ChicagoGenealogy: Research Insights from Study and Serendipity

Note: The Photoduplication Service mentioned in this blog post are no longer available.  In a previous post, Some Images No Longer Available on FamilySearch , I noted that the FamilySearch Wiki article on Illinois, Cook County Death Records  mentioned that digital images could be obtained through FamilySearch's Photoduplication Services . In order to be able to better answer questions about the service, I decided to try it myself. Submitting the Test Request On January 29, I sent an email asking for a copy of a New York City church baptismal record for Sarah Catherine Trafford. She appears on my husband's family tree and it was a record that we sincerely wanted. I provided a link to the FamilySearch index entry and included the index information. I also provided my name, address, telephone number, and email address, as requested. Reply to the Test Request Today I received an email with the subject "You have received a file from photoduplication Shared." It inc

Sarah Ann Valentine Burr Ackley My husband and I have three Valentines on our family tree--Valentine Mink, Valentine Smith, and Sarah Ann Valentine. I love them all. Valentine Mink was born in Germany in 1805 but lived much of his life as a farmer in Floyd, New York. He carefully crafted his will to divide his estate fairly among his children. “The Cow or the thirty five Dollars that I gave to Janetta C. and the Horse or one hundred and twenty Dollars that I give to my sons George Franklin and John Philip is to make them equal to the elder children and not be included in the one eighth which each of them is to have.” I love him for that. Valentine Smith was born in Chicago in 1873. As a descendant of an early settler and successful entrepreneur, she inherited a place in society that gave her the freedom to focus on her passions and one of them was history. She served, briefly, as Chicago’s first archivist and spearheaded a number of important local history projects. Many people