Trials and Tribulations of a Family Historian

In July my family and I traveled to France and Belgium for a 14-day tour of battlefields, military museums, and history. As the consummate genealogist, I poked my head in archives and libraries that were open when we were there. One of those was the Passchendaele Archives.

But first, a bit of history.

Also known as the third battle of Ypres, the Battle of Passchendaele was fought from 18 July to 6 November 1917 in Flanders. The offensive's goal was to push the German's away from the ports and eliminate the U-boat bases along the coast. However, it came to be known as one of the bloodiest WWI battles.

Commanded by General Sir Douglas Haig the Bristish forces shelled the German lines for 10 days. In total, roughly 4.5 million shells fell on the enemy. Haig believed the German Army was close to collapse and with one large offensive the war would soon be over.

The British forces consisting of mostly Australian and New Zealand troops fought through rain and

extensively shelling beginning in mid-July to attempt the capture Passchendaele Ridge from the German forces.  Historians state the largest amount of rain in 30 years fell at this time. The result, men and horses drowning in the quagmire. Haig ordered the assault suspended until the 20th of September.

Herbert Plumer took command on 20 September and made some progress with captures of land east of Ypres. Canadian troops 100,000 strong were ordered to Passchendaele in mid-October and through their planning, the Canadians captured the ridge.

In the nearly three month offensive, the Allies gained just under five miles. The human toll was also massive with 325,000 Allied and 260,000 German casualties. In addition, the town was completely destroyed.

The Memorial Museum in Passchendaele and the attached Memorial Park is a remarkable experience. It brings to life the story of these men and the utter futility of it all. The family spent 7 hours there touring the museum, walking the park, and visiting Tyne Cot cemetery. If you ever have the chance to do this, I highly recommend it.

During lunch, I read a few fliers about other attractions in the area. During the browsing of leaflets, I discovered one for the local archives. I looked at my husband, he looked back at me, sighed, shrugged and we adjusted our plans. It's like he knows me!

The archive is in a 1920s era art deco home (beautiful and one of the oldest in the town) with a library and research center set-up. Primarily the archive performs research on the persons who fought at this battle. Their primary goal is to create a database with the name and military information for every man who fell during the battle. Not only for the Allies but for the German soldiers too.

In addition to the database, the historians on-site will research your WWI ancestors who were at the Battle of Passchendaele. So, if you are doing research on this area of WWI I recommend contacting the archives. They are friendly, multilingual, and excited to share information with you.

Sources:
BBC "Battle of Passchendaele: 31 July - 6 November 1917"
Canada and the First World War "Passchendaele"
Historic UK "The Battle of Passchendaele"

While I was doing some <gasp> family research last night and I stumbled on this page: Wabash Walley Visions & Voices Digital Memory Project.  It is fantastic, and if you are a Hoosier (or just researching some) this should be a site to check out for images and documents to add to you family histories.

From the website:

A Digital Memory Project is dedicated to the documentation and the preservation of the region's history and heritage in print, pictures, and sound. 

As a collaborative effort involving the libraries, museums, cultural organizations and community groups, the project provides free access to its digital collection via the internet and promotes remembrance and lifelong learning for all Hoosiers. 

Wabash Visions & Voices focuses on the Wabash Valley region in west central Indiana and east central Illinois. The digital collection contains artifacts, administrative and personal papers, manuscripts, photographs, texts, yearbooks, maps, oral histories, and other audio/video files. Genealogical resources are not included.

The list of partners for the project is extensive, and they are actively seeking more.  If you know of an archive, society, college, museum, or another institution that may want to participate in the Digital Memory Project make sure they see this website.

I went there to research about the flood of 1913 that hit the Wabash Valley.  I did find some wonderful images there showing the devastation of the flooding and the impact it had on my ancestors.  Then I started to poke around.

Imagine how happy I was when I found their documentation page.  This is an excellent resource if you have ever thought about putting together a digital archive of your own.  Check it out for resources, forms, and tutorials to get you started.

Fairfax is not a repository that I had researched at before so it took me a few days of digging and prep work before I figured out how to proceed.

Yes, that has been my house this week.  I have finally mastered the art of calling/writing to county court houses and archives across the county. My gumption to finally do so, and swallow my nerves, has paid off. Letters started to arrive on Tuesday and it has been amazing.

Not all of them have been good.  Some are letters informing me that no records were found, but others have been full of goodies.  Best of all was the envelope from my aunt.  It had newspaper clippings, photocopies of two letters, and a journal entry written in the early 1900s.

The journal entry was from my 2nd great grandfather William Brennan, and was him writing his own life story up to 1880.  I only have the one page, and now I wonder where the rest of it is!  There is a letter written by an aunt I am unfamiliar with telling the story of the Duley family.  William Brennan's wife was Mary Frances Bline, her mother was Sarah Elizabeth Duley.  The last letter was an account of Sarah Elizabeth Duley Bline's sisters coming to visit in 1901.  nearly 10 pages of accounts about life around the town , who they ate with, where they stayed, what they did each day, and so forth. 

Typing of said documents will commence soon....

I am sure you all remember a few weeks ago that I went to NARA’s 8^th annual Genealogy Faire.  If not, you can read the post here.  They had quite a few booths set-up with representatives of the local genealogy community.  One of them was from the Thomas Balch Library located in Leesburg, Virginia.  I stopped and chatted, then made an offhanded comment that I needed to get up to Leesburg to look around their archives for a document and maybe they could tell me where it is located.  Well, the response was phenomenal.

In a few short seconds I was handed a paper and pen, asked to write down what information I wanted, was informed they knew the Archivist there, and if I would be back in the morning they
would have answers for me.  Oh. My. Goodness.  True to their word when I went by their booth the next day I had a brochure from the archive, a business card for the man to contact, and was informed he was waiting for my email because those records were there.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.

These documents are the court records of Loudon County, Virginia where my 5th great-grandfather Edward Darnell Arvin gave sworn testimony that he served in the Revolutionary War while living in Maryland.  A cousin of mine, from another son of my 4^th great-grandfather Henry Arvin, has a wonderful website with this document and tons of research on it.  However, there is nothing, NOTHING, like seeing it for yourself.  To me, being able to hold and analysis a document is so much more rewarding than only seeing it on a computer screen.

Best part, reading it and then having a light bulb go on.  There is a connection here between a 5^th great-grandfather on my mother’s side and a 5^th great-grandfather on my father’s side.  Have to do a little more digging, but this is going to be a great phone call to mom and dad.