Brick Wall – Jacob Huber (bef 1860–?)

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Don Taylor
By – Don Taylor
 
I know that “crossing the pond” can prove frustrating in
genealogical research. Jacob Huber really brings that point home clearly to me.  I know virtually nothing about him.  When I first began working on my wife’s genealogy, I was so happy to learn that her mother had some family photos of the Hubers from the turn of the previous century (my guess) and, most excellent, the photos included names on the back. 
 
 
 
“The Huber Family”
“Back of the Huber Family”
Then, when I found John Huber’s marriage record entry, which names his father, it clearly corroborated what the photos indicated.  I also knew from several records that John Huber was born in Windlach, Switzerland. I assumed that Jacob lived there. 
 
I then began my regular process to find information regarding Jacob.  I found nothing.  In my searching, I found another person researching the Hubers in Windlach. Although his or her Hubers certainly were not the same ones I’ve been seeking, a response to his post on Ancestry Message Boards suggested ordering parish records for the Canton through the family history library. 
 
What a great idea. Maybe there is a hole in the brick wall. I searched the Family Search catalog and found three entries for Church records in Zurich. Of course, most are in German. The first one appeared to cover 1600-1700, outside of my search area. 
The second one, related to Immigrants in 1859, falls outside my search area. But, the third one “Die Pfarrbücher der Züricher Landschaft als bevölkerungsgeschichtliche und
chronikalische Quelle”– what might that be?  Thanks to Google Translate, I learned it means, “The parish registers of Zurich’s landscape as historical population and chronical source.”  Perfect.  Could it be exactly what I’ve been looking for? I then saw it was a book, not so good, then I found a call number, and then the disappointing words, “availability: missing.” There is a link to see if the book is available anywhere else through WorldCat. Sadly, it isn’t available anywhere else. Also, World Cat has a note saying, “The use of parish registers as a historical source in the rural areas of Zürich, Switzerland.”  Clearly, a better translation than what Google provides. I was afraid of that. The book isn’t the parish registers. Rather, it is a book, in German, about using parish registers.  Not of any help to me.
 
So the hold in the brick wall that I thought I had seen wasn’t really a hole.  Maybe just a crack
in the mortar, but it does provide a new set of angles to work on.  I’m sure I’ll find a way to see the parish
records without going to Switzerland. I’ve just got more to do. So, I guess I’ll suggest that when you hit a brick wall, don’t despair.  Poke around a bit and you should get some ideas. As long as you have further actions to do it isn’t really a solid brick wall. There is still a hole you can work through. 

Bio – Jacob Huber (bef. 1860 – bef. 1960)

Jacob Huber was born in Switzerland[1] sometime before 1860. (That assumes he was at least 20 when his son John was born).
He married Kath Struckland[2] sometime before
1879. (That assumes Jacob & Kath were married when their son John was conceived.)

Family oral history indicated that only John Huber left Zurich, so it is assumed that Jacob died and was buried in the Windlach/Stadel bei Niederglatt area.

 

Further Actions:

  • Search for sources of vital records for Windlach/Stadel bei Niederglatt in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland.
  • Search for and contact people with the Huber surname in the
    Windlach area of Zürich, Switzerland
  • Visit Windlach and Stadel bei Niederglatt, Zürich, Switzerland
    (or entice another family member to visit it and do some research while there.)

List of Greats

1.    John Huber
2.    Jacob Huber
3.    Jak Huber
 

Endnotes:

[1] 1910 Census, Census Place: Elberta and Josephine, Baldwin, Alabama; Roll: T624_1; Page: 5A; Enumeration
District: 0013; FHL microfilm: 1374014.
[2] Wisconsin Marriage Records, Johana Huber and Bertha Trunpe, 02 Mar 1905. groom’s name:  Johana Huber. 
 

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Feb 13, 1920 – Chin Chin Plays Myers Theater in Janesville, WI.

