Blog - The Ancestor Hunt

Chronicling America Updates - October, 2019

10/31/2019

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 October, 2019. Some are new titles and some are added to an existing title's pages in the database. There are 50 in total from 10 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).

Alabama

Arkansas

Georgia

Idaho

Maine

Updated content for Ellsworth American. (Ellsworth, Me.)

Mississippi

Ohio

Virginia

West Virginia

Updated content for Wheeling times and advertiser. (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.])

Wisconsin

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

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

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

FamilySearch New and Updated Collections - October 1-31, 2019

10/31/2019

Source: familysearch.org

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

For the period of October 1-31, 2019, 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!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

Free Texas Probate Records and Wills

10/29/2019

Probate records and wills are available online from all over the U.S. and are what I consider another hidden gem of information that can assist you in advancing your family history and genealogy research.

What can you find in these records? How about date of death, spouses and children names, birth order, siblings and siblings spouses, parents names, and residence locations for all named persons. Also, ownership of land and/or other significant property, business names and occupation, military service, guardianships, and adoptions. Basically anything owned by the deceased is typically listed and to whom it is to be assigned to.

I won't pretend to be an expert on the probate process - all I know is that I have discovered an amazing amount of good information from probate records and wills as part of my personal genealogy research.

Here are a few good primers on the benefits of searching probate documents and wills:

Below, listed by state are links to probate records, wills, and indexes available for free online.

Note: Please be aware that if you find a desired will or probate record in an index, that the holder of the actual materials (e.g., (archive, county court, etc.) may charge a small fee to send you a copy of the material itself.

Note: Some of the links listed below take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections' images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital.

(Updated October, 2019; recently added links are in BOLD)

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

Elephind Update - October, 2019

10/29/2019

The "Search Multiple Historic Newspaper Collections All At Once" website, elephind.com has just published an update that includes many more items and issues from 2 updated collections:

(from the October, 2019 Elephind Newsletter):

Updated Newspaper Collections

Purdue University - The Purdue Exponent Newspaper Archive: A 211,730 page collection of the student newspaper of Purdue University.

California Digital Newspaper Collection: over 4.8 million pages of significant historical Californian newspapers published from 1846 to the present.

For the complete newsletter article, click HERE

If you have never used (or heard of) elephind, here are a couple of articles that I have written about this wonderful site that may be interesting to you:

If you have never tried Elephind, check it out! The url is elephind.com.

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

Free Kentucky Probate Records and Wills

10/29/2019

Probate records and wills are available online from all over the U.S. and are what I consider another hidden gem of information that can assist you in advancing your family history and genealogy research.

What can you find in these records? How about date of death, spouses and children names, birth order, siblings and siblings spouses, parents names, and residence locations for all named persons. Also, ownership of land and/or other significant property, business names and occupation, military service, guardianships, and adoptions. Basically anything owned by the deceased is typically listed and to whom it is to be assigned to.

I won't pretend to be an expert on the probate process - all I know is that I have discovered an amazing amount of good information from probate records and wills as part of my personal genealogy research.

Here are a few good primers on the benefits of searching probate documents and wills:

Below, listed by state are links to probate records, wills, and indexes available for free online.

Note: Please be aware that if you find a desired will or probate record in an index, that the holder of the actual materials (e.g., (archive, county court, etc.) may charge a small fee to send you a copy of the material itself.

Note: Some of the links listed below take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections' images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital.

(Updated October, 2019; recently added links are in BOLD)

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

Why You Might Be Failing At Your Genealogy Research

10/29/2019

No this article isn't about brick walls - it is about present day BAD HABITS!

Please bear with me as I talk about the "old days." In business when I started about 50 years ago, we communicated via meetings, phone calls and typewritten memos. It is important to know that in a memo, one discussed in detail possibly 5 or 6 "bullet points" about one entire subject. If you received a memo that required a response, you answered every single bullet point in your response.

Today we have email, Twitter and texting by phone. People have become used to short bursts of information and having to deal with only one bullet point or question at a time.

This actually came to light today as I reflected on several people, who when receiving an email from me - invariably only responded to the first paragraph. So if there were multiple requests, they almost always didn't read or ignored the rest of the email.

We have developed bad habits because we almost always deal with these short bursts of information or one question at a time. And that is because of the tools that we use currently. That is a trap.

So you ask - what the hell does this have to do with genealogy?

A lot. Because we have trained ourselves to deal with just one piece of information and because a lot of our research is online - we tend to gather one piece of data about our ancestors and then move on to someone or something else. And of course, we are multi-tasking way too much.

This creates lousy research habits and makes us miss what is the one of the core elements of the Genealogy Proof Standard. That is - a reasonably exhaustive search. Gathering one record does not make for an exhaustive search.

So this is a warning - do not let today's easy to use tools change how you research, or your mindset. You must concentrate, read everything in a record, and focus. That is hard to do when bombarded with emails, tweets and texts. Not to mention that we are losing the ability to deal with details in a reasoned and thorough manner.

Don't let "it takes too much time" foil your research.

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

New Jersey to Add 8 New Titles to Chronicling America

10/29/2019

The State of New Jersey has just announced their plans to add 8 new titles to Chronicling America in 2020.

Currently there are 3 titles:

The Perth Amboy Evening News (1903-1922)
The Jersey City News (1889-1906)
The West-Jersey Pioneer (1852-1884) and Bridgeton Pioneer (1884-1917)

The 2020 planned additions are:

The Evening Star and Newark Advertiser (1907-1916)
Gloucester County Democrat (1878-1912)
Penns Grove Record (1882-1923)
The Mount Holly News (1881-1919)
Morris County Chronicle (1877-1914)
Pleasantville Weekly Press (1877-1924)
Five Mile Beach Journal (1890-1923)
Perth Amboy Evening News (1923 and 1924)

For the complete announcement, click HERE

For more Free Online Historical Newspapers from the state, go to New Jersey Online Historical Newspapers Summary

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

data-matched-content-rows-num="3" data-matched-content-columns-num="3"

955 Mid West States Online Photo Archives Updated

10/23/2019

An old proverb states that "the eyes are the windows into the soul." A genealogy corollary is that "a photo is a window into the lives of your ancestors."

I love old photos, whether they are portraits of my ancestors or historical photos for the period when they lived. And it is important to a complete research that one attempts to understand the environment that surrounds our ancestors' lives if one wants to truly appreciate what they went through.

So where can they be found? Obviously the best resource is our own photo albums and those that our relatives possess. But what about other resources? Many archives, historical societies, libraries and genealogical societies have collections of old photos. And in the past few years there has been a massive movement towards making these historical photo collections available online. Some have search capabilities where you can actually put in a surname or a location, name of a building or historical event and find what is available.

Please be aware that there may be very strict rules regarding downloading or other use of the images that you may find. Copyright and other legal protections may be in force. Make sure that you read the limitations of use for any image that you find in these collections and wish to download and/or copy. It is your responsibility to adhere to the rules for all of these collections.

Please note that links to these sites may change in the future. The author (me) will not be constantly checking and updating these links, so if you find a broken link, please use your favorite search engine to locate the new link.

For historical photos from other states as well as articles about photo research, please visit the Photos page.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

The 5 Best Free Sites for Online Newspaper Research for Genealogy

10/23/2019

** 2019 Update**

I have been an historical newspaper research addict for a long time. In the past several years I have decided to ratchet up my interest and share what I have learned through newspaper research-related blog articles, huge link lists, as well as video tutorials.

For all my articles about newspaper research, just navigate to the Newspapers Page of this site and browse. There are plenty of articles to read.

And please check out the Bonus section below for access to the most comprehensive list of links to free online historical newspapers in the U.S. and Canada.

What I would like to relate now is my list of the best free sites to find historical articles about your ancestors in newspapers. These are the first ones that I would use if I were starting out. They have been chosen not because of their interface - because some are better than others and some are not ideal. These are presented in no particular order. And remember that these are Free sites only and you do Not have to go to a library to access them.

