Family History: How to Begin Researching Yours

How to Begin Researching Your Family History

By

Karen Utter Jennings

Are you interested in finding out more about yourself and your ancestors? Do you wonder about the medical history of your family members? Do you have old family photographs that you can’t identify? Why not start your genealogy journey?

As with all journeys, there is much to discover and learn.  The rewards are never ending.  During my journey, I have found photographs and many other interesting documents and family stories of the main family lines that I am researching. These newfound items of days gone by and bits and pieces of information were added to what I already knew about them. 

So, how do you begin your genealogy journey?  How do you find relatives, amazing facts, pictures, records, and mementos?  Begin by focusing on only one surname.  This is important so you do not get overwhelmed. You may stop at any time with that surname and begin to research another one, but until you get a bit of experience, it may overwhelm you if you try to search for multiple lines at the same time.

  

Here are the first steps to begin researching your family history: 

1. Decide on one surname to focus your research.  

2. Gather pencil/pen and paper or if you prefer to type, go to the keyboard.

3. Start with yourself and record your information: when and where you were born and your parent’s names.  Next, if you are married, write your marriage information and your spouse’s information.  Be as complete as you can.  If you have children, continue writing each of your children’s information.  If the children are married with children, write that information down as well and continue until you finish each person in your line. When you finish, set this information aside.

4. Next, begin to record the information about your parents, but remember to focus on the surname you chose. Record everything you know about them.  When you finish, set this information aside. 

5. Continue to record the information about your parents’ parents, and so on.  Do this until you cannot go any further because you do not have information on that set of grandparents.

6. After you have worked to produce information, you need to organize it.  Place your work in a folder or if you worked on the keyboard save your work on the computer. 

Genealogists use family group sheets to organize their information.  A family group sheet is an 8 ½ by 11 inch paper that is used to record each family unit and the vital statistics.  The sheets organize your information as a series of family groups.  Family group sheets are user-friendly.

Begin filling out the family group sheet starting at the top.  There are spaces to write in who is preparing the sheet, the date, the relationship to preparer, the family unit number and the ancestral chart number.  Family group sheets are easy to use and self-explanatory in most cases.

Next, fill in the husband’s vital statistics: the day, month along with the year he was born, the city, county, and state/country where he was born.  Included are fields for his occupation, religion, if he was christened, when he was married, died and buried, the cemetery, if he had a will and the cause of his death.   Beneath his information is where you fill in his father’s and mother’s names.

Below the husband’s information will be the wife and her vital statistics and fields for her other information.  Be sure to include the wife’s maiden name if known.  Also, write down the wife’s mother’s maiden name in the appropriate space.

After you have finished the wife’s information, you will start filling in their children’s vitals.  There is space for twelve children. If there are more than twelve children, use another family group sheet. 

Family Group Sheets, as well as other genealogy records can be accessed at these websites for free: http://www.RootsWeb.com, http://www.familyeducation.com, or http://FamilyTreeMagazine.com.

As you search for your family roots, I hope you enjoy the journey. 

           

           

Rural Country Correspondents in Southwest Missouri

Country Correspondents in Rural Southwest Missouri

By Karen Utter Jennings

In the good old days when newspapers were young, editors relied on country correspondents to report the news from the rural areas. Country correspondents, also called community correspondents, lived in small communities in our counties and gathered local news of their area for the newspaper. They took their written news to the newspaper office themselves or sent it via someone else making the trip to town.  

Rural life in the hills and hollows was brimming with news of people working, births, deaths, accidents and socializing.  However, getting that news to the newspapers meant using correspondents. There were no telephones and the mail system was not reliable to deliver the mail in a timely manner.  Many times, the mail hack was late due to high water when trying to ford a creek, or while encountering other difficulties.

Many people scoffed at community news, comparing it to gossipy rubbish. At the same time, people clamored to read the latest news reported in their community column. Correspondents were made fun of, but they eventually earned the respect they deserved.  People cared about their neighbors and were hungry for news. As time went by, newspaper subscriptions were a great need in the community.

My late mother-in-law, Veta Jennings, was a correspondent for The Neosho Daily Democrat in 1949 during her senior year at Neosho High School in Neosho, Missouri. She wrote news for the Schmolke Hill Community located north of Neosho. She told us she received a “little bit” of money for each column she wrote. When I asked her what a “little bit” was, she said it was fifty cents.

