It's Useful to Periodically Review Your Genealogy Documents

So as I said previously, I've fallen off the genealogy bandwagon for a few years due to general life-stuff and have just recently gotten back into actively pursuing leads.  Since getting back into active mode I decided to start following some blogs and joining some FaceBook groups to help me with organization, motivation and brick walls.  Thanks to The Organized Genealogist FaceBook group I've been actively working on adding citations to my genealogy database (what a mess THAT is, but it'll be worth all the work when I'm done) and organizing my genealogy.

In the process of organizing my e-files I realized that, for the past few years, all I've been doing is collecting genealogy stuff and not categorizing or printing anything at all.  Whoa, not really the smartest move I've ever made.  So, I decided it was time to do some serious printing and organizing of e-files.  For the past few weeks I've been slowly organizing my e-files into family folders on my hard drive, which I will then back up so I have multiple copies.  As I've been doing the organization I've also been taking picture files and converting them to TIFF files (which don't have image loss the way JPG files do) and I've also been converting any picture files of census images and other documents to PDF format.  After all that is done I then print the document and will work on filing those according to the system I've chosen. (Eliminate Genealogy Clutter by Sherene Henrie Whiting is the system I've chosen in case you're interested...it's a fantastic system!)

Whew!  So I'm wading thru this slow process of converting and printing documents last Saturday while D1 was helping his brother and I ran across a rather surprising read.  It wasn't surprising so much that I had it (or that I didn't KNOW that I had it), what was surprising was the content I found within it.

What you see here is an obituary for my 2nd great grandmother (on my maternal side).  It's quite a nice obituary, it tells of her longevity in the community, where she lived and who she lived by, some of her thoughts and, of course, where her services and internment will be.  But within all of that information resides a couple of pieces that I had forgotten about and one piece that I'd never heard about before and I found very interesting.

After reading this obituary, I recalled that my mother had told me at one time that I had a family member in Topeka, Kansas who was an undertaker.  Well either I wasn't listening very well or I'd forgotten what she really told me because it seems that my 2nd great-uncle (Frank Conwell) wasn't just an undertaker, he owned a funeral parlor.  The funeral parlor where gg-grandma Margaret's services were held, of course.  The other piece of information I recalled after reading this was the fact that my mother had also told me my 2nd great-uncle Frank's second wife, Jennie Finch, was a member of an OES chapter in Topeka.  Not just that but also that a photo of my 2nd great-uncle Frank, resides on the wall of a Masonic Lodge in Topeka.  I'm going to have to make a trip up there specifically to see that picture I think.  And maybe see if I can find where the funeral home was located.

The piece of information in the obituary that I didn't know about was "Mrs. Conwell recalled that she often had trotted Charles Curtis, former vice president of the United States, and his little sister, Libbie Curtis (Mrs. Jerome Colvin) on her knee."  Wait.  Charles Curtis, former VP of the U.S.?  Something started tickling at my brain after I read that.  It tickled...and tickled...and tickled until...BAM!  I remembered!

A little back story needs to be inserted here: my son, J, is a proud band geek (yep, I raised him right!) and thru my involvement in Eastern Star I learned about the Kansas Masonic All-State High School Marching Band.  J participated in this band for five years (and loved every minute of it).  His last year participating in the band was 2012.  That year the Shrine Bowl, the football game the marching band performs at, was held in Emporia, Kansas.  Activities for the Shrine Bowl last all weekend for the families, it's crazy fun and so memorable.  So D1 and I are down in Emporia killing time driving around and we end up at a museum in Council Grove, Kansas.  The Kaw Mission State Historic Site was a wonderful place to pass the time between events that weekend.  While we were touring the Kaw Mission, I ran across the picture and caption below:

 

Charles Curtis display at the Kaw Mission State
Historic Site in Council Grove, Kansas

At the time I just thought it was pretty interesting that the U.S. had a Vice President that had Native American heritage.  Little did I know that later, I would find the obituary for Margaret that connected my family to the former Vice President and his family.  I really wish I had gone back thru my genealogy files prior to going to Council Grove.  I don't know if the Kaw Mission had any further information on Charles Curtis but it would have been interesting to learn a little more about him if they did.

Since the Curtis family isn't a known part of my family, this is a project I'll be putting on the back burner for now.  I have my hands full with working on my paperwork for the Daughters of the American Revolution.  My intention is to come back to learning about Charles Curtis after I complete my paperwork for the DAR.  I want to learn a little more about his life and see if there's any information about my family included with his family's information.

