Records that don't make sense...and what to do with them

Everyone comes across records on the genealogy sites that don't tell us much and we are puzzled as to where the record came. Such was the case of a posting in one of the genealogy related groups I follow on Facebook.

"Can someone explain to me how and where I can access the actual record for this marriage? I found this index on ancestry, but I guess I am not smart enough to figure out where the actual source document is or how to reference it. It does mention the film number, but that's all I've got (Film Number: 000010066)."

Screen capture from Ancestry.com for the index entry of Lillian E Overlock and Chas A Overlook from the Maine, Marriage Index, 1670-1921 collection.

First of all, never sell yourself short when it comes to your genealogy and family history research knowledge. We have all been in the same boat way too many times. Just by asking the question shows that you are smarter that many others that will just take that index entry at face value. Even I didn't know where that film number came from. Fortunately the hive mind on Facebook did but I'll get to that shortly along with a common problem that I came across with some of the records we use.

What also caught my attention with this query is that the original poster provided all the details needed to help us to answer the question and he was only asking one question. This is something that I mentioned in my post "Questions and Answers: Dos and don'ts". Even better, his question include a screen capture that included the Ancestry logo and the collection name at the top with all the necessary details.

My first reaction when I come across an index entry like this is to click on the link for the other party listed to see if there is any additional information. However, in this case, nothing new was provided:

Screen capture from Ancestry.com for the index entry of Chas A Overlook and Lillian E Overlock from the Maine, Marriage Index, 1670-1921 collection.

Next I will check the "Learn more..." link under Description for the collection. Again, no additional information was provided by Ancestry as to the source other than it was from "Various Maine County marriage collections." Great...it came from a bunch of stuff and you aren't going to tell us from where.

I also noticed that there was no marriage date recorded in the index. That seemed strange to me for an index consisting of marriages.

Fortunately there are many that are familiar with this collection within this Facebook community and they stated that the "Film Number" is from FamilySearch. The hive mind can be so awesome!

So what can you find out about that film number? After logging on to FamilySearch with your free account start a search of the catalog by Film/Fiche Number:

Screen capture from FamilySearch for a search of Film/Fiche Number 10066.

The search reported back that the film/fiche number is for the "Vital records, 1892-1907" authored by "Maine. Division of Vital Statistics; Maine. Division of Vital Statistics." Following that link brought me to this collection that has 184 microfilm reels.

Screen capture of the description for the collection, Vital records, 1892-1907, containing film 10066.

A search for 10066 on the page brought me to the following:

Screen capture from FamilySearch for a search of 10066 on the Vital records, 1892-1907 collection page.

Only one problem, we are looking for a surname that started with an "O" and the digitized microfilm reel has surnames Woodward to Wyzanski. Something is definitely not right. Time to go back a few steps to see if we can straighten out this point of confusion.

We are going to go back to Ancestry and the Maine, Marriage Index, 1670-1921 collection and try searching again but using a bit of the knowledge we have gained. As you can see below I've just entered in the surname of "Overlock" and the exact film number "000010066". It is important to include those leading zeros since that is what the original record for Lillian E Overlock used.

Screen capture from Ancestry for a search of the Maine, Marriage Index, 1670-1921 collection for a Last Name of "Overlock" and exact film number of "000010066".

Only one results appears with that criteria and the spouse listed has a surname of Wotton. A name that fits within the range provided for film 10066 on FamilySearch.

Screen capture from Ancestry for a search results of the Maine, Marriage Index, 1670-1921 collection for a Last Name of "Overlock" and exact film number of "000010066".

Now we can go back to FamilySearch and look for a 1905 marriage in Maine for Grace M Overlock and George B Wotton.

Screen capture from FamilySearch for a 1905 marriage in Maine, United States for Grace Overlock and George Wotton.

That first record looks like a promising candidate and there is even an image available as indicated by the camera icon on the right side. After selecting that entry I clicked on the image that was presented.

"Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-RBGW-P?cc=1803978&wc=71R8-F7C%3A1029440301%2C1029483501 : 20 May 2014), Vital records 1892-1907 > Woodward-Wyzanski > image 1681 of 3463; multiple sources, Maine.

I always try to remember to check the next image to see if there are any additional details. In this case the names of the bride's parents didn't make sense to me:

"Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-RBR3-C?cc=1803978&wc=71R8-F7C%3A1029440301%2C1029483501 : 20 May 2014), Vital records 1892-1907 > Woodward-Wyzanski > image 1682 of 3463; multiple sources, Maine.

So, what about going to the previous image? I know from experience that sometimes the back of these cards/forms get microfilmed first.

"Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-RBLL-H?cc=1803978&wc=71R8-F7C%3A1029440301%2C1029483501 : 20 May 2014), Vital records 1892-1907 > Woodward-Wyzanski > image 1680 of 3463; multiple sources, Maine.

Look at that, there is a Chas . A. Overlock and Lillian E. Overlock listed as the bride's parents! I think we found the image of the document that the original poster was asking about.

How do I know that this image isn't associated with the image before this one? Well I checked that image and it is for a birth registration. So it seems that this image is the back of the form for the marriage of Grace M. Overlock and George B. Wotton.

Why is there a separate entry for Chas A Overlook [as transcribed by Ancestry] and Lillian E Overlock? I'm guessing that the transcribers didn't realize that the cards had a front and back to them and just recorded what they saw, creating a marriage entry for Chas A Overlook and Lillian E Overlock plus a separate entry for Grace M Overlock and George B. Wotton.

So the short answer, which was provided by the others in the Facebook group where the question was originally proposed, is that the film number is from the FamilySearch collections. However, the longer answer found a marriage registration for a daughter and a possible explanation as to why the original index entry was created.

Finding William Small Howe (part 4)

We last left Finding William Small Howe (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3) with finding his death notice in the Boston Evening Transcript and the clue of "He was captain in the First Maine Cavalry." He would be the right age to serve in the American Civil War (AKA "War of the Rebellion" or "War for Southern Independence" depending on the side you were rooting for). So we might want to start there.

But first, since he died in Lewiston, Maine, are there any online archives of papers from that time and place? The Google News Archives is to the rescue once again. On page 4 of the 5 o'clock edition of the August 25, 1891 Lewiston Evening Journal there is a several column inch article for the "Death of Dr. Howe." There is plenty of great information in the article to confirm what I've already found through other records but still no mention of his parents. Sigh. Yet there is a lot of new information about his life in Maine. Some details gleaned from the article include:

• He died Midnight Monday, 24 Aug 1891
• He came to Lewiston with his wife and daughter in 1885 from Pittsfield, Maine
• He was a homeopathic physician
• He was born in St. John, New Brunswick on 9 Feb 1834
• He was educated in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Horton, Nova Scotia, and entered Acadia College in New Brunswick but did not graduate
• He was active in the Baptist ministry up to the outbreak of war
• He enlisted in the D.C. Cavalry and, after consolidation,was in the First Maine Cavalry
• He was a commissioned  office and Chaplain of Company D in the First Maine Cavalry
• He was taken prisoner at the famous cattle-raid and for nine months was a prisoner in Libby
• He was at the battle of Five Forks where he was shot though the body
• After the war, due to his poor health, he studied medicine and graduated from Bowdoin Medical School in 1869 and the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York in 1870
• In 1883 he graduated from the Hahnemann School of Homeopathy in Philadelphia
• He was a member of the Blue Lodge and Chapter in Masonry
• He leaves a wife and a daughter upon his death and two children died previously, a son and a daughter

Wow!

A quick Google search on Maine Masonic Archives brought me to the Genealogy page of the Grand Lodge of Maine Library. I wasn't expecting to find too much information online there when I spotted, "The original files of the members of the Grand Lodge of Maine from 1820 to 1995 are digitized and online." Clicking in the provided link brought me to the "Genealogy & Family Information" page with a long list of PDF files and one of those files had William S. Howe's index card:

Could both of these cards be the same person? One is a Reverend and the other a Medical Doctor and William was both. Lodge 72 Pioneer is in Ashland and in the 1860 census that is where William S. Howe resided with Grace E. and Charles E. Lodge 125 Meridian is located in Pittsfield. Guess where the William S. Howe we've been following resided in the 1870 and 1880 census? Correct, Pittsfield. Finally, the obituary mentions that he will be buried under the direction of Rabboni Lodge of Lewiston. I would say that the two index cards refer to the same person but at different periods of his life.

We also have information that he enlisted in the District of Columbia Calvary and was later a commissioned officer in Company D of the First Maine Cavalry. A search of military records on Ancestry reveals several William S. Howe's resided in Maine with approximately the same birth year. So how do I figure out the right William S. Howe? Fortunately, on a pension index card I come across an image for William S. Howe with a widow Grace E. Howe listed as the dependent with services in "Corp. D. 1 Maine Cav." and "D, 1 D. C. Cav." I'd say this is the right person.

"U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934," database and images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/ : accessed 29 Dec 2016); card for William S Howe.

The index card includes several important details, those of the application numbers and certificate numbers for William's application as an invalid and Grace's application as a widow. As a to do item I've made a note to see about ordering document from National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). But that will be sometime in the future. Who knows what those documents will contain?

