World Vital Records FREE Access until August 18th!

WorldVitalRecords Free Site Access Today! World Vital Records announced today that it is extending its FREE ACCESS to the site until August 18th.

That's right, genealogists now have 4 more days to explore World Vital Records and find ancestors for FREE.

High School Yearbooks - an overlooked treasure?

A few weeks ago I found, and bought, two old yearbooks. They were from Guelph Collegiate Institute in Guelph Ontario for 1931 and 1932. Both my parents were born and raised in Guelph and I figured there was a good chance my mother at least would be mentioned in those yearbooks!

Sure enough there she was in a class photo for 1932. What a treasure! She was 16 years old and almost finished her Commercial Classes.

Other surprises in the Yearbooks were photos of Len Peer, my father's cousin. He is with the rest of the Senior Rugby Team in one photo which I have scanned and inserted here. He's the teenage boy at the top.

In the text I also spotted mention of Albert and John McGinnis, more cousins to my father. I am really enjoying going through the yearbooks, not only to look for names of relatives and ancestors, but also just to get a glimpse of what was "in" duing my mom and dad's teenage years.

I was surprised to also find death notices for students who had passed away. I decided to have a hunt for one teenage girl whose photo was with her death notice in 1931 and found her death registration on Ancestry.com Her death notice and details from her death certificate are on AncestorsAtRest blog.

The ads are amusing from my present-day perspective, as are the musical references but what is being shown and touted as the best, WAS the current rage in 1931 and 1932. It's a piece of history and I'm thrilled to have found these items.

Find School Yearbooks on E-Bay or you can hunt through old bookstores and flea markets to find your own treasure from the past.

Top 10 reasons to publish your research

"At some point, we always plan to publish our findings, whether it’s just within immediate family members or to the world at large." Source: August 5, Boston Genealogy Examiner Robin C. Mason

Robin takes us through 10 reasons to publish our genealogy research. I'd like to add 2 more reasons -

1. Knowing that you will publish your research forces you to be organized and keep your documents organized

2. Knowing you will publish your genealogy research forces you to notate your sources consistently and in a universally accepted method

Now read Robin's article

Share Those Genealogy Treasures!

On Saturday there was an Elgie Picnic near us. It was a reunion for descendants of William Elgie, the first miller in Guelph Ontario circa 1832. My husband is a descendant. We couldn't attend the picnic but we invited two of our "cousins" to our home afterwards.

Diane (from Texas) and Mary Anne (from Ontario) joined us for dinner and long talks about all things Elgie! We pored over their binders of information on Elgie ancestors. My husband's mother joined us to share her memories of her grandfather who was yet another William Elgie. We spent several hours happily reading each other's notes and sharing stories.

We showed them our Elgie photographs, and then the surprise - we pulled out our newspaper clippings that my husband's great-aunt clipped and saved during the 1950s. The clippings were stories and photos from a local newspaper and involved all her Elgie relatives. What a wonderful treasure trove!

Diane's eyes lit up because she is the unofficial compiler of all Elgie information. Diane does an amazing job of gathering and organizing all the Elgie material that others send her (and that she finds in her own research). After compiling all the data, she makes sure every Elgie descendant knows about it by publishing it on a website. Information on living people is always omitted.

Diane and Mary Ann quickly sorted the newspaper clippings into two piles - one with all new data which my husband offered to scan and email to Diane. The other much smaller pile was information already known to them. Watching Diane's joy at finding this treasure which had been in my husband's filing cabinet for many years, it struck me that all genealogists need to go through their papers and share what they have hidden away! What better way to ensure that these treasures don't get tossed out or forgotten.

Friends Reunited Sold

Media group DC Thomson, is jumping further on the genealogy bandwagon through its £25 million acquisition of the social networking site Friends Reunited.

Friends Reunited started as an online service for reuniting school friends, but in 2003 launched a sister service called Genes Reunited, which publisher DC Thomson will now run alongside its own family history site, findmypast.com.

This may have some interesting consequences for genealogy researchers so be sure to watch this merger carefully.

Genealogy Rant (Pet Peeve)

Why do some (many?) genealogy researchers think that all genealogy information on their ancestors can be found online?

I see it all the time. Someone posts on a mailing list

"I can't find my ancestor, he's my BRICK WALL! I have been searching for 5 years and I've looked EVERYWHERE!!! Can anyone help me?"

More details emerge and you feel quite excited because you know where this researcher can find the records they want!

