THE QUESTING HEIRS ARCHIVE 
First Genealogical Seminar Advertisement 1978

In 1978, QHGS presented its first all-day seminar. The Society wanted to educate members of the general public and inspire interest in genealogy by showing how research problems could be solved, step by step.

Today, we continue to educate people by offering lectures at our free meetings for anyone interested in the fascinating pursuit of family history; and our Beginners Class makes sure that “newbies” get the help and direction they need to achieve success climbing their family trees.

RESEARCH TIP: Many genealogical societies have annual seminars where one well-known speaker presents four lectures which discuss various aspects of a central theme. Some speakers focus on methodology; some cover information technology and teach seminar attendees how to use various websites devoted to genealogy; and some explore the newest tool we can employ in our hunt for ancestors: DNA. Sharpen your skills and meet other genealogists who share your passion for the past by attending one or two seminars every year.

CIVIL WAR VETERAN 
William C. Buchanan

William C. Buchanan’s foot stone cites his birth year and death year. It also records his service with the 36th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in Company C.

photo: QHGS

The Buchanan family grave marker has weathered considerably, but the “G.A.R.” insignia is still visible between two flags engraved at the top of the stone.

photo: QHGS

To find genealogical information about William—date of birth, date of death—several online databases were visited in the following order:

1. To establish the fact that William C. Buchanan served in the Union Army, we consulted U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009. 

This source provided the following information: 

“William C. Buchanan served in the 36th Regiment, Illinois Infantry, in Company C. He enlisted in the Union Army as a Private on 7 August 1864, was promoted to full Corporal, and mustered out on 15 June 1865.”

2. To find out if William was a Civil War pensioner, we looked for him in the National Archives and Records Administration. U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. 

This source provided the following information:

“William C. Buchanan filed for a Civil War pension in Nebraska on 28 April 1891 as an Invalid. his widow, Mary, filed for a widow’s pension on 24 May 1920 in California.

3. We examined the California, Death Index, 1905-1939 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013, and found the following information: 

“William C. Buchanan, born about 1837, died on 27 April 1920, in Los Angeles county.”

4. Finally, using information from source three, we located a digitized image of William’s death certificate on the FamilySearch® website at California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994, index and images, FamilySearch, Los Angeles, Long Beach > Death certificates 1920 no 1-399 > image 422 of 508. 

This source provided the following information: 

“William C. Buchanan was born on 18 February 1837, in Pennsylvania. His father, also named William, was born in Scotland, and his mother, Elizabeth Lee, had an “unknown” birthplace. William died, aged 83, on 27 April 1920, at his home in Long Beach at 527 E. First Street. He had resided in California and lived in Long Beach for 9 years and 6 months. William was buried on 30 April 1920, and the mortuary in charge of his interment was Byrum, Brunscher & Baker. The death certificate informant was William’s widow, Mary J. Buchanan.”

The four sources cited above create only the barest outline of William C. Buchanan’s life. To find out more about him—to make his story “come alive”—we can use U.S. Census records to trace his journey from Pennsylvania to Illinois to Nebraska, and thence to Long Beach, California. Information about the 36th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, is available on the Illinois genweb at http://civilwar.illinoisgenweb.org/r050/036-c-in.html. Letters written by Pvt. Benjamin Sayers, a Union soldier who served with the 36th Illinois Infantry in company E, are available in pdf format at http://www.nps.gov/stri/learn/historyculture/upload/Sayers_Benjamin_Papers.pdf. We can also search Ancestry.com to see if there is information about William in public family trees.

RESEARCH TIP: Use National Park Service databases when you are researching Civil War veterans. Explore their website at http://www.nps.gov/history/ to find letters, diaries, regiment lists, and other documents available in pdf format.

LONG BEACH STREET SIGNS 
“Jotham Bixby: The Father of Long Beach”

Genealogical and historical interests can make us look at our surroundings in a different way.

photo: QHGS

The photograph above is one example of a “genealogical double-take” that we all experience from time to time. These street signs, posted at a residential intersection, memorialize Jotham Bixby, one of the founders of our city.

RESEARCH TIP: Your ancestor didn’t have to be president of a bank to have a street named in his honor. Many roads in the U.S. carry the names of “ordinary” citizens, especially if they were among the first settlers in the area. Because street names change over time, be sure to look for your ancestors’ traces on old maps of the area where they lived.

   

PEDIGREES FROM THE PAST 
Unsern lieben Eltern zum 1ten August 1896

This family tree, dated 1 August 1896, was created to honor a 40th wedding anniversary.

image: Wikimedia Commons

An inscription, written by Hans Martin Sutermeister, identifies this photo pedigree as being, “Pour le 40ème anniversaire de mariage de nos chers parents [for the 40th anniversary of our dear parents] Otto Sutermeister et Ernestine Moehrle.” You may look at a larger version of the album page at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Unsern_lieben_Eltern_zum_1ten_August_1896.jpg.

RESEARCH TIP: Do you display you genealogy trees? Many pedigrees languish in file folders and binders, never to see the light of day. Why not take a tip from this early example of what we might now term “scrap-booking,” and display your heritage so everyone in the family can enjoy it and ask questions about the entries and pictures on it!  

SIDEWALK SIGNATURES
John W. Terry

Long Beach’s sidewalks contain impressed “signatures” of many construction companies and contractors who plied their trade in the city. If your ancestor owned or worked for one of those companies, our “Sidewalk Signatures” series will be of interest to you.

photo: QHGS

John W. Terry was a cement contractor who lived in Long Beach at 237 Rafael Walk in 1928 with his wife May. 

Address Source: Long Beach City Directory 1928, Western Directory Company: Seaside Printing Co., Long Beach, California, ©1928.

