Review: RootsTech – “What’s New at Family Search”

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Don Taylor


I try to watch at least one genealogical video every week just to keep up with what is going on. Of course, I get behind a lot, but it is a goal. I’ve been catching up with RootsTech 2015 videos.

They are always among the best genealogy videos out there. If you haven’t seen them, you should. This week I watched, Devin Ashby’s video regarding “What’s New at FamilySearch.” Family Search is my Number 1 free site — I use it regularly (at least weekly) and figured that Devin’s presentation could help me catch me up with new features at FamilySearch. Of course, I was right again – it was an excellent presentation and was able to learn some new things and able to solidify some other capabilities more clearly in my mind.

I felt that Devin started a little slow, but his content improved as the talk went on. Most of what he talked about I already knew or had seen before through other newsletters and blogs that I subscribe to. However, towards the end of the video he mentioned some software/online resources that I hadn’t seen before, most of which work with Family Search.

First was #MyToday which makes a journal of your Facebook top events, photos, and statuses. I set it up and tried it – Nothing. When I’d hit the start button, something that should “take about a minute” the icon just spin and spin as it was “Processing.” So, I guess the site is not working at this time. After several minutes, my browser (Chrome) goes to a blank screen.

Next was Puzzilla.com. It creates sort of a stick chart of your family tree. It has the ability to take you to other sites to see the information. I wasn’t impressed. Frankly, I felt the stick-chart tree was pretty lame. The chart has a number of features, but I think the fan chart and links within FamilySearch are better. Luckily, disabling the Puzzilla account is easy. Just log into Family Search, click on your name on the top right, then on settings. Click [Revoke Access] twice and you are done.

The next one was “Find a Record.” It looked cool in his presentation, so I was excited to take a closer look. Wow! I was impressed. You use your Family Search login and Find a Record suggests areas of research for you based upon what you have, or don’t have, on Family Search. It also provides immediate links to their partner sites: Ancestry.Com, Billion Graves, Family Search, Find-A-Grave, Find My Past, and My Heritage. Those links auto-fill your key data into the search parameters on those sites to keep you from having to reenter the same information on each site – Very useful. There is also a Chrome extension that is very handy. With the extension, when you view a person in Family Search, there is an icon in your browser address window that, when clicked, brings you to the Find a Record page for that person that provides suggestions for research.

In case you didn’t know, there is also an Ancestry Family Search Extension for Chrome that allows you to click once from an individual’s page on Ancestry and have your browser take you to Family Search with the parameters for the individual auto filled in. Anyway, I think Find a Record can be a really useful tool to facilitate researching an individual efficiently. If you have an Ancestry.Com subscription, find the individual on Ancestry, research the hints there, use the Family Search Chrome Extension to switch to Family Search, search there, then use the Find-a-Record extension to switch there and search Find my Past and My Heritage, etc. if you have accounts there. I like it because it focuses me on one individual and helps keep me from being distracted by BSOs (bright shiny objects).

Finally, Rootsmapper.com was mentioned in Devin’s talk. It is supposed to map out your ancestors and where they are from. I think it has possibilities, but I found the interface confusing and difficult to use. I’ll try it again when I have a better-defined family tree in Family Search.

That brings me to the last point.  In order to use any of these tools (except for #MyToday) you need a tree on Family Search. The better your tree is on Family Search, the better the results will be using these tools.  I currently keep my trees on Ancestry so I’ll need to improve my trees on Family Search in order to really see how useful Rootsmapper, and, possibly Puzzilla, are.

The bottom line:
10 – RootsTech: (In general)
 9 – Family Search (The best free site for research on the internet)

 8 – RootsTech: “What’s New at Family Search” (Slow start but great end.)

 8 – Find-a-Record (I’m planning to incorporate it into my workflow.)
 5 – Rootsmapper (I will revisit it when I have a more substantial tree on FamilySearch in a few weeks.)

 4 – Puzzilla (Family Search itself does a better job.)

 1 – #My Today (Site not working – Maybe I’ll revisit it in a few weeks.)

Future Actions

Revisit #MyToday
Revisit Rootsmapper

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Donna in “Chin Chin” at the Empress Theatre, Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada – January 5-6, 1920

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Don Taylor
Thanks to an article in the Calgary Daily Herald, I had known that “Chin Chin” played in Medicine Hat, Alberta sometime shortly before January 8, 1920[i].

I finally found an article regarding “Chin Chin” playing in Medicine Hat[ii]. We now know that “Chin Chin” played in Medicine Hat on January 5th and 6th. Page 8 of the Medicine Hat Daily News dated January 6, 1920 has a nice article regarding the show.

I know that “Chin Chin” played in at the Avenue Theater in Vancouver on Dec 25-27[iii], but still don’t know where the show played during the eight days before Medicine Hat.

According to the article, “There were some particularly pleasing vocal selections, Donna Montran’s ‘Violet’ and ‘The Grey Dove,’ two catchy songs excellently rendered by this sweet-voiced young lady….”

After the show, the company headed back west the 100 miles to Lethbridge, Aberta for one night there before heading to Calgary.

