Naturalization Records D-I

An often overlooked resource for ancestor searching is Naturalization Records.

Naturalization records can help you find the date of immigration, ship's passenger list, port of arrival, and the place of birth for your ancestor. Some naturalization records include occupations, names and ages of minor children and more 

 Many years ago I set up a website devoted to Naturalization and Passports. If you haven't been there, you may want to check it out.

NaturalizationRecords.com contains links to as many online naturalization and passport records I could find for USA and Canada. It also contains some transcribed records for those topics.

Here's a few naturalization records for states D-I to start you off. This particular set for America is pay-to-view records. NaturalizationRecords.com  also has links to free databases for America and Canada:

Delaware, Naturalization Records, 1796-1959

Florida, Naturalization Records, 1847-1995 

Georgia, Naturalization Records, 1893-1991

Savannah, Georgia, Naturalization Records, 1790-1910

Idaho, Naturalization Records, 1903-1982

Iowa, Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1937

DeKalb County, Illinois Naturalizations, 1800-1999
 
Illinois, Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991

Illinois Northern District, Naturalization Index, 1926-1979

Indiana, Federal Naturalization Records, 1892-1992

A-C of Naturalization Records

An often overlooked resource for ancestor searching is Naturalization Records.

Naturalization records can help you find the date of immigration, ship's passenger list, port of arrival, and the place of birth for your ancestor. Some naturalization records include occupations, names and ages of minor children and more 

 Many years ago I set up a website devoted to Naturalization and Passports. If you haven't been there, you may want to check it out.

NaturalizationRecords.com contains links to as many online naturalization and passport records I could find for USA and Canada. It also contains some transcribed records for those topics.

Here's a few naturalization records for states A-C to start you off. This particular set for America is pay-to-view records, the Canadian ones are free. NaturalizationRecords.com  also has links to free databases for America:

 Alabama, Naturalization Records, 1888-1991

Arizona, State Court Naturalization Records, 1869-1993

Arizona, Naturalization Records, 1909-1991

Arkansas, Naturalization Records, 1907-1968

California, Federal Naturalization Records, 1843-1999

California, State Court Naturalization Records, 1850-1986

Connecticut, Federal Naturalization Records, 1790-1996

Colorado, State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1868-1990

Upper Canada and Canada West Naturalization Registers 1828-1850

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

The saying is that we all want to be Irish. Sadly that wasn't the sentiment when the Irish began arriving in full force during the Famine Years. There was a great deal of discrimination towards the Irish who were considered by many to be lazy drunks. What our early ancestors must have suffered under this unwarranted stereotype!

I'm proud of my Irish heritage and wish I could tell them that. John Greenlees and his wife Elizabeth Johnston came from Fermanagh Ireland to the wilds of Upper Canada (present day Ontario) with three children - George about 5 years old, Thomas about 3 years old and my 2nd great grandmother Jane who was under 2 years old. The year was some time between Jane's birth in 1819 and the birth of their next child in Upper Canada in 1821. What a perilous journey that must have been!

Joseph McGinnis and his wife Frances (Fanny) Downey from Co. Down made the journey from famine stricken Ireland with their year old daughter Bridget (Delia) in 1846. Joseph and Fanny were barely 20 years old.

It must have been a nightmare voyage and I am sure that like most of the Irish who left Ireland during the Famine Years, they and their loved ones suffered greatly at home. Joseph and Fanny arrived in Ontario and settled near family who had arrived much earlier. They were my 2nd great grandparents. They were very poor Catholics and the land they settled on was more swamp than anything else.

So - I have three Irish great-great grandparents (Joseph, Fanny and Jane) and two Irish Great great great grandparents (John & Elizabeth). Out of that mix I get four Irish surnames: Greenlees, Johnstone, McGinnis & Downey.

My husband has many Irish surnames: Jackson & Moynahan from Tipperary, Hogan & Hayden (county not known), Kennedy & Maloney from Kerry, Massey from Wicklow, Montgomery & Graham & Johnson from Fermanagh. I don't know if hubs' Johnson and my Johnson are related. That would be fun to find out!



I hope this Irish blessing worked for all of our Irish ancestors! "May you be in heaven a full half hour before the devil knows you're dead."

New Netherland Settlers The Barheit Family

New Netherland Settlers: The Barheit Family Revealed: A Genealogy of Hans Coenradt and Barenjte Jans Straetsman, the Immigrant Ancestors of the Barheit Family of Albany New York

Available on Amazon.com , Amazon.ca
60 pages
8.5" x 11"

The exact date of Hans Coenradt’s arrival in New Netherland is not known but it is most likely he was among the refugees fleeing Recife Brazil in April 1654.

