by Lisa Cooke | Jun 10, 2016 | 01 What's New, Records & databases
Here’s this week’s roundup of new genealogy records online: California, England, Australia, and Italy.
UNITED STATES – CALIFORNIA. Ancestry.com has added a new index titled California, Chinese Arrival Case Files Index, 1884-1940. This index includes passenger and crew lists of ships and airplanes arriving in California. Information you may find in these records are: name of passenger, ship name, port of arrival and in some cases, age, gender, birth date, birth place, and port of departure.
UNITED STATES – MILITARY. United States WWII Prisoner of War records for 1942-1947 have just been added to TheGenealogist.com in time for the anniversary of D-Day. These records inlcude U.S. military and Allies who were prisoners of war and internees. Some prisoners of both Germany and Japan are found in this collection. Records include the prisoners name, status, rank, service number, POW camp, and more valuable data.
ENGLAND – DEVON – PRISON RECORDS. Plymouth Prison Records for 1832-1919 at Findmypast include male and female prisoner records and prison officer records for Plymouth Prison in Devon. Recorded information includes name, birth date, offense, sentencing, last residence, residence of relative, physical description, and much more valuable data.
AUSTRALIA – QUEENSLAND – DEATH RECORDS. Findmypast subscribers can now conveniently search Queensland, Australia Death Records for 1829-1964 on Findmypast. These indexed records include: name, registration year, death date, father’s first and last name, mother’s first name, and sometimes her maiden name. (Birth, marriage and death indexes for Queensland are online for free at the State Library of Queensland website. Their death index goes from 1829-1986.)
ITALY – ROMA – CIVIL REGISTRATION. The Italian Civil Registration between the years of 1863-1930 has been newly added to FamilySearch.org. It is not yet indexed, but able to be browsed. Don’t be intimidated by its more than 4 million digitized images! They have broken down the database to be easily browsed by location and year. Marriage banns and residency records are just a two of things covered in this database.
Don’t miss our newest free Genealogy Gems Podcast #192 for more tips and strategies to help you in your genealogy journey. Pop on over and listen now – we’d love to have you!
by Lisa Cooke | Jun 3, 2016 | 01 What's New, Records & databases
Here are this week’s fabulous list of new genealogy records online. Included are records for Australia, Great Britain, United States, and the Philippines.
AUSTRALIA – REGISTER OF INMATES. The Ballarat Benevolent Society Register of Inmates for 1860-1897 is an ongoing project by Brett Weinberg. This register is a transcription and can be viewed on the Ballarat Historical Society website. The list of inmates from the Ballarat Benevolent Asylum in Victoria, Australia are in alphabetical order. The index provides details of age, birth place, parents names, residence, arrival date in Victoria and any additional remarks.
GREAT BRITAIN – MILITARY. The British Royal Navy & Royal Marines Service and Pension Records 1704-1919 are available at Findmypast. These records include the original service and pension records of those serving in the British Royal Navy and Marines. Information may include name, discharge date, death date, next of kin, and parish.
UNITED STATES – IOWA – MILITARY. Membership records of the Department of Iowa Grand Army of the Republic are now free to search on FamilySearch.org. The records are arranged by county and then by posts within each county. The records include veteran’s name, residence, occupation, date and place of birth, date and place of death, cemetery where buried, war record, dates of enlistment and discharge, names of parents, spouse, and children (if given.)
PHILIPPINES – MANILA – CIVIL REGISTRATION. The Manila Philippines Civil Registration for 1899-1984 at FamilySearch.org includes images of births, marriages, and deaths. This collection is only partially indexed at this time and currently covers birth certificates between the years of 1900 to 1980.
UNITED STATES – INDIANA – BIRTH, DEATH, AND MARRIAGES. Three new databases for Indiana have been recently added to Ancestry. They are Indiana, Birth Certificates, 1907-1940; Indiana, Marriage Certificates, 1958-2005; and Indiana, Death Certificates, 1899-2011. Each database offers digital images of these certificates and are jam packed with great genealogy data for your family tree!
Thank you for sharing this list with your favorite genealogy gurus! We love sharing good news about new genealogy records online.
by | Nov 11, 2015 | 01 What's New, Memory Lane, Military
Happy Veterans Day! One day is not enough to honor their service and sacrifice. Here’s how Veterans Day came to be.
U.S. Sailors march in New York City’s 2013 Veterans Day Parade. Wikimedia Commons image; click to view.
