Vol. 35 September-October 2017 No. 1 -...

Genealogical Research Society of Eau ClaireAn affiliate of the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society wwwwsgsorg

Vol 35 September-October 2017 No 1

Computer Labs at LE Phillips Library Eau ClaireOur labs should be returning to the upstairs ldquomi-cro-lab roomrdquo now called the Dabble Box room We will use our laptops and sit at the tables provided by the library

September TBA

October TBA

November TBA

IndexBoard Members p 2Publication Notice p 2Calendar p 2Naturalization Records Meeting p 3FamilySearch Discontinues Microfilm Ordering p3Articles by Members p 4One More Thing p 5WSGS Fall Seminar Flyer p6Crossword Puzzle p 7

A few of our members at our annual picnic this summer in beautiful Carson Park Eau Claire Wisconsin We are 75 members strong hope you can join us next year Not a member yet there is an application form on the back page

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wwwgrsecorg grseccvmuseumcom

Genealogical Research Society of Eau Claire (GRSEC)ChairmanPresidentLinda McClelland

Vice ChairmanPresidentLarry Wold 715-726-0499

SecretaryKen Kiesow 715-877-2319

TreasurerMembershipTom Davey 715 835 2655

Program ChairKathy Herfel 715 926 5205

Cemetery IndexingKarin Pettis 715 225 9901

HistorianLinda McClelland

Obituary ChairKathy Herfel 715 926 5205

LibrariansRoger Davis 715 835 1630Patricia Anderson 715 563 2616

WebsiteMichaela Walters 715 828 1711

LE Phillips Library LiaisonRenee Ponzio 715-839-1683

PublicityDeb Jarvar 715 874 6678

NewsletterAnita Reid 715 828 2255

This newsletter is published in September November January March May and mid July Deadline for entries is the last day of the month prior to publication So entries for Novemberrsquos issue would be October 31 The GRSEC meets the second Saturday of each month September through May at 1000 am Come early at 930 am with your questions or just to visit We meet at the Chippewa Valley Museum located at Carson Park in beautiful Eau Claire Wisconsin The GRSEC does not meet during the summer months (June through August) The membership year runs May 1st through April 30th Membership fee is $10 00 per year beginning May 1st Check your mailing label on the newsletter for your expiration date It is on the right hand corner Get your newsletter via email Then check with Tom Davey the TreasurerMembership chair Our email address and website address appear at the top of every page in the header area Member-ship forms are on the back page of every issue

Bear photographs used with permission of Pat Lind-holm Front cover photograph used with permission of Kathy Herfel

GRSEC Board Members Calendar of Upcoming Events

September 9mdashGRSEC meeting 9 am coffee visiting library help 10 am meeting followed by presentationSeptember 12mdashAdventures in History Book Club 630 to 8 pm at the Chippewa Valley Museum Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James BrownSeptember 19mdashWebinar ldquoThird Cost How the Great Lakes Shaped Americardquo WSGS sponsor 7 pm CST presenter is Cari Taplin register at httpsregistergotowebinarcomregister3501731608073294083September 23mdashSwedish Genealogy WI Historical Society Auditorium Madison 9 am to 4 pm price is $30 10 off with WHS and WI State Genealogical Society membership Learn and consult with Swedish genealogy experts See httpsshopwisconsinhistoryorgproductcartpcSwedish-Genealogy-111p2400htm for registration and more detailsOctober 4mdashWebinar ldquoGet Your Story Out Thererdquo MNGS sponsor 7 to 815 pm CST presented by Jen-nifer Alford register at httpsregistergotowebinarcomregister7325065593968846082October 7mdashldquoDrafting a Source Citation Without Anxietyrdquo Memorial Library 126 Madison from 9 am to 4 pm with George L Findlen CG CGL Price is $30person 10 with WHS and WI State Genea-logical Society membership See httpsshopwiscon-sinhistoryorgproductcartpcDrafting-a-Source-Cita-tion-without-Anxiety-111p2401htm October 10mdashAdventures in History Book Club 630 to 8 pm at the Chippewa Valley Museum Hidden Figures The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee ShetterlyOctober 10mdashWebinar ldquoFuneral Homes and Fam-ily History Theyrsquore Dying to Meet Yourdquo ISGS sponsor 8 pm CST presented by Daniel Earl register at httpsregistergotowebinarcomregis-ter8619206168660919556October 14mdashGRSEC meeting 9 am coffee visiting library help 10 meeting followed by presentationOctober 16mdashWriting Your ldquoWisconsin Liferdquo Writing Workshop with Patti See 7 to 830 pm Eau Claire Room at LE Phillips Library Register online atecpubliclibraryinfoevents

