Lesson 9

I searched for myself in Ancestry and did find my name and address listed for both my current address and the address where I lived 20+ years ago.  It appears this information came from voter registration records.  I also found my marriage record and some other listings (probably again from voter records) when I searched under my maiden name.

I found my paternal grandparents listed in the 1910, 1920, and 1930 censuses.  I found my maternal grandparents in the 1920 and 1930 censuses.  I had searched for them a few years ago but had difficulty finding them in the 1920 census, even though they were married in 1918.  At that time I was finally able to locate them by going through township pages.  Even though they were married, Grandma's name was listed under her maiden name (they did live in the same home with her parents), and Grandpa's name was listed below the other siblings.  Plus, the last name had been transcribed incorrectly.  (I reported it to Ancestry at that time, and they have since added the corrected spelling to the record.)  And, even though Grandpa's first name was Anton, the 1920 census listed him as Anthony.  Grandpa immigrated to the U.S. in 1913, so I know he won't be in the 1910 census.

A search for South Dakota that is limited to photos and maps brings up more than three million results--a few too many to browse through at this time!  I found it interesting that a picture of the 1909 Corn Palace in Mitchell shows  the emblem of a swastika in the decorations!  (I digressed to do a little research and learned that the emblem is an ancient Eastern religion symbol, and I'm sure that in 1909 it did not have the same connotations we associate with it today.)

In HeritageQuest books, I searched for my hometown of Highland, Wisconsin.  I had 26 hits, but nothing that seemed of interest or pertained to my hometown.  (Some hits were for other towns in Wisconsin with streets named Highland.)  So, I tried a search for Aberdeen, South Dakota and looked at some of the pages of the book, "History of Dakota Territory" by George W. Kingsbury.  I didn't feel like this resource would be very helpful for my personal genealogical research, but perhaps it would be for others.

In Sanborn Maps, I looked at maps for Aberdeen.  Even though our house was built in 1911, I could not find it until the map for 1923.  It looks like our house was on the edge of town back then . . . which is far from the case now!  I also looked at the 1908 map and found what was then the Alexander Mitchell Library (a different location from where it is now).  That building no longer exists.