To some, reading this account may be as interesting as watching paint dry, but as a family historian I feel compelled to record it anyway. It's too long for a blog entry, but here it is anyway. The trip was wonderful in every way, and I am extremely grateful.

Grateful, first, to my dear cousin and travel buddy, Shellee Sauer. Her grandfather, Roland, was brother to my father, LaMoine “Larry” Stillwell. They grew up in Watford City, McKenzie County, North Dakota. Shellee is a wonderful woman who shares my interest in family history. I don’t drive, and she does marvelously, even when there’s a ferocious downpour with high winds amid the mountainous terrain.

The drive to Watford City went quickly, in part because I read to Shellee the 111 short clippings I had harvested from a microfilmed collection of the Schafer Record, 1907-1919. These provided a good backdrop for our research, giving us a sense of how our relatives fit into the community and what they did.

We arrived early enough in the afternoon to stop in at the McKenzie County Library. The director, Stephanie, helped us locate former family land in the library’s plat books.  We were able to determine who is the current owner of each property. Our purpose was to give the owners a courtesy call before going exploring, but we were unsuccessful in making any connections.

Stephanie brought from her office an historical gem: A transcript of interviews in the matter of Charles Bannon, the hired hand who murdered the entire Albert and Lulia Haven family in Schafer in 1930.  Bannon was never tried for the murders because he was lynched by a vigilante mob.  The transcripts include testimony from locals about the Haven family and their knowledge of events surrounding the murders.

This local scandal was of interest to Shellee and I for a particular reason. Family lore has it that Orin Wesley and Mabel Stillwell hosted the Haven family for Sunday dinner the day before they were murdered!

Our mission for Day Two was to be at the McKenzie County Courthouse as soon as it opened. We wanted to look for records of land bought or sold by ancestors. Windy cheerfully explained how to access the records on computer, and we found a few, but it was quickly apparent we would not be able to do a methodical and comprehensive search in the little time we had.  We learned that all the data we are seeking is available online by subscription. 

We arrived at the Pioneer Museum as soon as they opened. We knew they have done extensive work indexing the many books and scrapbooks in the collection.  Frances Olson has done much of this work herself, and she was on hand to answer questions, bring books and print out spreadsheets. This computerized index took them a great deal of time to build, and we were so grateful for it. We were able to get photocopies of at least a dozen pages about Stillwells and Quinnells.  Shellee’s grandmother was born Margaret Quinnell.

Another major goal was met at the Pioneer Museum.  We found an obituary for Mabel Lamb that I did not recognize.  It stated that her father, John A. Lamb, died in 1932. John was in the 1930 census, but his second wife, Willa Mae Hubbard, was in another state living with her family by 1940.  We don’t know where John Lamb is buried, or how he died.

After a break we headed out looking for the Schafer Cemetery, family land and the Schafer townsite.

The only building left standing where Schafer once was is the old jail, from which the murderer Charles Bannon was once taken.  As we approached the building, on what appeared to be private property, with a house rather nearby, I wasn’t comfortable getting out of the car to approach it.  Before we even stopped the car, Shellee had discovered another good reason to stay put: there was a rattle snake slithering its way away from us into the grass!

We did walk around the Schafer Cemetery, with a careful eye out for snakes.  We found the markers for Orin Wesley and Mabel Stillwell, Wayne Berdine Stillwell, Leona Stillwell and Beatrice Stillwell. They were located in the first row facing west and Highway 1806. In the second row, behind them, was a single granite marker for the entire Haven family. Neighbors in life, neighbors in death.

Next, we drove around on public roads, looking for what had once been the lands of our ancestors. We took Highway 1806 north of the cemetery. The road had two bends, right, then left, where the road moved a mile east before continuing north.  As soon as the road straightened out going north again, we took  a left.  We drove west along the south border of land once owned by Charles Wesley Stillwell, my great-grandfather.  Next to it was the quarter-of-a-quarter that had been filed under the name of his wife, Frances Smith Stillwell.

At the end of the section, we hoped to find a road to take us north to see land held by my grandfather, Orin Wesley Stillwell and Grandma Mabel. The beginning of the road was still visible, but the road itself had reverted to nature. In the distance where the road would have crossed over the ridge, we thought we saw a notch in the ridge where the road would have been.

Encouraged by our finds, we backtracked to Highway 1806 and continued north. We found another west-leading road and followed it to where George Seelye had owned land.  George is the brother of Cora Seelye, first wife of John Lamb, and mother of Mabel Lamb, who married Orin Wesley Stillwell.

