War of 1812 Pension Find for Amos Butler

A couple weeks ago I made a time zone conversion error that resulted in an hour to wait around for a webinar to begin. (Actually I converted correctly but had the wrong start time stuck in my head.) Having already gone through the email and basics I check each day I started doing some genealogy searches to fill the time.

I don't remember how I ended up on what I did, but I found myself at Fold3 looking at the progress of the War of 1812 Pension Files project.

Years ago (before the rise of email and the internet) we did like many genealogists did -- requested a pre-printed form, filled it out with the magic words "please send the complete file" printed in ink at the top of the form, mailed it off using the U.S. Post Office, and waited. We actually requested one ancestor's pension file twice and got a few different pages each time. But it was cost prohibitive to send for every relation's file in hopes of finding a clue for our research. And since we had the most important file, a trip to see the records in person was lower on the list of places to take a research trip.

Fortunately, the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 prompted the Federation of Genealogical Societies along with the National Archives, Fold3 and Ancestry.com to come together in the Preserve the Pensions project to raise funds for the digitizing of the War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land files and placing them online for free. The goal is to raise $3.7 million dollars by the 2015's 200th anniversary of the War of 1812's end. Ancestry.com is covering half of the project cost by matching each dollar raised.

I was happy to see that it was now reporting the database was 13 percent complete. (The last time I checked it was more like 5 percent.) Unfortunately, most of my main surnames I want to look at are at the end of the alphabet and, of course, they seem to be scanning the files alphabetically starting with A. 

As I glanced around at what was available for each state now (it varies by state) I remembered a particular person in one of my collateral lines, Amos Butler of Otsego County, New York.

To my happy surprise I found his file was digitized and it contained 46 digital images. And an even happier surprise -- these digitized images are in color not black and white! Now I couldn't wait for the webinar to be over so I could concentrate on Amos' pension file.

War of 1812 Pension File for Amos Butler

So what did I discover?

The very first image is a header card or jacket cover that extracts pertinent information from the pages within the file. I've seen one before but this one was very nicely filled out. Some of that information on the card I have seen elsewhere. The real news for me in this case was that the file contained a "family record and sold. discharge ctf. filed in brief." Oh, joy!

Now don't get too excited. Remember, not every pension file contains pages torn from the family bible but occasionally you come across one.

Like any really good genealogist I made sure to download all the digitized page images in the file -- so I would have the complete file. Reading through the pages I realized this file mostly consisted of his widow's claim for a pension. (Sometimes you find these separate.)

When I came to digital images number 9 and 10 of Amos' file the fact that these images are in color came to life -- there sat two pages from the family bible. (They are in fact the front and back of one page.)

Bible Page of Amos and Clarinda Butler

The page torn from the bible contained birth information for both Amos Butler and his wife Clarinda North along with their many children on one side and on the other side Amos and Clarinda's marriage information.

Amos Butler son of John Butler and his wife Cloe, was born August 4th 1793.
Clarinda, wife of Amos Butler, and daughter of Benjamin North, and his wife Weighty, was born September 1st 1804
Warren B. son of Amos Butler and his wife, Clarinda was born August 20th 1821
Benjamin N. son of Amos Butler and his wife Clarinda was born Sept. 19th 1824
Hiram G. son of Amos. Butler, and his wife Clarinda was born July 10th 1826
Menzo W. son of Amos. Butler and his wife, Clarinda, was born Nov 6th 1827
Gabriel N. son of Amos Butler and his wife Clarinda, was born August 18th 1829
Sumner Ely Butler was born June 3rd 1831
Amos Butler Jr was born March 29th 1833
Deloss Butler was born April 21st 1834
Jerome Butler was born July 2 1836

Bible Page of Amos and Clarinda Butler

Waity Elizabeth Butler was born March 11th 1838
John G Butler was born July 1st 1839
Victoria Butler was born December 2nd 1840
Clarinda Butler was born February 7th 1842
Amos Butler Jr. was born September 16th 1844
Frank Butler was born March 10th 1850

Amos Butler, and Clarinda North, were married December 25th in the year of our Lord 1819

Were all these names and dates new to me? No. 