Elephind - over 191 million items (newspaper pages/articles) and 3,900 titles from several countries. You can search multiple collections all at once.
Library of Congress - Chronicling America - over 15.3 million pages and 2,900 titles from 48 states. Easy interface and growing constantly, although the growth is quite slow.
Old Fulton NY Post Cards - over 45 million pages of New York State (and many other states) historical newspapers
Advantage Archives Collections - 650 collections from 42 states. The latest list can be found at 70 Million Historic U.S. Newspaper Pages Now Available from Advantage Archives.
Trove -over 23 million pages from Australia

Google News Archive - over 2,500 newspapers from the U.S. and Canada - gets an asterisk. You can still get to all of these newspapers, but the search function is pretty much restricted to newspapers since 1970. And although these are the rules, some pre-1970 pages might sneak in. This is really too bad, since this is quite a large collection of otherwise non-digitized smaller newspapers.

BONUS

There used to be several sites that listed links to online newspaper titles that regularly updated their lists. Sadly, none remain that are active, except for one. Gone are the very good lists from Bowling Green State University and the University of Pennsylvania. Still existing, but rarely updated are the lists from Wikipedia, ICON, and Xooxle.

But one remains that actively updates, every 4 months for the U.S. and every 6 months for Canada. Initiated in 2013, it is right here:

The Ancestor Hunt - Newspaper Research Links - over 33,000 free newspaper titles and links for the U.S. and Canada. (Note: includes all the titles from Chronicling America, Fulton, Advantage Archives and Google).

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

350 New England States Online Photo Archives Updated

10/23/2019

An old proverb states that "the eyes are the windows into the soul." A genealogy corollary is that "a photo is a window into the lives of your ancestors."

I love old photos, whether they are portraits of my ancestors or historical photos for the period when they lived. And it is important to a complete research that one attempts to understand the environment that surrounds our ancestors' lives if one wants to truly appreciate what they went through.

So where can they be found? Obviously the best resource is our own photo albums and those that our relatives possess. But what about other resources? Many archives, historical societies, libraries and genealogical societies have collections of old photos. And in the past few years there has been a massive movement towards making these historical photo collections available online. Some have search capabilities where you can actually put in a surname or a location, name of a building or historical event and find what is available.

Please be aware that there may be very strict rules regarding downloading or other use of the images that you may find. Copyright and other legal protections may be in force. Make sure that you read the limitations of use for any image that you find in these collections and wish to download and/or copy. It is your responsibility to adhere to the rules for all of these collections.

Please note that links to these sites may change in the future. The author (me) will not be constantly checking and updating these links, so if you find a broken link, please use your favorite search engine to locate the new link.

For historic photos from other states as well as articles about photo research, please visit the Photos page.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

Surprising Genealogist Demographics - Are More Younger Enthusiasts Getting Involved?

10/23/2019

It is always interesting to look at statistics of one's website. I have done so recently and the results are not too surprising, yet there are some interesting results.

Two assumptions that many people make about genealogy and family history researchers are that they are old and they are female.

Let's take a look at the stats from this Website and from The Ancestor Hunt Facebook Page for a short time period and see what they show. I am assuming that this website has a representative set of demographics to others in the industry. And I have over 26,000 Facebook Page Followers so that should provide some good stats as well

The Ancestor Hunt Website

Age

Gender

The Ancestor Hunt Facebook Page

Age and Gender

Conclusions

Yep, the visitors are indeed "older." And the numbers were fairly comparable between the last time I looked at this (in 2015) and now, with ONE exception - people searching their genealogy are getting a bit younger. In 2015, the total was 71% who where 55 or older. Now it is around 63%. So more enthusiasts under 55 are getting involved.

Another interesting statistic that has not changed from 2015 to now - look at Pages/Session and Average Session Duration - the numbers diminish as the visitors are younger. Are they not as interested (those who do visit) - or is their attention span less or are they just too busy?

What are your thoughts? Are you surprised at all? I know that there are efforts to get more "younger" folks interested in genealogy. It looks like it is working.

Hopefully that will happen before no one is able to read cursive writing, an understated challenge for the genealogy community in years to come. But technology will likely solve that problem anyway.

Please weigh in in the comments section.

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

1,100 Southern States Online Photo Archives Updated

10/23/2019

An old proverb states that "the eyes are the windows into the soul." A genealogy corollary is that "a photo is a window into the lives of your ancestors."

I love old photos, whether they are portraits of my ancestors or historical photos for the period when they lived. And it is important to a complete research that one attempts to understand the environment that surrounds our ancestors' lives if one wants to truly appreciate what they went through.

So where can they be found? Obviously the best resource is our own photo albums and those that our relatives possess. But what about other resources? Many archives, historical societies, libraries and genealogical societies have collections of old photos. And in the past few years there has been a massive movement towards making these historical photo collections available online. Some have search capabilities where you can actually put in a surname or a location, name of a building or historical event and find what is available.

Please be aware that there may be very strict rules regarding downloading or other use of the images that you may find. Copyright and other legal protections may be in force. Make sure that you read the limitations of use for any image that you find in these collections and wish to download and/or copy. It is your responsibility to adhere to the rules for all of these collections.

Please note that links to these sites may change in the future. The author (me) will not be constantly checking and updating these links, so if you find a broken link, please use your favorite search engine to locate the new link.

For historical photos from other states as well as articles about photo research, please visit the Photos page.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

555 Mid Atlantic States Online Photo Archives Updated

10/23/2019

An old proverb states that "the eyes are the windows into the soul." A genealogy corollary is that "a photo is a window into the lives of your ancestors."

I love old photos, whether they are portraits of my ancestors or historical photos for the period when they lived. And it is important to a complete research that one attempts to understand the environment that surrounds our ancestors' lives if one wants to truly appreciate what they went through.

So where can they be found? Obviously the best resource is our own photo albums and those that our relatives possess. But what about other resources? Many archives, historical societies, libraries and genealogical societies have collections of old photos. And in the past few years there has been a massive movement towards making these historical photo collections available online. Some have search capabilities where you can actually put in a surname or a location, name of a building or historical event and find what is available.

Please be aware that there may be very strict rules regarding downloading or other use of the images that you may find. Copyright and other legal protections may be in force. Make sure that you read the limitations of use for any image that you find in these collections and wish to download and/or copy. It is your responsibility to adhere to the rules for all of these collections.

Please note that links to these sites may change in the future. The author (me) will not be constantly checking and updating these links, so if you find a broken link, please use your favorite search engine to locate the new link.

For historical photos from other states as well as articles about photo research, please visit the Photos page.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

The National Digital Newspaper Program - October, 2019 Program Update

10/23/2019

If you research historical American newspapers online then you know about Chronicling America. This online newspaper research site is the culmination of a collaboration between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.

The National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) as it is called has been in place for several years. The program awards funding to states to digitize approximately 100,000 pages at a time for newspapers published between 1836-1963. The announcement of the next awards should occur in August, 2020.

The most recent update (August, 2019) announced that Wyoming, Rhode Island, and the Virgin islands are joining the program and that 10 other states, including Puerto Rico were awarded digitization grants. You can see all the participating states in the map above (participants in green). Chronicling America now exceeds 15.3 million pages.

Please be aware for those of you who are impatient, that all of this needs to be funded and that state and federal governments are involved as well as state institutions who do the abundance of the work. This takes money and time and of course funding priorities have been difficult in the past few years.

