Tami osmer glatz's Blog – July 2009 Archive (8)

When I'm searching the internet for people or even just background information on the area they were in, I look for genealogical societies and historical societies at the state, county and individual town level to see if they have a website available. Often these smaller, more local groups will have great collections of written information and if you're really lucky, photographs as well.

I just scored big on a family I have been researching… Continue

One of the things that I always tell people in my lectures, is to always try to take advantage of local resources that are available to you. I can't believe I took so long to heed my own advice on this one! I've been looking under every stone I could find for information on the parentage of my 4th great grandfather, David Stevens. I know lots about him, his wives, his divorce in 1817, his kids, and all the descendants. But not knowing who his parents were has plagued me for the past several… Continue

The Godfrey Memorial Library is a private genealogy library in Connecticut, that has an online subscription website full of great databases and useful links. Memberships are quite reasonable, and if you want to "test drive" the website, you can get full access for free at any LDS Family History Center. The website can be just a bit confusing, but with a brief "tour", you can figure out the resources quite easily, and be navigating with ease in no time.



I'd like to start by… Continue

The CDC (Center for Disease Control) has posted online a wonderful guide, alphabetically by state, giving all the information you would need to send away for birth, marriage, death or divorce records located in any of the United States, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Virgin Islands, Canal Zone District of Columbia, "Foreign", or those occuring on the High Seas. The listings tell what years are available, and not available, and what all you will need to submit along with your request.… Continue

1. There is no "A" in Cemetery.

2. The census takers, more often than not, didn't really care when your relative was born, or how your relative's name was spelled. They spelled it like it sounded. They also didn't really care if the two year old hanging off of the Polish woman they were questioning was a boy or a girl, and they couldn't understand Polish anyway. Thats why your great uncle is a girl in 1900 and a boy in 1912. Its still the same person.

3. There are occasionally errors… Continue

I already told you about the very cool Historical County Map Boundary tool at the website for the Newberry Library. Now to more great stuff available at the Newberry's website!. If you're doing research in Chicago, Cook County, there's no better site than the ChicagoAncestors site from Newberry Library, which you can find in the Genealogy Collection Guides and Research Tools page of the Newberry's site, under the tab "Research Chicago". You can also get there directly by… Continue

I never cease to be amazed at the great websites for genealogy online! Yesterday I discovered the Digital Quaker Collection at the Earlham School of Religion (a graduate theological school for the Society of Friends). The website states "DQC is a digital library containing full text and page images of over 500 individual Quaker works from the 17th and 18th centuries." Once you enter the site, you can easily search all of the collections, or browse them by title or author. While the… Continue

I've "tweeted" about this already a couple of times (I'm "rcurious", in case you tweet too), but I am just so thrilled with this site, that its worth yet another mention. Most genealogists are familiar with the "must have" book, Map Guide to the US Federal Census, by William Thorndale and William Dollarhide - you just can't do census research without it! But recently I found a website, hosted by the Newberry Library (Chicago), that really is incredible. Not only does it show… Continue