IBM BladeCenter Cisco Switch Default Password

For anyone else looking for this: the default credentials for the switch's web interface is no username, password cisco. You can then set a telnet password on the Advanced Settings tab of Configure-Express Setup. And set the enable password by going to /configure/-/enable/secret/0/SomePassword/CR where SomePassword is what you want to set it to.

Tracing the History of your Indiana Home

Tracing the history of your Indiana Home is possible, it just requires a little more detective work than in some other states. The place to start is your county government's GIS portal. This is usually listed somewhere on the county website. On the GIS portal, you can type in your address and determine your parcel ID, which you'll need later on in the process. In the Improvements section, the year the government believes your house was constructed will be listed. For older homes, it's probably a ballpark figure. Hopefully there's also a Transfer History section which will show past owners and most importantly, the book & page at the county recorder's office that the deed transfer was recorded on. Now that you have that information, it's time to head down to your local county government offices.

In the Plat Mapping office, you can give them the parcel ID and they'll give you a copy of a card on the back of which might have additional past owners. But the info from the card is probably just what was on the GIS portal. They can also give you the property's "legal description" if you don't already have it, which will help you when you're identifying deeds in the next step.

Now in the Recorder's office, you can look up the oldest book & page you know of. Hopefully your County Recorder has started digitizing these records, which will make the process much easier. Once you have the page, note the previous owner. The deed transfer entry may span pages, so if you're returned a few pages read them all carefully to make sure you've got the right deed. You can run a search on the previous owner's name and get all the deeds they're involved in for that county. The software they use is not the greatest at sorting, but you'll want to try and go back to earlier books and find where that owner was deeded the land. If multiple owners are listed (such as husband and wife), you may have to search on the other owners' name to find it. Repeat this step as far back as you can go and you'll have the names of everyone who legally owned the property.

Various brick walls you may encounter:

• Husband and wife listed, but you can't find where either one was deeded the property. Try searching on the wife's maiden name if it can be determined.
• After the home was built, you can't find when an owner purchased it. Using the transfer date you know of as a reference, step back in time using US Census data. The census is recorded every 10 years, so this will get you close to the date they moved in. Using the oldest census you could find them living in the house on, step back further in time using old city directories available at your local library. This method may also give you a more precise date that the home was built than available at your county offices.

Now that you have names, you probably want to know more about them. When Google fails, at your local library you can search obituaries and local history collections for the names. The stories you find may answer questions you have about your home!

If you think your home is haunted, first contact a local ghost hunters group. In addition to being the right thing to do, they may have someone available to do this research for you. In Southern Indiana, try The Anomaly Response Network.

Irish Genealogy: Bypassing the County Genealogy Center

Note: I first published this summary of my experiences researching my Irish genealogy on the Geni Forums four years ago. Geni has since discontinued the forums, so here is the post in its entirety.

Finding your Irish Ancestors for Free
Sean Feeney - 7 July 2007

Note: This concerns my experience tracing ancestors in County Sligo, Ireland. Your experience may vary, and I'm sure each county is a bit different in terms of where they store their records but this should serve as a good guide.

Yes, the records are mostly free. All you’re paying for at the center is for someone to do your research for you. There is a reference library down the road from the central library which has the property records, like Griffith Valuations, and the census records. The central library doesn’t have anything. You’ll need to know the surname and exact location (not just the county). To get to the reference library, walk east along Stephens St. from the central library and turn right on Bridge St. The reference library will be on your left, about half way down the block. Hours: M-F 9:30-12:45, 14:00-16:45.

If you are unsure of the exact location, it might be listed on your ancestor’s birth record. To get a copy of birth, death, or marriage records, you’ll have to go to the Markievicz House (Health Services Board - HSE) up the road from the central library. Walk west along Stephens St. and take the first right up Holborn St. Veer left at the fork in the road and Markievicz will be on your left in a fenced off parking lot. It will cost you 6 euro for a research copy of a record. The location and the mother’s maiden name is about the only thing you’ll find of use on a birth record from the late 1800’s in Ireland – they did not include the parents’ dates and places of birth like we did in the United States. These records also only go back to 1864.

