Family History Overhaul
The Deseret News wrote
a lengthy article on the changes that are going to be taking place with familysearch.org.
Here are some of the highlights:
- “New online tools will allow novices to log on and
Popularity: 99% [?]
Changes at Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com recently posted that there were
some changes being made to their
site. Since Ancestry.com is one of the largest genealogy resources, these changes
will most likely affect a large number of people. Here is a compiled list of their
changes:
Popularity: 45% [?]
Where to Write for Vital Records
The National Center for Health Statistics hosts a very
useful web page that provides the contact information for every state where you
can write to obtain vital records for births, deaths, marriages, and divorces that
have occurred in your family history. Application
Guidelines for obtaining vital records are also provided.
To obtain a certified copy of birth, death, and marriage certificates, write or go
to the vital statistics office in the State where the event occurred. Addresses and
fees are given for each event in the State concerned. Because all fees are subject
to change, a telephone number has been included in the information for each State
so you can verify the current fee. These pages also provide web page addresses of
each State’s vital records office(s).
Be sure to type or print all names and addresses in the letter.
Give the following facts when writing for birth or death records:
- Full name of person whose record is requested.
- Sex.
- Parents’ names, including maiden name of mother.
- Month, day, and year of birth or death.
- Place of birth or death (city or town, county, and State; and name of hospital, if
known). - Purpose for which copy is needed.
- Relationship to person whose record is requested.
- Day time telephone number with area code.
Give the following facts when writing for marriage records:
- Full names of bride and groom.
- Month, day, and year of marriage.
- Place of marriage (city or town, county, and State).
- Purpose for which copy is needed.
- Relationship to persons whose record is requested.
- Day time telephone number with area code.
Give the following facts when writing for divorce records:
- Full names of husband and wife.
- Date of divorce or annulment.
- Place of divorce or annulment.
- Type of final decree.
- Purpose for which copy is needed.
- Relationship to persons whose record is requested.
- Day time telephone number with area code.
Where to Write for Vital
Records
Click on State where birth, death, marriage,
or divorce occurred:A
C
D
G
K
(except New York City)
O
P
T
UUtah
Popularity: 56% [?]
Official State Archives for All 50 States of the U.S.
Here is a nice listing of the Official State Archives for all 50 states of the U.S. and 3 territories This listing includes the official department name, address, telephone numberr and web site address. One can research and find at these sites documents such as public records, registered maps, books, papers, directories, land records, and other writings and records which appertain to the political history and past administration of the state government. Typically, these are repositories for the state’s permanent governmental records as well as other materials documenting the state’s history. These types of items can help you find leads and provide more understanding when researching your ancestors and family history.
| Alabama Department of Archives and History 624 Washington Avenue P.O. Box 300100Montgomery, AL 36130-0100 Tel: 334-242-4435 www.archives.state.al.us/index.html |
Alaska Division of Libraries, Archives, and Museums 141 Willoughby AvenueJuneau, AK 99801-1720 Tel: 907-465-2270 www.archives.state.ak.us |
Arizona Department of Library, Archives, and Public Records 1700 West WashingtonRoom 442, State Capitol Phoenix, AZ 85007 Tel: 602-542-4159 www.lib.az.us/archives |
Popularity: 72% [?]
31 Internet Genealogy Lessons
To complement Jeff’s post today on Beginners
Guide to Genealogy, here are a total of 31 genealogy lessons for both beginner
and intermediate genealogists These genealogy tutorial lessons will help you in your
important work of researching, finding, and documenting your family tree and family
history, and are provided by Genealogy.com. The beginning lessons show you
how to find information online and where to start looking, while the intermediate
lessons dive deeper into genealogy research and show you things such as conducting
online research, writing your family history, cemetery records, digital photographs,
genealogy CDs, and organizing your online research. Have fun with these and good luck
with your family history research!
Beginning
Internet Genealogy: Getting Started on the Net
- Lesson 1: Usenet Newsgroups
- Lesson 2:
Creating Effective Queries - Lesson 3:
Online Reference Sites - Lesson 4:
Genealogy Data Online - Lesson 5:
Using Newspapers for Research - Lesson 6:
Libraries in the Digital Age - Lesson 7: Genealogy
Files Online - Lesson 8: Conducting
an Oral History - Lesson 9: GEDCOM Mysteries
Revealed - Lesson 10: Geographic
Tools and Resources - Lesson 11: Finding
People Online - Lesson 12: Armchair
Travel for Genealogists - Lesson 13: Search
Engines — Sorting Through the Web - Lesson 14: Organization
is the Key! - Lesson 15: Internet
Genealogy Chat via IRC - Lesson 16: Historical
Timelines and Resources
Intermediate Internet
Genealogy: Powerful Tools for Internet Research
- Lesson 1: Help from
Societies - Lesson 2: Genograms
and Family Medical Histories - Lesson 3: Conducting
Online Research - Lesson 4: Genealogy
Files Online - Lesson 5: The Mechanics
of Writing Your Family History, Part 1 - Lesson 6: The Mechanics
of Writing Your Family History, Part 2 - Lesson 7: The Mechanics
of Writing Your Family History, Part 3 - Lesson 8: Create Your
Own Genealogy Mailing List - Lesson 9: Cemetery
Records: Online and Off-line Research Tips and Techniques - Lesson 10: Software?:
Tips for Finding the Right Genealogy Program - Lesson 11: Genealogy
CD-ROM Basics - Lesson 12: Does This
Look Infected: Keeping Your Genealogy (and Other) Data Safe - Lesson 13: Digital
Photographs: Enhancing Your Online and Off-line Research - Lesson 14: Genealogy
CDs: Compiled Genealogies on CD-ROM - Lesson 15: Internet:
Organizing Your Online Research
Popularity: 100% [?]
