Roberts Roots & Branches

in Des Moines, Iowa is one of the prettiest cemeteries I have ever seen.  At the entrance there is a large pond with a fountain in the middle.  Lounging around the pond are Canadian geese while ducks paddle through the middle of the pond. The graves are set among beautiful green rolling hills.  Pines, cedars, oaks, and other mature shade trees are scattered around the cemetery.  Wild peonies, rosebushes, lilies and iris grow amongst the countless markers.    There are several amazing statues and three sections devoted to veterans.  At the entrance of the cemetery is a historical Abby and toward the back is the Masonic Mausoleum.   Scattered throughout the cemetery are numerous memorials standing as tributes to those who have passed.  The most notable contrast is the living that takes place at the cemetery.  There are walkers, runners, mommies and strollers; onlookers feeding the ducks and geese, w...

 While in Des Moines, Iowa, I was able to visit the Iowa Genealogical Society. It was very easy to find, with plenty of parking and very friendly staff.  The IGS has Des Moines City Directories, which are extremely valuable; I believe city directories are an underutilized resource in family history research! The society has many family histories, town and city histories, indexes, state and federal census, maps and other very useful resources. The IGS has microfilm and readers, helpful staff, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays they are open for longer hours. Here is the link to the Iowa Genealogical Society for more information on their holdings, hours, and resources please visit their website.

(note this post is part of a series of posts of my recent research trip to Des Moines, Iowa with my Dad) The morning was spent…at the Rock Springs Cemetery, finding addresses to hand deliver the newsletter, where upon no one was home! In Green River we had lunch and spent about an hour searching marriage applications.   I was able to show my Dad his great-grandmother’s (Margaret Roberts-1) original marriage application to Samuel Caulton. Then we headed home.   The trip was very fruitful and I am very excited to get home and analyze the information I have found and the new directions my research will take me!

(note this post is part of a series of posts of my recent research trip to Des Moines, Iowa with my Dad) Slept in until about 7 am, ate continental breakfast, filled up with gas, bought bandages and headed down highway 122 from Casper to Rawlins.   We stopped at Independence Rock, Devil’s Tower and  Martin’s Cove.      Arrived in Rock Springs at 5 pm and checked into our hotel. Since Western Wyoming Community College’s Hay library was open I set about getting a head-start and began searching obituaries on microfilm. Great luck and easy research, I was able to find 8 obituaries and two bonus articles! The extra two articles were found by stopping the microfilm to check what date I was on. There, on two separate occasions, I stopped on a page containing an article about a member of the Roberts family! What luck! I arrived at the library at 6:15 pm and left at 9:30 pm with all of my obituaries found! So, we don’t have to go back to...

(note this post is part of a series of posts of my recent research trip to Des Moines, Iowa with my Dad) We are heading home today.  We get up early, eat and hit the road.  We leave Des Moines about 8:00 am and drive.  At the first stop in Nebraska, Dad missed a step and fell onto the concrete.  He received a nasty bump, scrap and eventually his eye went black and purple. We arrive in Casper, Wyoming around 9 pm and meet with a second cousin, her daughter and to-be-son -in-law.  Bad news, forgot to pull out the camera and snap a picture :( We had a great visit until 11 pm where we went to the hotel and crashed!

(note this post is part of a series of posts of my recent research trip to Des Moines, Iowa with my Dad) Slept in!  Stayed up too late last night!  Organized papers and use post-it notes for research log!  First we set out to the Glendale Cemetery and ask what records they have.  They don’t have any; however they can give us a burial date which will narrow the search for an obituary to within a few days rather than 6 microfilms! Finish up our last few hours of research and leave at the 4:30 pm closing.  Drive around town and snap some tourist/genealogy/historical places photographs! Easiest find:  I open up a book looking for a marriage record, and the page I open ends up having an unknown marriage of a family member on it! Best find: two more obituaries, another death certificate and a naturalization record!

(note this post is part of a series of posts of my recent research trip to Des Moines, Iowa with my Dad) After breakfast I print out new research agendas and then we head to the Iowa State Historical Society where we research until 12:30.  After lunch we research until closing time at 4:30 pm.  Next we head back to the home of Sarah Ann Roberts and the home of Hugh Thomas Roberts where I snap a few pictures. Best find of the day was the death certificate of Joseph Jones which lists his mother’s maiden name!!!! We also got copies of 6 death certificates and several obituaries. Organized my information and came up with a plan of attack for tomorrow! This morning Dad purchased a roll of quarters for copies.  Great idea!