Veta’s columns are preserved on microfilm at our Neosho, Missouri library and I printed them for her before she passed away. From one of her columns, we learned that in July 1949, her parents, Lawrence and Neoma Fikes, bought a new car. In another column, she told of going to a Saturday night movie in Neosho with her future husband, Leroy Jennings, and a pal of theirs. That added interesting details to our growing Jennings family tree!

Many of the old-time country correspondents wrote weekly columns about their community for 20 years or more.  I have found much of my family information recorded in the Neosho Newspapers on microfilm. James Reed’s transcriptions from his inherited Pineville, Missouri, newspapers are another source where I have found bits and pieces of family information to add to my Utter family history.   

When I search the newspapers on microfilm, I always look for news from Rocky Comfort, Missouri. It is there that I have found social history about my late grandfather, Perry Utter. From the newspapers, I have learned that Perry was involved in the Masonic Lodge at Wheaton Missouri, he led the Methodist Men’s Club at Rocky Comfort Missouri Methodist Church, and he coached his sons’ softball teams when they were on town teams.

I also learned that my great, grandmother, Ollie Brier of Rocky Comfort, sold parakeets for one dollar each and during the summer of 1957, she and her husband, Bill Brier, bought a new yellow Plymouth sedan vehicle. There is so much more that I have learned about my families, all because the country correspondents reported the news of the day.

Of course, using the newspapers on microfilm does eat up time. I have spent hours reading and searching. If you use the newspapers on microfilm, gather a notebook and pen or pencil and have dates available so you can go to that particular date in the newspaper and begin your search, rather than having to search the entire paper. 

As the newspaper industry has advanced, today’s editors differ in opinion about country correspondents.  Remember to search the old newspapers on microfilm for country correspondents’ news of the day when you want to add meat to the bones of your family history. I am thankful to the men and women who reported the news in the little towns of our country.

                       

Modern Woodmen of America Organization

MODERN WOODMEN OF AMERICA

By Karen Utter Jennings

Many of my Utter ancestors are buried at the Owsley Union Cemetery, located south of Longview and north of Powell on 76 Highway in McDonald County, Missouri. One day while there, I noticed a unique headstone for Walter E. Utter, a son of my great, great-grandfather, David Jefferson Utter. Walter died two days before Christmas in 1908 from pneumonia.   

Walter’s headstone is a rectangular smooth piece of gray stone that sets on a large base.  It measures five feet tall. Walter’s date of birth and date of death is on the front of the stone. An inscription reads, “left a wife and five children.” At the top of the rectangle on both sides, are engraved upside-down lilies. Four large engraved stone logs are stacked on top of the headstone.   Beneath the lilies and logs is a large square emblem marked with a shield, an ax, and an aul, with the letters M, W, and A. 

I had no idea what Walter’s headstone represented. But, I noticed other ornate headstones in the cemetery that resembled his. They mark the graves of Jerry H.Clapper and Lee R. Owsley. Owsley’s stone resembles a tree trunk with the same emblem, but his states “Erected by the Woodmen of the World.”  From that, I had the information I needed to do research. 

Joseph Cullen Root started the Modern Woodmen of America around 1883 for honoring the pioneer woodsmen who cleared the land for developing our roads, communities, and building homes. Modern Woodmen of America, also known as the Woodmen of the World, began as a fraternal benefit society that protected families and their financial futures by offering insurance protection. In the early days, certificates provided a death and a monument benefit to its members, furnishing free gravestones when they died. Eventually the elaborate gravestones became obsolete due to the cost of materials and cemetery regulations.    

Originally, all of the Woodmen’s gravestones were to be identical in size and design, but the result varied across the nation as local stonecutters used a wide variety of designs. What evolved are beautiful, elaborate, and precious works of art marking woodmen’s graves. There is the answer to the question of why all of the headstones are different, except for the Society’s emblem. 

Woodmen’s gravestones are scattered across the nation and is a fascination for many people who want to document the elaborate stones found in cemeteries. The USGenWeb Archive Project does have some photos of gravestones in our area, but not of the Owsley Union Cemetery. You can access the website at USGenWeb Project to see the photos.  

