John Wayne, the famous Academy Award winning movie actor, would have been 100 years old today. He was born as Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa on 26 May 1907 to Clyde and Mary (Brown) Morrison. An extensive biography is provided at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_wayne.
John Wayne's researched ancestry is at http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/john-wayne/index.html. You can click on "See my Tree" link under his picture to see what somebody has found about his ancestry. I was surprised that they didn't have more down his Buck line, since there are several more generations readily available in databases and on web pages. There are also quite a few GEDCOM's in the Rootsweb WorldConnect database, but most are as poor as the one above.
I know that Michael John Neill had some of the census records for Marion/John on his www.rootdig.com census pages, but they aren't there any longer due to Ancestry's "request."
I easily found the Clyde Morrison family in the 1910 census in Madison township, Madison County, Iowa with 2 year old Marion R. Morrison (NARA T624, Roll 412, ED 31, Page 2A).
In the 1920 census, the Clyde Morrison family was in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California with 12 year old Marion M. Morrison (NARA T625, Roll 102, ED 26, page 1A).
In the 1930 census, the Clyde Morrison family does not include Marion/John - but they live in Long Beach, Los Angeles county, California (NARA T626, Roll 129, ED 1125, page 3A).
I looked for him as Marion Morrison, Michael Morrison and John Wayne in the 1930 census in all of California, but did not find him. Was he not enumerated? He had just started his acting career. Perhaps someone else can.
Marion Morrison was an 8th cousin to me through the colonial Knowlton family of Ipswich MA and the colonial Wheeler family of Concord MA. My colonial Buck line is in the Cambridge MA area while his is in Connecticut.
"John Wayne" was interred at Pacific View Memorial Park in corona Del Mar (Orange county) CA after his death on 11 June 1979. His gravestone includes this quotation: "Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."
Anyway - happy 100th birthday to the Duke!
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Behind the Scenes - Ancestry
Hugh Watkins in his new genealogy blog linked to a post by Steve Johnson at http://www.inyourweb.com/2007/05/its-simple-things-stupid.htm about Ancestry marketing strategies.
Steve started the Free on Ancestry web page that was a very useful tool, but he took the site down at Ancestry's "request."
The money quotes from Steve's post include:
"The needs of genealogists are very simple. They want to know if Ancestry.com has records pertinent to their research. No one wants to use Ancestry.com to share GEDCOMs, or build a family tree, or any of that geeky Web 2.0 stuff. All they want is to search records."
"So now, Ancestry.com is in deep doo doo. They're losing money. They spent a lot of money building stuff that they're users are not using. They have competitors, serious competitors, rising up in the ranks. They're focusing on building their brand, while their competitors are focusing on building market share."
Read the whole article. My judgment is that this is not "sour grapes" but a reasonable interpretation of what has happened at Ancestry over the last six months based on the observations and experience of a longtime affiliate. As such, it is illuminating and disappointing.
Steve also has a wonderful web site at www.interment.net that I use all the time to find cemetery listings.
Thanks to Hugh for his post.
Steve started the Free on Ancestry web page that was a very useful tool, but he took the site down at Ancestry's "request."
The money quotes from Steve's post include:
"The needs of genealogists are very simple. They want to know if Ancestry.com has records pertinent to their research. No one wants to use Ancestry.com to share GEDCOMs, or build a family tree, or any of that geeky Web 2.0 stuff. All they want is to search records."
"So now, Ancestry.com is in deep doo doo. They're losing money. They spent a lot of money building stuff that they're users are not using. They have competitors, serious competitors, rising up in the ranks. They're focusing on building their brand, while their competitors are focusing on building market share."
Read the whole article. My judgment is that this is not "sour grapes" but a reasonable interpretation of what has happened at Ancestry over the last six months based on the observations and experience of a longtime affiliate. As such, it is illuminating and disappointing.
Steve also has a wonderful web site at www.interment.net that I use all the time to find cemetery listings.
Thanks to Hugh for his post.
1940 Census Questions
Looking ahead 5 years to when the 1940 US census will be released, I wondered what questions would be asked of each family. I found this list at the IPUMS site http://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/items1940.shtml. They also have the 1940 census form at http://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/form1940.shtml so you can see the format. One of the features of this census is that the detailed information (Questions 35 to 50) were asked only for two persons on each page (out of 40).
