Release Forms

A few weeks ago I had mentioned I would talk about release forms, the Freedom of Information Act. Today is the day. Depending on what kind of information you are requesting will determine what path you will venture down. After figureing out what type of information you are looking for contact the agency or business.

Example 1:  Information on Emmanuel Cote who worked for the Lewiston Fire Department from the 1920's-1950's.

Path: Emailed them from the Lewiston Fire Department. After asking around they found  copy of his Employee File and released it to me. No release form signed.

Rationale: I was  a relative and the informaiton sought was not of a 'protected' or 'senstive' nature. Lewiston File Department mailed me a copy of his file.

 

Information Obtained: Upong looking through the file, there were a few photo's attached to his file that was also color copied. It showed his progression through the ranks of service. It also contained and personally signed letters.

Example 2: Emmanuel Cote's sister, Josephine Cote, was admitted to Augusta Mental Health Institute.  

Path: Contacted via phone Medical Records. They sent me a next of kin form. Filled it out, signed it and mailed it back. After about 3 months an envelope arrived with Josephine's life during her stay.

 

Rationale: Medical Records and Military Records require legal release forms to be signed in order to obtain sensitive information. I was not the next of kin; she has a brother Alexandre Cote alive in Hartfort, Connecticut. Efforts proved unsuccessfuin attempting to contact Alex.  For hospital records and there are many children it can prove to be a challenge when one or more do not consent.

 

Reading: Freedom of Information Act: When obtaining from a government agency such as the Military, access will be allowed under this law.
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For obtaining Military/Veteran records it will depend on what period you are seeking. If you are looking for a record over 60 years old (before 1950) it will be available to the public and you can request it here. If it is less then 60 years old (after 1950) you may need a next of kin signature. For those who are interested into military reocords or have a decorated (received some medal or award) you may be able to order a replacement at the Veteran Service Records.

 

The needle in the haystack

Like a detective I incinuously(become consumed)  begin the feeding of the bug.  I got a hit, and it was big. Could it be? At some point in your research endeavors my fellow agents you may hit a block – or a wall and your research is halted.  This happened to me with research Joseph Cote. I had been looking at obituaries, local parish (church) for Old Town (from the obituary), Maine or Edmondston, New Brunswick (from the family history done previously).

The photo below is a scanned copy of the St. Jean, Chrysotome Co, Levis, PQ (PQ meaning Quebec) church register. Joseph Cote was baptized here and was the son of Magloire Cote and Anastasia Huot. Jacques Cote who is listed being the husband of a Therese Dallaire.

So, I looked at the records in Levis county and came across another record. This baptism is from 1829. This is from Lauzon Paroisse St Henri Co. Levis, PQ. In the record below it shows Magloire's parents as Jacques Cote and Therese Daller. Could it be the match for my Magloire Cote and Anastasia Huot that I have been searching for?

 In another record  from Lauzon Paroise St Henri Co, Levis, PQ in 1821 under Marraige 10 is Jaques Cote and Therese Daller.  This record states that Ambroise Cote and Thecle Pichet were present. In these types of catholic baptisms either the parents or a relative is present someones referred to as the sponsor.

Now what? How do I know if this is the family that I have been looking at? Luckily we have 'the check' thanks to researchers to employ. Join  me on the next post to discover how to use the scientific method and determining if this is the right people.

Occupations and City Directories

Occupations

Occupations (work) are what people have done for years and tell us a lot about their ethics, morals and behaviors. One way to describe your ancestor is to look at photos especially when they are dressed in a uniform or work outfit or other outfits.

In researching my own roots I see connections within certain areas of life. On my dad’s side his grandfather Emmanuel Cote became Captain of the Lewiston Fire Department, while his father, Joseph Cote was a Teamster in the Lewiston Mills.

Emmanuel Cote (Captain, Lewiston fire Department, sister Lumina, brother Levi (Property Owner), sister Philomene, brother Jacques (Military) and Alexandre (Businessman) is kneeling.

Religion and other associations tell us about their beliefs and their associations.  My dad’s grandfather Joseph Bougie was a member of The Holy Name Society and he had sister’s who became Catholic nuns.

For women Emmanuel’s mother, Emma D’Amboise was a housewife and his wife Malvina Girardin (pictured below), worked in the local Mills. Joseph’s wife and mother were both housewives.

There are a number of resources to gather information on civic groups and occupations.  Using the local newspapers in the area they lived will offer newsworthy events that could be marriage announcements, job/occupation highlights, political events deaths and other information. Search engines on the internet are great for finding information about including photos and other documents.

