A Source I Want to Understand Better

I’ve adapted Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge.
Each week I follow my children’s ahnentafel numbering to select the featured ancestor, ensuring no one through the mid–sixth generation is left behind.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2026 Week 29: A Source I Want to Understand Better

Introduction

My Week 29 ancestor is Charlotte Mae DuShannon. Lottie, my great grandmother, was orphaned young. As a baby genealogist, I eventually found her guardianship records on microfilm at what was then called a Family History Center. Now? I can’t find them again.

Discussion

I have tried to locate those records in the FamilySearch catalog. It’s possible the FamilySearch Library no longer has access to the records, but it’s more likely I’m not searching correctly. I probably printed them – I printed nearly everything in those days – but so far they haven’t surfaced as I sort through my genealogy papers.

What might I hope to find?

• What did “guardianship” actually mean in Lottie’s situation?
• Were Chester and Mary Peters legally appointed guardians, foster parents, or both?
• What was the role of the Protestant orphan asylum?
• Who was Lydia, and why was she signing for the institution?
• Might there be more documents which identify Lottie’s parents, explain why she entered the asylum, or point toward another set of records?
• What information did I overlook when I first found the documents because I was a much newer genealogist?

I bet AI could help me come up with a plan for finding those records, based on what I remember: Bridgeport, Connecticut – Charlotte DuShannon – a Protestant orphan’s asylum – 1876 guardianship signed by her foster parents, Chester and Mary Peters – and signing for the orphanage was a woman named Lydia, which I remember because Lottie named a daughter Lydia.

With that plan, I’d love to locate the papers again and see what more information I could glean from them. There was a big information gap in our family around Lottie’s parents, and I am gradually chipping away at it.

Charlotte May DuShannon West

Summary

When I first found the guardianship papers, I was thrilled simply to find Lottie. Now I know enough to ask questions I probably didn’t know to ask then.

What records do you have that could bear re-examining?

AI Disclosure

This post was created by me with the help of AI tools. While AI helps organize research, the storytelling and discoveries are my own.

Next Week’s Topic: Free Space