Empress Theater – Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada

Photo Source: Esplanade Archives Page 22
Arts & Heritage Center

The Empress Theatre was built in 1913 at a cost of $25,000[iv]. It was located at 10 Sixth Ave, Medicine Hat and seated 625 people[v]. The theatre was said to be the best-equipped theatre between Vancouver and Winnipeg and hosted vaudeville and local theatre productions during the early years.[vi] In the 1930s, the theatre made the switch to movies with occasional live performances. The theatre was closed in the late 1940s and was demolished in 1953[vii].

Today the site is occupied by the Medicine Hat City Hall.

Endnotes

[i] See Donna & “Chin Chin” Play “The Grand Theatre,” Calgary, Jan 8-10, 1920.
[ii] Medicine Hat Daily News, January 6, 1920, Page 8, “CHIN CHIN” AN ATTRACTION DE | LUXE IN MUSICAL COMEDY LINE – Last Night’s Audience Was Delighted With This Breezy Footlight Attraction – A Show of Special Features (via Newspaper Archive).
[iii] See Donna in Vancouver, BC, Canada, at the Avenue Theater –December 25-27, 1919.
[iv] Archives Access – 2010 Edition – “In the Limelight” Issue – Esplanade Archives – Arts & Heritage Center. Page 22.
[v] Cinema Tour – Empress Theatre – https://www.cinematour.com/tour/ca/786.html
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Cinema Tour – Empress Theatre – https://www.cinematour.com/tour/ca/786.html

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She Kissed Politicians in 1915

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Don Taylor

The Massachusetts Republican leadership were all there. Several hundred had gathered at the Hotel Brenton near the shores of Bass Point. The year was 1915, and there were many issues to be discussed. Former Governor Foss was there, so was former Congressman Samuel McCall. Talking suddenly stopped as the lights turned down and a single spotlight showed a beautiful young woman who began to dance rhythmically to the sounds of the hidden orchestra. She paused to sing “A Little Bit of Heaven.” The politicians were entranced. The young woman danced up to Former Governor Foss, who had been Governor only a year before, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She was also going to kiss Congressman McCall, but he raised his hand to his cheek so she kissed his hand instead. She danced away and then sang in her crystal clear voice, “I Didn’t Think You’d Care.” Finally, she danced away. None of the Republicans attending had a clue who the cute young woman was — just a mystery girl.

Donna Montran


A Boston Sunday Post reporter hunted her down and found out the identity of the mystery woman. It was Donna Montran. According to the story in the Sunday Post, Donna had run away from home when she was 14 and set off to seek fame and fortune. After she left her home in Detroit, she played the juvenile lead in “The Girl and the Keiser” then took on Vaudeville and the Keith Circuit. Fame and fortune didn’t turn the blond beauty and she consciously decided to abstain from drink and avoid partying. She wrote music and made a small fortune with a vaudeville show titled, “Montran and Drew.” The article goes on to say that Donna will be on tour in the West in a few weeks with her own show, “Donna Montran Summer Girls.” Donna boasted having a home on “Riverside Drive” and two automobiles. She says knows how to fly and she hopes to be able to fly one of the machines in the future.

The ¾ page article highlights the “girl who kissed politicians” with five photographs, including the one above.

Endnotes:

[Adapted from an article in the Boston Sunday Post, September 15, 1915. “GIRL WHO KISSED POLITICIANS IS FOUND! — Donna Montran, Who Ran Away From Detroit, Creates Sensation at Peace Banquet of Republican Moguls Held on Bass Point Shores.”]

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Untangling Multiple Names – Frances (Frank) Dominick (Nick) Arvis

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Don Taylor


Untangling Multiple Names

Sometimes tracing an ancestor is just grueling work that requires capturing lots of data and then analyzing the information to determine if the data is in fact the ancestor you are researching. I was recently researching an ancestor for a friend that required lots of work. Her ancestor was Frances Dominick Arvis. Frances was born in Chicago and lived much of his life there. The problem in tracing his life is that some records call him Nick, some Frank, some Dominic or Dominick, and some Francis or Frances. And his surname is sometimes Arris, or Arvia. Then to compound the issue his father’s name is Dominick Frances Arvis, so untangling the spaghetti mess of these two people and isolating them from, a seemingly unrelated, Frank Arvis was a challenge. I’m not 100% done yet, but I think I have most if it sorted out.

The method I used was to create a new family unit for virtually every document I came across. He alone, he with one of his three wives (who also used several different names) and each Arvis child record I found with the parents identified. After I assembled dozens of facts, I began to look closely at the data and determine where and when I could merge two individuals. As I merged more and more of my many Nicks, Franks, Dominicks, and Frances, I found it easier and easier to determine when I had the right person, when I had his father, and when I had that unrelated person. So, I suggest when you have a confusing mix of names that need sorting out, consider each individual as separate and then consider carefully when an individual can be merged with another.

Frances Dominick Arvis (aka Nick, aka Frank) (1922-1994)

South Water Street, Chicago, IL c. 1920
Photo #521091from NARA via Wikimedia

Frances Dominick Arvis was born in Chicago on 2 June 1922, the second child of Dominick and Eleanor (Antos) Arvis. He had an older brother, Bernard, who was about 15 months older than he.