Here is a list of the award recipients, the state managing institution, and the years of awards:

Alabama - University of Alabama Libraries, Tuscaloosa, AL (2018)
Alaska - Alaska State Library Historical Collections (2018, 2016)
Arizona - Arizona Department of Libraries, Archives, and Public Records (2017, 2012, 2010, 2008)
Arkansas - Arkansas State Archive (2019, 2017)
California - University of California, Riverside (2018, 2015, 2009, 2007, 2005)
Colorado - History Colorado (2018, 2016)
Connecticut - Connecticut State Library (2019, 2017, 2015, 2013)
Delaware - University of Delaware (2019, 2017, 2015)
Florida - University of Florida, Gainesville (2019, 2017, 2015, 2013, 2005)
Georgia - Digital Library of Georgia (University of Georgia Libraries/GALILEO) (2019, 2017)
Hawaii - University of Hawaii at Manoa (2012, 2010, 2008)
Idaho - Idaho State Historical Society (2017, 2015, 2013)
Illinois - University of Illinois, Urbana (2018, 2016, 2013, 2011, 2009)
Indiana - Indiana State Library (2017, 2015, 2013, 2011)
Iowa - State Historical Society of Iowa (2018, 2016, 2014, 2012)
Kansas - Kansas State Historical Society (2013, 2011, 2009)
Kentucky - University of Kentucky, Lexington (2011, 2009, 2007, 2005)
Louisiana - Louisiana State University (2013, 2011, 2009)
Maine - Maine State Library (2018, 2016)
Maryland - University of Maryland, College Park (2018, 2016, 2014, 2012)
Michigan - Central Michigan University (2018, 2016, 2014, 2012)
Minnesota - Minnesota Historical Society (2019, 2017, 2015, 2011, 2009, 2007)
Mississippi - Mississippi Department of Archives and History (2017, 2015, 2013)
Missouri - The State Historical Society of Missouri (2012, 2010, 2008)
Montana - Montana Historical Society (2018, 2013, 2011, 2009)
Nebraska - University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries (2018, 2016, 2009, 2007)
Nevada - University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2018, 2016, 2014)
New Jersey - Rutgers University Libraries, the New Jersey State Archives and the New Jersey State Library (2018, 2016)
New Mexico - University of New Mexico (2014, 2012, 2010)
New York - The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation (2009, 2007, 2005)
North Carolina - University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (2018, 2016, 2014, 2012)
North Dakota - State Historical Society of North Dakota (2017, 2015, 2013, 2011)
Ohio - Ohio History Connection (2018, 2016, 2012, 2010, 2008)
Oklahoma - Oklahoma Historical Society (2013, 2011, 2009)
Oregon - University of Oregon (2013, 2011, 2009)
Pennsylvania - Penn State University Libraries, University Park (2012, 2010, 2008)
Puerto Rico - University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras (2019, 2017, 2015, 2013)
Rhode Island - Providence Public Library (2019)
South Carolina - University of South Carolina (2013, 2011, 2009)
South Dakota - South Dakota Department of Education (2018, 2016, 2014)
Tennessee - University of Tennessee (2014, 2012, 2010)
Texas - University of North Texas (2018, 2016, 2011, 2009, 2007)
U.S. Virgin Islands - University of the Virgin Islands (2019)
Utah - University of Utah, Marriott Libraries (2009, 2007, 2005)
Vermont - University of Vermont (2014, 2012, 2010)
Virginia - Library of Virginia (2019, 2017, 2014, 2009, 2007, 2005)
Washington - Washington State Library (2018, 2012, 2010, 2008)
West Virginia - West Virginia University Libraries (2019, 2017, 2015, 2013, 2011)
Wisconsin - Wisconsin Historical Society (2019, 2017, 2015)
Wyoming - University of Wyoming Libraries (2019)

Let us be thankful for what has been already accomplished and hope that the NDNP continues to thrive and grow.

Also quite useful is a series of about 60 links to interesting newspaper-related articles entitled NDNP Extras! Check it out!

And one more thing..... Check out the Chronicling America Data Visualizations, which displays data about the Chronicling America collection in several different graphical and mapped forms. Very interesting!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

6 Best Ways to NOT FIND Your Ancestors

10/23/2019

Genealogy researching is hard; nobody cooperates; the database you want to research is the next county over; you have names that have thousands of duplicates; the online family trees are all over the place, etc. So you continue to not find your ancestors.

In the interests of keeping this losing streak alive, here are 6 ways to continue to not find your ancestors:

Don't interview your older relatives - I have 3 of them left and what a pain they are. They can't hear you. They suffer from CRS disease (Can't Remember Squat). If you bring a bunch of technology, like voice recorders, smartphones, iPads, laptops - they freak out. Don't bother showing them your old photos because most of the answers will be "I don't remember" or "I don't know." And that is if you can get them to stop crying over all their old friends and close relatives who have died. And make sure you argue with them when they tell you something about somebody that you know is not true. They are probably wrong anyway. They were "there" but their memory is failing so they are probably making stuff up. Make sure you ask them about all the "skeletons in the closet" stories that you heard about them and others. That will really get them to cooperate, because at their age they like nothing better than to tell embarrassing stories about themselves that they forgot about 40 years ago. Yeah - older relatives - what a waste of time. And they will be mad at you afterwards for dredging up old crappy memories.

Always do exact searches - When you are searching online, like FamilySearch or that not free one - Ancestry? Or any other - make sure that you always do exact searches because those are the best. If you have written down that they lived in Georgia, why would you search in South Carolina - that's dumb. And oh yeah - regarding last name spelling - Imagine the census taker in the early 1900's. They show up at the door and ask your great grandmother a bunch of questions. He says - "What's your last name? And she says "Mankiewicz". He says "Huh?" She says "Mankiewicz" and knowing that most people have no clue how to spell it - she starts "M..A..N...." and he writes down the letters one by one. So no mistakes made there. And even if she didn't spell it out for him, he was smart enough to know how to spell it. They paid those census takers a lot of money - so they were smart and also had to have exceptional penmanship to get the job. So you say - what about the data entry of documents into an index? Ever heard of two pass verification or double data entry - problem solved - 99.5% success is pretty darn good. So you say - what about the changing of names at Ellis Island? Don't even get me started on that hocus pocus baloney. Of course they were all changed - nobody could speak English, Duh!

Only search online - Everybody knows that everything is online, so why would you want to go to a library or an archive? You can't take pictures; you have to wear gloves, and forget going to a courthouse - all that dust and crabby people that work there? Not for me. And besides you have to get out of your pajamas, get dressed - shave or put makeup on - no way. And it takes too darn long looking for things one boring page at a time. You can't read half the stuff anyway. Don't get me started with microfilm readers. So 20th century!

Don't write down where you got stuff - all the experts tell you to write down where you found stuff - you know documents and things. Why? You already found it - so why would you write down where you found it? That's dumb. If you were walking down the street and found a twenty dollar bill would you rush home and write down the address of where you found it? Heck no - you'd spend it. Look - I found it - you didn't. if you want to prove me wrong - go find it yourself. That's your problem, not mine. Why? Cause I already found it. That's another "Duh". So you say - for future generations!. Again that's their problem - you'll be dead anyway - what do you care?

Copy from every tree you can find - this is my favorite because it makes it so easy to not find any of the right ancestors. There are tons of already perfect family trees out there - on Ancestry, FamilySearch, WikiTree, My Heritage, and many more. I have always felt that if it is written down and/or published then it has to be correct. So you want to join all these sites and copy all of the trees and merge them with your tree. Then you will have tons of possible ancestors all in one place. What a goldmine of ancestors - most of whom aren't yours.

Don't try to find living relatives - Okay - you have been at this "not finding ancestors" thing for quite awhile. Everybody says that you should try to find "cousins" - not necessarily first cousins, but 2nd, 3rd, removed ones, etc. Have you met my cousins? I don't need more cousins like them. But I digress. Here's the deal - if these so-called cousins were interested in genealogy wouldn't they have already contacted you? And if they haven't, then it means that they don't care. And let me tell you - some of these cousins make this "not finding ancestors" thing an art form. They hide old boxes of ancestor documents and photos in their garages and attics and claim to have no time to look through them. So don't even bother trying to find them and contact them. Keep your not finding ancestors streak alive.

FULL DISCLOSURE - everything written above is intended to be a joke. PLEASE do NOT do any of these things like I said. Meet with your older relatives NOW; don't rely on exact searches; get out of the house and to libraries and archives - that is where you will find some really great stuff; please write down your sources - if not for future generations but for yourself - so you don't have to ask yourself where you found it; be very careful with existing online family trees - use them as clues only and VERIFY!; and yes - try to find other "cousins" - not only will you expand your tree but you will meet some great people who may indeed help you.

