Friday, December 30, 2011

Indiana State Library Newspaper Database

The Indiana State Library has an on-line Indianapolis Newspaper Database for the years 1848 - 1888. It was created in the late 1930s by W.P.A. workers. The four papers that were indexed are the Indianapolis Herald, Journal, News, and Sentinel. Most articles are only a single page and a copy of 10 single page articles is only $2.50.
I also obtained seven Hammond - Howland - Moody - Wright articles, as follows:
The linked file names include the name and date of the newspaper.
HAPPY NEW YEAR

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Mathew McClurken (1822 - 1908)

The biography of Mathew McClurken (1822 - 1908) was obtained through the PERSI service. It was published in the periodical "Trails," June 2005, Volume 15, Issue 2. The biography is available at this link.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Amanda Howe McClurkin Obituary

The obituary of Amanda Howe McClurkin (1842 - 1885) was obtained through the PERSI service. It was published in the periodical "County Lines," April 2004, Volume 18, Issue 4. The obituary is available at this link.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

PERSI

The Periodical Source Index, or PERSI, is a large subject index of periodical articles that are historical or genealogy related. It was created by the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The easiest way to access the index is with HeritageQuest Online, available from home through most public libraries. The ordering form for photo copies of articles and additional details are available at this link. I ordered the maximum of 6 copies with the my first form and the total cost was $9.10.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Expanded Family Tree Available

An updated family tree, with 945 individuals, is now available in three locations. It is available, by subscription, on Ancestry.com and identified as Samuel Henry Kemps. It is available for free, in text format, on Rootsweb.com., also identified as Samuel Henry Kemps. The link is: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=rkemps
The final location is on my website as Ancestor Tree. The last version includes photos of numerous individuals. Please view the tree at the most convenient site.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Read About the McClurkens or McClurkins

There are many books that have information about the McClurkens or McClurkins. Many are found on Google Books. In addition, HeritageQuest Books shows 32 listings for McClurken and 42 for McClurkin. Many are duplicates and a few appear on both lists.
With so much information, the challenge is to document and keep track of all of it. FamilyTreeMaker is a great tool for this purpose; however, it can be a time consuming process. I have now completed this task; but, the results will not be publically available until I am able to reissue my trees on Ancestry.com and Rootsweb.com.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Mathew McClurken Descendant References

At least forty descendants of Mathew McClurken (1761 - 1847) can be found in various books. These references have been collected and are listed on their own webpage, Mathew McClurkin Descendant References. As a stand alone page, this may be somewhat confusing because there were numerous descendants with the names: James, John, Joseph, Matthew & Thomas. However, the individuals on this page are linked from the Outline Descendant Report of Mathew McClurkin page and that is the best starting point. Forty three different references are currently listed and, on average, there are more than two references per individual. Many references came from Google Books and others were from HeritageQuest Books. As additional references are found, they will be added to this collection.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Mathew McClurkin Outline Descendant Report

An Outline Descendant Report has been created for Mathew McClurkin (1761 - 1847). Including Mathew, there are a total of 298 individuals. To view this page, see Outline Descendant Report for Mathew McClurkin.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Laura Ann Worth Wright (1821 - 1912)

Laura Ann Worth was born in North Carolina in 1821. She came to Indiana with her parents and there she married Thomas Wright Wright. They lived for a while in Illinois and had nine children. For additional details, see her biography.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Thomas Wright Wright (1818 - 1890)

Thomas Wright Wright was born in Ohio in 1818. He was a lumber merchant in Illinois and then became a farmer near Indianapolis, Indiana, where he died in 1890. He and his wife had nine children. For additional details, see his biography.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Powell Howland (1799 - 1878)

Powell Howland was a very successful person in Marion County, Indiana and he was a descendant of the Mayflower pilgrim George Soule. In sorting out the ancestors of his great granddaughter, Edna Hammond Wright Kemps, it became apparent that Powell Howland was a key person. His obituary and a published sketch are provided in his biography along with additional references to this prominent individual in the history of Indianapolis, Indiana.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Charles and Louise Byrne

Charles Hoster Byrne was born in Cairo, Illinois in 1900. Clara Louise Kemps was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1905. In 1927, they were married in Los Angeles, California. Their two children were born in Chicago, Illinois. In 1938, they moved to California and worked, played and spent the rest of their lives there. For additional details about their lives, see Charles Hoster Byrne and Clara Louise Byrne. Be sure to find the links for additional pictures.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Oakdale Reformed Presbyterian Church

The search of the Reformed Presbyterian Archives produced four pages that were related to the history of the Oakdale Reformed Presbyterian Church. It became clear that the a separate page was appropriate for this congregation. It includes the 50th, 100th and 125th Anniversaries of the congregation and the Covenanter Soldiers' Record for the Civil War. The links in twelve biographies were changed to reflect this new page. For the details, see Oakdale Reformed Presbyterian Church.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Rev. Hugh Park McClurkin D.D. (1821 - 1905)

The biography of the Rev. Hugh Park McClurkin, D.D., has been re-written. It is now in a more cohesive form that flows chronologically. This biography is now consistent with my other biographies and includes siblings, children, and additional references sources, drawn from the Reformed Presbyterian Church Archives. See biography.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Sources of Reformed Presbyterian Church Information

For the past six months, I have been searching through the archives of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, for references to family members. Many of the McClurken/McClurkin families were Covenanters (members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church) and active in the church. In addition, several were elders and eight were ministers. This church had monthly and weekly newsletters that were assembled into volumes by year or half year. A total of 239 volumes are available to search and each consists of about 400 pages. In addition, four books were published and available for searching. I have created a web page to provide further details about this collection: Sources of Historical Information about the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. For each of the six newsletters, a file was created for the various family references that were located. I have previously extracted some references and made them available. Many additional references will be described in future posts.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Mathew Henry McClurkin (1761 - 1847)

Mathew Henry McClurkin was born in Ireland in 1761 and came to Charleston, South Carolina in 1772. He fought in the Revolutionary War during 1780 and 1781. Six of his eleven children were born in South Carolina. About 1804, the family moved to Tennessee and then to Ohio and Indiana near their border. In 1833, Matthew applied for, and received, a small pension for his Revolutionary War service. Mathew died on May 1, 1847 and is buried in Preble County, Ohio. His biography is available at this link.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Mathew McClurkin (1761 - 1847) Revolutionary War Pension File

I have recently been in contact with a descendant of Mathew McClurkin. I assembled all the information that I had about Matthew and sent it to him. I have decided that I have enough information about Matthew to create a biography. Meanwhile, I have made his Revolutionary War Pension File available. For the 30 page file, see this link.