2019 New Jersey Research Trip: Newark

The New Jersey Historical Society in Newark holds the trial notes for an ongoing New Jersey court case that started in 1844 that may involve this researcher’s ancestors. Time for a research trip.

Dawn at the New Jersey Historical Society in Newark, New JerseyFacade of New Jersey Historical Society, 2019
New Jersey Historical Society, 2019.

I have been researching my New Jersey Carson family origins as best as I can from my home in the Pacific Northwest, in earnest, for two decades or more. I had vague hopes of visiting New Jersey to do on-site research for years, but no firm plans. This was the year that everything came together for me, and I was finally able to put my loafers on the ground in a two-part research trip to Newark and Trenton. I planned to visit libraries, archives, and graveyards and otherwise explore the area that my maternal ancestors once called home.

The first part of my trip centered on a visit to the New Jersey Historical Society in Newark. A friend and I flew cross-country to Newark, touching down on a Tuesday afternoon. We spent the remainder of the day getting our bearings and found that the historical society was housed in a lovely old building once known as The Essex Club. The next day, theater tickets in hand, we took the train into NYC for a wonderful matinee production of Hadestown, and dinner at Sardi’s. It was then back to our hotel before nightfall to further prepare. We chose to stay at TRYP by Wyndham, because of its proximity to the New Jersey Historical Society, which was just a short walk around the corner. A Starbucks is located conveniently across the park, too, as well as a Whole Foods.

The research objective that caused me to travel more than 2,400 miles was a case file within the manuscript collection of the Peter D. Vroom (1791-1873) papers. Vroom was a U.S. Congressman and Governor of New Jersey. He also was the attorney who represented a client named Daniel Carson in an 1844 lawsuit (Daniel Carson v. Aaron Eldridge). I have long been interested in New Jersey men named Daniel Carson; John Wesley Carson (1846-1925), eldest son of my 3rd-great-grandfather Charles Carson (1824-1863) stated in a Civil War pension deposition that his grandfather was named Daniel Carson.1 It is the only clue we have as to the origins of the parents of Charles Carson. He offered no proof and did not elaborate in any way. He made no mention of his paternal grandmother.

Since my research to date had only uncovered two men named Daniel Carson of the correct age and roughly the right place in New Jersey to have potentially been the father of Charles, this was a lead that in my mind had to be followed up on as part of a reasonably exhaustive research plan. Recall that reasonably exhaustive research is the first tenet of the Genealogical Proof Standard.2

This case had been on my radar ever since I had first run across an entry on noted New Jersey author Richard S. Hutchinson’s website in 2004. His website is now offline, but at one time said this in regards to the land and property of Abraham Rogers: “The estate, which ought to have been considerable, was chiefly absorbed in a lawsuit between Aaron Eldridge and Daniel Carson, claiming under different wills, which suit Carson eventually won.”3

In 2010, I learned papers from the trial were held at the New Jersey Historical Society, and I reached out to them several times through email as I recall. When my inquiries went unanswered, I hired a New Jersey genealogist the following year to see if a local contact could make any inroads. The local researcher was successful, and she ultimately visited the library on my behalf to examine the case file. Mostly, I wanted to know whether the file warranted a trip by me. Yes, she said, as it contained hundreds of pages and had testimony from numerous parties, including information about various relations among the parties to Abraham Rogers, and to each of the claimants.4 No photographs or photocopies were permitted back then, so the genealogist was forced to review the file and make notes that she thought could be relevant. In her limited time with the file, she found no mention of my ancestor, Charles Carson, but did make note of several clues about another child of Daniel Carson. My curiosity was piqued, and I resolved to visit at a future date.

That date finally arrived on a sunny Thursday morning in September 2019. I had an appointment, set up by emailing the library about a month in advance. I was most eager to get started with my research but library hours were limited to 12pm-5pm. We were able to have a leisurely coffee break while we waited for the library to open. After registering and paying the daily $5.00 non-member fee, we locked our backpacks in the lockers downstairs and took the elevator up to the fifth floor with our laptops, where we were enthusiastically greeted by James Amemasor, the Library Research Specialist. He quickly pulled the box containing the case file so I was able to get to work after a brief orientation. The small library contains both open stacks and an archive, but sadly, no guest wireless access. Fortunately, cell phones are permitted, so I was able to use that to set up a hotspot to access my files and Evernote.

