July StLGS Meetings and Events

As we mentioned in June, the first News Flash blog of each month has typically been about upcoming StLGS and other genealogy events. In March of this year, however, we went into quarantine, and had to rethink our entire 2020 calendar. Thanks to the continuing hard work on the part of our StLGS volunteers, we are able to bring you our revised schedule for July featuring more exciting online events. Stay cool during the heat of summer—no matter where you live—get comfortable in front of your computer or tablet, and soak up new ideas, knowledge, and skills from some of our most experienced genealogy lecturers this month. Here is what is coming up:

Learn About State Archives at the StLGS Summer Speaker Series

Why You Should Attend Hidden Gems at the Missouri State Archives Even if You Don't Have Missouri Ancestors . . .

Hidden Gems at the Missouri State Archives, the StLGS 2020 Summer Speaker Series, will cover a variety of topics to help you understand state archive records and how to use them, no matter where your ancestors lived.

On Saturday, 27 June and Sunday, 28 June, StLGS is presenting four online lectures for our Summer Speaker Series, and our featured speakers—John Dougan, Missouri State Archivist, Kelsey Berryhill, and Christina Miller—have informative topics that will strengthen the knowledge and skills of any family historian.

Some Weighty Matters to Measure

On 14 August 1682, Randall Vernon, a merchant from England, sailed from Liverpool to Pennsylvania on one of the ships in William Penn’s fleet bound for the new colony. Randall carried with him a parcel of thirty pounds of woolen cloth, two dozen woolen stockings for men, ten ells of English linen, and one fourth cwt. of wrought iron. It appears he was going to be doing some buying and selling with these goods, but exactly how much did he have?

Seeking the answers to these two lesser known measurements—ells and cwt—proved quite interesting! Let’s have a go at understanding Randall’s burden as well as some other measurements you are likely to encounter as you do your own family research.

An ell was a measurement used for cloth, indicating about forty-five inches, basically “from the fingertip of an outstretched arm to the opposite shoulder.” (“English Units,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_units) In Middle Low German, an el(l) was the length of the lower arm. Also, in German and Dutch, you may see the surname Ell, which was an occupational name derived from a dealer in cloth or a tailor.

Cwt is an abbreviation for hundred weight, which, today in the U.S. is equal to one-hundred pounds. However, in England it’s 112 pounds, so Randall’s wrought iron would have weighed thirty-one pounds.

Although the U.S. came to rely on English acres, early St. Louis land was measured in arpents. An acre began as the amount of land that could be plowed by one team of oxen in a day; today, an acre is 4,840 square yards. An arpent was roughly an acre, but since the French foot was larger than the English foot, yardage varied, and the arpent usually turned out to be a bit larger than an acre.

Understanding weights and measures over time means realizing that it all depended on who was doing the weighing and measuring. The French, Germans, and British all had different rules. The British didn’t begin to standardize their system of weights and measures until 1824, and it wasn’t until 1878 that the current British Imperial System was defined. Ironically, as the British were abandoning their old system, the U.S. was formalizing its system based on the old British one. Hence, our measurements vary from theirs.

(Image above shows surveying chains and fastening posts, c. 1580, Germany, public domain)

Websites for Weights and Measures

Here are some articles and charts you can use to help you decipher how many pounds in a stone (fourteen) or chains in a furlong (ten).

"Glossary of Ancient Weights and Measures" : https://www.hemyockcastle.uk/measure.html#other

"Old Units of Length" : https://mysite.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/oldleng.htm

"Arpent" : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arpent

“Imperial Units,” Encyclopedia Britannica : https://www.britannica.com/topic/Imperial-unit

“Conversion Calculator,” Calculator.net : https://www.calculator.net/conversion-calculator.html

“English Weights and Measures” : http://home.clara.net/brianp/quickref.html

First Families of St. Louis: A Way to Honor Your Ancestors

(Many thanks to StLGS treasurer, Viki Fagyal, for writing today's blog.)

While you are still home because of COVID-19, have you considered working on your First Families of St. Louis application? St. Louis Genealogical Society’s First Families of St. Louis is a lineage group whose objectives are to identify, recognize, and archive the lineage of early St. Louis families. If you have an ancestor who arrived in St. Louis on or before 31 December 1865, you are eligible for First Families of St. Louis. If you descend from one of the First Families of St. Louis, you certainly want your family’s longevity, courage, fortitude, and pioneer spirit preserved and celebrated.

June StLGS Meetings and Special Events

For several years, the first News Flash blog of each month has been about upcoming StLGS and other genealogy events. In March of this year, however, we went into quarantine, and all aspects of our lives began to change. Now, thanks to so much hard work on the part of many people, we can, at last, bring you a revised schedule for June featuring a variety of exciting events, all of which will take place online. No matter what the weather or where you are, you can grab a cup of your favorite beverage, get comfy in your tee shirt, shorts, and flip flops in front of your computer or tablet, and enjoy learning from some of our most experienced genealogy lecturers throughout the month. Here is what is coming up:

Preserving the Stories of our Veterans

As we celebrate a more subdued Memorial Day this year, without parades and with fewer barbecues and swimming parties, perhaps we have more time to think about why we have this holiday in the first place. Originally called Decoration Day, it was intended as a quiet day of remembrance, one in which to decorate the graves of those who gave service to the country. It's a rare family, indeed, who doesn't have one or more member who served in the military. From drummer boys in the American Revolution to military generals in countries all over the world, our relatives, male and female, helped to preserve our democracy and way of life. If you are lucky, you may have a veteran from World War II, Korea, or Vietnam still alive in your family. Or, you may know a younger veteran from one of the more recent conflicts. Their experiences in the military undoubtedly affected their lives, and, with your help, could be preserved to add to our collective history.