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

Free South Carolina Probate Records and Wills

10/22/2019

Probate records and wills are available online from all over the U.S. and are what I consider another hidden gem of information that can assist you in advancing your family history and genealogy research.

What can you find in these records? How about date of death, spouses and children names, birth order, siblings and siblings spouses, parents names, and residence locations for all named persons. Also, ownership of land and/or other significant property, business names and occupation, military service, guardianships, and adoptions. Basically anything owned by the deceased is typically listed and to whom it is to be assigned to.

I won't pretend to be an expert on the probate process - all I know is that I have discovered an amazing amount of good information from probate records and wills as part of my personal genealogy research.

Here are a few good primers on the benefits of searching probate documents and wills:

Below, listed by state are links to probate records, wills, and indexes available for free online.

Note: Please be aware that if you find a desired will or probate record in an index, that the holder of the actual materials (e.g., (archive, county court, etc.) may charge a small fee to send you a copy of the material itself.

Note: Some of the links listed below take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections' images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital.

(Updated October, 2019; recently added links are in BOLD)

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

Free Louisiana Probate Records and Wills

10/20/2019

Probate records and wills are available online from all over the U.S. and are what I consider another hidden gem of information that can assist you in advancing your family history and genealogy research.

What can you find in these records? How about date of death, spouses and children names, birth order, siblings and siblings spouses, parents names, and residence locations for all named persons. Also, ownership of land and/or other significant property, business names and occupation, military service, guardianships, and adoptions. Basically anything owned by the deceased is typically listed and to whom it is to be assigned to.

I won't pretend to be an expert on the probate process - all I know is that I have discovered an amazing amount of good information from probate records and wills as part of my personal genealogy research.

Here are a few good primers on the benefits of searching probate documents and wills:

Below, listed by state are links to probate records, wills, and indexes available for free online.

Note: Please be aware that if you find a desired will or probate record in an index, that the holder of the actual materials (e.g., (archive, county court, etc.) may charge a small fee to send you a copy of the material itself.

Note: Some of the links listed below take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections' images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital.

(Updated October, 2019; recently added links are in BOLD)

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

Free Georgia Probate Records and Wills

10/16/2019

Probate records and wills are available online from all over the U.S. and are what I consider another hidden gem of information that can assist you in advancing your family history and genealogy research.

What can you find in these records? How about date of death, spouses and children names, birth order, siblings and siblings spouses, parents names, and residence locations for all named persons. Also, ownership of land and/or other significant property, business names and occupation, military service, guardianships, and adoptions. Basically anything owned by the deceased is typically listed and to whom it is to be assigned to.

I won't pretend to be an expert on the probate process - all I know is that I have discovered an amazing amount of good information from probate records and wills as part of my personal genealogy research.

Here are a few good primers on the benefits of searching probate documents and wills:

Below, listed by state are links to probate records, wills, and indexes available for free online.

Note: Please be aware that if you find a desired will or probate record in an index, that the holder of the actual materials (e.g., (archive, county court, etc.) may charge a small fee to send you a copy of the material itself.

Note: Some of the links listed below take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections' images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital.

(Updated October, 2019; recently added links are in BOLD)

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

FamilySearch New and Updated Collections - October 1-15, 2019

10/15/2019

Source: familysearch.org

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

For the period of October 1-15, 2019, 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!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

Free Alabama Probate Records and Wills

10/9/2019

Probate records and wills are available online from all over the U.S. and are what I consider another hidden gem of information that can assist you in advancing your family history and genealogy research.

What can you find in these records? How about date of death, spouses and children names, birth order, siblings and siblings spouses, parents names, and residence locations for all named persons. Also, ownership of land and/or other significant property, business names and occupation, military service, guardianships, and adoptions. Basically anything owned by the deceased is typically listed and to whom it is to be assigned to.

I won't pretend to be an expert on the probate process - all I know is that I have discovered an amazing amount of good information from probate records and wills as part of my personal genealogy research.

Here are a few good primers on the benefits of searching probate documents and wills:

Below, listed by state are links to probate records, wills, and indexes available for free online.

Note: Please be aware that if you find a desired will or probate record in an index, that the holder of the actual materials (e.g., (archive, county court, etc.) may charge a small fee to send you a copy of the material itself.

Note: Some of the links listed below take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections' images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital.

(Updated October, 2019; recently added links are in BOLD)

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

Free Online Divorce Record Collections for the Western States

10/8/2019

Divorce records from all over the U.S are sometimes difficult to find online. They are another hidden gem of information that can assist you in advancing your family history and genealogy research.

What can you find in these records? Obviously the dates and location of the divorce proceeding, the date and location of the marriage, the woman's maiden name, names of minor children, and the reason for the divorce. The reason can not only provide another part of your ancestor's story, but also may lead to more clues, especially in the case of desertion, where you may be able to find the location that the "deserting" party moved to.

WARNING: Some of the information in the Divorce Petitions may be difficult to read. There may be shocking claims, especially related to your ancestors' physical and emotional cruelty, or other behavior. Be prepared.

In most cases, I did not include the links to County Courts, where most divorce records are now processed and the documents held. But these divorce documents for most states are partially held in either state archives or county clerk records. So you may wish to avail yourself of these county clerk an court archives, especially those that can be searched online.

Note: Please be aware that if you find a desired divorce record in an index, that the holder of the actual materials (e.g., archive, county court, etc.) may charge a small fee to send you a copy of the material itself.

Note: Some of the links listed below take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections' images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital.

Below, listed by state are links to divorce records and indexes available for free online.

(Updated October, 2019; recently added links are in BOLD)

Alaska

Arizona

California

Colorado

Hawaii

Idaho

Montana

Nevada

Clark County, Family Records Case Search

New Mexico

(None yet)

Oregon

Utah

Washington

Wyoming

For free online divorce records from other states, please visit the Divorce Records page.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

70 Million Historic U.S. Newspaper Pages Now Available from Advantage Archives

10/7/2019

For the last 3 years I have been tracking the online collections made available by the Advantage Archives (formerly Advantage Preservation) company, who has contracted with several hundred libraries and other institutions across the U.S. to digitize and host their online newspaper collections.

The great majority of these links have been Incorporated in the state collection summaries found in the Newspaper Links page on this site.

The most recent update from Advantage Archives totals 644 collections from 42 states (plus one Canadian province) and a total number of pages exceeding 70 million!

Some of the collections are small, but others have over 50 different newspaper titles. Although Advantage Archives gets the credit for making these available, much of the credit should go to the individual libraries, library systems, historical societies and other institutions, who do the really hard work of obtaining the funds via grants and other funding sources to digitize these old newspapers and make them available online for their patrons. In these times where funding for digitization of old newspapers from libraries, archives and other institutions is not easy to get, those of us who want to research our genealogy through newspapers and other documents owe a large debt of gratitude to the librarians and archivists who make all of this possible. The moral of the story is "Support your local libraries and archives!"

Here is a list by state and county of the online collections available to search for free and those who allow searching only in the library's location.