Unlike some other repositories I have visited, this private facility has a restrictive policy on taking photographs of items in their collection. However, it should be stated this policy has thankfully evolved in the past few years to permit at least some photos. Whether an image from a collection is permitted at all and how many images from the collection are allowed appears to me to be at the discretion of the Executive Director, Steve Tettamanti. He graciously allowed me to photograph about a dozen images for my personal use only from the case file. He completed a permission form for each request which we both signed off on. A large watermark was placed over each page, and I was allowed to take a snapshot with my cell phone. A donation of $1.00 per page was suggested. Because of the agreement I signed, I am unable to illustrate any of my findings on this blog, although a few general images that do not reveal specific content were permitted without the above conditions.

We spent three days at the New Jersey Historical Society in all, roughly 15 hours of research time. It may sound like a lot, but I know I barely scratched the surface of what this research library has to offer. Having a few digital photographs of the attorney’s notes was invaluable. I was able to go back to my hotel room in the evenings, and become familiar with the handwriting, which was very difficult to read and transcribe, even for someone experienced in using historical documents from this time period.  Literally, with about 20 minutes to spare, I found a mention of a previously unknown relationship that could break this line open. I remain guardedly optimistic that in the future I will be able to get a complete digital copy of the file that may further illuminate the relationships of the people in this community in the early 1840s.

I will cut to the chase here and not leave my readers in suspense. There was not a single mention among the many pages that I read of my ancestor, Charles Carson. Nothing. Perhaps it’s there and I just need more time with the file. Sometimes genealogy research is like that. I now need to move on and consider other hypotheses for the parents of my 3rd great-grandfather, Charles Carson.


Sources

1 Deposition of Claimant, 20 Apr 1921, John W. Carson (Pvt., Co. K, 35th N. J. Inf., Civil War), pension no. S.C. 218,816 (invalid), Case Files of Approved Pension Applications…, 1861-1934; Civil War and Later Pension Files; Record Group 15: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

2 Genealogical Proof Standard, Board for Certification of Genealogists (https://bcgcertification.org/ethics-standards/ : accessed 30 Nov 2019).

3 Charles Robbins Hutchinson with additions by Richard S. Hutchinson, “John and Elizabeth (Pearson) Hutchinson Line,”  The Website of Richard S. Hutchinson, (http://www.richardshutchinson.com/JohnHutchinsonPearson.htm : accessed 29 Nov 2004).

4 Elizabeth Pellicane, New Jersey [(email address for personal use),] to Dawn Bingaman, email, 30 Jul 2011, “Transcription and notes”; personal papers privately held by Bingaman, Washington.

Mueller, Mills & a New Approach to Pension File Transcriptions

Inspiration often strikes when and where you least expect it.

I was reading part of the redacted Mueller Report earlier this week when I had an epiphany, inspired by Appendix B of the report, the Glossary. In it are listed persons and entities referenced within the report, in alphabetical order. Alongside each name are a brief description and the role they played in the investigation conducted by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller into the 2016 Presidential Election and Russian interference into our democratic process.

Read the full text of this important document here.

But this article really isn’t about politics per se. Rather, it is about the insight I gained into how an experienced investigator organizes his information and reports on his research, an important process whether investigating crime, genealogy, or really any other topic that generates a volume of paperwork and digital files.

You see, I am in the position of having acquired two very lengthy and detailed Civil War pension files, one for John Wesley Carson (1846-1925), and the other for his maternal uncle, George Henry Carson (1834-1903), both of whom served in New Jersey regiments. These files combined are over 500 pages in length because a Special Examiner was appointed to investigate the validity of the pension claim in each case, likely due to a suspicion of a fraudulent claim. The Special Examiner himself compiled an index while conducting his investigation which is included with the file. The index briefs I have seen appear to be more in order of appearance and therefore are not as useful to me for my genealogy research. I need a more efficient way of managing the information contained within these files.