Cynthia Ann Utter, my great, great-grandfather’s sister, married Lewis Fulweiler Houser. They lived in the Rocky Comfort, Missouri, area all of their married lives. Lewis Houser is distinguished as being a charter member of the local Modern Woodmen of America in Rocky Comfort. I have a picture of the Rocky Comfort Citizen’s Bank building. Banking was done on the lower level, while the Modern Woodmen met in the upper level of the building.

After finding the interesting Woodmen headstones in cemeteries, I watch find more when I’m out visiting cemeteries. As of this writing, I have seen many Woodmen stones dispersed throughout our Missouri counties. While using the newspapers on microfilm, I watch for meeting notices of any fraternities.  

I am proud to have Modern Woodmen of America in my family. Finding information like this is thrilling for family history researchers. Do you have Modern Woodmen of America ancestors in your family tree?  If you’re not sure, why not do a little research and see what you can find?
I wish you luck in finding your history ~ 

The Hope Chest

THE HOPE CHEST

by Karen Utter Jennings

The first seven years of my life were spent at Rocky Comfort. We lived on the old home place down by the Indian Creek Bridge south of the post office. My paternal great-grandmother, Ollie Johnson Utter Brier lived on the hill south of the school. I was in her house just as much as I was in our own.

I remember each room in Great-grandma Ollie’s house and the furniture she owned.   One of the pieces of furniture I loved was the cedar chest. The chest is small, sets on the floor (there are no legs) and has carved-wood handles on each end of the lid. Rectangular diamond-shaped wooden pieces adorn the front and sides of the cedar chest and it is very heavy.    

As I grew into a young girl, one day when I went to visit, the cedar chest was setting in the living room under the front window. Great-grandma Ollie and I sat on the hardwood floor next to the chest. She explained that the chest would be mine when she died or I got married, whichever came first. She called the cedar chest a hope chest and explained the meaning of it.  She said she was “setting things back” for me when I grew up and married, so the things inside were mine.

Great-grandma Ollie said my grandfather, her only son, Perry Utter, made the chest when he was a boy.  She said Perry was talented in wood working and he loved to make things.  He also made the wooden sewing machine stand that housed her Singer sewing machine. I later learned that Ollie’s father, Thomas “Bud” Johnson, worked in the woods, hewing lumber after he came to Missouri from Indiana in 1876. That is the topic of another column someday.

As Ollie’s gnarled hands lifted the lid, I was delighted to spy several things inside wrapped up with doilies and handkerchiefs (hankies as we called them) and laying next to each other. She lifted the first item out of the chest, unwrapped it, and handed me a pickle or condiment dish that was very old and worth a lot of money. She told the story of the dish. It had belonged to a female family member.  

Ollie brought out a square box that housed her Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera. Her story about cameras and her love of taking pictures is one that I will always remember.  As soon as cameras became available, she bought her first one and began snapping pictures of everything around her, especially her family. Along with the camera, she gave me her photo album. That photograph album is a topic of another column in weeks to come.

When we reached the bottom of the cedar chest, we rewrapped each item and placed them into their safe place. She closed the lid on the chest and I ran off to get out my paper doll collection and other toys and spread them on the floor to play.   

I am happy to say, I got married before her death, so the cedar chest came to live at my house.  Over the years, it lost its strong scent of cedar and it needed a good cleaning and a few repairs. I used a good soap for wooden furniture and left it as it is. The chest now holds my important memorabilia. As time goes by, I add things to the old chest and someday I will sit with my grandchildren to explain the history of the items. 

I am in the process of taking pictures of the heirlooms I own and writing about what I know of them. I teach my grandchildren about their heritage and the genealogy work I do. One day, years from now, family members will harvest the benefits of my genealogy work, so that they may pass on the story of the old cedar chest.

             

Christmas Toys For Girls and Boys

CHRISTMAS TOYS FOR GIRLS AND BOYS

By Karen Utter Jennings

            Toys are always a big part of Christmas. Each year, Mother told my brothers and me to make a list of what we wanted for Christmas. Usually, we received two things from the list we wrote. While I reminisced about the old toys from our past Christmases, my curiosity led me to research the history of some of those toys.  

