Blog - The Ancestor Hunt

Chronicling America Updates - April, 2018

4/30/2018

Source; Library of Congress

Chronicling America, the newspaper collection available for online research of United States historic newspapers, regularly updates their collection.

Here are the updated titles for April, 2018. Some are new titles and some are added to an existing title's pages in the database. There are 23 in total from 8 different states. (Please note that some newspapers may be listed multiple times because they were updated more than once by the Library of Congress during the month).

Alaska

Colorado

Iowa

New York

Updated content for Radnička borba = Workers' struggle. [volume] ([New York, N.Y.])

Ohio

Updated content for Dirva = Field. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio)

Pennsylvania

Updated content for Zajedničar = Fraternalist. (Allegheny, Pa.)

South Dakota

Updated content for The Madison daily leader. (Madison, S.D.)

Texas

Updated content for El regidor. (San Antonio, Tex.)

Good luck and happy hunting!

For more links for these states and others - please see the Newspaper Links page on this website.

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FamilySearch New and Updated Collections - April 1-30, 2018

4/30/2018

Source: familysearch.org

FamilySearch continues to add or update their records collections at a fast pace for us to search.

For the period of April 1- 30, 2018, the added/updated collections are:

For a complete list of all added/updated collections, go to

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list

I hope that some of these are what you have been waiting for!

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425 Birth, Marriage, and Death Record Collection Links from U.S. Western States

4/28/2018

One of the main goals for genealogists is finding birth, marriage, and death (BMD) information about their ancestors.

Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians and archivists (as well as the largest of them all - FamilySearch), a great number of indexes to birth, marriage, and death collections have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes provide specific BMD information, and often scanned images of the actual birth, marriage, and death certificates themselves. These free online collections have hundreds of millions of records in them in total.

There are a great number of online and offline collections that may include birth, marriage, and death information that are not included in the lists below. For example, newspapers, draft registration files, naturalization records, etc. have BMD info. To find out which types of other records may include BMD information, please see:

The lists below are specific birth, marriage, and death indexes and record collections that are available for free online from the Western states of the U.S. Also included is the total number of BMD record collection links and the added collections from the previous update.

Alaska Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (18 total, 6 new)
Arizona Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (28 total, 12 new)
California Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (45 total, 20 new)
Colorado Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (31 total, 11 new)
Hawaii Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (19 total, 2 new)
Idaho Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (40 total, 10 new)
Montana Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (42 total, 11 new)
Nevada Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (25 total, 5 new)
New Mexico Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (28 total, 8 new)
Oregon Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (45 total, 10 new)
Utah Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (52 total, 6 new)
Washington Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (35 total, 9 new)
Wyoming Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (20 total, 6 new)

Happy Hunting!

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560 Birth, Marriage, and Death Record Collection Links from U.S. Mid-West States

4/24/2018

One of the main goals for genealogists is finding birth, marriage, and death (BMD) information about their ancestors.

Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians and archivists (as well as the largest of them all - FamilySearch), a great number of indexes to birth, marriage, and death collections have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes provide specific BMD information, and often scanned images of the actual birth, marriage, and death certificates themselves. These free online collections have hundreds of millions of records in them in total.

There are a great number of online and offline collections that may include birth, marriage, and death information that are not included in the lists below. For example, newspapers, draft registration files, naturalization records, etc. have BMD info. To find out which types of other records may include BMD information, please see:

The lists below are specific birth, marriage, and death indexes and record collections that are available for free online from the Mid-West states of the U.S. Also included is the total number of BMD record collection links and the added collections from the previous update.

Illinois Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (51 total, 20 new)
Indiana Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (85 total, 58 new)
Iowa Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (35 total, 15 new)
Kansas Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (44 total, 22 new)
Michigan Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (63 total, 33 new)
Minnesota Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (36 total, 10 new)
Missouri Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (46 total, 14 new)
Nebraska Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links 24 total, 8 new)
North Dakota Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (20 total, 5 new)
Ohio Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (62 total, 30 new)
Oklahoma Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (23 total, 10 new)
South Dakota Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (23 total, 11 new)
Wisconsin Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (50 total, 28 new)

Happy Hunting!

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200 Birth, Marriage, and Death Record Collection Links from U.S. New England States

4/22/2018

One of the main goals for genealogists is finding birth, marriage, and death (BMD) information about their ancestors.

Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians and archivists (as well as the largest of them all - FamilySearch), a great number of indexes to birth, marriage, and death collections have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes provide specific BMD information, and often scanned images of the actual birth, marriage, and death certificates themselves. These free online collections have hundreds of millions of records in them in total.

