Tuesday's Tip ~ International Passenger Lists

This week (August 29 - September 5, 2011), Ancestry.com is providing free access to international immigration and travel records. I took advantage of this to look for some of my ancestors visiting Europe from the U.S. in the early 20th century.

I found out why I've never been able to find my grandmother's family in the 1900 U.S. Federal Census - it's not that they were simply out of town, they weren't in the country to be enumerated!

The following passenger list is from Ancestry.com's UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960.

Mrs. Chas. C. Adsit, age 32 is listed with a "Profession, Occupation or Calling" of "Wife." (However, at the far right, under the "foreigner" column, there is a check mark under "Male" so perhaps it's my great-grandfather, Charles C. Adsit traveling with his children?) Son, Charles is 7 years old, and daughter Eliz[abeth] is listed with an age of 2 or 3; it's hard to tell. She turned three years old four days after arrival, on June 18, 1900. Last is Sally Wither, the 25-year-old Scottish maid who worked for the Adsit family for many years; you can see her in the family's census listing in 1910 and 1920.

The Majestic sailed from New York City, N.Y. and arrived at Liverpool, England, on June 14, 1900. They would probably  have had to leave their home in Chicago before the end of May, and the 1900 U.S. Census was an official count as of June 1, and the census workers would have visited homes throughout the month of June.

Tuesday's Tip is a daily blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers, the genealogy community’s resource for blogging. It is used by many genealogy bloggers to help them tell stories of their ancestors.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History ~ Weddings

Week 35: Weddings. Tell us about your wedding.

We just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary last Thursday. Not only did we have a formal photographer who did a great job, but we had family members who took snapshots during the weekend. It was fun to look through the old photos and when this week's "52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History" came out with the wedding subject, I couldn't resist sharing some memories and snapshots of the weekend.

We had a relatively small wedding, about 60 guests, outside, less than a week after Hurricane Bob slammed into New England. However, the setting for our wedding was at my family's summer home on the North Shore of Boston, and was not affected by Hurricane Bob.

My two best friends were my matron of honor and maid of honor, and with both my husband and me having three brothers, we had a best man and five ushers.

I am very grateful to my sister-in-law for all she did to help me with preparing for the event and for taking snapshots and I am thankful to my aunt who also took pictures and put together an album for me.

View of the house and tents from the water

The ceremony was held under the smaller tent and the reception was held under the larger tent.

View of the tents from the house

The day before: Dad under the tent as preparations were underway

We had absolutely beautiful weather. The joke was that Dad was in charge of paying the bills and taking care of the weather. He came through on both counts!

View from the terrace

When the rabbi said "You may kiss the bride," people on the two boats that you see in the center of this snapshot began honking horns and cheering. I have no idea who they were, but it had quite an effect!

The groom and bride

Happy 20th Anniversary!

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2011) that invite genealogists and others to record memories and insights about their own lives for future descendants.

Sunday's Obituary ~ David Hunter McAlpin

David Hunter McAlpin (1816 - 1901) was my great great grandfather. His February 9, 1901, page 2, New York Times obituary follows.

There is also a New York Tribune obituary at Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, one of my favorite free newspaper websites. That one is harder to read, as it is blurry, but it gives a tremendous amount of information.

Sunday's Obituary is a daily blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers, the genealogy community’s resource for blogging. It is used by many genealogy bloggers to help them tell stories of their ancestors.

Workday Wednesday ~ Grandfather Copeland's occupation

Until recently I was never clear as to the occupation of my maternal great-grandfather, Lowell Copeland (born 1862 in Maine). Census records are not very helpful in this case. See Grandfather Copeland's Family, where I trace the family in census records from 1900-1920.

Lowell Copeland's 1900 occupation

In 1900 (New Trier, Cook Co., Illinois), his occupation is difficult to read (<Illegible> machinery).

In 1910 (New Trier, Cook Co., Illinois), his occupation (as well as just about everything else) was left blank on the census sheet.

Lowell Copeland's 1920 occupation

In 1920 (New Trier, Cook Co., Illinois), his occupation is listed as "Manufacturer Machinery."

In 1930, where I cannot find my grandfather, I find my great-grandfather in Michigan City, La Porte Co., Indiana with his occupation listed as "None."

His three children's birth certificates, recorded in Cook County, Illinois, on June 6, 1930, all list the father's occupation as "Machinery business." (The children were born in 1900, 1903, and 1907.)

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History ~ Smells

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2011) that invite genealogists and others to record memories and insights about their own lives for future descendants.

I haven't been posting on this theme a whole lot, but after reading this week's prompt, I was inspired: Week 34: Smells. Describe any smells that take you back to childhood. These could be from meals, fragrant gardens, musty basements, or something entirely different.

