You can’t quite tell from the video, but at ground level the shelving has boxes fifteen high and two deep.  Each aisle goes on and on and on.  Above that, there are two additional levels with grated catwalks.  Each of these levels has boxes seven high and two deep per shelf.  There are several of these large storage rooms, all independently constructed, within the facility.  In about a year, staff anticipates they will have over 2.3 million boxes at the NPRC.

Because of the large number of daily requests for records not open to the public, the NPRC averages over 5000 inbound boxes each day that come from offsite storage.  (Until the records reach a certain age — I think it was 62 years after discharge or separation — they are kept elsewhere in the St. Louis area and are not part of NARA.)

Because of the size of the NPRC, it’s not surprising to see the workers dressed casually.  Our tour through the meeting room, lobby, research center, storage rooms, and various document restoration labs was lengthy, not only in time but distance.  Comfortable shoes are a must.

The fire in 1973 was devastating, but made much worse because the building had no sprinklers.  Zero.  The old Record Center was on Page Avenue in St. Louis and was a six-story building.  After the fire it had five stories.

Because of the amount of widespread damage, restoration is done on a case-by-case basis.  We were able to view examples of fire and water/mold damage on some of the records from the 1973 fire that were currently being handled in the lab.  Other examples currently in the lab were records saved from the USS Arizona.

I was informed a couple of years ago that my grandfather’s WWII Army file was one of the records lost in the fire, which was not surprising given the high percentage of records lost.  Other than that, I don’t really have a need to use this NARA facility.  So I really only went on the tour out of curiosity.  I was lucky, though, that it was explained how to trace a soldier’s history through daily/weekly/monthly unit reports.  It sounds tedious, but at some point I’ll have to give it a shot considering it’s all there is to find.

I hate to admit it, but I don’t take advantage of the Society’s collection as much as I should.  More than anything else, their collection of newspapers from around the entire state is well worth the less than two-hour drive.  And I was pleasantly surprised on a recent trip there in August that they now have two digital microfilm scanners.

Any damage will be bad news, but let’s hope for the best.

The Higginsville Post says Albert and Maria Harris, colored, aged respectively 72 and 66 years, during their earlier days lived as man and wife in Kentucky till just thirty-seven years ago, when they were sold by their owner and separated.  Ever since their freedom they have been continually trying to find each other, and after continuing the search for almost a quarter of a century he finally found her at Miami, Saline county.  He has been living in Kentucky and she in Missouri ever since their separation.  Upon being convinced positively that he had found his old companion, he came to Marshall and procured his marriage license, and will at once be married for the first time, although formerly lived together for years.

Order records or outsource research in Germany on at least five different family lines.  I didn’t contact the Evangelical archives in Hessen like I wanted to last year for REINMÖLLER research, so that’s on the list.  And I now have leads for help in Bavaria and Niedersachsen to help with a few more families.

Well, I did get started on the Hessen records for the REINMÖLLERs.  I consider that a success, especially since some of the info I received helped immensely when it came to finally resolving conflicting details from years past.  But in order to make ordering the rest of the records I need easier, it’s probably going to take all of 2010 to check another source of info to extract names and dates.  I can do this cheaply and at my own pace.

Another succes was obtaining some of the Bavarian records I had intended to order for the BURGER family.

Resume researching deeds. I started on this years ago, but got away from it.

I failed miserably here.

Get a new computer. Things are starting to drag, especially opening large image files.

I did get the new computer and the faster speed did help a lot.  I’m also using a dual monitor setup which I now consider an absolute must for all genealogists.  It’s not that expensive or hard to implement.

Convince one of my brothers into helping more.  What’s the best way to get someone addicted to genealogy?

Nope, no progress here.  I did get a nephew hooked on going to cemeteries and taking photos, but he’s only four and his productivity is more for my enjoyment than serious results.

Make more of an effort to track down photos with a broader approach to contacting relatives.

Nothing done here either.