In the meanwhile, I also did a Google search for any books on the First Maine Cavalry. I came across the book "History of the First Maine Calvary, 1861-1865" by Edward P. Tobie that was published in 1887. This meant the book was out of copyright and might be available from the Internet Archive. A quick search there pulled up the exact book I was looking for. Hoping for an index at the back of the book I found something even better in the Index To Illustrations, a mention of "Howe, Capt. & Dr. Wm. S. Co. D" on page 273.

I still didn't have a document connecting William to his parents Charles and Hannah (Baxter) Howe. I had a lot of information on his life and his service though census records, letters in the First Maine Bugle publication, books, index cards, and newspaper articles but not what I was really looking for.

That is until I decided to do a little more complex Google Search with the key word:

william small howe maine -"sir william" -"sir howe" physician charles hannah

I needed to exclude Sir William Howe and that is why the minus signs in front of some of the key words. This is what appeared on my screen.

The first entry was the book "Obituary Record of the Graduates of Bowdoin Collect and the Medical School of Maine For The Year Ending 1 June 1892 [No. 3. Second Series]" and on page 106 is his obituary which starts with [emphasis is mine]:

"William Small Howe, son of Charles and Hannah (Baxter) Howe, was born 9 February, 1834, at St. John, N.B. ..."

and ends with:

"Dr. Howe married 10 December, 1857, Grace E., daughter of Charles and Margaret (Porter) Emery, who survives, with one daughter. Their eldest son, Charles Emery, died as he was about entering upon the practice of medicine, and an elder daughter, Annie P., died in childhood."

The date of the marriage is off by a few months but all the details appear to line up with what I have gathered over the years. I think I finally found the smoking gun. Without looking in many places and following the clues each document provided I would never have been able to confirm what I thought might be correct, that the William Small Howe, residing in Maine and married to Grace E. Emery, is the same William Small Howe, son of Charles and Hannah (Baxter).



Finally, may I introduce you to my third great-granduncle, Captain William Small Howe, M.D. of Company D of the First Maine Cavalry.

Edward P. Tobie, History of the First Maine Calvary, 1861-1865 (Boston, Massachusetts: Press of Emery & Hughes, 1887), 273.

Finding William Small Howe (part 3)

As we saw in Part 1 and Part 2 of Finding William Small Howe, after disappearing from the Colony of New Brunswick after the 1851 census William Small Howe was found in the State of Maine, USA. We still haven't found that smoking gun document that connects him with his parents after he moves to Maine but the evidence looks pretty good when it is presented as a bundle. So what else can we discover?

Since I have a paid subscription with Ancestry I will continue to search there...

The first hint that popped up is one from the U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current database. Since this is an index I want to check out the Find A Grave page to see if it is just a simple memorial page gleaned from other sources without a picture of the marker or, if we are very lucky, there will be a picture with other details provided.

And we are lucky!

The memorial has not just a picture of the marker but also a close up of the writing and calculated relationships.

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 6 Jan 2017), memorial page for Dr. William S Howe (1835-1891), Find A Grave Memorial no. 15825309, citing Pittsfield Village Cemetery, Pittsfield, Somerset County, Maine, USA; photograph provided by Jennifer Kelley.

But is this the right William S. Howe? We need to check the rest of the names on the marker. We find:

Grace E. Howe1	C. Emery Howe2	Annie P. Howe3

All three of those people were found in the 1870 Federal Census of Somerset County, Maine, USA in the household of William S. Howe. This looks to be the right family. Of course, that is assuming the family in the 1870 census is the right family. Might was well continue going down this rabbit hole unless some fact or event proves otherwise.

Now that I have the probable death date for William S Howe, Ancestry provided another hint. This time it is from the Maine, Wills and Probate Records, 1584-1999 collection. This collection has digitized images of wills and probates. A wonderful find! It is presented as a virtual microfilm and it isn't just one image but the will and probate file for William S. Howe goes from image 383 to image 405. We even find the will itself:

"Maine, Wills and Probate Records, 1584-1999," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.ca: accessed 6 Jan 2017), William S Howe will dated 13 Jun 1891; citing Probate Court (Androscoggin County, Maine) 

William mentions his daughter Josie E. Howe and his wife Grace E. Howe. We saw them in the 1880 Federal Census, Somerset County, Maine, USA. So the will and probate appears to be for the same William S. Howe we have been following.

A hint from the U.S., Newspaper Extractions from the Northeast, 1704-1930 collection also appears. This is only an index and for the image of the index document it states, "Howe, Dr.,W.S., d. Aug,25,1891(T . Aug.26)". This is a pointer to the August 26, 1891 edition of the Boston Transcript. So, where do we find the Boston Transcript? The Vita Brevis blog of the New England Historical Genealogical Society posted on November 7, 2016 "Boston Transcript column now online" is a great write up on finding that newspaper so I will defer to them.