(note this post is part of a series of posts of my recent research trip to Des Moines, Iowa with my Dad) We arrive at the Iowa State Historical Society at 10:30 am but it doesn’t open until 12:30.  So, we visit the State Museum, which has an exciting exhibit on the Civil War and a coal mining exhibit.  After lunch, we again go to the Iowa State Historical Society.  Researched until 2:30 where we go back to the hotel and get ready for dinner with second cousins.  We had a wonderful dinner, shared stories, visited ancestral homes, visited the cemetery, and learned much about Hugh & Margaret’s children, Sarah Ann and Hugh Thomas and their descendants who settled in the Iowa area. The Jones’ were wonderful hosts and they gave me so much valuable information!  Thank you very much for your hospitality and for the opportunity to ask questions to further my research. We arrived back to the hotel around 8 pm where upon I immediately began constructi...

(note this post is part of a series of posts of my recent research trip to Des Moines, Iowa with my Dad) Our first "Roberts" find--still in Nebraska!!! We arise early, have to wash the car because we eliminated every flying bug in Nebraska, while night driving, fill up with gas and drive 3 hours to Des Moines. After we arrive in Des Moines, we get lost, eat, get lost again, spend a couple of hours at the Iowa Genealogical Society, check into our hotel, and return to the Iowa Genealogical Society where we research until closing at 9 pm.    Happy to finally be researching and finding stuff! A surprise find was an unknown marriage for Sarah Ann’s son John! View from our hotel room.

(note this post is part of a series of posts of my recent research trip to Des Moines, Iowa with my Dad)  We leave early in the morning, and travel was long.  Mapquest calculated the trip would take 12 hours; however, the trip actually took 15 hours!  We were very tired by the time we got to the hotel! It was difficult to pass through Rock Springs and Green River and not stop at my usual research places, but we will stop on the way home.

(note this post is part of a series of posts of my recent research trip to Des Moines, Iowa with my Dad) Seriously!   Crap! I am ready to go on the trip, and I decide to print out copies of the census records.   Hummmmm? my 1,107 source index is gone?!?   It is the searchable index I have for my sources and documents.   The index sources the documents, lists who is on the document, and where the document comes from.   It must be on my other flash drive, instead of “copying” I must have “cut”.   Nope.    The Index to all of my documents is not on the other flash drive. I panic. Crap! I am a mad woman searching on the desktop, laptop and all of my flash-drives.   W-H-Y didn’t I back up sooner?   Oh, that’s right my backup was going to be the flash-drive I take with me and I had just finished entering all of the newly found Iowa documents! Crap! I pull out my last back up—all is not lost I have a back-up that has 845 documents. ...

(note this post is part of a series of posts of my recent research trip to Des Moines, Iowa with my Dad) 5 days and counting. . .I still have two shifts at the Library to work, and a grandbaby blessing before we leave!  It looks like all of the “genealogy” stuff is ready, now to pack and prepare all of my personal items and to tie up any loose ends at the house.   You know:   mail, lawn care, pets, automobile preparation, laundry, banking, etc. All the last minute stuff you do before you go on a trip.    I am feeling pretty confident that my “genealogy” stuff is ready and I will be able to spend my time doing some quality and productive searches.   Now I am getting very excited!

(note this post is part of a series of posts of my recent research trip to Des Moines, Iowa with my Dad) 6 days. . .in addition to my personal necessities I pack: laptop including power cords, flash drives, locks, etc. 2 cameras; camera chargers and cable cords for both GPS for grave marking & extra batteries research logs/guides* questions for relatives family group sheets extra pencils, paper clips, sheet protectors, flash drives, etc. addresses and phone numbers of local depositories I want to visit including times and locations and any restrictions.  because I chose to drive I can also take my own printer! So, in addition to my digital copies, I print out most of what I will need so I have a hard copy in case my electronics fail or I don’t have access to them. *Actually my research logs are a notebook containing several organized sections.

(note this post is part of a series of posts of my recent research trip to Des Moines, Iowa with my Dad) After the hectic week I had last week, I begin this week by organizing everything I have and organizing my trip. I have to organize where I want to go, what I want to find, and what I want to search.  I begin by taking all of my notes and questions and create one gigantic research log.  I then cross reference the research log to family group sheets that contain all of the vital information I may need while I am in the trenches of the search!  (I have learned that if I combine research logs and identifying information, the research logs become too cumbersome to use as a research tool.  Thank you Rock Springs, Kemmerer, and Green River, Wyoming for the practice in location searches!) I then want to put together a nice book for those family members I will meet and who will help me answer questions to further my research. Finally, I copy everything I have made...