Tag Archives: Theme: Genealogy By the States

This week I thought I’d talk about the Kansas state censuses since they can be extremely helpful for researchers.  This post will only cover the state censuses (not the territorial) that occurred in the years 1865, 1875, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, and 1925.  Not only do they provide data in between the federal census years, there are some great tidbits of information collected that may help you research ancestors that lived in, or passed through, Kansas.

Most of my relatives who came from Luxembourg and ended up in Aurora, Kane, Illinois, remained there (many to this day).  There is one, however, who left Aurora and moved to Portland, Oregon.  I have no idea why he moved there, and so far, just have some crumbs of information on him and his family.  Here’s what I “know” so far. Johann H KREMER was born 6 August 1865 in Nommern, Mersch, Luxembourg, to Pierre “Peter” KREMER (1831-1910) and Madelaine Magdalena WELTER (1841-1927).  I believe that sometime in 1868, Pierre, […]

I don’t do much research for Minnesota, although I do have some very distant cousins who have lived there at one time or another.  Instead of working on those distant families, I wanted to see what types of online collections were available.  For those with Minneapolis ties, you’re in luck. The Hennepin County Library has a wonderful digital collection (scroll to the bottom and look in the right-hand menu for Digital Resources).  Of course, my favorite, is old photos.  The Minneapolis Photo Collection has a variety of photos going back […]

I actually have a lot of family who left the Midwest for California.  Most settled somewhere in Southern California, and while some have passed on, many still live there today. Some of the best resources I’ve found for working with these California folks are the various indexes on Ancestry.  These indexes include: California Birth Index, 1905-1995 California Marriage Index, 1960-1985 California Death Index, 1940-1997 California Divorce Index, 1966-1984

One of my connections to Wisconsin is through my Müller family from Chicago.  After my second great-grandparents, Emil Müller and Hulda Wach divorced, Hulda married John Severing and removed to Harvard, Illinois, which is about five miles from the Wisconsin / Illinois border.  Emil and Hulda’s daughter Ida, married Charles Brunner, and at various times throughout their life, they were either living in the Harvard, Illinois area, or in Sharon, Wisconsin (just north of the border).

I don’t have any direct ancestors who participated in the Civil War.  The closest I come is the first husband of my third great-grandmother, Sarah Norton (Webster) Coffinger Mulligan.  Before Sarah married my third great-grandfather, James Mulligan, she was married to Abram Coffinger. Abram, Sarah, and their children lived in Iowa for a short time.  A little digging recently has led to the possibility that he had family in Iowa, but I have not confirmed that theory yet.  At any rate, while they were living in Iowa, the Civil War […]

Unfortunately I don’t have much connection to Arkansas.  If you have Arkansas heritage, I encourage you to visit the following websites: Arkansas History Commission & State Archives – The state archives has a ton of resources housed at their facility. Arkansas Historical Association – Has links to archives and online content relevant to Arkansas. Arkansas Genealogical Society – Has digital copies of The Arkansas Family Historian, their quarterly journal, from 1962-2009, as well as a few other resources. Genealogy By the States is a theme created by Jim Sanders over […]

I really don’t do much research in the state of Missouri, although I wish I had more relatives to research because records are pretty accessible.  In preparation of this post, I checked my database to see what families were associated with Missouri, and as I suspected, not many.  However, I did find the family of my husband’s great-grandaunt, Sarah Frances (Orendorff) Jonagan, who moved from Fulton County, Illinois, to Gentry County, Missouri, sometime between 1870 and 1880.