The Mystery of William Hanlon Baker

 This ancestor was a mystery indeed. Some background on him. There isn't much known on him before his marriage. In this photo he is acting in his occupation which according the 1900 Census is Engineer Stationery or Stationary Engineer. According to the International Union of Operating Engineers, the following is said: "The work of stationary engineers is varied and complex. We are responsible for the operation, maintenance, renovation, and repair of boiler systems and all other mechanical systems in a facility." I think it's very cool to have a picture of an ancestor doing their occupation. Now on to the story of the mystery of this ancestor.

Before this mystery was solved the earliest record we had of him wasa marriage record recorded as William Hanlon Baker married to Mary Alice Baker. The marriage took place 12 February 1871 in Manhattan, New York. From the censuses we know he was born January 1845 in Maine and from his death certificate found later he died 15 April 1906 in Manhattan and his parents were listed as Noah and Susan Webb. Naturally, that tells his father's name Noah Baker when listed like that. It's unknown who told the information to the physician who filed the death certificate.

Records were searched in Maine with William Baker being born about 1845 in Maine with parents Noah Baker and Susan Webb. This search was unsuccessful. It was odd. How does one simply disappear? It didn't make sense. Well, one record hadn't been searched for yet. Civil War records. He would be certainly old enough to register wherein 1863 he would be 18 years old.

Well, William H Baker couldn't be found that fit with his vital information and place he hailed from so William Baker was just searched for. After a few hours of searching these gems was found:

This was a fantastic find. Now we just needed to prove that this checked out. After finding his name was actually William P Nason, the rest fell into place.

If you notice, it says on the record he deserted which gives raise why he changed his last name in the first place. Unfortunately, there are no sources at this time that give his full birthdate. However, someone has currently posted that his birthdate is 27 January 1844 with no sources for said birthdate. Hopefully, sources can be found soon. 

I have to say this mystery was a lot of fun to find. Because of this find, I was able to extend my line three generations from this ancestor. Genealogy is like a mystery novel. You put together clues to find out the mystery, the only difference is, the answer isn't given to you at the end of the story. Sometimes you have to work backwards.

The Why of Family History

 It's been a long time since I posted so I figured it would be time to start this blog again. In my years of doing family history the most common questions I hear are is "where do I start?" And "what benefit is there to studying my family history?" Then the common question I get as a freelancer is, "why should I pay you to do this research for me?"

All are very valid questions. 

The best place to start is to answer the where and the what questions with the "why." Why should I start family history and why is there a benefit?

How many of you could tell me memories of your grandparents? What were their likes and dislikes? Did they participate in the military? Where were they born? Do you know childhood memories that they have? 

It is humans nature to tell stories and when one person has a story another person may have another story they may want to add or maybe be one of those, "well my grandfather served in WWII and got two purple hearts for being on the USS Arizona and surviving." Those types of people.

I personally never had ancestors that served in WWII. And honestly, if you don't have war veterans in WWII that's okay. There are other ways people can connect such as the Civil War. With enough research, most people can discuss ancestors they had in the Civil War, Emancipation, whether they had Confederate ancestors and Union ancestors, etc. 

People's ancestors may have also lived in similar places and recognize certain events. I digress. Why is there a benefit to family history? I believe family history can create a bond in people. It can give a reason why families act in certain ways, why they have certain beliefs, what caused them to move from one state to another. 

Then again, I may not be able to adequately express why family history is important. I feel passionate about it, so much so I want to work with Ancestry. But some people may not have that desire. Perhaps siblings, parents, or other relatives hurt them in a way that made them think, "why do I want a connection with them?" Well, I don't blame you if you do. Before I was adopted, I harbored those same feelings. Why should I care? I came to this conclusion. My ancestors were not responsible for how their descendants acted. With that in mind, I did careful research of my family the best I knew how and as I learned I made mistakes. Doing family history for about nine years now I learned a lot and made a lot of mistakes, but I learned from them. In the coming days, I will share some of these stories and how the research was done. It was difficult, I can guarantee that you will have a brick wall ancestor; unless you're one of the rare ones where family history was talked about a lot.

I can promise that once you start family history and look what's there, the desire to fill in holes will creep in and you'll catch the bug. Now, if you do it, and you don't catch the bug. That's okay. Some people aren't researchers. Asking just the questions is okay too.