Re: Researching ancestry in and around Chicago

Gundemarie Scholz wrote:
Hello,

I am currently trying to research information about some family members who
emigrated from Germany to the US in the beginning of the century, on the
base of a family chronicle I have from my great-grandfather.

I am familiar with familysearch.com, and ellisisland.org, and I have a basic
subscription to ancestry.de that allows me to view some of the US census
results. I haven't found out exactly which ones I can view, but I suspect it
depends on whether the person comes from Germany.

So far I have found the relevant Ellis Island records for a group consisting
of grandmother, mother and daughter from 1903 and 1913. It seems the
grandmother stayed with one of her sons (emigrated earlier) in Waukegan,
Illinois, because this is recorded in the 1910 US census. However, I could
not find her name in the "Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre-1916" or in
the"Database of Illinois Death Certificates, 1916-1950". I have read that
deaths before 1916 were not always recorded properly, so is there another
way to find out more? And can I assume that she died before 1916 then?

I know that mother and daughter moved to Chicago. The daughter's Ellis
Island record from 1913 states she was going to stay with her mother at
"Goethestr. 304, Chicago", and according to Google maps "W Goethe Str" still
exists in Chicago.

The mother was part of the catholic apostolic community in Chicago, and as
her husband had been a catholic apostolic priest in Germany the daughter is
likely to have been raised in that spirit as well. According to the family
chronicle the daughter worked as a stenotypist in Chicago, after 1913 she
lived in New York, Philadelphia and Boston. When she got a new job she
disappeared during the relocation and never turned up again.

I have found very little information about the old catholic apostolic church
in the US which is not surprising as it slowly becomes extinct due to the
lack of church officials. I suspect though somebody might still hold on to
the old church records, can anybody advise where to start that search?

As the daughter was properly employed, would it be possible to track some
information down that way? Would she have paid tax, and would that be
recorded? Would she show up in the US social security death index?

What other possibilities do I have?

Kind regards,
Gunde

To the best of my knowledge if you have access to the census image you have access to the US census. The US census is taken every 10 years, and Ancestry has them for 1790 through 1930 the last one released. The Ancestry index is quite versatile as you can search on partial names with the wild card characters * and ?. You need to use three characters with the * You can search on first name only or no name if you search on the State, county and township.

In searching the US census remember the US is a mobile nation, so start keep your searches nation wide of all of the records. I have a family the grew up in Indiana and move between census to Washington state.

When you find someone in the census make sure you read the image of the actual census as there is much information in them.

Other places to look are:

http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#

http://www.deathindexes.com/illinois/cook.html
http://www.chicagoancestors.org/
http://www.cookcountygenealogy.com/SignIn.aspx

http://www.findagrave.com/
http://www.interment.net/
.

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