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Track Down Ancestors Through Railroad History
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Published: January 20, 2008
I grew up in north Georgia knowing that my grandmother was born in Oklahoma Indian Territory in 1882. Her Hulsey family traveled there in 1881. Unfortunately, I was too young to be interested in genealogy when my grandmother was alive and never asked about her childhood.
After her death, my young mind imagined how her family made their trip in a covered wagon. After all, wasn't that how everyone had traveled to the American West?
As a trained genealogist, I now see how lore and poor knowledge of history led to my inaccurate visions of my family's past. Through my research, I connected with distant Hulsey relatives in Oklahoma, and they corrected my assumption that the family had traveled from Georgia in wagons. In fact, they said, the family had traveled by train.
Unfortunately, they had no proof of their version of the Hulsey migration, either. So it was just another bit of family lore, until I found a snippet in an 1881 Georgia newspaper. It told of the whole Hulsey brood leaving Skelly Station in Gordon County and heading west on a train. This is just a small example of how I learned to clear my mind of preconceptions as a young genealogist and always demand proof.
The discovery of my ancestors' train travels also piqued my interest in how railroads affected a family's history. The history of growth in America is largely a history of railroads. Just imagine how many thousands of people worked for the railroads as train tracks spread across the West and opened territory for the brave and adventurous.
There can be many aspects of researching railroads, depending on your goal. If your family, like mine, took a train into the Wild West, you may simply want to know more about train travel during that time to learn what it was like for them. Or your ancestors may have helped build the railroads or worked for one after its completion, in which case you want to find proof of what they did.
The 19th century censuses are full of occupations associated with railroads: railroad clerk, conductor, ticket agent, brakeman, chambermaid. And don't be close-minded by limiting your research to male ancestors. In the 1880 census, I found many women worked for the railroads. Minnie Stolz in Oblong, Ill., was keeping a railroad boardinghouse.
In Pennsylvania, Jane Yatez, apparently not pigeonholed into a typical female occupation of the era, was a railroad flagman. Nellie Whitney was a railroad engineer in Nebraska. Catharine Bailey joined her husband, James, as a railroad conductor in Champaign, Ill.
The census is just one way to locate and find evidence of railroad employment. Another is to go to the United States Railroad Retirement Board's Web site at rrb.gov/mep/ genealogy.asp, where you can learn what records are available and how to get them.
Or perhaps your ancestors lived on land affected by the iron horses chugging through their communities or were injured in some way by the railroads. By studying maps and railroad records in conjunction with routine land research, you may gain insight into the relationship between landowners and railroads. Or you might find evidence of legal battles in local or federal court records.
To begin any type of railroad research, narrow the scope by time frame and geographic area. Then study the area's history to learn which railroads were there and when. Regional history books are available in local public libraries or can be located through interlibrary loan. Some local histories also can be found online; search on Google or other search engines. Also, don't forget that reading archived historical newspapers will tell you much about how the locals used the railroad and the role it played in the local history.
The resources for learning about your railroading ancestors are as wide and diverse as the country's history. Go online and Google any state and "railroad history." By entering "Georgia railroad history," I found some tremendous resources to get me started. I got links to historical state depots, museums and a list of all the railroads that had ever served the state. I tested this method with the names of several states and found outstanding sites for each one.
There also are standard research sites that can provide valuable background information, such as the Railroad History Archives at railroads .uconn.edu. Studying maps can tell you a lot about how people traveled by rail. A good resource for railroad maps is the Library of Congress at memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/rrhtml/rrhome .html. (While at the Library of Congress site, take a peek at the Civil War maps page at memory.loc.gov/ammem/ collections/civil_war_maps/index.html.)
Many other federal records await you in the National Archives. Unless you are looking for something specific, however, you can get lost quickly on this Web site. Go to an online summary of federal archive records relating to railroads at rlhs.org/research.htm#tc. You also can learn more about these records and how to explore them at archives.gov/ publications/prologue/1997/ spring/railroad-records-1 .html.
Your research probably won't be as exciting as your ancestors' travels to the vast West, but you will certainly have a better appreciation of their lives.
Stars To Cruise
Looks like Wholly Genes has "out-starred" the other genealogy software companies for its 2008 cruise. Heading the "wow" lineup is Elizabeth Shown Mills, who has mastered every conceivable genealogy task, including writing, editing, lecturing and researching. She is best known for her work in evidence and sources for researchers.
These are other top specialists who will be lecturers on the cruise, and their fields: Robert Charles Anderson, New England; Tony Burroughs, African-American; John Grenham, Ireland; Sandra Hewlett, New England; Cyndi Howells, online resources; Barbara Vines Little, problem-solving and Virginia; Craig Scott, military; Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, DNA; and John Titford, Britain.
Joining this impressive list will be genealogy columnist Dick Eastman and Wholly Genes owner Bob Velke. Also along will be Velke's entourage of computer experts who will lecture and devote time to users of the company's product, The Master Genealogist.
None of the lectures will overlap, allowing travelers to hear every presentation. The cruise will depart from New York on Oct. 26 and end in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Nov. 2. To make a reservation, go to whollygenes.com/cruise register.pdf. Print the online form and fax to (240) 487-0153 or scan and e-mail to Juliea @cruiseweb.com.
Send your genealogy questions and event announcements to Sharon Tate Moody in care of BayLife, The Tampa Tribune, 200 S. Parker St., Tampa FL 33606, or e-mail stmoody0720@mac.com. She regrets that she is unable to assist with personal research.
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( Miriam ) on January 20, 2008 at 3:44 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
A very long trip it would have been! Those steam engines had to stop every eleven miles (or less) to fill up with clean, filtered water. See my post about this at my genealogy blog here: <a href="http://ancestories1.blogspot.com/2008/01/every-eleven-miles.html">http://ancestories1.blogspot.com/2008/01/every-eleven-miles.html</a>
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Posted by ( Miriam ) on January 20, 2008 at 3:45 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
A very long trip it would have been! Those steam engines had to stop every eleven miles (or less) to fill up with clean, filtered water. See my post about this at my genealogy blog here:
http://ancestories1.blogspot.com/2008/01/every-eleven-miles.html
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Posted by ( moultriecreek ) on January 20, 2008 at 7:51 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)