Alabama

Baldwin - Fairhope Public Library

Alaska

Kodiak Island Borough - Kodiak (Onsite)
Wrangell-Petersburg - Petersburg Public Library

Arizona

Pinal - Casa Grande Public Library
Pinal - Eloy Santa Cruz Library

Arkansas

Sebastian - Fort Smith Public Library

California

Los Angeles - Italian American Museum (Onsite)

Colorado

San Juan County - San Juan County
Yuma - Yuma Public Library

Connecticut

Fairfield - Weston Library
Hartford - Farmington Libraries
Hartford - New Britain Public Library
Hartford - Windsor Locks Historical Society
Hartford - Windsor Locks Historical Society
Litchfield - Beardsley & Memorial Library
Litchfield - Scoville Memorial Library
Litchfield - Thomaston Public Library
Middlesex - East Hampton Public Library
New Haven - Ansonia Historical Commission
New Haven - James Blackstone Memorial Library
New Haven - North Haven Public Library
New Haven - Wallingford City Directories

Delaware

New Castle - New Castle Public Library

Georgia

Colquitt - Moultrie Colquitt County Library System
Dawson - Dawson County Library
Glynn - Marshes of Glynn Library
Laurens - Oconee Regional Library System (Onsite)
Lee - Lee County Library
Morgan - Uncle Remus Regional Library System
Worth - Worth County Library
Bannock - Marshall Public Library
Bear Lake - Bear Lake County Library

Idaho

Bingham - Blackfoot Library
Cassia - Burley Public Library
Clearwater - Elk River Free Library
East Bonner - East Bonner County Library District
Franklin - Franklin County Library District
Jerome - Jerome Public Library
Kootenai - Hayden Community Library Network
Lemhi - Salmon Public Library
Payette - Armoral Tuttle Public Library
Teton - Valley of the Tetons District Library

Illinois

Brown - Brown County Public Library
Cassio - Beardstown Houston Memorial Library
Clark - Marshall Public Library
Cook - Bellwood Public Library
Cook - Forest Park Public Library
Cook - Midlothian Public Library
Cook - Park Ridge Library (Onsite)
Cook - River Forest Public Library
DeKalb - Hinckley Historical Society
DeKalb - Shabbona Lee Rolo Historical Museum
DeWitt - Farmer City Library
DuPage - Addison Public Library
DuPage - St. Charles Public Library
Hancock - Warsaw Public Library
Henry - Cambridge Library
Henry - Clover Public Library District
Henry - Galva Public Library
Henry - Geneseo Public Library District
Henry - Kewanee Public Library District
Henry - Western District Library
Kane - St. Charles Public Library
Kane - Town and Country Public Library District
LaSalle - Earlville Library District
Lawrence - Lawrence Public Library
Logan - Atlanta Public Library and Museum
Marshall - Henry Public Library
McHenry - Harvard Diggins Library
Ogle - Byron Public Library
Ogle - Polo Public Library
Peoria - Brimfield Public Library
Peoria - Peoria Heights Public Library
Rock Island - Moline Public Library
Schuyler - Rushville Illinois
St. Clair - Freeburg Area Library District
St. Clair - New Athens District Library
Stark - Bradford Public Library District
Stark - Toulon Public Library
Tazewell - Morton Public Library
Whiteside - Erie Illinois Public Library
Whiteside - Sterling Public Library
Will - Plainfield Public Library District
Winnebago - Talcott Free Library District
Woodford - Illinois Prairie District Public Library

Indiana

Knox - Knox County Public Library

Iowa

Allamakee - Postville Public Library
Appanoose - Centerville Iowegian
Benton - Baseball Museum of Norway
Benton - Belle Plaine Community Library
Benton - Blairstown Public Library
Benton - Schroeder Public Library
Benton - Vinton Public Library & the Benton County Historical Society
Black Hawk - La Porte City
Bremer - Sumner Public Library
Bremer - Waverly Public Library
Buchanan - Jesup Public Library
Buchanan - Lamont
Buena Vista - Albert City Historical Society
Buena Vista - Buena Vista University
Buena Vista - Marathon Public Library
Buena Vista - Newell Public Library
Buena Vista - Sioux Rapids Public Library
Buena Vista - Storm Lake Public Library
Butler - Aplington Legion Memorial Library
Butler - Clarksville Public Library
Butler - Greene Public Library
Butler - Kothe Memorial Library
Carroll - Carroll Public Library
Carroll - Coon Rapids Public Library
Cass - Cass County Genealogical Society
Cass - Griswold Public Library
Cedar - Clarence Newspaper
Cedar - West Branch Public Library
Cerro Gordo - Clear Lake
Cherokee - Aurelia Public Library
Cherokee - Cherokee Public Library
Cherokee - Marcus Public Library
Chickasaw - New Hampton Public Library
Clarke - Oseola Public Library
Clay - Kirchner French Public Library
Clay - Spencer Public Library
Clayton - Elkader Public Library
Clayton - Garnavillo Historical Society
Clayton - Guttenberg Public Library
Clayton - McGregor Historical Museum
Clayton - Monona Public Library
Clinton - Clinton Public Library
Crawford - Charter Oak
Crawford - Norelius Community Library
Crawford - Schleswig Public Library
Dallas - Perry Iowa
Dallas - Woodward
Delaware - Manchester Iowa Archive
Dickinson - Dickinson County
Dubuque - City of Dubuque
Dubuque - The Witness
Emmet - Estherville Public Library
Fayette - Elgin Public Library
Fayette - Fayette Public Library
Fayette - Oelwein (Onsite)
Fayette - The Collegian
Fayette - West Union Community Library
Floyd - Rockford Public Library
Greene - Jefferson Public Library
Grundy - Beaman Community Memorial Library
Grundy - Conrad Museum
Grundy - Kling Memorial Library
Grundy - Ostfriesen Heritage Society
Guthrie - Bayard Public Library
Guthrie - Mary Burnett Memorial Library
Guthrie - Stuart Public Library
Hamilton - Ellsworth Public Library
Hamilton - Hamilton County
Hancock - Hancock County
Hardin - Ackley Public Library
Hardin - Hardin County Iowa (Onsite)
Harrison - Dunlap
Harrison - Missouri Valley Public Library (Onsite)
Henry - Winfield Public Library
Howard - Howard Winnishiek-Cresco
Humboldt - Humboldt County Genealogical Society
Humboldt - Gilmore City
Ida - Battle Creek
Ida - Ida Grove Public Library
Iowa - Iowa County Genealogical (Onsite)
Iowa - Williamsburg Iowa (Onsite)
Jasper - Monroe Public Library
Johnson - Iowa City Public Library
Johnson - Oxford Public Library
Jones - Jones County Genealogical Society
Jones - Ross & Elizabeth Baty Public Library, Monticello
Keokuk - Hedrick Public Library
Keokuk - North English
Kossuth - Algona Public Library
Kossuth - Kossuth County Newspapers
Linn - Cedar Rapids Public Library
Linn - Coe College
Linn - Coggon Historical Society
Linn - Cornell College
Linn - Linn County Atlas
Linn - Marion Public Library
Linn - Mount Vernon Public Library
Louisa - Mellinger Public Library
Lucas - Chariton Public Library
Lyon - Rock Rapids Public Library
Madison - Earlham Echo
Madison - Winterset Public Library
Marion - Central College
Marion - Marion County
Marion - Pella Public Library
Marshall - Gutekunst Public Library
Marshall - Marshalltown Public Library
Mills - Malvern Public Library
Mills - The Silver City Historical Society
Mitchell - Nissen Public Library
Mitchell - Osage Public Library
Monona - Mapleton Public Library
Monona - Onawa Public Library
Monroe - Monroe County Historical Society
Montgomery - Red Oak Community
Montgomery - Stanton Historical Society
Montgomery - Villisca Public Library
O'Brien - General N.B. Baker Library
O'Brien - Hartley Public Library
O'Brien - O'Brien County Archives
O'Brien - Paullina Public Library
O'Brien - Sanborn Public Library
Osceola - Sibley Public Library
Page - Essex Lied Public Library
Page - Lied Public Library
Page - Shenandoah Public Library (Onsite)
Palo Alto - Graettinger Public Library
Palo Alto - Palo Alto County
Plymouth - Akron Public Library
Plymouth - Kingsley Public Library
Plymouth - LeMars Public Library
Plymouth - Remsen Public Library
Pocahontas - Laurens Public Library
Pocahontas - Pocahontas Public Library
Pocahontas - Rolfe Public Library
Polk - Children and Families of Iowa
Polk - Johnston Public Library
Pottawattamie - Avoca
Pottawattamie - Botna Valley Genealogy Society
Pottawattamie - Walnut Public Library
Ringgold - Mount Ayr Preservation
Ringgold - Tingley Vindicator
Sac - Odebolt Public Library and Museum
Scott - Catholic Messenger
Scott - Scott County Library
Shelby - Harlan Public Library
Sioux - Libraries of Sioux County
Sioux - Northwestern College
Story - Ames Public Library
Story - Bertha Bartlett Public Library
Story - Nevada Iowa Archive
Tama - Tama County
Taylor - Lenox Public Library
Wapello - Eddyville Public Library
Warren - Warren County Historical Society
Washington - Kalona Public Library
Washington - Washington County Library Association
Wayne - Seymour Community Library
Webster - Fort Dodge Public Library
Webster - Lehigh
Winnebago - Lake Mills
Winneshiek - Luther College
Woodbury - Catholic Globe
Woodbury - Correctionville
Woodbury - Morningside College
Worth - Worth County Historical Society
Wright - Clarion Public Library
Wright - Eagle Grove Memorial Library
Wright - Talbot Belmond Public Library (Onsite)

