[Genealogy] Moon People, Full-Text, and More

[Michael John Neill]

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** Moon People
** Full-Text Searching 2026 Webinar--Save $7.50 before it is too late

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Moon People
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We all have them: someone who appears to have lived on Earth for only a few
years. They arrived as an adult from the moon, appeared in a few earthly
records, and then vanished.  They leave no other apparent trace except for
mention in records in a short, narrow time frame.

Moon People

Barbara (Siefert) Bieger Fennan Haase Haase has two such moon people in her
life. One of them was supposedly her “husband.”

Barbara was apparently “married” to a “non-legal” husband in Warsaw,
Hancock County, Illinois, by the spring of 1856.  At that time, her
husband, George Fennan, appears as guardian for her children in county
court records. His Germanic signature appears on two documents in the
guardianship records, one of which is on a letter asking to be relieved
from his duties a short time after being appointed guardian. He appears in
no other local records.

The second moon person is Lawrence Knaeble. He was apparently a tenant in
an apartment attached to Barbara’s tavern in Warsaw in May of 1858 when he
shoots an overly aggressive and drunk William Donahue who was a patron of
Barbara’s tavern. Knaeble was convicted on a manslaughter charge but was
pardoned by the Illinois governor before serving his entire sentence. His
only appearance in local records is his criminal conviction by a Hancock
County court.

The moon people matter because there might be something on them that leads
me to more information on Barbara. She’s a German native whose origins have
been difficult to research.

I need to write up and organize what I have on Fennan and Knaeble. Fennan
is known to have left the local area–or at least refers to his departure in
his letter requesting he be relieved of his guardianship duties. It’s
possible that Knaeble never returned to Hancock County after his pardon.
It’s also possible that neither of the men knew Barbara before they met in
Warsaw and that there is no “clue” about her origins to be gleaned from
information on them.

But I won’t know if I don’t look.

Unless I look on the moon. Maybe that’s where all the answers I cannot find
are located.

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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
http://www.genealogytipoftheday.co <http://www.genealogytipoftheday.com>
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January 2026 Full-Text Search at FamilySearch Webinar

Intro price ENDING--regularly $37.50--save $7.50

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We’re excited to offer this revised presentation on the full-text searching
at *FamilySearch*--reflecting changes made to the site since this was
recorded in August 2025. We’ve redesigned our presentation as this
functionality continues to change. And…we have an extensive handout
complete with forms to help you find more people.

If you have purchased an earlier version of this presentation--email me at
mjnrootdig at gmail.com for the code to order this revision for $10.
Fully Utilizing Full-Text Search: Revised for January 2026

Your purchase includes:

   - *A 90 minute (or more presentation)* you can view as often as you want.
   - *Detailed handout* with charts and forms to help organize your
   searches. Charts and forms sent as separate files you can edit and
   customize and not as a locked PDF you have to re-create yourself as a new
   document.

We’ll be including and discussing:

*Determining what is in Full-Text Search—*what you can access at home and
what you will have to be in a FamilySearch facility or affiliate to access.

*Seeing How AI Transcriptions are different*—they aren’t like the
transcriptions made by humans. That can change your approach.

*Remembering that Full-Text means every word*—approaches need to differ as
we aren’t looking up a name in an index any more.

*Asking Who* is in the record? We aren’t just searching for the main person
like we did with traditional indexes. We’ll discuss how to determine who
could be mentioned in a record.

*Determining How to search?* There are a variety of ways to search and
filter results. We’ll see how each one works to help determine the best
strategy.

*Creating search strategies*—how full-text search changes your approach and
why just dumping terms in search boxes is not always effective.

*Determining what you found* The interface does not always make this clear.
We will show you how to get beyond the confusion and help you get enough
detail for a citation.

*Creating effective problem-solving approaches*—what to do when you cannot
find something you want.

*Demonstrating practical examples*—completely new people and families from
our previous presentations.

Available for immediate download for $30
<https://michael-john-neill.dpdcart.com/cart/add?product_id=246272&method_id=268990>.
Complete handout included and additional forms.

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Common Names When Using Full-Text Search?

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Having difficulties with common names when using the full-text search at
FamilySearch? Take a look at our presentation on this very topic.

Common Name webinar:

https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025/11/04/common-names-at-familysearch-full-text-webinar/

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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
http://www.genealogytipoftheday.com
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