GRIP vs IGHR

Have you ever attended a week-long genealogy institute? For the past four years, I have attended an institute each summer: three years at GRIP in Pennsylvania and last year at IGHR in Georgia. Here's a quick comparison:

ROOMS

Room at GRIP

• GRIP - Most people stay in the dorms on campus. They provide a set of sheets (if I remember correctly), a thin pillow, and one towel. Most people bring their own sheets - I put their sheets under mine as the mattresses are quite thin! I also bring my own blanket, pillow, towels, and toiletries. The room has a small fridge and a desk. I have had issues with the internet connection in my room and with air conditioners that didn't work - twice! Some people choose to stay at a nearby hotel, but they need their own transportation to and from classes.

  

  Room at IGHR in Georgia

• IGHR - Most people stay on site in the Georgia Center where the classrooms are located. Although small, these rooms are typical hotel rooms with all of the regular amenities including a small fridge and a desk.

 FOOD

Cafeteria at GRIP - it gets packed & noisy

• GRIP - If you're staying in a dorm room, three meals a day at the campus cafeteria are included. The food is pretty good, and individual items are marked for food allergies. Meal times are a great time to meet new people or catch up with your friends. The "scoop your own" ice cream is always a big hit!
• IGHR - Meals at IGHR are expensive and the food choices are quite limited. Although you go through a buffet line to choose your food, there are waiters who bring you drinks, remove your plates, etc. You can also buy food to keep in your room and eat outside in the courtyard for lunches and/or dinners.

OFF CAMPUS

• GRIP - There are two places I love to visit from campus:

  

  Sisters of Divine Providence cemetery

• The Sisters of Divine Providence is located next to the campus and is a nice place to go for a walk. Both the sisters and mothers are buried at a wonderful old cemetery at the top of a hill and I've enjoyed walking there each year.





GRIP - North Park - getting ready to kayak

• North Park is located only a few minutes drive from campus. It's a beautiful park where people walk, run, bike, and get out on the lake. Two years ago, some of us rented kayaks while others chose to walk around the park. It was a wonderful break to sitting behind a desk all week! 
• IGHR - Athens, Georgia, is a small college town. I only left campus once to go out to lunch with some friends. 

COST

• GRIP - Early bird tuition (before May 1) is $460 for a course; regular tuition is $485. At La Roche College (Pennsylvania) a single room is $410; a double room is $310 per person. At Daemen College (the new campus in New York), an "apartment-style private bedroom, shared kitchen, dining, and living room" is $475. Fifteen meals are included at either location.
• IGHR - Early bird tuition (by March 10) is $560 for a course; regular tuition is $600. A classic room with one queen or king bed is $89 per night. The cost is the same for a room with two custom beds. Select rooms with two queen beds or two double beds is $109. That would make a 5 night stay - Sunday through Friday - cost between $445 and $545. Meals are extra and the costs are not posted at this time.

REGISTRATION

• GRIP - Registration begins February 14th with three weeks to choose from
• IGHR - Registration begins January 13th 

CHOOSING AN INSTITUTE

Since I live in Texas and have to fly to either institute, I chose the course based on both content and instructors. This year, my first choice will be at GRIP from June 24th-29th in the "From Confusion to Conclusion: How to Write Proof Arguments" which is coordinated by Kimberly Powell. The other instructors are: Catherine Desmarais, CG, Harold Henderson, CG, Melissa A. Johnson, CG, and Karen Stanbary, CG.

Hope to see some of you at GRIP in June! And, if you have any comments or questions, please let me know.

Wishing You a Merry Christmas!

Yesterday, I got my final assignment graded for my BU certificate. BU was a wonderful learning experience, but I'm glad to be done!

Merry Christmas!

This year was a year of growth for me. Not only did I complete BU, but I attended IGHR for the first time, watched webinars, took other online classes, and read genealogy books, articles, and blogs. I also did a lot of research. (Oh, and I started a new hobby: art!) I have so much to share, and I can't wait to really start blogging again!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

My "Ancestral Rebellious Streak"

The Church of England is the official church of England. Protestant churches which do not conform to the Church of England doctrines are called nonconformist churches.

Register of Baptisms Kept at Providence Chapel, Spring Head, Saddleworth, County of York, [England], page 83, baptized 12 May 1835, Humphrey Eastwood; The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey, England; database, "England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Register, 1567-1970," Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 December 2017).

With his first wife, my third great grandfather had two children who were baptized in a nonconformist church. On Ancestry, these two baptisms are in a database titled "England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970." I found the first sentence of the description of the database to be thought-provoking:

Trace your ancestral rebellious streak through non-conformist and non-parochial birth, marriage, and death registers.

As someone from the States, I don't think I truly understand religion in England. What did it mean to be a nonconformist in England at this time? Did my ancestors really have a rebellious streak? And, since  James' children by his second wife, my third great grandmother, were baptized in the Church of England, did James' beliefs change? Did he just follow his wives' beliefs? Or did something happen in England that I need to learn more about?

I am enjoying learning about my "rebellious" English ancestors!

