Presented by the Jackson County Heritage Association

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You can read more about each mystery before you choose by clicking on the title

. Remember, you can Add a Mystery instead if you prefer.

Title	Click to Claim (JUST ONE!)
Apparently there were Chinese stationed at Camp White. How were they treated by Southern Oregon communities?
Who is buried at Pech or Lake Creek Cemetery
What pets did the Peter Britt family have, and what do we know about them?
What is the story behind the copy of a Medford Mail Tribune being wrapped around a bomb sent to Huey Long?
What happened to the Talendelphians and what other communities took advantage of this New Deal program?
What is the story of the settlement of Ulvstad?
What evidence is there of UFO sightings in Jackson County?
What famous actors performed in Jacksonville?
Who were the Jacksonville Museum Performers?
What puppet theater programs were done on local history?
What is known about David Collins, a Vietnam veteran who died recently in the U.S. Virgin Islands?
Where did Lake Creek get its name?
The Medford Literary Society was active in 1885. What was its role in bringing culture to the new town of Medford?
Who is the 'Uncle Jack" mentioned in Moses Williams diary entry of 10/23/1890?
How did Samuel Cozzen acquire valuable property in Jacksonville?
How were African American troops stationed at Camp White during World War II treated by the Southern Oregon community?
What is the story behind the headline "War on Kanaka Flat" that appeared in the Jacksonville Democratic Times 18 Sept. 1874.
SOHS photo number 732 taken by Peter Britt shows a dignified black woman. Who is she and what is her story?
Jeffrey Payne and Harry Mallon were firebombed at their mine in the Upper Applegate in 1979. Why? What happened later?
How and when did the telegraph reach Southern Oregon?
What schoolhouse was located just north of Rogue Elk park?
What ever became of Old Clubfoot?
What specific programs did Charles Hazelrigg present at the Davis Opera House in Medford the fall of 1906?
How did Blaine Klum end up in a wheelchair? Did he remain in it for the rest of his life?
How long did Blaine Klum publish the "Talent Parrot" and "Talent Bird Eye"? Are there any copies in existence today?
When and by whom was the first Oakdale Market built, at J and Oakdale Streets, Medford.
Who planted all the walnut trees beside Jacksonville Highway between Medford and Jacksonville, and when?
Where was the Swartz Plumbing Shop located in Medford and are there any photographs?
What was the exact location of Foster's Mill at Rock Point?
What was the role of the Master Gardeners in the Marie Bosworth Farm and Garden Fair?
When did the Jackson County Master Gardener Spring Fair first take place?
What happened to County Treasurer George Bloomer and the missing money?
How did Bloody Run Creek get its name?
What happened to the Earhart bench, missing from Hawthorn Park?
Can anything be learned about Medford's downtown ghost?
Where exactly were the Medford brick yards?
Where on South Peach was the moonshine still?
Who was "Hazel" in Fred Alton's candid diary?
Who was Jacob Johnson, land owning colored man in Medford in 1889, and what became of him?
Was George Chick a bigamist?
Did Olive Murray die in childbirth?
What became of Medford's white slave, Viola Miller?
What became of Bill Egan, one of Medford's founding businessmen?
Find pictures of all Medford mayors
Find picture of Medford co-founder Charles Broback
Who first owned where I live?
Choose a discontinued postoffice and learn all you can about it.
Who was the first white land owner in the Gold Hill area, and how was the land acquired?
Was David (Coyote) Evens connected to Gold Hill or the Dardenelle area? Did he plot a town to be called Evansville?
Who was Julia Jackson, and why was she in jail?
What happened to the Mayfly?
Did a whirlpool in Lake of the Woods actually drag people to their deaths in the 1920s?
Mingus fire of September 29, 1886 - what were the circumstances of the fire and where did Mingus live or have his business?
Jump Off Joe Creek School - What years was the school in operation and are there photographs?
Was the Ku Klux Klan in Southern Oregon anti-Blacks or anti-Catholics?
How were the Wobblies treated by people in towns where they passed through?
Why is "Princess Jenny", who is the subject of 3 Britt photos dressed in an elegant beaded buckskin gown, claimed by several tribes? Who is she, really?
What happened to the Millionaire Mine?
Were the Applegates ever settlers in the Applegate Valley?
Why were so many orchardists in the early 1900s in the Rogue Valley from Chicago?
Was the Good Government movement good for Southern Oregon
What was the extent of bootlegging in Southern Oregon during Prohibition?
Who were the Barneburgs of Barneburg Street in Medford
How did Jeunesse Butler contribute to her community?

The following mysteries are general, and many people can claim them.

Just go to Add a mystery and fill in the Title and Claimed By fields.
Be sure to SAVE (it's at the end of the page)

	Hints for researching this mystery	What is already known?
Choose a Jackson County school or school district and learn its story?	Margaret Nesheim's book is at the Southern Oregon Historical Society Research Library and perhaps the public library.	"One Hundred Twenty-Three Year's Search for Community: the Unwearied Effort For Public Education in Jackson County, Oregon, 1854-1976" by Margaret Nesheim is a good beginning source of beginning information.
Who first owned where I live?	SOHS has a 1910 Jackson County Map with Donation Land Claim owners and who owned the land at the time. There are also Metsker maps from 1932, 1955 and 1970 that show similar information. The Jackson County land records at the court house can also show ownership records.
Choose a discontinued postoffice and learn all you can about it.	"Discontinued Post Offices in Jackson County" is a wonderful philatelic exhibit made by Nancy Swan. It is at the Jackson County Genealogical Library (RVGS) in Phoenix. That would be a great place to start.