========================================
Schedule No. 1 – Population.
State ________,
Incorporated place ________.
Ward of city _________;
Unincorporated place [Name of unincorporated place having 100 or more inhabitants] _______________________.
County _______________.
Township or other division of county ________________________.
Block Nos. ___________;
Institution [Name of institution and lines on which entries are made] _________________________________.
Location:
1. Street, avenue, road, etc.
2. House number (in cities or towns).
Household Data:
3. Number of household in order of visitation.
4. Home owned (O) or rented (R).
5. Value of home, if owned, or monthly rental, if rented.
6. Does this household live on a farm? (Yes or No).
7. Name of each person whose usual place of residence on April 1, 1940, was in this household. Be sure to include:
a) Persons temporarily absent from house-hold. Write "Ab" after names of such persons.
b) Children under 1 year of age. Write "Infant" if child has not been given a first name.
c) Enter X after name of person furnishing information.
8. Relationship of this person to the head of the household, as wife, daughter, father, mother-in-law, grandson, lodger, lodger’s wife, servant, hired hand, etc..
Personal Description:
9. Sex – Male (M), Female (F).
10. Color or race.
11. Age at last birthday.
12. Marital status – Single (S), Married (M), Widowed (Wd), Divorced (D).
Education:
13. Attended school or college any time since March 1, 1940.
14. Highest grade of school completed.
Place of Birth:
15. a) If born in the United States, give State, Territory, or possession.
b) If foreign born, give country in which birthplace was situated on January 1, 1937.
c) Distinguish Canada-French from Canada-English and Irish Free State (Eire) from Northern Ireland.
16. Citizenship of the foreign born.
Residence, April 1, 1935: In what place did this person live on April 1, 1935? For a person who, on April 1, 1935, was living in the same house as at present, enter in Col. 17 "Same house," and for one living in a different house but in the same city or town, enter "Same place," leaving Cols. 18, 19, and 20 blank, in both instances. For a person who lived in a different place, enter city or town, county, and State, as directed in the Instructions. (Enter actual place of residence, which may differ from mail address.)
17. City, town, or village having 2,500 or more inhabitants. Enter "R" for all other places.
18. County.
19. State (or Territory or foreign country).
20. On a farm? (Yes or No).
Persons 14 Years Old and Over – Employment Status:
21. Was this person AT WORK for pay or profit in private or nonemergency Gov’t. work during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No).
22. If not, was he at work on, or assigned to, public EMERGENCY WORK (WPA, NYA, CCC, etc.) during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No). If neither at work nor assigned to public emergency work. ("No" in Cols. 21 and 22).
23. Was this person SEEKING WORK? (Yes or No).
24. If not seeking work, did he HAVE A JOB, business, etc.? (Yes or No).
25. Indicate whether engaged in home house-work (H), in school (S), unable to work (U), or other (Ot).
26. Number of hours worked during week of March 24-30, 1940. If seeking work or assigned to public emergency work. ("Yes" in Col. 22 or 23).
27. Duration of unemployment up to March 30, 1940 – in weeks.
Occupation, Industry and Class of Worker: For a person at work, assigned to public emergency work, or with a job ("Yes" in Col. 21, 22, or 24), enter present occupation, industry, and class of worker. For a person seeking work ("Yes" in Col. 23):
a) If he has previous work experience, enter last occupation, industry, and class of worker; or
b) If he does not have previous work experience, enter "New worker" in Col. 28, and leave Cols. 29 and 30 blank.
28. Occupation: Trade, profession, or particular kind of work, as frame spinner, salesman, rivet heater ,music teacher.
29. Industry: Industry or business, as cotton mill, retail grocery, farm, shipyard, public school.
30. Class of worker.
31. Number of weeks worked in 1939 (Equivalent full-time weeks).
Income in 1939 (12 months ended December 31, 1939):
32. Amount of money wages or salary received (including commissions).
33. Did this person receive income of $50 or more from sources other than money wages or salary (Yes or No).
34. Number of farm schedule.
Supplementary Questions 35-50 asked only of a 5% sample of the population, for persons 14 years old and over. (For persons enumerated on lines 14 and 29).