The marriage date in the bible matches the date I had from in a newspaper abstract. I had some of the children's exact birth dates but not all. One interesting thing I noted from the bible page is that Clarinda's mother's name was spelled Weighty while Clarinda's daughter's name was spelled Waity. But clearly (at least to me) it is the same name: Weighty got her name from Waite, the maiden surname of her mother (Clarinda's grandmother.) Again not spelled the same but clear in its intention.

Other interesting information gleaned from the pension file so far:

• From widow's brief: 

• Aaron and Abby Jane North were witnesses to Amos and Clarinda's marriage. [Note to self: investigate their relation to Clarinda.)
• Amos and Clarinda's cohabitation was shown by affidavits of Daniel W. and Belinda W. Wait. [Note to self: investigate their relation to Clarinda.]

• From Aaron and Abby North's affidavit: they were present at the marriage of Amos and Clarinda "in the house of Benjamin North in the town of Middlefield." [Note to self: recheck research done on the North family of Middlefield.]
• In a note accompanying Clarinda's declaration for bounty land, it says: "The above named widow is the mother of eighteen children and all of her sons are supporters of the present administration."
• In the correspondence letters: I learned that Clarinda's lawyer died while she was trying to get her widow's pension thus delaying the process. 
• In the correspondence letters: I learned that Clarinda "temporarily lived" in Cleveland, Ohio, for a short period of time. [Note to self: recheck prior research to recall who of Clarinda's relatives went to Ohio.]

In the process of analyzing this new information I noticed that though the note in the letter says she was the mother of eighteen children, the bible page lists just 15 children while prior to finding this pension file I had uncovered 16 children. Perhaps this disparity is the result of stillborn or children who died young. Another reason to recheck and compare this new information with my prior research.

I am sure analyzing the pension file further will yield more clues and avenues to research. I can not wait to see my ancestor's pension file digitized and learn if I had really been sent "the complete file" so many years ago. 

Source Citation:
"War of 1812 Pension Files", database, Fold3 formerly Footnote (www.fold3.com), entry for Amos Butler (Sergeant, Capt H. Sawyer's Co NY Militia, War of 1812), bounty land warrant no. 11143 including widow Clarinda Butler pension no. WO 35338, WC 22728; citing Case Files of Pension and Bounty Land Applications Based on Service in the War of 1812, 1871-1900; Pension and Bounty Land Applications based on Service between 1812 and 1855; Records of the Department of Veteran Affairs, Record Group 15; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, D.C.

Note: The War of 1812 Pension Files, once digitized, are available on Fold3. They are free to search and view. If you want to download or print an image, you will need to create a log-in account which is free, no subscription necessary.

©2014, goneresearching. All text and photos in this post are copyrighted & owned by me (goneresearching) unless indicated otherwise. No republication (commercial or non-commercial) without prior permission. You may share (tell others) of this blog as long as you give credit and link to this site (not by downloading or copying any post). Thank you.

Where are the Sources?

Tombstone Tuesday

We came across these "genealogy" tombstones eleven years ago in New York and seven years ago in North Carolina; they have always intrigued me. But nowadays when I see them, all I think is: "What are the sources behind those statements carved in stone?" Just because they are carved in stone I wouldn't take them as fact until I did the research myself. 

I guess I'd take the information with a grain of ... granite?

