Genealogy

Surname Navigator : http://www.kuijsten.de/navigator/ - SUPER way to do a quick surname survey Another - ExpertGenealogy Websearch Wizard : http://expertgenealogy.com/websearch/ The pre-eminent Rootsweb Surname List : http://rsl.rootsweb.com -- don't just search it, also list your surnames! GEDCOM index : http://www.gedcomindex.com/ Linkpendium's Surnames - Web sites, obituaries, biographies, and other material specific to a surname: http://www.linkpendium.com/genealogy/USA/sur/ TNG Network Search for Names : http://tngnetwork.lythgoes.net/index.php UK Office of National Statistics database of surnames in use in England, Wales and the Isle of Man , September 2002: http://www.taliesin-arlein.net/names/search.php Surname Profiler: The Geography of British Names : http://www.spatial-literacy.org/index.php?p=familyname Online English Names Directory : http://www.list.jaunay.com/engnames/ Yournotme.com , also UK, 2001: http://www.yournotme.com . You can leave messages on this sit...

When you start research in a new area, it's always helpful to Google for basic sites, check out RootsWeb Guides to Tracing Family Trees : http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/ , Cyndislist : http://cyndislist.com/ , and look at the Research Guides that the LDS puts out. These are now available, free, from http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/Rg/frameset_rhelps.asp Bookmark all the good sites you find! When you run into a snag, look over the basic research information again. Perhaps you have neglected a basic step. Doing the basics is like building a foundation for your house. You can build a house without a foundation, but it won't LAST! Doing the basics, like moving from the known to the unknown, keeping careful records and citing your sources, widening your search to include siblings, collaterals and neighbors, etc. might seem to slow you down sometimes, but they will keep you going for the long haul. Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have...

There is still lots of free info on Ancestry. In fact, recently two Census indexes have been added; the US 1880 every-name index, and the 1881 UK Census. The Message boards are free, as is the Ancestry World Tree. The My Ancestry Search Profile is pretty cool, and is free, although the results may point to subscription databases. The Learning Center is still free, which has loads of great articles. They also offer the free trial program, Family Tree Maker, although you do have to register to get that. Finally, the Research Registry is free for all. Two census indexes for free searching: the 1880 U.S. Federal Census and the 1881 England, Wales, Isle of Man, and Channel Islands Census. The 1880 U.S. Federal Census is an every-name index and the last census available census for the 1800s. More about this: http://genweblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/1880-us-census-free-to-search-at.html . The 1881 census every-name index includes enumerations for England , Wales , the Isle of Man , and the Cha...

If you have changed your email address permanently, and no longer have access to the account, to to the Rootsweb HelpDesk and have them do a global unsub for all your lists: http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/form1.html More on changing your contact information at Rootsweb : http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/addresses/ I did not write this article, previously published in RootsWeb Review : 16 June 2004, Vol. 7, No. 24 . RootsWeb Mailing Lists -- Gone Fishing? "Summertime and the livin' is easy" is how the familiar song from "Porgy and Bess" goes. For RootsWeb users in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is nearly here and that often brings with it vacations (holidays), long weekend fishing trips, beach house visits or trips to the cabin in the mountains. All of which means time away from genealogical research, time away from your computer and your e-mail. What should you do when you are going to be away temporarily from your RootsWeb mailing lists? Depending upon the length ...

Start at http://familysearch.org . Click the SEARCH tab, and then the Family History Library Catalog tab, or bypass the first two steps by going directly to: http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp Not all browsers will load an .asp page directly, so I give the alternate steps. Once you are there, click Place Search , then type the name of the village in the top box. Leave the bottom box empty. Once you get the results, be sure to investigate all the possible good options. If you want to keep that original results page open, right-click on the various options given, and choose to open in a new tab or new window. That helps me keep organized! Once you get a list of what is available, there are a couple of interesting options that many people overlook. I put in "strasbourg" as an example, and here are the results: Place France, Bas-Rhin, Strasbourg References (Use for) France, Bas-Rhin, La Robertsau Topics France, Bas-Rhin, Strasbourg - Archives and...