The first record found indicating he was in New Netherland is dated in Albany (Fort Orange) in early December 1655. Sometime between April 1654 and December 1655, Hans arrived in New New Netherland. As New Amsterdam came into view with its gallows and weather beaten wooden houses dominating a raw, windswept landscape, the Barheit family must have had mixed feelings.

New Amsterdam in 1654 was a frontier outpost filled with brawling sailors and rough-looking fur traders. Over fifty grog houses catered to a never-ending stream of men dropping in for a little fun on their way to or from Massachusetts or Virginia.

The Barheit Family Revealed ends speculation as to the origins of Hans and his wife Barentje, as well as providing sources proving the names of their descendants to 3 generations .

See the full list of available New Netherland settlers books

St Patricks Day AncestryDNA sale!

Great news! If you live in America it's time to order your DNA kit. Ancestry is having one of their biggest sales ever.

St. Patrick's Day Sale: AncestryDNA only $59 Ancestry DNA sale ends at 11:59pm EST on Monday, March 18th. Don't delay - stock up on a few kits at this price, then send to your relatives for testing.

Form 30 Border Crossings 1919-1924

Are you struggling to find an ancestor arriving in Canada in the early 1900s?

Between 1919 and 1924, the individual Form 30A was used instead of the passenger list. The use of this form was inconsistent; if you do not find a reference to an immigrant for that time period, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) recommends that you search the passenger lists for those years.

According to LAC "The records were microfilmed in quasi-alphabetical order and the digitized images for Forms 30A (Archived) can be searched in that order in Digitized Microforms (Archived).
  
You can also search an index to these records on Ancestry in their Border Crossings: From U.S. to Canada, 1908-1935 collection

New Netherland Settlers - The Straetsman Sisters

New Netherland Settlers: The Straetsman Sisters Barentje & Teuntje and Their Six Husbands Authored by Lorine McGinnis Schulze

 Available on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca,

8.5" x 11" (21.59 x 27.94 cm)
92 pages

The Straetsman sisters Barentje and Teuntje were from Culemborg Netherlands. In 1630 the West India Company conquered part of Brazil and the colony of New Holland (now present-day Recife) was founded.

Dutch troops were sent to Recife and Olinda in Pernambuco Brazil and no doubt Barentje and Teuntje’s first husbands were among those sent to maintain order. They settled first in Brazil before 1637 and then New Netherland circa 1657.

Descendants of Teuntje Straetsman will find sourced details of Teuntie and her four husbands Jan Meyering, Jueriaen Haf, Tieleman Jacobsz vander Meyen & Gabriel Corbesy.

Descendants of Barentje Straetsman will find sourced details of Barentje and her two husbands Hans Coenradt Barheit and Jacob Janse Gardenier aka Flodder.

See the full list of available New Netherland settlers books

New E-Books Available for Peer & Vollick Families

Readers have been urging me for some time to convert my paperbook genealogy books into E-books. I've resisted because it is challenging to convert an 8.5x11 inch paperback into a smaller E-book version. The documents and photos are not as easy to read in an E-book.

But I spent this past weekend rearranging and resizing documents and photos in one previously published book so that they would display better in an E-book. Then I tested my new file and am pleased to say that I think the results are viable and the documents are still of value to genealogists. I do not want the E-books to suffer in comparison to the larger paperback versions!


So I took the plunge and am happy to announce that all 3 volumes of my book "Van Valkenburg to Vollick" are online and available on Amazon.

V1: Isaac Vollick, Loyalist

V2 Cornelius Vollick

V3 Storm Follick

 Volume 1 From Van Valkenburg to Vollick : The Loyalist Isaac Van Valkenburg aka Vollick and his Vollick & Follick Children (Kindle Edition)

Volume 2 From Van Valkenburg to Vollick : Cornelius Vollick and his Follick and Vollick Descendants to 3 Generations (Kindle Edition)

Volume 3 From Van Valkenburg to Vollick : The Loyalist Storm Follick and his Follick and Vollick descendants in North America (Kindle Edition)
 
Likewise the first 4 volumes of my 6 volume series "The Peer Family in North America" are also available.