Note: I have not researched either of these families so I do not know the accuracy of these statements. The stone from New York is simply one we came across while searching for a family member's burial plot. The pictures are grainy due to wrong settings used on a new camera. The stones from North Carolina tie into a niece's husband's family that I may or may not get around to researching someday.

in New York (1 of 3 pictures)

in North Carolina (1 of 4 pictures)

in New York (2 of 3 pictures)

in North Carolina (2 of 4 pictures)

in New York (3 of 3 pictures)

in North Carolina (3 of 4 pictures)

in North Carolina (4 of 4 pictures)

in North Carolina (1 of 1 picture)

©2014, goneresearching. All text and photos in this post are copyrighted & owned by me (goneresearching) unless indicated otherwise. No republication (commercial or non-commercial) without prior permission. You may share (tell others) of this blog as long as you give credit and link to this site (not by downloading or copying any post). Thank you.

Soundex: A Blast from the Past OR A Peak Behind the Curtain

So what is Soundex? What does that click box do to my search? Why do people keep telling me to use it when I do a search?

If you started your genealogy research B.C. (before computers) you probably know these answers. You also may have just nodded and sort of smiled about the "good old days." But if you are newer to genealogy research -- A.C. (after computers) especially after the early years -- you may not know that there is a lot behind that simple click on a search form. And that's okay, today we're going to change that.

Soundex is one of many phonetic algorithms that allow us to index words (mainly names) by the sound of the word. So regardless of minor spelling differences the words are grouped (indexed) together.

For genealogists, that means we can find all the Smith, Smyth, Smythe, etc names in one spot. This makes it easier for us because as we go back in time spelling was not standardized and more people were illiterate and may not have known how to spell their name anyways. Soundex gives us a fighting chance to find them in many cases.

According to Wikipedia, Soundex was developed and patented in 1918 and 1922. A variation called American Soundex was used in the 1930s to index the US Census from 1890-1920. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) maintains the rules for implementation for the US Government.

Rules? Yes, rules. [Please read on and learn all about it. Or read on and see how much you remember from the "good old days."]

Soundex converts words to a letter and three numbers -- no matter how many letters make up the word. If you have a Michigan driver's license, the letter and first three numbers of your license number are the Soundex code for the surname on your license. Note: not all states use this as part of the driver's license number.

Before computers (for some of you this equals before you were born), we figured the code with paper and pencil. [It's okay if you use a blank notepad or Word document file but it isn't quite the same as the "old days."]

Take a surname, any surname, and write it down.  Then put four underscores/dashes ( _ _ _ _ ) to the right of the surname or above the surname. As you figure the Soundex code this is where you are going to put your "answers" as you determine the code for the surname you wrote down.

1. The letter portion of the code is always the first letter of the surname/word you are converting.
It does not matter if that first letter is a consonant or a vowel. So write that letter on the first underscore/dash.

Now we figure out the number part of the code (three numbers) from the remaining letters of the surname.

2. Eliminate/cross-out the vowels and a few other letters in the surname. 

A, E, I, O, U, H, W, Y

3. Below the remaining letters of the surname, convert each letter to the appropriate number from the list below.

1 = B, F, P, V
2 = C, G, J, K, Q, S, X, Z
3 = D, T
4 = L
5 = M, N
6 = R

4. Now read and apply any of these additional rules to the surname your wrote down.
Double Letters
If the surname has any double letters, ignore (cross out) the second occurrence of the same letter

Letters Side-by-Side that Convert to the Same Soundex Number
If the surname has two different letters side-by-side that become the same Soundex number, ignore (cross out) the second occurrence of the number. This includes situations where the first letter of the surname (which remains a letter) and the second letter would code to the same number.

Names with Prefixes
In this situation, you need to convert the surname to two different Soundex codes. One using the Prefix and one not using the Prefix. Note: Mac and Mc are not considered prefixes while Van, Le, De, etc. are prefixes. This covers you for different indexing (non-coded) methods used.

Names with Consonant Separators
If a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) separates two consonants with the same number code, the consonant to the right of the vowel is coded -- you use the second occurrence of the code number. But if the letters h or w separate the two consonants with the same number code, you do not use the second occurrence of the code number.

Out of Letters
If you run out of letters, use a 0 (zero) to fill in any of the three Soundex numbers still vacant.