35. Name.
Place of Birth of Father and Mother:
a) If born in the United States, give State, Territory, or possession.
b) If foreign born, give country in which birthplace was situated on January 1, 1937.
c) Distinguish Canada-French from Canada-English and Irish Free State (Eire) from Northern Ireland.
36. Father.
37. Mother
38. Language spoken in home in earliest childhood.
Veterans: Is this person a veteran of the United States military forces; or the wife, widow, or under-18-year-old child of a veteran?
39. If so, enter "Yes."
40. If child, is veteran-father dead? (Yes or No)
41. War or military service.
Social Security:
42. Does this person have a Federal Social Security Number? (Yes or No)
43. Were deductions for Federal Old-Age Insurance or Railroad Retirement made from this person’s wages or salary in 1939? (Yes or No)
44. If so, were deductions made from (1) all, (2) one-half or more, (3) part, but less than half, of wages or salary?
Usual Occupation, Industry, and Class of Worker: Enter that occupation which the person regards as his usual occupation and at which he is physically able to work. If the person is unable to determine this, enter that occupation at which he has worked longest during the past 10 years and at which he is physically able to work. Enter also usual industry and usual class of worker.
45. Usual occupation.
46. Usual industry.
47. Usual class of worker.
For all women who are or have been married:
48. Has this woman been married more than once? (Yes or No)
49. Age at first marriage.
50. Number of children ever born (do not include stillbirths).
============================================
It's really too bad that they didn't ask these questions 35 to 50 of all adults rather than just those persons on lines 14 and 29.
I can hardly wait for this census to be released! I wonder which commercial genealogy service will index it and put the images online? I wonder if FamilySearch, or some other web site, will have it indexed and online for free?
========================================
Schedule No. 1 – Population.
State ________,
Incorporated place ________.
Ward of city _________;
Unincorporated place [Name of unincorporated place having 100 or more inhabitants] _______________________.
County _______________.
Township or other division of county ________________________.
Block Nos. ___________;
Institution [Name of institution and lines on which entries are made] _________________________________.
Location:
1. Street, avenue, road, etc.
2. House number (in cities or towns).
Household Data:
3. Number of household in order of visitation.
4. Home owned (O) or rented (R).
5. Value of home, if owned, or monthly rental, if rented.
6. Does this household live on a farm? (Yes or No).
7. Name of each person whose usual place of residence on April 1, 1940, was in this household. Be sure to include:
a) Persons temporarily absent from house-hold. Write "Ab" after names of such persons.
b) Children under 1 year of age. Write "Infant" if child has not been given a first name.
c) Enter X after name of person furnishing information.
8. Relationship of this person to the head of the household, as wife, daughter, father, mother-in-law, grandson, lodger, lodger’s wife, servant, hired hand, etc..
Personal Description:
9. Sex – Male (M), Female (F).
10. Color or race.
11. Age at last birthday.
12. Marital status – Single (S), Married (M), Widowed (Wd), Divorced (D).
Education:
13. Attended school or college any time since March 1, 1940.
14. Highest grade of school completed.
Place of Birth:
15. a) If born in the United States, give State, Territory, or possession.
b) If foreign born, give country in which birthplace was situated on January 1, 1937.
c) Distinguish Canada-French from Canada-English and Irish Free State (Eire) from Northern Ireland.
16. Citizenship of the foreign born.
Residence, April 1, 1935: In what place did this person live on April 1, 1935? For a person who, on April 1, 1935, was living in the same house as at present, enter in Col. 17 "Same house," and for one living in a different house but in the same city or town, enter "Same place," leaving Cols. 18, 19, and 20 blank, in both instances. For a person who lived in a different place, enter city or town, county, and State, as directed in the Instructions. (Enter actual place of residence, which may differ from mail address.)
17. City, town, or village having 2,500 or more inhabitants. Enter "R" for all other places.
18. County.
19. State (or Territory or foreign country).
20. On a farm? (Yes or No).
Persons 14 Years Old and Over – Employment Status:
21. Was this person AT WORK for pay or profit in private or nonemergency Gov’t. work during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No).
22. If not, was he at work on, or assigned to, public EMERGENCY WORK (WPA, NYA, CCC, etc.) during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No). If neither at work nor assigned to public emergency work. ("No" in Cols. 21 and 22).
