Back in January 2010, I attended the Arizona Family History Expo as an attendee and presenter. I also had the opportunity to have a Scouting Heritage booth. 

While I was there, I was interviewed by my good genealogy friend, Lisa Louise Cooke of Genealogy Gems. I have been interviewed by her on a previous occasion and it was a great experience.  This time we spent a few minutes talking about the 100 years celebration of the Boy Scouts of America, what records might exist to research your Scouting ancestors, and about preservation and access of Scouting records.

The interview is included in Episode 87 of the Genealogy Gems podcast.

For additional links on Scouting, visit the post Scouting for Your Scouting Ancestors.

I have two options easily available to me to look for the 1930 Census for Texas: FamilySearch.org and Footnote.  I could also check Heritage Quest at the local library or access Ancestry.com at a Family History Center.  Turns out that Record Search on FamilySearch does not contain the 1930 US Census for Texas, so let’s look at Footnote.

For those with a subscription to Footnote, you can find the image here.

For Taylor county, Texas in precinct 7 we find James V. Ross (age 7) with his older brother Cecil W Ross (age 9) and their mother Lizzie N Ross (age 40).  Lizzie is divorced living with her parents, William S & Mary E Burton.  To be exact, Lizzie is listed as the daughter of the head of household, William Burton. It is possible that Mary is not her mother.  We would have to find the family in the 1880 – 1920 census to confirm.

Using the Standard Finder on http://labs.familysearch.org/I determine that Corsicana, TX is in Navarro county.  Using Ancestry’s Red Book, we learn that Taylor county was formed in 1858 and Navarro county in 1846.

This map shows the location of the two counties:

The question is, how did James end up in the Corsicana State home in 1935 when he was over 200 miles away in Taylor county in 1930?

Let’s see if we can find the other people mentioned on the Boy Scout membership card in the 1930 census.  First, let’s look for E E English.  On Footnote, I do an advanced search for E English in Texas in the 1930 census as follows:

The search returns 61 matches, so I look through them to see if I can find EE.

There are four men that match the name pattern for E E English:

• Emerett E English age 39: Texas » MIDLAND » JUSTICE PCT 1 » 165-3 » Sheet 10B
• E E English age 60: Texas » PALO PINTO » MINERAL WELLS CITY » 182-11 » Sheet 5A
• Edgar E English age 32: Texas » NAVARRO » TEXAS STATE ORPHAN HOME » 175-14 » Sheet 1B
• Edward E English age 34: Texas » CLAY » PETROLIA TOWN » 39-5 » Sheet 3A

It looks like Edgar E English is our man.  The census sheet is from the State Orphan home and Edgar is listed as an employee, married, and with the occupation of florist.

I wonder if Eva and Thomas English listed below Edgar is his family and if they all live at the State Home.  Here is a link to the page on Footnote for those with a subscription:

http://www.footnote.com/image/117750517/

A Boy Scout troop is associated with an organization whether it be a church, school or other organization.  It appears that Troop 253 is associated with the State Orphan Home. It makes sense that the Scoutmaster for the troop would be an employee of the home or school.

So, who was the guardian J.S. Halley? 

If we flip back a page in the census to the beginning of the entries for the State Orphan Home, we find the head of “household” was J. Stanford Halley and he was the Superintendent of the home.  His wife, Mable and daughter Frances live at the home as well.

See http://www.footnote.com/image/117750423/

The last person that we need to find in the 1930 census is J. F. M. Stephens.  He might be an employee of the Boy Scouts of America or a volunteer.  It is likely that he lived outside Corsicana, maybe even in Dallas.

Using the advanced search on Footnote, we find 216 matches for J Stephens in the 1930 census but only 4 match first name that starts with J and either initials that match F M or nothing that would conflict with them:

• J F Stephens age 26 – Texas » WICHITA » ELECTRA CITY » 243-50 » Sheet 12B
• J M Stephens age 15 – Texas » COLLIN » JUSTICE PCT 4 » 43-23 » Sheet 3A
• J M Stephens age 42 – Texas » BEXAR » SAN ANTONIO CITY, WARD 7 » 15-135 » Sheet 15A
• J Stephens age 44 – Texas » GRAY » JUSTICE PCT 3 » 90-10 » Sheet 4B

None of these seem like the correct person.  The only county that is close to Dallas county is Collin but the J M living there is too young.  Maybe our J F M Stephens didn’t live in Texas in 1930 but moved there before 1935. Maybe I made a mistake?  Is there an error in the index? I am stuck on this individual for now, but will likely return to search for him in another post. 

