Veraldine Louise Small (1901-1990) case study using online public hints

Methodist Church, Lockport, Illinois. scanned by LAGHS from Ancestry.

MyHeritage sent me a DNA match notice for a possible third to fourth cousin. We shared 7 segments with the largest 27 cM. GV has only eleven people in her tree. That was enough! Small is our mutual surname. Veraldine Small (1901-1990) and Roy Chaney (1885-1966) show up in her tree.

Already in my Roots Magic data base, it is time to search for Veraldine Small in Ancestry. I did add Roy Chaney from the My Heritage tree. The 1930 US census enumerates Roy, Veraldine and Eugene Powers as a step-son. Searching for marriage records for Roy and Veraldine produced scanned church records by Lockport Area Genealogical and Historical Society of Lockport, Illinois. Roy Chaney and Veraldine Powers were married in the Methodist church on 20 January 1928. This search also provided baptism information for the Small family.

Roy and Veraldine had two daughters; one of these is my third cousin. What a thrill for me to talk on the phone with a new relative! We would not have connected if it were not for DNA, online trees, individual groups scanning records and companies opening up these records for all to access. My research is open to all on Ancestry as Roots Digger. This provides copies of documents, photographs and sources when available. I am in the process of updating a tree on My Heritage. My current My Heritage tree KampeSchuler2 is open to the public with Roots Digger under construction in the update process.

How am I related to GV?

3rd cousin

Veraldine Louise SMALL (1901 - 1990)
mother of GV

Annie May PEMBERTON (1880 - 1951)
mother of Veraldine Louise SMALL

Elizabeth SCHULER (1842 - 1915)
mother of Annie May PEMBERTON

John SCHULER (1815 - 1875)
father of Elizabeth SCHULER

John SCHULER (1841 - 1916)
son of John SCHULER

William John SCHULER (1871 - 1964)
son of John SCHULER

Mildred Louise SCHULER (1919 - 2008)
daughter of William John SCHULER

Selma Ethel KAMPE
You are the daughter of Mildred Louise SCHULER

Thank you to everyone who posts public trees! Thank you to My Heritage for your DNA matching program! Thank you to LAGHS, Lockport Area Genealogical & Historical Society for scanning area records! I have found many family clues that are not available elsewhere. Thank you to Ancestry for providing access to these records. Everything a family historian finds, every record, every tree should be used as a clue to dig, dig, dig! Verify as much of your information as you can. If it comes from a family story, that is your source! Where did you find that piece of information?

Veraldine Louise Small:

Name Veraldine Louise Small source: baptismal records, Methodist Church.  Ancestry.com. Lockport Area, Illinois, Church, Cemetery, and Other Records, 1811-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

Original data: Genealogical Records. Lockport Area Genealogical and Historical Society, Lockport, Illinois.

Birth: 2 July 1901 from a private tree, about 1902 is the date given in four US census records on Ancestry.

Baptism: 25 December 1905, Methodist church, Lockport, Illinois. R.H. Dollliver, pastor. Ancestry.com. Lockport Area, Illinois, Church, Cemetery, and Other Records, 1811-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: Genealogical Records. Lockport Area Genealogical and Historical Society, Lockport, Illinois.

First marriage: Paul Powers (abt 1901- ) 15 August 1923. Cook County, Illinois. Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Marriage Indexes, 1912-1942 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Private donor.

Second marriage: Roy Weldon Chaney (1885-1968) 20 January 1928 Lockport Methodist church, Lockport, Illinois. Ancestry.com. Lockport Area, Illinois, Church, Cemetery, and Other Records, 1811-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: Genealogical Records. Lockport Area Genealogical and Historical Society, Lockport, Illinois.

Third marriage: Roy Littlejohn 21 June 1943, Cook County, Illinois. Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois Marriage Index, 1930-1960 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: Cook County Clerk, comp. Cook County Clerk Genealogy Records. Cook County Clerk’s Office, Chicago, IL: Cook County Clerk, 2008.

Death: 1990 Gary, Indiana, private information. My goal is to search further for a death certificate and or obituary.

See Roots Digger family tree under construction on Ancestry for more family details. 

"Genealogy Quick Steps" by Marty Mathews and Bobbi Sandberg

The Genealogy Quick Steps authored by Marty Matthews and Bobbi Sandberg provides easy to follow how-to steps. The authors engage the readers immediately. First, the reader should answer why they want to learn more about a family and what will be done with these findings. The authors consider these questions so important that six pages have been devoted to these topics. Consider suggestions such as resolve disputes, leave to heirs, write a book or create a website. Second, write down your thoughts and explore your answers. Third, set your objectives (page 8-9).

Published in effective straightforward formatting, this book is for everyone, especially a visual learner. The chapter color coding matches the chapters listed in the contents (pages ix-xii) The formatted conventions make easy to follow outlines and quick references. Explanations of the conventions are on page xvii. Examples, a check mark will reference a QuickFacts sidebar or small capital letters are used for keys on the keyboard.

Bobbi provides the genealogy content with her own experiences (pages 16-18) and the shared examples of other family historians. This book is for the first time family historian asking, "What do I do?" On page 26, the authors explain family relationships with both QuickFacts and a drawing of these relationships. In chapter three, GEDCOM (sharing protocol) is explained and demonstrated in several software programs. Chapter three offers suggestions for evaluating genealogy software or using alternative sources such as spreadsheets and notes. Published in 2012, check the web for genealogy software updates.

Chapters four through six review internet sources, for example, how to search and where to look. The authors cover websites including Cyndislist, My Heritage, Ancestry, Family Search and RootsWeb. These websites are active today. Some of the information may have changed as the sites upgrade their software. The remaining chapters provide How-To tips including: tour a cemetery, connecting with a group, getting around roadblocks and publishing your family. The authors provide a resource for the new family researcher and a reminder for the advanced family researcher.

What makes this book unique?

• Actively engages the reader
• Shares examples of personal research
• Formatting uses colors, special conventions and detailed examples
• Quick steps for easy reference

With the excellent detailed material, comes the price of dated computer and internet data. The material can easily be updated researching the internet. This is a beginning of family research and not the end.

Matthews, Marty and Bobbi Sandberg. Genealogy Quick Steps. New York: McGraw Hill. 2012.

Check area libraries, this book is available at the Gwinnett County Public Library, Georgia. Ask yourself, does this book help me advance towards my genealogy goals? Comments or questions, please contact Selma Blackmon, Thank you!