Kansas

Allen - Humboldt Public Library
Anderson - Garnett Public Library
Brown - Morrill Public Library
Chase - Chase County Historical Society
Coffey - Coffey County Library
Cowley - Arkansas City Public Library
Franklin - Ottawa University
Geary - Dorothy Bramlage Public Library
Gove - Grinnell-Angelus Heritage Center
Harvey - Bethel College
Harvey - Newton Public Library
Logan - Oakley Public Library
Lyon - Emporia Public Library
Lyon - Lyon County Library
Marion - Peabody High School Yearbooks
Marion - Peabody Township Library
Marshall - Waterville Public Library
Montgomery - Independence Public Library
Nemaha - Mary Cotton Public Library
Nemaha - Seneca Free Library
Osborne - Osborne Public Library
Pawnee - Jordaan Memorial Library
Pottawatomie - Wamego Public Library
Rooks - Plainville Memorial Library
Russell - Russell Public Library
Sedgewick - Derby Public Library
Stevens - Stevens County Library

Kentucky

Adair - Adair County Library
Clark - Clark County Public Library
Clinton - Clinton County Public Library
Green - Green County Public Library
Johnson - Johnson County Library
McCreary - McCreary County Public Library
Meade - Meade County Public Library
Metcalfe - Metcalfe Library
Pulaski - Pulaski
Russell - Russell County Public Library
Scott - Scott County Public Library
Wayne - Wayne County Public Library

Louisiana

Acadia - Acadia Parish Library
Bienville - Bienville Parish Public Library
Caldwell - Caldwell Parish Library
Concordia - Concordia Parish Public Library
East Baton Rouge - East Baton Rouge Parish Library
Jefferson Davis - Jennings Carnegie
Lafayette - Lafayette Public Library
LaSalle - LaSalle Parish Library
Livingston - Livingston Parish News
Rapides - Rapides Parish Library
Union - Union Parish Library
Vermilion - Vermilion Yearbooks
Vermillion - Vermilion Parish Library
Vernon - Vernon Parish Library
Webster - Webster Parish Library

Maine

Aroostook - Caribou Public Library
Aroostook - Fort Fairfield Public Library
Aroostook - Houlton High School Yearbooks
Aroostook - Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library
Aroostook - Walter TA Hansen Memorial Library
Cumberland - Bridgton Public Library
Cumberland - Scarborough Public Library
Kennebec - Gardiner Public Library
Lincoln - Lincoln County News
Lincoln - Skidompha Library
Lincoln - Skidompha Public Library
Penobscot - Old Town Public Library
Piscataquis - Thompson Free Library
Somerset - Pittsfield Public Library
Waldo - Alice L. Pendleton Library
Waldo - Belfast Free Library
York - McArthur Public Library
York - Springvale Public Library and Goodall Memorial Library

Manitoba

Westman Region - Brandon Sun

Maryland

Montgomery - Montgomery County Public Libraries
Queen Anne's - Queen Anne's County Library
Worcester - Worcester County Library

Massachusetts

Berkshire - Lee Public Library
Beverly - Beverly Public Library
Bristol - Ames Free Library of Easton (Onsite)
Bristol - Mansfield Public Library
Bristol - Somerset Public Library (Onsite)
Essex - Amesbury Public Library
Essex - Boxford
Essex - Flint Public Library
Essex - Manchester by the Sea
Essex - Manchester Cricket
Essex - Marblehead Public Library
Essex - Newburyport Public Library
Essex - Newburyport Public Library
Essex - Topsfield Library
Franklin - Montague Public Libraries
Franklin - Wheeler Memorial Library
Hampden - Wilbraham Public Library
Hampshire - Granby
Middlesex - Acton Memorial Library
Middlesex - Flint Memorial Library
Middlesex - Hudson Public Library
Middlesex - J V Fletcher Library
Middlesex - Lincoln Public Library
Middlesex - Stoneham Public Library
Middlesex - Tewksbury Public Library
Norfolk - Holbrook Public Library
Norfolk - Morrill Memorial Library
Norfolk - Sharon Public Library
Norfolk - Turner Free Library
Plymouth - East Bridgewater
Plymouth - Scituate Town Library
Suffolk - Revere Public Library
Worcester - Beals Memorial Library
Worcester - Leominster Public Library
Worcester - Oxford Public Library
Worcester - Stevens Memorial Library

Michigan

Alger - Munising School Public Library (Onsite)
Bay - Delta College Collegiate
Berrien - Bridgman Public Library
Genesee - Kettering University Library
Gratiot - Alma College
Kent - Grand Rapids Public Library
Newaygo - White Cloud Community Library
Oceana - Shelby Area District Library

Minnesota

Goodhue - Redwing
Martin - Martin County Public Library (Onsite)
Martin - Martin County Public Library

Mississippi

Coahoma - Carnegie Public Library
Wayne - Waynesboro Wayne County Library System (Onsite)

Missouri

Grundy - Grundy County Jewett Norris Library
Putnam - Putnam County Public Library

Montana

Nebraska

Antelope - Neligh Public Library
Boone - Albion Public Library
Brown - Ainsworth Public Library
Brown - Ainsworth Public Library (Onsite)
Burt - Decatur Herald Newspaper
Burt - Lyons Public Library
Burt - Oakland Public Library
Cass - Cass County Nebraska
Cedar - Lied Randolph Public Library (Onsite)
Cheyenne - Dalton Delegate
Cheyenne - Sidney Public Library
Dixon - Dixon County Nebraska
Dixon - Gardner Public Library
Dixon - Ponca Carnegie Library
Dodge - North Bend Public Library
Dodge - Scribner Public Library
Douglas - The Reader
Fillmore - Fillmore County Public Library
Furnas - Arapahoe (Onsite)
Furnas - Arapahoe Public Library
Furnas - Butler Memorial Library
Gage - Hometown Adams
Greeley - Scotia Public Library and Heritage Center
Holt - Atkinson Library
Howard - Saint Paul Library
Knox - Creighton Public Library
Knox - Verdigre Public Library
Lincoln - North Platte Genealogical Society
Madison - Tilden
Merrick - Central City Public Library
Nuckolls - Nelson Public Library
Otoe - Otoe County Archives
Pawnee - Pawnee City Library (Onsite)
Perkins - Hastings Memorial Library
Pierce - Lied Pierce Public Library
Pierce - Plainview News
Platte - Humphrey Library
Polk - Polk County Historical Society
Saline - Crete Heritage Society
Saline - Doane University
Seward - Seward Memorial Library
Stanton - Stanton Public Library
Valley - North Loup Public Library

Nevada

Douglas - Douglas County Public Library

New Hampshire

Carroll - Conway Public Library
Grafton - Bethlehem Public Library
Hillsborough - Fuller Public Library
Hillsborough - Peterborough Town Library
Hillsborough - Wadleigh Memorial Library
Hillsborough - Nashua Public Library
Rockingham - Derry Public Library
Rockingham - Kelley Library
Rockingham - Plaistow Public Library
Rockingham - The Nesmith Library
Strafford - Dover Public Library
Strafford - Farmington News of Farmington New Hampshire
Strafford - Lee Public Library
Sullivan - Fiske Free Library
Sullivan - Richards Free Library

