Ancestry Saturday: The Other Weird Things One Finds

In researching early Ohio ancestors, my eyes caught this nugget in a book about Ohio.

It reads:

"In 1808 Legislature passed an Act requiring each male over 21 years of age to produce to the County Clerk one hundred squirrel scalps or pay $3.00 each because squirrerls were destroying corn crops."

I guess it shows taxes have been used to control free people's behaviors for a long time. I bet we don't see this tax again though.

Ancestry Saturday: The Almost Death of Microfilm

I was mad, at first. My search for the 1846 immigration records for my kids' Mom's family produced a microfilm roll number. The write-up said to find it at a National Archives center near me.

I found myself standing at the Chicago NARA site only to be told that the digitizing of the microfilm meant the item was no longer retained on the shelves.

It seems microfilm is slowly dying a digital death.

Alas, the NARA people were helpful nonetheless. They couldn't find the digitized image at first, either, but a suggestion to look one day forward was a prime one.

I hit pay dirt that, before day's end, took me back three generations deep into Germany.

Disselbrett, I would come to learn, is the Americanized version of Disselbrede. This is news to a side of the family now four generations in America.

A FamilySearch.org treasure trove awaited.

So, the microfilm keepers proved very helpful even though microfilm keeping is slipping from their repertoire.

Ancestry Saturday: You've Got A Frustrated Friend, Pennsylvania

The slogan for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is memorable. Yes, I've got a friend there.

I've got an ancestor in Pennsylvania too. Quite a few, actually. My Grandmother was born in Pittsburgh. Though Ohioans at one point or another, half my great grandparents lived in Pennsylvania.

I wish Pennsylvania were friendlier to genealogy researchers. Other states beat the Commonwealth for allowing unfettered access to historical documents. Ohio info is more readily found, by far.

The state government teased us with some recently-published indices of deaths. Send $3 and you get a more detailed death notice. I sent multiple requests in August and waited the supposed "10-12 weeks" only to be told to wait some more. My checks got cashed though.

The excuse? Requests are high, 28,000 and counting. Program income is higher than expected too, but the personnel to handle it reminds low.

You've got an ancestor in Pennsylvania? Learn patience.