For as long as I could remember, I firmly believed my great-great-grandfather’s birthday was June 24th, 1930. That’s what it said in a county history, three obituaries, and his death certificate. If that’s not solid evidence, I don’t know what is.

Then along came Daniel’s brother Isaac, who claimed by the time of his death that he was born June 24th, 1830 as well. It’s engraved on his tombstone, noted in the US census of 1900. But here’s the odd part… no one, in either brother’s family (and there is substantial documentation), ever mentioned the two men being twins. It should’ve come up, doncha think?

What’s more, there is a substantial gap in the birth records between oldest brother Edmund, born in 1825, and Daniel, born (for the sake of argument) in 1830. There’s no mention of miscarriage or infant mortality in that period and let’s just say that birth control was less than reliable. So, was it possible that either Isaac or Daniel was born earlier than 1830?

Harry S. Blaine, an early Leonard researcher who was in contact with Edmund’s daughter and fellow researcher Jennie Leonard Hutchinson, once pinpointed Isaac’s birthday as June 23rd, 1827, but he never cited his sources. The date always seemed to make the most sense to me, but the evidence (including several census reports) all pointed to 1830. Until now.

New Bible records, appearing to be those of William and Mary (Van Ort) Leonard, parents of Daniel and Isaac, have surfaced. I say they appear to be, because William and his wife are listed on the Parents page, Edmund, Isaac, Daniel, et al, are listed on the Births pages. These records show Isaac born June 23rd, 1827 and Daniel born April 23rd, 1830.

I can understand these pioneers losing track of their own birthdays, particularly if they both fell on the 23rd day of different months. But to confuse the year by three years? Still sounds a little fishy to me. I, for one, am going to go with what appears to be a mother’s remembrance and take Daniel and Isaac out of the twins category.

Cheers!
Rick

My latest example surfaced this week in The Indian Pioneer History Collection Papers at the University of Oklahoma and at the Oklahoma Historical Society’s Research Center. The collection came together as part of a Works Progress Administration project to interview Oklahoma’s earliest surviving pioneers and catalog early documentation. I was hoping to find an interview with Oklahoma pioneer Joseph Leonard. What I found may have been better.

The first item to show up on a search for “Leonard” is simply entitled “Account Book.” What it is, is a ledger of items sold at John Osbourne’s trading post in Anadarko, Oklahoma, near old Joe’s ranch. And among the names in the book is none other than “Joe Leonard.” I now know where he was and exactly what he was doing on five very specific days in 1872-3. And I know exactly what was on his shopping list.

On Sunday, April 21st, 1872, Joe charged $4.00 to his account for calico, telling me that his Indian wife Na-nia “Minnie” Leonard was probably fixin’ to make some clothes or a quilt. He charged $2.00 to his account for tobacco, now I know he smoked. He spent 35 cents on soda, 50 cents on figs and onions. I wonder where the figs originated?

On Saturday, April 27th, Joe charged $1.75 to his account for a coffee mill. I always found it fascinating that coffee was a staple all the way back to the 1700s and that it found its way to even the remotest western outposts. Of course, it would be best if you “ground your own.”

On Wednesday, May 1st, Joe Leonard paid off the balance of $8.60, proving that he was a man of his word. And he started a new tab. This time, he needed some soap, more soda, and some beads and ribbon, no doubt for the clothing Minnie was working on. Additionally, Joe bought a book, which confirms that he could read. Too bad the merchant didn’t tell us the title. And last, but not least, were some raisens and a pair of slippers. You can never get too comfortable on the frontier, after all.

On Sunday, June 16th (the trading post apparently open seven days a week), Joe charged more raisens, calico, and ribbon to his account. Now I’m beginning to wonder if Minnie might’ve been working as a seamstress. He picked up some candy, so he must’ve had a sweet tooth of sorts, and some lamp oil.

And finally, on Saturday, July 6th, Joe stopped by the trading post for more raisens and some cartridges. Makes me wonder if he might’ve fired off a few shots celebrating Independence Day.

So there you have it… just one example of an obscure document (the ledger) that unexpectedly turns into a gold mine of social history.

Cheers!
Rick

The basic problem with old documents, especially those stored in low-humidity environments like an attic, is that the paper itself dries out and becomes brittle. Just opening a document or newspaper article can destroy it. Photos, in particular, should never be unfolded or uncurled without some TLC. And by TLC, I mean archival gloves at the very least, and the use of a do-it-yourself humidification chamber if you have any hope at all of salvaging something usable.

You can buy humidification chambers at archival supply stores, but who’s got one of those in the neighborhood? And besides, you’ll pay through the nose, i.e. several hundred dollars, for the privilege.

You can build your own humidification from basic plastic storage containers, light grids, and a few Tupperware containers. The chamber needs to be large enough to hold the documents in question, but those stackable containers we all hide our Christmas ornaments in should be about right (aprox. 2x2x3 feet with a lid).

Next, you’ll need a “shelf” on which to place the dehydrated pictures or documents. I prefer to use the plastic lighting grids you typically find covering fluorescent light fixtures set into the ceiling. These are available at most hardware or Home Depot/Lowes stores and can be cut to size roughly 18×28 inches. You might also use metal screen or “chicken wire” as long as it lies flat. The shelf should be a couple of inches narrower on each side than the chamber itself.

Next, set the “shelf” on four or five Tupperware containers in the bottom of the chamber. Any support will work, as long as its waterproof, because the last step is to pour 1-2 inches of water in the bottom of the chamber. NOTE: Find a suitable location where the humidification chamber might sit for a day or two before you pour any water. That’s how long the documents/chamber will have to sit without being bumped or jostled.

Finally, after pouring the water, making sure not to get any on the shelf itself, place your pictures or documents on the shelf just as you found them and carefully snap the lid on the chamber.

Monitor the progress every twelve hours or so until the documents once again become flexible, but never wet enough to feel wet. Rolled documents like maps will generally start to unroll on their own, but you want the paper flexible enough to flatten without breaking.

Once the papers are flexible enough to flatten, its best if you place them between two sheets of plotter paper and lay some books or a sheet of plexiglass on top to complete the flattening. Give it another 12-24 hours and voila! You’ve got something worth saving!

Now, if none of this makes any sense, you can watch a YouTube video of the whole process right here:

I know, I could’ve started with the video and saved all that reading, but what fun is that?

Happy salvaging!

UPDATE 6/5/2010: Database is DOWN again and I simply don’t have time to mess with it. Sorry.

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Sorta.
The Leonard Database is back on line as of Sunday 5/30/2010. There may be a few bugs, but I believe we’ve improved the speed and streamlined the layout. Keep your fingers crossed that the hackers don’t break in again!

http://www.rickleonard.net/leonard-database/

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Some damned hacker got into the site today and started sending off phishing messages pretending to be some British bank. I doubt that any of you are affected as this kind of scam is usually targeted outside of the domain it’s using to send the phony emails.

Your email addresses remained protected, but I DID have to set more stringent permissions on the entire site. It looks fine on my end, but please let me know if you run any error messages or can’t reach parts of the site for any reason.

Sorry for the inconvenience. Damned hackers.