TERRE HAUTE — FamilySearch has announced the completion of two new online projects and asks for volunteers to help them in a third.
FamilySearch Record Services, the Georgia Archives, and the Georgia State Office of Vital Records and Statistics recently entered into a cooperative effort to place the Georgia death certificates online. Now approximately 275,000 Georgia death records from 1919-1927 can be viewed for free at one of two Web sites. The sites have an online searchable index that is linked to a scanned digital image of each death record. These can be viewed by going to www.GeorgiaArchives.org (go to the virtual vault), or at labs.familysearch.org.
A second group of records recently made available by Family Search in collaboration with the Utah State Archives consists of the digital images of the state’s historic brand books. Brands started being registered in Utah in 1851 in order to provide the means for an owner to identify his stock and to prevent the use of duplicate brands by different livestock owners. The historic brand books from 1849 to 1930 are now on line at historyresearch.utah.gov/digital/540.htm, including a full text search and a name index. Entries in the books include a picture of the brand symbol, the location on the body that the brand was placed, the name of the person registering the brand, the date of registration, and the applicant’s county of residence. If your ancestor was a rancher, having a record and image of his registered brand would be an interesting addition to the family records comparable to having a family crest.
FamilySearch is also launching a Latin America project and needs 10,000 volunteers who can read both English and Spanish to help index Mexican, Argentine, and other Latin American records for placement on the Internet. The first records to be indexed will be the 1930 Mexican census. Volunteers would download one census page at a time onto their home computers, index that page, and send it back to Family search. Each page would take about 30 minutes to index and volunteers would work at their own pace, accepting only as many pages as they have time for. If you want to be a part of this exciting project, register at FamilySearchIndexing.org. Por favor!
Queries
n I am looking for any family descended from Ephriam Brown, born 1826 in Kentucky and died June 17, 1903, near Clay County, Indiana. He was married to Elizabeth Neal. One of his sons, Henry Clay Brown, born Oct. 12, 1870, in Kentucky, married Zilphia Ann VonCannon on May 14, 1893, in Clay County. He died Aug. 6, 1933, in Clay County. I am looking for information on his family and his son Ephriam Max Brown is of great interest. I know the family still lives in the area, and hope to hear from them. Contact Niki Barker, 257 Pleasant Point Dr., Beaufort, SC 29907, e-mail pickeyniki@yahoo.com.
n Seeking information on Samuel F. or E. Willey, born about 1831 in Indiana. He married Eliza Brock about 1869. He was a veteran of the Civil War, Company B, 31st Indiana. They had four children: Ellen Willey, born about 1871 and married W. D. Gray; William Benton Willey, born about 1873 and married Myrtle (surname possibly McCormick); Alfred H. Willey born about 1879; and Edna Willey, who married a K. O. Risher. I think Samuel also had a brother named Alfred who died in 1921 in Vigo County, Indiana. I also believe that Samuel and Alfred were the sons of Samuel and Anna Willey and from Fayette County, Indiana. Please contact Donna Cooper, 53006 Tulain, Elkhart, IN 46514, e-mail dkcooper6@comcast.net.
History
Genealogy: FamilySearch completes two new online projects
- History
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BRUCE'S HISTORY LESSON: This little-known compromise may have saved the union
When the Constitution was signed in September of 1787 and sent to the Congress that then existed under the Articles of Confederation, Congress was instructed to send that Constitution to the states to be ratified … or not. The message to the states was clear: Accept the Constitution or reject it, but don’t try to change it.
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Traveling Civil War exhibit makes history personal
Civil War history will come alive for visitors to the Sullivan County Public Library who experience “Faces of the Civil War,” a traveling exhibition created and managed by the Indiana Historical Society.
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GENEALOGY: Virginia Historical Society takes on ambitious project
Over the past few months, the Virginia Historical Society has launched an ambitious project to scrutinize more than 8 million 17th, 18th, and 19th century documents in order to identify the enslaved population of those times.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: The Legacy of ‘The Old Silkworm House’
In 1837, and for several years thereafter, a gray sandstone obelisk was installed next to a one-story frame residence at the northwest corner of Sixth and Eagle streets.
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HISTORICAL TREASURE: A blast from valentines past
Valentine’s Day — it brings to mind simple paper valentines and the elaborate, fancy store-bought cards with multiple verses and glittery covers.
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LOOKING BACK: 1962: Flu outbreak forces Schulte closed
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star.
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Original copy of 13th Amendment at Lincoln Library & Museum
A fully signed and recently restored copy of the Congressional resolution for a 13th Amendment to the Constitution, the official act that would abolish slavery in the United States, will be on display in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum’s Treasures Gallery.