RESEARCH TIP: Document names on pavement, curbs, and buildings wherever your travels take you. A cell phone camera makes it easy to do a “random act of genealogical kindness” for a local historical or genealogical society—just send them the photos you took of their sidewalk inscriptions!

ABOUT QUESTING HEIRS 
Oral History and Genealogy Project

To complement yesterday’s post about Ford’s assembly plant in Long Beach, Gary Schwertley agreed to contribute to the QHGS Oral History Project by sharing memories of his father’s work at the plant.

“Memories of the Old Long Beach Ford Plant”

by Gary Schwertley

My dad, Don Schwertley, worked at that Ford plant in early 1946. He was a poor farm boy from Iowa who did well. In early 1941, recruiters from Lockheed Aircraft were in Omaha, Nebraska, right across the river from where my dad worked on his father’s farm. They were seeking workers to sign on for Lockheed’s Burbank, California plant. My dad went to an interview and got hired, so my parents moved to southern California in March of 1941. My dad worked at Lockheed Burbank until he entered the US Army for pilot training in early 1943. He was commissioned as an officer in 1944 and served in the Pacific Theater of war, separating from the army in early 1946. 

In 1946 jobs weren’t all that difficult to find, but those suitable for a separated officer pilot were. When my dad heard that Ford was hiring at the Long Beach assembly plant he signed on. By that time, my parents lived on Easy Avenue in a home that they'd bought the same year in Long Beach. Dad was assigned to the production line as a deck lid man. The deck lid is another name for the trunk or luggage compartment lid. He and another worker would spend their day hoisting steel deck lids into place on car bodies and bolting them onto the hinges which were already installed on the body. The car bodies were not yet installed on chassis (or frames); further down the line the finished body assembly was dropped onto the chassis assembly, basically completing the car, more or less. Of course installing the deck lids was done on a moving assembly line. Every motion in the process was timed, and workers had X number of minutes to do each task.

Workers on the assembly line at Ford Motor plant in Long Beach: image from L. A. Times Photographic Archive, UCLA Library

Okay, so far, so good. But wait—there was a catch. The luggage compartment opening that the deck lid was made to fit described a trapezoid shape. The men bolted the deck lid on, and swung it down into place to see if it fit right because it was slightly adjustable. However, occasionally there would be a car body coming down the line that had not been welded together properly and things were out of alignment. The opening of the luggage compartment might instead describe a parallelogram rather than the ideal trapezoid. The deck lid men had a hydraulic tool called a Porta-Power to jack the misshapen opening into approximately the correct configuration so the lid would (sort of) fit. This all took extra time. By the time they'd taken this remedial action and left the errant body to continue on its mechanical way, they had several “normal” car bodies lined up, and they’d rush to catch up. Not all of those car bodies necessarily got as many bolts into the hinges as they should have. They used heavy, pneumatic impact wrenches to install the bolts. Ford was known for paying assembly workers well, but my dad said you earned every dollar of it. He lasted six weeks on the assembly line, then quit. It was too boring, yet hectic for him. 

Where did he go from there? He wound up working for Ford again, this time at the retail level as a parts man at Culver Motors in Culver City. The VA had an apprenticeship program where they paid half a veteran’s salary at the place of employment and the employer paid the other half while the vet learned a civilian job. It was on that basis that he went to work at Culver Motors. He worked in parts for years. After Culver Motors, he worked at Freeman A. McKenzie Ford at 133 American Avenue in Long Beach, and for several other Ford and Lincoln-Mercury dealerships. After working in parts, he moved into service sales and management.

I have my own recollections of the Ford plant in Long Beach on Terminal Island. For one reason or another, when I was a child in the 1950s, my mother would drive across the Henry Ford Bridge, later the Commodore Heim Bridge, and of course we would pass the plant. Even at that time, you could see the effects of subsidence as the plant and its ground level were sinking as a result of oil extraction taking place underneath. The dock area where Ford-owned ships tied up and delivered parts for assembly had to be raised and reinforced as the land sank below sea level.

RESEARCH NOTE: If any blog readers have stories that they wish to share about themselves, their parents, grandparents, and/or other relatives who lived and worked in Long Beach, please contact the Questing Heirs Genealogical Society at our email address <questingheirs@gmail.com>. We will be happy to record your memories of days gone by so future generations will know what life was like in “the old days.” 

WORKING IN LONG BEACH 
The Ford Motor Company 1930–1957

Wikipedia tells us: “The Ford Motor Company assembly plant located in Long Beach, California, was in operation from 1930 until 1957 at 700 Henry Ford Avenue, in a region called Cerritos Channel on Terminal Island. The Henry Ford Bridge is still located at the former plant site. The factory, designed by architect Albert Kahn, built Lincoln, Mercury and Ford products that were sold throughout the American Southwest.

image: National Park Service

Ford’s Model A was the first vehicle to be produced, beginning in 1930, and 1957 models were the last cars made before the factory ceased operation when Ford’s Pico Rivera assembly plant opened in 1958. 

image: National Park Service

In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the Long Beach Assembly plant manufactured trucks that were used to build Hoover Dam. During the Second World War, the location was used as a supply base by the United States Army Air Corps, with automobile production resuming in December 1945.”

If one or more of your ancestors worked for the Ford Motor Company at this plant, you may find the following websites very interesting:

The Ford Motor Car Company History website has an excellent page devoted to Long Beach’s Assembly Plant at http://fordmotorhistory.com/factories/long_beach/index.php.

Wikimedia Commons has 147 pictures of the plant at
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ford_Motor_Company_Assembly_Plant_%28Long_Beach,_California%29.

A pdf chronicling the history of the Long Beach Assembly plant from its beginning to its end is available as a FREE download from the Library of Congress at
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/ca/ca1600/ca1604/data/ca1604data.pdf.

