Among the records in this collection are:

• Danish West Indies Slave Records
• the 1860 US Census
• US Colored Troops Compiled Service Records and pension files
• Southern Claims Commission files (petitions by Southerners—including many African-Americans—who lost property to Union troops during the Civil War)
• Military Intelligence Division—Negro Subversion (1914–1941)
• Vietnam War Marine Corps Photos

You'll be prompted to register for a free Fold3 account when you click to view a record.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 3:44:07 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [2]

Check this out if you have Revolutionary War or War of 1812 ancestors: Subscription genealogy site Fold3 is making its collection of Service Records of Volunteers, 1784-1811, free through Feb. 5, according to a post on the site's Facebook page.

These images come from 32 rolls of NARA microfilm publication M905. Each soldier's "jacket" typically contains cards abstracting entries for the soldier in original muster rolls, payrolls, receipt rolls, and other lists.

Go here to search this collection. You'll need to register for a free account with the site to view records.

Need research guidance for Revolutionary War and War of 1812 ancestors? Both conflicts are covered in our guide, Research Strategies: 10 Lesser-Known Military Conflicts. It's a $4 download from ShopFamilyTree.com.

Friday, January 27, 2012 3:54:53 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

It was the first official word of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The USS Arizona was destroyed, killing 1,177 officers and crew. The USS Oklahoma capsized. About 2,400 Americans were killed.

As the number of survivors of the attack—now around 2,000—dwindles, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association has elected to dissolve at the end of this year.

Now it's even more important for those who didn't witness the attack firsthand to preserve the memories of that day. Here are a few places to start: 

• The names of servicemembers and civilians who died in the attack are listed here.

• The free Interactive USS Arizona Memorial on Fold3.com lets you search for a name and leave a virtual tribute, story or photograph of a crewmember.

• Virtually visit the National Park Service's USS Arizona Memorial here.

• National Archvies digitized records related to the Pearl Harbor attack, including military dispatches regarding the attack, photos of the aftermath and official correspondence. You also can watch the Archives' video about US Navy deck logs, records that contain sailors' accounts of the day's events.
  
  
• WWII genealogy resources
  

Wednesday, December 07, 2011 9:29:21 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• Ancestry.com has upgraded its mobile app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. New features include 99-cent in-app purchasing of individual records for non-Ancestry.com subscribers (such as World War I draft cards, census records, birth and death certificates, and school yearbook photos), the "shaky leaf" hints indicating a possible record match to somone in a user's family tree, and easier updating of family trees with information from historical records.
  

The app, which boasts more than 1.7 million downloads to date, is free from the Apple App Store.

• FamilySearch.org has added more than 18 million records from Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Haiti, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Spain, the United States and Venezuela. US records include a Texas death index (provided by Ancestry.com); naturalization index cards from Louisiana, Texas and Wisconsin; county records from several states and more.

You can view all the new and updated collections and click to each one here.

• SavingOurs.com is a new volunteer group dedicated to saving historical newspapers and other documents. The organization will work with local volunteers, companies and governments to digitize these documents and ensure they're available free to the public. Visit SavingOurs.com to learn more or volunteer.

• Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has started a blog as a four-month-long pilot project. It'll offer tips and tools on LAC's records and navigating its website. Posts so far cover war diaries, Royal Canadian Navy ledger sheets, the newly digitized Lord Elgin collection and more. Visit the LAC Blog here.

Friday, December 02, 2011 10:58:54 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

Go here to search Ancestry.com's WWII records. When you go to view a match, you'll be prompted to set up a free registration with the site (or log in if you already have one).

2,459 Americans died when Japanese warplanes bombed Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941.

See the About.com Genealogy blog for more on records Ancestry.com added to its WWII collection for this promotion. Thanks to Kimberly for the heads-up on this news!

Friday, December 02, 2011 10:42:27 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1]

• If you're interested in researching a military ancestor, check out the National Archives' new video short on how veterans and other interested parties can obtain copies of service records. It'll also show you inside the new National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, where many veterans' records are stored. (You'll also find veterans' records—particularly those from earlier wars—in the archives' DC-area facilities—see the November 2008 Family Tree Magazine "Operation Online Records" article for more info.)

• New military records at UK genealogy subscription/pay-per-view site Genes Reunited today include the National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918, which has brief soldier biographies and information on support personnel (such as nurses and civilians), 1861 Worldwide Army Index, De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour and more. You can see what's in Genes Reunite's military collection and search the records here.

• Another UK genealogy subscription site, FindMyPast.co.uk, has added a collection of records from the Cheshire Archives and Local Studies. They include workhouse records, parish registers, bishop’s transcripts and electoral registers spanning more 350 years. Search the Cheshire Collection here.

Friday, November 11, 2011 2:40:54 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

Grandpa doesn’t know it—he passed away in 2003—but his old Army photos have graced several Family Tree Magazine publications. That's his portrait in the September 2005 Family Tree Sourcebook and on our Military Research Guide CD.

He served in the Army 83rd Signal Co. in 1944 and 1945 in France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany, and received a Bronze Star medal for his service.

The citation above (which I included on a scrapbook page for Scrapbooking Your Family History by Maureen A. Taylor) says he

…showed outstanding leadership in maintaining wire communications between division and regimental headquarters. During the rapid advance of the division, difficult terrain was encountered and artillery fire. His devotion to duty and outstanding services merit the highest praise …

My grandma once told me that Grandpa limped after the war because he’d dropped a big coil of cable on his foot, and she asked him why he hadn’t gotten it checked out. He said he knew he might not be able to return to the same unit. Those were good men, he said, and he didn’t want to leave them. 

He’s among those in the WWII Army Enlistment records, available on the National Archives’ website and on subscription site Ancestry.com:

His burial information is also recorded in the Veterans Administration Nationwide Gravesite Locator:

You can memorialize your own military ancestors’ service with our military biography form, downloadable from this page. 

Go here to download our War Service Reference Guide, which has a timeline of US conflicts plus a birth date chart you can use to determine which major wars your ancestor likely served in.

Learning about your relatives' service to our country (and sharing their stories with your family) is one way to honor them today. Here are some of our favorite websites for doing military research.

Friday, November 11, 2011 9:58:41 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• The Genealogists for Families project, coordinated by genealogists Judy Webster and Joan Miller, uses the microfunding website Kiva.org to make small loans to those in need around the world. Borrowers use the funds for businesses that support their families, for example, a man in Rwanda used a Kiva loan to buy raw materials to expand his carpentry business. So far, Genealogists for Families has made 61 loans totaling $1,525. To get involved, sign up with Kiva. You can lend as little as $25. As the loan is repaid, you can lend to someone else.

