Exciting Genealogy Discovery: The Alice S. Champlin Files

Several months ago, at a regional book and paper show, one of my "regular" dealers showed me a small accordian file organizer, which was touted as "family history notes" -- not something I can resist. After a little price negotiation, the files came home with me.

The organizer is comprised of two dozen individual envelopes, most filled with clippings and correspondence. While at first glance, it would appear to be someones personal research, a closer inspection yielded the discovery that this was work of a turn-of-the-century professional genealogist!

The researcher was Mrs. Alice S. Champlin of Westbrook, Connecticut (wife of Charles C. Champlin), and over the next few months, I will be carefully digitizing and recording all of the components of this collection.

I did a little poking around online, and she's listed in the "Connecticut Deaths and Burials, 1772–1934." Index at FamilySearch. It appears she past away on February 2nd, 1913. In the 1910 U.S. Census, she and Charles were living at 13 East Main Street in Westbrook. Alice lists profession as "none," so its unclear if she was ever paid for her research efforts.

Expect to see blog posts about these files as I progress through analyzing and recording the information contained within those envelopes.