Southwest Michigan Fire Insurance Maps Collection Complete at Library

Map lovers will be happy to learn that there is now a complete set of Southwest Michigan Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps housed in the Local History Collection of the Van Buren District Library. 

What are fire insurance maps and how are they important to family & local history?  Named for D. A. Sanborn, a civil engineer from Sommerville, Massachusetts, these maps and others like them were designed to "detail the structural characteristics and functions of buildings and their environs as they pertain to fire hazards or prevention." [Fire Insurance Maps : their history and applications, by Diane L. Oswald]

For each community, there are typically a handful of single or multi-page maps representing the 1890 thru 1935 time period.  Streets are identified by name and each structure is hand-drawn, showing such elements as dimensions, how many floors, stairways, windows, and doors. 

Marcellus, 1899

In this portion from the Marcellus map of 1899, we see a wonderful snapshot of a portion of Main Street, detailing the location of the grocery, three barber shops, hotel, meat market, clothing store and variety store, among others. 

The residential areas within the boundaries of the drawn map are similarly diagrammed, however (and this is the negative part of these maps), there are no names of owners.  Some businesses are named, but usually, with some exceptions, there is only a broad category description such as those listed above. 

Fire insurance maps should be a mainstay for those researching historical structures, with businesses in particular.  Larger multi-building companies have some amazing detail including uses of each building, like Martin Manufacturing Company, Berrien Springs, a manufacturer of cue tips & chalk in 1932, shown here. 

Martin Manufacturing Co., Berrien Springs, 1932

Even in the case of a residence, although the name of the owner is absent, these maps can give insight as to the structure of a house.  Using maps over a period of years, it is possible to plot out the addition of rooms or the change of a building altogether.

Maps were not drawn for all communities, but for Southwest Michigan a good majority of them were:

• Augusta
• Bangor
• Benton Harbor
• Berrien Springs
• Buchanan
• Burr Oak
• Cassopolis
• Centreville
• Coloma
• Colon
• Constantine
• Decatur
• Dowagiac
• Fennville
• Galesburg
• Hartford
• Hopkins
• Kalamazoo
• Lawton
• Leonidas
• Marcellus
• Mendon
• Niles
• Otsego
• Paw Paw
• Plainwell
• Richland
• St. Joseph
• Saugatuck
• Schoolcraft
• South Haven
• Sturgis
• Three Oaks
• Three Rivers
• Vicksburg
• Watervliet
• Wayland
• White Pigeon

Through an anonymous $1,600.00 gift, the 15 reels of microfilm have been purchased to round out the library's collection of surviving Sanborn maps for the Michigan counties of Allegan, Berrien, Cass, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Van Buren.  These reels also include many other communities outside the SW Michigan area.  For a complete list, see the library's Microfilm Listings, or contact us with any questions.

The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps are the most recent addition to the Local History Collection in support of the library's Historic Sites Inventory (HSI) project.  For more information about how to access the HSI or to inquire about donating information, contact the library at lochist@vbdl.org.

Nameless Picture of the Day

 Barnes School students

Lawrence Township, Fractional District #6

M1935

Can you identify the students and teacher in this photo of Barnes School in Lawrence Township?  Please contact us if you any information and we will publish it in a future blog.  Please include the photo's catalog number with your e-mail.

20% Off Summer Book Sale!

The Van Buren Regional Genealogical Society (VBRGS) has recently announced a special Summer Book Sale.  Through August 31, 2013, all items listed in their online Book Store will be available at 20% off the list price. 

With over 125 unique items, most of which are Southwest Michigan and out-of-print, visitors to the book store are bound to find something of interest.  Categories include cemetery readings, vital records, family histories, census indexes, yearbooks & annuals, plat books & indexes (some on CD-rom), local histories, church publications, city & telephone directories, and other unique items.  Although Southwest Michigan is the primary coverage (counties of Allegan, Berrien, Cass, Kalamazoo, Van Buren & St. Joseph), there are some listings from other counties in Michigan including Muskegon, Cheboygan, and Kalkaska. 

Featured titles include [new uncirculated editions]:

Michigan Quakers : abstracts of fifteen meetings of The Society of Friends, 1831-1960, compiled by Ann and Conrad Burton.

Published in 1989 and consisting of 589 pages with an every-name index, Michigan Quakers includes records for Quaker societies in Cass, Grand Traverse, Presque Isle, Ogemaw, Wayne, Leanwee and Calhoun counties.