• Did your relative die in service to the Prussian army during World War I? The Prussian Army Project database at Genoroots lets you search 100,000 names (and growing) on the Deutsche Verlustlisten—the list of the army's personnel losses during World War I. Go here to search.

• The Genealogical Society of Ireland and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland are working together on a DNA project to learn more about the Irish population. Coordinators will collect DNA samples and genealogical information from participants. Participants won't receive results unless important health information is discovered. You'll find more details in this article on TheJournal.ie.

• The Federation of Genealogical Societies is offering two new benefits to member societies: a website review and a newsletter review (whether print or digital). Evaluations may include suggestions on improving design, layout, ease of use, content and more. See the FGS Voice blog for more information.

Friday, October 28, 2011 4:22:51 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [2]

A PBS film called "The War of 1812" is demystifying this conflict with re-enactments, exlanatory animation and the commentary of history experts. That’s a trailer for the show, above.

It premiered on TV last night, but you can watch it online here if you missed it. 

If you have a smartphone, you also can download a mobile app with more videos, guides to battlefields and historic sites, and more. 

Those with War of 1812 ancestors also will be interested in the Federation of Genealogical Societies’ Preserve the Pensions project to digitize pension files for War of 1812 soldiers. Many of these records are already available at Fold3.com. 

You can get more help finding War of 1812 ancestors with these related resources from Family Tree Magazine:

• Timeline of US military campaigns (free article)
  
• War of 1812 records online (free article)
• Find soldiers in 10 lesser-known wars (for Family Tree Plus members)
  
• Military Research Guide CD from ShopFamilyTree.com 

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 10:13:05 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [5]

Those include veterans applications for military headstones, records of headstones for deceased Union veterans, Confederate POW records, registers of homes for disabled soldiers, service records and more.

Also newly added are notarial records from Canada, church records and civil registrations from Mexico, and a variety of records from England.

You’ll find a chart here listing the new collections and linking to the individual databases. Note that not all of the collections are searchable. Indexes haven’t been completed for some, such as U.S., Records of Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861–1865. In that case, you’ll need to browse collections by date or place.

Wednesday, September 07, 2011 10:04:00 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [6]

• FamilySearch added to collections from seven countries, including 6 million record images from Mexico. Other additions include parish register records from Belgium and England, and church book records from Russia. New records were added from eight US states: Maryland, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia. Click through to the new and updated collections from here.
  

• UK family history site Genes Reunited has released a variety of military records from WW1 and the Second Anglo-Boer War. Collections include Royal Naval Officers' Medal Roll 1914-1920, New Zealand WWI Soldiers, Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-1919, and records with 258,800 names of men and women who fought during the Second Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902.

• Subscription genealogy site Ancestry.com has expanded its US school yearbook collection, adding nearly 25,000 new yearbooks. It now totals more than 35,000 books with 155 million records from 1884 to 2009. The books come from high schools, junior highs, academies, colleges and universities. They're also are available on the Canadian-focused Ancestry.ca.

• Jill Barone of St. Petersburg, Fla., won the Red Star Line Museum's "Do You Know This Girl?" social media contest. Barone wins a trip to Antwerp, Belgium, for the official pre-opening festivities of the Red Star Line Museum in May 2012, and a $1,000 shopping spree at Diane Von Furstenberg's Antwerp boutique. The museum will open in spring 2013.

Friday, August 26, 2011 1:14:46 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [5]

The subscription genealogy website formerly known as Footnote.com will now be called Fold3.

Ancestry.com, which acquired the site along with its parent company, iArchives, last year, is rebranding it with the new name and a new focus on military-related content.

Historical military records have always been one of the site's strengths. The name Fold3 refers to the third fold of a flag in a traditional flag-folding ceremony, which is said to represent the sacrifices of military veterans.

Military records currently on Fold3 come from the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Vietnam War and others.

“We have already begun expanding Fold3’s robust military collection to include new pension application files and draft cards,” says Brian Hansen, Fold3 general manager.

Don't worry—Footnote.com's nonmilitary records, such as city directories, naturalization documents, the Pennsylvania Archives collection and more, will remain on Fold3. Ancestry.com spokesperson Heather Erickson tells me they'll be in an “Other Collections” category.

Thursday, August 18, 2011 2:02:32 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1]

Through July 4, you can search SAR applications dating from 1889 to 1970 free on Ancestry.com. (After you hit Search, you’ll be prompted to set up a free account to view your results.) The collection includes 145,000 applications.

Click here to start your search (then select the Free Access Weekend logo on the right).

Thursday, June 30, 2011 11:27:29 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [5]

The previous day, Ward, who was in command of a flotilla in the Chesapeake Bay, send a landing party to meet Southern forces at Mathias Point in King George County, Va. They met resistance, and Ward was shot after he moved the ships in to cover for the landing party as it retreated.

At the beginning of the war, the US Navy had just 90 ships; it grew to 670 ships and 50,000 sailors by mid-1964. The Confederate Navy had 130 warships and 4,000 men at its largest.

Dramatic events such as battles and shore bombardments were the exception to the rule for sailors, according to the book Life in Civil War America:

“Sailors spent the majority of their time performing routine duties or combating the effects of tedium. Running a ship required constant if monotonous activity; unlike soldiers, seamen tended not to have much idle time on their hands. An exception to this was, of course, Union soldiers on board blockading ships, who often complained of boredom in journals and letters.”

You’ll use different resources to trace a Civil War sailor than you would if researching a soldier. Start with the resources in this free FamilyTreeMagazine.com article on tracing Union and Confederate sailors.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011 4:51:55 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [6]

Footnote.com is digitizing millions of War of 1812 records and making them available free as part of a project with the Federation of Genealogical Societies (which in is in the process of raising $3.7 million dollars for the project) and the National Archives.

The first 1,400 record images—less than 1 percent of the estimated 7.2 million documents—are now available, and Footnote will add new records as they’re digitized.

The War of 1812 Pension Application Files can tell you

• The veteran’s name, age, rank, and service information and dates

• His widow’s name and maiden name (if she applied for the pension)

• Soldier’s marriage date

• Widow’s death date

• Acres of land granted as a reward for service and the year of the Bureau of Land Management act under which the land was granted, and the warrant number (these details can help you find a bounty land warrant)

• Applicant’s place of residence

• Additional names, including those of the soldier’s surviving dependents

You’ll find a guide to researching the War of 1812 and other “lesser-known” US conflicts in the December 2010 Family Tree Magazine.

