Adopted Ancestor – Alice Irene (Sly) Bierman

Adopting Ancestors, Research - General, ,

Alice Irene Sly was my great aunt. She was the daughter of Lucy Long, born in 1910, and was unofficially adopted by Sanford Sly when he and Lucy married in 1913. I didn’t know about this right away. One time, while visiting my mom’s half-sister, she said to me in a semi-hushed tone “you know she’s not Sanford’s, right?” I looked around. First of all, it was just me and my mom there, no one else was around to hear. Secondly, all of the people in this story had died a very long time ago. The last one was Lucy who died in 1980. Why all the whispering? (But I digress.)

Alice contracted tuberculosis at some point. I haven’t been able to figure out exactly when this might have happened. But Sanford, Lucy, Alice, and their son Bill, moved to Buckeye, Arizona, for the benefit of her health. By following them in the Bowling Green, Ohio, city directories, I can tell that they moved sometime between 1934 and 1935. Alice died on 23 August 1938 in Tucson. Her death certificate states that she had been in the state for four years at the time of her death.

Alice met Cleveland Charles Bierman (commonly went by C.C.), also a patient at the hospital in Tucson. They married on 22 August 1936. They did not have any children and she died almost exactly 2 years later.

When Alice died, it was during the Depression. I am not certain what Sanford’s financial situation was, but Alice did not get a tombstone on her grave. I know she was a beloved child so I imagine the cost must have been a challenge for them. This spring, with the help of my mom, we got a tombstone ordered for her. It is set to be installed by October and as soon as it is, I’ll get a photo and will share it.

Even though she is not a direct line ancestor, I have adopted her and research more about her from time to time since she had no descendants who are “looking” for her.

Adopting Ancestors

Adopting Ancestors, Research - General, , , ,

I don’t know about you, but from time to time I find myself adopting ancestors. They are not usually part of my direct family line or maybe not a part of my family at all. I especially feel compelled to adopt someone who did not have any children and therefore there is no one “looking for them.” That’s how I feel about it. With my own ancestors, I’m looking for them in records, books, and cemeteries. These people who did not have children probably don’t have anyone looking for them. So, when I find them, I’m compelled to research and then tell a little bit more of their story.

I have two that I’m going to share in two separate posts. But I’ll give you a bit of background that will probably get repeated.

First, my great-aunt Alice Irene Sly. She is in my family but not a direct ancestor. She died at the age of 27 from tuberculosis. The family moved to Arizona to help her health. She married but never had any children.

Second, Elizabeth Birdwistle. She arrived in Canada as one of the British Home Children, an orphan from England, and sent to Canada to be adopted by a family. She did not marry or have children. She moved to the Chicago area where she died.

I’ll share their stories in the next two posts. I’m curious if you “adopt” ancestors along the way?

Reviewing Assumptions

Clean-Up, , ,

I’m continuing my work to review and clean up my early research. And you know what they say about assumptions…

I had always heard about our “Arizona” family growing up. Sanford and Lucy Sly moved to Buckeye, Arizona, for the benefit of their daughter’s health. I had always thought they settled in Buckeye because they were from Ohio (the Buckeye state). Turns out, they weren’t the first ones to move there. Sanford had aunts and cousins who lived there before he did.

And this makes sense. People don’t often go to a place they’ve never heard of. Usually migrations happen in chains. One person goes (likely because THEY had a friend or family go first) and then the next person in the family goes and so on. Like a chain.

As I was working on some of my genealogy clean-up I’ve been doing, I did some basic research on the siblings of Sanford’s mother, his aunts and uncles. One of Sanford’s aunts, Emma Jane Avery married Andrew Glenn in Wood County, Ohio. They moved to Phoenix, Arizona, sometime between the 1900 and 1910 census.

Andrew died in New Mexico while on a trip in 1926. His widow, Emma, went to New Mexico and accompanied the body home to Phoenix. Emma died in 1927, just a year later. Some of their children lived in Arizona after their parents’ deaths. The daughter Pearl lived in Gila County until her death in 1963. Pearl’s siblings also lived in Arizona, mostly around the Phoenix area. Sanford and the children of Emma would have been first cousins and most likely known to each other. It was quite possibly the fact that he knew family in the area that brought him to Arizona. It is easier to move to a new place when you know someone there already.

