Genealogy Case Study: Mistake I Made, Family Info I Uncovered (part 2)

Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega gives more genealogy tips based on research she’s done recently on her own family tree. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”

In Part 1 of this series, I showed three newspaper articles I found about someone in my family tree, James Peterson, and described the details those articles provided about his life and my family. A common tendency once you have some clues from a few newspaper articles is to stop there and start pursuing other types of records to learn more, such as military records, death certificates, or cemetery records.

A common tendency, yes – but it can be a mistake, as I’ll now explain.

My Mistake

To find those three newspaper articles about James, I searched on his name and used the filter to narrow the search results by location, focusing on newspapers in Holbrook, Arizona, and Snowflake, Arizona, the areas where he and his family lived. But my mistake was stopping at that search and the three articles I found.

I thought I had found enough clues to begin searching other records for more information, but discovered I needed more clues. I realized I had abandoned my newspaper search too soon and needed to return to newspapers to find more information.

And so, I conducted a new search, starting again with his name, but then I narrowed that search to the year 1917, when he died, and the state of Arizona (not any specific city). That’s when I found more newspaper articles.

In an article under the title “Arizona State News” found in the Benson Signal is this short mention of James.

An article about James Peterson,Benson Signal newspaper 17 November 1917
Benson Signal (Benson, Arizona), 17 November 1917, page 3

This article mentions that perhaps James’ death was the first death of an Arizona soldier in the national army. It also says he died of pneumonia, not tuberculosis as stated in the first three articles I found. It confirmed, as the other articles had, that James died at Camp Funston, a WWI training camp located at Fort Riley in Kansas.

A similar article was printed on November 4th in the Arizona Daily Orb in a column titled “Brief State Notes,” which also states that James is possibly the first death among Arizonans in the national army. This article confirms that James died of pneumonia, but elaborates:

He claimed no [medical] exemption, although it is known that he was threatened with tuberculosis. The change to an inclement climate [Kansas] proved too severe.

An article about James Peterson, Arizona Daily Orb newspaper 4 November 1917
Arizona Daily Orb (Bisbee, Arizona), 4 November 1917, page 5

I also uncovered an article from October 26th printed in the Winslow Mail that gives us even more information: James’ death was not only tragic, it was heroic. Apparently, he had suffered from tuberculosis for years and could have claimed a medical exemption from military service when he was drafted, but instead:

Deceased [James] has been afflicted with tuberculosis for a number of years, and at the time of the draft it was thought he would be rejected, but he was passed and as a loyal soldier he got up out of a sick bed to respond to the call.

Sadly, as the previous article had suggested, the Kansas climate was too much for him to bear:

The change in the altitude and climate at Fort Riley made swift the ravages of the disease that took his life.

An article about James Peterson, Winslow Mail newspaper 26 October 1917
Winslow Mail (Winslow, Arizona), 26 October 1917, page 2

The title of this article refers to the “Navajo Contingent,” but James was not Native American. As I explained in Part 1, he was part of a group from Navajo County, Arizona.

By going back to the newspapers after my initial search instead of prematurely turning to other types of records, I’ve learned more about the circumstances of James’ death, and of his character and the sacrifice he made for his country. I could now explore other records such as military and medical, but before doing so I’m going to go back into the newspapers some more.

Don’t Forget Other Searches

Camp Funston and James’ time there will be included in what I write about his life. Curious if I could find even more information, I searched GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives on “Camp Funston,” limited that search to the year “1917,” and included the keyword “Arizona.” That search resulted in 680 hits! (Please note: even though Camp Funston was in Kansas, I added Arizona to my search because I wanted articles that highlighted Arizona men at Camp Funston.)

I decided to limit my 680 hits to “Holbrook” and “Snowlfake,” and then to sort by the oldest newspaper first. That brought up a manageable 18 results. My reason for doing this was to see if I could learn more about the Navajo County men who went to Camp Funston, hoping to find any articles that might have something to do with James’ time there but did not mention him specifically – or that mention him with a name variation I did not search. I found more good information.

According to a newspaper article on 7 September 1917, five Holbrook men left for Camp Funston – but James was not one of them.

An article about Camp Funston, Holbrook News newspaper 7 September 1917
Holbrook News (Holbrook, Arizona), 7 September 1917, page 2

As I expected, James is listed with the second contingent of men from Navajo County. He is listed as “Jas I. Peterson,” a name variation I did not check.

An article about James Peterson, Snowflake Herald newspaper 21 September 1917
Snowflake Herald (Snowflake, Arizona), 21 September 1917, page 5

Learning more about our ancestors’ lives means taking into consideration their FAN Club (Friends, Associates, and Neighbors). Historical newspapers provide one way to uncover the FAN Club. Sergeant R. P. Schuster was one of the Navajo County men who went to Camp Funston with the first contingent. Most likely James knew Schuster or knew of him. The article above this one mentions “the county’s entire quota of 99 men,” so there weren’t too many young men living in the area.

Schuster reports in a letter to his parents that all the Navajo County men are “doing well.” That’s not to say that James wasn’t ill by then, but it provides us with more information about their time at Camp Funston.

An article about Camp Funston, Holbrook News newspaper 28 September 1917
Holbrook News (Holbrook, Arizona), 28 September 1917, page 2

Next Task: Records!

I’ve found quite a bit of information by conducting multiple newspaper searches. I’m glad I kept searching after my initial search, so that I could get as much information as possible before moving on to other records, which will be my next step. These historical newspapers help me to better understand James Peterson and his short military service – they provide me with the information I need to tell his story, and also provide details and clues to guide my next searches into other types of records.

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