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Don Taylor
Donna in Janesville, WI, at the Myers Theater – Date: Feb 13, 1920
Donna and the cast of “Chin Chin” completed their
one night stand in Eau Claire and headed for Janesville, 180 or so miles to the
south for another one-nighter.
Preshow advertising began with an announcement
on February 7th in the Janesville
Daily Gazette by the theater manager, L. C. Hensler, that a Charles
Dillingham show was returning to Janesville for the first time in more than ten
years for “one night only.” The announcement mentions “Chin Chin” and the
“Famous Clown Saxophone Band.”[i]
Source: Newspapers.Com
Janesville Daily Gazette
(Janesville, WI) 11 Feb 1920, Pg 6
Leading Comedians, et al
The advertising continued with another
announcement on February 10th that mentioned both the size of the
company (65) with 40 Girls and 35 men back of the scenes.  (I know that adds up to 75 people.) It also
mentions “two car loads of scenery” and some of the acts as well as the hit
songs from the show, including:
                  Good-bye
Girls I’m Through,
                  Violet, Violet,
                  The Pekin Patrol,
                  Love Moon,
                  The Chinese Honeymoon,
                  Temple Bells,
                  Bally Mooney, (etc.)
The Daily Gazette of February 11th  showed a graphic of the two male stars, Roy
Binder & Walter Wills as well as 12 of the women in the show.  Certainly, Donna would have been one of those
12, however, the quality of the on-line image isn’t high enough to determine
which one is Donna.
After the show a short article detailing the
non-existent plot and the characters of the show including the role of the
Goddess of the Lamp, the part played by Donna.
Myers Grand Opera House

Interior of the Myers Theater – Post 1929 “Moorish” remodel
Photo Credit: [Janesville Daily] Gazette File Photo
When “Chin Chin” played at the Myers
in 1920, it was old.  It has been built
in 1870 as the Myers Opera House.  A fire
in 1891 caused the Opera House to be rebuilt and renamed as the Grand Opera
House. It was a modest sized, ground floor, theater held about 1000 people –
400 on the main floor, 293 in the balcony, and 300 in the gallery. The stage
was 32 by 30 feet in size.[ii]
In 1920 the 50-year-old theater, managed by Peter L
Myers, was sold to the Janesville Amusement Company[iii] who installed L. C. Hensler as the
theater’s new manager.
In the late 1920s the theater changed
from live performances to movies and was remodeled into a “Moorish” style movie
place to show Hollywood films.[iv] [v]  The theater remained open until the mid
1970s. Finally, in 1977, demolition began on the building and the site became a
parking lot for the Rock County National Bank. [vi]
Further Research

Review another source for the Feb 11, 1920 issue of the Janesville Daily Gazette for a higher quality image.
Besides the “Gazette,” the Cahn-Leighton Theatrical Guide mentions the Janesville “Recorder” as a daily A.M. paper. I can’t find an on-line edition of the “Recorder” on line. Annually see if it becomes available.

Endnotes:

[i] Janesville Daily Gazette (Janesville, Wisconsin) ·
Sat, Feb 7, 1920 · Page 6
[ii] The Cahn-Leighton Theatrical Guide – 1913-1914.
[iii] Hedberg Public Library Local History Database https://hedbergpubliclibrary.org/ Search results for” Myers Theater
[v] Cartwright, Carol Lohry; Shaffer, Scott; Waller, Randal / City on the Rock River : chapters in Janesville’s history (1998), pg. 182. See: https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/WI/WI-idx?type=turn&entity=WI.CityRock.p0187&id=WI.CityRock&isize=text
[vi] Hedberg Public Library Local History Database https://hedbergpubliclibrary.org/ https://hedbergpubliclibrary.org/
Search for Myers Theater
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Genealogical Ethics?