You are all invited to do some more searching for Mr. Stephens.  Please let me know what you find.  In April 2012 we can check the 1940 census to see which of these people are listed.  Can you find more information in other records about James Ross, Elizibith Ross, Edgar E English, and J Stanford Halley? I am really curious to find out what happened between 1930 and 1935 that resulted in James being at the State Orphan Home.

In our next part, we will try to learn more about Corsicana, TX and the state home.

Click image to enlarge

This image is of the Boy Scout membership application card for James Ross.  In this first part, we are going to do an initial examination of the card to see what we can learn.

The card is from 1935 and is for the Circle Ten Council of the Boy Scouts of America located in Dallas, Texas.  The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has a National Council which at this time was located in New York City.  Local councils were charted from National to be a support structure to the troops in a geographic area.  This application is for troop 253 located in Corsicana, Texas which is about 60 miles south of Dallas.

There are 5 names on the card:

1. James Ross – Boy Scout, age 12
2. Elizibith Ross – mother of James Ross
3. J. S. Halley – listed as parent or guardian
4. E. E. English – Scoutmaster of troop 253
5. J. F. M. Stephens – Chairman, Board of Review

There are three main dates (or grouping of dates) on the card:

• 16 Jan 1923 – birth date of James Ross
• Mar 1935 – various dates when James Ross was tested on Scout skills and was signed off by his Scoutmaster
• 7 Jun 1935 – date when James Ross appeared before the Board of Review and passed therefore achieving the rank of Tenderfoot Scout

There is a possibility that James Ross is still alive.  If so, he would have turned 87 years old two weeks ago.

The Cub Scouting program started in 1930 and this card indicates that James had been a Cub Scout.

Other items of interest is that the Church or Sunday School that he attends is listed as “State Home” and his address is “State Home & School.”  This will require some more investigation.  When was the State Home started?  Who attended it?  Was it located in Corsicana or a nearby town?  Is it still there today? If James was living at the State Home in Corsicana, Texas what is he doing there?  Is his mother still alive?  If she were dead, would her name be written on the card?  Why is there no father’s name listed?  Is J. S. Halley affiliated with the State School?  What does “B.A.M.” below his name mean?

In part 2 we will look at Census records for 1930 to see what we can learn.

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is celebrating 100 years. Over the past century, more than 110 million youth and 32 million leaders have participated in Scouting. Was your ancestor one of them? How has Scouting impacted your life?

Here are a few facts and links to help you get started researching your Scouting ancestors.

The Boy Scouts of America was founded in 1910 and the Cub Scouts in 1930. There are and have been many groups in the Scouting family including Air Scouts, Sea Scouts, Explorers, Venturing, and Lone Scouts.  In addition to the millions of boy Scouts and volunteers there are also paid employees of BSA. Over the past 100 years, there have been 115 million merit badges earned and over 2 million Eagle Scouts.

Facts about Scouting

http://www.scouting.org/About/FactSheets/ScoutingFacts.aspx

BSA 100 years timeline

http://www.bsahandbook.org/timeline/index.html

http://www.scouting.org/About/FactSheets/BSA_History.aspx

Since 1972 the Boy Scouts of America has offered the Genealogy merit badge.  As part of the centennial Generations Connection project, Scouts are encouraged to complete a family tree listing family members, relatives, and ancestors involved in Scouting.

Scouting family tree

From the beginning, BSA published books and periodicals that might be helpful in your research.  Think of a Scout’s handbook like a family bible. It could list name, address, age or other descriptive information.  The handbooks for boys and Scout Masters list more than 180 names of Scouting’s founders.  Digital copies of original editions of both books can be found on Google Books. Boys’ Life (since 1912) and Scouting (since 1913) magazines can also include stories about Scouts.  What if every issue of Boys’ Life and Scouting were available to purchase in searchable PDF format.  I would buy the them.  Just think of the historic & genealogical information they contain!

Boy Scout Handbook (1911)

http://books.google.com/books?id=a7I2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PP6#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Scout Master Handbook (1913)

http://books.google.com/books?id=pEcqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Scouting Magazine

http://scoutingmagazine.org/

Boys’ Life Magazine

http://boyslife.org/

In 1916, BSA was granted a federal charter to protect the name, uniform, and badges of the Boy Scouts of America.  This charter also required them to submit an annual report to Congress.