Success: Finding a Death Certificate With a Misspelled Surname

My last post was about how I found my grandfather's younger brother's birth announcement by searching a newspaper using their address - not their surname. Before finding this article, I didn't know his date of birth. And, I still hadn't learned the baby's name as each of the birth announcements just named the father. In this case, Frank.

Michigan death records for 1897 to 1947 are online at Seeking Michigan. I had not been able to find the baby's birth by using his surname, Kaechle, so I decided to search using other information. Searching the Michigan death records for 1897-1920, I used the advanced search feature and entered the following:

• Father's Given Name: Frank
• Birth Year: 1909
• County: Wayne

Baby Kaechle was the fifth record on the list! The surname had been written poorly and was transcribed as "Koehle." The baby's given name was Frank, like his father. Strangely, he had an older brother named Frank who lived to be over 50! 

Michigan Department of Community Health, death certificate, file no. 1464 (1909), Frank Kaechle; Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics, Lansing, Michigan; digital image, "Death Records, 1897-1920," SeekingMichigan (http://www.seekingmichigan.com : accessed 8 November 2017).

Frank Kaechle was born on 18 June 1909, and died the next day of "gastrointestinal hemorrhage." My grandfather was only 2 1/2 at the time of his brother's birth, and never mentioned this brother to my mom. I don't know if he remembered him or not.

I'm thankful to now be able to remember the short life of my grandfather's baby brother, and to grieve with the family over the death of this little boy.

[I'm still quite busy with BU, which is going great! I plan on blogging more faithfully when it's over.]

Tip: Search Newspaper Sites Using an Address

Searching newspaper sites for an address, instead of a name, can sometimes uncover articles which would not have been found otherwise.

1910 U.S. Census, Wayne County, Michigan, Detroit Ward 9, population schedule, page 12B [written], dwelling 181, family 247, 651 Chene St, Frank Kaechle, image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 October 2017), citing 
National Archives microfilm T624, roll 684.

In 1910 the census record for my great grandmother, Anna (Adam) Kaechle, stated she was the mother of seven children with six still living. Since I knew of only six children, I assumed she must have had a seventh child who died in childhood.

In that census, the Kaechle family lived at 651 Chene Street in Detroit, Michigan. Searching newspapers.com for "651 Chene" in Detroit resulted in 60 matches. The majority of these hits were help wanted ads placed in 1898/99. And others were dated after 1930 when the family was living in a different house.

Births, Detroit Free Press, Detroit, Michigan, 3 July 1909, page 12, column 7, 
digital image, newspapers.com, (http://newspapers.com : accessed 16 October 2017). 

One article, however, was dated 1909 and was about my family. The section was "births" and included the following: "Frank Kaechle, 651 Chene, boy." Frank Kaechle was the father, and I noticed that both the girls and boys were just listed under the father's names.

Although this short article had the surname, Kaechle, spelled correctly, OCR must have read it wrong. Most likely the only way I to find this incredibly short announcement was by searching for the address!

I am thankful to know the approximate date of Frank and Anna's baby boy, but hope to also learn his name and exact date of birth and death.

(I think the key to blogging while going through BU this fall is to keep the posts short! I will blog when I can.)

"Enthusiastic" Again!

I haven't blogged much in the past five or six months. I went through a significant genealogy "slump" where I wasn't sure I wanted to pursue genealogy any longer. Happily, that phase has passed and I am back!

IGHR - July 2017

This summer, I attended IGHR in Georgia in July. Even while I prepared for my trip, my passion was reignited.

I am currently taking the Boston University (or "BU") course. We just finished the first module, and I've already learned a lot.

I am also reinstating my goal to become a certified genealogist by 2020!

I am, quite happily, "the enthusiastic genealogist" once again!

A Lack of Premarital Records

The last of his siblings to die, my husband's grandfather either didn't know or didn't remember the names of his paternal grandparents. His father, William Emmitt Hunter, was born 9 July 1874 most likely in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, married in December of 1910 to Winnie Huddleston, and died in that same county on 4 April 1953. However, William hasn't been found in any census record prior to 1920. Where he was living before his 1910 marriage and the identity of his parents has been a mystery.

Oklahoma Department of Health, certificate of death 005619 (1953), William Emmitt Hunter.
[Obtained years ago from unknown source.]

For many years, William's 1953 death certificate was the only obtained document which contained information regarding his parents. The informant, my husband's grandfather, stated that William's father was Thomas Hunter and his mother's name was unknown.

William Emmitt Hunter, SS no. 526-30-2088, 3 Dec 1943, Application for Account Number (Form SS-5), Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland.

Recently, an Ancestry "shaky leaf" hint for William led to the Social Security application index. According to this index, which states it was filled out in December of 1943, William was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, to Thomas Hunter and Wimnie [sic] Pierce. An actual copy of the application confirmed the information found on the index.

Efforts to locate William in the 1880 census, with or without his parents, have not been successful. Likewise, attempts to locate either Thomas Hunter or Winnie Pierce (or Hunter) in either the 1860 or 1870 federal censuses with reasonable birth years to have a child in 1874 have not been conclusive.

If you are related to the Hunter family, or have any more information about William Emmitt Hunter and his family, I'd love to talk! Please leave a comment or email me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net