Historic Films has 9 minutes of black and white footage from the April 21, 1930 opening of the plant. You can view this at http://www.historicfilms.com/tapes/10871. It is right at the beginning of a ninety-minute-long collection of film clips.

Tim Grobarty’s article, “Long Beach: a History of Hard Workers Making Big Important Things,” includes a photo of assembly line workers at the Ford plant. It is posted on the Long Beach Press Telegram website at http://www.presstelegram.com/business/20140112/long-beach-a-history-of-hard-workers-making-big-important-things.

RESEARCH TIP: Remnants of industries that dominated the lives of your ancestors still exist as street and place names in the towns and cities where they lived. Always investigate the history of any firm your ancestor may have worked for.

THE QUESTING HEIRS ARCHIVE 
Some Early Southern California Burials

Forty-one years ago, in 1974, QHGS published its second book. This 100-page volume contained transcriptions of records from three local cemeteries and included photographs of the cemeteries’ grounds as well. Our member-volunteers worked for two years to complete this project.

Synopses of our organization’s yearly accomplishments tell the story:

1972: “The Society began its project of recording the three oldest cemeteries in the Long Beach area—Banning Cemetery in Wilmington and the two oldest in Long Beach [Sunnyside and Long Beach Municipal] located at Willow Street and Orange Avenue. Plans were to record the deaths up to the time the state began its vital records and to publish the results for sale.”

1973: “The cemetery records project was completed by Martha Hess’ committee and included 5,400 names. Printing costs were estimated at $210.00. Members pledged $5.00 or $10.00 as pre-payment for one or two books to underwrite the publication expenses.”

1974: “Typing was completed on the cemetery records and printing contracted for. Delivery and sales of the book began in the fall.”

Obtaining a FREE copy of Some Early Southern California Burials is easy today. Download the 9MB pdf at our website! Go to http://www.qhgs.info/publications.html and click on the “download” link.

RESEARCH TIP: Don’t ignore cemetery and census transcriptions made years ago by genealogy society volunteers. They may hold the name and location of an “unfindable” ancestor who has been mis-indexed online at Ancestry.com.

CIVIL WAR VETERAN
William F. Hamilton

William F. Hamilton’s gravestone cites his birth year and death year. It also records his service with the 42nd Missouri Volunteer Infantry, in Company G.

photo: QHGS

The medal engraved above his name shows that he belonged to the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic), a fraternal organization of Union veterans.

image: Wikimedia Commons

Note that William’s wife Laura belonged to the W. R. C. (Woman’s Relief Corps). Wikipedia tells us that, “this organization was designed to assist the GAR, promote and help run Memorial Day (alongside the GAR), petition the federal government for nurses pensions, and promote patriotic education.”

To find genealogical information about William—date of birth, date of death—several online databases were visited in the following order:

1. To establish the fact that William F. Hamilton served in the Union Army, we consulted National Park Service, U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. 

This source provided the following information: 

“William F. Hamilton served in the 42nd Regiment, Missouri Infantry, in Company G. He entered the Union Army as a Private and left the service as a Private.”

2. To find out if William was a Civil War pensioner, we looked for him in the National Archives and Records Administration. U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. 

This source provided the following information:

“William F. Hamilton filed for a Civil War pension on 23 May 1879 as an Invalid.

3. We examined the California, Death Index, 1905-1939 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013, and found the following information: 

“William F. Hamilton, born about 1844, died on 6 May 1937, in Los Angeles county.”

4. Finally, using information from source three, we located a digitized image of William’s death certificate on the FamilySearch® website at California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994, index and images, FamilySearch, Los Angeles, Long Beach > Death certificates 1937 no 401-1742 > image 294 of 1408. 

This source provided the following information: 

“William F. Hamilton was born on 6 January 1847, in Macomb, Illinois. His father, John C. Hamilton, was born in Ohio, and his mother, Florinda Lloyd, was born in Kentucky. William died, aged 90, of chronic nephritis, on 6 May 1937, at his daughter’s home in Long Beach. He had resided in California and lived in Long Beach for 30 years. William was buried in Sunnyside Cemetery on 8 May 1937, and the mortuary in charge of his interment was Patterson & McQuilkin.”

The four sources cited above create only the barest outline of William F. Hamilton’s life. To find out more about him—to make his story “come alive”—we can use U.S. Census records to trace his journey from Illinois to Missouri to Washington, and thence to Long Beach, California. We can also examine marriage records to find out when and where he married Laura (the 1910 census tells us she was his 3rd wife). Information about the 42nd Regiment Missouri Infantry, is available at http://42ndmo.webstarts.com/. We can also search Ancestry.com to see if there is information about him in public family trees.

RESEARCH TIP: Don't stop searching for information about Civil War veterans after the “usual” databases have been consulted. Re-numbering and re-filing of veterans’ records occurred several times, and each index card generated may have slightly different information written on it. Look at all of them! 

LOCATING YOUR LONG BEACH ANCESTORS 
Building Permits

Once you’ve found your ancestor’s address in a city directory or on a census page, you can look at free digitized building permits available from the City of Long Beach Building Permit Archives.

These permits and inspection records may tell you more about the home—who built it, and who owned it originally. Some of the files include rough architectural plans; and, if there were additions, extensions, or renovations to the property, you may even find your ancestor’s signature on the paperwork! 

To access these records go to 

http://citydocs.longbeach.gov/WebLink8/CustomSearch.aspx?SearchName=SearchbyAddress.

RESEARCH TIP: Use Google “Street View” to see if your ancestor’s home is still standing.

