A Lesson in Family History Chapter 1

A few weeks ago I began a journey into the past. You see, my father knows very little about his family history. He has some recollection of a few aunts and uncles, but it pretty much stops there. No idea who is grandparents were or where they came from or where their parents came from and so on. So I decided I didn’t want to go the rest of my life wondering the same thing. I began to look at my family’s history.

Now this is exciting in one sense and a little scary in another. It would be great to unveil some past family member who made a huge contribution to the country or the world. However, there is always a skeleton or two in the closet of every family.

So my search began, where else, but online. All I knew was that my grandparents grew up around Thayer, Missouri, which is in Oregon County on the south side of the state. So I first searched for any type of census information, birth or death certificates, by typing certain info into Google. Now Google is great, because it gives you all of these different websites that are there to “help” you find your family history. As you search however, you will notice that their goal is not so much to “help” you as it is to “help” themselves to your bank account.

Now I want you to understand, that I do not feel like the government should be an open book and we should know every single move the government makes. However, I do feel some info should be readily accessible. One piece of info that should be are the census reports. I do not quite understand why a piece of information gathered by the government to help the government is given to companies who sell you the opportunity to view such info. Should this not be covered under the Freedom of Information Act? I guess they feel you have the freedom to pay to look at it or not.

So I was running into road blocks, because every site I came to wanted me to pay to view their information. So now what? Pay for it or is there another way? Enter the NBC show “Who do you think you are?” This show follows celebrities who are looking for information about their past. While watching a particular episode recently, I discovered a new possible source of information, the State Archives! Why didn’t I think about this before? So off I went on the internet to find out more about our State Archives.

The website is wonderful and full of information. For instance, did you know there was a war in the state of Missouri? Just in Missouri. It was called the Mormon War. Yep, the Mormon War. It was a conflict that didn’t end until Kit Bond was Governor. Look it up, I promise, I am not lying. Anyhow, I digress. The website allows you to search birth records, death certificates, military records and other tidbits of information about Missouri and its residents.

I was so excited to finally find this little gem of information. So, the search began and it continued for several days resulting in no information. Oh sure, I found plenty of Cantrell’s, but none that I could link to my family. I became highly frustrated with everything. I even questioned what little information my father had about his past. Could he be wrong? Could my grandparents have been from a different state? Maybe they came from Oregon state and not Oregon county. I was sinking fast into a funk I didn’t want to be anywhere near. I wanted to find out something. Even just names would have been great. But all I ever received was this message, “There are 0 results for your search.”

So I am feeling bummed out when I realize that within days I have to take a business trip to Jefferson City. While I am there, I will have time to spare and I will stop by the State Archives building and see what I can find out. After all, not all the information about the state and its people are on the website.
So the day came recently, when I found myself in Jefferson City for meetings with time to spare. I drove to the building which houses the Archives, which is the Secretary’s of State building. It’s very nice and modern. It can’t be too old. It sits just north of the Capital building on the Missouri River, right next to the railroad tracks.

I walk into the building and find the State’s Archive, which is on the main floor, less than 20 feet away from the front doors. I begin to walk in when I am stopped by a woman at a half moon desk, which sits out front. She asks me if I need anything and I told her I was just there to do some family research. She smiled, asked me to sign in and then escorted me around the archives.

Once my personal tour was over I went right to work. I knew where my grandparents were from, so I thought I would look for some type of birth certificate for the two. I got nothing. I looked for marriage certificates. I got nothing. I began to look at different county books and directories, trying to work myself backwards and everything turns out empty. I had basically become so frustrated with this whole process, that I was ready to give up.

It was close to noon and I needed to go to my meeting. I spoke with another woman who works at the archives and thanked her for all of her help. When she asked how it had gone, I just unloaded my high level of frustration. She just nodded her head and gave me this sincere look, as if she had heard it all before. She asked how long I would be in Jeff City and I said I am leaving today. She mentioned they have subscriptions to websites that allow people to search census records and much more. So I told her I would be back after my meetings! I was so excited. Maybe this will help lead me down the road to my families past.