Author: Kathleen

Last time that I wrote here, I was wondering why Mary was so contrary. In that post I decided that I would need to search out more records for Mary’s children. I just didn’t have nearly enough evidence to decide if the family that lived on Long Island was the right family. The first step in that journey was to order the birth records of the other two known children in the family.

The Moore Children Birth Certificates

The Things that match up:

• Place of Birth is the same for all children
• M. Friedman, M.D. was present at all three births.
• Parents names are the same on all three.
• Father is listed as an Insurance Agent on all three.
• The birth order is correct (Mary first, Robert second, William/Lawrence third)

Things that are slightly off:

• Marion Moore is the name the oldest child and only daughter is known as in all other records. In her birth certificate she is listed as Mary Florence Moore.
• Mary Johnson-Moore’s birthplace is listed as Brooklyn on Robert’s birth certificate and Babylon, L.I. on Mary/Marion’s birth certificate. On William/Lawrence’s certificate only U.S. is given.
• Great-Grandpa Moore’s birth certificate is listed under Lawrence Moore. In all the documents I have for him, he lists his name as William Lawrence Moore. Grandpa Moore even told me that his father had a hard time finding his birth certificate when going to the Vital Records office. The middle name being listed as the birth name makes sense. I also have a certified copy of the same certificate dated for 1942.
• Chicago, Illinois is the listed place of birth for the father, Robert Moore Sr. The family was living in Chicago at the time of Robert’s birth but unfortunately Chicago couldn’t find a birth record for me at the time. William/Lawrence’s birth certificate only lists U.S. for the place of birth.

Conclusion

Just basing my conclusion on the three records above I can say some things for certain. Mary Florence Moore, Robert James Moore, and William Lawrence Moore are definitely siblings. They are definitely the children of Robert James Moore and Mary Johnson. They lived at 518 Railroad Avenue between 1898 and 1901. Robert James Moore Sr. was working as an Insurance Agent between 1898 and 1901.

Using the same three records, I’m strongly leaning toward a few conclusions as well. I’m almost certain that Robert Sr. was born in Chicago and Mary was born in Babylon, Long Island. I can’t say for certain that the Johnson family from the last post is Mary’s family, but it’s definitely moving in that direction.

The last conclusion I can make is that my family, in general, does not like to use the names on their birth certificates. We still do that today! 🙂

It’s not fair of me to call Mary contrary. I don’t even know Mary. However, her blood is running through my veins. Maybe that gives me a little wiggle room to be a little cross with her for being so hard to track sometimes. The funny thing about Mary is that before my Genealogy Do-Over, I didn’t even think Mary was that contrary. It’s all these new rules I put in place for myself. They keep me second and third guessing everything!

Records of Mary’s life

Mary E. Johnson is the first time that my Genealogy Do-Over has made me sweat. It would be easy to just add in the family I believe to be hers and continue working off that assumption. The problem with that being, can I prove that is actually her family? The answer to that is nope, not even a little bit. It’s going to be so bad of me to admit what I thought before, but I have to do it. That’s the whole point of starting fresh.

The following record is the first record I am able to use to see into Mary’s life before she married. My great-grandfather’s birth certificate just gives her maiden name, which helped, but doesn’t say anything about her parents.

How I know this is the correct couple

• The names of Robert, his father Wm. H., and mother Mary all match up with what I know.  This is the first instance I have of Mary’s maiden name. (Robert’s mother)
• In 1900, my Robert does list his occupation as an Insurance Collector.
• While the address given for Robert’s residence isn’t familiar, his brother’s ran a printing business just down the street at 1567 Broadway. Maybe the brothers decided to move into an apartment together close to work?
• I have found records for Robert’s siblings that also give their mother’s maiden name as Starret.

Where I Went Wrong Before

Previously, when I did a search for Mary I just typed in what I knew and I went with the top result. Not just because it was the top result, but because it was the only result of Arthur, Ann, and Mary Johnson in a household with the right ages. Jackpot, this must be them! Oh boy was I green.

Most of the Mary Johnson’s I was finding didn’t have an Arthur as a father or the parents weren’t born in Ireland. In fact, I was getting a lot of Sweden results when searching for Ireland. Maybe I should reverse that and look for Sweden to see if more Ireland pops up? The family below is the only family living in the New York City or surrounding area to fit the bill. I know Mary was born in New York. The family below was living on Long Island in the village of Babylon. So far there is nothing to connect my Mary Johnson to this family. For now that means not linking this family into my main family line.

