Category Archives: Genealogy tips

Big Find 1: In my search for the good ship Helvetia, I was sailing on storm-tossed seas until I encountered TheShipsList. What a bountiful resource that turned out to be.

I’ve had a deepsea plunge through what’s offered there, and best of all, in the deepest water at the bottom of Resources Links page are “Email Discussion Lists.” (Thank you, Sarah.)

I subscribed to the one that offered discussion opportunities on immigrant vessels and put out my query. Others on the listserve were quick and generous in responding with what they knew: about the metalling of hulls, about life at sea, on ports where the Helvetia was registered, on the ship’s rigging and number of masts.

Big Find 2: Heritage Quest through my on-line King County Library System. In the 1860 Census, for some strange reason I could not find Michael Harm via name search. I knew he was in Cleveland at the time, and even his address.

So I took the slowpoke, painstaking approach. I compared Michael’s address with an old map to determine which “Ward” he lived in. (The 1860 Census was broken down by Ward.) I browsed page by page through the 1st Ward Census data, and sure enough, I found him. On the 1860 Census, my greatgreatgrandfather’s name is Michael Hiram. He was living at the time with Uncle John Rapparlie, scrawled out on the census as something like Raferlu, though I have yet to find the listing via name search. But there they all are. And the tenants and workers in Uncle John’s wagon building shop, too.

So let’s see, we’ve got Michael Harm listed in various places as: Michel Harne, Harm, Hann, and Hiram. And his bride as Elizabeth Crolly, Crolley and Crowley. But it’s par for the course. Don’t even get me started on how many ways there are to spell Gebben.

I started an MFA in Creative Writing to boost my novel writing skills, but as it turns out, the writing part of a novel is just one piece of the puzzle.

Since I’m writing about my greatgreatgrandfather (born in Germany and based on letters written in German), I’m trying to swallow the German language in one gulp. If only I could inherit the German language the way I inherited my fondness for sauerkraut. But alas, I’m stuck doing it the hard way, studying German on-line and in a local class. And during the Seattle Film Festival, I’m taking advantage of some movies in German. (I gave the movie Soul Kitchen, the highest rating, a 5.)

With historical fiction, there’s also the research steam train, with all of its tunnels through archival libraries and hairpin curves around landslides of historical data not relevant to my specific project.

But perhaps the most daunting has been the genealogy research. It’s like the corner background of the puzzle, a forest at twilight, say, all light and shadows melted together. It’s taken persistence and lots of sleuthing.

But thanks to my friend David Williams, I feel like I’m at the a firmer outline, along the edge of the trees and moving into blue sky. Dave has some experience with researching his own family history, with inspiring results. What’s more, he’s introduced me to Sarah Thorson Little, who teaches genealogy and family history. Here’s my hot tip of the day, about organizing my research, thanks to Sarah: Organizing Computer Genealogy Files.

I am a  fifth generation German American on my father’s side, a descendant of Michael Harm (born 1841) in Freinsheim, Germany. Across the Atlantic, still in Freinsheim, dwell descendants of Michael’s brother Philipp Harm (born in 1839). How do we keep track of who is related to who?

One way is through a web site that allows us to keep track of family trees. One day in my email inbox, I received an invitation to join Verwandt, where a relative of mine in Germany had entered much of his family tree data, including pictures. Via this invitation, I was able to see what he had done and add information of my own. Hence together, we are building a Stammbaum, a family tree, of the descendants of the two brothers. The web site can be viewed in either English or German, although its first language is German and not everything translates. There is the opportunity to load photos, dates of birth and death, maiden names, etc.

There is an English language version of this program now working in collaboration with Verwandt called My Heritage. These kinds of sites allow family members to compile data even as we’re scattered to the four corners of the Earth. Like family reunions without jet lag, and no macaroni salad.

I spent a couple of hours at the Fiske Genealogical Library today. They’ve got all kinds of great helps and classes. Gary Zimmerman was there (Fiske’s Board President); he helped me locate resources such as the book Cleveland and its Germans. Just searching the title on the internet led me to a whole wealth of other resources, too.

The Meyers Gazetteer (circa 1910) revealed the following information about Freinsheim. Population, 2,586. Home of an apothecary, mining, cement mixing, fruit orchards, and of course, a wine-making fabrik. It was also worthy of note that the town was home to a fire-fighting machine. With good reason — in 1689, the entire town was burned during the War of Succession by Louis XIV, leaving only its walls.

My research also turned up this RootsWeb’s Guide, with many links to ancestor searches.