Monday, October 19, 2009
Narramore Years Part 18
Genealogy Interest Part 2
Over several years I became more interested in the
actual lives of the people I was researching. I selected
one of my great-great uncles who I later found out
died in 1918. This was Dr. Silas Benjamin Ensign who
was an older brother of my great grand father, George
Washington Ensign. Much of my research about his
life was gleaned from the local newspapers that were
published in the small towns were he lived. The state
historical societies have microfilmed many of the
surviving copies of these old newspapers and I was
able to get them on inter library loan.
I spend many evenings and Saturdays hunched in
front of a microfilm viewer at the South Pasadena
Library going through hundreds of pages of these
19th and early 20th century newspaper reproductions
looking for any scrap of information about the elusive
Dr. Silas Ensign and his relatives that lived in Iowa
and South Dakota. I learned that certain sections of
these newspapers contained useful nuggets of
information about my genealogical quarry. These
were included at a marketing ploy by the editors
to encourage the readers to keep subscribing to
the newspaper. People like seeing their names in
print. This includes the comings and goings, personal
and business trip information, illness and heath
reports, some birth, marriage and death data were
all carried in these columns. Also individual
obituaries and other local news articles appeared
in the papers. After becoming experienced a
researcher can go right to the sections that are
most helpful as most of these local newspapers
were filled with advertisements and filler material.
Often the front pages were filled with world, national
and regional news that were provided by what were
would today called news syndicates. This allows the
newspapers to cover the world but their real news beat
was the local scene. I soon found that I needed to be
aware of other people (usually relatives) who lived
locally because they were more than likely a part of
my subjects life. I discovered that old Silas lived a
significant, interesting and long life. I also made a trip
in 1995 to Iowa and South Dakota in a effort to see if
I could uncover more information about Dr. Ensign.
I did end up finding his grave in the Lake Preston,
South Dakota cemetery. While there I also found some
descendants of his friends who gave me some of his
old photos and showed me his house. He had various
professions included farming, being a minister,
a homeopathic doctor and real estate developer.
He was involved in local and state politics and was
prominently involved in the social life of his communities.
He was also listed as one of the founders of New Hartford,
Iowa and Lake Preston, South Dakota. Perhaps most
important was his friendship with the CP Ingalls family
of DeSmet, South Dakota. Laura Ingalls Wilder, daughter
of CP Ingalls was the author of the beloved Little House
on the Prairie books.
It was a fascinating exercise to reconstruct this man's life
from the available records and I wrote and published a
short book detailing his life called Silas B. Ensign, Frontier Doctor.
After leaving the Narramore Christian Foundation I spent
time completing the book This book was published in 2000
and culminated a good ten years of research. I was able to
make it available to a family reunion that summer where it
was well received. There were still always questions about
this man's life that my never be answered. Even so it was a
very gratifying experience in biographical reconstruction.
Over several years I became more interested in the
actual lives of the people I was researching. I selected
one of my great-great uncles who I later found out
died in 1918. This was Dr. Silas Benjamin Ensign who
was an older brother of my great grand father, George
Washington Ensign. Much of my research about his
life was gleaned from the local newspapers that were
published in the small towns were he lived. The state
historical societies have microfilmed many of the
surviving copies of these old newspapers and I was
able to get them on inter library loan.
I spend many evenings and Saturdays hunched in
front of a microfilm viewer at the South Pasadena
Library going through hundreds of pages of these
19th and early 20th century newspaper reproductions
looking for any scrap of information about the elusive
Dr. Silas Ensign and his relatives that lived in Iowa
and South Dakota. I learned that certain sections of
these newspapers contained useful nuggets of
information about my genealogical quarry. These
were included at a marketing ploy by the editors
to encourage the readers to keep subscribing to
the newspaper. People like seeing their names in
print. This includes the comings and goings, personal
and business trip information, illness and heath
reports, some birth, marriage and death data were
all carried in these columns. Also individual
obituaries and other local news articles appeared
in the papers. After becoming experienced a
researcher can go right to the sections that are
most helpful as most of these local newspapers
were filled with advertisements and filler material.
Often the front pages were filled with world, national
and regional news that were provided by what were
would today called news syndicates. This allows the
newspapers to cover the world but their real news beat
was the local scene. I soon found that I needed to be
aware of other people (usually relatives) who lived
locally because they were more than likely a part of
my subjects life. I discovered that old Silas lived a
significant, interesting and long life. I also made a trip
in 1995 to Iowa and South Dakota in a effort to see if
I could uncover more information about Dr. Ensign.
I did end up finding his grave in the Lake Preston,
South Dakota cemetery. While there I also found some
descendants of his friends who gave me some of his
old photos and showed me his house. He had various
professions included farming, being a minister,
a homeopathic doctor and real estate developer.
He was involved in local and state politics and was
prominently involved in the social life of his communities.
He was also listed as one of the founders of New Hartford,
Iowa and Lake Preston, South Dakota. Perhaps most
important was his friendship with the CP Ingalls family
of DeSmet, South Dakota. Laura Ingalls Wilder, daughter
of CP Ingalls was the author of the beloved Little House
on the Prairie books.
It was a fascinating exercise to reconstruct this man's life
from the available records and I wrote and published a
short book detailing his life called Silas B. Ensign, Frontier Doctor.