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Don Taylor
Lately, I’ve been seeing more and more emails and other
information regarding collaboration. It often makes me a bit concerned.  Nevertheless, as I do more and more of it I’m
beginning to develop security standards.
I mentioned briefly in a note in my last blog, I am
uncomfortable in posting or providing anything that might be personally
identifying information. Mostly, it is the kinds of things that various
security systems would ask as a challenge question.  Things like a person’s mother’s maiden name
or linking a living person with their school (and thus school mascot which I’ve
seen several times as a security question).  
Many people have trouble or concerns regarding social
security numbers.  I don’t so much.  I can understand SSNs being kept private for
three to five years. The biggest reason for that is to allow a person’s estate
to get through probate before someone could easily use that person’s SSN for
identity theft. In that amount of time, the powers to be should know that the
person is dead.
I was recently asked by a researcher for the names of the
children of someone in my tree. The wife of one of my wife’s Grand Uncles was a
cousin of this researcher.  I had the
names for these people but suspect many of them are still alive. They were born
in the 1940s.  So, do I give the
information or not?
If I got the information from a private source, then I would
say no. I would not provide the names.  However,
if I got the information from a public source, then why not?  I wrestled with the question for a bit and concluded
that I would not give the names and relationships directly. Rather, I would
provide a source citation that gave me the information I analyzed and
incorporated into my family tree.   In
this particular case, I gave the link to an obituary for the ancestor that
listed the living children.  I don’t have
an ethical dilemma providing publicly accessible information.  Maybe I should, but I don’t.
This brings me to the point of this posting.  I’ve seen and read many sets of ethics for
genealogy.  However, in all of my reading
I am yet to see a set of ethical rules about what should or should not be
shared with other researchers or people or with the public.  The closest that I think I’ve seen is from
the Board for Certification of Genealogists that states, “I will act, speak,
and write in a manner I believe to be in the best interests of the profession
and scholarship of genealogy.’  Pretty
vague; not much guidance there. 

If someone knows of a rule list about the kind of
information that we should not publish or provide publically, I’d like to know
of it. (Please use the comment form below.) 
If there isn’t such a list, shouldn’t there be one that is clear and
more effective than just privatizing living people.
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The wife of my Brother-in-Law

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Don Taylor

Sometimes I just enjoy the search.  I like to take a person, plug them into my
process and see what spits out.  As a
former Project Manager (PMP),  I am all about the process. I thought I’d share a bit of my process here.

Recently, I was talking with my sister
in-law.  Well, I think of her as my sister-in-law,
although in reality she is the “wife of my brother-in-law.” (She is my wifes’s
brother’s wife).  Anyway, we had a delightful
lunch with her and her husband the other day. As is often the case when I’m involved in conversation, talk moved to
genealogy and family history.  As we
chatted, it became clear that she was extremely proud of her parents and their
stories.  She knew that one side had been
in Maine for many generations.  On her paternal
side she had some Greats that “came from away,” one from Ireland and
another from New York.  As we
chatted, I know that I wanted to know much more about her family, and
subsequently more about who her people are and what made the kind of person
that she is. As we chatted she gave her permission to do some research on her
family. 
From discussions long ago, I had a couple tidbits
of information. I knew her parents names and where they lived (Auburn, Androscoggin County, Maine). With that information, I started with my basic “getting to know you” process.
My process begins with
Ancestry.Com. I have a paid
subscription and I highly recommend having one. If you can’t afford a
subscription, the “library edition” is available at most libraries and at all Family History Centers.  I use
Ancestry.Com to “pick the low hanging fruit.” I quickly found her father, her
mother, where they were married and then both of them through the 1930 and 1940
censuses. I found her father’s parents names in the 1930 census but could not,
for the life of me, find them in the 1920 census. I found the grandparents in
the 1910 census, but  still nothing in
1920. I continued my Ancestry.Com
searches and found many city directories that showed where they lived ever
two or three years from after World War II until into the 1950s.  
My next important search location  in my process is Find-a-Grave.  I used to go there second but now Ancestry.Com searches provides links to Find-a-Grave, so used that feature and easily found
the Find-a-Grave memorials for her parents. Looking at markers, I saw
immediately that her father had been a World War II veteran. Good to know — I’ll look into that more late. 
The markers also provided solid evidence for both their birth and
death dates.  All the censuses and other
records I found were consistent with that date. Thanks to Find-a-Grave, I also learned
of a brother that was born before my sister-in-law and died that same year as an infant.  
I then switched to Family Search – an awesome free
resource.  If I didn’t have an
Ancestry.Com account, Family Search would be my first place to look.  Any records that have images through Ancestry
and not Family search I would save to my “Source Box.”  Later at a library or family history center
I’d use that source box records to save image files to my thumb drive. 
Anyway, some kinds of searches work really well on Family
Search.  I searched for her father’s first
name only, and added parents first names only, leaving the surname blank.  I also added the state, Maine; bang there it
was. Severely misspelled surname but the right family, parents the right age,
siblings the right ages, location in the right town and state.  Only the surname was off.  Not much else on Family Search that I found in
a number of quick searches.  A deeper
dive will most likely yield more information.