When Frank was two, his sister, Isabella, was born (on 30 October 1924).

His mother gave birth to twins, Anthony and Antonia, on 28 January 1927. Little Antonia died one month later on March 5, 1927.

In June of 1928 another sister was born.

The 1930 Census shows his father, mother, he, and two of his sisters living at 5301 South Halsted Street in Chicago. (It is a vacant lot today.) His older brother, Bernard, isn’t in the 1930 Census and doesn’t show up again and is presumed dead. Likewise, his other brother, Anthony, the twin of Antonia, was not enumerated in the 1930 census and is also presumed dead. His father is a barber and his mother is keeping house.

In 1931 his brother William was born.

On 5 February 1935 disaster stuck. His father died, meanwhile his mother was pregnant with what would be her 8th child (although three had passed).

By 1940, his mother had remarried and he and his four siblings were living with his mother and stepfather at 942 E. 76th St., Chicago. He was attending school.

Sometime between 1940 and 1942 Frances Dominick Arvis married Louise Margaret Eskman. He and Louise would have six children together (all still living).

Francis Dominick Arvis died on 27 Oct 1994 in Lake County Indiana, USA. (Lake County is just east of Chicago, where Gary, IN is.)


Sources available upon request.

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The meetings of Dick Brown – Donna, Dorothy, & Cecelia

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Don Taylor

The most fascinating stories in our family histories are often about how and where our ancestors met. These stories are often lost in just a couple generations. We, obviously, know where and when we met our spouses and often know when, how, and where our parents met. Knowing how our grandparents met is unusual, and knowing how our great grandparents met is rare — Our oral histories usually don’t go back that far. As such, it is really important to document how and where our ancestors met so their stories can pass down to future generations.

The story of my grandfather’s meeting of my grandmother and of his wives is elusive. I’ve put together what I have from oral history and some documents that I’ve found. I know something of two of the three stories and know nothing of the third.

Donna on Right, c. 1930

As many of you know my grandmother, Donna, was in vaudeville. The story is that in 1929 and 1930 the vaudeville stage became increasingly difficult to find work. The depression was tough on live show business. My grandmother and her husband, Sammy Amsterdam, decided to travel to Panama because the depression hadn’t really hit Panama yet and there was work there. We don’t know what work Sammy found while in Panama, but we know that Donna became a “Cabaret Girl” at the Fort Amador Beach Club in Panama. (See: Donna Cabaret Girl in Panama.html.) My grandfather was in the Army, stationed in Panama, (See: Road Trip Clifford Dick Brown. and met my grandmother while she was working at a club there. We don’t know if he knew that Donna was married at the time, but according to oral history, he fell in love with her at first sight. He told his best friend that he was “going to marry that girl.” We also don’t know if his attentions broke up the marriage between Donna and Sammy or if they were already estranged when Dick first saw Donna. We do know that when Donna and Sammy returned to the States, in March of 1930, they were estranged. The two show up on separate pages of the passenger list, both indicating that they paid their passage themselves. Donna indicated her home as in Detroit, at her mother’s address; Sammy indicated his home as in New York, at his mother’s address.

It appears that, sometime in 1931, Dick got out of the service and went to see Donna. Donna got pregnant. Sammy knew that the child could not have been his, but, according to oral history, he remained married to Donna long enough to “give the child a name” then quietly divorced her.

Dick wanted to marry Donna and bring her and her children to Minnesota. Donna, however, had moved to Chicago and was very connected to the nightclub scene there. She wasn’t about to give up the glamor and excitement of 1930s Chicago for the rural life of northern Minnesota. Dick apparently saw the life that Donna was providing his daughter (probably neglectful) and decided that his daughter would be better off with him. He took their daughter, without Donna’s permission, and went to Minnesota with her. Donna sic’d the police on him and he was arrested for child-napping. Luckily, the Lindbergh Law, which made kidnapping a federal offence, had a provision that excepted parents for their own minor children or things could have been a lot worse.

In any event, after a big whoop-de-doo, between the governors of Minnesota and Illinois regarding extradition, (See: Article) Dick went to prison (or jail) sometime after April 1935. He couldn’t have been there very long. (Note: Clifford Brown and Richard “Dick” Brown are the same person.)Family oral history says that once Dick got out of prison, he went to see Donna one last time. He still loved her and wanted to marry her. She, once again, told him “NO.” After Donna’s rejection, Dick went to a bar/restaurant in Chicago. There, he met a young woman, Dorothy Louise Wilhelm. Her parents owned the place. They began to date, and in February 1936 Dick and Dorothy were married.

Dick and Dorothy divorced and Dick took care of his mother in the Pillager/Motley Minnesota area for many years. Dick married Cecelia Ann Squires in March of 1975 after his mother went into a nursing home. I have no knowledge of how or where he and Cecelia met. I would love to hear the story of their meeting if anyone knows it.

If you know anything of these stories that I have left out, please let me know and I’ll include it in an update.

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