23. Was this person SEEKING WORK? (Yes or No).
24. If not seeking work, did he HAVE A JOB, business, etc.? (Yes or No).
25. Indicate whether engaged in home house-work (H), in school (S), unable to work (U), or other (Ot).
26. Number of hours worked during week of March 24-30, 1940. If seeking work or assigned to public emergency work. ("Yes" in Col. 22 or 23).
27. Duration of unemployment up to March 30, 1940 – in weeks.
Occupation, Industry and Class of Worker: For a person at work, assigned to public emergency work, or with a job ("Yes" in Col. 21, 22, or 24), enter present occupation, industry, and class of worker. For a person seeking work ("Yes" in Col. 23):
a) If he has previous work experience, enter last occupation, industry, and class of worker; or
b) If he does not have previous work experience, enter "New worker" in Col. 28, and leave Cols. 29 and 30 blank.
28. Occupation: Trade, profession, or particular kind of work, as frame spinner, salesman, rivet heater ,music teacher.
29. Industry: Industry or business, as cotton mill, retail grocery, farm, shipyard, public school.
30. Class of worker.
31. Number of weeks worked in 1939 (Equivalent full-time weeks).
Income in 1939 (12 months ended December 31, 1939):
32. Amount of money wages or salary received (including commissions).
33. Did this person receive income of $50 or more from sources other than money wages or salary (Yes or No).
34. Number of farm schedule.
Supplementary Questions 35-50 asked only of a 5% sample of the population, for persons 14 years old and over. (For persons enumerated on lines 14 and 29).
35. Name.
Place of Birth of Father and Mother:
a) If born in the United States, give State, Territory, or possession.
b) If foreign born, give country in which birthplace was situated on January 1, 1937.
c) Distinguish Canada-French from Canada-English and Irish Free State (Eire) from Northern Ireland.
36. Father.
37. Mother
38. Language spoken in home in earliest childhood.
Veterans: Is this person a veteran of the United States military forces; or the wife, widow, or under-18-year-old child of a veteran?
39. If so, enter "Yes."
40. If child, is veteran-father dead? (Yes or No)
41. War or military service.
Social Security:
42. Does this person have a Federal Social Security Number? (Yes or No)
43. Were deductions for Federal Old-Age Insurance or Railroad Retirement made from this person’s wages or salary in 1939? (Yes or No)
44. If so, were deductions made from (1) all, (2) one-half or more, (3) part, but less than half, of wages or salary?
Usual Occupation, Industry, and Class of Worker: Enter that occupation which the person regards as his usual occupation and at which he is physically able to work. If the person is unable to determine this, enter that occupation at which he has worked longest during the past 10 years and at which he is physically able to work. Enter also usual industry and usual class of worker.
45. Usual occupation.
46. Usual industry.
47. Usual class of worker.
For all women who are or have been married:
48. Has this woman been married more than once? (Yes or No)
49. Age at first marriage.
50. Number of children ever born (do not include stillbirths).
============================================
It's really too bad that they didn't ask these questions 35 to 50 of all adults rather than just those persons on lines 14 and 29.
I can hardly wait for this census to be released! I wonder which commercial genealogy service will index it and put the images online? I wonder if FamilySearch, or some other web site, will have it indexed and online for free?
Friday, May 25, 2007
Berry people in the Census
I did some census research for one of my CVGS colleagues this week - she was searching for a Littleberry Allen in KY and was having a hard time finding him and his son and grandson, all with the same given name. I ended up finding most of them in the 1850 to 1880 census, but they used initials, "Little" or "Berry" in some entries. It was fun.
Of course, that got me to wondering if there were other people with a given name containing "Berry" or surnames containing "Berry."