There are a great number of online and offline collections that may include birth, marriage, and death information that are not included in the lists below. For example, newspapers, draft registration files, naturalization records, etc. have BMD info. To find out which types of other records may include BMD information, please see:

The lists below are specific birth, marriage, and death indexes and record collections that are available for free online from the New England states of the U.S. Also included is the total number of BMD record collection links and the added collections from the previous update.

Connecticut Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (38 total, 8 new)
Maine Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (35 total, 15 new)
Massachusetts Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (42 total, 22 new)
New Hampshire Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (34 total, 11 new)
Rhode Island Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (22 total, 5 new)
Vermont Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (30 total, 12 new)

Happy Hunting!

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Connecticut to Add 25 Historic Newspapers to Chronicling America

4/21/2018

Source: Connecticut State Library

The Connecticut Digital Newspaper Project (CDNP) Advisory Board has just announced the selection of the following 25 titles for the third NEH grant and that they should all be online by the fall of 2019:

Daily

New Britain Herald, 1920-1930

Weeklies

Connecticut Western News, 1871-1922
Tolland County Press (Stafford Springs), 1883
The Press (Stafford Springs), 1883-1922

Italian Language

La Tribuna del Connecticut (Bridgeport, Conn.), 1906-1908
L’Indipendente (New Haven, Conn.), 1907-1936
La Sentinella (Bridgeport, Conn.), 1920-1930

African American

Hartford-Springfield Chronicle, 1940
Hartford Chronicle, 1946-1947
Connecticut Chronicle (Hartford, Conn.), 1948
New England Bulletin (Hartford, Conn.), 1949

Labor

Mechanics’, Operatives’, and Laborers’ Advocate (Norwich, Conn.), 1836-1837
American Mechanic and Home Journal (Norwich, Conn.), 1849
The Liberty Bell and Workingmen’s Advocate (Norwich, Conn.), 1867
The Examiner (Hartford, Conn.), 1881-1888
The Weekly Examiner (Hartford, Conn.), 1890-1901
Workmen’s Advocate (New Haven, Conn.), 1883-1891
Connecticut Citizen (Ridgefield, Conn.), 1892
Hartford Labor, 1894
Connecticut Workman (Bridgeport, Conn.), 1901
The Stamford American, 1906
The Labor Standard (Hartford, Conn.), 1910-1922
The Connecticut Labor Press (New Haven, Conn.), 1918-1921
The Connecticut Labor News (New Haven, Conn.), 1921-1925
The Connecticut Craftsman (Hartford, Conn.), 1932

From the Hartford Courant:

"The Connecticut State Library is pleased to announce that with a third grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 25 newspaper titles have been selected to be digitized for the Connecticut Digital Newspaper Project (CDNP), and made freely available online.

Gregg Mangan, Manager of Digital Humanities at CT Humanities noted that "this collection is a windfall for researchers interested in exploring the diverse stories that make up our history." For the full list of specific newspapers and dates, history blogs and other resources, please go to the CDNP website at http://ctdigitalnewspaperproject.org/.

All titles are expected to be completed and freely available online through the Library of Congress' Chronicling America site https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ by Fall 2019, adding to our other CT newspapers from Bridgeport, New Haven, Newtown, Norwich, and Waterbury http://ctdigitalnewspaperproject.org/ . In addition, the State Library's Newspapers of Connecticut digital collection is also available online and is in the process of being added to the Connecticut Digital Archive."

For the complete article, please click on Connecticut State Library Announces 25 Historic Newspaper Titles to be Digitized

Terrific News from the State of Connecticut!

For access to other historic newspapers from the state that are currently available for free online, please check out Connecticut Online Historical Newspapers Summary

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305 Birth, Marriage, and Death Record Collection Links from U.S. Mid-Atlantic States

4/21/2018

Source: Maps Etc (https://etc.usf.edu/maps)

One of the main goals for genealogists is finding birth, marriage, and death (BMD) information about their ancestors.

Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians and archivists (as well as the largest of them all - FamilySearch), a great number of indexes to birth, marriage, and death collections have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes provide specific BMD information, and often scanned images of the actual birth, marriage, and death certificates themselves. These free online collections have hundreds of millions of records in them in total.

There are a great number of online and offline collections that may include birth, marriage, and death information that are not included in the lists below. For example, newspapers, draft registration files, naturalization records, etc. have BMD info. To find out which types of other records may include BMD information, please see:

The lists below are specific birth, marriage, and death indexes and record collections that are available for free online from the Mid-Atlantic states of the U.S. Also included is the total number of BMD record collection links and the added collections from the previous update.