Unfortunately me for, the August 26, 1891 edition isn't in the Google News Archive. Murphy's Law strikes again...the August 25 edition has been digitized but not the 26th.

But wait a second

If I go to the August 25 edition and keep going through the pages I come to the August 26th edition. Interesting!

On page 8 of the Boston Evening Transcript under "Recent Deaths" I find this notice:

"Recent Deaths - Dr. W. S. Howe," Boston Evening Transcript, 26 Aug 1891, p. 8, col. 5; digital images, Google News Archives (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 6 Jan 2017).

Captain in the First Maine Cavalry? I wonder where this will lead me?

To be continued...

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1. Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 6 Jan 2017), memorial page for Grace E Howe (1834-1907), Find A Grave Memorial no. 15825313, citing Pittsfield Village Cemetery, Pittsfield, Somerset County, Maine, USA; photograph provided by Jim.

2. Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 6 Jan 2017), memorial page for C Emery Howe (unknown-1882), Find A Grave Memorial no. 15825300, citing Pittsfield Village Cemetery, Pittsfield, Somerset County, Maine, USA; photograph provided by Jim.

3. Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 6 Jan 2017), memorial page for Annie P Howe (unknown-1876), Find A Grave Memorial no. 15825317, citing Pittsfield Village Cemetery, Pittsfield, Somerset County, Maine, USA; photograph provided by Jim.

Finding William Small Howe (part 2)

I'm still trying to figure out if the William S. Howe found in Maine, USA, husband of Grace E, is the same as the William Small Howe, my 3rd Great-Granduncle, husband of Grace E. The last we left the family I had found William S. Howe in the 1860, 1870, and 1880 censuses of the United States of America in Maine.

Maybe any records left by William S. Howe's children will help so I turn to the various census enumerations for help. In 1860 a son, Charles E., is found. But no such luck finding any additional records online such as a birth registration. In 1870 a daughter, Annie P.,is now in the family. Yet no birth registration is found online...sigh. Unfortunately a trip to Maine is out of the question at this time to check with the town clerk in Ashland for any records or with the State Archives in Maine.


In the 1880 census a third child, Josie E. is found. We get lucky with her when an Ancestry leaf appears beside her name. She marries Walter Woodruff Parmalee on September 16, 1902.

Ancestry.com, "Maine Marriages, 1892-1996," database index, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/ : accessed 12 Feb 2012), entry for Walter W Parmalee and Josephine E Howe, married 16 Sep 1902; citing Maine State Archives. Maine Marriages 1892-1996 (except 1967 to 1976).

Yet the image presented by Ancestry only has the marriage details.

One tip when looking at Ancestry images is you need to look at the image before and after also. In this case the next image is the back of the record of marriage and it has the important clue!

Ancestry.com, "Maine Marriages, 1892-1996," database index, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/ : accessed 12 Feb 2012), entry for Walter W Parmalee and Josephine E Howe, married 16 Sep 1902 (back of page); citing Maine State Archives. Maine Marriages 1892-1996 (except 1967 to 1976).

Here her father is recorded as William Small Howe, dead. His occupation was physician and he was born in St. John, New Brunswick. This is a great find.

Possibly a Google Search will provide us some clues. Here we find William Small Howe, a physician in Lewiston, Maine, USA.

General Catalogue of Bowdoin College 1794-1889; PDF Download, Google Books (https://books.google.ca/ : downloaded 2 Jan 2017), 116.

Looks to be the same person.

One thing to note, Saint John, New Brunswick is the closest major city to the area of Kings County where the Howe family lived. It wouldn't be unusual for his birth place to be listed as St. John. It seems like the William Small Howe in the record of marriage as the father for Josephine E Howe and the entry in the Bowdoin College is the same person.

A very recent find (literally as I wrote this blog) in the Daniel F Johnston's New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics has this from the Saint John New Brunswick Courier:

m. Woodstock (Carleton Co.) Thursday 10th inst, at residence of bride's father, by Rev. Thos. Todd, Rev. William S. HOWE, Pastor of Baptist Church, Chipman (Queens Co.) / Miss Grace E. EMERY, Woodstock.

This seems to be an announcement of marriage for the the same William S. Howe we have been tracking. One thing I have found when researching a number of my Howe ancestors is that they have often taken up the calling of Baptist Minister. But still no document that clearly establishes that William Small Howe here is my 3rd Great-Granduncle. But is certainly seems like it is the right person.

Remember the "C.B." as the occupation for William S. Howe in the 1860 Federal Census of Maine? Could it stand for "Cleryman Baptist" or something like that?

To be continued...