V1 Jacob Peer

V2 Levi Peer

V3 Edward Peer

The Peer Family in North America (V1): Jacob & Anne Peer, Immigrants from New Jersey to Upper Canada in 1796. Revised Edition (Kindle Edition)

The Peer Family in North America (V 2): Levi Peer & Elizabeth Marical and their Descendants to 3 Generations (The Peer Family in America) (Kindle Edition)

The Peer Family in North America (V 3): Edward Peer & His Two Wives and their Descendants to 3 Generations (Kindle Edition)

The Peer Family in North America (V4): Philip Peer & his two Wives Ester Dunn and Susan Griniaus and their Descendants to 3 Generations (Kindle Edition) 

Where to Find Obscure Genealogy Records

How many of us search the more obvious sources, don't find what we are looking for, then are stuck not knowing where else to look for that elusive ancestor? 

Obvious sources are census records, birth records, marriage records, land records, death records, passenger lists, and newspapers. Many of these basic records are found on Ancestry.com But are there other sources we can use?

There are also naturalization records, passport records, military records, cemetery records, almshouse and poorhouse records and more. Many are found online for free, others are pay-to-view.

What Other Genealogy Records Are Out There? 

It may surprise you to know that there are many valuable genealogy records that are less well known. I'm talking about education records, medical records, institution records, tax lists and so on. But there's even another layer of overlooked records that many people miss completely. 

Here are three that I find incredibly valuable but often overlooked.


Coffin plates Find ancestors in this wonderful genealogy resource at  Ancestors at Rest in  hundreds of coffin plates listed (with photographs) 

Coffin Plate of Peter Banta died 1889

Memorial Cards & Funeral Cards Find ancestors in this wonderful genealogy resource at  Ancestors at Rest

Edith Markham Memorial Card

Ledger books, Account books, Admission Registers Ancestors at Rest has dozens of free ledger books online from N. America (mostly USA)

Ledger Book dated 1856

Lodewyck Cornelis Post New Netherland Settler

New Netherland Settlers: Lodewyck Cornelis Post & His Wife Agnietje Bonen by Lorine McGinnis Schulze

Available on Amazon.com or Amazon.ca

8.5" x 11" (21.59 x 27.94 cm)
84 pages

 Sometime between October 1647 and July 1652, Lodewyck Cornelils Post, his wife Agnietje Bonen, and their children left Amsterdam Holland to settle in New Netherland (New York). Research into Naarden Holland church records has revealed Lodewyck’s birth and his parents’ marriage in that city.

When Lodewyck and his family arrived, New Amsterdam’s population was just over 600 people and it was growing rapidly. New Amsterdam’s gabled homes, the Dutch language being spoken, and Dutch laws in place would have offered comfort to newly arrived Lodewyck and Agnietje.

Court records in New Amsterdam (New York City) reveal 20 years of Lodewyck’s involvement in various cases. Often he was being taken to court for money owed to others in the community. Lodewyck was also involved in attempts to protect his daughter Belitje from her abusive husband.

See the full list of available New Netherland settlers books

But What Will Our Descendants Find?

I love the time we live in now. The technology. The excitement. The innovations in so many areas - art, cooking, science.

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHS vs PORTRAIT STUDIOS

Part of my collection of Ambrotypes & Daguerreotypes

But I'm saddened when I think about our descendants. What will they find as they search for us? We don't go to portrait studios as our ancestors did. There will be very few formal photos of us in our Sunday best. No gorgeous leather bound photo albums full of studio photographs.

We use our cell phones or our iPads to take quick unposed photos of moments - the birth of a child, a wedding, a vacation, a graduation. But do we print those pictures or do they stay in digital format? If we don't print and preserve them in some way, what picture memories will our descendants find?

Letter from Levi Peer 1848

THE LOST ART OF LETTER WRITING

Think of our excitement when we find a letter written by an ancestor to a loved one. In my own research I stumbled on several letters written by my 2nd great grandfather to his mother in the early 1800s. I was also lucky enough to have a letter written by an ancestor in the mid 1600s turn up in letters rescued from ships, then translated and put online. But here's the question - how many hand written letters have you sent to family or friends in the past year? I've sent none. In fact I can go back many years and say I've sent no letters that could be preserved, tucked away in an attic or a closet and discovered by a descendant in the future.

SOME ADVANTAGES

Yes our descendants will have many advantages in genealogy that we don't have. Right now we're seeing records being digitized and made available to the public at a record pace. But imagine how much will be at our descendants' fingertips 100 years from now, even 25 years from now. But the loss will almost certainly be in getting a sense of who the ancestor was, who WE were as individuals who cry, mourn, love and feel joy. Letters, diaries, and photos put a layer on an individual that can't be known any other way.

