Genealogy Slam!

The spring genealogy program has undergone a transformation for 2018.

Instead of a Friday evening , we will be meeting on a Saturday afternoon during regular library hours. Same fun! Same refreshments! And yes, there will be DOOR PRIZES!

English Village
Photo by Olivier Collet on Unsplash

And we are very pleased to announce that we have Liz Pearson coming in to teach the basics of English and Welsh genealogical research.

Liz was born and brought up in England and has been sharing her expertise with northeast Ohio researchers for years!



And our own Lisa Rienerth will be explaining all the changes at FamilySearch.org and how to get the most from the new system!

Join us on April 28th at noon.   Sign up HERE.

Julia Hach - a Tribute

1996 Plain Dealer

Women's History Month is March. And that means ALL women's history. Not just the famous or infamous, but everyone of us. With that in mind, I want to pay tribute to a local woman who was very outstanding in her own understated way - Julia Hach.



Julia was raised on the family's dairy farm, Waltona, south of Medina on Route 3. Waltona was known for its advanced farming practices and award winning Guernsey cows. Newspaper articles from the 1940's regularly listed the milk and cream output from the Hach family farm's cows. The pragmatism learned on the family farm guided Julia all her life.

Medina High School Yearbook - 1949

Julia graduated from the Medina High School in 1949. From newspaper accounts and her yearbook listing, we find a young woman who was very active and very well rounded. She participated in 12 different clubs, including Glee Club, Choir, Orchestra, Band and Brass Sextet. I never knew that Julia was musical!

As a young woman coming of age during World War II, she dreamed of joining the Navy Nurses Corp. But she needed her father's permission and he refused to sign the papers.

Not to be deterred from her dream, Julia did become a nurse, going to school at the St. Luke's School of Nursing and later on the staff of St. Luke's, she worked her way to head nurse.

During her years of nursing, Julia also followed her love of animals, owning and raising standard-bred horses; trotter's and pacer's. Gazette articles from the 60's and 70's follow the success of her horses.

After retiring from the hospital, Julia worked for the U.S. Post Office, the Hinckley branch. In 1992, she retired for the second time.

It was around this time, the mid 1990's, that I made Julia's acquaintance when she came to the library to research her family history. Like all genealogists, we shared life stories and the proverbial "brick walls" of genealogy research. Julia learned of my service in the U.S. Air Force.

You see, Julia's biggest regret in life was that she had not served in her country's military forces. But she never lost her patriotism nor her admiration for women who had served. When the Women in Military Service to America Memorial was just a dream, Julia worked tirelessly as the Medina County field representative. She was among the thousands of women at its dedication in 1997.

Women in Military Service to America Memorial, Washington, D.C.

In the spring of 1997, Julia started contacting Medina County women who had served in the United States military. Her purpose was to compile their military biographies and donate the material to the local historical societies in order to document the contributions they had made to their country. That May, she gathered these women together to march in the annual Medina Memorial Day Parade, as they have done every year since then.

For most of these women, it was the first time that their service had been recognized.

In November 1999, many of these women veterans gathered to commemorate Veteran's Day together at a potluck luncheon at the Ohio National Guard Armory in Medina. After the luncheon, the women decided to formally organize as The Medina County Women of the Military.  Julia published the first of two volumes of Medina County Women of the Military from the compiled biographies. And she left behind enough material for the second volume

Besides forging a firm friendship, another life-changing development came out of our acquaintance. Julia connected me with my cousin Sharon Helmick Nicholson. One day, I was complaining about a "brick-wall" problem I was having with one of my ancestral lines. Julia asked which surname, to which I replied "Helmick". She told me that Sharon Nicholson, who I knew from the Military Women, was a Helmick. And I said, "Oh, but my Helmick's are from West Virginia. I said "Sure, right, Julia. Sharon and I are related." Several days later, Sharon showed up at the library with two big binders on her Helmick family. After studying it for some time, we determined that Sharon and I are fifth cousins, once-removed. And we have discovered that many of our family members share traits, such as a love for travel!

Medina Sun article from 25 May 2000. Julia is holding the flag. Cousin Sharon is right behind her.
All of these women are among the founding members of the Medina County Women of the Military.

Around this time, Julia became president of the Medina County Genealogical Society and she approached me about doing a series of genealogy classes at the library. We set it up and for several years she did a 6 class series for the Medina Library. The classes were always full. And her students were well prepared.

When Julia passed away in 2001, I took over the classes for one session. Even with all of Julia's handouts to work from, it was a huge task. And exhausting. But she had made it seem easy.