So you respond. You explain that the records he/she needs are found in the Whatchihoogis Archives in Watchihoogis USA (or Canada or...) You add that you've used these records personally and they contain a wealth of information. You give them a URL for the website for the Whatchihoogis Archives so they can find out how to order the records on microfilm or how to go there in person or how to obtain a lookup from the Archives.

You sit back expectantly, basking in the knowledge that you just helped someone crack a major block in their genealogy. You know how happy that person will be and what a loud THANK YOU you'll receive.....

But that's a fantasy. In reality, 9 times out of 10, what do you get? A loud "I went to the website you gave me but those records aren't online!"

You explain that not all genealogy records are online. That researchers may have to go to the source, that is, the Archives or the Library that holds the records. They may have to (gasp!) do some of their research the old-fashioned way - out of their computer chair and off to a Library or Archives where one must use a microfilm reader. Or a book!

You remind the mailing list poster that he/she has had this "brick wall" for several years. That the records in question are not likely to go online in the near future, if ever. You suggest that breaking down that barrier might be worth checking into how the records can be accessed.

At this point I have actually received emails that say "What good does that do me? Guess I will just have to keep looking" And a few days or a week or a month later, you spot the identical query from this person posted on several mailing lists

"I can't find my ancestor, he's my BRICK WALL! I have been searching for 5 years and I've looked EVERYWHERE!!! Can anyone help me?"

The reason for my rant today is that lately I've been running into this a lot. In fact one researcher I corresponded with in my attempts to help, mentioned that he'd been posting on mailing lists with his query since 2000. Okay that's NINE YEARS! Would he not at some point realize it's time to get up from his computer and get out to the Archives that holds the records he needs?

How can we as genealogists educate others to the fact that no genealogy research can be completed by using one resource only. There are so many other places where we need to search! The Internet is a wonderful resource, it's incredible how much data is online and more is coming all the time. But there are still other physical repositories - Libraries and Archives and local Museums - where scads of information on our ancestors lies waiting to be discovered.

1930 USA Census FREE During August

Footnote has opened up the 1930 census for all to view FREE during the month of August.

CLICK START NOW ON THE BANNER TO VIEW THE CENSUS FOR FREE

Don't miss this opportunity to search for ancestors. Use the banner to reach the page for complete and free access to the 1930 census. All you need do is register with your email address and then start searching.

England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 online

England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 has just gone online on Ancestry.com

This database contains criminal registers from England and Wales for the years 1791-1892. The criminal registers are a listing of individuals charged with crime. The registers provide information about the charged individual, their trial, and sentence (if convicted) or other outcome. Information listed may include:

* Name of criminal
* Age
* Birthplace (not often listed after 1802)
* Crime
* When and where tried
* Sentence (death, transportation, imprisonment, acquittal, etc.)
* Where and when received
* Date of execution or release
* By whom committed, to whom delivered



Here is an example from an 1865 record. 5th name down is Thomas Down charged with embezzlement. He was sentenced to one month's imprisonment at Redhill. There is a notation in the Discharge column stating that when he is freed he is to be sent to a Reformatory School for four years. Think how exciting this would be if Thomas were your ancestor! You'd be hunting for information on Redhill and checking the 1871 census to see if perhaps Thomas was in a Reform School somewhere.

Information obtained from these registers may be able to lead you to other records. For example, if you have a date and place of trial, you will know when and where to search for court records. Other criminal records to consult include:

* Calendar of Prisoners
* Prison Registers
* Court records such as depositions, indictments, and case files
* Warrants, including pardons, reprieves, and transfers of prisoners
* Transportation records

Burr Oak Cemetery Cook County Illinois Online

Burr Oak Cemetery where 300 graves were illegally disinterred and the plots resold, has now been placed online by the Cook County Sheriff's Office. Families can now browse the photographs of headstones and also search for an ancestor's name in the database search engine

As well, the entire Cemetery database in cvs format has been placed online for those interested to download. This file can opened by most spreadsheet programs. I used Excel to view it.

There are some problems with the database. Genealogists will discover that some names and dates in the photos are not the same as the names and dates in the database. But this is a very small hiccup because you can check the online Cook County Death Indexes for verification, or census records (I use Ancestry.com for my census searches)

We must remember that it was not genealogists who created the database, it was the Cook County Sheriff's office. They compiled this database in record time and relatives and descendants will find it very useful, even with the discrepancies.

... Read more about the tragedy at Burr Oak Cemetery

Setting Your Ancestor in History

One of the things I like to do as a genealogist and avid but amateur historian, is to find out about my ancestors in history. By that I mean once I find an ancestor, I make note of his dates of birth and death, and his geographic locations during his life time. Then I look for events that happened during my ancestor's life.