Today we add our voices to the thousands who are honoring the service, courage and sacrifices of thousands of U.S. military veterans. In the past few weeks, we have participated in the #CountdowntoVeteransDay initiative, with posts highlighting veterans and records of their service. We did this because we agree with Dan Dayton, executive director of the WWI Centennial Commission that “one day is not enough to talk about veterans.”
Did you know that Veterans Day has been a tradition in the U.S. for nearly 100 years? But the first Veterans Day wasn’t called that. It was Armistice Day, which honored the end of fighting in World War I. “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory,” said U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.
Wikimedia Commons image. Click to view.
Unfortunately, WWI didn’t turn out to be “the war to end all wars,” as most people hoped.
“In 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word ‘Armistice’ and inserting in its place the word ‘Veterans,'” explains the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website. “With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.”
Dan Dayton encourages us to observe Veterans Day meaningfully: “to volunteer for veterans-themed projects, to donate to organizations that support military veterans, to share pictures and stories of military service on social media.”
Flickr Creative Commons image (unaltered). Click to view image and license.
I would add another invitation: think of the veterans you know, and reach out to them–call, email or reach out on social media–and thank them. In my family, I thank my husband Bill, my son-in-law Ryan, and my Uncle Buzz for protecting our freedom through their military service.
Read More about Veteran’s Day and Military History here at Genealogy Gems:
Be a Hero! 4 Ways to Rescue Military Memories and Artifacts
Find Your Family History in WWII Yearbooks
Preserve the Memories of Combat Victims
by Lisa Cooke | May 23, 2015 | 01 What's New, African-American, images, Listeners & Readers, Military, Records & databases, United States, Volunteer
Recently Tom wrote in with a question about a Civil War veterans database:
“I’ve been a listener of your podcast for quite a long time. Great job.
“We have a grass-roots group trying to locate and document Civil War Veterans buried in Washington state. Is there a good website where I can enter a name and unit identification and get results of the person’s [Civil War] service? I’m having a really hard time finding US Navy sailors.”
It sounds like Tom is conducting a very worthwhile project! (We added the link above to the website for the project, in case you’re interested.) An excellent resource–still in progress for sailors with only about 20% of them–is The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS).
The site describes its resources as a “database containing information about the men who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Other information on the site includes histories of Union and Confederate regiments, links to descriptions of significant battles, and selected lists of prisoner-of-war records and cemetery records, which will be amended over time.”
This is an excellent resource for soldiers. As far as sailors go: “The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System currently contains the records of approximately 18,000 African American sailors, though additional records will be added in the future. The information in the Sailors Database is derived from enlistment records and the quarterly muster rolls of Navy vessels. Approximately half of the sailors entered the service at the Navy’s established points of enlistment. For these men and women, enlistment records serve as the primary sources of information. The Howard University research team used muster rolls to fill in missing data or to correct apparent misinformation recorded at the time of enlistment. Information about the remainder of the enlistees was derived directly from these muster rolls. When research uncovered inconsistencies in the data (such as conflicting reports of an individual’s age at the time of enlistment) the most frequently recorded response was used.”
“Descendants of Civil War sailors will find biographical details regarding age, place of birth, and occupation that may help supplement or clarify details from such other sources of genealogical information as birth, death, and census records. Moreover, information about any individual sailor’s enlistment and service is necessary for determining the presence or absence of their pension records at the National Archives.” Click here to read an article from the National Archives about African-American servicemen in the Navy in the Civil War. I covered the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors database in the free Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 149. Be sure to check out the show notes page (click the link I’ve provided.) There you’ll find the information written out for you and the links I discuss in the episode.
If a Navy ancestor isn’t among those already listed, my first instinct is always to turn to Google searches first. I ran a search in Google Books for free (fully digitized) books meeting the criteria “civil war” “sailors” and there are some resources there as well. Here’s a link to the search results. One example is the book shown here to the left: Manchester Men, which appears to be a published list of those who served from Manchester, N.H. (click on the book cover to read it in Google Books). Learn more about Google searching for “niche” topics like this in the fully-revised and updated 2nd edition of my book, The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox.
by Lisa Cooke | May 22, 2014 | 01 What's New, Military, MyHeritage
Happy Memorial Day, U.S. residents!
From Friday, May 25 through Monday, May 26, 2014, MyHeritage is offering FREE access to millions of US military records.
Military records provide insight into the lives of those who have served in the armed forces, as well as their families. With these records, we can learn more about our ancestors as we honor their memory and service to their country.
Click here to access the free U.S. military records on MyHeritage.com!