(Family Tree Magazine Plus members can access the article here.) 

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 11:30:52 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

Among the Civil War databases are:

• United States, Civil War Soldiers Index: These index cards contain 6.3 million names of Union and Confederate soldiers and African-American sailors, along with basic service information (this information also is on the National Park Service’s Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System website).

• Confederate pensions for those living Arkansas (1901-1929), Louisiana (1898-1950) and Missouri (1911-1938): Browse these databases by last name.

• Civil War Pension Index Cards: These are index cards for pension applications of veterans who served in the US Army between 1861 and 1917.

• 1890 Census of Union veterans and widows of the Civil War: Browse by state, county and town; enumerators creating these special schedules sometimes listed Confederate veterans, too.

• United States, Registers of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798-1914: This database, still being filmed and added to the site, names Army “regulars” (those who enlisted during peacetime—so generally, not men who enlisted to serve in a war). Browse by name.

• Arizona Service Records of Confederate Soldiers of the Civil War, 1861-1863: This index links to record images at subscription site Footnote.com (you’ll need a subscription to view the documents).

See the full list of Civil War databases here (click the More » link).

You can search the Civil War records from the FamilySearch/Civil War page (note the search won’t include the browse-only collections, which aren’t yet indexed), or click on a database title to search or browse just those records.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 9:20:07 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1]

• As part of its annual conference next week in Charleston, SC, the National Genealogical Society will offer a one-day Genealogy 101 session on Saturday, May 14, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Registration costs $50. Online registration is closed, but you can register at the door. Space is limited, so get there early.

• A new organization has formed with the goal to provide in-depth genealogical education in the Mid-Atlantic region and nationally. The Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) is planning a weeklong genealogy seminar for Monday, July 23 through Friday, July 27, 2012, in Pittsburgh. Learn more on GRIP’s website.

• If you’ll be in the Washington, DC, are next week, you can learn how to research the National Archives’ records of Union and Confederate Army units and Navy ships at one of two free workshops: May 10, 11 a.m. at the Washington, DC, Research Center; or Thursday, May 12, 11 a.m. at the College Park, MD, research center. Learn more on the National Archives’ events page. 

• FamilySearch has added more than 2 million digital images to its record collections come from Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Switzerland, U.S., and Wales. More than 1.7 million of those images were added to the Brazil Civil Registration collection, and 346,000 church records were added for Honduras. The record images aren’t yet indexed, so you’ll need to navigate to the collection of interest on FamilySearch and browse the images. You can see the list of updated collections and link to each one here. 

Friday, May 06, 2011 3:26:44 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

Thanks everyone for telling us about your Civil War ancestors as part of this giveaway—we've enjoyed reading your stories!

There’ll be many opportunities to learn more about your family's experiences as the Civil War sesquicentennial commemoration continues. We’re looking forward to sharing them with you.

Friday, April 29, 2011 3:20:42 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

The Civil War Trust is coming out with another smartphone “Battle App,” this one helping tourists locate and learn about historic sites at the Fredericksburg battlefield. Download and learn more about this app and the Devil’s Den & Little Roundtop app at CivilWar.org.

Want to attend the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree in Burbank, Calif., June 10-12? You could win a registration from GeneaBloggers. Click here to learn more and enter. 

Friday, April 29, 2011 2:47:34 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

My husband's ggg grandfather Conrad Tschummi—and his son, same name, served in a CT unit in the Civil War. The father made it home safely, but his son died of disease. I did research at our CT State Library and found they had the original handwritten records of the entire tour of duty listing injuries, deaths, pay, punishments for not following the rules—I could follow the entire tour by these original records. They are incredible and a find I never dreamed ever existed.

Due to the fragile condition of the large, rolled sheets of paper and the fact that they probably won't be safe to unroll many more times, I paid to have them copied by the library and now they are safely in a roll in a large mailing tube.

Anyone looking for Civil War documents, ask at the facility if they have any records kept off site like they do in CT. These were brought to me to read in an enclosed and guarded area and I actually had tears in my eyes as I read them.

To enter, like Family Tree Magazine on Facebook and share on our wall a few details about a Civil War ancestor, or a tidbit from our Life in Civil War America webinar or Life in Civil War America book. You can also enter by posting a comment on any Genealogy Insider blog post about Life in Civil War America (like this one).

Each Friday in April, a winner will be chosen from that week's comments and wall posts. The winners will each receive a copy of the Life in Civil War America book.

The sweepstakes started April 6, and runs through April 29.

Need more details? Read the official rules here

Friday, April 22, 2011 2:57:07 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1]

It’s DNA Day! Today only (Friday, April 15), genetic genealogy company FamilyTreeDNA is offering a promotional code you can use to get a discount on several types of DNA tests. See FamilyTreeDNA’s Facebook page for details.

Family Tree University professor Tim Pinnick sent us a note that he’s moderating the new African-American-American Newspapers forum on the Afrigeneas website. Stop by to ask questions and share your finds from Black newspapers. 

FamilySearch announced this week that it’s released 500,000 new US county marriage records, as well as records from Costa Rica, England, India, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Spain, in the Historical Records Search. Click here to see the list of the updated collections. (Look for our guide to the new FamilySearch.org website in the September 2011 Family Tree Magazine.)

Subscription genealogy site Archives just announced the addition of 3.5 million new US vital records to the website, including the obituary index from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Ohio (also searchable here). Other updated collections come from Texas, Kentucky, Maine, South Carolina, Arizona, South Carolina and Colorado.

iArchives, the records digitization arm of subscription site Footnote, announced plans to collaborate with the Federation of Genealogical Societies to digitize 180,000 War of 1812 pension applications. They’ll eventually be available on Footnote. Read more details on the FGS Voice blog.

Friday, April 15, 2011 9:52:35 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

If an ancestor fought in a Colonial war—that is, any war taking place before the American Revolution—you’re more likely to locate state militia pay lists, muster rolls and military hospital records in state archives and military historical societies covering the war or the place where your ancestor enlisted. It’ll be easier to find records if you can learn which regiment or company your ancestor was part of.

This is a little taste of the advice is from our new Military Research Guide CD, which has Family Tree Magazine’s best in-depth guidance and tools for researching ancestors who served in the US armed forces. 

Click here for more details about the research topics and worksheets covered in this keyword-searchable, Windows- and Macintosh-compatible CD. It’s available now at ShopFamilyTree.com. 

