Ancestry

1) When I search for my name it came up with 20 possible entries, but only one was actually mine and it was the U. S. Public Records Index, Volume 1. I was really amozed at how many of me are out there. I didn't think my name was that familiar.

2) I have researched numerous relatives on Ancestry over the last ten years and I'm still having trouble with one, my great-great grandfather, David Davis (I think). I have not found an actual record that supports that David Davis is my great-great grandfather, as yet, but I'm still looking. I have found six or seven census records for my great-grandfather James Franklin Davis through Ancestry, but what I found when doing these searches, the name can be registered differently, such as James F. Davis, Frank Davis, Franklin Davis, etc. When searching for these records you really need to go beyond the normal. The census records can be very interesting as you can find what their occupation was at that time, how much they were worth, how many children there are living in the household, and even if the have a hired man or a servant. This is all interesting information if you are doing a family tree.

3) There were several photos of baseball cards of players born in South Dakota, which I found very interesting. Then I clicked on just postcards to narrow the search a bit (there were thousands of pictures the first time) and this did narrow done the choices to 1, 136 choices and upon scrolling down the list I ran across a postcard of the 'DeSmet City School" which I have inserted here.

The reason this intrigued me was the fact that we have four generations graduating from the DeSmet school system and this would be a great find to add to the genealogy of our family. This is a resource I did not know existed. Thanks!!!


Heritage Quest

4) Upon searching for several different items, I finally searched for Davis City, Iowa and added James Davis also and it came up with 22 results, of which I picked "History of Decatur County, Iowa, and its people" Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1915, 727 pgs. and when I started to read I was amazed to find out a few things about Iowa that I was not aware of. Things like it was a part of Louisiana purchase, then was a part of Louisiana Territory, then no governmant for several years of which there was a lot of lawlessness. It then was a part of the Territory of Missouri, then a part of Territory of Michigan, Then a part of Territory of Iowa and then the State of Iowa. That is quite a progression. I have not done a lot of searching in this area for information in my genealogy but can truly see you can find things that can inhance the story of your family.

Sanborn Maps

5) Well, I went to South Dakota, Then to DeSmet and then clicked on the Nov. 1925 - Oct. 1934 link and looked at the first page, which did include a small map showing where DeSmet was located in South Dakota, A key which included information on Fire codes, and another area which inferred to correction line (I'm not sure what that was about). I then went immediately to Sheet two as I could tell where the railroad lines were and that my grandparents lived just beyond them right on the main street which was called Calumet Avenue. It did show a house there on the corner, but not my family home which was built right beside my grandparents place. A very interesting map and also could be used in my family story. Thanks again for the find. I will see if I can include the map I'm relating to.

The house I was refering to is the one on the left side of Calumet and just north of Fourth Street.
This is Great!