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.