The Index Page

When my sons would come home from school, two of the most dreaded words that I heard were "group project".  This often meant juggling four kids' already overbooked schedules and as usual one or two did most of the work. The end result wasn't always the best and in my opinion, they often only learned part of what the research was about. The same can be said for genealogical work with one big difference. For the most part, people who are doing genealogical research or working on a family tree are interested in and excited about their work. They enjoy sharing the details, especially since most likely the eyes of those around them glaze over when they start talking about their ancestors. It takes a certain person to take these projects on and sometimes there is only one per generation.
I have received many hints on where my tree is going from ancestry.com members and I am grateful for the time saved. I do have to be careful because often times a mistake can be carried forward and spread among many trees. The fun part about this current project of the mystery album has been connecting with other people.

The index page is the only evidence for the names of any of the people in the album. Unfortunately, none of the photos have any names written on them. The names are followed by some numbers that appear to refer to the year 1885.

They are:

• Bertha Buchanan 9.1885
• Walter Buchanan 3.1885
• Mary Buchanan 31.1885
• James Buchanan 35.1885
• Hatty Buchanan 34.1885
• Bertha F Buchanan 9.1885

 

At first glance, I thought that the number notations were birth dates but having three in March 1885 seems a little weird and I don't see any evidence of triplets in the book.

 

Thanks to Rick Bisker (a fellow ancestry contributor) who found all of the names listed on the 1880 census in Marion, Grant County, Indianapolis. Using the information from the 1880 and 1900 censuses, I was able to construct a tree for this family. In this family, James and Mary are married and Bertha and James Walter are their children. Hatty (Harriett) is James' sister. Another ancestry contributor that I contacted, Laura Mackail theorized that the numbers are the ages of the people in 1885. This works for Bertha who was born in 1876, Walter in 1882, and James in 1850. Mary (Thompson) was born in on 24 Dec 1853 so would be 31 for most of 1885. Harriet however was born in 1845 so would have been 40 in 1885. I think we will have to call that close enough as most of us don't want to admit we are 40. Also the person writing this index may have been guessing as to her age.

 

Through some Google magic, I was able to find that this family was one of the founding families in Grant County, Indiana and were written up in the Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914 http://www.usgennet.org/usa/in/county/grant/Biographies/buchanan_family.htm 

 

Alexander Buchanan (1818-1902) was James and Harriett's father. He was a talented guy, having been a cabinet maker (1850 census), merchant (1860 census), soldier, sheriff (1870 census) and owner of Buchanan & Son (with James) Undertaker and Marble Yard (1880 census). He enlisted as a first lieutenant of Company I of the Twelfth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry in 1861 and was promoted to Captain during the Civil War. There is a mention of Sheriff James Buchanan in a write up of first hand accounts of the Underground Railroad in Marion. Although Alexander's son is listed as a sheriff's deputy on the 1870 census, he would have been too young in this account. They may have been referring to Alexander. http://www.usgennet.org/usa/in/county/grant/Histories/underground_railroad.htm

 

You would think that for having some pretty high profile jobs, that there might be a photo of Alexander or his descendants, but I have been unable to locate one as yet. I had no luck when contacting the Marion Historical Society.

 

That's all for today.