PEDIGREES FROM THE PAST 
Généalogie des Bourbons

This family tree, dated 1688, was painted by Sylvain Bonnet (1645?–1705).

image: Bibliothèque nationale de France

It is described by the Bibliothèque nationale de France as follows: “Genealogy of the Bourbons. In the lower part Louis XIV supported on a shield representing the reception of their Britannic Majesties (James II and his family greeted at Saint-Germain at the end of the year 1688), the Grand Dauphin (he holds a map with views and Philisbourg plan), small dukes of Burgundy, Anjou and Berry (born respectively in 1682 , 1683 and 1686).”

RESEARCH TIP: Use Google images to find interesting family tree designs, old ahnentafels, and other pictures to illustrate your own genealogy.

SIDEWALK SIGNATURES
Roche-Axman Company

Long Beach’s sidewalks contain impressed “signatures” of many construction companies and contractors who plied their trade in the city. If your ancestor owned or worked for one of those companies, our “Sidewalk Signatures” series will be of interest to you.

photo: QHGS

The Roche-Axman Company was a firm based in Glendale, California. It bid on various construction projects in Southern California. Many sidewalks and curbs in the California Heights neighborhood of Long Beach bear its imprint. Roche-Axman is mentioned in the California Highways and Public Works Official Journal of the Department of Public Works State of California May-June 1928 article, “Record of Bids and Awards Division of Highways,” on page 32: “LOS ANGELES COUNTY—Between Arroyo Sequit [sic] and Los Alisos Creek, 1.5 miles to be graded. Dist. VII, Rt. 60, Sec. A. Engineer’s Est. $63,791.50. Bids opened April 18th as follows: ...Roche-Axman Co., Glendale $59,087.... Contract awarded to Lewis Construction Co. for $44,652.” 

You may read the entire magazine at http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/Californiahighways/chpw_1928_mayjun.pdf.

If your ancestor worked for a large construction company like Roche-Axman or for the California Highways Public Works Department which later became the Division of Highways Caltrans, you should examine issues of California Highways and Public Works Official Journal of the Department of Public Works State of California. Copies in pdf format from 1924 to 1967 (not all years/not all months) are available online at
http://www.americanroads.us/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=95acbdea85c0a96c3743629c5a855bbb&topic=249.msg456#msg456.
An index to the publication, Volume 1: Index to California Highways and Public Works 1937-1967, is available in pdf format at http://archive.org/stream/IndexToCaliforniaHighwaysAndPublicWorks1937-1967/CalHwyIndex#page/n0/mode/2up.

RESEARCH TIP: Company publications offer a wealth of information about individuals. They often record deaths, retirements, and promotions.

ABOUT QUESTING HEIRS 
The Questing Heirs Newsletter

The Questing Heirs Genealogical Society of Long Beach, California, has published a monthly newsletter since the organization was founded 47 years ago. Although the format has changed over the years, the content has remained consistent: descriptions of upcoming speakers and classes, notices of genealogical events in Southern California, book reviews, and helpful hints to further members’ research.

image: QHGS

Additional categories have been added as we’ve embraced the computer age. We now list webinars, podcasts, and other online learning opportunities; and, we also have a “DNA News” page for the genetic genealogists among us. The newsletter is a benefit of membership. To receive a current copy at your email in-box every month, you must join QHGS. Past issues of The Questing Heirs Newsletter are available on our website at http://www.qhgs.info/newsletter-past.html.

RESEARCH TIP: Look for information or post a query in genealogical society newsletters published where your ancestor(s) lived. Newsletters are often available as bound volumes at a local library and may even be indexed by the Allen County Public Library in PERSI.

WORKING IN LONG BEACH 
The Naval Shipyard

Wikipedia tells us: “The Long Beach Naval Shipyard, which closed in 1997, was located at Terminal Island. On February 9, 1943, the Secretary of the Navy established the facilities as the US Naval Dry Docks, Roosevelt Base, California. The name of this facility was changed to Terminal Island Naval Shipyard on November 30, 1945. The name became Long Beach Naval Shipyard (NSY) in March 1948. During World War II, the naval dry docks provided routine and battle damage repairs to a parade of tankers, cargo ships, troop transports, destroyers, and cruisers. Peak employment of 16,091 civilian employees was reached in August 1945.”

If your ancestor worked at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, you might find him mentioned in the following online resources:

USS Helena website at http://www.usshelena.org/longbeachnavalshipyardindex.html. This site has 31 pages of historic photos and employee lists.

The Long Beach Naval Shipyard Employees Message Board at http://www.network54.com/Forum/2001 is a good source of information about former LBNSY personnel.

Other sources of information :

You might also find a mention of your ancestor in the book A History of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, Roosevelt Base & Reeves Field N.A.S., by Richard A. Kandgraff. This book is available for purchase at Amazon in a paperback edition.

Questing Heirs Genealogical Society member Floyd Farrar recalls the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in his article “Only Memories Remain.” Floyd served on the minesweeper USS INFLICT (MSO-456) as an Electrician’s Mate 2/c from early February 1959 through mid August of 1962. Read his memoir at
http://www.historycentral.com/navy/Inflict/LongBeach.html.

RESEARCH TIP: Use message boards to find ancestors who served on particular ships or who worked on specific bases.

THE QUESTING HEIRS ARCHIVE 
B. W. Coon Co. Funeral Home: Funeral Register 1922–1926

From a 2005 article originally written by John McCoy and updated for this blog: “Ten years ago our Society acquired a volume of funeral home records from Coon & Stricklin, a firm that has operated under various names in Long Beach since the 1920s. This 300-page volume contains information about 299 funerals conducted in Long Beach from 1922 to 1926. The information for each funeral was not always completely legible, but we transcribed it the best way we could, and the abstracted data is now posted on our website in a downloadable pdf format so it may be found by interested relatives and genealogists. We will, of course, be happy to provide further details about specific funerals to any such parties.” If your ancestor was buried in Long Beach between 1922 and 1926, take a look at Abstract of Records from the Funeral Register of the B. W. Coon Co. Funeral Home, available on our website.

advertisement source: Polk’s Long Beach California City Directory 1935; R. L. Polk & Co. of California, Publishers, Long Beach, California, ©1935.