Pick one family, see what holes need to be filled and publish a book through Lulu or a similar service to see how well that process works.

I’m really hoping to begin this soon.

For 2010, my resolutions are:

• Finish the REINMÖLLER civil records from the FHL and order their counterparts from the Hessen Evangelical Archive.
• Complete and edit the RICK report before spring.
• Edit a new LANKAU report before spring.
• Implement my new checklist system.
• Implement my new filing and scanning system.
• Start working on my web site again.
• Maybe buy a new camera.

So I don’t have any overly ambitious plans.  I just need to keep things moving forward.

I have been wanting to revisit an issue that came up regarding the Odd Fellows Cemetery near Granite City and the library has two volumes of Madison County cemetery transcriptions that cover this burial ground. One volume’s info was apparently source from Odd Fellows lodge records, while the other from a cemetery walk about 25 years ago. What I was trying to figure out was what exactly had been recorded as being on the gravestone of Isaac HEATON. If what was written is correct, a rather obvious error was made; Isaac was not the son of Valentine and Emmaline as noted. These three were siblings. I state that with almost 100% certainty because I don’t believe there was another family in the area with these names and these were the names of three of John HEATON’s children.

Another visit to the cemetery will have to be made when it’s warmer. We didn’t find the stone a few weeks ago. While disappointing, I wasn’t surprised by the outcome. On one hand, vandals apparently did a number on this cemetery beginning in the 1960s and it doesn’t appear to very well maintained, if at all. On the other hand, a stone was found in the mid-1980s. Is it among the pile of broken stones at the back of the property or a few inches under ground in the plot where it originally stood? That’s what the next visit will hopefully determine.

The thing that most excited me during this library visit was that while pulling books a small booklet fell off of the shelf. It was an older guide to records in Madison County. I hadn’t seen this before locally or during trips to Alton and Edwardsville. Among the few pages with small text were a handful of potential keys to help me unlock the mystery of John HEATON’s origin.

If none of those sources pan out, I will finally have to do something drastic that I’ve put off for a couple of years…

John at TransylvanianDutch writes that he’d like to see complete databases for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Globe-Democrat.

All three of those ideas would be toward the top of my own list, so I’m really going to shoot for the moon with my wishes.

1. I’d like for the church records from the Osnabrück area in Germany to be put online.  Even an index to the records would be helpful.  (Frankly, I’m settle for a paper copy of each church’s index.)  Seven of my thirty-two 3rd great-grandparents were from the area roughly between Bramsche and Buer.  That’s 22% of my ancestry.

What makes this subject somewhat frustrating is that another five 3rd great-grandparents were also from this general area, in most of the cases just a short distance south of Osnabrück, and their church records are readily available from the Family History Library.  But cross that border from Westphalia into Osnabrück and the availability of records is, at best, hit and miss.

I understand that the churches and archives are protective of this information and the records, but it’s 2010.  Let’s at least work towards helping researchers find clues.  I can be as big of a cheapskate as the next person, but I’d gladly spend money for certain indexes, copies of records or to hire someone in Germany when I know results are there to be had.


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2. Any databases that tell me which towns Ferdinand EBERT and John HEATON were from.

The Beginner projects are very easy and most of the types of records can be completed in no time at all.  Some of the Intermediate projects are also easy to complete without spending too much time per batch.  This type of involvement is the perfect kind of project.  I’ve been skeptical reading others comment that FamilySearch indexing was addicting, but it actually kind of is.

To register, click here.

A handful of the search results were alarming; mentions of a stabbing on the levee, embezzlement charges and other crimes.  Once I have time to sort through all of these articles, though, I don’t think many will end up actually being about my ancestors and collateral relatives.  For instance, the articles about a “train boy” accused of embezzling $50 probably don’t refer to my ancestor of the same name who was 40 years old at the time.  And the stabbing story looks like another case of the victim’s name not being all that unique.

I won’t know how well this database works until I spend more time searching for items such as obituaries that I know were published in the Post, but this definitely has potential.