If you want maps, you’ll need to contact the Valuation office in Dublin. They can issue you a map based on the information in the first column of the Griffith Valuation for your ancestor’s land. It is located in the Irish Life Center on Lower Abbey St.

Source Material at the Sligo Reference Library

1. If you know your ancestor’s religion, you can consult church records going back to 1762 in some parishes. This may include births, marriages, and deaths and you can find the parents names (including mother’s maiden) on the baptismal records.
2. 1901 Census of Ireland.
3. 1876 Return of Land Owners Co. Sligo.
   --This would only be for rich families, as landlords hadn’t given over the land to their tenants yet.
4. 1857 Griffith Valuation.
5. 1841, 1851, 1861 Censuses Co. Sligo.
   --These do not have names – only numbers by townland.
6. 1846-1851 The Famine Immigrants (6 Volumes).
7. 1842 Sligo Borough Valuation.
8. 1837 Sligo Voters Lists.
   --There was not universal suffrage of any kind, so you’re unlikely to find someone here unless they were very influential and wealthy.
9. 1823-1837 Tithe Applotment Books.
10. 1795-1797 Voters Lists for Co. Sligo.
    --See voter lists note above.
11. 1749 Census for the Diocese of Elphin.
12. 1670 Books of Survey and Distribution for Co. Sligo.
13. 1664 Hearth Money Rolls.
14. 1659 Census Co. Sligo.
    --This has surnames with number of people using them by barony.
15. Graveyard inscriptions sorted by graveyard and indexed by surname for Sligo County, mostly taken from the late 1980’s.

If all you’re doing is records research, it may be easier to base yourself out of Dublin. Aside from the Valuation Office, it also has the National Library, General Register Office, National Archives, Registry of Deeds, and various church libraries. Most of the Sligo Reference Library microfilms are just duplicates of the ones at the National Library.

My ancestors lived out in the country, not in Sligo town, and they were farmers. This being the case, the sources most helpful to me were the parish records, 1901 census, Griffith Valuation, tithe applotments, and graveyard inscriptions.

Overcoming the 1864 Brick Wall

Due to English invasions, most records prior to this time were destroyed. All we have before this time are the English records and the 1659 census, which just gives us an idea of where our surname was located at the time. Your best bet for overcoming this brick wall is using the parish records for as far back as they go and studying the graveyard inscriptions, which can easily go back to the late 1700’s, and talking to the people in the area.

Even if your name is a fairly common Irish name, I found that if you go to the area where your last known ancestor lived, you can find descendants whose word-of-mouth information can get you a good bit past 1864. The Irish have a long-standing tradition of oral story telling to relate information about ancestors and this continued into the twentieth century, albeit by this point the stories no longer involved magical folklore. This is good for genealogists as this lends more credence to the information nonetheless. The people in Ireland are incredibly nice and don’t mind you asking about family information, at least in the rural communities where everyone still waves to everyone as they drive by.

In my case, I just drove to the townland where I knew my ancestors lived and I started asking in the shops and pubs that proudly displayed my surname. Some customers pointed me in the right direction, and the third door I knocked on had a long-lost relative in it (from their perspective, I suppose, I’m the long-lost relative since the family that stayed in Ireland continued on after my grandfather came to America). Finding this relative allowed me to really grow out my tree, both upwards as I expected from this trip and to the side and downward, as I did not expect. Although I’m sure this cannot happen for everyone, if it happened for me it could happen for you.

Have you been successful finding information about your ancestors in Ireland using a source or method not listed in this article? Please add a comment about your experience!

Recommended reading;

"Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, Third Edition" by John Grenham
"Irish Families" and "More Irish Families" by Edward MacLysaght

Vigo County, Indiana 1930 Census

This might be helpful for anyone else looking...

You can search the 1930 census for free using your Vigo County Public Library card number at HeritageQuest. Terre Haute starts on Roll 634, Page 33.