A search of Google News found their marriage
announcement.  In it several other bits
of information were provided. Where her father and mother graduated from High
School. Where her mother went to college, what their occupations were.  Even info about other relatives that attended
the wedding.  Those are really good bits
of info to know and I input everything into my records.  Sometimes just knowing that a person was
alive, still unmarried, and living at a specific city can lead to marriage and
other records.
Then on to my newspaper resources.  My search in Genealogy Bank found a French language article about her father from 1939. Thanks to Google Translate, the
article said:

Two dogs Eskimo, owned by xxxx xxxxxxx, of Fletcher Street,
Kennebunk, harnessed to a sled, made the trip entire Biddeford and Kennebunk in
90 minutes…  

I’ll bet a native French speaker can tell me if “firent le trajet entre” means round
trip or one way – Google’s translation is unclear but it is a good first cut on translating
almost any language into almost any other language.  That the article was in  French was interesting as well. It made me
wonder if he was bilingual. I know his wife spoke both English and  French.   
I didn’t find anything on
Newspapers.Com or through
Elephind.com regarding the family
Because of my findings on Find-a-Grave, I went back to Ancestry
and searched for military records for my sister-in-law’s father. Sure enough,
several documents were there.  I learned he enlisted in early 1941 long before Pearl Harbor. I also found
the document where his widow applied for a veteran’s marker.  That was cool because there was a color copy
on-line and the form was clearly in her mother’s hand.
Bates College students burying a stuffed bobcat to
Commemorate the demise of the Bates humor
magazine: The Bobcat
Photo Courtesy: Bates College
I wondered if the Maine State Archives had a copy of the
wedding certificate on line.  No such luck,
but it did confirm the date and provided instructions on how to order one from
the state. (I think I’ll ask my sister-in-law to do that.) The wedding announcement mentioned that my sister-in-law’s mother had
attended Bates College. Hummm.  I
wondered if a yearbook might be available on line.  Yup. 
Archive.Org had a copy on line. I REALLY love Archive.Org.  They are high on my list of places to search
for people and documents.  Of course
“mom” was there, a graduation photo and it showed her involvement and interests
in school life.  She had earned an
apprenticeship in French, she was a member of the French Club, and the Glee
Club, and much more.
In just a few hours I found 18 sources of information about
my sister-in-law’s father and just a many regarding her mother (there is
substantial overlap).  Actually, I found the information in an hour or two, documenting it took several times longer than finding the information.
I could do a lot more to get to know my sister-in-law’s
parents. But this is a good first beginning to get to know my sister-in-law’s people.
My process includes doing general searches using:

Ancestry.Com(Find the person in
every census they were alive for.)
Find-a-Grave
Family Search and
Genealogy in Time
(which is really Google but more focused)

Then I search newspapers.

Genealogy Bank
Newspapers.Com and
Elephind.Com  

I also check
TheAncestorHunt.Com for any recommendation Kenneth has based on appropriate
states and dates.  His blog/website is an
awesome resource! 

Logo of Archive.Org

Finally I do focused Searches based upon previous findings
which generally include

      Google Books
      Google News
      Archive.Org and various 
      State Resources

That is kind of the start of my process.  I think that it provides enough information to know a bit about a person. Enough to begin to ask more questions and focus my further research.


Note:  Due to privacy
issues, I have intentionally left out names and personally identifying
information in this article/blog. As matter of policy, I do not publicly write about the
specifics of individuals or couples who have been dead less than 25 years.

————Disclaimer ————-

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Happy New Year – 2015

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Don Taylor

Happy New Year!  