In the 1900 census, there are 49,499 people with the surname Berry, and 20,335 with the surname Barry. Included are:
* Blacksie Berry in Smith County TX
* Berry Berry in Mason county KY
* Little H. Berry in King County WA
* Strawberry Berry in Escambia County AL
* Thorn Berry in Sacramento County CA
* Green Berry in Kanawha County WV
People with surnames containing Berry include (in 1900):
* Rosie Mulberry in Scott county KY
* Pink Raspberry in Jefferson County AL
* Ruby Raspberry in Pemiscot county MO
* Rose Blackberry in New York County NY
* Frank Blueberry in Belknap county NH
People with given names containing Berry (there are 8,593 of them in the 1900 census) include:
* Berry Bramble in King County WA
* Berry Bush in Saline County IL
* Blackberry McGill in Cannon County TN
* Raspberry Stone in Tuscaloosa County AL
* Littleberry Hill in Jefferson County AL
* Greenberry Hill in Clay County AL
* Greenberry Shufflebean in Davis County IA
* Mulberry Burnham in Cumberland county ME
I looked for Strawberry, Blueberry, Blackberry, Raspberry, Lingonberry, Littleberry, Greenberry, Redberry, Mulberry, etc. What other Berries should I consider?
You get the idea! What were their parents thinking? That was fun, though!
Of course, that got me to wondering if there were other people with a given name containing "Berry" or surnames containing "Berry."
In the 1900 census, there are 49,499 people with the surname Berry, and 20,335 with the surname Barry. Included are:
* Blacksie Berry in Smith County TX
* Berry Berry in Mason county KY
* Little H. Berry in King County WA
* Strawberry Berry in Escambia County AL
* Thorn Berry in Sacramento County CA
* Green Berry in Kanawha County WV
People with surnames containing Berry include (in 1900):
* Rosie Mulberry in Scott county KY
* Pink Raspberry in Jefferson County AL
* Ruby Raspberry in Pemiscot county MO
* Rose Blackberry in New York County NY
* Frank Blueberry in Belknap county NH
People with given names containing Berry (there are 8,593 of them in the 1900 census) include:
* Berry Bramble in King County WA
* Berry Bush in Saline County IL
* Blackberry McGill in Cannon County TN
* Raspberry Stone in Tuscaloosa County AL
* Littleberry Hill in Jefferson County AL
* Greenberry Hill in Clay County AL
* Greenberry Shufflebean in Davis County IA
* Mulberry Burnham in Cumberland county ME
I looked for Strawberry, Blueberry, Blackberry, Raspberry, Lingonberry, Littleberry, Greenberry, Redberry, Mulberry, etc. What other Berries should I consider?
You get the idea! What were their parents thinking? That was fun, though!
FGS/ACPL Conference Early Registration Deadline is June 1
The 2007 conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) is in Fort Wayne, Indiana from August 15 to 18 at the Grand Wayne Convention Center. The conference is also sponsored by the Allen County Public Library (ACPL). The early registration $150 for the full conference) deadline is June 1. Single day registration fees are $80 each day. After June 1, the registration is $185 for the full conference. The APG/Professional Management Conference is on August 15, and costs $110 for members of APG.
The Conference Program is at http://www.fgsconference.org/program.php. There are 21 time slots, and about 200 separate talks in the FGS conference. So many talks, so little time!
The talks that I find most intriguing include:
1) "Rub-a-dub-dub/Occupations in our Family Tub" by Patricia Walls Stamm.
2) "The Twilight Zone ... Strange Web Sites for Family History Research" by Christina Ann Staley.
3) "Hookers, Crooks and Kooks: Aunt Merle didn't Run a Boarding House" by Jana Sloan Broglin.
4) "Finding UFO Ancestors: Unidentified Family of Origin" by Michael John Neill.
There are many more talks of course, but those titles really grabbed my eye! They must have attended the Ken Aitken lesson on genealogy presentation topics.
There are so many talks that I would love to hear...but I'm still not sure that we can make it to Fort Wayne.
I could find nothing in the registration brochure or at the web site about the syllabus (I assume that there will be one!). Will they be on paper, or on CDROM, or both? Can they be purchased after the conference? If so, how much and where?
The Conference Program is at http://www.fgsconference.org/program.php. There are 21 time slots, and about 200 separate talks in the FGS conference. So many talks, so little time!
The talks that I find most intriguing include:
1) "Rub-a-dub-dub/Occupations in our Family Tub" by Patricia Walls Stamm.
2) "The Twilight Zone ... Strange Web Sites for Family History Research" by Christina Ann Staley.
3) "Hookers, Crooks and Kooks: Aunt Merle didn't Run a Boarding House" by Jana Sloan Broglin.
4) "Finding UFO Ancestors: Unidentified Family of Origin" by Michael John Neill.
There are many more talks of course, but those titles really grabbed my eye! They must have attended the Ken Aitken lesson on genealogy presentation topics.
