Category: Archives and Libraries

Friday Finds: Montana Historical Society Research Center

~ Dayna Jacobs - "On Granny's Trail" ~ Leave a comment

The Montana Historical Society Research Center in Helena, Montana, can be found online at:

http://mhs.mt.gov/research/

They have what is called the Montana Memory Project.  These memory projects are beginning to crop up for other states, too. Just “Google” [state] Memory Project and see what you find for the state where you are researching.

Significant digital collections (Montana Memory Project):

  1. Central Montana Historical Documents
  2. County Histories of Montana
  3. Early Montana Histories
  4. Mapping Montana and the West
  5. Early newspapers
  6. MHS manuscript collections
  7. Photograph archives
  8. Montana State Prison Records 1869-1974
  9. Montana Indian Law
Happy Trails!

Friday Finds: Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum

~ Dayna Jacobs - "On Granny's Trail" ~ 2 Comments

You may have heard of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers (DUP), but did you know they have a museum that also serves as a research facility? http://www.dupinternational.org/index.php

Located in Salt Lake City close to the Capitol building on 300 N Main St., it houses a tremendous collection of memorabilia dating from the time Mormon pioneers entered the Valley of the Great Salt Lake to the date when Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads were joined at Promontory Point in Utah (24 Jul 1847 to 10 May 1869.) Remember hearing about the Golden Spike?  With the joining of these two railroads, transcontinental travel became possible by rail, and the “pioneer” era officially ended in Utah.  (That just means migration by covered wagon no longer was necessary.)

To join the DUP, you need to prove direct descendancy from someone who passed through, settled in, or was born in the area which encompassed Utah Territory between the above-mentioned dates.  That includes Mormon pioneers, but also trappers, freighters, wagon trains bound for the west coast, members of Johnston’s army, railroad workers, or anyone else passing through. And remember, Utah Territory encompassed all of Nevada and part of Colorado at one time.

The DUP has a History Department containing over 100,000 biographies, with an online index http://www.dupinternational.org/pioneer_index.php . They will make copies for $.25 per page.

Here’s what a search for ” Pomeroy” yielded:

  Last Name   Given Name   Maiden Name   Birth Date   Death Date
  Fairchild   Tryphena   Pomeroy   28 Jun 1815   24 Nov 1901
  Kimball   Mary Urusalia (Zula)   Pomeroy   27 Jul 1860   10 Jan 1892
  Pomeroy   C.E.   26 Feb 1843
  Pomeroy   Cassandra   Johnson   7 Mar 1868   2 Oct 1957
  Pomeroy   Christiana   Monroe Stuart   4 Jun 1851   16 Nov 1923
  Pomeroy   Elijah   26 Jun 1850   8 Nov 1919
  Pomeroy   Emma Adelia   16 Jun 1858
  Pomeroy   Francis Martin   20 Feb 1820   20 Oct 1882
  Pomeroy   Heber Chase Kimball   6 Jun 1868   20 Feb 1948
  Pomeroy   Irene Ursula   Haskell   1 Nov 1825
  Pomeroy   Jessamine Elizabetg   Routledge   29 Jan 1837   19 May 1900
  Pomeroy   Mary Ann   Rich   15 May 1850   3 Nov 1835
  Pomeroy   Mary Annetta   Coleman   20 Nov 1862   13 Mar 1946
  Pomeroy   Sarah Matilda   Colborn   4 Nov 1839
  Rich   Ella A.   Pomeroy   1858

Files for 3 of my direct Pomeroy ancestors and several collateral lines.  Not bad! And notice the birth and death dates in the index.  Nice!

They also have an online index for their photo collection at http://www.dupinternational.org/photoIndex.php

I typed “Matheson” in the index and found they have photos of Lydia Evans Matheson, my great-great grandmother, and my great-great-great grandmother Catherine Treasurer Matheson.

  Last Name   Given Name   Maiden Name   Birth Date   Death Date
  Matheson   Catherine   Treasurer   24 Sep 1804   4 Jan 1896
  Matheson   Elec
  Matheson   Lydia   Evans   14 Feb 1844   30 May 1912
  Matheson   Scott   8 Jan 1929   7 Oct 1990

There are no digital images online, but they can be ordered.  I am excited to visit the museum to see the photos.