            The year was 1965 and I asked for a walking doll, which was a hot toy. Every girl wanted a doll that walked. Early on Christmas morning, when my brothers and I couldn’t wait a minute more, we jumped out of bed and rushed to the living room to marvel at the presents strewn around the tree.

            When I spied the huge rectangular box with my name on it, I knew. To my fourth grade stature, the doll was amazingly lifelike, standing three and a half feet high. I named her Tonie. She wore size 3 real girl clothing and during the months that followed, I quickly collected clothing for her, keeping the wardrobe in the doll box.

            Since I was the only girl in the family, my walking doll was the little sister I never had. I named her Tonie. Tonie had long red hair with poufy bangs and her blue eyes watched me marvel at her beauty.  She wore a red dress, white under things with white lace socks and shoes. By taking her left arm and guiding her Tonie walked everywhere with me except to school. I distinctly remember Mom telling me the doll was a Horsman doll and the emphasis she placed on the name meant it was important.

            In 1865, E.I. Horsman opened a toy company in New York City. In those early years of manufacturing, they produced a variety of dolls. A Horsman doll meant value and parents wanted quality dolls for their children. During the 1960s, the Horsman Company proudly distributed dolls that looked like celebrities and famous characters such as Cinderella, the Flying Nun, Mary Poppins, Patty Duke and Jacqueline Kennedy, and of course, the wildly popular walking dolls.

            As I marveled over my new doll, my brothers, Mike, Bill and Bob, got a Marx Fort Apache Play set that they shared. The fort came in a big box and included figurines of the U.S. Cavalry, the Indians, the walls and gate of the fort along with cannons, tepees and all the accessories. Along with the fort, the boys also got Johnny West and Geronimo dolls to accompany the theme of cowboys and Indians.

            Louis Marx & Company toy manufacturers made the Fort Apache Play Sets and the Johnny West and Geronimo boy dolls. The company began in 1919 and is known for producing the famous Yoyo in 1928.

            When I asked my husband about his favorite Christmas toy, with a twinkle in his eye, he spoke of his little blue pedal car. He was six years old in 1957 and all he wanted was a car. He got it.

            The house his folks lived in at the time allowed him to drive his car around throughout the house. He remembers pedaling the car as fast as his legs would go, bumping into anything and anyone who got in his way.

            Toy pedal cars were made after the automobile was invented. However, due to their expense to manufacture, usually only the wealthier families purchased them. Because of World War II, no pedal cars were produced during the 1940s. The miniature cars became increasingly popular and eventually, they were not just for the wealthier families. During the 1960s, plastic replaced much of the metal pedal car production, ending the era of true pedal cars.

            In today’s market, collectors vie for vintage toys. The little girls and boys have grown up and have turned the vintage toy market into a big business. The internet is full of websites with toys for sale. Search any of the sites and you are sure to find a replica of that exact toy you once owned as a child. Interestingly, the prices on most vintage toys accommodate everyone from those on a low budget to those who are able to spend thousands of dollars.

            And so, I bring you the memories of a few Christmas toys for girls and boys. I wish everyone a happy and safe Merry Christmas. May all your holiday wishes come true, no matter your age!

Rocky Comfort: Little Town in the Missouri Ozarks

Rocky Comfort: Little Town in the Missouri Ozarks

By Karen Utter Jennings

            Rocky Comfort is a peculiar name for a town.  The history of the village tells about the rocky terrain descending into a beautiful green valley; hence the name.  I am fortunate to live not far from Rocky Comfort, so I take a little drive occasionally to visit the graves of my family in the cemetery and take a spin around the town. 

            The first seven years of my childhood were spent growing up in Rocky.  My parents, Ronnie and Emma Faye Utter and my brothers, Mike, Bill, and Bob, lived between the Prosperity Baptist Church and the Indian Creek Bridge downtown.  The property is known as the old Shipman Place.

            The property came into our Utter/Brier family in the 1950s when my paternal grandmother’s parents (the Blacks) bought it. Through the years, it was sold and resold to family members. When Mae Utter Martin bought it, she had a huge pond dozed out in the back near where Indian Creek Branch flows.