What I am trying to do is place my ancestor in history, see what events he lived through, perhaps even took part in, but certainly was aware of. I look for world events, country events and local events. That way I can build a story around my ancestor and get a much better appreciation of him as a real person who lived and laughed and cried, who experienced stress as well as happiness. It doesn't have to be huge events like the Halifax Explosion, or the Civil War, or San Francisco earthquake (although you might find your ancestor lived during or was involved in something momentous)

You may find out about a fire in the town where he lived, a series of droughts or hard times in his farming community - perhaps he lived through a recession. But try to think of your ancestor experiencing the same emotions as you do! Going through the same trials and times as you.

How do you find out about all these events? Newspapers are a great source for interesting items in the town or community or country where your ancestors lived. You can either search using keywords (fire, earthquake, drought, and so on) or by choosing a specific day and reading the newspaper for that day to see what happened.

Here are some newspaper archives online that I use in my searches.

* NewspaperARCHIVE.com I am a big fan of this website. I like the display of the newspapers and how quickly they load for me.

* Family History Newspapers 1690-1980 on GenealogyBank

* Footnote has newspapers and so does Ancestry.com

My husband has ancestors who all lived in one small town for generations. So his method of setting them into history was to start reading that small town newspaper, one day at a time. He likes to read it as if he were living there and the paper was coming to his door, that is - he reads each day's paper until he finishes the year. Then he starts over on January 1st of the next year.

However you choose to approach the job of learning the historical events so you can set your ancestor in them, you can be sure your ancestor will come alive for you.

A Family Abandoned in the Wildnerness

Carnival of Genealogy, 77th Edition is about Disasters. The prompt states "For the next Carnival of Genealogy, tell about a disaster that one or more of your ancestors lived through: Did they survive a hurricane, flood, tornado, train wreck, sinking ship, plague, genocide, explosion, mine collapse, or some other terrible event? How did they survive?"

Anna Maria (Mary) Warner, my 5th great grandmother, was baptised in 1735 in Schoharie New York. She was descended from Palatines who fled starvation and religious persecution in Germany for New York in 1710. In 1757 at the age of 22 she married Isaac Van Valkenburg, descendant of Dutch settlers to New Netherland (and a Mohawk great great grandmother named Lydia Van Slyke)

When the American Revolution broke out in 1775, Mary and her husband remained loyal to the King even though Isaac’s father was a Patriot,

Isaac was imprisoned in Albany three times by the Americans for his loyalty to the British King. After his release in 1777, Isaac joined the Loyalist unit Butler's Rangers and fled to Canada. Mary was left with ten children ages 2 to 18 years.

Mary continued to aid the British, and in 1779 she and the children were taken from their home at North River, New York, by American patriots. Their home and all their clothing and belongings were burned by the patriots. The patriots then forced Mary and eight of her children (two of her sons ages 14 and 18 had already joined their father in Butler’s Rangers) to march 80 miles north through the forest. There they were abandoned by the Patriots and left to die. Mary’s youngest child was only 4 years old.

An excerpt from one of the affidavits presented to the Council when Isaac petitioned for his land grant in 1797 briefly describes Isaac's imprisonment and Anna Maria's ordeal.

Luckily friendly Indians found the family and took them to Montreal where they joined Isaac and the other Loyalist families who had made it to safety. In Montreal, the starving Loyalists were given food, blankets and minimal clothing. The British government had not made provisions for so many Loyalists’ families arriving with nothing but the clothes on their backs. For 5 difficult years the Loyalists and their families were quartered at a small barracks and given a meager allowance of food rations, blankets and clothing by the Government.

But the family survived, and Mary with Isaac and 9 of their children agreed to join other Rangers and families who were promised land in the Niagara area of Ontario. In April 1784 the family arrived at Niagara, where they would make their home. Rations were still dispensed to the settlers as after 5 years of living with nothing to call their own, they still had no land, and no homes. Again they were quartered in barrack style living and so they began to build their own shelters on land that was not theirs.

A descendant of one of the refugee families states that the family dinner-table was a huge stump, hewn flat on top, standing in the middle of the floor. When their clothing wore out, the settlers made new garments from deerskin.

They also had yet to endure (and survive!) what became known as “The Hungry Year” in 1787 In that year the government stopped giving out food rations. But there was a drought, then a freezing winter, and no grain crop or supplies. Many families had neither guns nor powder to shoot what game was near. Many starved that winter in Upper Canada (Ontario). The Loyalists and their families were reduce to eating leaves and drinking water which had been boiled with a bit of bark in it. Mary’s oldest son soon gave up and returned to New York where he married and raised his family.

