Paper Trail Tells Tale of Family

When it comes to digging up clues to help uncover family history, a good ancestor-detective seldom leaves a stone unturned.

Although it more typically involves a trip to the library, it can also involve field trips like the one Nancy Barnhart of Oceanside took:

While attending a large family reunion, Barnhart located a lost family cemetery in Dickson County, Tenn. There she found the tombstone of her great-great grandmother: “Mary Gunn, departed this life the 12th of October, 1816, in the 62nd year of her life.”

At the bottom of a sunken area nearby was a partially buried tombstone, just visible beneath dirt, rubbish and felled trees--not to mention poison ivy.

“I crawled down there to see if I could see the markings, but the stone had fallen face first, so I couldn’t read it. It wouldn’t budge, of course--they’re not easy to move.”

Resigned to the fact that this particular stone would remain unturned, Barnhart tried to climb out of the ditch. “I didn’t know if I could get out,” she said “Every time I tried I kept slipping back in.”

Finally, with a little help from her still-living kin, Barnhart managed to extricate herself from the sunken grave.

“My friends and relatives always ask me if I’ve dug up any ancestors lately,” she said. “This time I almost got buried with a couple.”

Although genealogists sometimes do go to extremes to find information about their ancestors, roots-sleuths usually spend most of their time turning pages.

They pour through reams of long-forgotten printed records or wind through miles of microfilm, trying to find another clue to lead them back another generation in time. They write a stream of letters--to other genealogists or genealogical societies across the country, to county courthouses and state departments of vital records. They comb through copies of old newspapers.

North County residents have access to several excellent sources in the hunt for relatives.

Primary among these is the Carlsbad City Library, which has an entire wing devoted to the subject. In its genealogy and local history division, there are international indexes, microfilm of U.S. Census records going back 200 years, and birth and death records from all over the nation.

Another important source of genealogical information is the Pioneer Room in the Escondido Public Library system. It catalogues some of the same information as the Carlsbad Library, and also has extensive records on those whose ancestors lived in this area, dating back to early Spanish settlement.

There are also Family History Centers in Escondido, Poway, Vista and Carlsbad. The centers are operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church. Because of its importance in church doctrine, the Mormons have established meticulous genealogical records. The files, which are open to the public, draw on records from more than 100 countries.

And for those who want to share their findings and sleuthing methods, there are several genealogical societies in North County, including one specializing in Hispanic and Latin-American ancestry.

What drives otherwise normal folks to spend months, years and even decades in the pursuit of long-lost ancestors that they may have never even heard of?

In the past, genealogy was mostly of interest to bluebloods trying to document their ties to nobility, or Americans trying to qualify for the General Society of Mayflower descendants, or the Daughters of the American Revolution.

If there were no kings or queens in the offing, most ancestor-seekers would have to be satisfied with a pirate, a horse thief or some other colorful scoundrel.

Nowadays, people involved in tracing their family history are more interested in family values than a family coat of arms. Each person who seeks out his or her roots finds that they are part of a unique family heritage, and usually end up feeling a special kinship with the long-lost relatives they discover.

“It’s about the most interesting thing anybody can do,” said Marge Witcraft as she was hunting through records at the Carlsbad library. She’s been pursuing her ancestors for about a year. “Because of all these people, you’re here. You’d be somebody else if not for them.”

“It’s more than just names, dates and place,” agreed Dorothy Frisbie, an avid ancestor hunter who has traced her roots back to England. “I can see some of my traits in my mother and father, and wonder where they got their traits. What were my ancestors really like? What was their occupation? What kind of people were they? That’s the interesting part.”

Diane Linkowski of Carlsbad began tracing her roots because she felt that she had an interesting family and wanted to learn more about it. She also wanted to document it for her children and their descendants.

She discovered that the more she found out about her ancestors, the more sense her own life made to her.

“Once I learned about the people in my background, I found I had more insight into myself,” she said. “You become more accepting of yourself, find out why you act the way that you do. My grandfather was a barber, and I was a hairdresser at one time. I’ve lived in so many places, and always felt that I could take off in a moment’s notice. When I did my genealogy, I found out many of my ancestors were gypsies--real gypsies. Your ancestors all help make up the person that you are.”

Not only do genealogists develop a deep appreciation of those who came before them, but learning about some of the obstacles overcome by ancestors can also provide inspiration for these modern times, Linkowski said.

“When you see what your great-grandparents went through, you say, ‘Hey, I can get through this.’ You find out you don’t have to give up on your life. Your ancestors didn’t.”

Like charity, genealogy begins at home. Starting with yourself, a mere twig on a seemingly unending family tree, it’s possible to begin traveling back in time.

Ask parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles--any relative you can think of--for any information about the family’s past.

For both sides of the family, write down the full names, and dates and places of birth and death, of any relatives they know or remember. Write down their recollections as well, as you never know what tidbit of information might be the missing piece of the puzzle.

Get your relatives to reminisce about their childhood and what they know about the family’s past. What was grandmother’s maiden name? What did grandpa do for a living? Where did his parents come from?

Find out about any family records or memorabilia that may have been kept--a dusty old box of papers and photos could yield a bonanza of information. Family Bibles, birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, diaries, military certificates, letters and scrapbooks are excellent sources, as are school yearbooks, baby books, wedding announcements and baptismal records.

As you glean facts from your research, write them down, and cite your sources. Keep in mind that there are four basic keys you’ll be searching for amid the many and varied documents you’ll be sifting through while tracing your genealogy: names, dates, places and relationships.

There are two basic forms that are used to record what will be a quickly-growing collection of facts: ancestor charts and family group sheets.

