Vive la France!

It’s a funny thing…but you never, ever know where genealogy will take you!  For this reason—in my opinion—there is no other pursuit in the world that is more exciting.   This week I spent a lot of time delving into France—an area of research I had never encountered until now.  Thanks to a patron with a most interesting family story I was able to discover some of the richest areas for genealogical research in the world. 

Our particular patron explained that she would like to plan a trip to France this year in order to reconnect with her ancestors. Could I help her find some things about her family?  I promised I would give it a try.   She is a first generation American.  Her mother was born in Brest, France, and her father was born in London, England.  They met many years ago in England.   She was especially interested in finding the truth behind her grandfather’s story.  Armed with a box of vintage French military medals, she had an idea of where they had come from, but she really wasn’t sure.  And there was this certain fondness she had for the grandfather these medals had belonged to…especially after knowing that he had survived a Japanese prisoner of war camp where he had been kept in a bamboo cage and tortured.  He certainly was a brave man and a fighter.    Her grandmother’s story was just as sad as she had found herself thousands of miles away from home with two children in the midst of war-torn Indochina.  Her seventeen year old son had the misfortune of developing a brain tumor during this time.  It would have been operable except for the fact that they were in the midst of an invasion and with no medical care.  The young man died and his family was never able to forget the tragedy of his death. 

Quite frankly, I had no idea where to begin.  Of course, initially I used our regular go-to sites (www.ancestry.com , www.familysearch.org and www.google.com) but the first two really were not showing any great results.  We decided to narrow things down and look for the origins of the medals that had belonged to her French grandfather.  Maybe that would get us somewhere.  Google Image searches were excellent for this.  We typed in “French Military Decorations” and some of the words which were etched onto the medals themselves.  These searches brought up images and we were able to figure all of the medals out but one.  Most were from WWI but as her grandfather had served with the French Customs in Indochina during the 1940’s this confused her.  Plus, there was one medal which is quite unique.  Beautiful and colorful it is written in an Oriental script.   This one has proven to be more difficult to figure out.  At this point I think I will try and find someone who has more knowledge of French medals as I am stumped.   The question that stumped her the most, however, was:  why did her grandfather have all of these medals from WWI?  She thought he had only served during the WWII era and in the French colonies.  Could these WWI medals belong to him or were they his father’s medals?  We did find a record in the Memoires de Hommes, Mort pour la France, that reveal a man with the same name who died in Belgium during WWI.  As we had no birth or death dates during our reference meeting, we were not sure if this could be her great grandfather.  Of course her grandfather could have indeed fought in both wars.  But then who was this poor man (with the same name) who died on a battlefiled in Belgium? 

When our patron left and I was able to spend more time searching for French records, I ran into the wonderful Archives de France.  Apparently, the French have been preparing for us!  I was overwhelmed with the resources available.  But because of the language barriers—if you do not have a working knowledge of French—you may want to use Google to translate the web pages.  Of course, the actual digitized images are in French so you are on your own at this point! Luckily I was able to muster up some old high school French.   I did some general French searches by surname and then narrowed it down to region.  Each region has different records digitized.  As I was focusing on Brest—I found there were 21 different record types in Brest which include parish, civil, military, cemetery records and much more.    If you don’t already have Java installed on your computer, you may have to download it at this time.  Java is a programming language necessary to have in your computer to access the records in Archives En Ligne—it’s free and safe and easy to download.  These records are not indexed so you will have to scroll through the pages in search of what you are looking for.  If you have a date—it will be much easier—as the books are ledgers and information has been added through time.  Just my quick searches with the scant information I had brought me to the family name.  Hopefully when she works through these searches she will find the records she needs. 

As I had finished browsing for our patron’s family names, I found myself unable to leave a certain database, Memory of Men Who Died for France.  This type of database is much more than a “database.”  It’s one of those storehouses of information that genealogists often lose themselves in.  The Archives recently added 1.3 million records, “Mort Pour La France.”  It’s the story of the 1.3 million men who lost their lives for France during WWI.  It’s not just names and dates.  These notations are the stories of real men’s lives lost on battlefields.  And sadly, the story of the ends of many, many family lines.  But thankfully, the fact that these records are now digitized has made it possible to bring these men back to life.    If the man we found is actually our patron's great grandfather, maybe finding him will finally put some ghosts to rest. 

If you are interested in French genealogy here are some tips on using the Archives de France and some other helpful websites.  Bon Voyage!

For general French research: 

Go to:  Archives de France at  www.archivesdefrance.culture.gouv.fr/

*Or if you need it in English, type “Archives de France” into Google and click on “Translate this page”

*Plan du site—Sitemap

*Online Resources

*Databases

*Genealogy

*Put in name

*Check results

*Results with camera icon show actual record

For particular area in France search also at www.archivesdefrance.culture.gouv.fr/ 

*Look under “Online Resources”

*“Archives Digitized and Available Online”

*Map of France

*Choose: Brest (for example)

*Archives En Ligne

*Digitized Records (on left)

*(You may have to download Java—if you don’t already have it—programming language necessary to have in your computer to access the records in Archives En Ligne—it’s free and safe and easy to download)

*21 different record types for Brest (including parish, civil, military, cemetery and more)

*“Voire le register” click on this to view record

*"Voir la vue"—view page

*Not indexed, so you must have general idea of time period and browse

For the Memory of Men Who Died for France Database go to:   www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr/

*WWI

*Died for France

*Search Form (to search by name)

Other helpful websites for French records and genealogy:

The French Genealogy Blog:  http://french-genealogy.typepad.com/genealogie/

(an excellent tool to subscribe to if you are interested in French genealogy)

Genealogie.com (Google this and then “translate this page”) about 426 million individual’s records

Genealogie.com has a military decorations section—Decorations Militaire

Guide to French Medals:

www.northeastmedals.co.uk/foreignguide/french/france_index.htm

A photograph of our patron's medal from her grandfather's service for the French government in Indochina, circa late 1940's, early 1950's

We would appreciate any information or input you may have concerning this medal.  