            I have many photographs of the house and property when we lived there. Finally, in the 1970s, Mae Utter Martin went to the Elmhurst Nursing Home in Webb City, Missouri, and the property was sold. Today the property looks nothing like it did. There’s a mobile home setting toward the back of the land.

            Our paternal great-grandmother, Ollie (Johnson) Utter Brier, lived just north of the elementary school and the playground.  Her property is known as the old Milligan house. A dirt road separated the place from the school grounds.

            In 1943, Ollie’s parents, Thomas and Nancy Johnson left Kings Valley and moved to Rocky. Tom and Nancy’s health continued to deteriorate and Ollie and her husband, Bill Brier, left Kansas and moved to Rocky to care for them.

            Bill and Ollie bought the place and the surrounding acreage right after that. I have photographs of the houses and land when me and my family lived there.

            My first and second grade teachers were Marie Goosetree and Lela Young, respectively.  I have old grade cards from those elementary school days.  I remember crossing the road to go to school wearing a dress with long corduroy pants underneath and carrying my satchel. A satchel is defined as a small bag often with a shoulder strap that one carries supplies in and carried to school.

            As time went by, we knew everyone who lived in town.  Ollie loved to walk and she would take my brothers and me for a “walk around the block.”  At each of the houses along the way, we stopped to chat with the neighbors.  Some of her neighbors were George and Julie Barnett, Ouida Lowe, Delores Lamberson, Ephraim Decker, Joi Blair, and Lyman Dabbs.

            The Rocky Comfort Methodist Church is still standing in the same spot, but under a different name.  Earl D. Young christened me in that little church.  As a youngster on Sunday mornings, Ollie slipped a dime into my chubby hand so I could contribute to the offering.  

            Many family members are buried in the old part of the Rocky Comfort Cemetery, located north of town near the Prosperity Baptist Church.

            The year before I was born, my paternal grandfather, Perry Utter, bought the Conoco Station located on the east side of  Rocky.  He, along with his two sons, Ronald and Wayne, offered complete auto service to customers.  Perry also coached the boys’ softball team, called the Conoco’s, of which I have pictures and newspaper stories. They were champion ballplayers.

            I am fortunate to own lots of photographs and memorabilia from my family during their Rocky Comfort days.

            In those days, the Stanley Ford home was still standing and Cecil Shewmake owned the grocery store.  The artesian well down at the four-way stop was full of water and my family got their mail at the little brick post office.  My brothers think of Rocky as their Paradise. 

            Lazy summer days spent at Grandma Ollie’s house meant listening to the whirl of the old window fan and the announcer’s lulling voices broadcasting the baseball games on television.  Iced tea with spearmint picked fresh from the garden, hamburgers on buns (not bread slices) and angel food cake was our favorite meal.  Those are just a few of the memories of days gone by.

            Rocky Comfort was once a large town boasting many businesses and residents. In 1907, when the railroad decided to take their train about 3 miles north and east of Rocky, the town eventually dried up. The new town of Wheaton was born with the railroad.

            Today Rocky Comfort is a village with several hundred residents. But it will always be my childhood hometown where memories carry me back to those glorious days filled with love, laughter, and family times.    

           

Love and Marriage: Girls Marrying at a Young Age

I am writing a women’s fiction story of my great-grandmother based on her life. While I am having fun imagining scenes to fill in where there is no documentation, history must be written correctly. My paternal great-grandmother, Ollie Francis Johnson Utter Brier, married at age 14 to Dee Jay Utter, who was 23. When my brother read the first few chapters of my manuscripit, we discussed the issue of why would an early teen girl marry an older man? In today's world it is not as common for that to happen. That is the reason for the question I posed about why girls married at such young ages years ago. Of course, we must look at the era in which they married, 1909, Missouri. It's been fun listening to everyone who wanted to share a story or historical facts with me. To all who did, I thank you!

Disclaimer: This list is not all-inclusive. There are many reasons why girls married at a young age that may not be listed. Even if one of our ancestors married young for a reason that is listed here, each person has a unique set of circumstances that shapes the reasons they do something and the choices that they make. With that in mind, a list such as this may never contain every reason a female married young. 