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wwwgrsecorg grseccvmuseumcom

October 17mdashWebinar ldquoThe Aliens Are Coming USCIS Record Setsrdquo WSGS sponsor 7 pm CST presenter is Rich Venezia Register at httpsregistergotowebinarcomregister8892342449943476993October 25mdashBook Festival Luncheon ldquoA Settlerrsquos Year Pioneer Life Through the Seasonsrdquo 12 to 2 pm at the Chippewa Valley Museum with Kathleen Ernst ldquoUsing excerpts from original letters dia-ries and newspapersrdquo Kathleen will be describing chores traditions and celebrations of our pioneers $15person Call the museum to registerOctober 28mdashWSGS Fall Seminar ldquoSuccessful Genea-logical Research Update Your Toolboxrdquo presented by Paula Stuart-Warren See later in this newsletter for more informationFind Your Roots in Naturalization RecordsTuesday November 14 | 6 pm | Eau Claire Room

Find your immigrant ancestors naturalization papers and to see the beginning of your roots

in America History This program starts with the history of the naturalization process and a review of the requirements and then discusses where your ancestors were naturalized which is the key to finding their documents Traditional and online sources are reviewed This is a great program to find clues to your heritagePresented by Steve SzabadosFamilySearch Discontinues Micro-film DistributionBeginning September 7 you will no longer be able to order microfilm through FamilySearch to be viewed at a local Family History Center (FHC) or affiliat-ed library Fortunately these FHC and libraries will be able to keep their microfilm collections that are already on loan from FamilySearch The deadline for ordering was extended due to a software upgrade glitch on the FamilySearch website The software upgrade caused a breakage in the online ordering system for almost a week thus the extension Un-fortunately you still get a message saying ordering is available until September 1 2017 (as of 30 August 2017)FamilySearch justifies their decision to cease micro-film ordering for the following reasons

bull Over 15 million microfilms have already been digitized including all microfilms that have been borrowed in the last 5 yearsbull Microfilms are are being scanned at a rate of 1000 films a day The remaining should be digitized by 2020 [my emphasis]bull All new records are collected using digital technologybull New images will be available on FamilySearch as they are processed

FHCrsquos will continue to provide access to premium subscription services and digital records including re-stricted content that we cannot access from our home computers

What does this mean for home-based genealogistsNo more fees no more waitingA few tipsWhen researching on FamilySearchorg under the Search tab then RecordsNo icon before the collection title means this collec-tion is from an indexCamera icon- a digital image that you can download to your computer on the FamilySearch siteCamera in a box- digital image on another website usually a pay site such as Fold3 or Ancestry

Under CatalogBlack camera icon-digital image available browse-onlyFilm Roll- viewed at Family History Library (FHL) or FHC

If you want a record that is restricted most likely due to a licensing agreement with FamilySearch when the collection was first digitized you will have to go to the local FHC to view the collection Or to Salt LakeI had switched to viewing film at the WI Historical Library in Madison because the microfilm machines and scanners are superior to the one or two in our local FHC I have been trying to connect with some-one from our local LDS church to no avail hopefully I will have an update by our meeting on Saturday September 9

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Articles by GRSEC Members

Charlie Pat Lindholm

How many can claim theyrsquove had a bear for

a pet Although Charlie was wild and we never got close to him others consid-ered him ours as we did if only for a short timeSummers were spent at Little Sand Bay just outside of Bayfield Wisconsin One summer day we heard a racket near the garbage cans out behind the cabin and went to investigate Much to our surprise was a small brown bear seeking sustenance Here wersquod been blaming the raccoons for all the garbage messesThe little bear took off when he saw us but didnrsquot go very far Mother bears feed their young until they are about 18 months old and then force them out on their own Guess he didnrsquot learn his lessons on where to find food or maybe he hadCharliersquos visits to begin with were sporadic After checking the garbage cans and finding he couldnrsquot get into them hersquod come around looking for hand-outs when he smelled us cooking Hersquod always come when he smelled bacon grease Even baking cakes or cookies brought Charlie into the yard Of course who could resist helping the little guy out Pretty soon Charlie was coming around at the same time every day looking for his handout Think he had us trainedWhen we werenrsquot quick enough he thought of things to do to get our attention Our electric pole was his favorite spot to scratch his back We had a clothes line tied between two trees on the north side of the

