Fair winner Kristy Morrow shares her family ancestry research

[May 31, 2018]   LINCOLN - The Logan County Genealogical & Historical Society welcomed Zion Lutheran School fifth grade student Kristy Morrow to their May monthly meeting Monday evening. Kristy’s presentation to the group was about her genealogical research on her family, a project she named “My Family Tree.”

Kristy’s project was done in conjunction with her membership in the Cloverdale 4-H Club. She started the project last year researching her mother’s side of the family. Kristy’s mom is Dr. Kristin Green.
After doing the research and creating a poster with six generations of her family on it, she entered the project in the 4-H competition at the 2017 Logan County Fair. She won first place in her category.

That meant her work qualified for the Illinois State Fair 4-H competition. Her project received recognition and garnered another medal in the statewide contest.

The entire project took her several weeks to complete. Her main source of research was the website Ancestry.com. The website not only supplies information on a person’s immediate family, but can make connections with other families. The website will automatically send a notice to a researcher if an unknown connection shows up.

Kristy found several surprises in her research. One was that her great great great grandmother immigrated to the United States from England with her children after being mistreated by her husband. “My family has a lot of strong women in it,” said Kristy.

Kristy Morrow with the globe her ancestor won in a dog obedience trial. It is so old many current countries are not shown on it.

She also found that one grandfather also won an award at an obedience trial for dogs. He was given a globe as his prize. “It has been a family heirloom ever since, a globe that is so old that it does not show the old USSR on it,” Kristy said. That means it predates the founding of the Soviet Union in 1918. One unique find for Kristy was the attire that she found in the old photographs from generations ago. “I really like the clothing that my ancestors wore more than modern styles. I think it is cool,” she said.

Kristy shows off a handmade pillowcase that World War I soldiers carried with them as a reminder of home, a valued family heirloom.

One of the most valued items on the family tree poster is a photo of Kristy sitting in her great grandmother’s lap. “I’m glad I got to meet her,” she said.

The competition at the Logan County Fair not only included her poster, but required a conference with the judges about how she researched the project. This interview was part of the determination for her first place award.

Kristy with her genealogical poster and award from the 2017 Logan County Fair 4-H competition.  The document top left is a Civil War pay voucher. The one bottom left is an old census count.

Kristy exhibited a deep knowledge, poise, and humor during her explanation of the project, and was able to handle all of the questions that were sent her way at the LCGHS meeting from an audience of genealogical research experts.

The Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society meets on the third Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at their research facility on Chicago Street in Lincoln. The meeting is open to the public and always has an interesting speaker.

[Curtis Fox]