One of the entries in this funeral register is for Charles Francis Fritz who is buried in Sunnyside Cemetery.

photo: QHGS

His entry reads: “Died 7/28/1922, born 30 apr 1899. Residence 929 Elm. Interment at Sunnyside. Parents: Eugene Fritz (b. Illinois) Mamie Yalow (b. Pennsylvania) #4,” because only the most relevant data is included on our abstracted lists. A full view of Charles Francis Fritz’s ledger page shows that more information about his death and funeral is available:

 photo: QHGS

Visit the QHGS website at http://www.qhgs.info/downloads.html to download your FREE copy of Abstract of Records from the Funeral Register of the B. W. Coon Co. Funeral Home.

RESEARCH TIP: Join an active genealogical society based in the city where your ancestor(s) lived. You will benefit from the familiarity its members have with Society holdings, with community history, and with research opportunities in the area.

CIVIL WAR VETERAN 
Theodore P. Stearns

T. P. Stearns’ foot stone records his birth year and his death year. It also tells us that he served with the 7th Vermont Volunteer Infantry, in Company E [the base line of the “E” has eroded and, after 114 years, it looks like an “F” on the foot stone].

photo: QHGS

Finding genealogical information about him—his actual dates of birth and death—posed some problems which will be explained below.

1. To establish the fact that T. P. Stearns served in the Union Army, and to find out his given name, we consulted the FamilySearch^® website’s United States Civil War Soldiers Index, 1861-1865 which cites NARA microfilm publication M557, roll 13. 

This source provided the following information: 

“Theodore P. Stearns served in the 7th Regiment, Vermont Infantry, in Company E. He entered the Union Army as a Private and left the service as a Private. His records were originally filed under the name ‘Theodore P. Stearnes’.”

2. To find out if “T. P.” was a Civil War pensioner, we looked for him in the National Archives and Records Administration. U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. 

This source provided the following information:

“Theodore P. Stearns filed for a Civil War pension on 14 September 1883 as an Invalid, and his widow Mary filed for a widow’s pension on 28 January 1902.

3. We could not look for his date of death in the early California Death Index database because it covers only the years 1905 to 1939, and Theodore died in 1901. Therefore, we decided to see if Mary’s widow’s pension might provide more information. We looked in the United States Civil War and Later Pension Index, 1861-1917, from the Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900 database at Fold3.com which cites NARA microfilm publication T289.

This source provided the following information:  

On the bottom line of the index card was a notation, “Died Dec. 21, 1901, at Long Beach, Cal.,” which furnished Theodore’s date of death. 

4. Even though we knew Theodore’s date of death, we could not look in the FamilySearch^® database California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994, for his death certificate to find more information about him, because Long Beach records begin in 1905. We had to find his date of birth another way. Entering his name on the FamilySearch^® “Search Historical Records” home page produced a real find: Theodore’s G.A.R. Personal War Sketch. The source, at Vermont, Enrolled Militia Records, 1861-1867, index and images, FamilySearch Cambridge, Lamoille County > 1861-1865, Personal War Sketches - GAR > image 98 of 123; county clerk offices, Vermont, described his experiences from the day he entered the war on 18 December 1861 at Cambridge, Vermont, to the day he was mustered out in Brownsville, Texas, in 1865.  

This document provided the following information: 

“Personal War Sketch of Comrade Theodore P. Stearns who was born the twenty-second day of August, A.D. 1830 in Cambridge, County of Lamoille, State of Vermont.”    

The four sources cited above create only the barest outline of Theodore P. Stearns’ life. To find out more about him—to make his story “come alive”—we can use U.S. Census records to trace his journey from Vermont to Iowa, and thence to Long Beach, California; and, we can examine marriage records to find out when and where he married Mary. To learn about the 7th Regiment Vermont Volunteer Cavalry, we can go to The Civil War Archive at http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unvttr2.htm#7thinf. We can also search Ancestry.com to see if there is information about him in public family trees.

photo: QHGS

RESEARCH TIP: The Carnegie Library website at http://www.carnegiecarnegie.org/espy-post/manuscript-collection/ describes G.A.R. Personal War Sketch Questionnaires as “a GAR post record that surfaced just before the turn of the century. As veterans gathered in their posts they delivered formally written narratives. The veteran either completed a pre-printed questionnaire or sat with the Post Historian and dictated his personal accounting of his participation in the war. Once completed these narratives were written in a ledger size leather-bound book. Many named friends in their company, provide details of wounds received, and the horrors of imprisonment.” If your ancestor served in the Civil War and belonged to the G.A.R., be sure to look for one of these records of service.

LONG BEACH AND U. S. ROUTE 6 
“Grand Army of the Republic Highway”

If your Long Beach ancestors migrated from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, New York, or Pennsylvania during the 1930s, they probably travelled on US Route 6.

This transcontinental highway runs from Massachusetts, to California, covering 3,652 miles. Wikipedia has an overview at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_6 and individual articles about every state through which US Route 6 passes. Link to the California section at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_6_in_California.

U. S. Route 6 Tourist Association
http://route6tour.com/

Go to the “Maps & State Info” drop-down to get information about US Route 6 in the state from which your ancestors came.

US Ends.com
http://www.usends.com/Focus/LongBeach/index.html

An excellent article, with old maps showing the end of US Route 6 in Long Beach, is available on this site. To learn about the highway from beginning to end, click the highlighted US 6 in the “highway/Approx. time period” box.

California Highways
http://www.cahighways.org/001-008.html#006

To learn even more about US Route 6, use this site.

