[Genealogy] A Telephone and More--Selling a Farm in 1915, Her Cross
Michael John Neill
mjnrootdig at gmail.com
Fri Sep 11 07:17:33 CDT 2026
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Genealogy Blog Update
11 Sept 2026
** A Telephone, A Mail Route, and Proximity to Schools: Selling a Farm in
1915
** Full-Text Searching at FamilySearch--5 Week Class
** Metes and Bounds and AI--new release date
** Her Cross
** Upcoming Trips--Join Us!
** Updated Webinar List
--------------------
A Telephone, A Mail Route, and Proximity to Schools: Selling a Farm in 1915
--------------------
*From a while back...*
[image: image.png]
The classified ads in a newspaper can provide more clues about something
than simply who was selling what and when.
This 1915 advertisement from Quincy, Illinois’ *Daily Journal* contains a
“for sale” notice for a farm owned by my ancestor, Henry Sartorius.
I don’t know just from this advertisement whether Henry lived on the farm
at the time of his death or not and I don’t know how long he owned it.
County land records would tell me when the farm was purchased, but it’s not
going to tell me whether or not Henry actually lived there. Henry was for
the time fairly well-set financially (we will see this in a future post)
and it’s possible that the farm was purchased for a son or son-in-law to
operate. The property may or may not have been purchased from Thomas
Coffield as farm names sometimes tend to hang around–sometimes after
several others have owned the property.
The property is in section 6 of Camp Point Township–a slight distance from
where Henry lived for most of his time in Adams County. Henry lived in
Northeast Township in 1910 and had lived there sometime before that. Of
course that length of residence elsewhere doesn’t mean he wasn’t living in
Camp Point Township at the time of his death. Henry’s death certificate
would indicate his residence at the time of his death and the “heirs of
Henry Sartorius” indicates that this sale was being transacted after his
death.
The house did have a telephone, was on a rural mail route and was within
1/4 mile of a school. Apparently in 1915 those were advantages to be had in
rural Adams County.
*Don't forget: *
- 5-week class on Using FamilySearch’s Full-Text Search
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/08/31/5-week-class-on-using-familysearchs-full-text-search/>
-------------------------------------
Using AI for Metes and Bounds Deed Analysis--to be released 18 September
-------------------------------------
A completely new presentation!
and there's still time to get it at the introductory price
*Using AI for Metes and Bounds Deed Analysis*
[image: image.png]
Do deeds with metes and bounds descriptions give you headaches? You are not
alone. We will see how to use AI to help with drawing properties, analyzing
deed transactions, noticing patterns, and more. Our presentation is
easy-to-follow, down-to-earth, and practical. This presentation is not
about how to find land records. We will assume you already know how to do
that.
[image: image.png]
Topics covered will include:
-
Using AI to work with metes and bounds descriptions.
-
Manual versus AI transcriptions
-
Fitting parcels together
-
Viewing acquisitions and sales over time
-
Creating ownership chronologies
Participants are encouraged to send Michael a limited number of questions
after they have viewed the presentation.
Revised release date is 18 September 2026. Pre-order price $21
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=WZ7W2VTNUFRM6>.
Post-release price $27.00. Handout included which will include commentary
and prompts that were used. The presentation is approximately an hour long
and can be viewed more than once.. Order yours today
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=WZ7W2VTNUFRM6>.
Don’t wait as we tend to forget.
About Michael:
Michael John Neill has actively researched his genealogy since the early
1980s. He has given genealogy lectures at a variety of national and small
conferences since the 1990s. Michael has a master’s degree in mathematics
and taught mathematics at a community college for thirty years. He has led
research trips to the FamilySearch Library for over twenty years.
-------------------------------------
Her Cross
-------------------------------------
It’s common for someone to make “their mark” on a document when they are
not able to sign it. It usually means the signer is illiterate, but they
also could simply be unable to physically sign their name.
This document, from the probate file of Benjamin Butler in Vernon County,
Missouri, contains a request from the widow to have another person
appointed administrator of her husband’s estate. Fortunately this document
clearly indicates Nancy Jane is the widow of Benjamin Butler.
What’s a little unusual is that “her mark” is referred to as “her cross.”
Personally I don’t think there is any real significance to the use of the
phrase and it probably was simply the personal preference of the writer of
the document.
But it’s always interesting to note when a word or a phrase is not the one
a person would expect.
Request by Nancy Jane Butler for G. L. Kirk to be appointed administrator,
Benjamin Butler Estate, Vernon County Missouri, Probate Case files; copy
from the Missouri State Archives.
-----------------------------------------
Upcoming Trips
-----------------------------------------
- Midwest Genealogy Center–October 2026.
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/mid-continent-genealogy-library-october-2025-research-trip/>
- Library of Virginia–March 2027
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025-library-of-virginia-research-trip-richmond-virginia/>
- Allen County Public Library–June 2027
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/allen-county-library-2027-research-trip/>
-------------------------------------------------------
Updated Webinar List--Funeral Home Records Added
--------------------------------------------------------
Increase your research skills!
Ready-to-Go Webinars from Michael–download immediate:
-
Creating Children’s Stories from Genealogy Events
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/creating-childrens-stories-from-genealogy-information/>
-
Creating Families from pre-1850 Census Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/creating-families-from-pre-1850-census-records/>
-
DeedMapper webinars
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/deedmapper-intro-and-more-deedmapper-webinars/>
-
FamilySearch Catalog
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/02/19/using-the-familysearch-catalog-webinar/>
-
Farming Ancestor webinars–landowner and non-landowner versions
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/rooting-around-for-farmers-and-tenants-and-laborers/>
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/08/05/updated-familysearch-full-text-search-webinar/>
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch with Common Names
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025/11/04/common-names-at-familysearch-full-text-webinar/>
-
How Errors Get in Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/how-errors-get-in-records-webinar/>
-
Illinois Genealogy Research
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/03/10/genealogy-research-in-illinois-webinar/>
-
Unburying Funeral Home Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/unburying-funeral-home-records/>
-----------------------
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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
PO Box 17
Henderson, IL 61439
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