The fragrant scent of viburnum, specifically Korean Spice Viburnum, is one smell that brings me right back to springtime at the house in which I grew up in Massachusetts.

Korean Spice Viburnum

The shrub with its rich, sweet smell only blooms for a week or so in early May.

Closeup of blossom

When I remember the birthday of one of my brothers, I know to look for viburnum to be flowering. Nowadays, when I come across a Viburnum shrub during May, I linger, enjoying the scent. It's amazing how that smell brings me right back to my childhood.

Viburnum photographs are from Nourishing Words blog. (Thank you, Eleanor!)

I also have to add that I have a similar reaction to the scent of lilacs, which brings me right back to my high school campus, where there were a couple of lilac bushes that I passed almost daily in the spring. I've been back to campus recently, and they are no longer there.


Lilac image is from Flowers Magazine.

The Adsit Family in Chicago

My grandmother, Libby, was born in Chicago in 1897. Her father, Charles Chapin Adsit (1853 - 1931), spent his entire life in Chicago. By looking at the Chicago City Directories on Footnote, I am able to find that he moved from 45 Bellevue Place to 24 Ritchie Court in 1905.

From page 151 of the 1905 Chicago City Directory

From page 155 of the 1906 Chicago City Directory

From page 95 of the 1911 Chicago City Directory

Footnote does not have a copy of the 1910 City Directory for Chicago, but by the time of the 1911 Chicago City Directory, the Adsit's address had changed from 24 to 1322 Ritchie Court.

From the Plan of Re-Numbering
City of Chicago, August 1909

This change was due to a City Council ordinance, passed in 1908, that took effect on September 1, 1909, that established a new street numbering system in Chicago. Prior to this time, Chicago street numbers were considered chaotic, with several different numbering systems in place.

I found the Plan of Re-Numbering as a PDF via a Chicago information page at Steve Morse's website.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday ~ 1904 Car

This photograph of my great uncle Charles C. Adsit, Jr. (1892 - 1944) and his sister, my grandmother, Elizabeth Adsit (1897 - 1983), was taken at Lake Forest (Illinois) in about 1904, based on the handwritten notes on this page of the photograph album.

I found an image online of a 1904 Kensington Touring Car that looks a lot like this car. Anyone know antique cars well enough to confirm this?

I wonder if young Charles was learning to drive, at age 12, or were they just posing for the picture? 

Wordless Wednesday is a daily blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers, the genealogy community’s resource for blogging. It is used by many genealogy bloggers to help them tell stories of their ancestors.

Tuesday's Tip ~ City Directories

Charles Chapin Adsit is my great grandfather. He was born on July 14, 1853, in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.

"Coming Events" on page 38 of the
October 26, 1890, Chicago Tribune

He married Mary Bowman Ashby on Thursday, October 30, 1890, in Louisville, Kentucky, as announced in the Chicago Tribune on October 26, 1890.

They had two children, both born in Chicago, Charles Chapin Adsit, Jr., born on July 3, 1892 (found in both WWI and WWII draft registration cards), and my grandmother, Elizabeth Adsit, born on June 18, 1897. I have previously written about Elizabeth's tennis playing and Elizabeth's wedding.

I have tried for years to find this family in the 1900 U.S. Census. This is an example of using a city directory (1) to help find a family in a census by confirming the street address, or if that isn't successful, (2) as a census substitute. Recently, I started a subscription to Footnote, where I found years worth of Chicago City Directories. On page 137 of The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1900, I find Charles C. Adsit, a broker [of stocks and bonds] with his home at 73 Bellevue pl. (James M. Adsit on this same page, living at 400 Dearborn av is Charles' older brother.)

I then used the Stephen Morse website to find that the E.D. (Enumeration District) of 73 Bellevue Place is 710 (in Ward 24). I searched all 38 images for E.D. 710 in Ancestry.com and found addresses for Bellevue Place on several sheets. Unfortunately, there was no house number 73. I conclude that this family was not enumerated in the 1900 census, at least not in Chicago. (Perhaps they were visiting his wife's family in Kentucky?) However, the city directory tells me that they were living in Chicago at 73 Bellevue Place.

August 30, 2011 update: See my August 30 Tuesday's Tip to find out why I couldn't find this family in the 1900 U.S. Federal Census. 

Tuesday's Tip is a daily blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers, the genealogy community’s resource for blogging. It is used by many genealogy bloggers to help them tell stories of their ancestors.

Matrilineal Monday ~ My Kentucky Great Grandmother

Undated photograph of Mary Bowman Ashby Adsit

Mary Bowman Ashby was born in Glasgow, Barren Co., Kentucky. She died in Beverly, Essex Co., Massachusetts. She spent most of her adult life in Chicago, Cook Co., Illinois, which is where she is buried, although at some point after her husband died in 1931, she moved to the Boston area to be near her only daughter. It will be interesting to find out where she is living when the 1940 census comes out next year. [Update: It turns out she was living in New York City, near her son in 1940.]