So, check your assumptions. And if someone moved to a far off place, check for friends or family members who may have also moved to that area. They did not often go alone.

Birdie Monk Holsclaw IGHR Scholarship

Announcements,

Birdie Monk Holsclaw

This year, the Birdie Monk Holsclaw IGHR Scholarship was awarded to Kaitlyn Pauley. The scholarship is in honor of Birdie who was a friend and mentor to so many in our field.

“Birdie was a regular attendee and lecturer at the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR). Her passion for family history and genealogical education inspired everyone. We honor Birdie’s memory by offering this scholarship in her name to continue her mission in helping others to learn and grow as genealogists.”

We would love to have donations to the Birdie Scholarship to keep the mission alive. Birdie was a huge believer in education and this fund helps bring education to genealogists looking to do what Birdie loved, learn and grow as genealogists. Donations for the scholarship are accepted all year round. You can make the tax-deductible donation through IGHR’s PayPal link. If you would rather send a check, the Donations by check should be made payable to the Georgia Genealogical Society, with a memo noting IGHR and the name of the scholarship for which the payment is intended. Please mail checks to the IGHR Scholarship Fund, c/o Georgia Genealogical Society, PO Box 550247, Atlanta, GA  30355-2747. Any amount is helpful show your love for Birdie or your love for education.

If you would like to apply for the scholarship for 2027, apply before January 15, 2027. The link to the form and other information about the scholarship can be found on the IGHR website.

If you can’t make a donation, and you aren’t interested in being a student, you can also help by spreading the word about the scholarship to any societies or local genealogical groups you belong to. There is a digital flyer available here.

Any help you can give is appreciated. Thank you for your support to honor the memory of Birdie!

Seats Still Available in the Farmers Course!

Genealogy Program,

Registration for GRIP Genealogy Institute closes on June 18 so if you’ve been waiting to decide if your farming ancestors might be more exciting than “Just Farmers,” now’s your chance!

I’ve been working on making sure all the information I am planning on sharing is up to date with the latest. Our farmers were more than “Just Farmers” and I hope you’ll come and learn about more ways to learn about their lives.

Click here to read the course outline: https://grip.ngsgenealogy.org/courses/not-just-farmers-records-relationships-and-the-reality-of-their-lives/

Click here to read about the institute in general and to register: https://grip.ngsgenealogy.org

I hope you’ll join us!

PERSI: MemberConnects! with the National Genealogical Society

Genealogy Program

A few weeks ago, I participated in a panel discussion about PERSI (the Periodical Source Index) through the National Genealogical Society’s MemberConnects! event. I invited Dawne Slater, Jeanette Sheliga to join me to discuss PERSI, learn about how to best use it for your research, and how to access the articles it indexes. You can view the video recording on NGS’s YouTube channel here.

I’ve written about PERSI in the past on this blog. The most recent series starts here. But if it has been a while, I hope you’ll watch the video and read the previous blog series. PERSI indexes articles from local genealogical societies’ journals and quarterlies sent in to the Allen County Public Library. In my opinion, PERSI is one of the most underutilized resources available to genealogists. We have become spoiled by the internet and the instant gratification that it often offers. However, IT’S NOT ALL ONLINE, though everyday more and more does become available.

PERSI is an index created by the Allen County Public Library, beginning in the late 1980s. The first versions of PERSI were published volumes. You can still find them in libraries today.

Print volumes of PERSI
Photo by author

I go into more details about PERSI, how to use it, how to get copies of articles, and so on, in my previous series, so I won’t repeat myself. Those steps are the same today as they were in 2022 when I wrote those posts.

A new article was published in the January-March 2026 issue of the NGS Magazine (available to NGS members or possibly through your local library), written by Adam J. Barrone, current supervisor of PERSI at ACPL. His article has a lot of fun history about PERSI and he offers tips and techniques for using PERSI effectively.

There are to main things I always want to impart about PERSI anytime I talk about it. First, PERSI is NOT an every name index. Do not show up to PERSI, type in your ancestor’s name, find nothing, and then walk away thinking PERSI has nothing for your research. PERSI is primarily a subject/keyword index. When searching PERSI, think about what kinds of things your ancestor may have been involved with or included in. Second, there are multiple ways you can obtain copies of the articles you find in PERSI. Don’t let the extra step of needing to obtain a copy stop you from using PERSI. There are many things you can do to get a copy. I’ve written about them before, but the one that is coming up soon is to travel to the Allen County Public Library yourself. This year, the NGS Conference is being held in Fort Wayne, Indiana, blocks from the library.

