Always Check Out the Original!

In my May 29th blog post celebrating our Civil War veterans and writing about my trip to the National Archives in DC, I mentioned that digging your way to the original source is sometimes helpful. 

 Well, this blog post is about the NECESSITY to do so, not just how it might be helpful and provide you with some possible gems. 

 Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan 

Delhi Schoolhouse, Fall 1908

 Back to the Bentley I went this past week! It was a fruitful and fun sojourn and I’m starting to get the hang of this archive research. I didn’t mention this before, but when planning to go to an archive, even a local one, it’s important that: 1) You schedule an appointment or check out their policies about visiting. All of the archives I have now gone to required an advance appointment and most require it at least 3 days in advance because of the second important note; 2) You MUST know what collection you are interested in viewing and request it ahead of time. Not all archives maintain storage on site and it may need to be brought in from another location. I’m continuing my quest for documents for the Mayflower Society and working from my Ann Arbor/Washtenaw County relatives to help me prove things moving backwards. The two collections I requested were: 1) Helen Tubbs Judson photograph collection, circa 1890-1899, 1908 Call Number92640 UAs Volume/BoxFolder 1, and 2) Webster United Church of Christ records, Call Number 86766 Ba 2 

 Do you remember my Genealogy Angel, my great-aunt Helen? Well, she made another donation to the library and among it I found an amazing photo. She donated this photo taken in the Fall of 1908 as part of the collection. She and her brother, Harlow, were students at this one room schoolhouse in Delhi, Michigan (Helen is the little girl seated almost at the center with her arm on the desk behind her and her brother is in the same desk row closer to the camera). What a fun find to see her as a little girl! 

Webster Church, June 2023

 Webster Church

Webster Church, c. 1890s

My mom inside the church where her
grandparents,
great-grandparents
and great-great grandparents worshipped.

Once a family historian identifies the location of their family, the place of worship becomes the next important thing to know about the family. Since places of worship usually did a great job of documenting life events, they are the “go to” for vital records before they were required by the state or county. For my Tubbs relatives, Webster Church was their church. It was completed in 1835 and my great-great-great grandparents George Tubbs and Rebecca Sophronia Walter joined December 28, 1834 and were #50 and 51 of the membership. It was founded as a Presbyterian Church and became Congregational in 1860 and then in 1961 to present it is now a United Church of Christ. According to the historical marker, it is the oldest church building in continuous use in Washtenaw County! 

 Webster Records (Call Number 86766 Ba 2)

Searching the collection, I found a variety of fun things. It was well organized and it included at the very front an index of everything that could be found. I was particularly interested in baptisms and deaths, but there was so much more, like cemetery plot purchases with prices, and many interesting documents with my ancestors’ signatures. For example, here is a document in which all of those who signed pledged the amount they were willing to pay for the minister that year. My ancestor, Samuel Obed Tubbs contributed and we can see a glimpse into his income as a farmer. 

 As part of the front matter, a volunteer (local DAR member) transcribed the list of membership from the original lists. This was wonderfully helpful so that I didn’t have to try to decipher the handwriting in the original books. It made it easy to locate all of my ancestors who were members and quickly identify their church membership number, the date and by what means they joined the church, and when/how they left the church. 

 This is where things start getting interesting for me. In addition to my great-great-great grandparents, I found my great-great grandparents and great-grandparents as members. They are all buried in the cemetery, so I wasn’t surprised they were members. As I worked through the transcribed records, I came across my great-grandfather, C. Walter Tubbs, who joined on the same day as his older brother and sister. The transcription also notes when his older brother passed away and then his sister AND he were dismissed on January 15, 1906! 

This caught me by surprise, why? What happened, what did he do? 

 I might have stopped there! But I didn’t. 

 So after combing through all of the transcribed records, I started in on the handwritten old books, from 1834….amazing that I was looking through books that people had held in their hands and written in nearly 200 years ago! Marriages were not documented in any of the books, but among the list of members, I found Cora Viola Orcutt, his wife along with her death date in 1958. And then his death in 1962. This perplexed me. If he wasn’t a member, why would they have an entry for their membership with a note of their death? Another mystery. 

 As I continued through the books, I found the exact page that had been transcribed and I figured out what had happened. His sister Rebecca Helen was dismissed in January 1906 and in looking at my records, it makes total sense because that corresponds to when she and her husband and young children moved to Pontiac, Michigan, which would have been too far to commute for church. 

But according to the handwritten roster C. Walter was NOT dismissed! The transcriptionist made a mistake and ascribed his sister’s dismissal to him as well. Maybe she thought that they were a married couple instead of siblings or maybe she thought that the marks below the date were ditto marks? Not sure, but he was not dismissed and had I not sought out the original books I might have jumped to conclusions and documented something that wasn’t actually true! So, word of warning, ALWAYS follow up with the original manuscripts if possible. And if you are transcribing original documents, double and triple check that you are copying it exactly!