Other helpful features of the website are advice on preserving heirlooms and digitizing photos, and a FAQ section to handle those oft-asked questions like, “What is the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers theme song?”

As I remember, the museum has an index of their artifact collection onsite, so you can identify items your ancestor used to own. This museum is certainly worth a trip, but the website makes it possible to do actual research from afar.

Happy Trails!

Friday Finds: United States Online Historical Newspapers

~ Dayna Jacobs - "On Granny's Trail" ~ Leave a comment

I discovered this simple website that is a good resource for identifying historical newspapers online:  United States Online Historical Newspapers is found at https://sites.google.com/site/onlinenewspapersite/Home/usa . Its author has a blog you can subscribe to which has news about various newspaper digitization projects.

It is not comprehensive, but used together with other indexes, such as Historical Newspapers Online at  http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/guides/hist/onlinenewspapers.html , you might find digital newspapers online you did not know existed.

FYI, if you find that one of these indexes identifies a digital newspaper at GenealogyBank, this subscription site is available for free at your nearest LDS Family History Center.

Of course, don’t forget about the Library of Congress newspaper resource “Chronicling America” found at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ .   You can search their digitized newspapers by clicking on “Search all digitized newspapers 1836-1922” or locate microfilmed newspapers by clicking on “Search U.S. Newspaper Directory, 1690 to Present” and then order a film through inter-library loan to your local library.

Happy Trails!

Friday Finds: U.S. Serial Set, and Early Tuba City, Arizona: Records of the Tanners and Foutzes part 3. The settlers sign an agreement.

~ Dayna Jacobs - "On Granny's Trail" ~ 1 Comment

This blog features a bit of what I found in the U.S. Serial Set about the Tanners and Foutzes in Tuba City, Arizona.

Congressional records are a rich source of valuable information for settlers in the Western States. That’s because there were so many issues involving land, Native Americans, settlers, and the Federal Government. Much of it ended up in the Congressional Record, found in the U.S. Serial Set, which is available in libraries which are federal repositories. University of Utah Marriott Library is one of these, and I was able to find an account of the federal government’s buyout of the Tuba City settlers. These two pages give the names of the settlers, the amount they were paid, and the agreement they signed 30 May 1899:

Senate Documents, v. 8, 56th Congress, 1st session, 1899-1900, #3850

This published version of the Congressional Record after 1817 is called the Serial Set; prior to 1817 the record is called the American State Papers. There are various indexes you can utilize to find things in them:

Stay tuned for more items from the Serial Set…

Early Tuba City, Arizona: Records of the Tanner and Foutzes, part 1

~ Dayna Jacobs - "On Granny's Trail" ~ 7 Comments

My grandmother, Annie Marie Tanner, was born in Tuba City, Arizona on 18 Aug 1901.  I knew she grew up in Kirtland, San Juan County, New Mexico and wondered exactly when and why the family left Arizona.  Tuba City lies within the Navajo Reservation in the northeast corner of Arizona, while Kirtland is just outside the Navajo reservation in the northwest corner of New Mexico.  Using newspaper articles, Congressional records, and correspondence within federal agencies I pieced together the fascinating story of the early Tuba City settlement and will share some of the records in coming weeks , while also highlighting the archives and libraries where the records were found. Briefly, the settlers who had arrived in the 1870s were bought out by the federal government when the Navajo Reservation was expanded to include their property. There is a lot more to the story, though, as the records will reveal.

Here is a newspaper article, “Will Leave Their Homes”,  (November 15, 1902 Coconino Sun, page one, column three) summing up the situation in Tuba City in 1902.  It is blurry because it is a photo of a microfilm image taken at the Arizona State Archives in Phoenix, Arizona.

Note the mention of S.B. Tanner.  That is Seth Benjamin Tanner, father of Joseph Baldwin Tanner and  grandfather of Annie Marie Tanner.  Watch in the coming weeks for records from this interesting period of time in Tuba City, and  the Tanner and Foutz families.