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BRUCE'S HISTORY LESSON: Freedom of religion — beliefs and actions
Because religious faith is, arguably, the quintessential example of our right to privacy, to say nothing of its prominent place in our First Amendment, throughout our history court cases involving the free exercise of religion have been handled with great trepidation and with particular care. One of the milestone “free exercise” religion cases, Davis v. Beason, was decided by the Supreme Court this week (Feb. 3) in 1890.
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GENEALOGY: SoCal Genealogical Jamboree coming up in June
The Southern California Genealogical Society announces its 43rd Annual Jamboree, to be staged for three days on June 8-10, at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel in Burbank, Calif.
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LOOKING BACK: 2002: Disco Ernie featured on Maury
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star.
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HISTORICAL TREASURE: Flashing the mayor's badge
This mayoral badge was presented to the Vigo County Historical Society by Elizabeth K. Schultz, the granddaughter of Samuel E. Beecher Sr., who served as mayor of Terre Haute from 1936 to 1940.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Deadly tornado devastates York in 1907
John T. Staff loved water and, particularly, the Wabash River.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Notorious Western desperado Ellsworth Wyatt captured in Clay County
In October 1892, Terre Haute police received a circular from the State of Kansas containing a description of Ellsworth Wyatt and offering a $1,200 reward for his capture.
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LOOKING BACK: 2002: ISU students honor Martin Luther King Jr.
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star.
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HISTORICAL TREASURE: News letter filled with wonderful local news
We recently received five bound volumes of copies of the “Terre Haute Onizette,” the Owen-Illinois Glass Company news letter for the Terre Haute Plant.
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GENEALOGY: Peyton, Downey, Fifer queries and a plea for help from Scotland
This week, we have several queries.
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Extension plans seminar on land use
The Purdue Extension Land Use Team is hosting a video seminar titled “Welcome to the Plan Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals” from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday.
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BRUCE'S HISTORY LESSON: Kennedy, Camelot, and other myths
This week (Jan. 20) in 1961, John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as our 35th president, and his tragic death by assassination notwithstanding, his was a mediocre presidency that, undeservedly, became the stuff of legend — in part because of his assassination.
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Actor to portray Lincoln at dinner for historical society
A special program, “And Lincoln Wrote,” is coming to Harlan Hall in Marshall, Ill., with a featured presentation by Dick Benach as Abraham Lincoln and Chuck Hand as the publisher of the Prairie Beacon.
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GENEALOGY: Celebrate MLK Day with the Indiana Historical Society
On Monday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Indiana Historical Society will offer free admission to celebrate Martin Luther King Day.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Light Guards savor military and social experiences
Never during the Civil War was there a time when the City of Terre Haute was in danger of hosting an armed conflict involving one or more armies.
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LOOKING BACK: 1962: 87 high school hoops teams compete in 47th annual Wabash Valley Tournament
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star.
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HISTORICAL TREASURE: A bottle of clove oil at the pharmacy
The Historical Treasure for today is a bottle of Clove Oil.
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LOOKING BACK: 1987: St. Mary’s Parish congregation celebrates 150th anniversary
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star.
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HISTORICAL TREASURE: Fire up the jukebox for a great night
The jukebox existed long before Glenn Miller’s “Juke Box Saturday Night” swing version.
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GENEALOGY: 1752 is one memorable year for genealogists
The year 1752 is one to remember if you have ancestors who lived in areas controlled by Great Britain; and this includes the American colonies.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Terre Haute teenager arrested in Cincinnati brothel
A newspaper headline in the Terre Haute Gazette on Jan. 3, 1895, grabbed your attention: “A Terre Haute Girl Goes to Cincinnati to Lead a Life of Shame.”
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BRUCE'S HISTORY LESSON: Ford’s five dollar days increase productivity
This week (Jan. 5) in 1914, Henry Ford, the head of the Ford Motor Company, stunned the business world by announcing that, henceforth, Ford employees would not only share in the car company’s profits, they also would be paid the unheard of sum of $5 a day. That doubled their previous wage.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Some events not given adequate attention
On May 25, 2011, a large white oak tree — one of the 2,000 or so numbered trees on 324 platted lots in “Edgewood Grove Beautiful” subdivision — fell on our residence.
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LOOKING BACK: Carty, Skelly, Oxford celebrate with first baby of the year in 1962, 1987, 2002
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star.
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BRUCE'S HISTORY LESSON: This little-known compromise may have saved the union








