Welcome to: Genealogy Roadshow II, Who In The WLA Do You Think You Are: Mom’s Side! Don Litzer Kalahari Resort Wisconsin Dells, WI 6 November 2014

TO REVIEW: PLUMER LOVELACE’S PEDIGREE CHART (BEFORE WAPL 2014)

PLUMER’S CLUES: MOM’S SIDE

A THICKER PLOT— THE FAMILY LORE ON VIRGINIA’S LINE THICKENS… Virginia (Ryan) Lovelace told this story to her son Plumer: --Ada Ryan was approached in 1918 by a relative of hers, single and with child --Ada and her husband agreed to take the child (Virginia) and raise her as their own in Denver, Colorado

WE’RE NOT IN COLORADO…WHAT CAN WE FIND OUT FROM A DISTANCE? --U.S. Censuses… --Online indices (& sometimes records they point to): --in FamilySearch.org --guides like vital records indices, etc., managed by Joe Beine --Ancestry.com --Google searches --Websites providing research context (not necessarily BMD)

1920 CENSUS, VIRGINIA WITH ADA & WALTER RYAN IN DENVER, COLORADO Note: parents’ age vs. child…birthplace consistency…father’s occupation Starting with lowest hanging fruit—the census most likely to show the full family…

WHAT WAS WALTER’S 1920 OCCUPATION AGAIN? Yes, Walter worked for the railroad as a fire knocker— notice how the enumerator writes his “F”s --Below is an excerpt from the Evansville Courier & Press article of August 30, 2011, describing the job of 'fire knocker.' Several men in this directory were 'fire knockers.’ Jerry EVANS responded to a "Good Morning" column about difficult jobs. --"I was 18-years-old, and my first real job was... painful, dangerous, sweat-soaked and very dirty... I lasted one week. --"I was a fire knocker for the L&N Railroad. When the engines returned from a run, it was my job to shake down the clunkers in the fire pit and leave a nice bed of hot coal before the engine could be parked inside the roundhouse. --"The tool to smooth the hot bed of coal was about 15 feet long. Very heavy, and it came out hot. --"My dad could never understand why I quit such a great entry job with the railroad." (Article contributed by Richard Harrison, March of 2011) ( What did a fire knocker do? Here’s one explanation, accompanying an online version of the 1923 Mason City, IA city directory:

HMMM…CAN’T FIND ADA & WALTER IN 1930 CENSUS—HOW ABOUT 1940? (shown in ancestry.com index as Ada B & Walter M “Rysn”) …note “x” showing Ada as informant

HMMM…STILL CAN’T FIND IN 1930 CENSUS INDEX…HOW ABOUT MORE SPECIFIC CLUES? --look closely in the 1940 Census clue… Walter & Ada resided at 2945 Glenarm Place --Google “denver city directory” to find Denver Public Library’s Digital Collections…

…TO FIND WALTER & ADA AT 2945 GLENARM PLACE IN THE 1929 DENVER HOUSEHOLDERS’ DIRECTORY…

ONLY TO FIND THAT, APPARENTLY, THE 1930 CENSUS ENUMERATOR PASSED THEM BY!

HMMM…HYPOTHESIZE THAT WALTER & ADA WERE MARRIED IN DENVER…RECORDS? to FamilySearch.org…to Colorado databases…to Colorado Statewide Marriage Index, …to index entries and attached documents:

OKAY, WALTER & ADA’S WAS A CHURCH MARRIAGE! MAYBE A RECORD? But what church? Back to the city directories, and find the pastor…

SO, ADA AND WALTER WERE MARRIED HERE…

A PHONE CALL LATER…DARN… --marriage records have been kept by Denver’s Zion Baptist Church for the current pastor’s tenure only --I obtained contact information for the church historian --religious institution recordkeeping does vary greatly

LET’S POKE AROUND DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY’S COLLECTION SOME MORE…

FOUND THIS ENTRY…

AND, THANKS TO A FRIENDLY LIBRARIAN AT DENVER PUBLIC…HERE’S WALTER’S DEATH NOTICE FROM THE 15 APR 1950 COLORADO STATESMAN: Full of clues: address & spouse confirm identity…to Fairmount & Prince Hall Masons leads…

FAIRMOUNT?...LET’S CHECK FIND-A-GRAVE…HERE’S WALTER…

AND HERE’S ADA!

AND THE REFERENCE TO PRINCE HALL MASONS?...

ON TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF CLUES—THE 1940 CENSUS…IN A FOUR-FAMILY UNIT AT 2704 E. 27 TH AVE., DENVER, COLORADO Virginia married, with two children born in 1939 & 1940 and their memories…

SO, STARTING WITH THIS…

WE’VE GOTTEN TO THIS…

WITH SOME REASONABLY LOW-HANGING CLUES GOING FORWARD… From Walter’s death notice: --Rev. John Perkins? A contemporaneous city directory (at Fort Wayne or BYU, WHS on microfilm) might identify his church…to a funeral record… --Masonic records for Walter? Possible clues from vital records: --Birth record (1918) (under what name?) for Virginia? --Death record (1970) for Ada? --Death notices (1950s?) for Virginia & James? --Local Civil Marriage record (1912) for Ada & Walter? --Local Civil Marriage record (1937) for James & Virginia?

IN CLOSING, THANK YOU, PLUMER! The WIGLHR Genealogy Detectives sincerely thank you, Not only for being a good sport, But for helping make genealogy more understandable to librarians in Wisconsin and everywhere!