Saturday, July 24, 2010
Researching LDS Pioneer Ancestry
If you have LDS pioneer ancestors, you may enjoy learning more about them through the LDS Church History Website Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847-1868. The database contains information on approximately 60,000 pioneers, who traveled in more than 250 different wagon and handcart companies. Search for your ancestor specifically, look to see who else they traveled with, or learn more about the families who made up the ill-fated Willie and Martin handcart companies.
To search the database, go to lds.org and select [About the Church] and then [Church History]. Look for the Conestoga wagon in the lower left of the page.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Free Websites for Cornwall Research
If you have ancestors from Cornwall, you’ll want to check out the Cornwall On-Line Parish Clerks web site. You can search birth, marriage, and burial registers, along with Protestation Oath and voter lists.
Used in combination with the British Isles information available at FreeBMD (transcriptions of Civil Registrations of Birth, Marriage and Death records from 1837-1983) and FreeCen (transcriptions of 1841-1891 UK censuses), you can learn a great deal about your Cornwall ancestry from the comfort of home!
Used in combination with the British Isles information available at FreeBMD (transcriptions of Civil Registrations of Birth, Marriage and Death records from 1837-1983) and FreeCen (transcriptions of 1841-1891 UK censuses), you can learn a great deal about your Cornwall ancestry from the comfort of home!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Alabama On-Line Digital Collection
If you have ties to Alabama, check out the on-line collections at archives.alabama.gov. Collections particularly helpful in family history research include:
Use the Alabama Department of Archives and History site to find out what newspapers have been microfilmed, then arrange to view the microfilms through the public library Interlibrary Loan program.
There may be a Confederate Civil War Pension file, and finding the soldier's regiment and company are key to finding the right pension file.
The search mechanism finds only those entries that have exactly that same string of characters. In the case of a last name, that string of characters can be the whole name, or just part of a name (e.g., searching for "Lay" will yield "Lay, Layden, Layet, Layton, etc.). Because names can be misspelled, try a variety of spellings when you search.
If you find someone you're interested in researching, make note of the Regiment and unit, then go back and search for that regiment and unit (no specific person's name). That way you can see the names of all the soldiers in that unit.
- 1867 Voter Registration
- Civil War Service Database
- Index to City Directories (1837-2006)
- Index to Church Records Collections
- Newspapers on Microfilm
- Confederate Officers Photograph Albums
Use the Alabama Department of Archives and History site to find out what newspapers have been microfilmed, then arrange to view the microfilms through the public library Interlibrary Loan program.
There may be a Confederate Civil War Pension file, and finding the soldier's regiment and company are key to finding the right pension file.
The search mechanism finds only those entries that have exactly that same string of characters. In the case of a last name, that string of characters can be the whole name, or just part of a name (e.g., searching for "Lay" will yield "Lay, Layden, Layet, Layton, etc.). Because names can be misspelled, try a variety of spellings when you search.
If you find someone you're interested in researching, make note of the Regiment and unit, then go back and search for that regiment and unit (no specific person's name). That way you can see the names of all the soldiers in that unit.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Illinois State Archives On-Line Databases
The Illinois State Archives (ISA) provides free on-line access to databases of state-wide marriage (1763-1900), pre-1916 deaths, 1916-1950 deaths, and misc. veteran records, plus wills, poor house, coroner, probate and birth records for a variety of Illinois counties. The records are indexed, and can be searched by name and county.
The Illinois Digital Archives (IDA) includes digital images of a variety of Illinois records, including cemetery records, historic newspapers, and photo collections. To search records indexed from the State Archive, enter the bride or groom's last name. If the name is a common one, select the county (if you know it) from the list.
The system returns only exact matches, so if you search for Hartrick and that name was transcribed as Hartrich, you won't find a record. However, if you search for Hart, the system will list all the records that begin with Hart, including Harter, Hartford, Hartrich and Hartrick. Enter few details when you first begin searching (e.g., last name only), then add complexity in order to reduce the number of "hits."
Once you find an entry for your ancestor, you have several options for obtaining the original record. Contact the County Clerk of the county where the event took place, or use Interlibrary loan to order microfilm from the Illinois State Archives. The ISA web page gives details of how to order copies. Birth, marriage, and death certificates can be ordered on-line for some Illinois counties (e.g., Champaign county).
Search the Digital Archives by entering your ancestor's name in the [All of the Words] search field. If your ancestor's name is not extremely common, search the entire collection. To limit the number of hits, limit the collections to be searched by removing the check mark from the box next to [Search all collections] and then selecting a few collections to search.
Take a few minutes to browse through collections by clicking [Browse] on the gray menu bar beneath the words "Illinois State Archive." See if you can find the Abraham Lincoln burial record in the Oak Ridge Cemetery interment records:
Because the collections are digital images, you can print copies of documents, save them to your hard drive, or add them to a Google Notebook.
The Illinois Digital Archives (IDA) includes digital images of a variety of Illinois records, including cemetery records, historic newspapers, and photo collections. To search records indexed from the State Archive, enter the bride or groom's last name. If the name is a common one, select the county (if you know it) from the list.
The system returns only exact matches, so if you search for Hartrick and that name was transcribed as Hartrich, you won't find a record. However, if you search for Hart, the system will list all the records that begin with Hart, including Harter, Hartford, Hartrich and Hartrick. Enter few details when you first begin searching (e.g., last name only), then add complexity in order to reduce the number of "hits."
Once you find an entry for your ancestor, you have several options for obtaining the original record. Contact the County Clerk of the county where the event took place, or use Interlibrary loan to order microfilm from the Illinois State Archives. The ISA web page gives details of how to order copies. Birth, marriage, and death certificates can be ordered on-line for some Illinois counties (e.g., Champaign county).
Search the Digital Archives by entering your ancestor's name in the [All of the Words] search field. If your ancestor's name is not extremely common, search the entire collection. To limit the number of hits, limit the collections to be searched by removing the check mark from the box next to [Search all collections] and then selecting a few collections to search.
Take a few minutes to browse through collections by clicking [Browse] on the gray menu bar beneath the words "Illinois State Archive." See if you can find the Abraham Lincoln burial record in the Oak Ridge Cemetery interment records:
Because the collections are digital images, you can print copies of documents, save them to your hard drive, or add them to a Google Notebook.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Family History Library Catalog
The Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City is the largest library of its kind in the world. Many of the 2.4 million rolls of microfilm and 727,000 microfiche can be ordered through a local Family History Center so you can view them without making a trip to SLC (fun as that would be!). Learning to use the FHL Catalog is critical to finding out what resources are available that might have information about your family.
The FamilySearch team has recently released brief on-line training videos that can help you learn to search the catalog quickly and effectively. To view the list of available lessons, go to the Family History Library Catalog page. You can search the catalog directly from there, or select one of the training videos to view.
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