“Title 36 > Subtitle II > Part B > Chapter 309: Boy Scouts of America”. United States Code. Cornell University Law School. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/36/usc_sup_01_36_06_II_08_B_10_309.html. Retrieved July 1, 2008.

The national headquarters of the BSA has been at 5 addresses (three in New York, 1 in New Jersey, and the current home in Irving, Texas) over the years.  Next to the current address is the National Scouting museum that has over 500,000 items in its collection and has its own curator and archivist.  There are other Scouting museums and libraries across the country.  Many libraries have Scouting artifacts in their manuscripts and special collections.

National Scouting Museum (Irving, Texas)

http://www.bsamuseum.org/

Lawrence L. Lee Scouting Museum & Max I. Silber Scouting Library (Manchester, NH)

http://www.scoutingmuseum.org/

Do a Google search for “Boy Scouts of America” “finding aid” and you will get results from libraries such as The University of Texas at Austin:

Tom C. Clark Papers, Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utlaw/00021/law-00021p20.html

You can also search local newspapers for articles on the organization of Scouting councils and troops.  Some of these can be found on Google News.

Newspaper Article

Rock Hill Herald – Google News Archive – Aug 19, 1910

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=o0ggAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jKQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=854,2647734&dq=boy+scouts+of+america&hl=en

Some early Scouting records might be contained in an archive at the National Council whereas most membership records are contained in archives at the over 300 local councils across the nation. 

BSA is a private organization focused on Scouting’s mission:

“The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.”

Professional Scouters have little time to fulfill research requests from genealogists and volunteers often lack the access to the records.  Access of youth membership records depends on the policy of each local council; as far as I can tell there is no official policy from the National Council.

There is an opportunity for local and national genealogical societies, FamilySearch, or commercial entities to work to preserve these important records and when the time is right make them available for public access.  This might even be an additional revenue source for the Boy Scouts. 

A final note about membership rosters held at the local councils.  In order to find the roster, a researcher needs to identify which local council holds the record and then know the year and the unit number of the troop, pack, etc.  In a similar way that county boundaries changed and counties were formed or consolidated, the same thing has happened with local councils.  It can be very challenging to find the right council.  What is needed is something similar to Ancestry’s Red Book, but for Scouting records.  We could call it the Khaki Book.

The best way to find information about your Scouting ancestors is from Scouting artifacts they left behind.  Collecting Scout memorabilia is very popular with various books to help identify when and where uniforms, badges, and insignia were made.

Here are two additional examples of Scouting records:

The honorary First Class rank advancement given to my grandfather for his work with the Scouting youth:

A Scout membership card for James Ross that I purchased from an eBay auction:

From the card we know James’ birth date, mother’s name, and where he lived in 1935.  I found the family in the 1930 census and am in the process of trying to find the owner or a Scout-aged descendant.  Let me know if you want to help in the search.

If you have an orphan Scouting artifact and you want to find the owner or a descendant, contact me and I will try to help.

There is much more to write about on this topic that I probably haven’t even thought about all of them.  Let me know what you think.  How else can we search for our Scouting ancestors?  Share your success stories and even your frustrations.  Let’s explore this topic together as we Scout out or Scouting ancestors.

It is a wet and windy Thursday night in Mesa, Arizona.  I was able to get the Scouting Heritage booth setup at the Family History Expo.  A big thanks to all those who helped this idea become reality.

The Story

About a month ago I got the idea of doing a Scouting booth at the Arizona Family History Expo.  After all, it is Scouting’s 100th anniversary and I couldn’t think of a better group of people to share it with than those attending the expo.

The first contact I tried to make with the Boy Scouts was the Grand Canyon Council.  I mistakenly thought that there was already a group at council that would be interested in such an event and would already have the resources to make it happen. Now it was already the first week in January. 

I next tried the Mesa District since the expo falls within their boundaries and it would be easier to get local volunteers.  The timing must have been bad as they couldn’t offer any assistance.

I was about to give up on the whole idea, but couldn’t let it go.  I live in North Phoenix which is 40 minutes from where the expo would be held.  I decided to contact the Thunderbird district executive, Carol Chacon, to see if there was anything she could do.

This week started and I had to make the go/no go decision.  I decided to go ahead with the booth even if I had to do everything myself.  Fortunately, I didn’t have to.  My wonderful wife was there with a huge vote of support.  She outlined the 10’ x 10’ booth space in our living room and helped me gather items from our family & troop.  I can honestly say that without her, this would have never happened.  Thank you!