The first place to search is the IGI (International Genealogical Index) : http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=igi/search_IGI.asp&clear_form=true Start with a bit of information, and only enter more details to narrow down your search results. Usually the indexed baptisms and marriage information are part of the IGI. If you have searched the IGI without success for your person of interest, searching the Old Parish Register (OPR) indexes and OPRs themselves is still useful, in case they were missed. Baptisms and marriages in the OPRs can be searched using a computerized index, either on a county basis or searching over the whole country. The index gives the reference number for the relevant microfilm roll together with the frame number (page), allowing you to go directly to the record you are interested in, once you order in the OPR film. You can access the Old Parish Registers online, by opening an account at http://www.scotsorigins.com/ . However, you mu...

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Our DNA does not fade like an ancient parchment; it is not rust in the ground like the sword of a warrior long dead. It is not eroded by wind or rain, nor reduced to ruin by fire and earthquake. It is the traveler from an antique land who lives within us all. - Dr. Bryan Sykes, in The Seven Daughters of Eve Famous DNA lists DNA Haplotypes (DNA signatures) for famous, or infamous, people: http://www.isogg.org/famousdna.htm International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) , new non-profit promoting greater understanding of the uses of DNA within genealogy, and support network for genetic genealogists. No dues, no treasury, donated web server space and donations. Side-by-side comparison charts of Y-chromosome and mtDNA testing services: http://www.isogg.org">http://www.isogg.org . Journal of Genetic Genealogy : http://www.jogg.info/ Genetealogy - Using DNA testing to learn about your genealogy and family history : http://www.genetealogy.com/ Andy's Guide to DNA in Family ...

When you change your email address, register at one or all of these services: FreshAddress.com : http://www.freshaddress.com 99.am : http://www.99.am/ Email Change.com : http://www.emailchange.com/ Find mE-Mail : http://www.findmemail.com/ ReturnPath : http://www.returnpath.net/ $$$ SwitchEmail.com : http://www.switchemail.com/index.asp I have registered with them all, and so far, no spam because of it. No old buddies have gotten in touch with me either......::sigh:: If you are trying to contact someone with an expired address, it is worthwhile to search for them at each of these places, plus the common "search for email" sites, such as My Email Address Is , MSN, Addresses.com . Don't forget the new Rootsweb search engine, to search all Rootsweb list archives at one go: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search . And of course, google for the old email address and name, too! Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. - Albert Einstein

Estranged or Lost Relatives and Friends IMPRESSIVE new site! http://www.pipl.com/ , and http://allfolks.com/ A couple of new sites, established in Europe. Great American coverage, though. http://www.yasni.com/ and perhaps even more complete, http://www.123people.com/ . An interesting feature is that if you want to see more matches, they will email them to you. So we'll see who wins in the end! First, search telephone records - The Ultimate White Pages : http://www.theultimates.com/white/ Be sure to play around with the search parameters. The more slots you fill out, the fewer matches you will get. Sometimes a surname and state are all you will want to enter. Private Eye.com searches Criminal,Sex Offenders, Business, Corporation, FBN, Employment, Professional Licenses, Property, Bankruptcies & Liens, Marriage, Divorce, and Death indexes: http://www.privateeye.com/ Effective Use of City Directories : http://www.progenealogists.com/citydirectories.htm Search Polk City Director...

Our public records are under attack. If you aren't involved in genealogy research, you might not know or care about this. However, you should . These are YOUR public records "they" are trying to keep you and other citizens from viewing and using, while reserving to themselves the right to look at ANY records they want to -- now, without even a warrant. The following article is from Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 2006 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com. Information Is Power Terry Allen has written an article about the current state of affairs when it comes to looking at public records. The U.S. Government's Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 will bar genealogists and many others from looking at birth and death certificates for 70 to 100 years. The proposed regulations are now causing widespread concern among ...

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For all European research, you must have a village name, or at least a small region with a few villages, because that is where all the records are kept! There are few to no departement, county or region-wide censuses or other general surveys such as our US Census records. The exception is the UK, which has searchable census for 1841-1901, and where records have been kept by the counties in England since 1837, in Scotland since 1851. So, you must do your American or Canadian research, before trying to "jump the pond" back to Europe. Recently, the 1836 Census of the Alsace has started to become available. To see if your surnames are found therein, search at: http://www.census1836.com/ Have you found the naturalization applications ? Often the first and second application contain much more detail than the final certificate. How about obituaries, in particular those published in small local newspapers, church publications, or German or French newspapers? Many of the old newspape...