Thanks to our library research, we knew that a Forland Trust has recently owned the land. As we gazed at the landscape, we saw a sign posted with the name “Forland,” so it’s likely the right land.

Shellee and I had a goal of viewing the land where the Haven family once lived. We were able to locate it on plat maps, but in driving the actual territory there was no public access to reach the land, and it was heavily posted with No Trespassing warnings.

That evening we headed north of Watford City to the home of Terry and Jonilla Kellogg. Terry’s mother was born Donna Quinnell, daughter of Lars Peter Quinnell, brother to Margaret Quinnell.  Margaret married Roland Stillwell, son of Orin Wesley Stillwell. (That makes Terry my aunt’s great nephew.) What a beautiful home they have, nestled amid the seriously steep terrain.

After a lovely dinner we went for a drive in a Jeep. We saw some wildlife and the stone foundation of an old cabin. I loved the views and managed not to put any fear-induced claw marks in the dashboard of the vehicle. The whole evening was so enjoyable, it reminded me that family history is more than land, records and photos.  It’s also living people who are fascinating to meet.

Our last day, Saturday, we drove around Arnegard where Shellee’s grandmother/my aunt was from. Then we arrived back at Watford City for one final stop. The Heritage Park is a collection of buildings brought in from all around McKenzie County.  They are building a new center there that features an amazing set of ceiling fans that look like windmills and are operated by connecting belts.  Can’t wait to return to find it all done.

In each of the buildings, we carefully checked books, photos, and artifacts to see anything related to our family.  We found a photo of Schafer’s main street in the 1910s, showing several buildings that corresponded to the enterprises of family members.  One building was “Schafer Cash Grocery,” which I now believe was owned by John A. Lamb, father of Mabel Stillwell, my grandmother.

One of the best highlights of the trip, to me, was moments before we left the Heritage Park to go home. We were visiting with Heather, one of the volunteer staff, about the movie being filmed this summer called “End of the Rope,” about the murder of the Haven family and the lynching of Charles Bannon. I almost mentioned to Heather that my grandparents had hosted the Haven family for Sunday dinner the day before the family was murdered. Not sure if I had already said that, I kept my mouth shut.

Then Shellee looks at her and says, “You know, our family lore says…” and told Heather the story.

“Yes,” Heather replied, nodding, “I remember hearing about nine years ago that the Havens had been to the home of friends for Sunday dinner the day before they were murdered.”

Yes! Yes! Yes! Confirmation for an amazing family story that is hard or impossible to document, but I believe true, nevertheless.

Such an amazing adventure with my dear cousin Shellee, learning about the past, enjoying the present, and looking forward to many more good times in the future.

Omigosh.  Omigosh! Obituaries are the mother lode of family information. My advice is to go slowly, line for line and word for word, to extract the greatest value.  Because there is so much detail in your average obituary, I literally don’t enter any new information until the preceding words have been combed, starting with the headline.

Imagine if the death date isn’t specifically listed (Widow Jones Died Sunday Following Car Accident), but you have the date the obituary was published (Wednesday, March 12, 1930). Legacy has a nifty tool on each person’s page that looks like a calendar page. When you click on it, you can use the calendar to go back in time and see what day of the month was the Sunday before Wednesday, March 12, 1930. 

OK, you could probably do that on your fingers, but maybe not if the time gap is between months.

Anyway, you’ll know for sure she died Sunday, March 9.  If the newspaper got it right.  And don’t assume the car accident was Sunday.  It might have happened days prior, and she didn’t die until Sunday. This is a good tip to check earlier issues of the newspaper to see if there is a story of a car accident.

And did you notice “Widow” Jones?  If you don’t have a husband listed for her, create one, using the name Husband Jones.  For his death date, input “bef 9 Mar 1930.” 

Wow! That’s a lot to think about, and that’s just the headline.

Continue on in the obituary. Usually it lists birthdate and names of parents.  Add the parents if you don’t already have them. Add Events to her page for religious affiliations, organizations, hobbies, education, employment, even the fact that she won blue ribbons at the county fair!

When survivors are listed, add them to your family tree, using the same source. If spouses of adult children are listed, add them to your database. 

For each child, record on their page an Event like this:
“Lived at the time of mother’s death 9 Mar 1930 Ivanhoe, Lincoln (County), Minnesota, USA.”

Repeat with each survivor, applying the correct relationship and residence at the time of death.  This notation can be very helpful later if you’re trying to sort out where this person lived when.