"This book of Michigan Quaker abstracts is designed to make these records known, to publish the location of the records, and to help further the use of these records for research."

 A Scrapbook History of Early Decatur, Michigan, 1829-1876,   by Catherine Howland.   This
softcover two-volume set consisting of over 1500 pages has long been considered the standard for Decatur [Van Buren County] history. 

Ms. Howland, a former area school teacher, meticulously extracted articles from the Decatur Republican and other titles from Decatur's earliest days through the bicentennial...providing a wonderful overview of the pioneers and enterprises of Decatur and surrounding communities.

Van Buren County, Michigan : a pictorial history, published in 2003 by the Van Buren Regional Genealogical Society.

At a never-before seen low price, this beautiful coffee-table book has sold nearly 1,500 copies.  Hardcover with dust jacket, pages are high-quality gloss and provide a photographic overview of Van Buren County's residences, businesses, churches, notable people, mills, organizations & groups, and schools. 

Each photograph has a brief historical caption and the book includes an every-name index, as well as a full-color vintage map of the county.

All titles are original publications and available only while supplies last.  Visit the VBRGS online Book Store to view the entire list with current prices, and contact the society for the discount or with any questions, vbrgs@yahoo.com.

Nameless Picture of the Day

 unknown residence

Hartford, Michigan

M1922

 Can you identify the location/address of this house, taken in Hartford, Michigan?  Please contact us if you any information and we will publish it in a future blog.  Please include the photo's catalog number with your e-mail.

Library Launches New Mentoring Program

The Van Buren District Library (VBDL) is pleased to announce the initiation of its Mentoring Program for family and local history patrons. 

Are you starting out in your search for your family history and would like to know about how to find more information, or how to better organize it?  Do you have roots in Southwest Michigan and would like to learn all you can about what information may be available about your family?  Have you spent most of your time surfing the internet and would like to know where to go next? 

If the answer to any of these questions is "Yes", then the Mentoring Program may be for you...

Starting this May, experienced volunteers from the VBDL Local History department will be providing a one-on-one opportunity for instruction to its patrons.  The Mentoring Program is a free service available to those who can visit the library in person. 

Using the resources available in the Local History Collection and research tools such as forms & charts and select online subscription databases, volunteers will provide instruction to specific research questions.

Those who sign up for an appointment should plan to:

1. Select a specific research question or goal 
2. Bring with you any documents or paperwork associated with your query
3. Organize information for quick access
4. Create a checklist of those things that have already been tried or completed

 Each session will consist of at least:

1. Entrance interview to determine goal(s)of session
2. Introduction to the Local History Collection and checklist of resources pertinent to session goal(s)
3. Discussion about organization of data
4. General information about upcoming events & programs
5. Exit interview and creation of To Do List

The mentoring sessions are an opportunity to "pick the brain" of experienced family & local history historians, but are not research services.  Visitors will be be provided with valuable instruction in order to continue their research on their own either in the Local History Collection, online or at other sites.
 
One-hour mentoring sessions may be scheduled by contacting the Local History department by e-mail at lochist@vbdl.org or call (269)423-4771. 

Nameless Picture of the Day

 unknown man

Photographer - Withey, Bangor

M1917

Can you identify the man in this carte-de-visite, taken in Bangor, Michigan?  Please contact us if you any information and we will publish it in a future blog.  Please include the photo's catalog number with your e-mail. 

Getting to Know FamilySearch Online (Part 2)

Last time we talked about three of the four basic search categories of the FamilySearch website, i.e., Records, Books, and Catalog.  Change is the only constant on the internet, and already since Part 1 of this post, the home and search pages of FamilySearch have been updated with some cosmetic uplifts and the addition of a fifth category entitled Wiki. 

Commercial - State Farm Insurance

Under the Genealogies category, which should be searched separately from the Records category for maximum results, you will find user-submitted trees that have been accumulated from the Pedigree Resource File and Ancestry File databases.  As with any user-submitted resource, make it your credo to treat
information from these trees as clues, not as facts, until you can verify it using solid genealogical research methodology.  Too often, misinformation in online family trees mushrooms like a bad virus, and definitely, definitely don't subscribe to the notion that "They can't put anything on the internet that isn't true."