The Temporary Solution

I’ve already found this family in the census returns between 1860 through 1880. That includes the 1865 New York State Census. The 1875 State census would be grand but Suffolk County, where this family was living, was lost. What to do with that information? It’s a waste to just throw it out. Technically while there is nothing to say this is my family, there is nothing to say that it isn’t. The dilemma was how to keep track of this family without adding them in and possibly assuming in the future that they belong there.

My solution is to add the family un-linked into my main genealogy file. This allows me to follow all my same procedures and keep things organized. If after researching them, I decide they are the right family I can just merge them into my main line. Carefully of course!

What Next?

My plan for now is to keep researching this Johnson family. I will try to build the family out from this starting point. If I can rule them out of my search, I will consider moving them to a separate file. Another option is to start a Johnson file where I can research multiple Johnson families and keep track of them. I don’t mind having one orphaned family in my working file, but anymore and I’m afraid it will turn into a mess.

Some of you might be wondering why I didn’t start off with a new Johnson file to begin with. While it would have been better keeping it away from my working file, I didn’t have other families in that area at the time that looked promising. Had I found 2 or 3 families that were living around each other, I probably would have gone that route.

Open to Suggestions!

I am going to be open to suggestions when it comes to the Johnsons! My main priority is still going to be my Do-Over. That means gathering as many documents for my Mary Johnson’s children before spending too much money buying records trying to identify her parents.

For the curious, I’ve included a screenshot of what my plan tab looks like right now in my Research Log. The List tab is the big list of names as I’m verifying them. It’s what tells me who is next to document. This is really working for me! I don’t know how I would keep it all straight otherwise.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to update everyone again soon!

Today I am going to be writing about my recent experience with the New Jersey State Archives. I previously told you about what they did find for me. This time I’d like to tell you about what they didn’t find. As always, if you’d like to learn more about the Genealogy Do-Over, head over to Thomas MacEntee’s page, now called Abundant Genealogy.

My order from the New Jersey State Archives

Back on May 24th, I made an online order to the New Jersey State Archives. I am trying to fill in where I’m missing documents for my ancestors. That means my first step is heading to the Order List of my Genealogy Log, where I’ve been tracking the records I need to find. Note: These are also entered as “To Do” items in my genealogy management program.

As you can tell from the screenshot, I only have Priorities “Done” and “High” checked in my Priority column. Filters are my favorite thing about Excel. With this New Jersey order I decided to start putting what date the records came in. This way I can start tracking how long it usually takes to get a records request back from somewhere.

When I was looking through my Pedigree, I realized I still have an “Abt” date for the birth of Jane Parkin. That was my deciding factor in ordering the birth records of Jane Parkin and Clifford Redford. Adding Clifford’s in was a little bit of a bonus because I knew what his date was from multiple records. Since I was asking for a search for Jane’s record,  I added a bit of a guarantee that I would at least get something back when I added in Clifford’s record.

What I received from the New Jersey State Archives

Now the question becomes, What do I do with this information? It might be easy to shrug off and say, Oh well! The problem being 10 years down the road, I won’t remember what I actually searched for at the Archives. That’s not helping my new and improved tracking methods either. The great news is that I have a Search Attempt tab in my Genealogy Research Log. I’m not trying to re-invent the wheel here, I just need to write down what was searched and what was found… or in this case, not found.

My Search Attempt Log

This log was up and going months before I sent away for my New Jersey records. What I found reassuring was that when I went to enter in information for this search, I didn’t have to change a single thing about my log. The required fields were already in place. I must be doing something right these days!

The Archives gave me what databases they searched and the criteria used. That made is easy to just fill those into my log like I actually did the physical search myself. I made sure to add that the index record on Family Search was a newspaper article.

Not Quite Done

That’s not the end of the line yet. I still have one more step to do.

As you can see, at the top of this list of files is the scan of the form the archives sent back to me. It’s right there and at a glance I can see that I still need the birth record and I can see quickly what was already searched.

Man, I just can’t believe how sporadic my research has been over the last 8 months, but how the organization methods and processes are keeping me right in line! I can also update you a little and say that since this record search, I found Jane’s siblings in a birth index with their father being listed under his middle name Walter. So that’s my next step!