Find Ancestors in Register of USA Passports 1834-1843

Index to Register of Passports USA 14 November 1834 to 1843

These passports were granted to citizens of the United States going to foreign countries. Passports were granted to those satisfied the requirement that they be “entitled to receive them” Each applicant had to present evidence that they were a citizen of the USA and a description of his person:

Age, Height (Stature), Forehead, Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Chin, Hair, Complexion, Face

If the applicant’s wife, children or servants were to accompany him, or any females under his protection, only their names and ages plus their relationship to the applicant was needed. 

An INDEX to passports issued from 1834 to 1843 is online on NaturalizationRecords.com . The applicants residences covered all of the USA.

Find Ancestors in New York Declarations of Intent 1827-1897

 

Example Declaration of Intent

If you are looking for ancestors in New York, you won't want to miss New York Declarations of Intent 1827-1897 on NaturalizationRecords.com

There are 7 reels of microfilm containing the Declarations of Intent. My team of volunteers and me spent many hours indexing these records for you. 

We created an index to those Declarations, with page numbers to help you find the original on microfilm. The microfilm with full details is available at a Family History center or Family Search Affiliate Library 

 

Find Ancestors in Arkansas Naturalization Records 1809-1906

 

 Naturalization is the process by which an alien from one country becomes a citizen of another country. The naturalization process did not have to happen in one court, or in one location. It was not mandatory and not all aliens became citizens, and not all completed the process once they started it. 

Naturalization Records are very important to your genealogical research but are often overlooked.

Looking for naturalization records for an ancestor in Arkansas? Try the free Index to Arkansas Naturalization Records 1809 to 1906 on NaturalizationRecords.com

Search Ships Passenger Lists leaving USA

Neither U.S. A. nor Canada maintained outbound ships passenger lists. The Genealogy Spot is pleased to announce a new project to transcribe ships passenger lists leaving USA, bound for Europe and United Kingdom.

The Genealogy Spot has started publishing  Outbound Ships Sailing from USA ports 1851 to 1906 This is a small database but will be added to as records are found. 

Be sure to check out the List of Passengers in the New York Times submitted by volunteer Diane McClay

If you are looking for ships arriving in USA please see Olive Tree Genealogy’s Ships Passenger Lists beginning in 1492 with Columbus’ ships and ending with a passenger list for 1952  

 

Search Outbound Ships From Canada to USA

There are no archived Ships Passenger Lists for ships sailing from ports in Canada to USA. However, some partial lists do exist. These can be found in the Almshouse Records of New York City from 1819-1855. 

These records indicate for each person admitted to the Almshouse the name of the ship they sailed on, the port of departure and a year of admission. Sometimes an exact date of arrival is noted.  The Almshouse records from 1819-1855 include Age, Place of Birth, Ship Name, Where From, Captain’s Name and Owner’s Name. For individuals recorded in Almshouse Records 1855-1858 the information includes ship name, date of sailing, and ports of departure and arrival. 

Index to Partial Ships Passenger Lists Sailing from Canada to New York

You can also consult Border Crossings Canada to USA 1895-1960

See more suggestions at The Genealogy Spot Outbound From Canada pages

Search for Ancestors in Daily British Whig Digitized and Online

The Daily British Whig is rapidly being digitized by Digital Kingston from 1850 to 1929.

I had fun searching and discovered that there are articles about people who lived outside of Kingston. 

I sure would love to know the story behind this dispute involving one of my Vollick (aka Van Valkenburg) families! 

 

Source: Daily British Whig (1850), 30 Jul 1903, p. 6

 

 

Updated! The Genealogy Spot Has a Facelift - Please Check it Out

 

Are you like me with a spare room where you just toss all your miscellaneous stuff in? You keep meaning to straighten it up, organize and sort it, maybe even throw some of the junk away, but you never find the time. 

Well, that was the case with one of my dozen websites, a little-known one called The Genealogy Spot

I originally set it up as an overflow site off Olive Tree Genealogy but it got away from me! I kept tossing miscellaneous things into it - obscure databases and links, some great, some not-so-great. 

Last year I decided it had to stop. So I made some hard decisions about what was worthwhile for genealogists and what wasn't, created a simply navigation system, and got to work. 

My first decision was to focus on immigration - with ships arrivals in USA and Canada but equally important, ship departures. It's pretty tough to find departures so I made it my mission to find as many obscure databases as I could that showed departures from North America in particular. The result is that I've got some unusual databases that aren't easily found. I hope visitors find an ancestor in them!

Next I switched hosts, the place where websites live. I opted for a different operating system and set about to learn it. Then I redesigned the entire site, and got busy transferring data over to the new one. I ended up with an entirely new site of 479 pages, smaller and more organized than the original site.

Once all that was done, I had to double and triple-check all the links, both internal and those link out to other sites of value. That took me two months of non-stop work. But today I completed it. I think I found and fixed them all.

I'd love it if you would take a few minutes to drop by and check out TheGenealogySpot.comto see if you can find an ancestor or two. And if you see any problems, please let me know so I can correct them.