And yet Mary and her husband and children survived. They suffered one trial after another – the free land promised had not been forthcoming and had to be petitioned for. That meant writing out lengthy pleas stating the reasons why they felt they were qualified to receive the land. Statements and affidavits had to be gathered from those who had known them back in New York (or wherever they once lived)

Loyalists and their families had to present their petitions for free land to the Council where they were read and then a decision made. Even if a Loyalist received his grant of land it was not likely to be the land where he had begun building his new home. Families were often separated and older men who had counted on their young sons being next door to help them clear the land and farm it, were suddenly on their own. Their sons might be hundreds of miles away.

Life had been a struggle for Mary and her family from 1775 until 1797 when she and Isaac were finally granted their 500 acres near what is now St. Catharines Ontario. 22 years of hardship, danger and starvation – far from home and with family left behind. How many of us could (or would!) endure that for the sake of remaining loyal to a distant ruler? I admire Mary and Isaac and all the Loyalist families tremendously for their courage, their spirit and their refusal to commit what was in their minds, an absolute betrayal to King and country.

Adopt a Piece of the Onrust, the first Dutch ship in America 1614

In 1614 the Onrust was launched in what was to become New Netherland. It explored what is now New York, also Long Island and Connecticut. Captained by Adriaen Block, the Onrust's explorations enabled the Dutch to claim the territory that became New Netherland, which now includes parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Pennsylvania

The 50 foot ship reconstruction, based on drawings and documents found in the Amsterdam Archives, started in 2006 in Schenectady at the site of the former Mabee farm.

Interested historians, genealogists and others can now adopt a piece of the ship, such as the sail, stern, keel, or a plank used in building it, by making a donation to the project. Contributors receive a certificate and their name inscribed on a plaque which will be placed on the ship when it is completed.

Donations may be made to

New Netherland Routes,
PO Box 1710
Schenectady New York
12301 or email NNRoutes@aol.com

It's a fascinating glimpse into early American history!

Those interested in this time period and in New Netherland, may view a set of ships passenger lists for 81 ships sailing from Holland (the Netherlands) to New Netherland from 1624 until the English takeover in 1664. Many of these lists have never been published online or offline and are part of an ongoing project to reconstruct the lists based on a variety of primary sources.

Another Lost Faces Family Photo Album online

LOST FACES is my collection of Antique Family Photo Albums. Most are from the Civil War time period with CDVs (Cartes de Visite) and tintypes. Some are Cabinet Cards from the 1880-1900 time period. Lost Faces is my way of saving genealogy treasures and preserving historical documents. Some albums that contain funeral cards, memorial cards, obituaries, Christmas cards, and hand-written genealogies.

Today I have uploaded the Alexander and Boomhauer Family Photo Album to Lost Faces. It consists of 25 Cabinet Cards and Cartes de Visite from 1870 on. 21 photos are identified by name!

Surnames include Boomhower, Boomhauer, Alexander, Simpson, Lawton, Stewart, Babcock, Dobbs, Leaman. Locations include Iowa, New York, Wisconsin

There are almost 60 photo albums online at Lost Faces for you to look through. That means approximately 3000 or more photos of possible ancestors.

Many of my photo albums are now online in their entirety for you to view and freely save photos for your own personal use.

Albums that are not online yet have the option for you to view thumbnails and order quality reproductions of an ancestor.

You can identify ancestor photos by understanding the Types of Early Photographs and during what time period each was used. Do you need help to date a treasured photo found in the attic? Do you want to learn how to Date Old Photographs through Clothing & Hairstyle? There's another trick too - How Revenue Stamps Can Date Ancestor Photos

Washington State World War I Service Statement Cards, 1917-1919 online

The World War I Service Statement Cards, 1917-1919 (Department of Veterans Affairs), indexed by Washington Historical Records Project volunteers, are available and searchable online at the Washington Digital Archives.

Information contained in the records includes full name, serial number, race, place inducted, place of birth, unit assignments, ranks attained, engagements fought in, wounds received, dates served overseas, date of demobilization, and degree of disability (if any).