Southern California Regional Rocks and Roads

http://socalregion.com/highways/us_6/
Click the link above and take a virtual tour of US Route 6.

A A Roads
http://www.aaroads.com/california/us-006_ca.html

This website has photographs taken on the road.

RESEARCH TIP: To understand your ancestors better, take a look at the world through their eyes. Stay off the interstate highways and drive on streets and roads that your relatives used. Imagine how the countryside might have looked to them as they travelled to their new home “out West.”

PEDIGREES FROM THE PAST 
Family Tree of King James I and VI of England and Scotland

This pedigree was painted by an unknown artist c.1603.

“Painted genealogy showing James I’s Tudor ancestry. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, James’ mother, is shown in the center of the second row, holding hands to signify marriage first with Francis II and secondly with Lord Darnley, father of James. Beneath Mary to her right are her parents, James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise. Beneath Darnley are his parents Lady Margaret Douglas and Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox. Mary and Darnley share a grandmother, Margaret Tudor in the center of the fourth row, Henry VII’s eldest daughter. She first married James IV of Scotland (to her left) and became mother of James V and then married Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus. On the bottom row are the founders of the Tudor dynasty, Henry VII (of Lancaster) and Elizabeth of York.” 
Wikipedia: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Family_tree_of_King_James_I_and_VI_of_England_and_Scotland.jpg.

RESEARCH NOTE: Even though this painting was made over 400 years ago, it isn’t that different from the pedigrees with photographs we print from our genealogy programs today. People like to see what their ancestors looked like, if it is at all possible.

SIDEWALK SIGNATURES
Newton B. Bingaman

Long Beach’s sidewalks contain impressed “signatures” of many construction companies and contractors who plied their trade in the city. If your ancestor owned or worked for one of those companies, our “Sidewalk Signatures” series will be of interest to you.

photo: QHGS

Newton B. Bingaman was a cement contractor who lived in Long Beach at 1419 Argonne Avenue in 1928 with his wife Bertha. 

Address Source: Long Beach City Directory 1928, Western Directory Company: Seaside Printing Co., Long Beach, California, ©1928.

RESEARCH TIP: Long Beach is not the only city with impressions from the past on its sidewalks. If your ancestor(s) came from another town, check to see if the historical society there has a booklet dedicated to “sidewalk signatures” in the area.

IN MEMORIAM 
QHGS Member George Johnson (1929–2015)

It is with great sadness that we report the death of George Johnson who passed away in May.

photo: QHGS 

George was truly a man of many accomplishments. An article,  “George Johnson, Longtime Long Beach Civil Engineer, Dies at 86,” written by Rich Archbold for the Long Beach Press Telegram, tells about his life of service to the greater Long Beach community. You may read it online at
http://www.presstelegram.com/obituaries/20150606/george-johnson-longtime-long-beach-civil-engineer-dies-at-86.

MEMORIAL SERVICE: A memorial service honoring George Johnson will be held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, June 13, at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 607 E. Third St., Long Beach, California. Donations in George’s name may be sent to Covenant Presbyterian Church at the above address.

WORKING IN LONG BEACH 
Pacific Electric Railway

Wikipedia tells us “the Pacific Electric Railroad was created in 1901 by railroad executive Henry Huntington and banker Isaias W. Hellman. Pacific Electric was the largest electric rail system in the world in the 1920s. The Long Beach Line, the last line to be replaced by buses, was a major interurban commuter route operated by the Pacific Electric Railway between Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, via Florence, Watts, and Compton. Service began in 1902 and lasted until 1961.”

If your ancestor worked for the PER as a motorman, conductor, station clerk, agent, or in any other position, you might find him mentioned in the following online resources:

Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society

http://www.pacificelectric.org/

This website is filled with articles, photographs and maps. It contains a staggering amount of information, yet is very easy to use. Many collectors of PER memorabilia have digitized their photos and contributed the images to PERyHS. 

L. A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Research Library and Archive 

http://lacmtalibrary.tumblr.com/

A searchable blog from the largest transit operator research collection in the U. S. 

Dorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library

http://www.metro.net/about/library/

This website has digitized images and articles from the Pacific Electric employee magazine as well as information about the company from other sources.

Pacific Electric Employee Magazines 

1941: http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/employeenews/PE_Mag_1941_Mar.pdf

1947: http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/employeenews/PE_Mag_1947_Jul-Aug.pdf

These pdfs of the March 1941 and July-August 1947 issues have pictures of crews, retirement lists, death lists, articles about railway routes, and reports about activities of the employees.

Other Resources:

The Online Archive of California list several repositories that house collections of Pacific Electric documents and photographs at http://www.oac.cdlib.org/search?query=Pacific+Electric&x=14&y=9.

Pacific Electric’s Santa Ana Line and Los Angeles Railway’s J & V Lines, by Matthew Barrett, has a “family tree” of the Southern California transit system. Available in pdf format at http://eco-rapid.org/Project/studies_reports/WestSantaAna_LA.pdf.

Ride The Last Red Car Los Angeles April 1961 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebboO52In1w&feature=youtu.be

This video takes you on the last run made from Los Angeles to Long Beach.

RESEARCH TIP: For information re: the Pacific Electric Railway in general, start with Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Electric. Be sure to visit each of the 15 external links/webpages listed at the end of the article to see photos and read more about the history of this transportation system.

THE QUESTING HEIRS ARCHIVE 
Six Founding Members

Printed documents that record the history of an organization are important in their own way; but, isn’t it much more fun to see this group of QHGS founding members “in person” at a 1974 meeting?

photo: QHGS

Front Row L to R: Molly Molyneaux, founding member, past president, and education chair; Frances Parker, founding member, secretary, and newsletter editor; and Viola Olson, founding member. 