Dealing with such large files has left me a bit stymied. I have started and stopped my transcriptions more times than I can count, using various types of software tools to assist me in the capturing of the content of the files. Until very recently, I had settled on a combination of Microsoft Word and Excel, with Excel functioning as a table of contents and Word containing the transcribed text. Although this does work to a certain extent, there still are so many individual files that I struggle to manage them all. I aspire to the Elizabeth Shown Mills method as exhibited on her website Historic Pathways, where she has many examples of written research reports and research notes. In a nutshell, she puts everything pertaining to a single individual or an ancestral couple into a master report she calls “Research Notes”. It seems to me there is incredible value in writing up the research in this fashion and having it available in a single document, along with the source citation for each assertion of fact. Of course, I still will extract information and add it to my localized genealogy database, with various excerpts to accompany each referenced event.

Mills provides a framework, but the mechanics of tracking everyone mentioned, basic biographical facts and salient testimony about persons of genealogical interest eluded me. Until now. Where this all comes together is, with Mueller’s report as inspiration, I am now thinking that I can add an appendix to my transcription that briefly lays out in tabular format all of the people interviewed or otherwise mentioned within the many pages of the pension file, including the names, ages, addresses, and dates that the interview by the Special Examiner was conducted. When compiled, this table will ultimately represent the cluster or nexus of family, friends, associates, and neighbors, aka the “FAN Club”, a term popularized by Millsto be researched further to help resolve my genealogical questions about these Carson families.

Who knew that the report on a current criminal inquiry could aid me in my genealogical research? It was not an outcome that I predicted by any stretch of the imagination.


Sources:

1 Elizabeth Shown Mills, “QuickLesson 11: Identity Problems & the FAN Principle,” Evidence Explained: Historical Analysis, Citation & Source Usage (https://www.evidenceexplained.com/content/quicklesson-11-identity-problems-fan-principle : accessed 21 Apr 2018).

 

Proof, in the Form of a Letter

proof-in-the-form-of-a-letter-title

A cousin shares a Civil War letter that confirms the death of my ancestor, Charles Carson, in 1863

Many of the men in our extended Carson family enlisted when called to defend the Union in the Civil War. My ancestor, Charles Carson of Trenton, New Jersey was not among them. He would have been 37 years of age when the war broke out, but for some unknown reason he did not enlist. Whether he suffered from a physical infirmity, or whether it was due to family obligations – he had a wife, and by varying accounts either six or eight children at home – we may never know. Perhaps his skills as a sawyer were needed on the home front. What is known is that many of his kinsmen did serve, and it is through the records they left as a result of their service that has allowed this researcher to paint a much fuller picture of the extended family.

Charles Carson married into another Carson family when he took Caroline Carson as a bride in Monmouth County, New Jersey 29 Jun 1845.1 Caroline’s younger sister Amy Carson married a man of Germanic descent, William Hausman, who later went off to war, serving in Co. E. of the 21st New Jersey regiment.2

In 2008, William McGovern, a Carson descendant through the Hausman’s daughter Bertha, reached out to me via the GenForum message board, and informed me of the existence of a letter written by William Hausman and his reference to Charley Carson within it. McGovern thought I might possibly be able to identify Charley. In 2016, he gave me permission to publish the contents of the letter. I am still not clear whether McGovern owns the original letter, or whether he has only a copy.

William Hausman was convalescing in the Tilton Army hospital in Delaware when he learned of the death of Charles Carson and penned a response to his wife on the back of a song sheet3, probably distributed that night at the event he describes in his letter. Oh, how I wish that her letter to him had also been preserved to know her thoughts and feelings on the death of her brother-in-law.

I offer a complete transcription of the letter below. Emphasis mine. Note that the letter had only about seven words per line; I have not maintained the exact formatting due to the nature of its presentation on this blog. The spelling and punctuation is as it appears in the original, however.