cabin Undies were frequently hand washed and hung on the lines to dry Charlie decided to help himself one afternoon snapping the line and taking Momrsquos bra with him Another day he decided he needed the cushion from Momrsquos chaise lounge and started off for the woods with it That was the end of his pranks as far as Mom was concerned as she took off after him yelling to bring the cushion backFriends from Minneapolis had a cabin about half a mile from ours We had CB radios between the two cabins for communication One day Marian called and in a distressed voice told us we needed to come

get our bear She couldnrsquot get to their outhouseSoon we had strangers coming up our drive all wanting a peek at Charlie Our drive wasnrsquot marked and not the easiest to find That didnrsquot thrill Mom either Strangers were usually met with gun in hand (We were living out in the boonies and Mom wasnrsquot that trusting of

strangers Dad was only out on weekends and one night a week so most of the time it was Mom and two young girls)Finally as all our out-door activities were curtailed because of Charlie Mom called the Dept of Fish and

Game We didnrsquot want Charlie destroyed just moved They brought out a live trap baited it and left We were to call when Charlie was captured Once he was they transported him to one of the Apostle Islands They told us later that he didnrsquot stay there long was seen swimming back to the mainland We never saw Charlie again but he provided us with many stories and much entertainmentGrandmarsquos Squirrel Anita Reid

Our family has had a plethora of ldquoconventionalrdquo animals In fact the family photo albums have

dozens upon dozens of nicely labeled ldquopetrdquo pictures From Buttercup and ldquoOld Tomrdquo to Ching-Ching and Nappy all labeled some with dates Also in those albums are dozens of baby pictures Babies smiling hollering sleeping Adults having parties dancing or playing cards And not one of those pictures is labeled or identified in any way NOT one

This summer I read an article about how important pets were to our ancestors and thought it would be interesting to hear about ldquoourrdquo pets I honestly did not think someone would come up with a bearIf you have an ancestral pet story please send in a short article about him or her Remember Wisconsin is home to Sterling Northrsquos Rascal a book I loved as a child and read to my own children Did anyone in our group have a raccoon as a pet

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wwwgrsecorg grseccvmuseumcom

So our pets are of huge importance to us My mother wasnrsquot too keen on pets probably because she ended up doing the lionrsquos share of the ldquopet workrdquo We had a canary named ldquoTweetyrdquo (my Looney Tunes period) a cat named ldquoChing-chingrdquo (Lady and the Tramp time frame) and a dog named Napoleon (my Mom named him) I wanted a horse named Trigger of course but no such luck on that wish But none of those pets compared to the stories I heard of my Grandmarsquos squirrelIf that poor creature had a name I never heard it My grandmother (Grandma Johnson) loved all animals Any stray that came to the door usually following my uncle Harry home from McDonough Park was wel-comed But that squirrel was special He would hop up the stairs on the back porch and climb the screen door chittering to her And I can hear my mother saying this ldquoAnd myhellip [edited] she would let that CREATURE right into the kitchen where it would run up and down our curtains Then onto the kitchen table where my mother would feed him peanutsrdquo She was sure he was diseased and believed to her dying day that squirrels carried rabies (they donrsquot) I wanted a squirrel just like grandma I would leave tempting trails of peanuts up our steps to our kitchen door or piles of cocktail peanuts in the backyard and never caught a one To this day I like squirrels much to my bird-feeding husbandrsquos regret

Query

The National Tuscania Remembrance Association was formed by Baraboo High School teach-

er Steve Argo to build a long-overdue memorial in Baraboo WI to honor the victims rescuers and survivors of the Tuscania disaster of World War I On the night of February 5 1918 the lives of more than 1800 American soldiers were saved by intrepid seamen of the British Royal Navy and faithful friends on Scotlandrsquos Ise of Islay The Tuscania Remembrance Association is creating a memorial to say lsquothank yoursquo and to remind citizens to be practitioners of peace and doers of good deeds The Memorial will be ded-icated on Saturday November 10 2018 in Baraboo WI The names of the victims and major donors to the project will be indicated on a stone adjourning