New to the FamilySearch environment is the ability to add your family trees & photographs live.  Enter through the Family Tree link found at the top of the Search page, sign up for a free account using an e-mail address, and you're on your way.  At first glance this morning, it seems that information has to be manually entered, one person at a time, no apparent way to upload a tree or Gedcom file.  Once information is entered, it can be edited, and it can be searched by other users. 

The new Wiki category is equally exciting, serving as an online encyclopedia of genealogical knowledge.  It is not meant to be a place to search for names, but for topics of all types that relate to family history research.  Search on topics such as locations (town, county, state, country), ethnic resources (examples: Italian or Danish research), religious sects, records types (examples:  chancery records, parish chest records), and much more.  I was able to search using the term Shakers (a celibate, extinct religious group), and found an entire page devoted to that religion in Watervliet, New York, where my family was known to live.  The wiki pages can provide social history & links to maps to go along with your family history and also give your useful information about the where, what and how to access records.

To assist with learning about all that FamilySearch has to offer, consider reading The Guide to FamilySearch Online, by James L. Tanner.  Although published in 2011, the information remains current and applicable to the site.  The book even predicts the release of New FamilySearch which was just done during this last month, and talks about many of the features that are now available.  The Guide is available for checkout by any Van Buren District Library patron, or seek out a copy at your local library.  Remember that knowledge is power.

Nameless Picture of the Day

 5th & 6th grade students, Gobleville (Gobles), Michigan

undated [perhaps around 1915]

M1909

Can you identify any of the children or teacher in this photograph, taken in Gobles, Michigan?  Please contact us if you any information and we will publish it in a future blog.  Please include the photo's catalog number with your e-mail.   

Getting to Know FamilySearch Online (Part 1)

It's guaranteed that unless you take the time to learn about online genealogical databases, you are missing valuable information.  This is particularly true of the bigger players in the field such as FamilySearch. 

Launched in 1999 and sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), the FamilySearch website has been a force in the world of online family history, for free.  They currently boast 3 1/2 million searchable names in their range of databases, with 10 million user hits per day. 

When visiting the FamilySearch home page a typical user will zero in on the boxes, quickly plugging in names and dates and with high anticipation selecting "Search."  Some will be rewarded with a hit list that contains potentially positive results.  Others may get a return of a list too large to handle, or no results at all.  Unfortunately, many searchers will stop there, not realizing that learning more about the content of the site and its search capabilities may lead them to the information they seek.

As with most sites, there is more than immediately meets the eye at FamilySearch.  The first thing you should notice is that there are four "tabs" across the top of the search fields:

• Records
• Genealogies
• Catalog
• Books

Searches have to be made across each of these categories individually, so if you are searching under Records, you are missing the other three.  Although, there is a notation at the bottom of the Records hit list indicating that there may be hits within the Genealogies databases, allowing you to click and move to that category.

Of what use is Books?  Currently, there are more than 60,000 digitized books, sponsored by Brigham Young University (BYU) Historical Books Collection.  Each is full-text searchable, and the images are downloadable.  These volumes are not necessarily the same books that we see repeated on Ancestry.com, Heritage Quest and Google Books.  They include titles from the BYU collection, many of which are rare local histories and genealogies. 

And the Catalog?  I use the Catalog more than any other portion of the FamilySearch site.  In addition to being a complete description of all of the millions of books and microfilm in the LDS library, it also serves as a portal to digital items, including collections that have been placed in Records and to the digital Books.  I would recommend conducting searches within the Catalog on a regular basis; by title, subject, geographic location...to insure that you aren't missing online resources. 

Next time we'll talk about more uses of the FamilySearch site and the recently published Guide to FamilySearch Online.

Nameless Picture of the Day

 unknown woman

Photographer - Chas. F. Prichard, Decatur 

From the personal collection of Sarah J. (Adams) Jackson

Can you identify the woman in this cabinet card, taken in Decatur, Michigan?  Please contact us if you any information and we will publish it in a future blog.    

Victorian Photo Album Makes Way Back to Decatur

There are two things that don't happen often enough.  First, finding pre-1900 photographs with identification as person & place.  Usually, these interesting faces go unnamed and will likely remain so forever.  Second, having the photographs be affordable enough to purchase them for the Local History Collection. 

Ackley Family Album

Not long ago through a listing on Ebay, we acquired a partially filled antique Victorian-style photo album, mostly identified with names, specifically the Ackley and related families of mid to late 19th century Decatur, Van Buren County, Michigan.