 

Chasing Waterfalls, Another HIstorical Niagara Video WINS!

 

Peter Sacco's wonderful Historical Niagara videos that I've been fortunate to be a guest in, are winning awards! The Chasing Waterfalls episode was one I was honoured to be in, and it can be viewed on YouTube at the link above.

 

Quoting Peter 

 

"We Won in London England x2! Go...Chasing Waterfalls! A documentary I shot over a few years, and which was partially featured as an episode for Historical Niagara TV series was selected in the UK for BEST DOCUMENTARY featured the 150+ waterfalls/cascades between Niagara through Hamilton. I was pleased to be selected a semi-finalist for BEST DIRECTOR by Best Director Awards in London England.

Thank for to all my 'experts' who participated in this film--

Jim Diodati, Pat Darte, Jon Montgomery from #AmazingRaceCanada, Amanda Walton, Harry Houdini's nephew, George Hardeen Ontario Waterfall expert, Mark Harris, Jack Custers #yourtvniagara, Daniel Rodrique, Michael Clarkson, Ernesto Reinhart Retired University instructor Burt Murphy, #ballsfalls Conservation staff, #decewfalls staff, Lezlie Harper, Genealogist Lorine McGinnis Schulze, St. Catharines Mayor #waltersendzik, Hamilton Mayor #fredeisenberger #BestDirectorAward and thank you to all the folks over the last 3 + years who joined me on these fun, sometimes crazy, long hiking expeditions!"

Check out my NEW revised site for Naturalization Records!

I am excited to announce that I have finally completed my newly revised and re-designed site NaturalizationRecords.com

Naturalization is the process by which an alien from one country becomes a citizen of another country. The naturalization process did not have to happen in one court, or in one location. It was not mandatory and not all aliens became citizens, and not all completed the process once they started it. Naturalization Records are very important to your genealogical research but are often overlooked.

 

Declaration of Intent William Edmunds 1832

 

I created a simplified design and navigation system that will hopefully allow visitors to find their ancestors in these records much more quickly.  

I have links, original documents, and my transcribed indexes of names for Naturalization Records, Passports, Alien Registrations and much more. 

Here are a few links to get you started:

Naturalization & Citizenship Records & Examples

U.S.A. Naturalizations
Canada Naturalizations
American Passport Applications
American Alien Registrations
Canadian Passports
Canadian Oaths of Allegiance
Canadian Sessional Papers

I took me 6 months to redesign and move the site to it's new home, followed by a month of checking and double-checking for broken links. Fingers crossed, but I think I found and fixed them all. 

Please take a peek, and if you do find something wrong, I'd appreciate you dropping me a note at olivetreegenealogy@gmail.com so I can fix any problems I might have missed.

Enjoy your visit!

West Flanders Belgium Indexes

Thanks to Bos Genealogy in English for tweeting about these new records for Belgium genealogy.

My husband's great-grandfather Achilles (Archie) DeMeuleneare was born in Tielt, West Flanders so this is of great interest to us. 

Province West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, index civil records of death 1794-1926 [SEARCH or INDEX] 

concerns Boezinge (1899-1919), 

Houthem-bij-Ieper (1891-1913), 

Ieper (1806), 

Koekelare (1896-1906), 

Kortrijk (1876), 

Nieuwkerke (1880-1919)

Historic Black DC Cemetery Headstones Wash up on Potomac River in Virginia

Headstones from a historic Black DC cemetery wound up along the Potomac River in Virginia. The headstones were from Columbian Harmony Cemetery, a historic African American burial ground that was dug up and relocated in 1960 to make way for commercial advancement. 

According to the online article "Columbian Harmony had been the final resting place for a century’s really worth of D.C.’s most illustrious Black citizens. Amongst them: Elizabeth Keckley, confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln Philip Reid, who aided develop the statue of Freedom atop the U.S. Capitol dome and scores of Black Civil War veterans from the Union Army. But it was not just renowned names. Some 37,000 individuals have been laid to relaxation there among 1859 and 1960. "

Many descendants of those blacks buried in the cemetery, and whose stones are now among the discarded stones in Virginia, are hoping to see as many stones as possible rescued and placed in another cemetery, while others hope to erect a national park to memorialize the dead. 

Continue reading at https://farmaciacapdelavila.com/how-headstones-from-a-historic-black-dc-cemetery-wound-up-along-the-potomac-river-in-virginia.html

Adriaen Vincent, a Walloon from Belgium

 

Adriaen Vincent, a Walloon from Belgium, made the perilous journey to New Netherland with his wife Magdaleen and their young family in the early 1640s. A former West Indies Company soldier, Adriaen was embarking on a new life.

The family settled in the village of New Amsterdam, which would one day become the city of New York. Life could not have been easy for the couple, faced with a different culture and language.

