Volunteer Researchers

We all are aware of sites such as Ancestry.com, WorldVitalRecords.com, FamilySearch.org, however one thing that many aren't aware of is all the volunteer researchers out there. Organizations such as Random Acts of Genealogy Kindness, Find a Grave, Names in Stone, are wonderful resources to find information that you don't have access to. Many can retrieve old land documents, marriage records, they will know where and who to talk to get the information for you if it is available. As a Volunteer, it is a great honor to help others solve the mystery, take one more brick down in their quest to complete their family tree.

One individual I took a request for wanted a photograph of a Grandma and her son. He couldn't locate the Grandfather. Turned out there were 3 Generations of the same name for the males, when I went to the cemetery on the back of the stone was a list of family, and next to the Grandmother's grave was that of the Grandfather. 

The back of this headstone helped clear up the confusion. It was set in between the two individuals and had a list of Father, Mother, children on the back. There is one name at the bottom that I will go and do a stone rubbing for, it was a child's name and different last name. At the time there was snow on the ground and limited the amount of time I could apply to photographing the details of the stones.

Family Tree University Kits

Kit of the Month

I have been a student and huge fan of Family Tree University for almost 2 years. This is where I have gotten the 101 Brick Walls, Google For Genealogists, Photo Rescue, and Cemetery research. There are so many kits, Expert Webinars, and books to explore in Family Tree University. I will look there before anywhere else first when I am looking for Genealogy Resources. They still have plenty of the Google for Genealogist packs available.

101 Brick Wall Busters

A few months back I took a wonderful course through Family Tree University, called 101 Brick Wall Busters. It is something that happens when researching our family. Records are lost, destroyed in fires, or never even existed. Record keeping wasn't as wide spread in the early days of our Nation, many areas never kept records until the past century, less in some areas.

In the age of Technology and instant information, it is shocking to many that there isn't a data base somewhere with every article of information on our ancestors. The LDS Church has done a wonderful job of gathering many records, but there are still gaps in the research.

In the course 101 Brick Wall Busters it discusses several ways to find this information or at least find information that can lead you in the right direction.
I will be touching on a few points each post.

1. You have to access the problem, what records do you have, what is it that you are trying to find out. Birthplace? Maybe the Date of Birth was left off or the common brick wall of a mothers lineage. For some reason the woman's line is always incomplete.

Ask family first, see if a relative ended up with a box of photographs, documents, letters between family, or land deeds. Recently while researching the death of my Grandma's little brother, I couldn't find any state records for 1929 of his death. My Great Grandma had given a trunk of paperwork, birth records, love letters between her and Great Grandpa to my Grandma's sister and now her Daughter has all the information. It was a real break through on proving his death and burial area. The photograph we believed was Grandma with her father and brother standing by a grave was not the grave of her brother, but her Grandfather who passed away in 1926.

2. Don't skip any steps, check all records here in the US before venturing overseas. If there are not State or County records, see if the papers of the time have any articles on your ancestors. I recently found a wonderful article written by the Senior Center that my Grandma was active in, honoring her crafts and involvement at the Center. County Fairs, Senior Centers, newspapers are a few places you can look for more information.

3. Create a time line of their life. Do you know when they lived, who else in your family was around during that time. My Aunt Lovella was my Grandma's Mother's youngest sister of seven children. I always referred to her as Aunt, when really she was my Great Great Aunt. Knowing the time line of the family helped when filling out the lineage chart. Other things to know is what sort of things were going on in the world during the time of their life. Was it during War time, there are a lot of War records that can help bridge the gaps.

 Gip and Nancy Akin, with their children.

Mill Fork Cemetery

When my Grandma passed I started listing her along with other ancestors on Find A Grave. I knew from her paperwork, where loved ones resting area's were and had made many a visits to the grave sites. I started off with her little Brother Raymond F. Durbin Jr., who died at a young age 10 months old in Sept 21, 1929 and her Grand Father Fredrick Augustus Durbin, who passed when she was only a couple months old in December 23, 1926. It was less than 100 years since their deaths and I had visited their sites several times. Unknown to me though was that those documents didn't get properly recorded, were lost and I had a lot of digging to verify their resting sites. This made me realize how easy it is for people to be forgotten and lost. That was when I started volunteering for Find a Grave, and other important Genealogical organizations.

This cemetery I pass by several times each year on US 6 between Spanish Fork and Helper Utah. It is in a remote area, on a very narrow road. This last winter I decided to look up the Cemetery see what it was all about. It looks deserted, but that is far from the case. And the history of Mill Fork was amazing. During 1875-1879 the Utah and Pleasant Valley Railroad who were formally known as the Denver and Rio Grande Western began builing through Spanish Fork Canyon. There were three sawmills built at Mill For to help with the construction of the railroad. A booming town was forming because of the progress. Large water tower and a small reservoir were constructed, a general store was built, population grew to 250.

Timber for the railroad wasn't the only driving force for Mill Fork who also had an large amount of Charcoal that helped keep the town thriving. Residents were working either with cutting wood for the railroad or with their Kilns. But as with everything that happens in the West, towns fade as fast as they were built. In 1890 the Store and Charcoal business both closed, most had left Mill Fork by 1900, only a few homesteaders had remained until 1930's. When trains advancing to Diesel Locomotives, the water stop was no longer needed. and Mill Fork Station was closed for good in 1947, and removed during the late 1950's. Nothing remains of the little town that formed a railroad in an area that is harsh to say the least but the Cemetery.

Many years later the Historical Society of Utah discovered Mill Fork and have worked very hard restoring and preserving the memories of those who worked hard to develop a railroad in a hostile weather environment.

One of the most important things I learned while searching for proof of my ancestors resting places was that photographs that were taken years ago help in many cases. It gives a location, a layout, surrounding markers help locate loved ones who may have lost their headstones or never had any markers outside the copper one placed at the time of the burial. This picture helped the Genealogist who transcribed the Cemetery that my Great Great Grandfather Fredrick Augustus Durbin had been buried. This photograph was taken in the early 1930s, I know this because Phillip Durbin, the other little brother of my Grandma wasn't born until May 1930. The photograph shows this to be the older part of the Cemetery. Records were still being kept by the Catholic Church and the Angel in the background was what helped locate the area, and confirmed his resting place. There was no marker and the exact place still hasn't been found. This is why photographs and records are so important.