Gem in Indiana...The Allen County Public Library

 The ACPL Library

Last week I spent two incredible days at the Allen County Public Library and when I say two days, I mean two FULL days! Over the 2 days, I was in the library and researching a total of 21.5 hours! The resources available there are incredible and could be a bit overwhelming. On the first day, I chose not to take a break to eat, I just didn’t think I would have enough time. I was famished by the time I returned  to my hotel room and couldn’t make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich fast enough! I learned something. Tuesday, I chose to break for lunch, a great pizza place where I could eat a pizza by the slice, and felt much better late afternoon and early evening. This was a GREAT practice for my weekly long visit in the Salt Lake City Family Search Center, starting Tuesday!!

The true treasure though are the research librarians!! They were amazing and everything is FREE. If you ever go, I highly recommend that you make an appointment ahead of time for a consultation and share with them ahead of time your research question and goals. I started my first day at 10am with a meeting with Sarah. Sarah was assigned to me because she specializes in the midwest. She had done lots of research ahead of time and provided me with a printed list of suggestions specific to me and we went over it together. She acknowledged that my brick wall of Henry Edward Leach was truly a brick wall and I felt a little bit better that a professional acknowledged that this was a hard one. She then gave me a tour of the library and set me up with my first task of searching the microfilm for the death records for Henry. 

You can have your own book cart!! That was so cool and I really learned how to best use my brand new scanner.

My First Brick Wall

I didn’t end up finding out much about Henry, although I chased down a lead given to me by Sarah that  might end up netting something in the future. Sarah reminded me about the FAN Club Principle in Genealogy. This concept was developed by Elizabeth Shown Mills, a guru in genealogy, and it’s simple but very effective. FAN stands for family/friends, associates, and neighbors. If you are ever stuck, you might find leads in the FAN Club. 

Sarah suggested that I look to the people who hosted the Boarding House that Henry Edward Leach was living at in the 1880 census, since it was reported that he was from England and so were the owners of the boarding house and one of its other boarders. She reminded me that it is possible that there was a connection among them or that they knew each other in England or knew people who knew them. It was a great thought and although I don’t think there was a connection, it heightened my awareness of the boarding house owners for later reading! I came across a photo and some background of the couple and gave me a better understanding of where Henry was living in 1880.

Other Cool Stuff

After those first 4 hours, I chose to turn my attention to other parts of Jim and my family trees. I found several plat maps that show various family members' farms...like the Tubbs farms in Washtenaw County (my side) or another the plat map that identifies where Jim's great-grandparents had a farm in Crystal, Michigan. It's always cool to see the relatives' names on these maps. (Peter Monroe Baucher is my my husband's great-grandfather and his property is in the right side of the NW corner of section 7, just above and to the left of Crystal Lake.)

I also found a not so old...1986..Sesquicentenniel Celebration book of Three Rivers, Michigan complete with a Prophecy for 2011. What was amazing is that one of the students who was making the prophecies is a woman that Jim and I met while studying abroad at the University of Aberdeen (she was another American!!). We don't think of ourselves making history, but we are! Makes you wonder what remnants we will each leave behind for future generations to find.

The Mayflower Society

Another goal I have during this year is to solidify the connections to hopefully submit an application to the Mayflower Society. I’m doing this as a genealogical challenge. 

If you think you have a line that goes back to one of the original 26 families of passengers on the Mayflower, I suggest starting with the Silver Books. They provide all of the proof for the first 5 generations of descendants from the original 26 families with descendants. (There were actually 106 passengers on the Mayflower, but over 50% died in the first winter and only 26 families had descendants that lived on.)  I had used the Silver Books at the DAR Library in DC (anyone can use the library, you don’t have to be a member) to investigate the two lines that I think I descend from. 

The Book that provided the connection
between the Walkers and Orcutts.

The ACPL has an amazing collection of Family Histories and I was able to find a book that provided to me the confirmation and link I needed! Now I “just” have to find copies of all of the birth, death, and marriage records. That’s part of what I am doing at the Family Search Center now!

Highly recommend the ACPL and I definitely think I will be back!