Delaware Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (26 total, 6 new)
District of Columbia Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (21 total, 6 new)
Maryland Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (29 total, 11 new)
New Jersey Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (36 total, 15 new)
New York Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (70 total, 38 new)
Pennsylvania Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (55 total, 35 new)
Virginia Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (45 total, 27 new)
West Virginia Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (24 total, 7 new)

Happy Hunting!

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575 Birth, Marriage, and Death Record Collection Links from U.S. Southern States

4/20/2018

One of the main goals for genealogists is finding birth, marriage, and death (BMD) information about their ancestors.

Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians and archivists (as well as the largest of them all - FamilySearch), a great number of indexes to birth, marriage, and death collections have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes provide specific BMD information, and often scanned images of the actual birth, marriage, and death certificates themselves. These free online collections have hundreds of millions of records in them in total.

There are a great number of online and offline collections that may include birth, marriage, and death information that are not included in the lists below. For example, newspapers, draft registration files, naturalization records, etc. have BMD info. To find out which types of other records may include BMD information, please see:

The lists below are specific birth, marriage, and death indexes and record collections that are available for free online from the Southern states of the U.S. Also included is the total number of BMD record collection links and the added collections from the previous update

Alabama Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (30 total, 13 new)
Arkansas Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (28 total, 8 new)
Florida Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (48 total, 23 new)
Georgia Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (58 total, 28 new)
Kentucky Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (33 total, 17 new)
Louisiana Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (28 total, 9 new)
Mississippi Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (31 total, 12 new)
Missouri Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (46 total, 14 new)
North Carolina Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (35 total, 14 new)
Oklahoma Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (23 total, 10 new)
South Carolina Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (27 total, 10 new)
Tennessee Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (52 total, 24 new)
Texas Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (64 total, 29 new)
Virginia Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (45 total, 27 new)
West Virginia Birth, Marriage, and Death (BMD) Record Links (24 total, 7 new)

Happy Hunting!

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Use These 12 Special Keywords to Improve Your Newspaper Research Results

4/20/2018

When entering our search criteria in the search box on an online historical newspaper site, we often focus primarily on the name of the target ancestor or family. We might also search for a location or an address. or combine these with a name.

My guess is that well over 90% of online newspaper searches employ the above techniques.

I offer you some additional ways to hone in on target ancestor articles, and this is to use keywords in your search criteria. Here are some examples, that if used will get you more and better results:

If you are searching for obituaries,

Add the keyword "Beloved" or
"Beloved wife" or,
"Beloved husband" etc. The word "beloved" is used frequently in obituaries. So entering these keywords plus the surname may focus in on obituaries.
Similar to "beloved" try the word "dear", as in "dear husband" or "dear sister." This will also focus in on obituaries.
A third keyword used in obituaries is "loving". For example, "loving daughter" or "loving husband".

If you are searching for a birth announcement,

Add in the keywords "born to the wife of" or,
"Born to" along with the name and that will focus in on articles about births.

Was your ancestor a business owner?

Add the word "president" or "proprietor" to the name.

Did your ancestor belong to a lodge or club? Try "president" or "chairman" or "secretary" for example.

Was your ancestor a union member?

Try using "Union rep", or
"Shop steward"

Try using the occupation in your search criteria, such as

"Doctor" or "electrician" or "plumber" in conjunction with the name.

Were they in the military?

Try "Corporal" or "Sergeant" or Captain", etc.

There are all kinds of ways to narrow in on your ancestors in old newspapers. Using these keywords will definitely help. In fact, I guarantee it.

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22,100 Total FREE U.S. Historical Newspaper Links - First 2018 Update

4/19/2018

Source: military.com

On this website, the first set of free online links to U.S. historical newspapers was published in February, 2014. Updates were added in June, 2015, December, 2015, June, 2016, February 2017, July, 2017, and December, 2017.

This first update of 2018 adds another 2,480 titles.

The grand total is over 22,100 FREE links to historical American newspapers!

More and more newspapers are being digitized and are being made available for all of us to research. Some are full-text searchable and others are browsable.

I will continue to follow the digitization activities across the country and hope to publish the next update in mid-2018. Look for the monthly articles that I publish about new digitization efforts around the country.

You need to know where these links to new and updated collections can be found, so that you can discover articles about your ancestors. Hopefully these 51 articles full of free links will assist you in your discovery and research.

To search the new (and old) and updated links, choose your state link below and see all the newspapers that are available for you to research.

(Please note - there may be more that I have not yet discovered, and if you are aware of some that I have not included, please let me know in the comments)

Happy Hunting!

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