After leaving the Narramore Christian Foundation I spent
time completing the book This book was published in 2000
and culminated a good ten years of research. I was able to
make it available to a family reunion that summer where it
was well received. There were still always questions about
this man's life that my never be answered. Even so it was a
very gratifying experience in biographical reconstruction.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Narramore Years Part 17
Genealogy Interest
My interest in genealogy was advanced by the computer
technology that became part of my work place environment
in the late 1980s. I first started for my researching numerous
lines of my genealogy. It wasn't just Dad's "Ensigns" or Mom's
"Holdens" but also the Baileys, DeLapps, Coes, Hubbards,
Pratts, Hawleys, Lawrences, Farnworths, Morse, Strongs,
Dickinsons, Wilcoxs, Bentons, Shepards, Gunns, Wadsworths,
Lovelands, Websters, Chittendens, Hopkins, Judds, and many
others. I became a member of of the New England Historic
Genealogical Society for several years and became involved
in their book lending library and visited their headquarters
and library in Boston in 1989.
I also joined the Los Angeles British Isles Family History Society
which met in the Family History Library on Santa Monica Blvd
(Los Angeles). Over the years I attended a number of their meetings.
I attended a number of genealogical conferences held in the
Southern California area. I did this in order to educate myself
on proper genealogical research techniques. My early research
was mostly from secondary sources (printed genealogies, local
histories and so forth). As I progressed in my research I did more
basic research into census records, land and court records and
other primary sources. New genealogists are always cautioned
about the information contains in printed family histories—
much of it may not be factual. Searching the various branches of
your family tree is a fascinating and never ending endeavor. It can
be very compulsive because there is always a gnawing curiosity to
find out what those in previous generations were like. What did
they think, believe and feel about life? So little of that type of
information is handed down from one generation to the next.
In some ways on a personal level each generation starts almost
from scratch.
I made a trip (as previously mentioned) to New England in the
summer of 1989 and toured through Connecticut, Rhode Island,
Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and upstate
New York. I visited Hartford where my immigrant ancestor
James Ensign was one of the original settlers. Also visited
various places in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont
and New York where various of my ancestors lived (on both
sides) in the 1700s and 1800s. I also stopped and visited
Bellingham, MA and let them know I was from the other
Bellingham on the Pacific coast. In the summer of 1991
I flew to Illinois and traveled through Indiana, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
West Virginia, Kentucky and flew out of Illinois again.
This trip combined genealogy research and meeting
many of my Alpha-Omega Christian comics friends.
Visiting court houses, libraries and cemetery walking
were all a part of these trips. The reason I made a
concerted effort in my early forties is that I wanted to
do this type of traveling and research while I still had
the energy and stamina to do it. Rather that waiting
for retirement I programmed it in my schedule while
I was still young enough to do it.
My interest in genealogy was advanced by the computer
technology that became part of my work place environment
in the late 1980s. I first started for my researching numerous
lines of my genealogy. It wasn't just Dad's "Ensigns" or Mom's
"Holdens" but also the Baileys, DeLapps, Coes, Hubbards,
Pratts, Hawleys, Lawrences, Farnworths, Morse, Strongs,
Dickinsons, Wilcoxs, Bentons, Shepards, Gunns, Wadsworths,
Lovelands, Websters, Chittendens, Hopkins, Judds, and many
others. I became a member of of the New England Historic
Genealogical Society for several years and became involved
in their book lending library and visited their headquarters
and library in Boston in 1989.
I also joined the Los Angeles British Isles Family History Society
which met in the Family History Library on Santa Monica Blvd
(Los Angeles). Over the years I attended a number of their meetings.
I attended a number of genealogical conferences held in the
Southern California area. I did this in order to educate myself
on proper genealogical research techniques. My early research
was mostly from secondary sources (printed genealogies, local
histories and so forth). As I progressed in my research I did more
basic research into census records, land and court records and
other primary sources. New genealogists are always cautioned
about the information contains in printed family histories—
much of it may not be factual. Searching the various branches of
your family tree is a fascinating and never ending endeavor. It can
be very compulsive because there is always a gnawing curiosity to
find out what those in previous generations were like. What did
they think, believe and feel about life? So little of that type of
information is handed down from one generation to the next.
In some ways on a personal level each generation starts almost
from scratch.
I made a trip (as previously mentioned) to New England in the
summer of 1989 and toured through Connecticut, Rhode Island,
Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and upstate
New York. I visited Hartford where my immigrant ancestor
James Ensign was one of the original settlers. Also visited
various places in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont
and New York where various of my ancestors lived (on both
sides) in the 1700s and 1800s. I also stopped and visited
Bellingham, MA and let them know I was from the other
Bellingham on the Pacific coast. In the summer of 1991
I flew to Illinois and traveled through Indiana, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
West Virginia, Kentucky and flew out of Illinois again.
This trip combined genealogy research and meeting
many of my Alpha-Omega Christian comics friends.
Visiting court houses, libraries and cemetery walking
were all a part of these trips. The reason I made a
concerted effort in my early forties is that I wanted to
do this type of traveling and research while I still had
the energy and stamina to do it. Rather that waiting
for retirement I programmed it in my schedule while
I was still young enough to do it.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Exploring Indian Ruins in Utah
During the week of September 20-25, 2009 I went
on a trip to Southern East Utah. I experieced this
with two of my brothers, LeRoy and Russ. LeRoy
brought two of his grandchildren Austin, 13 and
Madeline, 11 who added a wonderful youthful
perspective to the outting. Russ and LeRoy are
rugged 4-wheel drive jeepers and we covered a
many miles of rough backroads from Highway 211
(North of Monticello) and near the Canyonlands
National Park. We visited a number of old Indian
Ruins (Anasazi) and one Cliff dwelling center. Young
Austin was our intrepid cliff climber who explored
the cliff side dwellings. I took many photos and
some video clips. This proved to be an enjoyable
time in some very beautiful terrain.