One More Thinghellip

the 4-foot by 6-foot bronze relief mounted on a larger stone Unfortunately there were 267 Ameri-can Soldiers who did not survive the attackWe are looking for your help in finding the families of these veterans to honor the service of their loved ones and to invite them to the dedication For more information please contact the National Tuscania Remebrance Association co Sauk Coun-ty Historical Society P O Box 651 Baraboo WI 53913 Steve Argo Project Director wwwtuscania-memorialorg or tuscaniamemorialgmailcom Find A Grave Changes

Have you noticed the ldquoChanges are coming to Find A Grave See a preview nowrdquo notice

under the Find A Grave logo How many of you have check out the beta site The website has been modernized and re-arranged You can use the new website now and any changes you make on the new site will still be reflected on the old one At the time of this newsletter there has been no firm date as to when the switch to a new website will occur New York Death Index 1880-1956rsquo

These records are for the greater New York area NOT the city of New York and itrsquos boroughs

The index images were made available for free to the public by the group Reclaim The Records Through their use of filing Freedom of Informa-tion and Open Data requests they have made great strides in opening vital records to the public Their latest win was for the New York State Death Index a digital copy from the original microfiche While Ancestrycom has created a master index and is using the images on Ancestryrsquos website you can still look at the exact same images for free through Internet Archive httpsarchiveorgHere is a direct link to the collectionhttpsarchiveorgsearchphpque-ry=22New+York+State+Death+Index-22ampsort=titleSorterampmc_cid=8ce89a660aampmc_eid=cd638a6d8dOn the Internet Archive site there is NO master index in other words you will have to browse to find your record Years 1880 to 1939 are sorted in alphabetical order by surname years 1940-1956 are arranged by soundex Good luck and happy hunting

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wwwgrsecorg grseccvmuseumcom

The Wisconsin State Genealogical Society Presents

Successful Genealogical Research

Update Your Toolbox

On October 28 2017 WSGS will hold its 2017 Fall Seminar in Eau Claire Wisconsin at the Best Western Plus Our speaker

will be Paula Stuart-Warren For more information please go to wwwwsgsorg and under the ldquoEventsrdquo tab will be ldquo2017 Fall

Seminarrdquo From there you can download a full brochure

2017 Fall Seminar Registration Form Please print clearly

Name ______________________________________________________________ Phone Number_______________________________________ Mailing Address __________________________________________________________ ___________________________________ E-mail Address ____________________________________________________ Dietary or ADA Requirements ____________________

Please Note If you would like a print syllabus please order it with your registration We only print off a limited number to keep costs in check Those that do not

order a print syllabus will receive a link to the electronic syllabus the week of the Seminar

Everyone will receive an e-mail confirmation

You can become a member of WSGS at the same time you register to get the reduced price

POSTMARKED By Sept 27 After Sept 27 Regular Rate $7000 $8000 _________ WSGS Rate $4500 $5500 _________ Luncheon Buffet $1500 NA _________ Print Syllabus $500 $500 _________ Individual Membership $3500 _________ Family Membership $4500 _________ Youth Membership $1500 _________ Print Newsletter Option $1500 _________ TOTAL __________

Please make checks payable to WSGS Mail form and check to WSGS FALL SEMINAR PO BOX 5106 MADISON WI 53705-0106

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wwwgrsecorg grseccvmuseumcom

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26

Genealogy 101Across

___ So Fine (Chiffons)1Oil cartel4Island near Miss Liberty8Visual record of an ancestor9___ Yankee Doodle Dandy10Vessel for a 1620 voyage11What the 50000-word novel Gadsby contains (amazingly)

17

Tsp or tbsp18Put into writing19Tolkien tree creature20Subject all genealogists are interested in

21

Scream director Craven22Progenitor24

Get along in years25Act26

DownProbate determination1Tree of a kind2Close with a bang3Cincinnatis state4River in Italy5Latin for and6Record collection site7Online records source12Hall of Famer Robin of the Milwaukee Brewers

13

One quadrillionth PreTHORNx14Angkor ___15Printers measure16Roll of dough22

It may be inszligated23

Thank you to Tom Davey for creating this fun crossword for us The answers will be in the next newsletter edition

GRSEC NewsletterChippewa Valley MuseumPO Box 1204Eau Claire WI 54702

GRSEC Membership Application

Name (Last First MI) Please print or type

Street Address

City State Zip

Phone Email Date

Area of Research and SurnamesAnnual dues of $10 per householdyear are collected in May Please make your check payable to GRSEC and return with completed form to GRSEC co Chippewa Valley Museum PO Box 124 Eau Claire WI 54702-1204