Primary Selections from Special Collections

Today being St. Patrick’s Day, we thought we would share some Irish resources.

Special limited time offers for FREE access to genealogy websites pertaining to Irish Research:

AmericanAncestors.org     (all Irish resources FREE March 15-22!)

Irish Genealogy Tool Kit

IrishCentral

Irish Genealogy.ie

Have you ever wanted to take a closer look at the Book of Kells? Check out the digitized book from Trinity College Dublin. 

In our Collections: 

Local Ancient Order of Hibernians

Can you believe the Grand Parade has been going on for 32 years?! The Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center has a number of early posters for the parade in our Ephemera collection.

Image courtesy of Our Quad Cities

Interested in local Irish-American stories? The 2007-2008 Iowa Stories 2000 topic brought out local individuals with great stories to tell. Their oral histories are archived here as well.

The Celtic Heritage Trail of the Quad-Cities was an active local organization in the early 2000’s. Their records contain a good deal of Irish history and lore. Available from our Archive & Manuscript Collection. 

Come visit us for all of your Irish genealogy and history research needs!

In honor of Digital Learning Day, the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center is highlighting HeritageQuest, one of the Davenport Public Library’s research databases. There’s a wealth of genealogical information to explore and you can access it from home, for free, with your library card!

How to get there:

From the library’s home page (davenportlibrary.com), click on ‘Research Tools’ and select ‘Online Resources’ from the drop-down menu.

Next, select ‘Genealogy and Local History’ from the ‘View by Subject’ list in the drop-down menu under ‘All Online Databases.’

Choose the ‘HeritageQuest Online’ link.

Just click on the green ‘Begin Searching’ button to start discovering family history documents!

You can search or browse U.S. Census Records, city directories, the 1850 and 1860 Slave Schedules, U.S. Indian Census Rolls, and more!

Check it out! Learn what online digitial treasures the Davenport Public Library has for you on Digital Learning Day 2017!

On “Presidents’ Day” George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are usually the first to be recognized, and quite logically so, since both were born in February. However, the spirit of the day can be broadened to include more “Presidents” of the past.

In November 1910, President Theodore Roosevelt made a visit to Davenport’s VanderVeer Park. The Music Pavilion was crowded with onlookers as Roosevelt addressed his constituents from the stage.

Image Source:  Archive & Manuscript Collection #2003-09    Photograph by J.B. Hostetler

President Woodrow Wilson was saluted by the boys from Battery B as he rolled into Iowa on the train across the Government Bridge in early 1916.

Image Source:  Archive & Manuscript Collection #2001-24               Photographer unknown

Speaking of trains, a pair of Roosevelts addressed a Davenport crowd from one in a 1936 campaign stop. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor earned a second term in the White House, defeating Republican nominee Kansas Governor Alfred Landon in that election.

Image Source:  Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center Davenport Public Library Photograph Collection VM89-000844

President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn arrived in Davenport August 21, 1979 aboard a different type of transportation – the Delta Queen Riverboat! Speaking of Riverboats, (and coming full circle) who remembers “The President”?

Image Source:  Archive & Manuscript Collection #2009-19           Copyright Karen Deneve Clevenger Moline, IL

For these and many other interesting items, drop by the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center! But don’t come on Presidents’ Day. . . We will be closed for the holiday!

Sgt. Major Alvis Marshal Taylor, one of only two Quad-City area survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, passed away last week on Monday, January 16, 2017.

Alvis Taylor was born on March 18, 1923 in Caldwell, Burleson County, Texas to William Marshal Taylor and Martha Elizabeth Harper. Below is his birth certificate:

The 1930 Census shows Alvis M (age 7) living in Burleson County, Texas with his parents and siblings: William (age 35), Martha E. (age 29), Willie E. (age 12), Ester M. (age 9), and Milton (age 1).

