"Uncle Charlie"

An interesting, and very distracting, aspect of the genealogy searching process is that you get to see how all the unspoken and locked away family rumors play into your research hunches. For example, according to my father there is an "Uncle Charlie" somewhere in my family ancestry who fought in WWI. Now I have no idea if this person even existed. No proof at all. Even if he did, I don't know if he would be my dad's "uncle," my grandpa Koehler's "uncle," or a mean-spirited 100 year old joke where I give up my genealogy search and cry "uncle" in frustration? All scenarios at this point are equally likely.

Despite the fact that I don't even know if "Uncle Charlie" was real, I found myself last night locked in census search battle trying to narrow down which George Koehler in the endless sea of George Koehler's was mine. I don't know George Koehler's birthday, so that eliminates a useful narrowing tool. I still can't pinpoint a match in the records where my great-grandparents George and Florence were living together, so that was out. Most surprising to me, I can't even cross-reference my grandfather's very existence (he having been born in 1927) to find his father because, according to the 1930 census, there is no John J son of George and Florence. But here are the top search results when I plug in my grandfather's information:



Georgette Koehler! Now there's a match!

With results like that, I was getting extremely short on ideas and in my desperation I decided to look for "Uncle Charlie." And wouldn't you know it, there were some hits in the 1910 census records where a George and Charles Koehler lived together and were of about the age where they could have been in WWI. The only problem is I still had no idea which George Koehler is my George Koehler so I was essentially going off of a rumored hunch.

I so desperately wanted this person to be my George Koehler just so that the hours of research could bear some fruit. So desperate that I spent about an hour researching an alternate Koehler family history where my great-grandparents met in Philadelphia, moved to New York, split up, and remarried all while John J lived with Uncle Charlie's family in Gloucester, NJ (backed up by another family story where my grandpa lived on a farm somewhere in his childhood). All the census records could, sort of, prove this. They couldn't prove it much more than the below picture proves that 9/11 was predicted by The Simpsons but if your mind wants to believe it, you'll do anything to force that circle through the square hole.



The real truth is that I have no proof of any of the Koehler alternate history stuff or even their real history stuff. I still primarily just have a collection of leads and dates to work with. I was just getting desperate and was willing to waste precious research time chasing a silly idea based on an old family rumor and one hell of a weak connection between a George and Charlie Koehler.

So why am I telling you all this?

So you don't do what I did. When you are doing your research, stick to good searching techniques and make sure you know what you're looking for before you start looking for your "Uncle Charlie."

Research Organizing System and Updates!

In the past week, I've actually made some decent progress in terms of getting my research organized and seeing how much work is really ahead of me. I chose a system to organize myself with and it's awesome! Truth be told, it's a little daunting considering I'm still barely ahead of where I started but having all the information in one place is extremely useful.

I chose to use RootsMagic Essentials which is a free genealogical research organizing software. For how good (and for how free) it is I was surprised at how versatile the program is. I really like this program. The screen shot below is what information I have gathered so far for my family tree. Even though I'm searching primarily for the Koehler side of my family, I was able to fill in as much information for my maternal ancestors as I could for my father's. I like having this tree available to look at because it motivates me in two ways. On the one hand, it lets me know how much work still needs to be done. On the other hand, it reminds me of what I have already and it's a good feeling.



One thing I immediately noticed when I started work on this project was the amount of scattered notes I had made. It made keeping track of my data and sources difficult to say the least. Now I would have been happy with the RootsMagic system if I only had the family tree feature but simply double-clicking on a family member's name launches a pop-up where you can input an amazing array of data. I like that I can double-click on my great-grandmother's name and in one screen can view all her birthday, anniversary, and other personal information.




This is not to mention that I can also keep track of where I found out about this information. The system has pre-built source templates to store where you found the information. In other words, this system is pretty bad-ass for free! I highly recommend it for anyone starting out.