Thursday, April 14, 2011 9:25:46 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

As part of our Life in Civil War America sweepstakes, we’ve heard from many of you who’ve taken advantage of newly available Civil War records such as those from Ancestry.com and the National Archives (free on Ancestry.com through April 14; you also can check out Footnote’s Civil War records free through April 14) to start learning about your Civil War ancestors.

Interested in taking your research further? Here are some resources that may help:

• The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System: More than 6 million names of soldiers (those who served in more than one regiment have multiple listings) from the Union and Confederacy, as well as African-American sailors. You can learn basic service details, find regimental histories and listings of soldiers by regiment, view battle summaries and see records from Andersonville and Fort McHenry prisons. 

• Civil War Women: Diaries, letters and other primary sources from Duke University 

• Civil War Sesquicentennial Tools: Links to online tools and podcasts (such as Longwood University’s weekly review of key Civil War events taking place exactly 150 years ago) that help you research your family’s Civil War history.  

• Our free Life in Civil War America On-Demand Webinar: Author and historian Michael O. Varhola illuminates the sweeping changes and cultural norms that shaped the everyday lives of soldiers and civilians during the war. 

• Civil War Genealogy Toolkit: Link to state archives’ online Civil War records, Civil War history sites, how-to articles, Civil War history organizations and more. 

• Military Research Guide: Our free guide will show you how to research your Civil War and other military ancestors. 

Other Family Tree Magazine Civil War research helps include:

• Ultimate Civil War Anniversary Collection (a limited quantity is available of this Civil War genealogy and history collection) 

• Family Tree University Civil War Research Class 

• Civil War Research Guide in the July 2007 Family Tree Magazine digital issue 

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 3:02:52 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

In this edition of my guest post for the Genealogy Insider I’m reporting from the Who Do You Think You Are? Live event in London, which runs Friday, Feb. 25, through Sunday, Feb 27.

While I could spend time telling you about the huge booths and displays of the genealogy giants like Ancestry.uk, FamilySearch or Find My Past, I think it would miss the mark on conveying what is truly unique about this particular event. It’s the “little guy” – the local society, volunteer organization and fledgling online start-up – that fills the vast majority of the exhibit hall. Here are just a few that stood out as I made way up and down the aisles:

Discover Ireland
“Genealogy butler” and professional genealogist Helen Kelly sat down with me at the Discover Ireland booth to talk about the countless number of people they have helped trace their Irish ancestors and then make the journey to the homeland. Their free booklet “Tracing Your Ancestors” in Ireland walks family historians through doing research on their own in the U.S, heading online to tap into digital records, hiring professional help as needed, and tips for making the trip and walking the green grass of Ireland in person.

“We have to be quiet sometimes,” says Kelly, “…we have to sit in the landscape and then the stones can speak to us.” Kelly made a compelling case for making the journey “back to the community that nurtured your ancestors.” While many things have changed, you can still experience the accents, landscape and culture that enveloped your ancestors.

Kelly summed it up this way, “We are not just part of our people, we are also part of our landscape.” Stay tuned to my Genealogy Gems podcast, where you will hear my entire conversation with this inspirational expert on discovering Ireland.

Lisa talks with Helen Kelly about tracing Irish roots.

Western Front Association
If you have an ancestor who served during the Great War, the Western Front Association may have just the resources and expertise you are looking for. Founded by historian John Giles in 1980, the association has grown to include thousands of members around the world. Their historical information officer is available to help with research questions, and their publications and unique record holdings make them an ideal resource.

War Memorials Trust
As I approached their booth, a woman named Nancy welcomed me and explained the simple yet vital purpose of the War Memorials Trust: to monitor the condition of war memorials and to encourage protection and conservation when appropriate. They also strive to provide expert advice to war memorial projects across the UK, to act as the specialist organization for war memorial conversation issues and to facilitate repair and conservation through grants. I was pleased to see organizations in attendance that play a vital role in empowering all of us to help preserve our precious history.

Friends of the MPHC
Do you have a bobby in your background? If so, the Metropolitan Police have a resource for you! The Met Collection encompasses artifacts previously hidden from view. The permanent public display at the Met Collection heritage center rotates from the 17,000 items that make up the collection including uniforms, photos, police equipment and a vast database of records. You can visit the collection in person at The Annex, Empress State Building, Empress Approach, Lillie Rd., London SW6 1TR (a 2 minute walk from the Brompton tube station) or visit them online at the Friends of the MPHC website.

With such a variety of fascinating topics and experts to learn from, it’s no wonder that over 17,000 people have bought tickets to attend the three-day event. Next week I’ll have a complete wrap up for you on the Who Do You Think You Are? Live event. 

Saturday, February 26, 2011 6:22:50 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1]

See the FamilySearch website for a list of the rest of its recently added records. If you don’t want to search all the records on the site using the search form on the home page, here’s how to find the individual databases:

1. Scroll down on the FamilySearch home page to Browse By Location and click the world region of interest.
   
   
2. In the filter links on the left side of the page, click the country. (That’s as narrow as you can get when it comes to places at this time.) In the center of the page, you'll see an alphabetical list of all databases pertaining to that country.
   
   
3. Below the place filters, you can use other filters to narrow the database list by year range and type of record.
   
   
4. Once you’ve narrowed as much as you can, look for the database title in the alphabetical list in the center of the page. (Most US naturalization records are separated into databases for the relevant states, so they're alphabetized under state names for those.)

Using your browser’s Find function (Control+F or Apple+F) to search for a word in the title of the database you need will help you sidestep some inconsistent titling that can make a few collections hard to find.

For example, Revolutionary War pension records are in the database “Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Applications Files,” listed with the Rs, but Revolutionary War service records are in the database titled “United States, Revolutionary War Compiled Service Records, 1775-1783”—listed with the Us.

Also, “United States, Index to Naturalizations of World War I Soldiers, 1918” isn’t listed near the naturalization records from US District Courts, which are alphabetized by the name of the state the records are from, or with the WWII records in “United States, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942.”

I noticed those WWI soldier naturalizations don’t show up when you use the Migration & Naturalization or Military Records filter (but they are included in the Court Records). I sent a comment about it; if you find a categorization or other quirk, you can comment using the orange Feedback tab on the right side of the site's pages.

Thursday, January 27, 2011 10:15:21 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• The New Jersey state archives has released a database of 3,427 New Jersey residents named on cards recording those who died in World War I. Your search results link to the original card, sometimes with a photo, and information about the deceased and his service.

• The Digital Library of Georgia, one of the December 2010 Family Tree Magazine’s 75 best state websites for genealogy, has added the Athens Historic Newspapers Archive. You can keyword-search or browse (by title and year) five newspapers published in Athens from 1827 to 1922. 

• The Illinois State Genealogical Society (ISGS) just unveiled a new website featuring links to ISGS records projects, links to other Illinois resources and a new members-only section. Visitors also will find archived ISGS Newsletters back to 2008, listings of Illinois genealogy events, free databases and more.

• A highly combustible nitrate negative caused the evacuation of the LDS Church History Library in Salt Lake City (not the same as the Family History Library) this week. You can read more about the incident, which ended with everyone safe and sound, on Dick Eastman’s blog. How do you know if you have any of these dangerous nitrate negatives (produced between 1890 and 1950) in your home? This Now What? answer will tell you.
  

Friday, January 21, 2011 11:14:59 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• The Civil War Preservation Trust, a battlefield preservation group, has shortened its name to the Civil War Trust and adopted a new logo. President James Lighthizer explains the changes will “modernize our image to better reflect the Civil War Trust’s mission.” See the new logo and read more about the change here. 

• The University of Texas at Austin has launched a new history website called Not Even Past to provide “dynamic, accessible, short articles on every field of history.” Using the Read, Watch, Discover, Listen and Texas links at the bottom of the page, you’ll find book excerpts and articles from history faculty and graduate students at the university. Content is sparse so far, but this could be a site worth keeping an eye on.

• If you have an ancestor who served during the Korean War (especially a veteran whose personnel file was destroyed in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis), today’s Family Tree Friday post on the NARAtions blog might be of interest. The post describes Korean War-era Command Reports, which include reports, operations journals, staff studies and other documents from Army commands, staffs and units, and can help you learn about the activities of your relative’s Korean War unit.

• The nation’s largest online digitized presidential archive will provide access to papers, records, photos and recordings of President John F. Kennedy's time in office. Visit the website of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum to learn more about the digitization effort and search the archive. View the announcement about the archive here.
  

Friday, January 14, 2011 2:46:09 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

The Pocket Reference is a handy, timesaving collection of genealogy reference material—resources, tips, lists and need-to-know facts. The downloadable version is a fully searchable PDF. You'll get definitions for unfamiliar terms and acronyms, US state fast facts, family tree software at a glance, genealogy data websites, surname origins, cultural naming practices, census dates and questions, US immigration ports and more.

Here’s one quick example of what you'll find the military records section: 

Depending on when your ancestor was born, here are the war records to look for:

• Born 1726-1767: Revolutionary War (1775-1783) records
• Born 1762-1799: War of 1812 (1812-1815) records
• Born 1796-1831: Mexican War (1846-1848) records
• Born 1811-1848: Civil War (1861-1865) records
• Born 1848-1881: Spanish-American War (1898) records
• Born 1849-1885: Philippine Insurrection (1899-1902) records
• Born 1872-1900: World War I (1917-1918) records
• Born 1877-1925: World War II (1941-1945) records
• Born 1900-1936: Korean War (1950-1953) records
• Born 1914-1955: Vietnam War (early 1960s-1973) records

Click here to get the Family Tree Pocket Reference from ShopFamilyTree.com.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010 4:41:08 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• The Library of Congress has posted a collection of nearly 700 ambrotype and tintype Civil War portraits to Flickr. You’ll notice that letters on hats and belt buckles are reversed in the images because they're “direct positives”—images directly from the camera.

• Library and Archives Canada has put the 1916 census of the Prairie provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta) online. You can’t search by a person’s name, though. Instead, search the database by province, district name, district number and sub-district number. Or, click here to browse the microfilm reels page by page. 

• Another new database from Library and Archives Canada is Medals, Honours and Awards, containing more than 113,000 references to medal registers, citation cards and records of military awards. It also has digitized images of some medal registers. You can search the database by name, regiment, rank and more; if you find a match, you’ll learn the medal awarded, the related battle or conflict, and a citation for the record containing the information. Because no service files exist for the Canadian military in the 1800s, these records may provide the only proof of service for 19th-century conflicts. 

• FamilySearch has added nearly four million new digital images—nearly 1.7 million of them indexed—to its historical records collection. The additions include records from South Africa, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Guatemala, the Netherlands and the United States. Visit FamilySearch for a list of the collection titles with the new images, and how many of the records are indexed. Unindexed collections aren’t searchable, instead, you’ll need to browse those collections and view the records to find your ancestor’s name.
  

• Richard Heaton e-mailed us about his site called Last Chance To Read, a searchable collection of thousands of pages of scarce British and Irish newspapers and other publications, most printed between 1710 and 1870. Once you register for a free account, you can do a search and order PDF copies of articles for about $4.75 via PayPal. See included titles here (scroll down).  

• RootsMagic released a free update to version 4, version 4.0.9.8., which update adds several user-requested features and fixes a number of issues. Users may be automatically notified to download the update; if not, open the program and go to Help>Check for Updates or click here.
  

Friday, December 17, 2010 4:06:12 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1]

To mark the occasion, subscription historical records site Footnote has made two collections free during the month of December:

• Pearl Harbor Muster rolls, the quarterly Muster Rolls and related documents for the United States Navy’s fighting ships, ground organizations, and shore facilities that were present on the island of Oahu during the attack. 

• World War II Diaries, 1942-1945, submitted by most units in the Navy (most Marine Corps war diaries were submitted by aviation units such as fighter squadrons), provide a day-to-day record of operational and sometimes administrative activities. This database contains 251,082 document images, about 13 percent of the collection housed at the National Archives. 

Of course, Footnote’s Interactive USS Arizona Memorial, a searchable, life-size image of the memorial naming USS Arizona sailors killed in the Pearl Harbor attack, is always free.

Get help making the most of your Footnote subscription with our Footnote Web Guide, available as a digital download from ShopFamilyTree.com.

Wondering about your family’s WWII memorabilia? Learn more about it from the photos and information in Warman's World War II Collectibles by Michael E. Haskew.

Tuesday, December 07, 2010 10:54:00 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• In honor of Remembrance Day, Canadian subscription genealogy site Ancestry.ca has added a huge collection of Canadian WWI death and burial records.
  

Canada, CEF Commonwealth War Graves Registers, 1914-1919 details the circumstances of death for more than two thirds of the 60,000 Canadian soldiers who fought and died in Belgium, France and the United Kingdom. Canada, CEF Burial Registers, First World War, 1914-1919 details temporary and final resting places of soldiers who died.

• Ancestry.com and UK website Thegenealogist.co.uk have reached an agreement with the UK national archives to publish the 1911 census of England and Wales, the most recent UK census available to the public. The companies will work together to transcribe the census, creating a searchable database. Ancestry.com will add the records by county, starting in late 2010 and finishing up in 2011. (You can search this census now on subscription site 1911census.co.uk, operated by UK genealogy site FindMyPast.co.uk.) 

• British genealogy subscription site FamilyRelatives.com has added a million records from post office directories. Similar to phone books, these directories name local people and businesses. The growing collection currently covers more than 25 British counties and major cities, and spans nearly a century. Read more on FamilyRelatives.com.
  

• British genealogy website FindMyPast.co.uk is working with FamilySearch to post online indexes and images of Welsh parish registers dating as far back as the 16th century.
  

FamilySearch will digitize about the images containing baptisms, marriages and burials; FindMyPast.co.uk will transcribe them. Over the next two years, you’ll be able to search a free index on FamilySearch, with the records available for a fee on FindMyPast.co.uk. In Wales, users will be able to access the records free through Welsh Archives Services. 

Friday, November 12, 2010 2:26:40 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

You can get an in-depth education in how to find and use military records from Family Tree University’s US Military Records Course.

The course lessons cover:

• Terminology and concepts important to understanding the records

• An overview of US wars and types of records are available for each

• How to find records including rosters, muster rolls, compiled military service records, pension records, bounty land warrants, draft registrations—using both online and offline sources Examples of the records discussed 

• Supplementary military research articles from Family Tree Magazine are included with the course lessons.

You can take this course in two ways:

• Register for the online course through Family Tree University, and take advantage of the opportunity to interact with instructor Diana Crisman Smith and your fellow students. The November session started Monday (you can register through the end of this week) and lasts five weeks (instead of four) to give you extra time during your holiday preparations.

• Get the Independent Study digital download from ShopFamilyTree.com, so you can get started right away and go at your own pace. The independent study course is on sale this week in ShopFamilyTree.com! 

Thursday, November 11, 2010 11:55:27 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

To find more articles, just type the name of the war into the search box in the upper-right corner of any FamilyTreeMagazine.com page or browse our Military Records category. 

General Military

• At Your Service: Military records research guide 
  
  
• 10 Best Web sites for Military Researchers
  
  
• Timeline of US Military Campaigns 
  
  
• Decoding Common Military Abbreviations 
  
  
• Military Records Toolkit
  
  
• NARA microfilmed records for lesser-known wars
  
  
• Wars your ancestor may have served in 

Specific Wars

• Revolutionary War Web Resources 
  
  
• War of 1812 Online Resources 
  
  
• Civil War on the Web
  
  
• Civil War Genealogy Toolkit
  
  
• WWI Genealogy Resources 
  
  
• WWII Ancestors Websites 

Military research articles exclusively for Family Tree Plus members include:

• Military Records for 10 Lesser-Known Wars from the December 2010 Family Tree Magazine
  
  
• Online Military Records Guide from the November 2008 Family Tree Magazine 
  
  
• A House Divided: Civil War research guide from the July 2007 Family Tree Magazine 
  
  
• Over There: WWI research guide from the November 2007 Family Tree Magazine 
  
  
• Deep Roots: Colonial ancestors research guide from the February 2006 Family Tree Magazine
  
  
• Conflicting Information: Military records resources from the September 2005 Family Tree Sourcebook 
  
  
• Photo Detective: Clues in military photos from the December 2004 Family Tree Magazine 

You can find print copies and/or digital downloads of the Family Tree Magazine issues mentioned above at ShopFamilyTree.com. 

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 3:42:59 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

You'll be able to search the records free this weekend: Also for Veterans Day, Ancestry.com is making its military records collection free from Nov. 11-14. 

The West Point Application Papers include applicants’ letters dating from 1805 to 1866 requesting appointment, War Department letters of recommendation and notification if the candidate was accepted, and letters of acceptance from the candidate.

More than 115,000 candidates are named; they include well-known West Point graduates who went on to military careers, such as

• William Tecumseh Sherman, who became a Union general in the Civil War
  
  
• Thomas J. Jackson, a Confederate commander who was nicknamed “Stonewall” at the Battle of Chancellorsville
  
  
• George Pickett, who resigned from the US Army in 1861 to serve for the Confederacy, and led Pickett’s Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg
  
  
• George Custer, who joined the Union Army after graduating last in his class at West Point

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 2:57:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

World War II can be a bit harder than other wars to research because many records are still closed due to privacy concerns. Some resources I suggested include:

• WWII veterans or their next-of-kin can request the veteran's military service records from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. 

• Ancestry.com’s 1942 “Old Man’s” draft cards, Navy cruise books, missing in action reports and other WWII records. I was glad to be able mention Ancestry.com's Free Access Weekend for its military records in honor of Veterans Day.

• Footnote’s WWII missing air crew reports, submarine patrol reports, Pearl Harbor muster rolls and other WWII records. 

• The National Archives' WWII enlistment records in its Access to Archival Databases, where you can search for an Army enlistee by name and get basic information about his service. These records also are part of Ancestry.com’s military collection, and they’re in Footnote’s free WWII Hero Pages. 

• The Library of Congress Veterans Oral History Project, which has a database of veterans who’ve participated. (Our local Cincinnati Public Library takes part in the project and has its own database of local participants.)

• The Veterans Administration searchable Nationwide Gravesite Locator  has burial information on veterans and, in some cases, their descendants, in VA cemeteries and state and local veterans cemeteries.

• The WWII National Memorial Registry, which combines four other databases: those buried in American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) overseas military cemeteries, those memorialized on ABMC Tablets of the Missing, those listed on official War and Navy Department Killed in Service rosters , and those who’ve been enrolled in the memorial’s Registry of Remembrances. (You also can search ABMC WWII databases here.)
  

You’ll find sources and strategies for researching military ancestors in these resources from ShopFamilyTree.com:

• November 2008 Family Tree Magazine, with our guide to online military records 
  
  
• Online Military Records: Document Your Family’s Service webinar recording 
  
  
• Family Tree University Independent Study: US Military Records 

Tuesday, November 09, 2010 12:58:31 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• In the early 1900s, lamination—now an archival no-no—was a celebrated new tool at repositories nationwide. Thousands of historical documents were laminated, including the Emancipation Proclamation. Find out how archives are working with these documents in the December 2010 Genealogy Insider column. 

• About 125,000 US troops, both Army regulars and new volunteers, served in the Philippine Insurrection from 1899 to 1902. The 1900 US census has information on military personnel stationed in the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico.
  