Search Genealogy - Personal History at National Archives
The National Archives hosts this excellent “Genealogy / Personal History” search
page in the Access to Archival Databases
(AAD) section of the their site. You can search each one of these 16 databases separately,
or you can search them all at once using their search form on this page. I found several
members of my family searching some of the databases here.
Search
Genealogy / Personal History at National Archives
16 series, listed chronologically
 |
|
|
| Series and Files | No. of Records | |
|---|---|---|
| Records for Passengers Who Arrived at the Port of New York During the Irish Famine, created, 1977 - 1989, documenting the period 1/12/1846 - 12/31/1851 |
 |
607,822 |
| Index to the Gorgas Hospital Mortuary Registers, created, 1979 - 1991, documenting the period 1906 - 1991 |
|
26,213 |
| World War II Army Enlistment Records, created, 6/1/2002 - 9/30/2002, documenting the period ca. 1938 - 1946 |
|
9,200,232 |
| Records of World War II Prisoners of War, created, 1942 - 1947, documenting the period 12/7/1941 - 11/19/1946 |
|
143,374 |
| Records About Japanese Americans Relocated During World War II, created, 1988 - 1989, documenting the period 1942 - 1946 |
|
109,384 |
| Records of Duty Locations for Naval Intelligence Personnel, created, 1942 - 1945, documenting the period 1942 - 1945 |
|
33,208 |
| Records of Military Personnel Who Died as a Result of Hostilities During the Korean War, created, ca. 1977 - 11/1979, documenting the period 1/1/1950 - 2/7/1957 |
|
33,642 |
| Records on Korean War Dead and Wounded Army Casualties, created, 1950 - 1970, documenting the period 2/13/1950 - 12/31/1953 |
|
109,975 |
| Records of Repatriated Korean War Prisoners of War, created, 1978 - 1980, documenting the period 7/5/1950 - 10/6/1954 |
|
4,447 |
| Records of American Prisoners of War During the Korean War, created, 1950 - 1953, documenting the period 1950 - 1953 |
|
4,714 |
| Records on Military Personnel Who Died, Were Missing in Action or Prisoners of War as a Result of the Vietnam Conflict, created, 1/20/1967 - 12/1998, documenting the period 6/8/1956 - 1/21/1998 |
|
58,965 |
| Records with Unit Information on Military Personnel Who Died During the Vietnam Conflict, created, ca. 1983 - 6/19/2002, documenting the period 10/21/1957 - 3/19/1991 |
|
58,179 |
| Records of Deceased, Wounded, Ill, or Injured Army Personnel, Including Dependents and Civilian Employees, created, 1/1/1961 - 12/1981, documenting the period 1/1/1961 - 12/1981 |
|
293,858 |
| Records of Awards and Decorations of Honor During the Vietnam Conflict, created, 5/1969 - 3/1973, documenting the period 12/1965 - 11/1972 472 |
|
80,701 |
| Records About the Proposed Sale of Unregistered Securities by Individuals, created, 1/4/1972 - 9/29/2000, documenting the period 1/4/1972 - 9/29/2000 |
|
809,220 |
| Records on Trading of Securities by Corporate Insiders, created, 7/11/1978 - 3/12/2001, documenting the period 7/11/1978 - 3/12/2001 |
|
5,502,888 |
Popularity: 52% [?]
Monroe County Library System
The Monroe
County Library System has their history department online with various resources
for those looking for information in Monroe county. Here is some of the information
that they have:
- Digitized versions of the Rochester
City Directories from the 1820s to the 1890s, with more on the way. - A Life
Records database that includes indexes from the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle and Times
Union of paid death notices from 1960-2006, birth notices from 1978-2003, and
marriage notices from 1965-2003. Also included in this database are records from the Brockport
Republic newspaper covering the years 1856-1923. Copies of the
original notices may be ordered from the Rochester Public Library. - An indexed collection of the publication Rochester
History, a journal published from 1939 to the present that contains articles on
the history of Rochester, Monroe County and western New York. - The Rochester
Images database, which houses thousands of images including historical and
contemporary photographs, maps, and manuscripts from Rochester and Monroe County. - Indexes to
valuable primary source materials such as federal and state censuses, Civil War records,
and cemetery records from Rochester and surrounding towns. - Information on how to contact local
municipal historians for further information.
Popularity: 56% [?]
WorldVitalRecords.com
I had heard about WorldVitalRecords.com last
week when a press release was sent saying that they had geocoded the SSDI. I took
a look and really didn’t find any information that wasn’t available at other places.
The useful part is that you can search for SSDI information based on a zipcode. What
I didn’t like is that you need to know exact death years and location in order to
bring up results. There might be a way around this, but first glance at their homepage
didn’t show me how.
ProvoLabs, which develops WorldVitalRecords,
says this is the first in a long list of ideas that they will be bringing to genealogists.
Seeing how Paul Allen, one of the founders of Ancestry.com, is helping to head this
up, it is possible that this site could become more useful in the future. I did some
contract work for Paul Allen and Dan Taggert, the founders of ProvoLabs, and I found
them to be very insightful in the projects that they are working on and very purposeful
in what they do. I know that they will do whatever they can to make WorldVitalRecords
successful and I look forward to seeing what they can bring us.
For a different view of this new service provided by WorldVitalRecords check out the Genealogy
Blog.
Popularity: 21% [?]
German Genealogy
Are you working on your German Genealogy? Here is a great list of resources covering all
things German. Maybe I can finally help my wife trace some of her German roots.
Thanks to the Genealogy
Blog for finding this site.
Popularity: 25% [?]