Montgomery County Chapter, Ohio Genealogical Society
March 14 Meeting
Genealogy Panel: Question and Answer Session
Panel:
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Pam Wolosz - Researcher, Speaker, Recording Secretary for the Chapter
Dave Vickers - Researcher, Speaker, Teacher at University of Dayton, Newsletter Editor and
Education Chairman for the Chapter
Patrick Crippen - Researcher, Speaker, Author, Trustee for Ohio Genealogical Society
Bob Johnson - Researcher, Chairman of Cemetery Committee for the Chapter
Charlie Raine - Researcher, President of the Chapter
Recorder: Lori Roterman
Narrator: Carolyn Burns
Question
Answer
Have men had their Y chromosomes tested?
Bob Johnson answered yes, passed on to Family
Tree. He has had several matches, but he only
had 12 point test, which means 50% chance
within 15 generations. None have panned out yet.
Where do you start on French ancestors?
French is mostly Catholic, so if you can find out
the village through immigration or Ellis Island,
church records should be extensive.
What about research on French Huguenots?
New Paltz, New York has an extensive Huguenot
library.
Is Perry Township (Montgomery County) on the
list of cemeteries to be read?
No, basically because of lack of volunteers.
Shirley Mikesell volunteered to help with this
township.
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Question
Answer
Were there serious doubts about Dr. Crippen's
guilt?
[This question addressed Patrick Crippen's
ancestral line.] Warden of prison has told Patrick
that if he gets pardon that he will release body.
English bureaucracy is exceedingly slow. They
neglected to tell American government that they
would be hanging an American citizen, which
should be grounds for a pardon.
How do you research a name change?
If it was a legal change, records should be in
County Court of Common Pleas or Recorders
Office if in U.S. A name change could have
happened in the old country or at time of
immigration.
How would I create a list of all people who lived
in the village of Hamilton and where they are all
buried from 1800 to present?
First check any local cemetery records, and then try
obituaries and funeral homes.
How can I find where someone enlisted in the
service?
The person's Military Service record in addition to
the Pension record should give enlistment dates,
dates of service, and muster out dates. For Civil
War, these are available at the National Archives in
Washington, DC. Revolutionary War Military
Service records are online at Footnote.com (free
through the Family History Centers) and through
Heritage Quest (free through the Library).
Is there information on a landlocked cemetery
off of old Route 40 in the approach pattern to the
Dayton airport?
Sandy Gustin thinks this is Stillwater Cemetery.
She got permission from current landowner to
research, but the cemetery has not been maintained
for over 100 years. She could not read the
headstones because of conditions. When the Butler
Township book was published, she used readings
done in the 70's.
What can a family do about a cemetery which
was lost and turned into farmland?
Township trustees are responsible for public
cemeteries. If it was a private or family cemetery,
some townships try to maintain them and others do
not.
Where are the burials and records from the
Dayton State Hospital cemetery?
The Dayton State Hospital Cemetery is now part of
Woodland and the burials are listed in the
Woodland Cemetery book and CD published by
the Chapter. Death records for deaths that occurred
at the Dayton State Hospital are located at the state
level and not in Montgomery County
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Question
Answer
I have a missing family that I cannot connect to
the generation before or after in Pennsylvania
during the 1830's. How do I get past this
roadblock? The county is now split.
Try checking deeds, tax records (Auditor and
Treasurer's Office). Try U.S. GenWeb site. Try to
find records in neighboring counties; also look in
Common Pleas Court records for guardianships,
leases, court cases, etc.
I cannot find naturalization records or birth
records for an immigrant from Ireland who lived
in West Virginia.
Check the Library of Virginia whose web site has a
lot of scanned and indexed records. Family Search
Indexing has been working in this area also. Try
GenForum.com and query on surname and locality.
Try a Google search.
How are obits chosen for newsletter?
Most are at random, but when Carolyn is
researching for someone and finds an obituary, she
will choose others from the same newspapers to
transcribe. Also, she receives donations from other
people.
In the 1860 Census in West Virginia, the family
lived on a farm. In 1870, widow lived in Ohio.
How can I find the man's death record? I have
found one reference to him being in the
Confederate Army during the Civil War.
Check the following web sites:
How can you find townships within a county:
Check the U.S. GenWeb site for the county and
most will have a map of the townships. Also,
GenWiki has that information.
What about name changes/misspellings?
Ellis Island clerks did not change names. They
used the ship manifests that were given to them
when a ship arrived.
http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm
http://www.militaryindexes.com/
Names could have been misspelled by a clerk at
port of embarkation, especially if the clerk spoke a
different language than the passenger.
Names were often recorded wrong in census
records. Census takers often had bad handwriting
and wrote what the name sounded like. Census
records may have been generated by asking
neighbors for information.
Clerks at court often wanted to show off their
knowledge by spelling names many different ways.
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