PERSI can point you to articles that could be vital to your research. The information that local genealogical and historical societies collected in their journals and quarterlies could be the only place that information can be found because the originals were lost or destroyed or from personal collections. It is worth the effort!

Lecture List Updated

Genealogy Program,

Starting with the Pandemic in 2020, a lot of my record-keeping and lecture maintenance fell by the wayside. For a long time I felt like I was barely keeping it together. Not only were we dealing with a global pandemic, but I got a new full-time job, my son was off to college and needed to move out of the dorms, my daughter started her senior year of high-school online, and we decided to take advantage of the work-from-home/school-from-home time to move back to Colorado from Texas.

Needless to say, things feel by the wayside. Well, I just (finally) took some time and updated my website. My lecture list has been updated. Old lectures that I needed to retire have been removed, new lectures I’ve developed have been added. I spiffed up their descriptions to hopefully be more descriptive for societies looking for presenters. I also updated my terribly out-of-date list of my recent speaking engagements, publications, and so on.

Everything is exciting and new.

If your society is looking for a webinar speaker, my list is up-to-date. I’d love to share some of my stories with your group!

Unlocking the Real Lives of Farmers: A Genealogy Course

Genealogical Education, ,

GRIP Genealogy Institute is coming up fast! I am coordinating our “Not Just Farmer’s” course along with Cyndi Ingle and Paula Stuart-Warren. The virtual courses, which this course is, are taking place from 22-26 June 2026.

The motivation behind the course was years of listening to people at genealogical events, whether it was local meetings or national conferences, say “oh, my ancestors were just farmers.” As if! Most of our ancestors were farmers. Before grocery stores, families had to grow their own food for survival. Some ancestors had what we call today “side hustles” to supplement their income. Farming crops has some down time while the crops grow, or if it is too rainy to harvest, or during the winter. So, many farmers took on other occupations as well.

Some specialized in a particular breed of livestock. Mine raised Duroc Jersey Swine. Others may have focused on chickens, sheep, beef cattle, dairy cows, or other animals. Some farms also had fruit orchards, bushes, or grape vines. Whatever your ancestor engaged in, it was a vital part of the family’s survival. And not just the family, but the community as well. While one farmer may have raised dairy cows and made butter, another may have raised hens for eggs. They likely engaged in bartering or selling at a local marketplace.

Farming was (and still is) a hard occupation. Lots of long days full of physical labor. Maybe not as exciting as other occupations, but that depends on your definition of exciting. And if you think your farming ancestors were not captured in records, you would be wrong.

In the farmer’s course, we cover many topics but always bring it back to the records that can be found for those topics:

  • Inventions and Ingenuity – advancements in technology and farming techniques
  • Ranching – cattle and sheep, livestock drives
  • Land – a farmer or rancher needs land to grow the crops or raise the livestock
  • Farm buildings, such as barns, can tell the story of your ancestor’s heritage
  • Specific farm products and going to market
  • Using finding aids and collections to find diaries, journals, account books, etc.
  • Farming newspapers and newsletters
  • Side-Hustles, other jobs that farmers engaged in
  • Farming outside the law – bootleggers, squatters, tax evaders
  • Farming education, from the local fairs to higher education
  • Farming organizations, clubs, and unions
  • Women’s roles in agricultural families
  • Social programs to help the farmers during hard times
  • Cultural divides and barriers in farming

Throughout the week we will be building a “profile” for your farmer. We will have a spreadsheet template students can use (or you can build your own) to fill out information about a farming ancestor of their choosing. This template acts as a research log that you can then use to write a narrative about your farming ancestor.

Farmers are a crucial part of our society. They provide the food. But they do more than that, engaging in communities and contributing to the survival of those communities.

I hope you will consider doing a deep dive with us regarding your farming ancestors. You can read more details about the course here, and register here.

Genealogical Education

Genealogy Program, , ,

I’m not sure where the first few weeks of the year have gone! I meant to post information about these two institute courses that I am teaching in, sooner than now… I guess I’m better late than never, right?