Read more at Adriaen Vincent the Walloon

1910 Hertfordshire Inland Revenue Maps Available

There is a helpful guide to finding records of the UK Valuation Office Survey which was carried out between 1910 and 1915. The survey provided a unique snapshot of land and property in the Edwardian era, assessing its worth, how it was used and by whom 

The survey took place as a result of the 1909-1910 Finance Act which provided for the levy and collection of a duty on land in the United Kingdom based on any increased value of the land as a result of public money spent on communal infrastructure – a so-called ‘increment value duty’.

The Valuation Office was set up by the Inland Revenue in 1910 for England and Wales (and in 1911 for Scotland) to carry out the work of the survey.

118 valuation districts were established in England and Wales, each in the charge of a district valuer and each comprised a number of income tax divisions. It was by these valuation districts and income tax divisions that the work of the survey was organised and carried out.

Some 1910 Inland Revenue map and forms are being indexed and can be searched through Hertfordshire Names Online.

Boston asks for help restoring historic gravestones to appropriate burying grounds

 

Edward Lillie, Sr., died 12/27/1688 in Boston

Boston historians are asking for help reuniting several centuries old gravestones with the appropriate graves in the city's historic burying grounds. Historic Burying Grounds Initiative said it is asking historians, researchers and genealogists to check their records and help determine where the individuals were originally interred. 

During the 20th century, gravestones and pieces of stones were removed from various cemeteries for preservation purposes. Sometimes they were removed to prevent theft, with the full intention of restoring and replacing them at a future date.

Please take a look at the 9 photos provided on site and see if you can help  identify where each stone belongs. 

Ancient Manuscripts Sewn into 17th Century Purses

Between the seams of a beautiful 17th century silk purse are found bits and pieces of an ancient document. The parchment document thought to be from the 14th or 15th century was cut into pieces and used to reinforce the interior lining of the purse.

According to AtlasObscura

 "Whoever made the bag, likely in Italy in the 17th century, started by deconstructing a volume and snipping the bifolia—the sheets of parchment that were folded to make the pages—into four tapered triangles. They stitched these together around the edges to form a little skeleton to build the rest of the bag around. The fragment is “an integral part of the purse itself,” says Jay Moschella, curator of rare books at the Boston Public Library, who recently acquired the object from Bernard Quaritch Ltd., a London dealer. "

According to expert historians, many early manuscripts were re-purposed, often cut up and used to reinforce newer books. Continue reading this fascinating story at

How a Trashed Italian Manuscript Got Sewn Into a Sweet Silk Purse

 

The Van Alstyne Family of New York

 My 8th great-grandfather, Jan MARTENSE (Jan s/o Marten) was also known as Jan DE WEVER (the weaver) in Colonial New York. He is the immigrant ancestor of the VAN ALSTYNE family. 

His wife was identified as Dirkje (sometimes written as Dirckien) Harmensdr. (or Harmense, meaning daughter of Harmen) BOERTGENS, in a notorial paper dated 24 May 1658 at Amsterdam.

I have found baptism and marriage records as well as notarial records for the family in the Netherlands.Continue reading at The Van Alstyne Family of New York

Autographs on Sydenham High School Classroom Wall 1901

My friend Karen owns an amazing antique store called Barriefield Antiques. One of her finds was this cutout from a classroom in Sydenham, Frontenac County Ontario. 

With her permission I am posting all the photos she kindly sent me so that  an interested descendant can look for a name of interest. You can contact Karen on her Facebook page at  or her Instagram account

 

 

 

Steve Morse Lecture on History of Geography of New York City

 

My friend Steve Morse just wrote to tell me about a lecture he is giving via Zoom November 18th.

The talk is on Wednesday November 18 at 2 PM Eastern Time.  It is titled "The History of the Geography of New York City."  The talk describes the  five boroughs and the five counties, and how they came about.  It also goes into detail on the history of Brooklyn and of Queens.

The talk is free but you have to register.  The details for registering can be found at https://jewishgen.org/live

Olive Tree Genealogy in 2nd Historic Niagara TV Episode

Some of my readers may recall that I was invited to participate in a TV Series episode on Laura Secord. Olive Tree Genealogy was very honoured to have been asked to participate in this new episode on Waterfalls of Niagara.

This episode produced by Peter Sacco of Historic Niagara fame, is about waterfalls of Niagara. Special guests were Harry Houdini's son George Hardeen and Amazing Race Canada's Jon Montgomery.  Be sure to take a peek at 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5BkuuCX3To&t=7s

I am in two spots, around the 15.5 minute and 31 minute mark, but please watch the full 35 minutes. It's a great series and so interesting to watch. 

Church of Ireland Parish Registers are a genealogy goldmine

Over $110,000 was awarded to the Representative Church Body Library to support the digitization of the Church of Ireland parish registers in Ireland.

 The register records date back as far as 1619 and include the Church of Ireland parish registers for baptism, marriage, and burial; 1,110 sets of parish records in total and approximately 840 of which contain varying quantities of public records which have not yet been digitized.

Continue reading at https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/genealogy/church-ireland-parish-registers-online