Depending on the business they worked it may be possible for the release of information (military files, employee files, medical records) which will open up new avenues for fitting people together.)

Do It Yourself:  Start collecting photos of relatives that you would like to work on. Start looking at the photos of weddings, uniforms, etc.  Select a few that you would like to work on and find everything you can about the outfit, unform and that line of work.  A website that tells more about early occupations is: http://www.genealogyinc.com/encyclopedia/jobs/#F

For example: Emmanuel Cote worked for the Lewiston Fire Department. My first action it to contact them (either via phone or email). When writing explain exactly what you want. My email will go something like, "

I am not sure who would be the most approriate person to contact. I am doing family history on my family and my great grandfather Emmanuel Cote and his son Emmanuel Cote worked for the Lewiston Fire Department around 1920-1950 ish; he was the Captain from 1928 to 1953. Were would I go for their files and if there are any known photo's of them in any records and any of their cases that would be available for a project I am working on.

Sincerely,

Paul Cote, Jr.

Sincerely,

Paul Cote, Jr.

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Another spot for information is City Directories. These were the phone books from early 1800's up to the invention of the telephone book. Many local libraries, genealogy centers, and family history chapters have copies of these directories. If you know the period they lived in an area you can gather information such as their mailing address, telephone number, occupation and relatives that may have lived close to them.



To look online for copies, some may be purchased or transcribed all across the Unites States you can click here and do a state search: http://www.uscitydirectories.com/

The photo above is what they may look like in hardcopy format. Ancesty.com also has many directories copid for your viewing with a cost. The photo to the left shows a typical page. Can you tell me what Emmanuel had for an occupation. Are there other people with the same name or address and what was there occupations? They do list females and wives and can provide more information about their housing situation.  We have covered occupations, and the use of city directories in obtaining information. The next post will discuss release forms, the Freedom of information Act, and how to obtain rmedical records, military records and employee records.

Obituary Addiction: Death Index's & Obituaries

As a young person I would tag along my mamae (pronounced ma-may) and papae (pronounced pa-pay) to in-laws, relatives and friends.  My great-grandmother came up from Connecticut to Lewiston, Maine on Blake Street in Lewiston when I was a child and I was overwhelmed at how many people we were related to, most I had no clue who they were and how they were related to me.

My mother’s family were visited less frequently. I went to visit my Aunts and knew my cousins, but I did not know her parents. My maternal (meaning my mother’s side) grandmother died weeks before I was born and my grandfather spent the rest of life secluded into his alcohol as his family split into fragments.

One day my mother pulled out some scrapbooks and showed me photo’s of her side of the family and there was one of my dad’s family. In part of them included obituaries of old people and a few young people. I asked my mom, ‘why do you have these’, and she explained why people do obituaries. After this I started collecting obituaries.

Obituaries are considered reliable sources of information and can provide invaluable clues on family.  The information in an obituary will give you information about their name, parents, birth, education, hobbies/work, club affiliations, and those that are related to them. I have in the past used an obituary to obtain information to solve a block or come up with a list of people who are living today. This is a great option for people who lived in the past or live in another state or country.

To find an older obituary before the internet days you will have to dig around some. If you live in the area of the person who died there are some options. Local libraries have microfilm of the newspapers. You can look them up if you know roughly the day they died. In Lewiston, Maine the local library has microfilmed the Lewiston Sun/Lewiston Sun Journal since the 1800’s and the newspaper company also had a librarian to archive names, and other topics in a card catalogue.

To find a list of newspapers in an area in your state or another state in North America I would suggest starting here:

 http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/titles/

Case Example:  I am looking for newspapers that a relative may have an obituary.  I know my maternal great grandmother’s name was Germaine Cailler. I do not know when or where she died.

Step 1: Maine Marriage Archives
 Assuming she was married, find whom she married.  I open my browser to the Maine Marriage Archives located here:  http://portal.maine.gov/marriage/archdev.marriage_archive.search_form . Under the brides name I type in “Cailler Germaine’ and click the submit button.

This search engine does last name with first name after it. You can add the area if you know it, but if you do not its ok.  To find out if another state has a similar site do a search on Google or another search engine for the state and marriage archives (such as New York Marriage Archives).  The search gives me the information that she married Luc Goyette on August 19, 1929 and they were both from Lewiston, Maine at the time.

