Seeking Your Ancestor's Court Records

I've always wished some of my ancestors had been criminals because, if they had been, I would be able to find more records containing information about them...

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Can You Find Your British Ancestors?

Over 32 million Americans can trace their ancestry to England, butfor most of them, genealogical research is easier in America thanit is across the Atlantic...

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Orphans' Court Records

In most states, the county orphan court's responsibilities included appointing guardians for orphans, overseeing bastardy proceedings, and providing for the poor...

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“Cutting Through the Red Tape” of Military Records

I have learned from visits to the National Archives facilities in Washington, DC and in College Park, Maryland that the Archives of the United States contain far more records relating to a person’s military career than just those records that are contained in his service file and his pension file...

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North Carolina, 1850 Census Microfilm Records

This data set includes an index to the 1850 census of the actual records themselves — in the census taker's own handwriting!

The index references more than 140,000 North Carolina heads-of-household counted in this especially valuable census.

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You Can’t Just Take Land … Can You?

If the concept of squatter’s rights seems more like lore and legend than like something legal, you may want to rethink your view—squatter’s rights are very much a fact of land law today, just as they were 50, 100, and 200 years ago...

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Massachusetts, 1870 Census Index

This database contains approximately 1,380,000 Massachusetts residents who were counted in the 1870 United States census. This index is quite comprehensive, covering every county in the state of Massachusetts and listing every name, as well, not just heads of household.

Listings Include:
From this database you can see selected information about each listed individual, such as their name, county of residence at the time of the census, as well as a more specific location, such as the town or district. In addition, this database provides the National Archives microfilm series, roll, and page numbers so you can find copies of the original census schedules...

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Black Holes

For me, my grandfather is a black hole, and I've been caught in his gravitational field. I cannot seem to escape. Do I have other ancestors? Sure. Would researching them yield amazing and fulfilling results? Probably. Can I focus my attention on...

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A Medium Mouth: What Will the U.S. Passport Applications Collection Reveal About Your Ancestors?

Passports became common in the 1840s, but were not required until after World War I. The U.S. Passport Applications Collection contains more than 2 million passport applications filed by residents of the U.S. Of those, around 300,000 contain photographs of the applicant. Information can include date and place of birth, residence, naturalization, and other biographical information...

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Russians to America, 1850-1896

Americans of Russian or Jewish heritage will find this searchable collection of passenger list information invaluable. "This collection is extremely important to people whose Russian ancestors came to the U.S. in the 19th century," states Gary Mokotoff, leading expert on Jewish immigration. Search passenger list information for approximately 430,000 individuals, largely those of Jewish heritage. This is the only electronic index for passenger arrivals from Russia prior to 1896. Now researchers have an "excellent chance" of finding their ancestors' passenger arrival information, says Mokotoff. Produced alongside the Balch Institute, the information you can obtain from this data set can help you create a well-rounded picture of your ancestor's arrival in America.

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I Hate Leftovers!

I needed a vacation. (A professional genealogist's definition of vacation is "working on my own family.") I picked a family that I hadn't worked on in about fifteen years. I didn't expect to find new ancestors, although I hoped for leads on one of the wives. This family had been "done" decades ago. THE BOOK was typical. It had a coat of arms, twenty-eight generations of probably fanciful European origins, and no documentation. However, it seemed fairly accurate when it came to American descendants. Nothing I had found in the course of correspondence or in records I had encountered thus far contradicted the lineages in THE BOOK.

But I had found some minor inconsistencies that bothered me, often related to chronology. For example, THE BOOK said my ancestor John moved in 1765, but I had found a record showing he had acquired land in the new locality in 1744. In fact, there were several persons of the surname who came into general area much earlier and who weren't accounted for in THE BOOK...

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Opening up Dead Ends

Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th ed.) defines a dead end as, “1. an end (as of a street) without an exit,” or “2: a position, situation, or course of action that leads to nothing further.”

Dead ends are frustrating. (Yes, I am Queen of Stating the Obvious.) But, if we accept the given definition of a dead end as “leading to nothing further” or “without an exit,” we may be tempted to just shelve our family history project and find something else to do.

When I actually get time to sit down and do some work on my family history, for some perverse reason I am typically drawn to those dead ends. It's almost like they are taunting me--challenging me to find them. And when I do manage to find a way past a dead end--well, let's just say that this is the stuff obsessions are made of. (Yes, I know there is therapy for people like me, but rather than “obsessive traits,” I like to think of them as “persevering qualities.”)

Today I thought we'd take a look at some ways we may be able to deal with these so-called “dead ends.”

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Virginia Colonial Records, 1600s-1800s

Thousands of Virginia's early settlers arrived in the colony as a result of the headright system. Under this system, anyone who paid his way (or someone else's way) to Virginia received fifty acres of land. In order to receive a land patent under the headright system, an individual would petition the county court for a "certificate of importation." The certificates were then recorded in the county court minute books. For genealogical purposes, these records can help establish relationships and approximate arrival times in the colony. This data set presents much such valuable information, along with other records of land acquisition.

In addition to land record abstracts, you will also find lists of colonial Virginia inhabitants (including the first census list, compiled in 1623-1624). These records are important because few reliable lists of colonial Virginia inhabitants exist.

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If you can’t get there...

I recently received somewhat similar comments from a couple of readers, and since I am sure there are other readers in the same situations, my topic today is related to homebound genealogists and those who don't live near genealogical research repositories...

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Cold Case Genealogy

New Year's resolutions can be a very good thing for us. The beginning of a new year provides a milepost we can use to measure the end of one activity and the beginning of another one. I also know what you're thinking: "It's a real problem keeping those resolutions!" That can be the case but we all know that the commitment to perseverance really lies within ourselves.

One of the regular listeners to weekly "The Genealogy Guys" podcast that I do with Drew Smith just wrote to tell us how much she enjoyed these online broadcasts. She also said that it was her commitment to "get serious" about her genealogy when she retired. Well, the first year of retirement didn't go as expected and she wanted some advice about how to pick up the pieces and get started again in earnest. I want to make some suggestions for getting organized and re-started on your research in Along Those Lines . . . this week.

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Why Are They Buried There?

I love exploring cemeteries just about everywhere I go. As I study family burial lots, it is common to see a marker with another surname other than that of the other people interred there. There also are individuals buried adjacent to one another who are not apparently related in any way. Have you ever considered why a person is buried where he or she is buried?

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Scotch-Irish Settlers in America, 1500s-1800s

If you've got ancestors of Scotch-Irish descent, you'll want to explore the 13 volumes available here. Among these significant volumes, you'll find a collection of Pennsylvania genealogies from Chester county, a location historically scarce on genealogical source material.

Approximately 215,000 individuals referenced. Genealogically valuable because passenger and immigration lists can be an invaluable primary source for tracing most immigrants to the United States, particularly in the 19th century.

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Southern Women in the Civil War

Women in the South endured hardship and sacrifice almost from the start of the Civil War. Unlike in the North, where some lives remained relatively unaffected, many in the South found war knocking at their front door. For many, life would never be the same. Yet even at the height of the war, traditions were upheld by Southern gentry. Plantation mistresses attempted to carry on a social life whenever possible. Dinners and teas continued to be held by society wives such as Mary Chesnut. Many were attended by leading Confederate Army officers who visited between battles...

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