24 Hours in Pictures; Lewiston Village Cemetery

24 Hours in Pictures; Lewiston Village Cemetery

October 31, 2009

Calling All Dead Beats

Everyone is welcome to come and see what we are all about!  Our next meeting of the Dead Beats Society is on Monday, January 9th at 6:00.  Upload obituaries to our monster database...help transcribe a 130 year old diary from Lewiston...contribute your family stories (or local stories) to our Civil War collection....learn new and exciting websites and strategies for locating your own ancestors...and get help from some expert genealogists on your quest.  

If genealogy isn't your thing, but you love history, this is where you will find the best sources available in our local area.  It all begins here at the Lewiston Public Library.... 

An Inspiration: The Story of Emily Lodge

Emily Helena Crummer Lodge

                                                                    August 1, 1891

Niagara Falls Gazette

The beautiful old-fashioned woman whose image graces our blog is Emily Helena Crummer Lodge and she is one of the reasons I believe that it is possible to find anyone's story. I found her by accident--in the form of a poem published anonymously in an old Niagara Falls Gazette. Some romantic soul happened to pass by her lonesome grave many years after her death and wrote a poem about it. About 120 years later, I found the poem, and sought to find the story behind the words. And did I ever find a story!

A reference to her death found in St. Peter's Church Registry at the Niagara Falls Public Library

Mrs. Lodge (1828-1864) was born in Corfu, off the coast of Greece. Her father was Major James Crummer, a British officer of the Napoleonic Wars and the Police Magistrate of Newcastle, Maitland and Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. Her mother was Aikaterini Plessos, the first Greek woman immigrant to Australia. Emily was married to Captain Francis W. Lodge, a well known sea captain. She caught bilious fever and died in her husband's arms while lodging at the Cataract House in Niagara Falls, New York, on October 10, 1864. Her nephew, Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge, famous British physicist and past president of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), believed in the survival of man after death and often successfully contacted his dead relatives in séances…perhaps, even Emily, herself.

My colleague, the intrepid Pete Ames, genealogist and trustee at Oakwood Cemetery in Niagara Falls (Emily's final resting place), and I, searched high and low for anything we could find to tell her tale. We became obsessed. We found relatives the world over and incredibly one woman in Australia had a daguerreotype of our Emily. She sent a photograph of the image to my home address by air mail and I had my husband whisk it out to the library as soon as it passed into our mailbox--for my impatience with these sorts of things is legendary. While a storm raged outside, I opened the package and there she was! There is a sort of magic that happens when a devoted researcher can finally look into the eyes of that sought after person. That first "hello" is indeed a personal and special moment in time. As if we can really go back in time...

The biggest problem we had, though, concerning our Emily, was still driving us crazy. Where the heck was she buried in Oakwood? The records are sketchy for the 1860's but the poem gave something away in its lines: Strangers' Rest. We knew where Strangers' Rest was but we also knew there was no stone that belonged to Mrs. Lodge in Strangers' Rest. And lucky for us we do believe in magic for one Sunday before the anniversary of her death Pete had a surprise for me. He had found her. It was all quite by accident--as he had been looking for the grave of another poor soul who had actually taken his life by a gunshot in the cemetery. He looked around the general area of the incident and there she was! Half of her stone was gone but he could see all he needed to see: Emily Helena. It was a beautiful bright day autumn day in Niagara Falls and the encounter was electrifying. Although she was not in the area we call Strangers' Rest, today, she was not too far from it. When he looked up the records among the 20,000 others he found that a Mr. Lodge owned the lot. It was definitely her.

In the end, Emily Helena Crummer Lodge is the first spark on a search through Oakwood's past. Pete and I have been uncovering many stories over the years but she will always be incredibly special. We were able to stumble upon records the world over that helped to put her story back together. In a way, she is finally reunited with her family--as they had been wondering what had happened to her. She died in Niagara Falls and for reasons unknown her husband had to keep her body here for eternity. She is a stranger and a traveler, but aren't we all?

Emily's grave at Oakwood

(Look for her complete story and that of many others coming soon!)

Welcome!

Welcome to the Lewiston Public Library's genealogy and local history blog!  Our goal is to provide the most up-to-date and useful information possible to help you search for ancestors. 

The Dead Beats Society was founded in 2008 as a group of genealogy volunteers at the Lewiston Public Library.  They have worked on various local history projects including transcribing local records, the digitization of obituaries from the Niagara Falls Gazette and the organization and digitization of the newly discovered records of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) located in Lewiston, New York. 

The Dead Beats Society meets on the first Tuesday of each month at 6:00 in the Local History Room.