Choose Military Records from the drop down "Record Series" Menu. There are other Military Records online too. I searched for MASSEY and got these hits:

* Department of Veterans Affairs, World War I Service Statement Cards, 1917-1919 4
Pierce Military Records - 9 hits

* Snohomish Military Records - 11 hits

* Spokane County WWI Soldiers Miscellaneous Lists - 2 hits

* Washington State Department of Veterans' Affairs, Orting Soldiers' Home, Member Files, 1891-1987 - 4 hits

* Washington State Department of Veterans' Affairs, Veterans' Home - Retsil, Member Files, 1910-1977. - 1 hit

Wyoming Historical Newspapers

Wyoming State Library plans to digitize newspapers from 1849 to 1922. The first batch of these Wyoming Newspapers is now online at Wyoming Newspaper Project

As of May 22, 2009,721,138 full page newspaper images were published. A complete list of newspapers and dates is available in pdf format.

The Soldier in later Medieval England: An exciting new AHRC research project

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has awarded a Research Grant worth just under £500,000 to Dr Adrian Bell of the ICMA Centre and Professor Anne Curry of the University of Southampton to challenge assumptions about the emergence of professional soldiery between 1369 and 1453.

The online muster roll database currently holds just under 90,000 service records. These are taken from muster rolls, housed in The National Archives (TNA), for the years 1369 - 1453.

The online protection and attorney database currently holds just under 20,000 records. These are taken from the treaty rolls, housed in The National Archives (TNA), for the years 1369 - 1453.

The Garrison database is in draft form at present. This is in order to stress test the database, as it contains over 110,000 service records. The records are drawn from mainly French repositories and record service for the English crown, in the occupation of Normandy from 1415 - 1453.

Search the above databases.

A pilot project database is now available for searching.

New Version of the Canadian Naturalization 1915-1932 Database

Ottawa, July 22, 2009 - Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is pleased to announce the release of a new version of theCanadian Naturalization 1915-1932 online database.

It now includes the names of 206,731 individuals who applied for and received status as naturalized Canadians from 1915 to 1932. This database is one of the few Canadian genealogical resources specifically designed to benefit those researchers with roots outside of the British Commonwealth. References located in the database can be used to request copies of the actual naturalization records, which are held by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Burr Oak Cemetery Opening Online Records Database

Authorities plan to give the public access to a searchable online database of nearly 100,000 graves at the historic black cemetery where four people are accused of digging up graves to resell the plots.

The database may be available later this week according to Cook County Sheriff's office. The database was created using existing records from Burr Oak Cemetery and county death certificates.

Burr Oak is the burial place of civil rights-era lynching victim Emmett Till and several other prominent African-Americans. I

Read the rest of the story Burr Oak Cemetery Opening Online Records Database

Genealogy Family Hope Chest in Family Tree Magazine!

It was quite exciting to see an article Called "Best Hope" in Family Tree Magazine September 2009 issue.

The article (on page 17) is based on my blog series Genealogy Hope Chest. The Family Tree Magazine article lists my 8 steps, with a brief summary of each, and includes a photo of some of my family treasures that have been passed on through the generations to me.

I am so honoured to be mentioned and have something I wrote included in their magazine! The online site for Family Tree Magazine is at http://www.familytreemagazine.com

Online release of the Stars and Stripes historic newspaper archive

NewspaperARCHIVE,(at NewspaperARCHIVE.com) in partnership with Stars and Stripes U.S. military publication, announces the online release of the Stars and Stripes historic newspaper archive.

Stars and Stripes, the daily independent news source for the U.S. military community, has partnered with NewspaperARCHIVE to digitize and make its entire microfilm archive available online. This partnership, which also includes microfilm preservation of Stars and Stripes newspapers, gives libraries, historical societies, educational institutions and individuals online access to more than one million pages of historic newspaper content never before available.

"We are proud to be able to distribute this historic military publication," said Jeff Kiley, General Manager of Heritage Microfilm. "Researchers across the globe will now have access to Stars and Stripes, which has been reporting on major headlines from the front lines continuously since World War II. The newspaper's archive offers readers a global perspective on events that shaped the world's history, such as the Vietnam War, the moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall and much, much more. Stars and Stripes is a wonderful research tool for historians and genealogists, containing a wealth of information about American service members and the events which shape their history."

The archive is the culmination of nearly two years' worth of work assembling the best microfilm of the Stars and Stripes collection available, scanning it into digital form, inspecting each image for irregularities and quality issues, correcting any problem images, and building a fully-searchable digital archive website.

Content from Stars and Stripes is featured on NewspaperARCHIVE at NewspaperARCHIVE.com. The archive is divided in two editions ż the Pacific Stars and Stripes and European Stars and Stripes. The Stars and Stripes collection is integrated into almost 100 million additional newspaper pages of valuable content from the U.S. and around the world, dating as far back as 1753.