Back Row L to R: Martha Hess, founding member, Society librarian, and cemetery records project committee chair; Marshall McClanahan, founding member; Ruth Dowty, founding member, Society librarian, and publicity chair; and Florine Davis.

RESEARCH TIP: Label your photographs! The picture above is 41 years old, and all of the founding members in it have passed away. We know the identities of these people only because the compiler of our first scrapbook wrote their names under the snapshot.

CIVIL WAR VETERAN 
David C. Bartshe

David C. Bartshe’s gravestone simply records that he served with the 2nd Iowa Cavalry, in Company F, and belonged to the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic), a fraternal organization of Union veterans.

photo: QHGS

To find genealogical information about him—date of birth, date of death—several online databases were visited in the following order:

1. To establish the fact that David C. Bartshe served in the Union Army, we consulted National Park Service U.S., Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. 

This source provided the following information: 

“David C. Bartshe served in the 2nd Regiment, Iowa Cavalry, in Company F. He entered the Union Army as a Private and left the service as a Private.”

2. To find out if David was a Civil War pensioner, we looked for him in the National Archives and Records Administration. U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. 

This source provided the following information:

“David C. Bartshe filed for a Civil War pension on 6 October 1891 as an Invalid. He filed this application in the state of Washington. His widow, Clarissa S. Bartshe, filed for a Civil War Widow’s pension on 13 April 1913, in California.”

3. Using information from source two, we looked at the California, Death Index, 1905-1939 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. 

This source provided the following information: 

“David C. Bartshe, born about 1844, died on 18 March 1913, in Los Angeles county.”

4. Finally, using information from source three, we found a digitized image of David’s death certificate on the FamilySearch® website at California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994, index and images, FamilySearch, Los Angeles, Long Beach > Death certificates 1911-1915 no 140-220 > image 835 of 2208. 

This source provided the following information: 

“David C. Bartshe was born on 21 September 1843, in Ind[iana]. His father, Henry Bartshe, was born in Penn[sylvania], and his mother was Anna Bier. David died, aged 69, of tuberculosis, on 18 March 1903 [sic] (this entry should read 1913), at his home in Long Beach, California. He had resided in California and lived at 1015 Newport Street for 2 years. David was buried in Sunnyside Cemetery on 19 August 1913, and the mortuary in charge of his interment was Holton & Son. The informant was Clar[iss]a S. Bartshe.”

NOTE: There are several numerical errors on the death certificate.

The four sources cited above create only the barest outline of David C. Bartshe’s life. To find out more about him—to make his story “come alive”—we can use U.S. Census records to trace his journey from Indiana to Iowa, to Washington and thence to Long Beach, California. We can also examine marriage records to find out when and where he married Clarissa. Information about the 2nd Regiment Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, is available at http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/uniacav.htm#2ndcav. We can also search Ancestry.com to see if there is information about him in public family trees.

RESEARCH TIP: The Library of Congress has transcribed letters written by Civil War soldier Newton Robert Scott, Private, Company A, of the 36th Infantry, Iowa Volunteers online at http://www.civilwarletters.com/. Read these letters to get a sense of what David C. Bartshe might have experienced. 

LONG BEACH VITAL RECORDS 
Births and Deaths

Digitized images of Long Beach, California, birth and death certificates are online in the FamilySearch^® “California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994” database.

If your Long Beach ancestor’s birth or death occurred in one of the years covered by this database: births 1916-1930 and deaths 1904-1939 and 1958-1960, search for a certificate by browsing through the images at

https://familysearch.org/search/image/index#uri=https%3A%2F%2Ffamilysearch.org%2Frecapi%2Fsord%2Fwaypoint%2FSJ58-DP8%3A285173401%3Fcc%3D2001287. 

Your search should include at least 100 images on either side of the first correct date that you find, because not all certificates were submitted promptly. For example, you can see on the death certificate pictured above that Steven Combs died on January 3rd, but his vital record was not filed until January 15th.

RESEARCH TIP: Birth and death certificates may be ordered for a fee from the California Department of Public Health; but, if you need only an “informational” copy, use the FREE database at FamilySearch^®.

PEDIGREES FROM THE PAST 

The First Ahnentafel

Wikipedia describes this document as “The first ahnentafel, published by Michaël Eytzinger in Thesaurus principum hac aetate in Europa viventium Cologne: 1590, pp. 146–147, in which Eytzinger first illustrates his new functional theory of numeration of ancestors; this schema showing Henry III of France as n° 1, de cujus, with his ancestors in five generations. The remainder of the volume shows 34 additional schemas for rulers and princes of Europe using his new method.”

Michaël Eytzinger devised his system 425 years ago, and genealogists still use it to enumerate ancestors today. Whenever we print an ahnentafel for one of our family tree members using a computerized genealogical program, we are following in Michaël’s footsteps.

RESEARCH TIP: Explore various ways of illustrating your own genealogy charts. In the coming weeks we will be featuring many family trees—some real, some fake, and all interesting—so be sure to check the QHGS Blog every Saturday for more “Pedigrees from the Past.”  

SIDEWALK SIGNATURES
August J. Laffler

Long Beach’s sidewalks contain impressed “signatures” of many construction companies and contractors who plied their trade in the city. If your ancestor owned or worked for one of those companies, our “Sidewalk Signatures” series will be of interest to you.

photo: QHGS

August J. Laffler was a cement contractor who lived in Long Beach at 1718 Locust Avenue in 1928 with his wife Henrietta. August and Henrietta are buried at Westminster Memorial Park, Westminster, California. A photograph of their grave marker is available on the Find A Grave website.
Address Source: Long Beach City Directory 1928; Western Directory Company: Seaside Printing Co., Long Beach, California, ©1928.