***

               Tilton Hospital     June 10th, 1863

Dear Wife

          I now take this opportunity to send you a few lines to inform you that I am well, and hope these few lines may find you and the Children the same. I Received your letter From the 3d day of June on the 5th, and I was Glad to hear that you was all well, but I was sorry to hear that Charley Carson was Killed, and I think it is very bad for his family. A man is apt to Get Killed at home, as well as the Soldiers in the Field of Battle, we have heard that General Hooker, has crossed the River Again, I think its likely that our Regiment is over Again with him, but if they have Another fight, I will not be in it this time, All the soldiers in this Hospital had a Good Ride free off Expence, yesterday to a Union Meeting at a place called Dover, About 50 miles From here, we had a very nice time

[p. 2]

and came back to the Hospital last night About 9 Oclock, All the soldiers had a Good Dinner From the Cizens of that place I Expect to be home next week. If you get this letter you need not to answer It. I have got a pretty Good Job in the Kitchen, and my time passed away very fast and I Get plenty to eat, they had not men Enough, and the Doctor asked me if i would not help them, and I sayed yes, and I have been in there ever since
send my love to you and the Children
no More at present

From Your Affectionate
Husband
William Hausman

Thank you to my cousin William McGovern, who provided a copy of the letter to this researcher and allowed publishing of the content of same.

Happy Independence Day today. We owe a debt of gratitude to all who have served and are serving to preserve our freedom, and to their families who sacrifice so much in their absence.


Sources:

1 Monmouth County, New Jersey, Marriage Returns, Book D-1, Folder M, Carson-Carson, 1845, County Clerks Office, Monmouth County Archives, Freehold; copy provided by John Konvalinka, CG, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], ca. Dec 2004.

2  For the 1857 Hausman-Carson marriage and his unit number see William Hausman (Pvt., Co., E, 21st NJ Inf., Civil War), pension no. 143,808 (Invalid), Case Files of Approved Pension Applications…,1861-1934; Civil War and Later Pension Files; Record Group 15 : Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

3  A very similar example is here: “Mother, is the Battle Over?” song sheet, (publisher Charles Magness, 12 Frankfort St., N.Y., [n.d.]), digital image, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/resource/amss.hc00018b.0 : accessed 4 Jul 2017).

Web Sightings: National Archives Video Programs

Since at least 2004, the United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has held free public programs on a wide variety of topics about their holdings at the Washington, D.C. and College Park, Maryland facilities. Some of these recorded programs of particular interest to genealogists began making their way online in 2012 as part of the “Know Your Records” series. Twenty such videos are now available for viewing on the National Archives YouTube channel.

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Three short introductory videos concerning military records are online, featuring Archives Specialist and resident military expert, John P. Deeben. I have embedded the videos below for convenience:

Military Research at the National Archives: Volunteer Service

This video tells us about military service records compiled for Volunteer soldiers who served in wartime from the Revolutionary War to the Philippine Insurrection, with specific examples of the CMSR for a Revolutionary War soldier.


Military Research at the National Archives: Regular Service

Registers of Enlistments for professional soldiers in the United States Army (1798-1914) available on M233 give information relative to the registration of soldiers and their discharge or separation from service.

Deeben also discusses the equivalent records for the United States Navy, called “Rendezvous Reports”. These reports (indexed as T1098 and T1099) cover the time frame between the Mexican War to about 1891. The records themselves are part of M1953.


Military Research at the National Archives: Pension Records

In this final video, Deeben introduces military pension files for service members (or their widows) stored at Archives 1, covering the period between 1775-1916. He shows examples of the records and information gleaned from them of interest to military historians and genealogists. He also reminds us that pension files for service in the Confederate military forces during the American Civil War are not held at the National Archives and must be sought at the state level.

In early February 2015, an announcement was made that future programs would be live-streamed. Check the monthly calendar and plan your viewing schedule accordingly by clicking in to this link: http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/events/.