Step 2: Social Security Death Index (SSDI)
If the person you are looking for lived after the creation of social security then they may have collected benefits while they were alive.  The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is an index for people who have died after 1963. In your browser go to this address:

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/show#uri=http://www.familysearch.org/searchapi/search/collection/1202535 .

The reason for finding out Germaine’s marriage is because their death records are in their married name and not the maiden name. The search for ‘Germaine Goyette’ gives me some clues about her. As you are able see in the photo, Germaine was born May 19, 1908 and died July 1983. Her social security number is listed and tells us that it was issued from the state of Maine and that her last known residence was Lewiston, Maine. The last known residence is usually where the check was sent to.

 

Step 2: Maine Death Index
Various states have death indexes similar to the marriage archives from Step 1.  The results from the SSDI told me that Germaine died in July 1983. I would like a more precise date before I head off to look for her obituary.  Open the browser and go to the Maine Death Index located here:

http://portal.maine.gov/death/archdev.death_archive.search_form

 
Type in last name ‘Goyette’ and first name ‘Germaine’ and click on submit. Looking at the results provided from the search tells me that Germaine Goyette died July 9, 1983 at 75 years old and lived in Lewiston, Maine. It also provides the death certificate number if I would like to order a copy that will have other information on it. This will be a discussion next time on Maine State Archive Records.

 

Step 3: Newspaper Archives List
Currently from a few searches I have shown determine that I need to look for an obituary in a newspaper in Lewiston, Maine the week of July 9^th, 1983. Obituaries are never published the day of a death but will usually be in the local newspaper a few days after the death, sometimes up to a week.

To find the newspapers in a particular area and time you can go to the local libraries. Sometimes there may have been several newspapers or one that has gone out of print before the 1950’s. The US Library of Congress has an index located here: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/titles/ . Once you are on this page click the state and select Maine.

The next column list counties, to find a county of a city that you are unaware of the US Census Bureau has a search engine located here: http://quickfacts.census.gov/cgi-bin/qfd/lookup where you can enter Lewiston and it will tell you what the county is; in this example it tell us that the county for Lewiston is Androscoggin. Going back to the Newspaper index click on Androscoggin and under the city select Lewiston as seen on the photo and click on the search. The results page shows you all the newspaper for Lewiston, Maine and information about their dates of operation, which places have a copy of the newspaper microfilm (like the state archives building or local colleges). In addition your local libraries and state offices may have a copy of them locally. The information I found on the newspaper for Lewiston, Maine will come in handy for other relatives that died before 1960.

Step 4: Locating the Obituary

I have determined that I need to look at the Lewiston Sun Journal, so I head to the Lewiston Public Library and look at the newspaper archives and locate her obituary. You have a few options, you can click print copy for a price or you can handwrite the information down. I believe that having an actual copy can be helpful. After it is printed you can convert it digitally and save to your computer if you choose to.

Own Your Own:
Try a search on your own with the same steps listed above.  Over the next few weeks we will explore more on the information gathering process from a person’s death and information it can provide in writing a narrative of the person along with other areas of information.

For the process I will be using my maternal great-grandparents: Germaine Cailler and Lucien Goyette and paternal great-grandparents: Emmanuel Cote & Malvina Lizotte. We will be exploring these two family lines and gather information to start writing about them over the summer.

For beginners in the research process I would suggest starting with a grandparent or great grandparent. After you become more familiar with the search process and locating the information you can expand on older documents. If you have suggestions of other sites that may be useful for others post a comment or share about your research.



Black Box (back), Genealogy Report and the Green Book

When talking about writing about ancestors there are various formats.  In the photo are three examples of ancestral writing. The Green Book is a book on the Maliseet Indian tribe in Houlton, Maine. It contains information, maps and list of members about the tribe and its people, including the Josephs and Sabatis’s.  The Coiled Binder is a Genealogy Report compiled for the Wilcox Family through a program such as Family Tree Maker. You can customize the formats, and this particular copy lists mainly names, dates of birth, marriage, death, family members and places. The third is the black box. The Black Box has maps, census records, photos, cemetery, wills and land deeds, and other documents pertaining to the Cote family.

As you can see with the above examples ancestor writing can contain different information and the style all boils down to you –the historian, or as I like to call it Special Agent in Family Affairs.

In this blog, I will show you how to do your own research and show examples through my research. Your Ancestors lived in a different period and it is up to you to give them life. How much life you give to them depends on you.

If any of you have any questions along the way or suggestions feel free to comment.