Alvis enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 16. In the 1940 Census, we see young Alvis M. (age 19) stationed with the 11^th Medical Regiment at Schofield Barracks in Oahu, Honolulu, Hawaii.

At 11:55am on Sunday, December 7, 1941, Taylor was working alone at the Barracks Hospital when he witnessed Japanese planes circling in figure 8 formations, attacking U.S. Naval ships anchored at Pearl Harbor. The planes were flying so low he could see the Japanese pilots inside. Two rounds of bombs and torpedoes sunk 4 U.S. battleships, damaged 4 others, killed 2,402 and injured almost 1,200 American sailors and Marines. 90 percent of the people there were on shore leave.

The first sergeant and other senior NCOs were married and living elsewhere on post, so on his colonel’s order, Taylor took over. He called in doctors and coordinated dozens of ambulances to take the wounded to hospitals. At one point, he was sent to Pearl Harbor with 32 of his 67 ambulances. He was told to pick up the patients on ships and in the water.

Taylor was subjected to enemy fire when he accompanied the ambulances, but he managed to escape without injury. Thankfully, none of his ambulance drivers were killed.

After the tragedy, Taylor, who earned the Legion of Merit for meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements, returned to Schofield Barracks and to his regular duties. Later, he was sent to the Transportation Corps OCS, then continued his military career at various locations, including the Rock Island Arsenal.

First Sgt. Alvis M. Taylor married Mary Emma Garrett on December 20, 1942 in Austin, Texas. Their first son was born in Japan, where Sgt. Taylor was stationed. Mary passed away on December 18, 2005 in Coal Valley, Illinois. She is buried in the Rock Island National Cemetery.

Taylor kept his Pearl Harbor story to himself, not talking about his experience until many years later.

“You can see the pictures, but you can’t smell it and taste it. My dad can still smell that smell and taste that taste 73 years later. He remembers every minute of that day – from when he woke until he passed out from exhaustion,” said Taylor’s son Brian in a 2014 interview.

Alvis Taylor retired from the U.S. Army in 1959 as a major after 20 years of service; he retired from the U.S. Army Armament Command in 1980 after 20 additional years of civil service.

He received a Quilt of Valor in 2015, an experience he found “overwhelming.”

“This quilt is given to you, to wrap around you to give you comfort and warmth and know that you were prayed for, supported and given a heartfelt thank you.”

And a heartfelt thank you from us to you, Alvis Taylor, for your service. 

The State of Iowa turned 170 years old this week! Let’s have a look back at what was going on in Davenport at the time. 

From the Davenport “Town” Council Proceedings for December 8^th 1846:

The big issues: amending the corporation charter to add Ferry privileges, roaming hogs, a fence for the City Cemetery, and a few people still owing money for road taxes.

Selected stories from the Davenport Weekly Gazette, Thursday December 31, 1846:

It had been a pleasantly mild winter up to that point.

Prices for produce and provisions seemed reasonable.

Wagon traffic to Iowa and further west had increased considerably. One correspondent in Peoria theorized it was due, in part, to the results of the most recent elections. 

As-Shaw-E-Qua (Singing Bird), widow of the distinguished war chief Black Hawk, died in the Sauk camp, on the Kansas River, on the 29^th of August last, aged 85 years. (Notice they called Black Hawk a “war” not a “tribal” chief.)

There was a bribery scandal in the Iowa House of Representatives…

Huldah Sloper, wife of Samuel Sloper of Centerville, Scott County, died of Typhus Fever on December 17^th, 1846, at the age of 57. She was the mother of 17 children and grandmother of 38, most of who lived in Scott County. The family has a road named after them. 

Estate notices were posted for Lucius Moss, Robert Carleton, and Joseph Conway.

Genealogists know that it’s rare to find an obituary for a woman during this period. Deaths were not recorded in the state of Iowa until 1880; burial records, church death registers, and probates were the only proofs available.

Happy birthday, Iowa!

(posted by Cristina)