New Jersey

Camden - Cherry Hills Public Library

New York

Albany - Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany
Broome - George Johnson Memorial Library
Broome - Lisle Free Library
Broome - Mary L. Wilcox Memorial Library
Cattaraugus - Allegany Public Library
Cattaraugus - Saint Bonaventure University - Friedsam Memorial Library
Cayuga - The Seymour Public Library
Chenango - Afton Free Library
Chenango - Bainbridge (NY) Historical Society
Chenango - Guernsey Memorial Library
Chenango - Sherburne Public Library
Columbia - Roeliff Jansen Community Library
Delaware - Sidney Memorial Library
Greene - Catskill (Onsite)
Jefferson - Roswell P Flower Memorial Library
Madison - Cazenovia Public Library
Madison - Oneida Public Library
Nassau - Glen Cove Public Library
Nassau - Hewlett Woodmere Public Library
Nassau - Long Beach Public Library
Nassau - Massepequa Public Library
Onondoga - Fayetteville Free Library
Onondoga - Marcellus Free Library
Orange - Albert Wisner Public Library
Orange - Josephine - Louise Public Library
Otsego - The Village Library of Morris
Rensselaer - Troy Public Library
Rockland - Nyack Library
Steuben - Addison Public Library
Steuben - Hornell Public Library
Suffolk - Long Island Republic Airport Historical Society
Sullivan - The Liberty Public Library
Tompkins - Southworth Library
Tompkins - Trumansburg Public Library
Tompkins - Ulysses Philomathic Library
Ulster - Saugerties Public Library
Ulster - Woodstock Public Library
Wayne - Clyde-Savannah Public Library
Wayne - Sodus Community Library
Wayne - Williamson Public Library
Westchester - Chappaqua Public Library
Westchester - Katonah Village Library
Westchester - North Castle Public Library
Westchester - Port Chester - Rye Brook Public Library
Wyoming - Perry Public Library
Wyoming - Pioneer Library System
Wyoming - Stevens Memorial Library & The Attica Historical Society

North Carolina

North Dakota

Divide - Divide County Library
Morton - Flasher
North Dakota - North Dakota Archives
Traill - Hillsboro

Ohio

Brown - Union Township Public Library
Champaign - Champaign County Library
Champaign - St. Paris Public Library
Columbiana - Carnegie Public Library
Columbiana - Lepper Public Library
Erie - Huron Public Library
Franklin - Southwest Public Libraries
Franklin - Westland Area Library
Fulton - Archbold Community Library
Fulton - Swanton Public Library
Gallia - Bossard Memorial Library
Hancock - Findlay-Hancock County Public Library
Hardin - Ada Public Library
Hardin - Forest Jackson Public Library
Holmes - Holmes County District Public Library
Huron - Bellevue Public Library
Huron - Huron County Community Library
Jackson - Jackson City Library
Lawrence - Briggs Lawrence County Public Library
Licking - Mary Babcock Library
Lorain - Avon Lake Public Library
Mercer - Coldwater Public Library
Mercer - Fort Recovery Public Library
Ottawa - Oak Harbor Public Library
Paulding - Paulding County Carnegie Library
Preble - Brown Memorial Library
Richland - Mansfield and Richland County Public Library
Richland - Marvin Memorial Library
Seneca - Seneca East Public Library
Stark - Stark County District Library
Trumbull - McKinley Memorial Library
Wayne - Wayne County Public Library
Wood - Rossford Public Library
Wood - Way Public Library
Wood - Wayne Public Library
Wood - Weston Public Library
Wood - Wood County District Public Library
Wyandot - Dorcas Carey Public Library

Oklahoma

Bryan - Donald W Reynolds Community Center & Library
Kingfisher - Hennessey Public Library
Texas - Guymon Public Library

Oregon

Coos - Flora M Laird Memorial Library
Umatilla - The Weston Public Library
Wallowa - Enterprise City
Wallowa - Wallowa History Center (Onsite)

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

Bristol - Bristol Phoenix
Kent - East Greenwich Free Library
Kent - East Greenwich Post 2000 Newspapers (Onsite)
Kent - Warwick Public Library (Onsite)
Kent - West Warwick Public Library
Newport - Jamestown Philomenian Library
Providence - Cranston Public Library
Providence - Greenville Public Library (Onsite)
Providence - Pawtucket Public Library
Washington - Island Free Library
Washington - Maury Loontjens Memorial Library
Washington - North Kingstown Library

South Dakota

Union - Beresford Public Library (Onsite)
Union - Beresford Public Library
Hamilton - Chattanooga Newspapers

Texas

Andrews - Andrews County Library
Austin - Bellville Public Library
Bee - Joe Barnhart Bee County Library
Bell - Killeen (Onsite)
Blanco - Blanco County North and South Library Districts
Cameron - Harlingen Public Library
Camp - Pittsburg-Camp County Public Library
Chambers - Chambers County Library System
Colorado - Nesbitt Memorial Library
Comal - New Braunfels Public Library
Comal - New Braunfels Public Library (Onsite)
Crane - Crane County Public Library
Dallam - XIT Museum
Frio - Dilley Public Library
Galveston - Friendswood Public Library
Grayson - Denison Public Library
Hays - San Marcos Public Library
Hidalgo - Speer Memorial Library
Hood - Hood County Public Library
Hunt - Commerce Public Library
Karnes - Karnes City Public Library
Karnes - Kenedy Public Library
Mitchell - Mitchell County Library
Oldham - Oldham County Public Library
Pecos - Fort Stockton Public Library
Pecos - Iraan Public Library
Reeves - Reeves County Library
Scurry - Scurry County Library
Swisher - Swisher County Public Library
Tarrant - John Ed Keeter Public Library
Tom Green - Tom Green County Library (Onsite)
Trinity - Blanche K. Werner Library
Victoria - Victoria College Library (Onsite)
Victoria - Victoria Public Library
Wichita - Burkburnett Public Library
Wichita - Electra Public Library
Wichita - Wichita Falls Public Library (Onsite)
Williamson - Eula Hunt Beck Florence Public Library
Wise - Decatur Public Library
Wood - Gilbreath Memorial Library

Vermont

Virginia

Frederick - Handley Regional Library
Frederick - Wayside Theater

West Virginia

Mercer - Princeton Public Library
Mineral - Potomac State College Mary Shipper Library
Ohio - Ohio County Public Library

Wisconsin

Barron - Rice Lake Public Library
Chippewa - Chippewa Falls Public Library
Columbia - Kilbourn Public Library
Dunn - Menomonie Public Library
Forest - Crandon Public Library
Jefferson - Irvin L Young Memorial Library
Juneau - Elroy Public Library

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

Are You Researching Genealogy's Biggest Clues Machine?

10/6/2019

I was thinking the other day about evidence and clues and the difference. I am not going to expound about primary or secondary sources, the Genealogical Proof Standard, evidence analysis, or original or derivatives, etc. I am not qualified to do that.

What I wish to talk about are clues. Clues we can get from different types of resources - documents, discussions with relatives, old letters, photos, and even sub-standard family trees on tree sites - and many others.

The richest source of clues are often considered to be census records. Yes indeed - they are chock full of clues - they provide us with where folks lived, who they lived with - and if we believe the census taker and census information provider - who folks are related to. Yes - censuses are certainly rich.

But I think there is an even bigger "clues machine" - and that is old newspapers. Ah - you say - this from a guy who focuses on newspaper research and even has a page dedicated on this site entitled Newspapers, and yes that page has 50 articles about searching newspapers and almost 100 articles with research links and tutorials just about that subject. So yeah - I'm biased.

But think about it - marriage license announcements in the newspaper are a clue that someone may (or may not) have gotten married. And birth announcements tell us about the son born to Mr. and Mrs. John Doe - and often have the date as well as the name of the hospital. These are clues. And obituaries? Wow - the names of siblings, which are often the first clue to a woman's maiden name if you only know her married surname. And maybe where they were buried, among many other "clues." And of course where and when they passed. More clues.