Julia would hate this tribute to herself. She never looked for attention or praise. She saw a job that needed doing and she did it.

But just like the military women whose service she recognized and documented, Julia deserves this recognition for ALL of her many contributions.

Julia L. Hach:
     Nurse

     Patriot
     Postal worker
     Horse raiser

     Genealogist

     Bird watcher
     FRIEND

SOURCES:
Cleveland Plain Dealer

Medina County Women of the Military Volume II, Medina County Women of the Military, 2005.

Medina County Gazette
     1 Jan. 2001
     6 Oct., 2001, p. A-2

Medina High School Yearbook - 1949

Medina Sun, 25 May 2000.

CHECK OUT THE COMMENTS FROM JULIA'S FRIENDS BELOW.

New Beginnings..

It is nearly spring...

A time for new beginnings...

And a great time for babies!

A co-worker recently became a father for the second time - Congratulations, Dan & Katie!

This event inspired me to write about all the different ways we document the birth of a new child.

And of course, this means these are ALL the different resources we should be looking for...

1. Early pregnancy test - Okay. This one is gross! I know, because my daughters told me so. But I actually saved the EPT stick from my second daughter. BTW, the color fades over the years. The "ick' factor can be eliminated by taking a picture of the test. Don't expect to find may of these.
2. Gender reveal party - This is a relatively recent phenomenon, but it is possible that it is documented with invitations, photos, and a guest book.
3. Ultrasound scans - Now, ultrasound scans are routine and expectant parents get copies to take home and share. First photo of baby? Probably an ultrasound.

4. Baby Showers - usually given shortly before the baby arrives, this tradition developed to help new parents defray the costs that come with a new baby. Invitations, pictures, guest books and possibly...

5. Baby books - Usually one of the gifts received at a baby shower, a Baby Book is an album just to document every moment of the young human's life. First food - listed. First BM -noted. Also includes a basic ancestry chart. Aunt Bonnie used to create quilted masterpieces.

Aunt Bonnie's quilted baby books are treasured heirlooms in our family.

6. Hospital pictures - These first photos are taken in the nursery in the hospital. Usually, you can purchase pre-printed birth announcements designed to hold these miniature photos.

Baby bracelet like the one pictured to below were used in the 1950's & 60's to make sure that mother & baby were correctly matched up when it came time to leave the hospital.

7. Hospital announcements - sometimes part of the "birthing" package at the hospital are paper birth announcements to send out to friends and family. Most hospital have moved to online pictures and announcements. Because of HIPAA and privacy concerns, most also require a password to access.

8. Mother's Certificate - a decorative birth certificate from the hospital. It is not an official government document and cannot be used in lieu of the official birth record. (see below)

While not official documents, Mother's Certificates can contain
information not found on the official birth certificate.

Did you know that footprints are also unique to the individual and can be used for identification?

9. Birth announcements - Commercial cards purchased and sent out by the parents.
10. Newspaper birth announcements - Aren't seen too often anymore, but local births used to be regularly published in the newspapers.

Birth announcements from a 1979 Peru, Indiana newspaper.
Privacy concerns have mostly eliminated such listings.

11. Birth record - The OFFICIAL birth record from the local government. In Ohio, it is registered with the local health department and the State Department of Vital Statistics. Did you know you can obtain a birth record for anyone born in Ohio after 1908 at your local health department? To learn more about how to do that, check out this BLOG POST.

12. Social Security Number - This should NOT be available for any living person. But you can often find a listing for deceased persons in the Social Security Death Index that is available on Ancestry Library Edition and FamilySearch.org.
13. Baptism/christening - These are ceremonial rituals of different religions. If the information is not in the family documents, you have to contact the church or parish where the ritual took place. 

Baptism records don't always give the date of birth, as this one does.
But prior to the government's requirement for official birth records, a
baptism record may be the closest you can find to a birth record.

14. Family Bibles - A family Bible that records all the births, deaths and marriages is a rare heirloom indeed. BUT, if all the handwriting is with the same pen and penmanship, it means it was filled out by one individual and probably not filled out at the time of the event. Then you are relying on the memory and accuracy of that one person.

These births were obviously all written at the same time by the same person.
IF that person was the mother, she would have first hand knowledge of the births.
But does she remember all the dates correctly?

Birth of  the first, second, or last child spurs some people's interest in researching their family's history; picturing sharing it with their children one day...

Babies are such a nice way to start people.  - American humorist, Don Herold.