What this discovery has taught me is that, periodically, it's useful to go back and review your genealogy documents.  Take an inventory of what you have and make sure it's in good condition. Re-reading may provide some new and interesting information.  You don't catch everything the first or second time you look at something.

Around the Town Thursday - Herman E. Laird Park

Today's Around the Town Thursday post focuses on a location not far from my house.  I can't recall the number of times I've driven past Herman E. Laird Park without stopping.  

Herman E. Laird Park is located in Shawnee, Kansas

There are many wonderful aspects of the park: tennis courts, a playground, a picnic area and at the edge of the park boundaries sits Old Shawnee Town, a prominent Shawnee, Kansas living history site but the portion of the park I'm choosing to focus on for this post is a statue in the corner of the park.  You can see the statue while driving on Johnson Drive, the main thoroughfare the park sits on.  And I've always wondered what the purpose of the statue was, so I decided to find out.

Statue at the corner of Herman E. Laird Park in Shawnee, Kansas

What I discovered is that the statue is a tribute statue.  The statue is titled "Taking Time" and is a tribute to Chief Charles Bluejacket.  When I moved to the area I looked at a school named Bluejacket-Flint but when you're researching schools to send your kid to you don't think too much of where the school's name came from so this was pretty interesting to discover that there was a statue to a man by the name of Bluejacket, which just happened to not be far from a school by the name of Bluejacket.  Go figure ;)

The plaque in front of the statue gives visitors a basic idea of who Chief Charles Bluejacket was.  Shawnee tribal chief, military captain, farmer, minister and interpreter.  But that's never the whole story, is it?

Charles Bluejacket was born on the banks of the Huron River in Michigan in 1817.  His family moved to Piqua, Ohio soon after his birth and his early education was received from a Quaker School in Piqua.  Following the family's move to Kansas in 1833 (part of the Indian removal), his education continued in mission schools in Kansas.  He also farmed and did missionary work with the Shawnees for the Methodist church.  He was a student of the Shawnee culture and worked hard to pass the customs and teachings of the Shawnee to others.  Bluejacket eventually became a Methodist minister and joined a local Masonic Lodge in Shawnee.
  

In the years leading up to the Civil War, Bluejacket became a successful farmer, trusted interpreter for the government, and well-respected local businessman and leader.  He eventually became chief of the Shawnee Tribe during the period of time when Kansas became a state and the Civil War broke out.  There is a very interesting essay here that talks about Charles Bluejacket and has an interesting bit about his daughter-in-law defending herself and her home against one of Quantrill's raiders.  It's well worth the read (and if the story is true, I confess, I wouldn't mind meeting Bluejacket's daughter-in-law!).  Bluejacket served as chief of the Shawnee Tribe for three years.  Soon after, the Indians were once again removed from their lands, this time into Oklahoma in 1869.

Bluejacket's story doesn't stop with his move to Indian Territory.  He was a natural born leader and the location he settled near in Oklahoma eventually became a bustling community, thanks to the railroad.  A post office was opened bearing his name in 1882 with Bluejacket serving as postmaster.  He also served as the Methodist minister in that locale for a time.  When the town finally became incorporated, the name Blue Jacket was chosen for the town.

Artist Charles Goslin has portrayed Bluejacket
reading to two of his twenty-three children.
The love of a father for his children and of
children for their father is evident in the
sculpture.

The park statue shows Bluejacket reading to two of his twenty-three children.  It's said he enjoyed spending time reading to his children.  In my research I discovered that near his death, he made a trip back to Kansas City from Oklahoma to try and find the grave of The Prophet Tecumseh.  He was unsuccessful in finding the grave as he became ill.  Returning to his home in Oklahoma, he soon passed away and was buried in the Blue Jacket, Oklahoma cemetery; on land which he donated to the Methodist church with full Masonic service.  His funeral was among the largest ever seen in that area.  I believe I'd like to visit Blue Jacket, Oklahoma one day and visit Chief Bluejacket's gravesite.  Everything I've read has indicated Chief Bluejacket to be a kind, generous, intelligent and honorable man.  How great to think he lived in my area.

As a side note, in my research, I also ran across information stating that Chief Bluejacket's father (who was a prominent war chief for the Shawnee Tribe) was actually a white man by the name of Marmaduke Van Swearingen who had been born in Virginia, abducted as a teenager and indoctrinated into the Shawnee Tribe.  It's highly likely that this is nothing more than a myth, as DNA testing has been done on descendants of both Van Swearingen and Bluejacket and the DNA doesn't match.