RESEARCH TIP: “Ordinary” people can be memorialized in many ways that are easy to miss. Look for the name of your ancestor among donors inscribed on a church’s inner wall; on a memorial to veterans from the city who fought in WWI; or on a commemorative plaque displayed in a public place. 

ABOUT QUESTING HEIRS 
Volunteer Projects

Members of QHGS spent six hours scrubbing tombstones at Sunnyside Cemetery on Long Beach’s first Volunteer Day which was held April 25, 2015.

The Society’s clean up project was honored with a certificate of recognition from 5th District Councilwoman Stacy Mungo.

RESEARCH TIP: Look for your ancestors’ names in newspaper articles about volunteer projects where they lived.

WORKING IN LONG BEACH 
The Police Department

Wikipedia tells us “the Long Beach Police Department was founded, January 30, 1888, on the day that twenty-four-year-old Horatio Davies was elected as the city’s first city marshal. From January 1888 to January 1908, the city elected eight different men to serve as city marshal until the city council adopted Ordinance Number 3, New Series, doing away with the office of city marshal and allowing for the appointment of a chief of police. Thomas W. Williams was the first Long Beach chief of police.”

If your ancestor served in the LBPD, you might find him pictured or mentioned in the following online resources:

Long Beach Police Historical Society 

http://www.lbphs.org/1600.html

Click the “about” tab on the home page and explore sections of the website. The online photo gallery has old pictures, one of mounted patrolman Thomas Borden taken in 1906 and another of Curly Lancaster on a motorbike in 1915. The Tin Star Intelligencer is the monthly journal of the LBPHS, and 53 issues from 2009 to 2013 are posted in pdf format on the website. They contain historical information, old photos of Long Beach city marshals, police chiefs, and patrolmen, as well as pictures of historic documents.  

Long Beach Mounted Police 

http://www.longbeachmountedpolice.com/history.htm

A great panorama photograph from 1948 is posted on this website.

Long Beach Public Library

Long Beach History

Photos from the Long Beach History Collection are in the LBPL Digital Archive. Go to http://encore.lbpl.org/iii/cpro/app, click on the “Long Beach Photos” selection, and type “police” in the search box. This will bring up historic photos of Long Beach police chiefs and police activities. 

You might also find a mention of your ancestor in the book Historic Police Department Long Beach, Califoria, by Russell R. Bradford. This book is available for purchase at Amazon.

RESEARCH TIP: The Long Beach Police Historical Society newsletters cited above are one example of a “deep resource” that Google does not index. Wherever your research takes you, don’t overlook newsletters posted by historical, genealogical, and occupational societies in the area. They may contain the information you are seeking!

THE QUESTING HEIRS ARCHIVE
First “Early Bird” Class

In 1973 QHGS began offering classes for beginning genealogists.

These “Early Bird” sessions met before our formal meetings, and they became very popular. Molly Molyneaux, Frances Parker and Ruth Dowty were the first teachers.

REASEARCH TIP: The Questing Heirs Genealogical Society continues to educate beginning genealogist. If you are a beginner or would like to brush up on your genealogy skills, please join teacher Cynthia Day-Elliott and other beginners at one of our classes. For meeting time and place, go to our website at http://www.qhgs.info/.

CIVIL WAR VETERAN 
Calvin Ferguson

Calvin Ferguson’s gravestone simply records that he served with the 54th Indiana Infantry, in Company E.

photo: QHGS

To find genealogical information about him—date of birth, date of death—several online databases were visited in the following order:

1. To establish the fact that Calvin Ferguson served in the Union Army, we consulted U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009. 

This source provided the following information: 

“Calvin Ferguson, living in Indiana, enlisted in Company E, Indiana 54th Infantry Regiment, on 10 June 1862 as a Private. He was mustered out on 10 September 1862.”

2. To find out if Calvin was a Civil War pensioner, we looked for him in the National Archives and Records Administration. U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.  

This source provided the following information:

“Calvin Ferguson filed for a Civil War pension on 10 June 1899 as an Invalid. He filed this application in Oklahoma. His widow, Ellen J. Ferguson, filed for a Civil War Widow’s pension 16 years later, on 18 August 1915, in California.”

3. Using information from source two, we looked at the California, Death Index, 1905-1939 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

This source provided the following information:

“Calvin Ferguson, born about 1845, died on 8 August 1915, in Los Angeles county.”

4. Finally, using information from source three, we found a digitized image of Calvin’s death certificate on the FamilySearch® website at California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994, index and images, FamilySearch, Los Angeles, Long Beach > Death certificates 1915-1919 no 221-403 > image 48 of 2705. 

This source provided the following information:

“Calvin Ferguson was born on 21 June 1845, in Butler county, Pennsylvania. His father, Thomas Ferguson, was born in Ireland, and his mother, Kiziah, was born in Pennsylvania. Calvin died, aged 70, on 8 August 1915, at his home in Long Beach, California. He had lived at 1400 East 1st Street for 9 years and 2 months, and had been a resident of California for 10 years. Calvin was buried in Sunnyside Cemetery on 10 August 1915, and the undertaker in charge of his interment was E. H. Cleveland.”

The four sources cited above create only the barest outline of Calvin Ferguson’s life. To find out more about him—to make his story “come alive”—we can use U.S. Census records to trace his journey from Pennsylvania to Indiana to Oklahoma, and thence to Long Beach, California. We can also examine marriage records to find out when and where he married Ellen. To learn about the short-lived Indiana 54th Infantry,  The Civil War Archive at http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unininf4.htm#54th3mo can be consulted. Additionally, we can look for Calvin’s obituary on Find A Grave. We can also search Ancestry.com to see if there is information about him in public family trees.

RESEARCH TIP: Genealogical information is becoming more prevalent on the Find A Grave website. Check to see if an obit has been transcribed for your ancestor.