There are so many talks that I would love to hear...but I'm still not sure that we can make it to Fort Wayne.
I could find nothing in the registration brochure or at the web site about the syllabus (I assume that there will be one!). Will they be on paper, or on CDROM, or both? Can they be purchased after the conference? If so, how much and where?
Hurray! Hurray! Genealogists Cheer!
The front page of my local San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper has the headline: "90 million US war records go online; genealogists cheer." The article, by AP writer Donna Borak, describes the Military collection of US records from Jamestown through the Vietnam War. It was a great, long article. A link to an open version of this article is http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_5976463.
I found the article in 197 newspapers in a Google News search. It's nice to see genealogy research get some recognition. There are quotes from Tim Sullivan, Curt Witcher and Megan Smolenyak. Megan said "The Internet has created this massive democratization in the whole family-history world. It's like a global game of tag."
The articles don't say that many of these records were already online at Ancestry.com and other web sites. Nor does it note that some of the really useful records - like the Revolutionary War and Civil War Pension Files - are not online in their entirety.
Sullivan is quoted as saying Ancestry.com has 900,000 subscribers, and the Military records were part of a $100 million investment.
Every time an article is published like this, many people who have an interest in genealogy and family history think to themselves - "I wonder how I can find out about my ancestors who ..." and some of those people decide to find out if there is a local genealogy society that might help them.
Is your local genealogy society ready to welcome them? Does your local genealogy society have a presence in the local newspaper? Does your local genealogy society have a presence on the Internet? Does your local library have the name and contact information for your local society? Can someone Google "chula vista genealogy" (substitute your city name) and find the local genealogy society? Being available for questions like these is a focus for my local society.
I found the article in 197 newspapers in a Google News search. It's nice to see genealogy research get some recognition. There are quotes from Tim Sullivan, Curt Witcher and Megan Smolenyak. Megan said "The Internet has created this massive democratization in the whole family-history world. It's like a global game of tag."
The articles don't say that many of these records were already online at Ancestry.com and other web sites. Nor does it note that some of the really useful records - like the Revolutionary War and Civil War Pension Files - are not online in their entirety.
Sullivan is quoted as saying Ancestry.com has 900,000 subscribers, and the Military records were part of a $100 million investment.
Every time an article is published like this, many people who have an interest in genealogy and family history think to themselves - "I wonder how I can find out about my ancestors who ..." and some of those people decide to find out if there is a local genealogy society that might help them.
Is your local genealogy society ready to welcome them? Does your local genealogy society have a presence in the local newspaper? Does your local genealogy society have a presence on the Internet? Does your local library have the name and contact information for your local society? Can someone Google "chula vista genealogy" (substitute your city name) and find the local genealogy society? Being available for questions like these is a focus for my local society.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Family Tree Magazine has ... blogs!
The latest Family Tree Magazine newsletter informs us that Family Tree Magazine has started three new genealogy blogs. They are:
1) Genealogy Insider blog with Diane Haddad - what's happening in the genealogy industry?
2) Photo Detective blog with Maureen A. Taylor - interpreting photographs sent in by readers.
3) The Now What? blog with no named host, but Diane has written every post so far - expert answers for your genealogy questions.
All three look and feel good - and if this team keeps up their near-daily postings they will be very valuable additions to the genea-blogosphere.
I have already added them to my Bloglines account so that I can read their content daily.
1) Genealogy Insider blog with Diane Haddad - what's happening in the genealogy industry?
2) Photo Detective blog with Maureen A. Taylor - interpreting photographs sent in by readers.
3) The Now What? blog with no named host, but Diane has written every post so far - expert answers for your genealogy questions.
All three look and feel good - and if this team keeps up their near-daily postings they will be very valuable additions to the genea-blogosphere.
I have already added them to my Bloglines account so that I can read their content daily.
Useful links for Ancestry.com databases
I often want to use the Ancestry.com Card Catalog or see what new databases have been added recently. For some reason, Ancestry does not make these links easy to find on the home page - www.ancestry.com. They do have the "all databases" link at the bottom of the home page. If you click on the "Search" tab, you can find a link to the Card Catalog and All Databases in the right hand text box on the Search page.