She married Charles Chapin Adsit in 1890. (See a wedding announcement here.) He died in 1931.

Detail from death certificate of Mary E. Adsit

Mary Bowman (Ashby) Adsit died on September 12, 1956. (The name is misreported on her death certificate as Mary E. Adsit.) The death certificate confirms her parents' names and birthplaces, which is always a great thing to find on a death certificate. According to this death certificate, her age was 90 years, 5 months, 3 days, placing her date of birth at April 9, 1866. (I like to use the Tombstone Birthday Calculator to calculate a birth date.)

However, in reviewing census records for her family, I think she was 93 when she died.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Ethel May Greeley (1875-1931)

Ethel May Greeley Copeland (December 28, 1875 - October 3, 1931)

Back of the photograph of Ethel May Greeley Copeland

Ethel M. Copeland

Copy of a Kodak - originally

taken by Wallace Fainborn

at his home in Cold Spring

Harbor, Long Island, N. Y., in

the late summer of the

year 1918, I think; when she

was in her forty third

year. She was born in

Chicago on Dec. 28th 1875.

                       Lowell Copeland

Princeton, N.J.

November 29, 1931

Wordless Wednesday is a daily blogging prompt from Geneabloggers, the genealogy community's resource for blogging. It is used by many genealogy bloggers to help them tell stories of their ancestors.

Military Monday ~ James M. Lysle

After reading Russ's suggestion at Family Tree Maker User and Lisa's post at The Faces Of My Family on how to filter people in Family Tree Maker, I filtered my tree from 4,294 down to 80 men born between 1818 and 1846 who could have been soldiers in the Civil War. The one I already knew about is James M. Lysle, a second great grand uncle on my mother's side.

Yours Truly
Jas M Lysle 63d Regt Pa Vol

Here is a Mathew Brady portrait of my second great grand uncle. On the back is written (in unknown handwriting): "James M. Lysle / Killed in Civil War / age 21 years." [sic]

The 63rd Regiment of Pennsylvania, Volunteer Infantry, was made up of men from McKeesport, Allegheny County, organized in August 1861. The U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles found at Ancestry.com tells me that he enlisted on August 19, 1861. His regiment left the state on August 26, 1861, for Washington, D. C. More details of this regiment can be found at the Park Service Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System where you can search for Last Name = Lysle, First Name = James, and State = Pennsylvania.


According to the Ancestry.com database: American Civil War Soldiers (compiled by Historical Data Systems of Kingston, MA), James enlisted as a second lieutenant and was promoted to Full Quartermaster on September 1, 1861. According to the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, it looks like he served in defense of Washington, D. C. until March 1862.

Under the Red Patch: Story of the Sixty-third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1864 compiled by Gilbert Adams Hays with personal narrative by William H. Morrow (published in 1908), can be found at Google Books, and this includes several mentions of Great Great Great Uncle James M. Lysle.

Tuesday's Tip ~ Getting Ready for the 1940 Census

Because there won't initially be an every-name index to find ancestors in the 1940 U.S. Census when it is released in April 2012, it helps to know the Enumeration District (E.D.) of the ancestor I'm looking for. There are a couple of ways to find the 1940 Enumeration Districts of the ancestors I hope to find once the 1940 Census is released in April 2012. Thank you to Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings for his July 18 post about the availability of 1940 Census Enumeration District Maps at NARA's website. Another option is to go to Steve Morse's 1940 Census Quiz which I believe I first read about in Dick Eastman's newsletter in late June.

In 1940, my father was living at 22 Reservoir Avenue, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, with his mother, Elizabeth (Adsit) (Pyle) Rust and step-father, Edgar C. Rust. This is based on the fact that this address shows up for Edgar C. Rust in the 1930 U.S. Census, and on his WWII Draft card.

I started at the 1940 Census Quiz, looking for what Enumeration District this neighborhood was in. I found this E.D. by using the One-Step Large City E.D. Finder Tool. Entering "Massachusetts", the city of "Newton", and the street name "Reservoir Av.", up popped the enumeration district of 9-454.

I then went to the Archival Research Catalog of the National Archives and entered as search terms: "1940 census maps Newton Massachusetts". The result with the digital icon at the left brings up maps in thumbnail view. It is the last one that shows the southeastern section of Newton, which is where Chestnut Hill is located. As I live in Massachusetts and am familiar with this neighborhood, it wasn't too difficult to pick out the right map from the thumbnails.

Close-up of 1940 Enumeration District map for Newton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts

The red arrow in the closeup above points to Reservoir Avenue, and the Enumeration District is right there: 9-454.