                                                                                                     

ANCESTORS MARRYING AT A YOUNG AGE

By Karen Utter Jennings                        

Why did our female ancestors get married at a young age? Social & Economical reasons played a huge role in our ancestor’s lives. Prior to WWI, girls commonly married by the age of 14-16 & they sometimes married men 5-10 years older. As WWII began, many Americans rushed to get married. They also decided to have children as soon as possible. During that time, marriage and birth rates soared.

Here are a few of the reasons I gathered:

City:

In the city, females usually were older when they married. By the end of the 19th century, girls who could afford it were getting an education, going through a full high school, a teacher "normal" school, or even college. Rich girls were going on grand tours of Europe and attending finishing schools there. Girls from poor families might have worked and saved money for a sort of dowry.

Country:

 In the rural & farming communities, men needed Men needed to marry and have children, especially boys, to work the land. It was the only way to get ahead if they wanted to make the land profitable.

Economic:

The historical lack of ways for women to work and earn wages led to only two options: further their education or get married. Depending on the era, occupations for women were limited.  

Gender & Expectations:

Males were favored over females; it was thought female children had less value. Marrying off a girl was a way for a father to feed the remaining kids at home. Boys could help work the land, which meant they sometimes stayed at home longer. It was a man’s world and women had no rights, even to their own bodies and their children. Females were expected to marry and keep house & raise the children.   

 Geographical locations & the Era:   

The areas in which a person lived set the tone for social mores and values for the marriageable age. From the New England states, to the West Coast, to the prairies, the northern & southern states, to the Wild West, family beliefs differed significantly. It was also affected by the era in which they lived. For example, Victorian America held different views of marriage than the Roaring Twenties. From the book, “Marriage in the Victorian Era” by Jen Ziegenfuss, she states that marriage was not romanticized or fairytale-like as depicted in some books. Love played a minor role in marriages. Rather, they were looked upon more as a business-like deal. There were strict “rules” & etiquette to follow. After marriage, as in other eras, women belonged to their husband & owned nothing.

 Childbirth:

High infant mortality and women dying in childbirth was common, so the idea was to marry young to give a woman more childbearing years. This actually contributed to the high death toll because young girls were not fully developed.  

Land:

Owning land was and always will be the lifeblood of families. It gave families social and economic status. Many movies and books abound using land as the reason for feuds, murders, illicit marriages, and all kinds of immoral purposes.

Life expectancy:

Life expectancy wasn’t anywhere near what it is today. In different eras, life expectancy fluctuates. Due to the hardships of life, many children and adults died early. So many people married and started a family as soon as they could. 

Love: 

Sometimes love was the simple reason for couples getting married. On the other hand, a girl might be looking for someone to love her.

Money: 

Sometimes marriages revolved around money. One or the other needs it and the other one has it, so through some scheme marriage people marry.

Debatable purposes: 

Sometimes couples married because there was a baby on the way. Also through blackmail, abduction, and other disreputable schemes, marriages were used for evil purposes.

Parents: 

Sometimes the parents thought it was a good idea for their young child to marry for whatever reasons so they would arrange for their child to marry another child whom they approved.

Safety: Generally, a young woman was safer from unscrupulous men if she were married. She was also 'safe' from an unplanned pregnancy with a suitor if they married before their relationship turned sexual. If the girl was in an abusive home life, she might get married to escape the abuse.    

Security: sometimes girls needed a guardian and marriage was the safest way for her to have one. Families were quick to marry their daughters off thinking their daughters would be taken care of. If she was an orphan, she might marry for security purposes.

Social Interaction:

This was an important part of life, no matter the gender. Interacting with peers helped women grow, bond, share, learn and think for themselves. Women have formed groups centered around the community, school, and church for years.  

Widowers & Widows:

A widower would remarry quickly after their wife died because they needed someone to care for the children of the previous marriage. A widower looked for a young, unmarried, & hearty woman to have children, again, and to cook and clean the house. A much younger woman might marry an older man, 10, 20, or 30 years older.

Sources used to write this article were taken from several authors’ comments from the 19^th Century Writers online group; “Women Making America” by Heidi Hemming & Julie Hemming Savage; family & friends from Face Book; “Marriage in the Victorian Era” by Jen Ziegenfuss; “Marriages & Families” Second Edition, by Constance L. Shehan; and other online sources.