Saying Goodbye

As many of you know, I haven’t spent much time keeping up with this blog and making posts. Time seems to get away from me and it is for that reason that I have decided to stop blogging as of December 1, 2022.

I’ve enjoyed the time that I’ve spent with you, sharing tips and sites to help with your genealogy research. I hope you have too. I’ll leave the blog up and the links to the files that I’ve shared will remain active as long as WordPress remains.

It is my prayer that each of you will find that long lost relative you are hunting and your family tree will continue to sprout branches and grow. Thank you for going along with me on this journey.

New England’s Colonial Era Church Records

Tags

Congregational library, genealogy resources

Congregational church records offer a rich and remarkable view of life in seventeenth and eighteenth-century New England. Each member in the early Puritan churches had an equal vote, with the power to govern themselves and to choose their own ministers. The records of these congregations document births, deaths, and marriages and provide a rich treasure trove of information for those who had relatives in the New England states. If you have ancestors from Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, or Rhode Island, you may want to search these records from the Congregational Library that have been recently made available. Most records in the collection date between 1634 and 1850. There is also an interactive map at the site where you can zoom in to specific areas for easy searching.

Happy hunting.

Western States Marriage Indexes

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BYU, death index, marriage index

BYU in Idaho has a database of western states marriage indexes from various states. You can access the database here. The list isn’t all inclusive but they are working on adding more records. If you suspect you had relatives that married in Idaho, you should search this database. The site also allows you to add records to the database.

While you are there, if you have relatives that lived in Idaho, you can search their state death index that spans from 1911 to 1956.

Happy searching!

Researching African-American or Native American roots?

Tags

African American, genealogy, Native Americans

Some genealogy sites don’t offer much in African American or Native American records but there are a some sites that do. Let’s take a look at a couple.

Access Genealogy provides records specifically for African American and Native American genealogy. They have a good diversity of records available, however, they don’t have any guidelines for conducting research.

The Allen County Public Library also has a varied collection of Native American and African American records, and there are guides to conducting your research. Unfortunately, their records do not cover every state.

Hopefully, as more records are digitized and made available on the internet, there will be additional resources for research.

Happy researching.

Researching the Census & Other Records

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census, genealogy

Now that the 1950 US Federal Census has been released and much of it indexed, did you know there were sites that give you free access to the census? At Ancestry.com, you can search the census but to actually look at the records, you need to have a subscription for many of them. Then there is Family Search and they have free access to all of their records, however, the do require you to make an account, which is also free. Those are probably the two most popular genealogy sites on the internet.

You can also search records at US GenWeb Archives. Records are broken down by state, then county. I was looking at Northumberland County in Pennsylvania. There were several different sections you could research, from area histories, tax records, and cemeteries, to penal records, tax records and wills. It’s worth the time to delve into these records since they are free and not all of us have the money to pay to do our researching.

How to search the 1950 Census

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Ancestry.com, census

As you probably know, the 1950 US Census was released at the beginning of this month. Ancestry and Family Search are busy indexing the census. While indexing is going on, you can search for your relatives by using their address.

Your first tool will be to use Ancestry’s 1950 Census District Locator. If you know the address of the family you want to locate, type it in the search box and it will give you the district your family was enumerated.

Then, when you’ve found the correct district, you can pull up that district by going to the 1950 Census search page and using the “Browse This Collection,” to select the correct state, county, populated place and enumeration district. You’ll have to search through all the pages in that district but I have found three families in my tree searching this way.

You can also type in your relative’s name to see if they may have been indexed in the census already.

You’ll find the 1950 census looks much different than the censuses from 1900 to 1940 and you’ll get a bonus of additional information about your relative if they were recorded on one of the sample lines.

The 1950 Census is here – well, sort of

Tags

census

The 1950 Census was officially released today, but don’t rush to Ancestry or Family Search to view it – the images need to be digitized and indexed before they can be viewed.

In the meantime, this would be a good time to make a list of the families you want to search for and check what other censuses you’ve found them, as well as where they were living at the time. You might find using a census tracking sheet a valuable tool and you can find one at Ancestor Roundup or do a Google search for one.

I’ll post again when the 1950 Census is available.

Reclaim the Records

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genealogy, reclaim the records

There is an organization that works to reclaim records for genealogists, historians, and researchers. They work to identify important genalogical records that should be in public domain but are restricted. They do this by filing Freedom of Information requests (FOI) to have those records released to the public. Once they obtain the records, they digitize them and put them online for everyone’s use for free. The group is called Reclaim the Records.

Visit their page to see what records they are working to obtain as well as records they have successfully obtained. You can also make a records request and make a donation to help support their cause.

Calendar Update

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calendar, genealogy

Many years ago, I posted on my blog about an online calendar tool that could assist you in determining the day of an event, and there are other useful date/time calculators at the site, Time and Date.

A reader suggested also linking to a more reader accessible site called The Time Now. I don’t know why I just saw their suggestion now, 5 years after posting, but, Shane, if you are still reading, I’m adding The Time Now to my calendar options. Thank you for posting.

UK Relatives? Try Free BMD

Tags

FreeBMD, genealogy, UK

Do you have ancestors who came from the UK? Looking for possible, birth, marriage or death records? Why not give FreeBMD a try. The site search is free and they are working to transcribe the Civil Registrations of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales. It’s part of the Free UK Genealogy family, which also includes free census data and free parish registers. You can access FreeBMG here.