Ancestor charts show parents stacked one generation on another. For example, if you are person No. 1 on the chart, your father is No. 2 and your mother is No. 3. Your father’s father will be No. 4, your father’s mother will be No. 5, while your mother’s father is No. 6 and your mother’s mother is No. 7. The father and mother of No. 4 would be Nos. 8 and 9, respectively, and, well, you get the idea.

Family group sheets list information on the father and mother of each family along with all of the sons and daughters and their spouses. The sheets help you keep track of the many families you come across.

While the ancestor charts focus on dates and places of birth and death, and the date of marriage, the family group sheet allows you to write down additional information on each family member--such as places of residence, church affiliations or military records. It’s also a good place to record any colorful baubles of information that you might want to hang from your family tree.

Blank forms of ancestor charts and family group sheets are prepared by publications such as the Genealogical Helper in Logan, Utah, and are readily available in North County at locations such as the Carlsbad Library or the Pioneer Room in Escondido.

Once you’ve written down and organized all the information gathered from your relatives, you’ll want to begin documenting what you can by sending away for appropriate vital records, such as birth certificates, and other official sources like military records and pension information.

“After you find out what you know, or think you know, you have to start proving it by acquiring the vital records from the various sources that would have that information,” said Bee Koons of Fallbrook, an avid genealogist. Those sources are often official record keepers like the state departments of health, division of vital statistics, or county courthouses.

“Then you fill in the blanks by using the census, land records, tax records, military records--anything you can.”

The Vital Records Handbook by Thomas J. Kemp has state-by-state information on where to send for birth, death or marriage records and has forms you can photocopy and send in to obtain the official records, usually for a fee of $5 or $10. The handbook is available in many of the area libraries.

According to one genealogist, Idaho is the quickest state to respond, often within one week, while California may take 6 months and New York often doesn’t respond at all.

Before you begin doing much original research, however, see if someone has already done some of the work for you. Check for your family name in already existing genealogies and in the ancestral indexes of the Latter Day Saints--even if you have no connection to the church. Your ancestors may well be in the LDS International Genealogical Index without your being aware of it. The index is organized by state and surname and has records on about 147 million deceased persons.

Even if there is a work in progress for your family, there is still plenty to do in branching out your family tree.

“Everyone who starts is surprised to find it’s a difficult, complicated, sophisticated course of study,” said Harold Williams, of the genealogy-local history division of the Carlsbad City Library.

“You can’t just look for a huge index for all families--it doesn’t exist. There are no records that exist for genealogists. All the records are for other purposes, so people usually have to do the research themselves if they want to discover where their families came from and all about them. Usually it’s slow. One little clue at a time.”

“You need to be research oriented,” said Dorothy Frisbie, who’s been tracing her family history for about three years. You find one clue, then another, until it all comes together so you have enough information to take you back another generation.”

Each day and evening that the Carlsbad Library is open, there are people in the genealogy section digging for their family roots. There is a needlepoint work on the wall which reads, “I think that I shall never see, a finished genealogy.”

They comb through endless combinations of printed records, microfilm and microfiche. They hunt through census indexes, newspaper bibliographies and land records among the more than 31,000 volumes of information stored there, including 6,000 completed family genealogies, which possibly could connect to your ancestral tree. The library also has the Latter Day Saints index on microfiche. There are 350 census indexes, and many vital records of birth, marriage and death listed for all 50 states.

The federal census that began in 1790 is an invaluable source of information. Taken every 10 years, it was expanded in 1850 to include all members of the family in the household, along with their ages and place of birth.

The genealogy wing has its own traditional card catalogue, listed by author, title and subject, along with an on-line catalogue. Subjects can be found under headings such as vital records, land records, marriages, church history or newspapers.

The section has an information desk, where there is someone to help you locate items. “We don’t do the research for you,” said Ray F. Brookhart, the librarian in charge of the genealogy section, “but we’re happy to help you find anything.”

Brookhart has been working on his genealogy for about 30 years, roughly the same amount of time he’s been living in Carlsbad. His ancestors are hidden away among the myriad books, papers and microfiche along with everyone else’s.

Because he knows from family stories that he had ancestors in Athens County, Ohio, in the 1850s, he can look in the index book for the 1850 federal population census of Ohio. It will tell him that the census for Athens County can be found on microfilm in the federal census collection, on reel 660, page 187.

He can then find reel 660, put it in a microfilm reader and speed the film backward in time until it reveals a handwritten listing of all the residents of Athens County--including an Abram Colar Brookhart, his wife Elizabeth and their six sons.

From there he can use other resources to look up, for example, birth and death records. He can find the names of Abram’s parents, and continue his search into another generation.

Ancestor hunters often become adept at deciphering archaic handwriting, and learn that it pays to be imaginative when it comes to spelling. Brookhart found relatives listed in the Pennsylvania census of 1790, where residents are listed only under the head of each household.

The census showed David Bruckhard, Abraham Breckard and Julius Brekard as residents of Manchester Township. The only problem was, although both Abraham and Julius were the sons of David, spelling obviously was not a priority for the census takers of that particular decade.

Only by finding a family will, was Brookhart able to be certain whether Julius and Abraham were part of his family tree.

The reasons people take up genealogy are as varied as the family trees they discover.

The process of uncovering one’s ties to the past and the information learned have a very real effect on lives though: meeting one’s ancestors is often both a humbling and ennobling experience.

“We’re all into it for different reasons,” said Koons, the Fallbrook woman who’s among the many that have been captivated by the subject.

“It starts out as a hobby, becomes a vocation, then becomes an obsession,” Koons said. “We’re the kind of people who are just plain curious.”