Mystery: Who was the family whose photos appear in an album found in a garage in Butte Falls in 1969?

Note title: THE LILE/LYLE PHOTO ALBUM MYSTERY

Mystery: What became of Dr. John McCully (of McCully House and Odd Fellows Hall fame) when he left Jacksonville in 1861 to avoid paying his creditors?

Note title: Mystery on Dr. McCully is solved.

Mystery: What was Jacob Ish's role in bringing slaves to Southern Oregon, if any?

Note title: Ish Family Timeline and Articles

Mystery: What has happened to the Dahack Gardens out of Tiller?

Note title: Camellias are grown at the Dahack Gardens now

Mystery: Coal Mine-seeking more information about the coal mines now located along Coal Mine Road in Medford

Note title: An Incomplete Timeline of Coal Mining in East Medford, 1890-1909

The following events are open to the public. They are designed to assist you if you are solving one of the JCHA mysteries, but you are welcome to attend even if you are not involved in the project.

How to begin solving a local history mystery
Sat, 01/07/2012 | 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.
JCLS Medford Library, Adams Room

205 S. Central Avenue, Medford
Sarah Ann, a Jackson County Mystery

Presented by the Rogue Valley Genealogical Society

Tue, 01/17/2012 | 1:30 p.m.
OEA Uniserv Building

2495 S. Pacific Highway, Medford
The ins and outs of genealogy research
Sat, 01/21/2012 | 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.
Rogue Valley Genealogical Society

95 Houston Road, Phoenix
How to access treasures of the SOHS archives
Sat, 02/04/2012 | 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.
Southern Oregon Historical Society Library

106 N. Central Avenue, Medford
Finding the Records You Need

Melinda Henningfield will discuss how to locate census, land, court, military, immigration/naturalization, church, newspaper, city directory, business, and vital records and most importantly how to document what you find.

Sat, 02/25/2012 | 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.
JCLS Medford Library

205 S. Central Avenue, Medford
Using the local library for research, including old newspapers
Sat, 03/10/2012 | 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.
JCLS Medford Library

205 S. Central Avenue, Medford
Cemeteries as research sites for local history
Sat, 04/21/2012 | 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.
Jacksonville Cemetery

Choose your mystery

A. View the mysteries and select one from the list OR
B. Add your own mystery!
If you choose to work on a mystery of your own, but not add it to our list, that's all right, too. We would be happy to add it for you if you like. Just select Contact Us.

What do you know already?

A. Write down the names, dates and places you already know about and consider the clues they may give you for further research
B. Document your information - you may wish to find it again!

1. What are your sources?
2. Where are your sources? (name the library, historical society, or other location where you found information)
3. When did you find each source?

C. You may wish to use a standard form for each resource that you use. Here is a sample:

Form for recording your resources and notes

Develop a Timeline

Click for an example

Develop a Family Group Sheet

Click for an example

Visit local websites, libraries and historical societies

A. The The Rogue Valley Genealogy Society website

On the home page, put the name you are looking for in the search box (Use quotation marks to limit the search to the name exactly as you entered it)
If the search results are too limited, try searching by surname only
Review the results to be sure they refer to the correct person. If so, go to:

B. Jackson County Genealogical Library, operated by the Rogue Valley Genealogy Society

95 Houston Street, Phoenix
Monday - Saturday 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
The volunteer librarians will show you the sources you found online.
You may also wish to search for name(s) in the censuses, city directories, newspaper abstracts, etc.

C. Southern Oregon Historical Society

106 N. Central Avenue, Medford
Tuesday - Friday, Noon - 4:00 p.m.
library@sohs.org 541/858-1724
Try Search PastPerfect Online, SOHS's electronic catalog.It is incomplete, though. Go to the Library to search the card catalog and biography card files. Ask the volunteers to search the Mega Index, which covers photo indexes and multiple other resources. To expand your search, consider the Vertical File subject folders.

D. If the person, place or event you are researching lived, traveled or worked in a community that has a historical society, visit it. This page lists the Jackson County Heritage Association members
E. Search the printed Local History Index at the Medford Library
F. Search the Southern Oregon Digital Archives (SODA)
G. If a person you are researching died in Jackson County but you have not found an obituary at RVGS or SOHS, search newspapers for an obituary. SOHS has years of actual newspapers plus microfilm. The Medford Public Library and Ashland have newspapers on microfilm
H. If your mystery involves Medford, try Southern Oregon History, Revised. This website, created and maintained by Ben Truwe, is searchable, informative and entertaining.
I. Another index to names of people in Jackson County is Wright Research and Archives. (Although a search on this site is free, payment is required for content)
J. If your research involves determining previous ownership of property in Jackson County, you may begin your search at Property Data Online . The attachment below provides instructions for using this site, and continuing your research beyond it.

PROPERTY TITLE SEARCH.pdf

Further Research

A. If a person is buried locally, visit the cemetery and locate the gravestone. Check the gravestones nearyby, too. They may be related, even if the surnames differ.
B. If a person may have died after 1952, check the Social Security Death Index (Surprise: many people have the same names - be sure you have the right one!)
C. If a person came to Jackson County from somewhere else, or left Jackson County, check records in the other location. Use your Jackson County Library Services library card to search Heritage Quest full text books. In the libraries search Ancestry.com. Try either source for census information.
D. Did a person attend high school in Jackson County? Libraries and Southern Oregon Historical Society have yearbooks.
E. Was the person a business person, or a member of a church or fraternal organization? Historical societies have records that might help.
F. Try a search on FamilySearch
G. Google the name, putting it in quotations - you never know!
H. ASK people who may be related or may know, or have known, about your mystery.

Mysteries in our Backyard

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