbors (which might include future spouses) and relatives that live in the same neighborhood.

Yes, the census is a good tool. I just wish they would publish them quicker. I am not sure I can wait another 10 years just to find my mom in her house!

Next time I will review City Directories.

Back to the Basics

OK, so it has been a while since I worked on the Elzy family. The last couple days I have decided to fix my files rather than do more research.

I have looked through some Excel documents and have noticed that I have about 5 copies of the same information, just spread out differently. So I am combining all this into one file and throwing the others away. Dangerous, huh?

To make things easier, here is how I broke my research worksheets up: First, I have all those Kentucky relatives in one giant spreadsheet. I am keeping track of birth date and locations, death date and locations, marriage date and locations, burials, obits, and headstones. I think this file has about 520 give or take people on it. That is a lot of information! Then I took the descendants of my great grandfather, Edward Henry Elzy and put them into a spreadsheet. But I limited it to those who were born before 1970. Why? Because there are not a lot of records I can find on them.

I also look for census records for each of these people. Now, the census is only available for 1940 and before. So it is limiting to what I can find for those born after 1970.

I will keep trudging along and hopefully I will find something that I just do not have!

Similar Names

We all know families that have similar names. How many families do you know that have a Bob or a John or a Mary in them? I know several. In previous generations, it was common to carry names from one generation to another. Given that, I can see where one family could have a Phebe and the next might have a Phebe. (Girls' names being carried down from one generation to another was less common than boys' names being carried down, but it still occurred.) But, what about a family that had the following?

Elzy Elzy and Rachel Dodd had the following children: James, Silas, Phoebe, Sarah, Leven, and Nancy. All were born between 1810-1836. James had a son named Robert. In 1850, Robert lived with a woman named Patience (not sure if related). All this took place in the state of Kentucky.

In 1880, a household had the following: Robert (head), Sarah (wife), Major, Leven, Phebe, Job, Charles (grandfather), and Patience.

So, in both families there were: Robert, Sarah, Leven, Phebe, and Patience. A couple of the people were about the same ages. So, do you believe in coincidence? I do not. So the next step is to prove how these people are related, what the significance of the name is, and how they are all related to Elzy Elzy! That is the next step!

Searching, Scanning, Going Cross Eyed

You would think after 17 + years of research that either myself or Alicia would find some way to match Robert with James (who we think is his father). But the problem lies that when Robert was born (c 1840) it was not required by the county, state, or federal government to record births. And, when Robert died, it was not required by the government to record deaths. Yes, no obits or birth announcements in the paper either. So, what next?

I have searched through the county records and scored through many, many rolls of microfilm. And we have not been able to conclusively match them together. However, through tax records we have linked them together. Talking to a professional genealogist, this might be the only way we can link them together. So, we are linking them as father / son, with the understanding that we will continue looking.

So, what is next? Well, next blog is about the occupations of our ancestors. Talk to you then.

What Next?

Well, it is obvious that I still do not have proof as to who Robert's parents were for sure. About two months ago, I sent off for the pension file of James C Elzy (whom Alicia and I believe is Robert's dad). James was killed in the Civil War.

Anyway, I found a pension with Mahala Highland's name attached to it. Could there be any mention of Robert in it? I finally got the report -- 19 pages long! My heart was beating so hard when I was reading it.

Basically it said a couple things: James died in the war. His second wife, Mahala Highland, died a couple years before James. Mahala's mother, Matilda, was seeking the pension for James' and Mahala's daughter, Margaret Ann. Margaret was the only underage child (under 16). There was a notation for when and where James and Mahala got married, Matilda's statement that she was present at Margaret's birth (but there was not a doctor or midwife), and mention that William and James (older siblings of Margaret's) were over the age of 16. No mention of Robert, who we believe is the son of James' first wife, Rebecca Caswell.

The file I received was only the small one -- I did not send off for the $75 file. Do I or do I not? Will I ever run down Robert's parents? More searching........

FOUND HIM!

As I was looking in Footnote.com today for Robert Elzy or James Elzy (to try to end the suspense to see if James was Robert's dad), I found a James and Robert living in the same house in early 1860. HOW EXCITING. Robert was born, according to census, in 1837 (we have 1840). James's wife was Mary (we had Rebecca and Matilda). But that is ok. I have found birth, death, and census, along with funeral records, and even headstones incorrect. So this could be right or wrong.

I have to do more searching, but could this be him?

Tata for now.

Tammy

Why we Hunt

My genealogy search is a joint effort between me and my cousin Alicia. We both want to know who our grandparents, great grandparents, gg grandparents etc are. What kind of people were they? What were their occupations? Were they in the military? Any famous people?

The surname ELZY is not that hard to find because it is unusual. But know what? It is harder than you think. ELZY can be spelled ELZY, ELLZEY, ELZEY, ELSEA, ELSEY, ELZIE, and that is just a few of the spellings. You have to assume everyone with this last name living in Jefferson County, Kentucky is related to us. This is regardless if the person is white, black, orange, or purple. We all have the same last name; it is unusual; and even in the same family line, the name is spelled differently.

Every other year Alicia, her mom Brenda, and I go to Louisville, Kentucky to search for our ancestors. Occasionally my mom Pat tags along. We go to libraries, archives, genealogical societies, and every cemetery you can find. Yes, Alicia and I have crawled through woods (which thankfully did not show us any snakes). We have driven in the hills, up people's driveways, and down each country road looking for cemeteries, regardless if they were on a map or not.

We are trying to find where ELZY ELZY was buried. If it is in a cemetery where there are documents, perhaps we can see if someone who we believe is his grandson, Robert Elzy, was listed on the cemetery papers. We believe we know who Robert's parents are, but have no concrete proof. Even if we found where he was buried, it is a good probability that there is no headstone. That is what we have found with a many other number of Elzys.

We are trying to do the "reasonably exhaustive search" as defined by the National Genealogical Society. But come on.........no land records, no census records, no city directories show Robert living with James (who we believe is his father)??? I looked on Footnote.com and their earliest city directory is 1861. Guess what? Robert moved to Illinois and was shown in the Moultrie County census in 1860. So that is no good! In fact, in the Louisville City directory for 1861, there is only a Richard Elsey and no other variations of the spelling!

I searched for over 2 hours to look in the Civil War pension files. I was looking for James C Elzy (or Elzey). I found an initial document, but the meat of what I want is not online. Not at Footnote.com, Ancestry.com, or Archives.com. So I guess I need to get my wallet out and order it.

Until next time.

Tammy