Be sure to fill in the deceased’s page with info on burial date, location and name of cemetery.

Of course, before doing any of this, you’ve scanned or downloaded the source document, named it according to your identification system, and created at Master Source. As you input each piece of information, you applied the source to those fields.  Brilliant!

This is the last of this series on how to get started with family history research. For more information, I recommend studying the Legacy software tutorials or viewing You Tube videos.

rI hope by now you’ve given up hope of creating the perfect family tree.  I don’t believe it exists.

The first rule of genealogy is “There Will Always Be Errors and Omissions!”

The second rule is “Review Rule One.”

Sometimes conflicting information isn’t because of anyone’s error.   My Grandma spelled her name Mabel on the inscription when she gave my Dad a gift Bible. Not sure what her monument says, but she was born in Mable, Minnesota, and at one time in that town, any parents naming their child Mable would get some free land. It’s spelled Mabel on some documents, and Mable on others.

My children’s second great grandmother was named Johanna Sophia, but her descendants can’t agree on whether her daughter was Johanna Sophia or Sophia Johanna.

My aunt Margaret was known to family by that spelling, but her monument says Margarette as well as at least one census record.

Speaking of the census! There’s a great place to find misspelled names.  I’ve found that one year everyone in a household was listed by their middle name! The original records were hand-written, so you can imagine the challenge they had when trying to decipher the digitized records.

Surnames, of course, often changed spellings over the years.  If someone spells Stillwell with only 3 Ls, I don’t rule them out.
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Monuments and markers are sometimes erected years after the burial.  Dates, therefore, can be easily confused.
That’s the beauty of saving scanned or downloaded documents and listing the source in the Source Clipboard.  Now you’ll be able to consult your entry and tell what the source was for any piece of information.  When someone challenges your info, you can reveal your sources and reason together.

“Too complicated!”
Using shorthand to ID photos like “Uncle Jerry’s youngest sister, Sarah” or “Grandma Wilton” won’t be  less complicated for future generations.  Every generation produces more Grandma Wiltons.  Now THAT’s complicated. How are they going to figure out who’s in the photo a few generations from now?  Probably they’ll have shrug their shoulders and give up.

It sounds complicated. It’s a bit difficult to explain.  But if you persevere and try it, you’ll be glad you did when you’re able to locate some obscure document or photo without pawing through stacks of paper copies or shoeboxes full of photographs.
 
“What happens if the Legacy family tree is not available anymore?” 

That’s something I’ve wrestled over a long time.  Is it a system that is useless without the MRIN and RIN numbers from the database on the Legacy program?

I’ve decided, no. If you are diligent about using both the identification numbers and names when you name the photo file or document image, you can search your hard drive for people just by their names.  When you look at the results, there should be marriage and individual numbers included in the file name.  Copy down those numbers and do additional searches. Future generations can benefit from those MRINs and RINs even if they don’t have the database.
 
“Can you make it less complicated?”

I think what makes it feel complicated is that you have to look up MRIN or RIN numbers for each person identified in the photos. It takes a bit of care to type in codes, names, dates and other notations. I can’t make that easier. I can only attest that the effort is truly worth it.
 
Do I have to code every photo and document like this?”

No.  Just the ones you want to be able to find quickly.  The main body of your photograph collection is snapshots.  I put these in one big file. I’m in the process of getting at least approximate dates for them, and a list of who are in the photo. The special photos, like birth, graduation and wedding photos get carefully labeled and put in a separate file.  Legacy makes it easy to link photos in this file to the program, so you get a picture of a person next to their information.
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I also delete a lot of duplicates and bad shots.  This is definitely a time when less is more.

Where I Get the Codes
My family tree database is resident on my computer, not the internet. I use it to store all my data about each person. 
Every individual who is entered in the database gets a unique number, called a Record Identification Number, or RIN.  I am R2, Hannah is R3, and John is R4, simply because that was the order in which they were entered in the database.  Hannah’s husband, Nate, is R8404 and their son, Roland, is R8625.

Each marriage/union/partnership also receives a Marriage Record Identification Number. This MRIN is assigned in the order entered. My parent’s MRIN is M3. Hannah and Nate’s number is M1164.
 
How I Apply the Codes
If the photo is of just one individual, I use their RIN and full name plus some description.
If the photo is of a couple, I use their MRIN first, and add their RINs and names as well.
If the photo is of a couple and their children, I use the MRIN first and include everyone’s RINs with their names.
If the photo is multigenerational, I use the MRIN of the oldest parent represented followed by everyone’s RIN and name. For example, a photo of two sisters goes under their parents’ MRIN.