And also important - beyond names and dates - what about the life stories of our ancestors? The clubs they belonged to; the vacations they took;, the schools they graduated from; did they commit a crime or were a crime victim; did they win anything at the state or county fair; were they a boxer or a bridge player? These are all clues that add to their life story.

All this "stuff" can be found in old newspapers.

And yes - in my biased opinion - old newspapers are the biggest clues machine in genealogy. With the rapidly increasing number of digitized and online newspapers being added every single day - many of them free - you are really missing out if you are not using this resource.

Much of the time you have to start with clues before you can get "evidence." And getting clues from every possible resource should be one of your research goals.

So you need to research newspapers - genealogy's Biggest Clues Machine. You'll be glad that you did. And I'm here to help.

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

27 Ways to Find Ancestor Birth Information

10/6/2019

Source: freeprintablecertificates.net

When researching our ancestors, one of the most important events is obviously their birth (otherwise they wouldn't be ancestors - but I digress). Determining the date and location of birth is important as we document the major events in their lives.

Most folks limit their search to the obvious repositories, whether online or not. But there are many ways to determine specifics about someone's birth, as well as finding clues that help you narrow their birth date to at least a single year or two.

Most of these listed source types should not stand alone as evidence of the actual date and location of an ancestor's' birth - so you might want to check many of these sources to provide corroborating evidence.

State Birth and Death Indexes - whether online or in a book at a library/archive - these provide dates and sometimes the location of birth. But since they are indexes that are most likely entered from birth certificates, hospital reports, or death indexes, you always have to keep in mind that transcription and typing errors can occur.
Birth Certificates - this is the best document for establishing date and location of birth. Usually they are signed by an attending physician who was there when the baby was born. At least for those in the last several decades.
Cemetery Records - there are lots of ways to find this information. There are several online sites that have information and photos of gravestones, where the date of birth (often only the year) is inscribed. And you can visit individual cemeteries where records sometimes are made available. But again these are only as good as the information that the purchaser of the gravestone has provided. Mistakes can be made.
Draft Cards - the applicant must enter their exact birth date.
Naturalization and Citizenship Records - Exact birth dates are included.
Military Records - the military is quite good at keeping lots of information regarding service members - so you should have lots of places where the birth information is recorded, especially in enlistment papers.
Social Security Applications - the birth date is always requested in the SS-5 application.
Birth Announcements in Newspapers - often the older ones in the Vitals section say "To the wife of John Smith, a son, in Marysville on Wednesday" or something like that. You can calculate based on the date of the newspaper the exact birth date. And you will have to perform some analysis to tie that to a child in the family. This is not always easy when there are 7 or 8 children and you only have dates for some. There are also birth announcements in the local news and society page sections.
Census Records - well you won't find anyone's birth dates in most census records (except you can get the birth month and year in the 1900 U.S. Census). But you do get the age stated and that could lead you to a possible birth year within 1, 2, or 3 years.
Immigration Records - although the exact birth date is not often included - the age is, so simple math, similar to census records, can get you within a year or so for the birth year.
Travel Records - although these are sometimes called immigration records - many in the 1900's indeed do have the actual birth date of the traveler.
Death Certificates - often the date of birth is included in the death certificate, if not the actual date but at least the age at the person's passing so the year can be calculated. But again - the information is only as good as the memory of the informant.
Church Records - baptism and christening records and similar records for other faiths may include birth dates or the date of the event, from which you might be able to calculate the birth date. You might want to keep track of what churches, synagogues, etc. that your ancestors and their families worshiped. And then try to find their early life church event records.
Personal Bibles - many families recorded birth and death date information in the family Bible.
Marriage Licenses and Announcements - usually the age of the applicant is listed in the newspaper and on the license itself, so again simple math can lead you to the birth year.
Funeral and Memorial Records/Books - often the deceased's birth date is included in the memorial cards or books. And also the records from the funeral home.
Passport Applications - the date of birth is included in many variations of applications for passports.
Social Security Death Index (SSDI) - the date of birth is included in the SSDI.
Great Registers - used for voting primarily in the 1800's, the age of the voter is included - so you will have to use your math and subtraction skills to ascertain the approximate birth year.
Employment and Union Records - hard to find but may include date of birth
Newsletters and Minutes - organizations, clubs, churches, and other types of organizations often publish or recognize birthdays for members, which sometimes may include the year of birth as well.
School Records - enrollment records
Employment Records - job applications and other employment files
Membership Organizations - unions, fraternities/sororities, lodges, clubs, etc.
Divorce Records - at least the age is included if not the birth info
Wills and Estate Files - age and possibly birth information is included. Probate court documents may provide fruitful.
Pension Records - whether military or civilian, birth date and location may be included.

Basically - any document that contains the age of the person, and is dated - can lead you to the year of the person's birth; and depending on who completed the document, the evidence can be quite good, or sometimes misleading.

For 1000's of links to Free Online Birth Collections online, check out the BMD Records page on this site!

Are there other specific source types that I have missed that have the exact birth date or age information? Please include these in the comments!

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

10 Reasons Why You Can't Find Ancestor Articles in Online Newspapers

10/6/2019

For those of us who research newspapers to find articles about our ancestors, there is one thing to keep in mind:

"Researching newspapers is a marathon, not a sprint"

OK, enough of the platitude, but why can't I find what I am looking for?

Here are 10 reasons why you might be unsuccessful and what to do about it:

All newspapers are not online. Period. My guess is that it is in the 20 to 25% range (including subscription collections), but that is just a bit of an educated guess. You may have to visit a library or archive and browse through microfilm and original newsprint.
All newspapers online to search are not free. You might just need to invest in one of the subscription sites. I have done so and found articles and obituaries that are not in the free collections. There are often free trials available if you are strapped financially.
You have found newspapers available but they don't have the dates that you are looking for. This happens all the time, so make sure that you check the dates available in the collections before you search.
Your search criteria is lacking. Please check the Newspapers! page on this site for tips and articles on how to search to produce the best results. Don't just search surnames. Vary your spelling. Etc.
Are you Browsing? If the OCR process doesn't convert the dots on the newsprint to the proper text, then the word will not be indexed properly. But browsing through pages may help you find what you are looking for. More tedious? Yes, but I have found a bunch of pertinent articles by browsing. Add browsing to your repertoire.
Don't expect Chronicling America, or Google News Archive, or the subscription sites to always have what you need. Check out my Newspaper Links to find free online collections with thousands of titles.
For your geographical area of interest, check city, county, state, local public library, college and university websites for new online collections. The link lists in #6 above can't keep track of every new collection immediately, so do a bit of research for new collections yourself in the targeted area.
Ask for help. In the Genealogy and Newspapers Facebook Group, there are several members who have offered to look up newspapers for other members in the collections that they have access to, as just one example. But, because of copyright and terms of service restrictions in subscription collections, they can only tell you where to find the newspaper and possibly provide a transcription - NOT the newspaper image itself.
Have a plan. Keep track of your searches and ancestors that you are searching for in a log. Maybe in the future additional dates and/or collections will have the target newspaper that you are waiting for.
Be patient. Don't give up. Educate yourself in the meantime. Become a patient researching machine.

Here's a video for this list of reasons if you would like to kick back and watch for about 90 seconds:

______________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting The Ancestor Hunt!

______________________________________________________

Free Resource Links

Facebook Page

Subscribe

Search This Site

Write or Record Your Autobiography the Easy Way

Use the Coupon Code HUNT to get a 10% discount

Use the Coupon Code HUNT to get a 10% discount

©2012-20

Thanks for Visiting The Ancestor Hunt

"The Ancestor Hunt" is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. There may be a small commission paid to "The Ancestor Hunt" should you purchase from Amazon.

.
"The Ancestor Hunt" is also an affiliate for "A Life Untold", and "Audiobiography". There may be a small commission paid to "The Ancestor Hunt" should you purchase from these companies.

web counter