I’ll be teaching in two courses at IGHR this Spring, registration is open now, so sign up soon if you would like to join us! Both courses are being held once per week for a number of weeks, instead of like a firehose for one full week.

Genetics for Genealogists: Fundamentals of DNA

This course is coordinated by Pattie Hobbs and includes myself and Kimberly Powell as instructors. We are teaching the basics, the fundamentals, and the course is set at a beginner DNA level but students should be familiar with genealogical concepts. I will be teaching about the power of pedigrees when analyzing your DNA, DNA clustering, and will provide a hands-on workshop on the Leeds Method.

Registration ends on February 14, 2026. Click here for more details: https://ighr.gagensociety.org/dna/

Repository Research: From Website to Doorway

My colleague, Cyndi Ingle, of Cyndi’s List, put this course together. The way you begin research today is different than when we started before and during the early stages of the Internet. When I began my genealogy journey, I wrote letters, went to libraries and courthouses, and visited cemeteries myself. Today, some 26 years after my beginnings, we start very differently. We should be combing through everything that is available online and from home, before we head to the repositories. That’s what this course is about. How do we begin, now that so much is available online? This course is aimed at new genealogists and those of us who have been doing this a while but may not know what is available online because it grew so quickly! In this course I’ll be teaching on building a locality guide with a focus on repositories, hiring help from afar, and genealogical “grit.”

Registration closes on 12 February 2026. Click here for more details: https://ighr.gagensociety.org/repositories/

For general details about IGHR, visit: https://ighr.gagensociety.org

I am excited and I hope to see you there!

Revisiting My Roots: Another Case in Point

Genealogical Preparation, organization, , , , ,

I’ve been working through my prior research on my Avery family from Wood County, Ohio. I’ve been going through my old research and mostly filling in blanks with the now low-hanging fruit of “easy” records hinted to me from Ancestry. Things such as census records, vital records, obituaries, and so on. I found another example of “trusting” old research in my binders.

I’m working through the children of Gilbert Z. Avery, just grabbing their basics: birth, death, census, marriage, and obits, generally. According to my previous “research,” Gilbert’s son John B. Avery was married to Cora May Hemminger. I have their marriage record. They married in Wood County on 6 October 1886.1 However, as I’m working through the records this time, starting with Gilbert’s obituary and working through finding his children in the census records as adults, I found John B. Avery, in Arkansas where his father’s obituary said he would be. His wife was not Cora; it was Josephine.

Not to worry. He may have married twice. When did Cora die? Hmmm, not until 1939. John is in the census with his wife Josephine for most of his adult life. He and Josephine married in about 1878, a full ten years earlier than the marriage record for John and Cora. John and Josephine are together in the census from 1880-1930. John died in 1932 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. So, John could not have been married to Cora. I set out to figure out where I went wrong.

It was another case of believing research done before me. This time from a genealogist cousin who had done a lot of the Avery research and who was kind enough to share it with me to get me started. I was looking back over her original family group sheet she shared, and there it says that John B. Avery was married to Cora Hemminger. There is a note that he “resided in Pine Bluff, Arkansas?” So, she wasn’t sure about that, but there is no mention of Josephine.

I found the marriage record back in my early days and didn’t question it. And I didn’t go looking for him in the census. I DID put him in one of my early public trees. I did some searching in online trees for him, and I’m happy to say that most trees did not make the same mistake I did. Phew. Most of them have Josephine or no wife at all. Thank goodness.

I also did some searching on Cora Hemminger. I wanted to make sure she was a real person and who she was married to if not John B. Avery. In my Ancestry tree, she has a lot of hints. And she is married to John Avery, of course. But she’s married to John Orlando Avery. They also lived in Bowling Green, Ohio. John Orlando Avery’s parents are Joshua Orlando Avery and Harriet J. Manley, of Groton, Connecticut. My Averys were from New York state. So, I’m not sure they are related.

Let’s be fair. The internet, digitized images, and revolutionary tools like full-text did not exist when my cousins began their research. This has definitely made it easy for me to figure out the mistake in a matter of minutes. This is all at my fingertips now, whereas it wasn’t “back in the day.” The moral of the story? It’s a good idea to check your old research and reevaluate some of the early work you trusted.

1. The marriage record is at FamilySearch: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-BP64-D