#52Ancestors #Week10 Translation

 I don’t know if one would (or should) call this fortunate, but nearly all of my ancestors are from English-speaking countries, so I have very little experience with having to translate anything, although as most genealogists, frequently and continuously struggle with interpretation, so that’s the trail I’m going to embrace from this week’s prompt, as tenuous as the connection may be.

Unreadable handwriting, phonetic recording of names, relationships recorded in old wills that make NO sense, and more. Most recently I obtained a copy of a Civil War pension that honestly appears to not be the person I’m looking for, but it did provide a location mystery. My esteemed cousin and I have never lived in Pulaski County, but we’ve both visited and poured over several different versions of the area maps: modern, historical, and the “sundown town” maps. Friendship, Pulaski, Illinois is not ever listed, nor have we found mention of it in any newspaper clippings or other records such as the thorough cemetery listings of this county.

I called the assessor's office in Mound City and obtained a promise of an inquiry and a call back.  Nothing.  After about 2 weeks, I called back and spoke to the same person, who apologized and promised he’d call back with info. Nothing, again. Cousin and I have a resource that we generally don't employ as a first resort, as that person is an elder local, but quite acerbic in her responses, regardless of the inquiry. With some careful consideration, I shot off an email and waited. 

As it turns out, I not only received a response chock-full of information about Friendship, I also received the unsurprising dressing-down of the county assessor's knowledge.  Friendship, Illinois was the name of a small community and school (and one would imagine a cross-roads store) described in the email as "half-way between Levings and Ullin." There is also a listing of 8th grade graduates of the Friendship school from 1917 - 1953. I'd hoped for family to be included in the earlier years of this listing but no joy.

This particular endeavor did not result in any real help to my family, for now. But it did put in place a location I may later need to reference. Never, never give up, as they say.