MY GOAL

Photo Book created about my Fuller ancestors

 
Because overall I feel sad that most of us will leave very few candid or posed photographs, and very few hand-written letters, I began a personal project to create and publish photo books for my children and grand-children. It is my hope that some will survive and be passed on down through the generations.

Every year I also write and publish privately to share with my children, my memories of childhood, of my parents and grandparents. I also published a small guide with ideas on writing your memoirs and sharing your memories with family.

Sharing Family Stories and Memories: Prompts for Writing Your Memoirs for Future Generations
Available as an ebook on Amazon.com, paperback on Amazon.com, ebook on Amazon.ca or paperback on Amazon.ca

Are you doing anything to make sure your descendants will have some special items in the future? It's never too late to start.

Happy 23rd Birthday Olive Tree Genealogy!!

Can you believe it???? Twenty-three (23!) ago my baby was born. No, not one of my children - that was when I started my website Olive Tree Genealogy

Olive Tree Genealogy actually began sometime in the winter of 1995 but it wasn't until February 1996 that it was given space on the old Rootsweb site.
 
Many of the big sites we use today did not exist when I set up Olive Tree Genealogy. CyndisList came online right after me. Rootsweb started up around the same time. Ancestry.com didn't exist.

I am often asked why I created Olive Tree Genealogy. After my husband died in 1993 and I was injured at school by a student, my enforced inactivity allowed me to begin creating Olive Tree Genealogy site. Visitors are also intrigued by the name - how and why did I come up with it? My middle name is Olive and I am named after my paternal grandmother Olive McGinnis. So it seemed an obvious step to name my site after her (Olive) and after our "tree".

I started with one ships list which contained my ancestor Cornelis Van Slyke's name, then I wrote  about Huguenots, Walloons, Loyalists and Palatines. The  ships list was so popular and I received so many requests for more that I began hunting for more. Now Olive Tree Genealogy has over 1,600 ships lists online. 

Look at me now! I am a dinosaur in Internet terms. 23 years is a very long life on the Internet. Wonder if I can last another 23!

Don't Overlook Almshouse & Poorhouse Records

If you have not yet searched Almshouse records for an elusive ancestor, you're missing out on a great source of information. People were sent to the Almshouse (or Poorhouse) for reasons other than poverty. Children were sometimes sent if they were found living on the streets.

OLIVE TREE GENEALOGY FREE PROJECTS

There are many sources for these records. Several years ago Olive Tree Genealogy transcribed various New York almshouse records. If you have an ancestor who settled in New York City 1819 or earlier, you may want to have a look at the transcribed names in  Alms House Admission Foreigners & Nativity Records with Ships Names 1819( New York City, NY) and New York Almshouse Records 1782-1813

page from the 1855 Almshouse Records New York City

There is a gap and then I found this lovely set of records:  Alms House Admission Foreigners & Nativity Records with Ships Names 1855-1858 (New York City, NY)

Of course as with all records on Olive Tree Genealogy, the three transcribed above are free to view.

PAY TO VIEW RECORDS

Ancestry offers this set of almshouse records for 1830-1920 New York, Census of Inmates in Almshouses and Poorhouses 1830-1920 

FREE POOR LAW UNION RECORDS

A little known set of records are those created in England for the Poor Law Union.  Poor law unions were collections or groups of parishes brought together to administer poor relief. Earlier 'unions' were referred to as 'incorporations' and some of these existed until the 1860s. The Victorian poor law was predicated on the 'workhouse test'. This is where poor relief would be offered via the 'deterrent workhouse', designed to be an institution of last resort.


The records of the Poor Law Commission and the Poor Law Board are in The National Archives. They are not particularly easy to use, as the lists are very uninformative, so any search is likely to be lengthy, but it can be very rewarding. Olive Tree Genealogy has extracted the names of individuals who qualified for passage to Canada from England between the years 1836 to 1853 and in 1871. There is a gap from 1854-1870 inclusive.

See POOR LAW UNION IMMIGRANTS TO CANADA for names of those being sent to Canada so that their home parish would no longer have to support them

The Goeway Family Ancestors & Descendants

New Netherland Settlers: The Goeway Family: Ancestors & Descendants of Salomon Abbelse & Barber Philippse

 72 pages. Available on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca

The story of the Goeway family in New Netherland begins with Salomon Abelse who was baptised in Amsterdam Holland in 1617, and his wife Barber (Barbara) Phillipse who was baptised in 1619 in Amsterdam.

