Wednesday, July 4, 2018

A Possible Cure for Brick Walls

Over the years, everyone who has begun researching their family history has had their share of successes and disappointments.  We rejoiced when great grand dad showed up in the census records along with aunts and uncles that we may or may not have personally known.  The census record we found put us in touch with them.

Of course we also found ourselves facing those brick walls that kept us from discovering the next generation of our family.  We searched all the records, books and journals we could locate without finding the information we needed.  We posted our queries in magazines and on bulletin boards, without receiving a reply.  I remember eagerly searching the name index in each issue of Everton's Genealogical Helper  when it arrived in my mailbox, hoping that someone would have answers for my Vanderhoof or Stager brickwalls.  I spent two days in the Family History Library library in Salt Lake City, reading through every New Jersey Stager or Vanderhoof will looking for one that would mention William C. Stager or Ann Vanderhoof.  Unfortunately I returned home without finding them.

In the early days, everything moved at a slow pace.  Your next opportunity to search for answers might have to wait until you could find the time to make a trip to a courthouse or archive hours away from home.  You eagerly awaited the release of the 1920 or 1930 census so that you could place the microfilm in a reader and search for new records.  The wait for the next census to be released was a long ten years.

Somewhere along the line, I discovered that the local LDS church had a Family History Center where I could rent a microfilm or fiche that might contain the information I needed.  It might have only taken two weeks for the film to arrive at the FHC closest to home, but it seemed like a long time to me.  Those were also the days when you might have to wait your turn to use one of the microfilm readers available at the center.

Times have changed.  For someone new to family history research, the picture I painted above may seem unreal.  Today, anyone researching their family has grown accustomed to doing their searches on the internet without trips to libraries, court houses, archives or Salt Lake City. That is of course a mistake, but one that many people make today.  But, it is certainly true that more and more can be found on the internet.  Ancestry, My Heritage, and Find My Past all have a constantly growing library of online records that can be searched.  The resources of the Family History Center in Salt Lake City have increasingly become available to researchers comfortably seated at their home computer or at the nearby FHC.  You no longer have to rent a film and wait for it to arrive.  In fact in 2017, the Family History Library stopped duplicating films for rental and began making more and more available on their www.familysearch.org website.  If you don't find what you are waiting for when you first look,  try again in a few days, or next week.  It may have been added to the online collection.

At the rate material is being added, I suspect that many brick walls may fall.




Ebenezer: the Community of True Inspiration

Contributed by Linda Schmieder for the August 2012 issue of the Yorker Palatine
In 1842, seeking religious freedom, a group from Ronneburg, Germany immigrated to America. For over a century, these people, known as the Community of True Inspiration, a pietist sect, had been suffering religious persecution in Germany. The Community of True Inspiration has its roots in the Hesse region of Germany, the founders said to be Eberhard Gruber and Johann Rock. They practiced avoidance of military service, refusal to send their children to state schools and refusal to take an oath. They were being arrested, fined, stoned and assaulted. Four men from the community, led by a twenty-four year old carpenter, Christian Metz, were sent to America to establish a new homeland for themselves. They purchased a 5,000 acre parcel at $10.50 per acre in Western New York not far from Buffalo. They named their land Ebenezer.
Four hamlets were established: Middle Ebenezer (Gardenville), Upper Ebenezer (Blossom), Lower Ebenezer (Ebenezer) and New Ebenezer (Elma) — all of these today are part of West Seneca, N. Y. Each hamlet's boundary had border streets or footpaths, so strangers could travel around the individual hamlets without entering the communities. This was purposeful so as not to interrupt their daily life. The border streets of Middle Ebenezer still exist today, they are: North Avenue, South Avenue and West Avenue. East Avenue is now called Weigand Avenue. By 1844, more than 800 followers had arrived from Germany.
These Inspirationists revolved their lives around the Word of the Lord. Mandatory prayer services were held each evening in the Meeting House and on religious holidays the entire day was spent in meeting, breaking only for meals. Services were held on Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon. Services were simple scripture readings and singing with no instrumental accompaniment. The Meeting House was unpainted with no ornamentation. Males and females sat separate. The Elders read sermons and the congregation joined in by reading Bible passages. At Christmas, there were no trees or presents. The women wore long, dark colored dresses, a white cap and dark colored shawls and aprons. A white apron was worn to Meeting. The men also wore dark coats and trousers, leather boots and brim hats. Men grew beards but no moustaches.
The Ebenezer Inspirationists formed their own governing body, the Elders of the Church. They had a communal society. Each man had a job or trade which benefited the entire community. Families lived in separate dwellings and all meals were eaten in the common kitchen buildings where women prepared the meals for the community. Men, women and children each ate at separate tables and no conversation was allowed during the meal. Taken from a book "Recipes of the Old Ebenezers", they ate sauerbraten, raw potato dumplings, oatmeal cookies, hot potato salad and cream cakes.

The Ebenezers lives centered on agriculture. It was a self-sufficient community, providing for their own food, furniture, tools, clothing and utensils. Goods and services were not sold, but instead given to the community for use by all. They had their own school. All children started school at an early age but girls attended only a few years before they were sent to the kitchen or laundry houses to work. Boys went to school many years longer with additional apprenticeship training in a trade. The school day was from dawn to dusk, six days a week, all year long except for religious holidays. During the fall, older children were allowed to leave school early to help harvest crops in the fields. Both boys and girls learned how to knit and made their own mittens, hats and scarves.
Women lived at home with their parents until they were married. Unmarried men could live in a Brother's House once they learned a trade. Church Elders granted permission for couples to marry. Once granted, a one year waiting period began at which time the man went away and the couple had no communication. When he returned, if they still wanted to get married, they could.
The Ebenezer community continued to grow as did the encroaching city of Buffalo. About 1855, they purchased 18,000 acres along the Iowa River in the new state of Iowa and established the villages known today as Amana Colonies and the then 1,200 people strong congregation. By 1865, there were no more Inspirationists remaining in Ebenezer. Today there are original buildings remaining from that time such as a restaurant which was originally a book bindery, and later a Kitchen House. A building on Clinton Street was the butcher shop; meat hooks remain fastened to the joists in the cellar. The house that Christian Metz occupied is now 12 School Street, and has been granted historical significance by Erie County. It is currently being renovated into a museum.

Christian Metz Home, West Seneca, NY