As promised to the genealogical community here, I’m reporting back on my experience traveling to Salt Lake City for research at the Family History Library. Others are invited to describe their own experience(s), or just to “check in” for the week as we get ready for Thanksgiving family gatherings. Let's move below the orange squiggly….
This was my third trip. Others have been with the San Diego Genealogical Society and with FEEFHS (including half days of lectures on East European topics). This time I chose to meet with members of the St. Louis Genealogical Society, of which I’m a long-time member.
My plan this time was very different from before. My first trips were exploratory in nature, in that I really wasn’t sure if I’d find useful documents. But a search of court records turned up a deed that -- because of the need to show chain-of-title to a property -- yielded the names of seven new ancestors and relatives! What else might there be?
I viewed these records during my first two trips to Salt Lake City, but I could have also ordered the films for viewing at my local Family History Center. The advantage of going to the FHL is that with a little advance ordering one can view loads of films all within a short span of a few days.
During the first two trips I’d viewed indices to the primary parties in these court records (from the former Kingdom of Saxony) and then went to specific records (deeds and some divisions of estates being the most promising) looking for another windfall of family information. Most of the time I’d come up empty for new insights, or had gained only slight information. So upon my return home after the second trip I tried ordering two rolls of film from the early 19th century. Given the leisure to examine these films slowly and thoroughly, I felt I might gain a better understanding of the nature of the various documents.
Well, yes and no. That was only true to a limited extent, as there weren’t any guides to German court records being sold by the conference vendors that sell books on German church records. So I was hoping that this time, looking at many more court records films I’d never before viewed, maybe I’d spot a record for one of my known ancestors or close relatives that would lead to still more discoveries.
I’m sorry to say that there haven’t been any breakthroughs of the kind I’d located earlier. Maybe I’d picked the low-hanging fruit already. But I did arrive at an interesting hypothesis regarding my primary family. I’d encountered several people of the same surname without knowing how they fit together, if at all. With records encountered on this third trip a dim picture began to emerge. And as can happen in German research, it revolved around an occupation.
My third great-grandfather was what was called a Chirurg, or Chirurgus. This word is similar to the occupation of surgeon, except without the status of today. Chinese “barefoot doctors” come to mind, in that the Chirurg was needed to set broken bones and tend to deep wounds. Because these men dealt with injuries they weren’t as high-status as a physician who never touched patients, but merely diagnosed. Yet there was a lot of contact between families of such men, as all Chirurgs enjoyed equal status within a town. In fact, when I find my 3GGGF apparently moving into town (perhaps from his journeyman “wandering time” while in pursuit of his designation as a master), it is with the purchase of a house from the estate of a deceased Chirurg. This was at the dawn of the 19th century.
So I found it interesting that, almost a century before, there was another man of the surname who was himself a Chirurg. And I encountered him transfering a property to the younger of his two sons. What’s even more interesting is that both of these sons were Chirurgs as well. Normally there might only be enough work for the father to pass the trade on to one son, and that one commonly would be the eldest.
What was so interesting about this deed record was the explanation as to why the house and lot were going to the youngest. It was stated that the eldest was “taub und stumm” -- deaf and dumb! Still, while he was a mute, he was obviously not lacking in intelligence or he wouldn’t have been able to practice the trade. I’m suspecting that he was married and had a family, because the children of the younger son are known to me from other records and there are still other third-generation males (my 3GGGF included) who need to be “placed.” Now I’m wondering if this older son qualifies as my most intriguing ancestor yet. I hope to find the answer someday!
The rest of my trip involved reviewing as many films as I could manage to see, and taking notes on records of possible interest to me now. But I realized that just one new record might give me yet another surname to be tracking. And I didn’t relish the prospect of having to review films I’d viewed a second time just to search for a new name.
And for this reason, much of my time spent was devoted to finding and scanning the index I found for most of the new court books. I plan to enter the names into a spread sheet for future reference.
Now here’s the news I promised to share. Earlier in this diary I lamented the fact that there’s no guide to court records in Germany. I was wrong. Through a friend, I learned while there that there’s a wiki on FamilySearch.org that deals with the subject, and that the author of the wiki has a booklet on the topic. Moreover, I learned from the author that a second edition is due out by year’s end. My Christmas present to myself!!
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But what if the trip in general? Most days the FHL opens at 8 in the morning and closes at 9 in the evening. My daily plan was always to eat a large breakfast at the Plaza Inn restaurant (the hotel next door, where I always stay) and then return for a late evening dinner in the same restaurant. It’s boring, but it maximizes the time available for research. There were two dinners with fellow researchers from the St. Louis group. Monday nights are family nights for Mormons, and the FHL is therefore closed after 5 on that one weekday night. So it gave us a chance to meet as a group over pizza and salad in a hotel meeting room. And Saturday evening, with all research completed, we met for dinner at the Marriott down the street for a chance to compare notes with our tablemates before leaving in the morning.
So, most of the time I was on my own. After two previous trips, that’s the way I wanted it. What’s been your experience, and how many times have you traveled there?