I've inherited a stack of notes from my mother's genealogy work from 25 years ago. She wasn't very organized, and I've come across a piece of paper with no heading that has a list of names, dates and a mystery number, like: Jahn Hulda Oct 18 1852 K 73 Jahn Wilhelm Jan 26 1867 K 74 Paul Feb 23 1870 K 286 Cora Jan 21 1880 13-52 Jahn Ernst Feb 20 1907 428-167 Jahn Gwendeline Nov 6 1907 443-148 So, my question is, what sort of collection in the Milwaukee area has index numbers (or page numbers or ...) like "443-148"? I suspect she was searching some sort of book or index and jotting down "Jahn" names that might've been related to us. Ernst, for example, doesn't match any known relations, so I suspect this is a list of possibilities, not relatives. What's most intriguing is the Gwendeline entry. That's the name and birth date of a child who had been given up for adoption a week after her birth. We had found a reference to her in a "lying-in" book at the library. The family oral history had never mentioned her. I don't think my mother recognized her as a relative - after all, a previously unknown child would've been big news. Considering that the child had only lived a week under that name, it makes me think my mother was looking at some sort of birth certificate index. The index numbers almost seem consecutive, like the birth dates. On the other hand, the living relatives of the adopted child have a birth certificate under the new name, so I would've thought the original certificate would've been expunged. Or was Milwaukee record-keeping not so secretive back then? - John

The Milwaukee County Vital Records are filed by volume and page number. The very early records are in volumes that were lettered, while later records have volume numbers. If you're unable to find someone on this list to do lookups for you, you can rent the microfilmed records through the LDS Family History Center. When ordering the films, make sure you get the Milwaukee County records, as the state records that were filed at Madison have a totally different numbering scheme. Mary Popovich ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Foust" <jfoust@threedee.com> To: <WIMILWAU-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2001 9:33 PM Subject: [WiMilwau] What sort of index was this? > I've inherited a stack of notes from my mother's > genealogy work from 25 years ago. She wasn't very > organized, and I've come across a piece of paper > with no heading that has a list of names, dates > and a mystery number, like: > > Jahn Hulda Oct 18 1852 K 73 > Jahn Wilhelm Jan 26 1867 K 74 > Paul Feb 23 1870 K 286 > Cora Jan 21 1880 13-52 > Jahn Ernst Feb 20 1907 428-167 > Jahn Gwendeline Nov 6 1907 443-148 > > So, my question is, what sort of collection in the > Milwaukee area has index numbers (or page numbers or ...) > like "443-148"? > > I suspect she was searching some sort of book or index > and jotting down "Jahn" names that might've been related > to us. Ernst, for example, doesn't match any known > relations, so I suspect this is a list of possibilities, > not relatives. > > What's most intriguing is the Gwendeline entry. > That's the name and birth date of a child who had been > given up for adoption a week after her birth. We had found > a reference to her in a "lying-in" book at the library. > The family oral history had never mentioned her. > I don't think my mother recognized her as a relative - > after all, a previously unknown child would've been big news. > > Considering that the child had only lived a week under > that name, it makes me think my mother was looking at > some sort of birth certificate index. The index numbers > almost seem consecutive, like the birth dates. > > On the other hand, the living relatives of the adopted > child have a birth certificate under the new name, so > I would've thought the original certificate would've > been expunged. Or was Milwaukee record-keeping > not so secretive back then? > > - John > > > ==== WIMILWAU Mailing List ==== > For subscribe/unsubscribe and other general list information, please see > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~sewis/wimilwau.htm > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >