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 Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Get Expert Advice for Researching German Genealogy
Posted by Diane
People claiming German ancestry still outnumber any other heritage
group in the United States—which is why we're offering a new German
Genealogy Value Pack that'll help you trace your German roots
in the United States and in your ancestral homeland.
This Value Pack is full of practical advice for overcoming the
challenges of tracing your German ancestors.
Our German
Genealogy Value Pack includes:
-
Find Your German Roots
Independent Study Course download, with four lessons to
help you
use genealogical records and more to determine who your German
ancestors were and from where in Germany they came.
- A
Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Germanic Ancestors
e-book download by Chris Anderson and Ernest Thode, with expert
instruction on researching German ancestors.
- Tracing German Ancestry in
Eastern Europe download, with guidance on tracing the
German ancestors from Slovakia, Romania, Russia and other places
beyond Deutschland's borders.
- Genealogy Cheat Sheet
download, a quick reference designed to deliver the information
you need to understand the records of your German ancestors
Plus, you'll get a
coupon for 25 percent off coupon
for our Family Tree University course German
Genealogy 201: Strategies and Skillbuilding.
Best of all, this collection of German genealogy guidance is on
sale for $49.99—64 percent off the price of buying each item
individually.
Learn
more about the German Genealogy Value Pack in ShopFamilyTree.com.
Editor's Pick | German roots | ShopFamilyTree.com Sales
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 4:37:11 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00) 
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Monday, June 18, 2012
ISGS Will Match Donations to War of 1812 Pension Digitization Projects
Posted by Diane
The Illinois State Genealogical Society (ISGS) has pledged to match
donations to the Federation of Genealogical Societies’ Preserve the
Pensions campaign up to $10,000.
Preserve the Pensions raises money to help digitize War of 1812
pension records, now on paper at the National Archives, and make
them free to access online. The archives has more than 180,000
pension files totaling 7.2 million pages.
You can see War of 1812
pension records that have already been digitzed on genealogy
website Fold3.com.
ISGS will match any contribution made to the Preserve the Pensions
project before Dec. 31, 2012, up to the first $10,000. For instance,
if you donate $100, the ISGS will match it for a total of $200.
In addition, Ancestry.com will also match all ISGS
contributions, which means any contribution you make will be
quadrupled: Your $100 contribution would become a $400 contribution.
A $10 contribution to Preserve the Pensions allows about 80 pages of
pension files to be digitized.
A total of $3.7 million is needed to digitize the entire collection.
You can donate via Paypal or by check. See the ISGS website
for details on making a contribution.
Fold3 | Free Databases | Genealogy societies | Military records
Monday, June 18, 2012 3:31:58 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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1940 Census: Big Deal or Not?
Posted by Diane
Genea-Musings blogger
Randy Seaver has posted
a response to a letter to the editor printed in the July/August
Family Tree Magazine.
The letter-writer thought that we at Family Tree Magazine, as well as other genealogy organizations, got overly giddy about the 1940 census. He thought that the
time spent browsing for an ancestor's listing in the then-unindexed
1940 census yields little to no new genealogical information (now,
though, 24
states are searchable by name).
Randy disagreed—you
can see why in his post—and he wants to know what others
think.
Personally, I've found the census useful. In some cases, I just
confirmed what I knew; in others, I found evidence to support educated guesses. And as Randy points out, until you check a record, you
don't know whether it'll hold a surprise. I was looking for someone
else entirely when I
found my grandfather staying at the YMCA in Cincinnati. When
the Ohio name index comes out, you can bet I'll be searching for my
grandma, who met my grandfather here soon after 1940.
A Family Tree Magazine Facebook
fan says she's using the 1940 census to help in her search for living
relatives. Another Facebook fan gets a kick out of finding his family members'
names, whether he learns anything new or not. So do I! What about
you?
census records | Family Tree Magazine articles | Genealogy Industry
Monday, June 18, 2012 3:02:12 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, June 15, 2012
Genealogy News Corral, June 11-15
Posted by Diane
- MyHeritage announced
that it has reached the milestone of one billion MyHeritage.com profiles. The billion profiles are in nearly 23 million
family trees. MyHeritage.com has more than 63 million registered
users who add about a million new profiles every day. About half
of the billion profiles belong to living people.
Family Tree Magazine articles | Genealogy Web Sites | Libraries and Archives | MyHeritage | Social Networking
Friday, June 15, 2012 10:08:24 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, June 14, 2012
1940 Census Update: 24 States Are Now Searchable By Name
Posted by Diane
Across all the websites hosting 1940 census records, a
total of 24 states now have free, searchable name indexes for this
census.
FamilySearch
has released two more searchable state indexes, Oklahoma and South Dakota. All the states searchable on
FamilySearch and its volunteer 1940
Census Community Project partners findmypast.com and
Archives.com are:
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- South Dakota
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Wyoming
On Ancestry.com,
Delaware, Maine, Nevada, New York and Washington DC are searchable by name.
MyHeritage.com
has
Rhode Island and part of New York indexed.
Ancestry.com | Archives.com | census records | MyHeritage
Thursday, June 14, 2012 8:51:45 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, June 12, 2012
War of 1812 Bicentennial: Genealogy Resources
Posted by Diane
Two hundred years ago June 18, President James Madison signed the
United States' war declaration against Great Britain, starting the
War of 1812.
Contributing to the declaration were British impediments to American
trade with France, the impressment of American merchant sailors into
Britain's Royal Navy, and Britain's support of American Indian
tribes against American expansion into the Old Northwest as a buffer
for Canada. Some Americans including Thomas Jefferson even saw the
war as an opportunity to acquire Canada.
The war lasted until 1815 and ended in what many historians consider
a draw, with neither side gaining or losing significant territory.
Psychologically, though, Americans felt they'd won a second war of
independence. Canada successfully repelled US invaders, giving the
war a prominent spot in Canadian national consciousness. Great Lakes
and Southeast American Indians lost their hold on their lands. Many
left, made deals with the US government or were removed to Indian
Territory.
You can learn more
about the war and watch PBS' documentary on the network's War of
1812 website.
Find bicentennial events, a timeline, and museum and historic site
information at the Official War
of 1812 Bicentennial website.
Also check state commemorative websites such as Ohio's War of 1812 and Maryland's StarSpangled200.
The Battle of Baltimore, of course, inspired Francis Scott
Key to pen the "Star Spangled Banner."
The Navy, which emerged as the key to US defenses, is posting
information and commemorative events at OurFlagWasStillThere.org
and the War of 1812
Bicentennial Network Facebook page.
If your ancestors fought in the War of 1812, here are some free
FamilyTreeMagazine.com articles to start your research:
- At
Your Service: Compare your ancestor's birth date to this
chart to see if he might have fought in the War of 1812 (or
another war).
- War
of 1812 Records: Our AncestorNews columnist links to
several of her favorite, free War of 1812 online databases.
(Note that the Library of Virginia database linked on this page
is down June 12 due to a power outage at the library.)
Here are some resources from ShopFamilyTree.com that you might
find helpful.
Canadian roots | Family Tree Magazine articles | Military records
Tuesday, June 12, 2012 1:43:44 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, June 08, 2012
Genealogy News Corral, June 4-8
Posted by Diane
Read
our article about the Ellis Island Hospital Complex on
FamilyTreeMagazine.com.
-
Genetic genealogy company 23andMe, exhibiting at the Southern
California Genealogy Jamboree this weekend, announced it'll
release four new genealogical features for beta testing in the
coming weeks. Those are family tree building on the site; Ancestry
Painting, which breaks down your ancestry based on approximately 20
world regions; the My Ancestry Page, a "dashboard" summary of your
ancestry; and the Relative Finder Map View plotting where in
the world your matches are.
Learn
more about these upcoming features on 23andMe's Spittoon blog.
Cemeteries | Free Databases | Genealogy Events | Genealogy Web Sites | Genetic Genealogy | Historic preservation | Social History
Friday, June 08, 2012 1:55:58 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Take a Crash Course in Texas Genealogy!
Posted by Diane
I've had a little taste of Texas genealogy research. The Lone Star
State is where my great-grandfather was jailed and later pardoned for violating local
liquor laws, and where my grandfather spent time in an orphanage and went to college.
So I'm excited about learning how to dig deeper into my Texas family
history in our next webinar!
Texas genealogist Randy Whited will show
genealogists how to research their roots Texas-style in our Texas Genealogy Crash Course webinar. Here are
the details:
You'll learn important state history, details on finding records
such as vital and immigration records, the best websites and
resources for Texas research—including the Texas State Library and
Archives Commission, which was helpful in my search—and more.
Webinar attendees you'll participate in the live
event and Q&A session, get access to the presentation slides and
the recording to view again as often as you like, and you'll receive
a free PDF of our Texas Research Guide book.
Sign up now to save $10 on your Texas Genealogy
Crash Course registration in ShopFamilyTree.com.
Research Tips | ShopFamilyTree.com Sales | Webinars
Friday, June 08, 2012 11:15:00 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, June 07, 2012
FamilySearch Adds 4 States to 1940 Census Index
Posted by Diane
FamilySearch announces that you can now search the 1940 census index
for 18 states free at FamilySearch.org
and 1940 Census Community
Project partners Archives.com,
FindMyPast.com and 1940census.archives.gov
(although I can't find a name search at 1940census.archives.gov,
which is the National Archives' census website).
That brings the total of searchable states/districts across all 1940
census sites to 22 (see below for links to the other sites).
FamilySearch's 18 indexed states are:
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- Oregon
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Wyoming
Ancestry.com
has free searchable indexes for
Delaware, Maine, Nevada, New York and Washington, DC; and MyHeritage has
Rhode Island and part of New York.
Ancestry.com | Archives.com | census records | FamilySearch | Free Databases | MyHeritage
Thursday, June 07, 2012 12:33:37 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, June 06, 2012
Ancestry.com Adds New York Censuses
Posted by Diane
Genealogy website Ancestry.com has released a name index to the 1940 US
census for New York. With a population of
13.5 million in 1940, New York State was home more than 10 percent
of the country’s residents.
You can search
Ancestry.com's 1940 census index (besides New York, it also covers
Washington DC, Delaware, Maine and Nevada) for free here.
Ancestry.com also has added the 1892,
1915
and 1925
New York state censuses to its subscription databases.
The 1892 census is important as a substitute for the lost 1890 US
census, which was destroyed after a fire at the Census Bureau. Some
New York counties are missing from the 1892 census.
If you're not an Ancestry.com subscriber, the
1892 census also is searchable free at FamilySearch.org.
Ancestry.com | census records | FamilySearch
Wednesday, June 06, 2012 9:08:19 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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