Local Repositories

Today I visited the Denville Historical Society and Museum in Denville, Morris County, New Jersey.  Someone told me (thank you MT) that some papers of a family of interest were housed at this location.  The Museum is a cute little house with artifacts from the area.  Books and papers are kept in a separate room.  I found great treasures in the binders:  notes from researchers, original photographs, and memorabilia.  Most of these items and the information contained in them are not digitized or online.  Although so much invaluable information has appeared online in recent years, there is so much more that is not online and will not appear online soon.  You still need to physically search for information.  This information could be anywhere, but start with the area in which the family lived and check all libraries, museums, historical societies- any possible repository.  And don't be surprised to find documents and pictures sitting unmarked in a box in a backroom.

Original family photographs

Death certificate from a researcher

Notebook

Copy of Vanderhoof family record book

One of several branches of the Peer family tree

Presentation: Military Records by Craig R Scott

On April 21st at Monmouth University I attended a presentation on military records by Craig R Scott, hosted by the Monmouth County Genealogy Society.  I was especially interested because I am focusing on such records to help me further trace several lines.  I have a few points to share.

--  Records are available in a variety of places:  Different branches of the National Archives, on microfilm, and online at Ancestry and Fold3.  Some are digitized; most are not.  Some are indexed; most are not.

--  Not everyone who served will be found in the pension files.  Several laws were passed over the years that qualified the soldier or the widow.  Your ancestors may not have lived long enough to qualify.

--  Research the captain, the colonel, and the other members of the unit.  This is especially useful if you cannot find a compiled military record or pension application for a particular person.  By discovering where the unit was at specific times you will compile your own idea of your ancestor's service.  Also, members of the unit were probably neighbors and maybe relatives.

These are points that apply to other records as well:
--  Spelling of names varies.  Do not be rigid.
--  View the original record whenever possible.  Use indexes to guide you to the actual record.

War of 1812 file card available at Ancestry.
Note that the full names of all three wives were included.  This is a great find.

Fold3

I subscribed to another fee-based site, Fold3.  I paid $39.95 for one year as a special deal for subscribers to Ancestry.com..  The site has lots of American military records and I have several Colonial lines, so I decided to give it a try.  I started with a safe search:  locate a pension file for Elizabeth Duryea, wife of Joseph Henley, widowed during the Civil War.  I found the record quickly- 33 pages of names, dates, and places!!!

By age 28, Elizabeth Henley was widowed by the Civil War and had two minor children.  Two other children died early.
Her mother and sister wrote certifications for her application, though their relations are not identified.
I hope that their support made her life easier.  She did not remarry.

The tidbit of information that I was not expecting was that Joseph B. Henley was not this man's original name.  He was Joseph H. Jones when the couple married in New York City in 1854.  This explains why I had not uncovered a marriage record and could not locate Joseph Henley in the 1850 census.  The record was silent as to the reason for the name change.

Excerpt from one of the certifications.

Elizabeth's application for a widow's pension was approved.  She received $8 per month plus $2 per minor child.  She collected for 38 years.