July 2010 Making Connections

I have an original of this graduation picture and also a copy that my great-uncle Curtis Peterson (another brother of Alvin and Harold) sent, listing the names of the students in the picture. They are Harold Peterson, Esther Jones, Marie Schrohe, Mabel Nielsen and Edith Anderson, teacher. It may be that Esther Jones is a daughter of Sarah Rodwell Jones as suggested in the article. If I can be of any assistance, I would be more than happy to help.

Maureen A. Taylor responds: It’s so interesting when photos are suddenly identified. In my Photo Detective column, I hypothesized that the picture showed children of the historical owners of the home where the photo was found. I knew it was a graduation picture from the attire, props and pose. I worked with Sandi Alex and Judy Mott Strong on identifying the students and the teacher, and we had a couple of ideas but nothing definite. Janet’s key answered all our questions. This photo is a great story—it’s about youth, young love and family. Case closed!

I’ve had the great pleasure to meet some of the blog writers in person. They’re a very supportive and giving group.

A big “thank you” to Maureen A. Taylor for the compilation. I admire Family Tree Magazine and the work you do. Again, thank you so much for your efforts and the honor.

Getting Connected
I read Sunny McClellan Morton’s article “Overcoming the Obstacles” in the March 2010 issue and have a question. I’ve seen stories about finding genealogy information on slave ancestors and, with your article, source records on slave owners, but I’ve never read anything about how those of us with slave-owning ancestors can connect with the descendants of those slaves. I have written family stories that refer to slaves in two branches of my family, and I would like to give them to someone who might connect the names to ancestors. How can I do this?

Sunny McClellan Morton responds: Kudos to you for wanting to share! There are several ways to get your stories out there. Post scanned copies to Afriquest <www.afriquest.com>, a free online repository for documents and images relating to the African-American experience. Then post a summary with names, dates and places on message boards descendants might check, on sites such as AfriGeneas <www.afrigeneas.com> and USGenWeb <usgenweb.org>. If you use a website such asAncestry.com <Ancestry.com >, consider creating a family tree and sharing the stories there. You also can donate copies of family history materials to local genealogical or historical societies.

Genuine Draft

Farm help was scarce during the war, and he might have been working for a relative or a stranger. His job was listed as “separator tender.” He may have run the threshing machine itself, or he might’ve pitched bundles of grain into the separator’s conveyor. I believe it is more likely the former, as the latter job would have probably had the word “bundle” in the title.

Medical Records
In the article “Medical Attention” in the December 2009 issue, you mentioned a number of excellent resources for research. One more that I’ve found helpful is The Cambridge Historical Dictionary of Disease edited by Kenneth F. Kiple (Cambridge University Press).

Big Fans
Happy 10th! My first copy of Family Tree Magazine is dated February 2003, so I’ve got seven-plus years of your fabulous magazine. I’m still not computerized—I have to do it all the hard way—but I get what I need (most of the time) through the mail. Keep up the good work!

I have reached my late 80s and ceased active family history researching some time ago, but for a treat I bought a copy of Family Tree Magazine. It happened to be the January 2010 issue and it absorbed me so much that I read it straight through. It contained everything one could need to pursue this wonderful hobby; I was almost tempted to pick up the threads of my own “brick walls.”