Salomon and Barber left Holland for New Netherland with their children circa 1652, settling in New Amsterdam (present day New York City)

This book provides details of Salomon and Barber's ancestry as well as their siblings and descendants in Holland and New Netherland. Salomon's Freisland origins are also included.


See the full list of available New Netherland settlers books

Vital Records of Rhode Island, 1636-1850 online

Diane Boumenot of One Rhode Island Family has gathered links to the free set of Vital Records of Rhode Island, 1636-1850, First Series: Births, Marriages and Deaths is a series of 21 volumes compiled by James N. Arnold.

According to Diane "The volumes have been digitized and I have managed to find all of them available for free on the internet.  Some of the copies are poor quality, however, they may be better than nothing if you are far from a library that holds these."

Thanks to Diane, anyone with Rhode Island ancestors will want to check out her blog and follow the links she has provided to view these records. 

Family Day Celebrations

Some of my family in 2013

Today is the Family day celebration for Alberta (AB), British Columbia (BC), New Brunswick (NB), Ontario (ON), and Saskatchewan (SK). It is not celebrated in other parts of Canada.

Family Day was originally created to give people time to spend with their families but it also provides a day off between New Years Day and Good Friday as they are approximately three months apart. Unfortunately, not everyone gets Family Day off, which makes it a debatable holiday in many provinces.

It's a strange holiday in my opinion but family should be a top priority! Why else would we genealogists spend hours/days/weeks/months/years searching for ancestors if we didn't think family was important? 

This is some of my family in 2013. I had managed to gather most of them together at our home. Only six of my ten grandchildren are in this photo. My eldest son and his family are not present. But with us that day were a brother and his wife, an aunt, a step-daughter and her children, also some assorted cousins.

I'm standing in the middle wearing a scoop neck black sleeveless top, hands held in front. Funnily enough my only daughter is standing on my left, also wearing a scoop neck long sleeve black top, holding her hands in front. No one else is standing in that position - is it genetics?

We are not doing anything for Family Day this year. What are you doing this year, or if you don't get this holiday, what have you done in the past?

Captain Adriaen Crijnen Post - a New Book!

New Netherland Settlers: Captain Adriaen Crijnen Post & Claartje Moockers

Available on Amazon.com or Amazon.ca


The Dutchman Adriaen Crijnen Post and his wife Claartje (Clara) Moockers are found in Recife Brazil in 1646. By the time Brazil fell to the Portuguese in 1654 Adriaen and his femily had left for the Netherlands. From there they sailed to New Netherland. 

As a representative of Baron van der Capellan, Adriaen established a thriving colony on Staten Island. The colony was burned to the ground in the Peach Tree War in 1655 and 23 colonists were killed by Indians. Adriaen, his wife, 5 children and 2 servants were among the 67 colonists taken prisoner. 

This book follows Adriaen and Clara in New Netherland and also provides information on their children and grandchildren. 

See the full list of available New Netherland settlers books

Happy Valentine's Day- A Blast from the Past

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I thought my readers might like to see a vintage postcard sent by a young man (James) to his sweetheart Maggie Rosch in 1910.

I love how James doesn't whisper sweet nothings or words of love to Maggie. Instead he complains about his bad cold, the roads which are also bad. Presumably they are snow covered. He ends by telling her that "the machine" is coming to her by way of another man and she will probably get it before she gets his card. He ends with "from James"! 

 

 

I hope if you receive a card or letter from your loved one, it is a little mushier than this one James wrote to Maggie.

If you like vintage postcards you can find more on Lost Faces

AncestryDNA Sale!

What a deal! Time to stock up on DNA kits for your relatives. AncestryDNA is on sale in the US for $59

The sale starts at 6pm EST on Monday, February 11, and end at 11:59pm EST on Thursday, February 14. Use this sale link for your kits




 

National Archives UK opens it's POW 1715-1945 collection

More than 764,000 records of servicemen, women and civilians who were taken captive during the Napoleonic Wars, Crimean War, Boer War, First World War and Second World War have been published online

The entire Prisoners Of War 1715-1945 collection now contains over 2 million records.

First page of lists of POWs captured in Boer War

From the site: "The records are incredibly diverse and not only include military personnel, but also civilians, diplomats, missionaries and merchant seamen. The nature of these documents varies owing to the enormous scope and scale of the collection. Some will consist of lists of deaths, files on escapees and detailed records of daily life, while others will reveal additional biographical details about individual inmates including physical descriptions, witness statements, medical reports and more."