I enter the date after the first M or R number. Four-digit year, space, two-digit month, space, two-digit day.  For example, the Fourth of July photos would be dated 2021 07 04.
I use L2R to signify “left to right” along with bk and fr for back and front.
 
Examples
R2 1960 12 16 Julie Stillwell in bassinet day of birth
R2 1960 12 Julie Stillwell home in crib
M3 1960 12 16 R7 Larry and R8 Donna Stillwell R2 Julie Stillwell born
M3 1970 12 24  Stillwells L2R bk R7 Larry R8 Donna fr R429 Jay R430 Scott R2 Julie R431Dave R432 Lisa after opening gifts
M8 1970 12 25 R15 Gerhart R16 Emma Busch with R8 Donna at table
 
The name of every single image or photo in your hard drive folder must be different, or the computer will volunteer to overwrite the old one. Adding identifying verbiage like “lace collar,” “cowboy hat” or “on bike” will help make these photo names unique.

I also tack on a, b, or c to photos to designate a) a friend of someone in the database, b) a belonging of someone in the database or c) a location relevant to someone in the datatbase.  Example:
R2a grad picture of Julies friend Hidee
R2b 1979 Julie Stillwell first car
M3c Larry Stillwell landscaping at Little Pelican Lake home

Practice naming photos with imaginary numbers, incorporating names and dates or other facts if you have room. Only once have I run out of space when naming a photo or document using this system.

OK, let’s imagine your cousin emails you and remarks that their new baby has red hair “Just like Great-Aunt Winny.” The cousin wants to know if you have any photos of Aunt Winny to see if there is a resemblance. You smile because this is going to be fast and easy.

First you fire up your computer, launch your Legacy software and search the index to find her in the database. Her Record Identification Number or RIN is 266.  So on a piece of paper, you write her name and R266. All photos coded with R266 at the start should have only Winny in them.

Then you see that Winny was married twice.  There are likely photos of her listed under the marriage numbers if the pictures were of her and others, such as husband or children. Her marriage to Ralph was Marriage Record Identification Number or MRIN 57, so you write down M57. Her second marriage to Jonas was M58 and you write that down, too.

You know that Winny might have been included in photos with her parents or grandparents, so you write those MRINs down, too.  Let’s say they are M123, M145 and M244.

Where did these numbers come from? They were assigned chronologically by the Legacy program as you entered individuals and documented unions.

Now you navigate to your hard drive, go to the Pictures folder and create a new folder called “Share R266 Winny.” You search your entire photo collection for R266. You find photos to copy to your share file. Then you search your photo folder for each of the MRIN numbers, looking for photos of Winny and others, copying them to the share file. 

Next you look over the contents of the Share file and delete duplicates. (These are only copies of the original scans on your hard drive.)  Then you email the contents of the Share file to your cousin.

Without an identification number system, you might have spent hours searching for photos. Instead, it took only minutes.
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And your coffee isn’t even cold yet!

There’s nothing sadder than an interesting old photo of people who are unidentified and lost to history. Maybe there’s “Grandpa” scrawled on back.  Not helpful.

Ever go through a stack of old photos, fearful that you’ve labeled one as your second cousin’s daughter, but it’s really just a school picture of an acquaintance of one of your children?

What about when kids are named after older relatives?  How do you keep track of which “Jim Johnson” is which?
Sadly, most photos are never properly identified, much less dated. When my Mom (Donna Busch Stillwell) sparked my interest in genealogy with her family tree efforts, I started scanning photos.  I debated quite a while before deciding on my strategy for naming and dating photos and document images.

Once you start dabbling in family history, you’ll find your work area filling up fast with paper and photos.  You might try organizing papers in binders and file folders and file cabinets.  If you’re starting fresh with genealogy and you own the technology, you might as well go “full-digital” from the start and save and store everything electronically. Future generations will thank you.
 
My Solution

I decided to use the file name of the scanned image or photo to store as much identifying info as possible, including identification numbers from my Legacy software database.  Now, instead of clicking through a fat folder of files to find an image, I can search the photo folder by name, individual and marriage codes, year, city name, spouse name or whatever terms might be helpful.
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Let’s make a deal: Be sure you understand the system before you discount or reject it. Down the road you might be thrilled that you adopted the system and can find documents and photos so easily.  