Preserving Personal Military History

The easiest way to preserve the military history of your relatives is to encourage them to tell their stories, either orally or in writing. In this day of videos and computer chats, it is relatively easy to put someone in front of a camera to capture their memories. If you (or they) find that too daunting, they
can dictate to someone or create their own memoirs. Some of us are lucky enough to have relatives who have done just that. Although your blogger seldom injects herself into these posts, this week I will introduce you to Sgt. Sol Kanfer, my dad, who served in the Army Air Corps in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands as an armorer during WWII. Dad never saw combat, but he and his squadron were responsible for the weapons used by troops and on airplanes that flew over the Pacific. Luckily for my family, he loved to write and take photographs, so he returned to civilian life with a rich archive of memories, which, some fifty years later, he published as a series of anecdotes in book form. We always knew that those war experiences had a huge influence on Dad's life, but without his book of stories, we never would have understood exactly how and why. He explained the importance of the medals he kept in a frame, the odd pieces of memorabilia he brought back, and the need for preservation of the giant stack of love letters between my mother and him. His book is a priceless treasure!

If you want to share your family's military stories, one of the largest repositories for personal military history is the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. According to the website, the project "collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war." They are collecting information from all conflicts beginning with World War I through the Iraq War and are interested in personal narratives in any form, correspondence, and visual materials. You may want to begin with a look at their Frequently Asked Questions for details on what and how to submit.

If you have family military memorabilia that will not be passed down, consider donating it to any military museum in your city or region. Most will gladly accept donations. Dad's collection has gone to a small military museum in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he spent the last twenty-five years of his life. They were delighted to have everything we gave them.

Here in St. Louis, the Soldiers Memorial Military Museum at 1315 Chestnut Street (currently closed because of COVID-19) honors those who served from the St. Louis region. You can look at their online collection to get an idea of the wide variety of objects in their possession, and, once the museum reopens, contact them for details on submission of artifacts.

Honoring those who have and will continue to keep us free and safe is so very important. We, as family historians, have the ability to make sure they and what they did for us are not forgotten.

Summer Speaker Series Will Be Online in June!

With an ongoing commitment to the health and safety of our members and friends, and due to the great success of our virtual Family History Conference, the StLGS 2020 Summer Speaker Series will now be offered online. Believe us when we say we wish we could see your faces, share a coffee, and chat in person about family history, but that just can't happen right now. Thanks to the flexibility and willingness of our speakers, we are pleased to be able to continue to hold the Summer Speaker Series, now expanded to two days with two lectures presented live each day and access to all four presentations for ninety days online. Here's the scoop:

Hidden Gems at the Missouri State Archives

 

Featuring Missouri State Archivist, John Dougan, Kelsey Berryhill, and Christina Miller

Live Webinars: Saturday, 27 June at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. 

AND

Sunday, 28 June at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. 

(Digital recordings of all four talks will be posted online by Monday, 29 June and remain available until the end of September. All lecture times are Central Standard Time (CST).

Saturday, 27 June 2020
1:00 p.m. (CST): "Plundering the Bounty of the Missouri State Archives" (Christina Miller)
3:00 p.m. (CST): "All Hands on Deck: Using State Government Publications to Track Your Ancestor’s Career" (Kelsey Berryhill)

Sunday, 28 June 2020
1:00 p.m. (CST): "X Marks the Spot: Researching Land Records at the Missouri State Archives" (Christina Miller)
3:00 p.m. (CST): "Peg Legs, Rum, and Eye Patches: Reasons Your Ancestors Did Not Serve in the Civil War" (John Dougan)

We are again using Zoom, an internet platform, to host the live presentations and digital recordings. Zoom has a limit of 100 participants for each live talk and those spots will go to the first 100 registrants who sign in for each lecture. If you cannot attend the live session, all registrants will still be able to watch the lectures online afterwards. Recordings will remain active for ninety days, so you may watch them at your convenience.

Registration for the Summer Speaker Series

New lower price! All four lectures are now available for $35 for StLGS members and $45 for non-members. More information about the lectures (including descriptions of each), speakers, and the registration process is on our website.

Register via our secure online store or by downloading and mailing a registration form from our website.

After you have registered, you will receive an invitation to the Summer Speaker Series via the email address you provided. (Note: The email will come to you during the week before the live webinars.) The handouts will be available to you as downloadable PDFs and you will receive an email with instructions on how to access them.

We are delighted to be able to continue to provide educational opportunities for family historians and look forward to "seeing" you online soon!