If anyone knows of any other systems they'd like to share or prefer to use, please feel free to let me know. I'm pretty sold on the RootsMagic system and I've started using it already but I'm always open to suggestions.

I have also had some pretty good success this week in terms of research! I have a list of birthdays and anniversaries from my grandma Koehler that has proved absolutely invaluable. It has the anniversary date for my great-grandparents wedding and my great-grandmother Florence's birthday in 1899 (strangely, she did not include my great-grandpa George Koehler and I have no idea why). Using the birth date from my grandmother's list as a cross-reference, I was able to locate the Social Security death certificate for Florence Koehler in New York! That's the first public document I found proving she even existed so I am super happy. Genealogical research is measured in very bite-size progress, so no matter how small the morsel I'll take it!

My next step is to try to find ANY information on my great-grandfather George Koehler which sounds easier that it has been. He has proved rather elusive in my research - I cannot find anything on him at all. Aside from his name and marriage anniversary to Florence in 1919 (at least according to my grandma's anniversary list), I know nothing about the man. This makes it impossible to confirm that any of the George Koehler's I've found in census records are him.

Even more annoying to me is that I can't find any instances of a George and Florence Koehler living together in the census records. Since I know my paternal grandfather's birthday is in 1927, I figured I could search the 1930 census for George and Florence Koehler with a son John and I'd find them. Wham-bam - seemed easy enough. I was wrong. I couldn't find anything that matched that so I've hit somewhat of a brick wall there. All I really want to do is find out the names of my paternal great-great grandparents so I can fill in the blanks on the family tree but since I can't find anything on my great-grandfather it's rather difficult to do so.

I need some sort of a clue here but I'm stuck. I'm going to try to do a Freedom of Information Act request for my grandfather's NY National Guard records. I'm hoping those records will give me a hint of where my grandfather was living when he joined in 1952 and, possibly, lead me on another route to my great-grandfather's personal information. Stay tuned for that and if any one reading has any hints or tips for me, please let me know. I could use them =)

Starting Out

I am on a mission.

For years I have wanted to trace my family lineage back to when they first migrated to the United States. The genealogical research process is full of bad leads and dead-ends. I always casually went about the process but never got in anywhere. In order to do this the right way, I am making this my number 1 priority and sharing with you my successes and failures so you can learn from me.

I can say from the several false starts I've had with this that researching genealogy the right way is hard! However, I always seem to find my way back to it, drawn by the curiosity of where my family came from and the tempting prospect at being the keeper of our heritage. The only thing standing between me and completing the climb up the branches are the decades and centuries of overgrowth blocking my way deep into the family history. I find myself gazing up our family tree but the foliage is too thick to see past the 4th generation and that is where my challenge begins.

Thankfully there is an end game for me in this. My ultimate goal is to find out where my family actually originated from and go to that place, wherever it is. My primary heritages are German and Irish, but given that my last name is Koehler I'm fairly certain the trail will end somewhere in Germany. I think a nice vacation and re-connecting with my heritage via travel would be a great way to wind this project up. However, there is work to be done before that!

I'm going to keep track of my progress in this blog and look to you, my dear readers, for guidance and support as I know this is not an easy task. Since I am a beginner at this, I would sincerely appreciate any assistance the more experienced readers could provide to me and the rest of us. For the other beginners, I'll do my best to provide details about what I'm doing to stay organized, stay connected, and stay focused. Hopefully my stories and struggles can assist you in your quest to trace your family history.

My first step in this process is to find some way of organizing my data. From the little research I've done, I have already collected a folder with tons of stray paperwork that drives me bananas when trying to cross-reference information. I'll post a few different software options I find and let you know if they're any good. I'll also be keeping a corresponding online radio show to this blog so you can call in and talk to me and let me know if I'm researching the wrong way or want to share your stories. I'll post an update shortly when I have a scheduled time.

Thanks for reading and be sure to comment!

Listen to my radio show at http://blogtalkradio.com/climbingbranches