Victorian albums are beautiful in and of themselves, the covers typically made of leather or velvet and often, as in this case, adorned with one or more clasps at the side to help secure the contents.  The pages are made of a card stock firm board, sometimes lined with gold color on the edges.  Each page has space to insert photographs of a specified size on either side.  In this case, the photos are mostly carte-de-visite style and a few tintypes.  The carte-de-visite photograph, measuring 4 1/4 by 2 1/2 inches, was introduced in the United States as early as 1859, which supplies us with some clues as to dates.

On the inside cover of the album is handwritten: "Presented to Willis F. Ackley From his Mother To Her Precious Son"

Some of the names written on the photographs include:

• Gertrude Miller
• Mr. & Mrs. B. F. Carson
• Mrs. S. C. Reed of Monterey, Allegan County
• Thomas B. Woodburg, Fruit Port, Mich "to my daughter Mrs. Sarah Jane Ackley"
• Sarah Jane Ackley
• Emmet W. Ackley
• Willis J. Ackley
• Lucinda M. Bent
• Cousin Jennie Wood
• William Bent
• Ella Bacon
• Jessie Reed, Monterey, Allegan County
• Grace R. Ackley, South Wales, Erie County, New York

An added bonus to this album is the inclusion of some death and marriage dates handwritten in the covers and margins.

Regrettably, some of the photographs were removed from the album before we purchased it.  These were predominantly military-related as I recall seeing these individual photographs being auctioned separately on Ebay before the album was listed.  The hand-written names remain, however, allowing for clues to association to others featured in the album.

The Local History department has acquired a few other albums over the years, sometimes with little identification as to the individuals, but with connections to Southwest Michigan families.  Visit the library's online index to its Photograph Collection to search for names & subjects. 

Anyone interested in viewing the Ackley family album or other photographs should contact the Local History department in advance of their visit to find out access times and policies. 

Nameless Picture(s) of the Day

 Unknown woman

Tintype

Ackley Family album, Decatur
SD015.0001

  Unknown woman

Carte-de-visite photograph

dated July 29, 1880 

Photographer - J. O. Converse, Morenci, Michigan 

Ackley Family album, Decatur
SD015.0001

  

 Can you identify the women in these photographs, part of the Ackley Family album of Decatur, Van Buren County, Michigan?  Please contact us if you any information and we will publish it in a future blog.  Please include the photo's catalog number with your e-mail.

Upcoming Event : Camp Letters, 1942-1945, March 25

The Van Buren Regional Genealogical Society (VBRGS) is pleased to host  Camp Letters: 1942 – 1945,  to be presented by Robert V. Nightingale, Monday, March 25, 7 p.m. VBRGS programs are presented in the community room at the Webster Memorial Library, 200 N. Phelps St., Decatur, Michigan.

Camp Letters is a compilation of over 200 letters and other documents from Mr. Nightingale’s grandmother Alice to his grandfather Bruno Stiller, while he was in the Alien Enemy Internment Camps during World War II. Bruno was a German national who immigrated to the United States after the First World War. At the time of his arrest, he and his American-born wife Alice ran their family restaurant in Prairie View, Illinois. They had three children and were expecting a fourth. The book details Alice’s struggle to keep the restaurant in business during wartime, care for her children and keep her husband’s spirits up during his imprisonment.

Bob came into possession of the letters after his Aunt Alice Stiller died in 2010. They were found in boxes marked “Camp Letters” in her home. No one in the family was aware of their existence until they were found after her death.  Several family members wanted copies of the letters but after scanning dozens of these letters into his computer and trying to read the handwriting, he realized they would be much easier to read if they were made into a book.

     
 For the presentation on March 25, Mr. Nightingale will talk about the making of the book, tell some family stories, show the wood craft that his grandfather made in the camps, and will read some of the more endearing excerpts from the book and answer questions.
       
Immediately preceding the program will be general announcements and updates from the Local History department of the Van Buren District Library.

VBRGS programs are are free and the public is invited to attend as guests of the society. For more information please contact Ann Flora at 269.684.1353, email questions to vbrgs@yahoo.com or visit their website at www.vbrgs.org.  

 Nameless Picture of the Day

 unknown woman

Photographer - P. S. Edwards, Photo Artist, Lawrence

M1804

Can you identify the woman in this carte-de-visite photograph, taken in Lawrence, Michigan?  Please contact us if you any information and we will publish it in a future blog.  Please include the photo's catalog number with your e-mail.