Thursday, October 11, 2012
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Starr's Hotel
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I took a little time out from my wife's family to research my own today. My Mum and Dad have been tracing my side of the family since at least the 1980's, so they have it fairly well covered. They have reached the point that the basic lineages have been traced and new discoveries take a long time to find and mysteries are harder to solve.
We've know for a long time that Louis Muller, my (many) great Grandfather ran a hotel in Finsbury Square, London but we didn't know the name of it. Having used Google books to good effect for the Burright family I searched for Louis. I found two references. One is for a London directory held in a New York library (I'll need to follow that up when we visit later this year) and the other was in a reference in a licensees register for London during the 1800's. This listed Louis and his partner Gustave as the owner of the Starr's Hotel, Finsbury Square.
Now we can start searching for details of the hotel. Nothing has turned up on line but there is a good chance my family will be able to find more by researching locally in London. This evening was a good example of leaving no stone unturned in the search for clues and that even the most obscure books can give you a whole new lead to follow in your family research.
I took a little time out from my wife's family to research my own today. My Mum and Dad have been tracing my side of the family since at least the 1980's, so they have it fairly well covered. They have reached the point that the basic lineages have been traced and new discoveries take a long time to find and mysteries are harder to solve.
We've know for a long time that Louis Muller, my (many) great Grandfather ran a hotel in Finsbury Square, London but we didn't know the name of it. Having used Google books to good effect for the Burright family I searched for Louis. I found two references. One is for a London directory held in a New York library (I'll need to follow that up when we visit later this year) and the other was in a reference in a licensees register for London during the 1800's. This listed Louis and his partner Gustave as the owner of the Starr's Hotel, Finsbury Square.
Now we can start searching for details of the hotel. Nothing has turned up on line but there is a good chance my family will be able to find more by researching locally in London. This evening was a good example of leaving no stone unturned in the search for clues and that even the most obscure books can give you a whole new lead to follow in your family research.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Google Books
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Google Books is a great resource for family research. For those who don't know, this is a project to digitize tens of thousands of books across the globe and make them available for searching by indexing their content using the Google search engine. It is particularly good for genealogists as there are a lot of copyright free texts available for research and download. These texts include items like 19th century town and county histories and biographies. For more detail on using Google Books for genealogy see this article
Google Books is a great resource for family research. For those who don't know, this is a project to digitize tens of thousands of books across the globe and make them available for searching by indexing their content using the Google search engine. It is particularly good for genealogists as there are a lot of copyright free texts available for research and download. These texts include items like 19th century town and county histories and biographies. For more detail on using Google Books for genealogy see this article
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Main Online Archives Not Working
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Seems that both the Familysearch.org and Ancestry.com websites are down today for routine maintenance. I guess stay at home genealogists will be taking the day off.
Seems that both the Familysearch.org and Ancestry.com websites are down today for routine maintenance. I guess stay at home genealogists will be taking the day off.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Mixed feelings about the LDS
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I have used the genealogy website of the Church if the Latter Day Saints many times but I've adopted a kind of love/hate relationship with it.
I love that there is so much information on it. I love that there are dates, pedigrees and family details, and that the searching is free.
I dislike ('hate' is too strong a word for it) that there is a lot of inaccuracy and duplication on it. I also dislike the organisation of the information. I constantly find that I start chasing around in circles when I follow a link to see what additional connections there are to a specific person.
Overall I have found that the LDS website is great for skimming and for finding potential leads in my ancestral research but everything you do must be cross checked with reliable sources before you believe its accuracy.
I have used the genealogy website of the Church if the Latter Day Saints many times but I've adopted a kind of love/hate relationship with it.
I love that there is so much information on it. I love that there are dates, pedigrees and family details, and that the searching is free.
I dislike ('hate' is too strong a word for it) that there is a lot of inaccuracy and duplication on it. I also dislike the organisation of the information. I constantly find that I start chasing around in circles when I follow a link to see what additional connections there are to a specific person.
Overall I have found that the LDS website is great for skimming and for finding potential leads in my ancestral research but everything you do must be cross checked with reliable sources before you believe its accuracy.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Kick Starting the Family Research
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After a short hiatus (our falls are always crazy busy with trips and visitors) our holiday trip to Oklahoma encouraged me to get back on the ancestral trail. It was great to get away and to explore more of the area where my wife's ancestors lived and worked. Visiting the site of the Burright families claim inspired me to take a deeper look at their branch of the family tree.
The Burrights of the 18-1900's are relatively easy genealogical targets. They are an old established American family with an impressive lineage. There is even a published biography 'The Sun Rides High' written for Orin Ulysses Burright by his daughter Ora Blanche Burright. It's a little dry but packed with interesting facts and stories. There are also numerous board entries at ancestry.com as well as a couple of websites with various levels of research. The tricky part of working with a well established family is sorting through the large volume of information and discovering what is fact and what is fiction.
Today I simply read through the biographies in the Logan County History 1889-1977. This two volume set is a must-read for anyone researching this part of Oklahoma. It contains detailed historical information about the county including numerous biographies of families and individuals from the area. Most interesting to me was the fact that Ora Blanche Burright, my wife's great, great aunt, was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. This should mean that someone in our family tree must have some connection with the American Revolution ... but who?
It turns out that because my wife shares a direct blood relative with Ora we will be able to request a copy of Ora's original application to the DAR. I hope that the application will give us some new information regarding our ancestors. The irony in all this is that although my wife may be eligible to become a member of the DAR, she married a Brit. I wonder if that will count against her?
After a short hiatus (our falls are always crazy busy with trips and visitors) our holiday trip to Oklahoma encouraged me to get back on the ancestral trail. It was great to get away and to explore more of the area where my wife's ancestors lived and worked. Visiting the site of the Burright families claim inspired me to take a deeper look at their branch of the family tree.
The Burrights of the 18-1900's are relatively easy genealogical targets. They are an old established American family with an impressive lineage. There is even a published biography 'The Sun Rides High' written for Orin Ulysses Burright by his daughter Ora Blanche Burright. It's a little dry but packed with interesting facts and stories. There are also numerous board entries at ancestry.com as well as a couple of websites with various levels of research. The tricky part of working with a well established family is sorting through the large volume of information and discovering what is fact and what is fiction.
Today I simply read through the biographies in the Logan County History 1889-1977. This two volume set is a must-read for anyone researching this part of Oklahoma. It contains detailed historical information about the county including numerous biographies of families and individuals from the area. Most interesting to me was the fact that Ora Blanche Burright, my wife's great, great aunt, was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. This should mean that someone in our family tree must have some connection with the American Revolution ... but who?
It turns out that because my wife shares a direct blood relative with Ora we will be able to request a copy of Ora's original application to the DAR. I hope that the application will give us some new information regarding our ancestors. The irony in all this is that although my wife may be eligible to become a member of the DAR, she married a Brit. I wonder if that will count against her?
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