Stalking 1917

Today I did something a little bit unusual. I stalked someone from 1917.
Let me explain.
About one year ago, maybe two, I discovered Family History Indexing. I set the goal then to index 10,000 names a year. As it turns out, that was a completely over the top goal, and I've never actually reached it. (Here's a little video for those of you who have no idea what indexing is.)

I try to index about 100 names a week, primarily on Sundays. Sometimes I make my goal, sometimes I don't. But the point is, I really enjoy indexing, and I'm becoming pretty good at it. (Sidenote for other indexers- I easily reach 100 a week by primarily focusing on ship manifests. You can do 20 names in 5 minutes with ship manifests.)
This week I worked on a batch of draft records from Virginia for WWI. When you do enough indexing you start to pick up on little trends in the batches. Sometimes you will get 20 people with the same last name. Or 20 people from the same zip code. Things like that. In this case, I had people from all around Virginia who had all registered for the draft on the same day in 1917, and all had the same name (first and last). (It was a fairly common or generic name.)
It was a fun surprise to pull up a name that was from my town of Roanoke. As I typed his information in I realized that I knew where his house was. Or at least, where I expected it to be. It was a funny feeling to suddenly know a detail that made this person human to me.
Something just jumped out at my about his record, and I decided it wasn't really stalking if I drove by his house, considering the guy was very likely deceased from old age by now. (He was 19 in 1917.) So I did the thing I've never considered before, and I wrote down his address so I could go find it.
Here's what I knew about him. He registered on his birthday in 1917. He listed his mother, Ida, as the "contact that would always know where to reach him." (The actual wording on the draft form. It doesn't say next of kin.) And he listed his father as his employer. I knew he had ruddy skin, blue eyes, and brown hair, and he was quite tall and skinny.
One thing that stood out to be in this batch of names was how many of them didn't know how to write their names. Or their handwriting was in the big block letters of a small child. The handwriting of the draftees was always markedly different from that of the person/secretary that filled out the form. This guy was included in that. He barely knew how to write out his own name.
It was just a draft form so I don't know if he served, where he served, or if he survived the war.

So tonight I took a little drive to go find his house. Or where his house used to be. It was on a well-known street in the historic part of town.
At first I was disappointed because it appeared that the house was gone, and a large industrial plant was there instead. But then I caught the name on the plant. It was his last name. He really was real!
I don't know this man. I'm not related to him. But for one brief moment I felt connected through history. I helped preserve his military record for posterity. He was a real person. A person who's family, at the very least, has made a significant impact on my community.
I doubt the opportunity (or desire) will ever come up again to really be able to research someone I've indexed. Normally it's all far too random for something like that to happen. But it doesn't matter. Each person, each name, was real. They did something and they mattered to someone.
If you haven't gotten in to indexing yet, I highly recommend it. You'll find yourself staying up to "finish one more batch." There's something strangely fun and even addicting about it. 

The Mystery of Nannie Ferguson

I think I have caught the family history bug. Unfortunately, with that bug, does not come a knowledge of how to deep family history research.
I have been researching the history of my family and their relationship to the Mormon Church, and have found interesting stories I have never heard before. Many family stories come with an oral history, and change from generation to generation. A few decades ago a family member recorded many of our family stories and published them as a collegiate research paper. I've used her book as my primary form of research.
I noticed throughout her book (written in the 1980's) that when there was a discrepency among the oral histories that she recorded each of them. During my review of her work I realized I could probably clarify some of the discrepancies with some of the more recent technological developments. Sure enough, within a minute of Googling, I was able to figure out the real names of a few people. One of those names was Ammon Mercer, the missionary that baptized many of the earliest members of my family.
Originally I was searching for more information about Ammon Mercer, in hopes of maybe finding a missionary journal that might shed some light on a few of the other open-ended questions. During my search I stumbled on something interesting- he had more than one wife! He was most definitely a polygamist. And one of his wives was Nannie Ferguson.
Why do I care?
Well, the family history I am researching is the Ferguson family!
Who is this Nannie Ferguson? And why have I never heard of her before?
The man who baptized my earliest Mormon ancestors married a Ferguson, and somehow this detail has never been mentioned before!
I am intrigued.
And I have gone on a search for more information on this mysterious Nannie. But I am thwarted at almost every turn.
Here is what I know-
She was born near Roanoke where my line of Fergusons hail from. This strongly implies she is related, but Ferguson isn't an uncommon name.
I have found her father's name, and her mother's name. her mother is a Poage. The Poage family are from right here in good old Back Creek. In fact, there are still a few roads and buildings named after them. Again, strongly implies they are from Back Creek, and therefore related.
Her siblings include multiple Williams and Henry's. Significance? It is a Ferguson family tradition (still going strong today) to name a son William and a second name with an H, particularly Henry. There is a long list of William Henry Fergusons. A very long list. Of all the evidence, this is the one piece that implies the most that she has to be related to my family.
BUT!
Her father is where things get complicated. I have his name, wife, and birthplace. What I don't have is where he died, or any of this siblings, or the names of his own parents. This is the problem. Without knowing who his father or siblings are, I can't figure out who he is related to!
I so very badly want to figure out if Nannie Ferguson is related to my line of Fergusons!
I've studied the dates I have tracked down very closely. All details indicate that Ammon Mercer met Nannie on his mission, married her, and took her back to Utah shortly thereafter. Sadly, it appears that she passed away a year later.
My guess is that she was a second cousin to my great-great-grandfather. But since I can't find the great-grandfather to either of them, this is nothing more than a guess. I think it is a good guess by the fact that a man named William Griffin Ferguson was one of the first people baptized in Roanoke, and he was the second cousin to my great-great-grandfather, William Harrison Ferguson. (See, I told you they really liked the name William!) And William Griffin was born in the same small town that Nannie was.
But alas, I'm stuck. I can't seem to figure out how to relate Nannie's father to William Harrison's father. All of the similarities in the world just don't matter if you can't prove them! (Did I mention Nannie's father is John W. Ferguson? See! Another W!!)
What kills me more than anything else that is in a family the size of mine (William Harrison has well over 2,000 descendants) that no one seems to have noticed Nannie before.
AAGH!
Darn you family history bug!!

PS- ignore the marriage date for Nannie and Ammon in the image above. That is the date their marriage was performed in a Mormon temple long after her death.

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