Older English and Latin handwriting Tutorial about Paleography : http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/ English Documents in Latin : http://www.bibliographics.com/PALAEOG-lite/HECTOR.htm BEGINNERS' LATIN Introduction to the problems you may find with Latin vocabulary and grammar in British documents from 1086-1733: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/latin/beginners/reference/default.htm Deciphering Old Handwriting in Genealogy : http://amberskyline.com/treasuremaps/oldhand.html How to Read 18th Century British-American Writing : http://www.dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/writing.html Martha Ballard's Diary Online : http://www.dohistory.org/diary/    Story of a midwife's life and career; examples of handwriting Book Palaeography for Family and Local Historians by Hilary Marshall, pub.: Phillimore & Co., Ltd., 2004, Chichester, West Sussex England. http://www.phillimore.co.uk Book Latin for Local and Family Historians: A Beginner's Guide Denis Stuart, ...

Alsace-Lorraine-L : http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~valorie/Alsace-Lorraine-L.htm FRA-Alsace-L : http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/FRA/FRA-ALSACE.html Alsace-Genealogy@Listserv.aol.com : http://www.fedda.no/~jacques/alsace/en/g_listserv.html La_genealogie_alsacienne@yahoo.fr : http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/la_genealogie_alsacienne/ Toute la généalogie et l'histoire en Alsace et en Moselle. Départements 57-67-68-90 et régions aux alentours. Histoire, généalogie, onomastique, héraldique, toponymie, dans les régions germaniques du nord-est de la FRANCE. Aides à la recherche, traductions, interprétations, transcriptions, des actes de l'état-civil, des registres paroissiaux protestants et catholiques, des différents notariats et autres textes historiques anciens. Since 2001, in French. 1195 members. DEU-Regio-L : http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/DEU/DEU-REGIO.html    The anci...

The State of Illinois has put their report of the policies issued to slaveholders for death or damage of their slaves during the slavery era from every licensed insurer (or predecessor company): http://www.ins.state.il.us/Consumer/SlaveryReporting.nsf Listed are compiled reports by slave name , and by slave holder name . The slaves and slave holders aren't just in Illinois, but all over the United States. A sample finding for the search "walters": Slave Holder Name: Wm Bowen Slave Holder County/Parish: Fredricksburg Slave Holder State: VA Slave Name: John Walters Slave County/Parish: Fredricksburg Slave State: VA Slave Other: Policy Number(s): 453 Slave Job/Skill: Machine builder and pattern maker Clicking on Wm Bowen's name, I get a bit more information: Name of Slave: John Walters County/Parish: Fredricksburg State: VA Other Identifying Info (policy no. etc): Policy Number(s): 453 Job/Occupation/Skill (optional if known): Machine builder and pattern maker Slave Hol...

Page 7 Puslinch Twp. Sub-Dist. # 27 Scott, Arch Scott, Mary Scott, Robert? Scott, James Scott, Lisabeth/Elizabeth Scott, Walter Scott, Andrew Scott, Margaret McDonald, Donald McDonald, Catherine McDonald, Edith McDonald, Francis McDonald, Anna? [unreadable], Mary McPherson, Alex. McPherson, [unreadable], McPherson, Robert J. McPherson, James McPherson, Catherine McPherson, Jane Bowman?, Wellington Cowan, Walter Cowan, Annie Cowan, James Cowan, Walter Interesting that they are next-door neighbors to the McPhersons; Annie was a McPherson. Also notice the Scott family further up the page. Walter's grandmother was a Scott. Wouldn't it be interesting if they were all relatives? The index is found on the Wellington County site: http://www.wellingtonogs.on.ca/2004/1911Census/PuslinchTwp.htm This section was transcribed by Susanne Metcalfe -- thanks, Susanne! By the way, 1901 is also indexed , but I don't see our Cowans. Did I miss something? See for yourself: http:/...