So as a service to all users, here are some helpful links (and now I can find them easily!):
1) Ancestry Card Catalog: http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/alldblist.aspx
In this search, you can use names, locations or key words to search for entries for your family searches.
2) Ancestry List of New and Updated Databases: http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/recent.aspx
This list is very useful if you haven't kept up to speed on new additions to the database list.
3) Ancestry List of All Databases (24,538 today): Here
This list is ordered by number of names in the records. You can search by record type by clicking on a topic in the left text box.
This list also denotes which databases are FREE to non-subscribers.
There! I hope www.Ancestry.com doesn't mind me helping researchers out with this. Maybe they will put these very useful links on their home pages so I don't have to search for this post later on.
So as a service to all users, here are some helpful links (and now I can find them easily!):
1) Ancestry Card Catalog: http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/alldblist.aspx
In this search, you can use names, locations or key words to search for entries for your family searches.
2) Ancestry List of New and Updated Databases: http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/recent.aspx
This list is very useful if you haven't kept up to speed on new additions to the database list.
3) Ancestry List of All Databases (24,538 today): Here
This list is ordered by number of names in the records. You can search by record type by clicking on a topic in the left text box.
This list also denotes which databases are FREE to non-subscribers.
There! I hope www.Ancestry.com doesn't mind me helping researchers out with this. Maybe they will put these very useful links on their home pages so I don't have to search for this post later on.
Searching the Ancestry Military Collection
Following yesterday's announcement of the Ancestry Military Collection at http://www.ancestry.com/, I went searching for a list of the databases included in the collection.
There is a search box for the whole collection at http://landing.ancestry.com/military/collections.aspx. You can input a surname and refine the search with a given name, a state, a particular war, etc.
A complete list of the databases can be found at http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/grouplist.aspx?group=war_all. There appear to be over 700 entries in this list.
The indexes for all of the databases appear to be free to non-subscribers. This is a shrewd marketing move by Ancestry.com.
One of the features of this collection is US Newsreels from World War II. A newsreel video starts when you go to the web page, but it is often broken up by delays. I really don't like that feature!
I put in "Seaver" and it came up with hits for 121 databases from the Revolutionary War to the Viet Nam War. The one I found interesting was the Rejected Revolutionary War Pension Claims. There was only one Seaver listed - Joseph Seaver of Lancaster MA. The record was a printed page from a book, not a handwritten record. The soldier's claims could not be proven by his widow, Abigail, and therefore a pension was not granted.
I will explore this list a bit more to try to find more nuggets of my own ancestry and the families in my one-name studies. This is really fun!
There is a search box for the whole collection at http://landing.ancestry.com/military/collections.aspx. You can input a surname and refine the search with a given name, a state, a particular war, etc.
A complete list of the databases can be found at http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/grouplist.aspx?group=war_all. There appear to be over 700 entries in this list.
The indexes for all of the databases appear to be free to non-subscribers. This is a shrewd marketing move by Ancestry.com.
One of the features of this collection is US Newsreels from World War II. A newsreel video starts when you go to the web page, but it is often broken up by delays. I really don't like that feature!
I put in "Seaver" and it came up with hits for 121 databases from the Revolutionary War to the Viet Nam War. The one I found interesting was the Rejected Revolutionary War Pension Claims. There was only one Seaver listed - Joseph Seaver of Lancaster MA. The record was a printed page from a book, not a handwritten record. The soldier's claims could not be proven by his widow, Abigail, and therefore a pension was not granted.
I will explore this list a bit more to try to find more nuggets of my own ancestry and the families in my one-name studies. This is really fun!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Ancestry launches US Military Collection
I saw them last night while I was gathering the genealogy news for the month - about 100 databases with US military records on www.ancestry.com.
Juliana Smith has the details at http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1436 and Dick Eastman, DearMyrtle and other bloggers have announced it also. I was busy doing real research so I missed the first wave of announcements.
From now through June 6 (D-day), the entire Military Records collection will be accessible for FREE at www.ancestry.com. Go for it!
Juliana Smith has the details at http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1436 and Dick Eastman, DearMyrtle and other bloggers have announced it also. I was busy doing real research so I missed the first wave of announcements.
From now through June 6 (D-day), the entire Military Records collection will be accessible for FREE at www.ancestry.com. Go for it!
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