I hope your holidays have been a lovely and joyous as mine and that your New Year be safe and prosperous. In ending my 2014 year I thought I’d update everyone on what I anticipate for the new year. The big news for the new year is my new domain.

DTAYLORGENEALOGY.COM


I’ve decided to add a more professional look to my
genealogical efforts.  To help that look,
I have gotten an internet domain name: 
dtaylorgenealogy.com

The first thing you may notice is that when you go to this
blog via a bookmark, or direct entry, to dtaylorgenealogy.blogspot.com you will
find that you are directed to blog.dtaylorgenealogy.com.  I am still using Blogspot to host my blog but
have made an entry in my domain to direct blog.dtaylorgenealogy.com to the
Blogspot site.
I also added a Google Sites website for “D Taylor Genealogy”
and have directed www.dtaylorgenealogy.com
to the Google site. It is still under construction but I plan to use it as a
location to show the kinds of things that I can and will provide as
genealogical services.

Next, I created an email account through Go Daddy.  I am still having trouble with it.  I am receiving email through them okay but
can’t seem to send email from Apple Mail or Outlook. I can send from the web
interface fine though.  I’ll see if I can
fix it soon.  In any event, you can send
mail to me via “don (at) dtaylorgenealogy.com” and I’ll receive it.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES


Over the past few weeks I’ve received a lot of things to
work on.  On the Brown/Montran
Research I’ve received a letter and some eMail’s from my Uncle Russ that will
help put some additional information regarding my great grandmother, Ida Mae
Barber, and her husband Harvey Knight.  I
also received over 800 photos of various relatives from a cousin.  It will take some time for me to categorize
those photos and incorporate them into my research.

On my Madonna Montran
research, I have dozens of additional bookings that I know of and will continue
bi-monthly posts regarding her vaudeville life.

Joyner Library
Clock Tower – Joyner Library
East Carolina University
Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons 

On the Howell/Hobbs
research, I recently received a book through inter-library loan from the J. Y. Joyner Library about Martin County History. It is a two
volume set and has dozens of references in it regarding the Howells including
the Armstrong, Bryan, Hobbs, Howell, Johnson, Long, and Price families that
lived in Martin County.  I’m looking
forward to researching them. I am so grateful for the interlibrary loan system.


On the Darling/Huber
research I have several areas of research that I’m going to pursue.

Finally, on the DNA research front,
I’ve encountered another person for whom I have a DNA match on my paternal
side.  Unfortunately this individual only
has the surnames for 9 of his 16 2nd great grandparents named and
only 10 of his 32 3rd great grandparents.  Family Tree DNA is suggesting that he and I are
related as 2-4th cousins so we are likely to need to go back to the
3rd greats to find a common ancestor. We will see.

PROJECTS

One minor project I’m doing is posting poetry written by my grandfather, Dick Brown, to my facebook wall. I typically find an appropriate graphic to accompany it and post it as public.

On my projects for friends, I have six different ones.  I use these
projects to help hone my skills by exploring other people’s family histories.  I try to give each of these projects a day’s
work every 6 to 8 weeks. The projects I am working on include
the following:

Adair,  Burlison,  Kirks*,  Pettus,  Rode,  and Smith.
I will be replacing my “Web Pages” tab on the blog with a
page that speaks about these projects and moving “Web Pages” to the www site. 

PRESENTATIONS

I have recently updated my “Getting to Know You”
presentation.  I don’t currently have a
good way to display the presentation.  The last time I gave the presentation, I
copied it to a thumb drive, and connected the thumb drive to someone else’s
computer that was connected to a large screen TV.  It worked fine for the venue I was at, but probably
won’t work well elsewhere.  I will
probably need to get a projector and a way to connect it to my iPad to better show
it to groups.

Also, I’ve been thinking
about putting together a networking presentation that describes how to use social
networking to improve your genealogical research.  I have a lot of the material and many ideas about
how to approach it.  I just need to put the
presentation together.  I know I can get
some offers to present that type of material.

* Note: I am a contributor for the Kirks tree, not the owner/manager
of that tree.
————Disclaimer ————-
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