where2look4ancestors

  • Read a French Birth Record

    Reading vital records written in a foreign language can be challenging. But we genealogists quickly become proficient at locating family names even among words that are otherwise illegible. I’ll come back to this record later to really transcribe and translate it. But I wanted to share it with you today,…

  • 1908 Obituaries: January 3

    From the January 3, 1908 issue of the Chicago Daily New; “David Van Ness Person Expires. David Van Ness Person, a well-known figure to the paint and varnish trade of the country, and publisher of Paint, Oil and Drug Review, died yesterday at his residence, 3249 Rhodes avenue, after a…

  • Fond Father of Myrtle

    From the Chicago Daily News January 28, 1920 page 30; Youngberg – Charles J., aged 58 years. Jan. 26 at home, 1421 E 75th st., beloved husband of Freda Youngberg, fond father of Myrtle Elvira and Lawrence Youngberg. Funeral Thursday Jan. 29 at 2:30 p.m. from late home to Swedish…

  • Front Page News – January 25, 1894

    The following stories appeared on the front page of the January 25, 1894 issue of the Chicago Daily News: “More Small Pox at City Hall – John Cleary, Suffering with the Disease, is Held for Health Officers – John Cleary, a steamboat hand, 35 years old, stricken with small pox,…

  • 1894 Obituaries: January 25

    The following appeared in the January 25, 1894 issue of the Chicago Daily News, page 5; “MULLMEYER-Wednesday, Jan. 24, 1893 [sic], Mrs. SOPHIE MULLMEYER, aged 84 years. Funeral from residence of her daughter, Mrs. Amalie Olsen, 691 Shober-st., Sunday, Jan. 28, at 1 p.m., by carriages to Mount Olive cemetery.”…

  • 1914 Obituaries: January 23

    The following notices of death appeared in the January 23, 1914 issue of the Chicago Daily News; “ANDERSON-Minnie, age 58 years, wife of Charles Anderson, mother of Mrs. A. Raggio. Funeral from O’Hanley Bros.’ chapel, 6535 Cottage Grove-av., Jan 24. Burial at Princeton, Ill.” “FRITZ-Stella, age 16 years, 2473 Fulton-st.,…

  • Briefly Chicago – January 23, 1914

    The following tidbits appeared in the January 23, 1914 issue of the Chicago Daily News (City Brevities column); “Three horses were burned to death and a woman narrowly escaped a similar fate when she ran into a smoke filled warehouse at 3146 Cottage Grove avenue shortly before midnight and attempted…

  • Delayed Birth Certificate

    My paternal grandmother was 18 years old when, on May 4, 1929, she and her paternal aunt Amanda (Mangels) Giles signed their names before a notary public, essentially testifying to the date and place of Frances Lois Mangels’ birth. No mention of why there wasn’t a certificate issued when the woman…

  • Are We Polish? Part One

    During the Polish Research Techniques workshop I attended in December, I mentioned to Deb that I have a marriage certificate for Maria Bukmakofski and Hermann Mangels: Deb told me immigrants from Poland tended to be Catholic. Hermann Mangels was a German Lutheran. To marry her husband in his church, Deb…

  • A Swedish-Style Wedding in Chicago

    On this day one hundred and thirty-two years ago, my maternal 2nd great-grandparents Peter August Tolf of Svenarum, Jönköping, Sweden and Augusta Sophia Landström of Norra Sandsjö, Jönköping, Sweden were married in Chicago by Rev. D. S. Sorlin of 151 Oak St. Chicago [1], pastor of the Swedish Methodist Episcopalian…