  Read more in our December 2010 guide to records from America’s lesser-known military conflicts. 

• The Washington State Digital Archives holds more than 90 million records, with 28 million searchable online. Find more state genealogy resources in our guide to 75 of the best state sites for genealogy research (also online). 

• The Irish National Museum has a firkin of butter buried in a peat bog (once a common storage practice) in the late-17th or eary-18th century. The grayish substance no longer resembles butter. Brush up on butter in the December 2010 History Matters column. 

• To help kids learn about your family’s genealogy, you can get Hearth Song’s stick-on family tree wall mural to personalize with relatives’ names and photos. Get more kid-friendly genealogy ideas in the December 2010 article Legacy Lessons.

• Some 250,000 Scots-Irish are thought to have arrived in the United States between 1717 and the American Revolution, with later waves in the 1740s, around 1754, and between 1771 and 1775. Many headed for central Pennsylvania, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and the Carolinas, eventually migrating into and across the Appalachians.
  

Learn how to trace these ancestors (also called Ulster Scots) in our December 2010 guide to Scots-Irish Roots.

• Most PCs come with Window Movie Maker, which makes it easy to turn digital photos and videos into family movies. See a tutorial in the December 2010 Toolkit.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010 12:15:50 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• 394 maps and nautical charts used for naval campaigns, and troop movements and battles. You can search the maps by keyword(s), state or region, year or chart number. If you click Search without entering terms, you’ll get a list of all the documents in the collection (not in alphabetical or chronological order).

• the Coast Survey publication Notes on the Coast, which aided Union forces in planning naval blockades. Browse Notes on the Coast here.

• annual report summaries by war-era Coast Survey Superintendent Alexander Bache. Download them by year using the links on the Charting a More Perfect Union home page.

Monday, October 11, 2010 1:43:04 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• English research toolkit (contains both free and Plus how-to articles)

• British Genealogy Guide digital download (available from ShopFamilyTree.com)

• Research in Foreign Records: How to Find Your Family Across the Pond Family Tree University course (the next session starts Sept. 13; save 25 percent on any Family Tree University course with coupon code FALL1025 ).

Wednesday, September 08, 2010 10:36:05 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• Revolutionary War Timeline

• Revolutionary War Websites:15 websites where you can learn more about the struggle for US independence and research your Revolutionary War ancestors.
  

• Black Loyalists: Our History, Our People: As many as 30 000 American slaves took advantage of Britain’s promise of freedom to slaves who joined the British troops. As the war ended, many moved to Canada with other Loyalists.

• Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR): This organization has a research library in Washington, DC, and a free online database where you can search for Patriot ancestors named in DAR members’ applications to join the organization. Read our blog post about this database.

• Online Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies: About 35,000 loyalist troops and civilians (colonists who remained loyal to Britain during the war) arrived in Nova Scotia in the first year after the war.

• Sons of the American Revolution: This lineage society with a research library in Louisville, Ky., is for males who are descended from a Revolutionary War Patriot.

• Search Revolutionary War Records on Footnote: Footnote's subscription early American collection includes Revolutionary War pension records, service records and more. (Footnote is making all its Revolutionary War records free July 1-7.)
  

• Search Revolutionary War records on Ancestry.com: Subscription site Ancestry.com's collection includes Revolutionary War Rolls, Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Books, officers’ records and more.

• Online Military Records webinar recording

• The Everything American Revolution Book by Daniel P. Murphy, Ph.D

• Virginia’s Colonial Soldiers by Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck

Wednesday, June 30, 2010 1:53:14 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• Union and Confederate service records for many states (these records are being added as they’re digitized)
  
  
• Widow’s pension files (records are being added as they’re digitized)
  
  
• Emancipation documents and slave records
  
  
• Confederate amnesty papers and citizens files
  
  
• Lincoln assassination investigation and trial papers
  
  
• Civil War photos and maps

• 10 Best Websites for military research (free article)
  
  
• Civil War resource toolkit (free article)
  
  
• Guide to the American Civil War Research Database (free article)
  
  
• A House Divided: Civil War research guide (for FamilyTree Magazine Plus members)
  

• July 2007 Family Tree Magazine with our “A House Divided” Civil War research guide (digital issue from ShopFamilyTree.com)
  

• Online Military Records: Document Your Ancestor’s Service webinar recording from ShopFamilyTree.com
  
  
• Footnote Web Guide digital download from ShopFamilyTree.com
  

• Family Tree University US Military Records course (starts June 21)
  

Thursday, June 10, 2010 8:35:54 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• 10 best websites for military research
• Military records toolkit
• Four resources for military ancestors
• Common abbreviations in military records
• Civil War genealogy toolkit
• WWI genealogy resources
• Military Records category of this Genealogy Insider blog
  

• Online Military Records: Document Your Family's Service webinar recording
• May 2008 Family Tree Magazine with our guide to online military records
• July 2007 Family Tree Magazine (available as a PDF digital download) with our Civil War research guide
• The Everything Civil War Book By Brooke C. Stoddard and Daniel P. Murphy, PhD

Wednesday, May 26, 2010 10:13:00 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [4]

• War of 1812 online rosters and indexes (free article)

• Online Military Records: Document Your Family's Service webinar recording (from ShopFamilyTree.com)

• November 2008 Family Tree Magazine, with Rick Crume’s “Operation Online Records” article  (Family Tree Magazine Plus members can read the full article on our website)

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 3:22:03 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [3]

The US and state governments counted veterans a number of times, both during and between regular censuses.

Revolutionary War pensioners: Names and ages of these pensioners were recorded on the backs of 1840 population census sheets. Their names are in A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services, available free through Google Books.
 
1890 veterans schedule: Although the bulk of the 1890 census was destroyed, the schedules of Union veterans and surviving widows survived for half of Kentucky and the states alphabetically following it. Check this census even if your ancestor fought for the Confederacy. Although enumerators were supposed to count Union veterans, some also recorded those who fought for the South. Officials who reviewed the schedules in Washington, DC, simply drew lines through the Confederates’ names, leaving them still readable. The schedules are online at Ancestry.com and on microfilm at the Family History Library (FHL) and National Archives facilities, as well as large genealogical libraries.
 
What can you learn from this enumeration? The name of the veteran or his widow, rank, company, regiment or vessel, dates of enlistment and discharge, length of service, disabilities and remarks such as whether the veteran received a pension. As with population schedules, you don’t know whether James or someone else supplied the information, so look for a military service record to corroborate the data.
 