There were still 3 things that we needed: a “Boy Scouts of America” banner, posters, & brochures.  Carol was able to gather some brochures and we stopped by the Scout shop to buy some posters.  There was a great 100th anniversary banner that cost $70 that would have been perfect.  As a thrify Scout, I couldn’t justify paying for it for this one event.  Too bad there wasn’t one available from council that they could rent out for $10 to any district that needed it.  I ended up in a storage room looking through old banners to see if I could find one that would work.  I finally found the one that I ended up using, but the bottom half of the banner said “POW WOW”.  Being resourceful, I folded it in half and shortened one end so that it would fit in the booth.

This is what an empty booth looks like:

Early this week I called Holly Hansen, President of Family History Expos, Inc. to ask if there was any way the Boy Scouts could get some help with the booth fee.  She said that she would make it happen.  When I arrived tonight, I found that Scott Wilson from OneGreatFamily.com had a booth next to mine and that he paid the full cost of booth space for the Scouts.  What a wonderful thing to do.  I can’t thank him enough.

I also contacted some staff and attendees from the Woodbadge course I took about 4 years ago to see if they could volunteer at the booth.  Thank you to those who will be coming to help.

So one guy with a crazy idea and a wonderful wife and a small group of supporters can pull together a Scouting Heritage booth for a family history conference in less than 1 week.

The Tour

The back of the booth has a banner, Scouting shirts, and posters:

Along the right side is a table with various Scouting books including a reprint of the original Boy Scout handbook, a book of Norman Rockwell Scouting illustrations, current Scout handbook, Fieldbook, and a book about dating Scout memorabilia.  At the end of the table and on the floor are Pinewood Derby cars.  There are also pamphlets to visitors can take.

Starting on the left side in the back is a camp table showing knots & lashings.  It also contains various patches I’ve collected.  On this table is another reprint of the original Scout handbook that will be one of two prizes given out on Saturday.  This is where the visitor fills out an entry form.

Next to it is a Dutch oven hanging from a tripod.  This is where the entry forms will be put.  Completing the booth are two camp chairs and a small peach tree.  The tree is the 2nd prize and is there to symbolize the outdoors as well as the centennial tree-planting campaign.

Video

It is going to be a very busy next two days.  I am excited to see how the Scouting Heritage booth is received at the conference.  Maybe if it successful enough, someone else will take the challenge to have a Scouting Heritage booth at each of the Family History Expos in 2010.

What have you done that is similar to this?  What do you think of Scouting heritage booths at family history conferences?  Any ideas on how to make these more successful and more of a team effort?  What is something that you learned as a Scout or because of the Scouting values?

Today is the official kickoff audiocast to start the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.

The Boy Scouts of America was organized in 1910 and within the first few years two key handbooks were created:

• The Official Handbook for Boys
• Handbook for Scout Masters

In doing some research on Scouting history, I decided to check out Google Books to see if it hand any early Scout texts.  I was pleased to find fully scanned images of the handbooks.  It is at the troop level that Scouting happens and the two main roles are the Scout Master and the boy Scouts.

The Official Handbook for Boys

The purpose of this handbook as stated in its preface:

In order that the work of the boy scouts throughout America may be uniform and intelligent, the National Council has prepared its “Official Handbook,” the purpose of which is to furnish the patrols of the boy scouts advice in practical methods, as well as inspiring information.

The copy on Google Books is copyright 1911:

In its chapters, this handbook instructs the boy in the various topics important to the Scout which includes:

• Scoutcraft
• Woodcraft
• Campcraft
• Tracks, Trailing, and Signaling
• Health and Endurance
• Chivalry
• First Aid and Life Saving
• Games and Athletic Standards
• Patriotism and Citizenship

Handbook for Scout Masters

The book’s introduction states about the handbook:

It goes into the hands of the Scout Masters with the sincere hope that it will help them in maintaining the interest of their troops and in directing their activities along right lines.

Google Books has a first edition with copyright dates of 1913 and 1914:

This handbook describes the organization of Scouting at the national, local, and troop levels.  It goes over scout requirements as a supplement to The Official Handbook for Boys, and has detailed suggestions for meeting programs.

Both of these handbooks will better help us understand the organization and teachings of the Boy Scouts of America.  Maybe one of your ancestors was a Boy Scout or a Scout Master.  I would love to hear from you stories about your Scouting ancestors.

Submitted by Sheri Fenley

Stanley Beffort
Salina, Kansas
(c) 1953

Submitted by Sheri Fenley

Stanley Beffort
Salina, Kansas
(c) 1949