I feel a bit like a parent hovering over a child as he or she learns to ride a bike.  Pedal! Steer! Balance! And all at the same time.
I guess it’s because in helping others to get started on the genealogy trail, it’s like a do-over for myself.  What would be the optimal way of doing it?  Which comes first, the source documents or the family tree?  Here’s my plan.

1. If you want to try the free version of Legacy to see how the program works, generally, that’s fine. You can download the free version and play around with it to see how it handles. Don’t enter too much, because I recommend you just delete the whole program off your computer when you’ve decided you like it. The free version does not include Source Writer, an amazingly valuable tool for recording your sources. It also lacks many great features found only in the deluxe version.
2. Investing in the deluxe version of Legacy is under $35 right now. If you can afford it, I suggest you start with the deluxe version and save yourself the hassle of potential upgrade problems.
3. If it gives you a special protocol for getting started, go ahead and use that.
4. Look for instructions on using the Source Writer. Look at the long list of types of sources and scroll down to “Personal Knowledge.”  Follow the prompts, listing yourself as the source of this personal knowledge.
5. Start with yourself on the database. Put in what you know by heart. Before leaving your panel, use Source Writer to attribute the information to “Personal Knowledge of (Your Name).”
6. Now add spouse, parents, siblings, children, all from what you know off the top of your head. You don’t have to fill in every blank.  Just record what you know. After you add info for each person, be sure to click one of the buttons under the Source to “apply” the source to that fields you just filled.
7. Have you finished listing all the family you can think of off the top of your head?  Did you remember to apply a Source button to each person? Great!  Well done! Now you’ve got the beginning of your family tree with a source for every person.

As you build your tree, you will use sources other than what you remember in your own head. You will have hundreds and hundreds of copies of census records, marriage licenses, school records, obituaries, and many other things.   You can’t just label each image “John’s report card,” “Margaret’s wedding license” or “Grandpa’s obituary.” You need an identification number system to definitively identify each piece of documentation you save on your hard drive, and for every photo. I created a system that works wonders for me, and I’ll be sharing it with you in the next blogs.

Computer: Is it current and “fast” enough to handle internet research, downloading files, scanning, and printing?
Internet access: Does it allow you speedy connections to the World Wide Web?

Flatbed scanner: You’ll want to scan full-size documents as well as photos, so a flatbed scanner is better than one that only scans photo-sized items.

Printer: You may not need this as much, especially if you choose to store images of all your documents on your hard drive instead of in a file cabinet. But sometimes it will be easiest to download a document and print out a hard copy before you begin harvesting information. And you’ll probably want to print some reports to share with family!

Genealogy Software: If you choose a software other than Legacy, you may be completely satisfied.  However, since I know nothing about other software programs, I won’t be able to help much. If you choose Legacy, I’m happy to help you learn the program. Legacy has a free version, but it doesn’t include the bells and whistles that the paid version offers.  The bells and whistles are worth it.

Source Material:  Your home is likely filled with items that will be useful source material for your family tree database.  However, please don’t try organizing those materials yet.  I have important information to share in a future post that may influence how you deal with these records and memorabilia. 

If you haven’t begun to build a family tree on your computer software, you have a grand opportunity. You can have a database that includes sources for virtually everything you enter.  And that’s no small thing.

Genealogy purists say that family history without documentation is fairy tale. I don’t subscribe to that attitude, but I do put great stock in making source notations when entering data. You just won’t have documentation for everything, but it’s great to be able to give an answer when someone says, “where did you get that information?”

The paid Legacy software program includes a wonderful feature called Source Writer that helps you write proper source notes for any bit of information you add to the database. The free version of Legacy has a rudimentary means of recording sources, which may be satisfactory for many.  However, the Source Writer makes it so easy to generate excellent source notations, so I’d definitely cough up the cash for the paid version of Legacy. It’s a one-time purchase price, not a subscription fee.

There are all types of sources.  Letters, books, newspapers, land records, wills, photographs, ship manifests, and so on.  The list is long.  The deluxe Legacy program  with Source Writer even helps you document a source as “Personal Knowledge of John Doe,” where you insert your name or that of your verbal source.  It asks questions and offers fields into which you input data.  Like magic, you end up with a properly written source notation.  Easy as pie.

And it’s so very important!  Without it, when someone asks where you found the info, all you can say is “I saw it somewhere…” And believe me.  They WILL ask!
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There are two things I wish I knew when I first started family history research:  Make source notations, and always enter women’s last names with their name at birth, not their married name.