Special military schedules: During the 1900, 1910 and 1920 federal population censuses, enumerators created separate schedules for military personnel, including those stationed on naval vessels and at US bases overseas. For 1900, these are on National Archives microfilm T623, rolls 1,838 to 1,842 (find a Soundex index on film T1081, rolls 1 to 32). For 1910, military and naval enumerations are on film T624, roll 1,784; there’s no Soundex. The 1920 schedules for overseas military and naval forces are on film T625, rolls 2,040 to 2,041; the Soundex is on film M1600, rolls 1 to 18.
 
The 1930 population census included servicemen, but you’ll find special schedules for merchant seamen serving on vessels. Search them on Ancestry.com, or browse them on microfilm at the FHL and National Archives.

• Census Secrets CD

• Online Census Secrets webinar recording

• The Everything Guide to Online Genealogy by Kimberly Powell

Wednesday, March 24, 2010 10:07:31 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• I wanted to point you to Thomas MacEntee’s Geneabloggers post about the genealogy reality series The Generations Project, produced by BYU Television, documenting the ancestral stories of “regular” people. New episodes air every Monday on cable on BYU-TV (for help finding the channel, US residents click your state on this map; Canadians click here); you also can the latest episode online.
  

Want to be on The Generations Project? See the show’s website to apply.

• Speaking of television, if you missed the second episode of Faces of America on Wednesday, you can catch it online.

• According to the National Genealogical Society Blog, you can now get access to information from the UK’s 1939 National Registration—if the person you want to find out about is deceased. The service, provided by England’s Information Centre for Health and Social Care (NHS IC), costs a nonrefundable 42 pounds (about $66) whether or not the search is successful. See the NHS IC site for instructions on making a request.
  

• The last Canadian veteran of WWI, John Babcock, has died at age 109 in Spokane, Wash. He enlisted at age 15, having lied about his age, but the war ended before he saw action.
  

You can learn about Library and Archives Canada’s WWI resources in the online Canadian Genealogy Center.

Friday, February 19, 2010 3:29:09 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• Footnote Web Guide digital download, available from ShopFamilyTree.com 

• Free article on NARA’s Access to Archival Databases, which contains information on casualties and prisoners of war from the Vietnam and other wars in Southeast Asia

• Free article with links to websites for researching military ancestors, from our 2009 Best Websites list.

Thursday, February 04, 2010 9:30:51 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• The Interactive USS Arizona Memorial, a virtual wall of names linked to information about each person who died on the vessel. Here’s an example featuring USS Arizona Capt. Franklin Van Valkenburgh.

• Missing Air Crew Reports, more than 16,605 case files and related records of the US Army Air Forces

• Pearl Harbor Muster Rolls listing all personnel assigned to ships based at Pearl Harbor between 1939 and 1947

• Army and Navy Judge Advocate General case files.

• Submarine Patrol Reports, 1941 to 1945,

• Naval press clippings collected from 1942 to 1960 by the Public Information Department of the 13th Naval District, headquartered in Seattle

• Holocaust records (Footnote had already made this collection free through the end of the year)

• Footnote Web Guide digital download ($4)

• Military Records Toolkit (free article)

Monday, December 07, 2009 9:21:14 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• In preparation for the Civil War sesquicentennial from 2011 to 2015, the Ohio Historical Society (OHS) and Cleveland State University's Center for Public History and Digital Humanities launched a website about Ohio’s role in the Civil War. You can submit content for several areas of the site. See the OHS newsletter for more information.
  
  
• FamilySearch updated several collections on its free Record Search Pilot site: the 1920 US census index (Texas, Ohio and Iowa were added), Massachusetts marriages, Spanish civil registers, Brazil Catholic church records, and Mexico Catholic baptisms. To see details of each collection, click the appropriate region on the site’s map, click the collection title, then click About This Collection.
  
  
• Pedigree database site OneGreatFamily created a page to help you discover Mayflower ancestors. You’ll find a list of passengers and information about their journey, and if you have a tree on the site (requires a subscription or a free trial), you can see if your branches match up with a Mayflower tree. Follow the directions on OneGreatFamily's Mayflower page to get started.
  
  
• If you’re going to the National Genealogical Society (NGS) annual conference in Salt Lake City April 28 to May 1, NGS has arranged air travel discounts of 2 to 7 percent with Delta/KLM/NWA, and car rental discounts of 8 percent with Thrifty. See the NGS website for how to take advantage of these deals.

Friday, November 20, 2009 1:41:39 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• Military Records Toolkit: Web sites, books and organizations for military research
• At Your Service: use this chart to determine which conflicts an ancestor may have served in, depending on his birth date
• US Military Campaigns: A timeline of conflicts from the Powhatan Wars through World War II

• A House Divided: Nine steps for researching Civil War soldiers in your family tree
• Over There: How to trace your ancestors in records of World War I
• Operation Online Records: Join the march to military records on the web.

• The Everything Civil War Book, 2nd Edition: Everything You Need to Know About the Conflict That Divided a Nation by Brooke C. Stoddard and Daniel P. Murphy, PhD

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 10:22:36 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [2]

• The Peninsular Medal Roll (1808-1814), naming some who fought in the Peninsular Wars against Napoleon from 1808 to 1813.

• De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour (1914-1918), a two-volume set with biographies of 25,000 men. The site currently has 12,500 of the biographies—those of men who lost their lives in the Great War.

• Harts Army Lists for several years. The lists were published regularly between 1839 and 1915, and give details of war service.

Thursday, November 05, 2009 8:36:29 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

At 84, Edward Skvarna is retired and living in Covina, Calif. But in 1943, he was fresh out of high school in a mill town near Pittsburgh, newly enlisted in the Army Air Forces and training in Kansas to be a right gunner on a B-29 when he met Ms. Reed at a U.S.O. canteen and asked her to dance.

“I had never danced with a celebrity before, so I felt delighted, privileged even, to meet her,” Mr. Skvarna recalled in a telephone interview this month. “But I really felt she was like a girl from back home. She was from a smaller community, and we were more or less the same age, so I felt she was the kind of person I could talk to.”

Sent to Asia, Mr. Skvarna kept up a sporadic correspondence with her as he flew reconnaissance missions. On May 7, 1945, based in the Marianas, he wrote of receiving a letter of hers that made him “jump with joy” and of a visit he made to a rajah’s palace in India; he also sent photographs of himself and asked for a snapshot of her in return.

“It’s amazing to me that she kept so many of those letters,” Mr. Skvarna said. “It tells you something about the caliber of person she was.”

Tuesday, May 26, 2009 5:32:51 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [2]