5. Following all the rules, now you should have the number portion of the Soundex code for the surname you wrote down. Transfer your three numbers to the remaining underscores/dashes.

Examples:
Lincoln  =  L524  (L, 5 for N, 2 for C, 4 for L)

Wellington =  W452 (W, 4 for L, ignore the second L, 5 for N, 2 for G, remaining coded consonants are ignored)

Pfropper = P616 (P, ignore f as codes the same as a p, 6 for R, 1 for P, ignore second P, 6 for R)

See = S000 (S, e is a vowel which is ignored and there are no remaining letters so use 000)
Sy = S000 (S, y is not coded and there are no remaining letters so use 000)

The National Archives and Records Administration's explanation of the rules has a good example of the consonant separator rule.
Tymczak = T522 (T, 5 for M, 2 for C, ignore Z since it codes to 2 also, vowel separates so 2 for K)

VanGogh
with prefix = V522 (V, 5 for N, 2 for G, vowel o lies between the next consonant so 2 for the next G is used)
without prefix = G200 (G, 2 for G, no letters remain so use 00)

Want to check if you figured your code correctly? There's a converter for that. In the early days of genealogy on the internet, an automatic Soundex Converter was "a big thing." Today, you can use it to check your work, or use it just for the fun of it. One Soundex Converter is hosted by RootsWeb. There are likely more still out there on the internet. Almost all genealogy programs have a feature to tell you the Soundex code for a surname.

Now this indexing system takes into account many spelling variations. But not all of them.  [Doesn't there almost always seems to be a caveat?]

Soundex will not help you if the first letter of the surname was switched. Like when a census enumerator (not of the same ethnicity as the resident) heard a V when a resident with a German accent said a name spelled with a W. In German, a W is pronounced more like V. Thus Wandschneider can become Vonsnider on a census. And as you can see the Soundex code for Wandschneider (W532) is not the same for Vonsnider (V525) and you won't find these different spellings in the same place (group). So remember to think how someone said something and how it may have been heard. You may need to play with letters a bit.

So, besides the caveat, that is the mystery behind the curtain of today's simple click to use Soundex in your search form. Started your genealogy B.C.? Hope your memory wasn't too rusty.

©2014, goneresearching. All text and photos in this post are copyrighted & owned by me (goneresearching) unless indicated otherwise. No republication (commercial or non-commercial) without prior permission. You may share (tell others) of this blog as long as you give credit and link to this site (not by downloading or copying any post). Thank you.

How Many Ancestors Do You Know? Count Your Genealogy Numbers

I am finally getting back to genealogy and blogging after a busy month and then a very bad, never-ending (it seems) cold.

A recent post,  "What's Your Genealogy Score?", on Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings blog caught my eye late Saturday/early Sunday. He refers to two other bloggers who have done this in the past also. Anyways, his Saturday, January 4, post is about counting up your identified direct ancestors and determining what percentage of your ancestors you know by generation and overall (total).

Normally I don't care to hear someone say I have this number of people in my tree. When I hear this I usually think, "Yeah, but how much of it is really proved and accurate? And how many are really related to you?" I don't see genealogy as a collecting names game, to me it is more of a mystery/detective game.

But in this case, I think the numbers do mean something a bit more:  How much have I learned and how far do I have to go yet? The reality is that very, very few, if any of us, will have all 100% results all the way back through the generations. Natural disasters, people, and a simple lack of recording information have a way of keeping us from the answers we seek. But still we try.

So in between shoveling the driveway three times on Sunday, I started to put together my genealogy numbers.

Using my genealogy program I made an Ahnentafel Report and then proceeded to add up my ancestors by generation. Along the way I made a form in Microsoft Word that includes a table that does the math for you with a few clicks of the mouse and, of course, directions. I'm making it available for anyone to use for personal use only (no commercial use/copying). Here is the form you can download and then edit. (I think I set up access correctly.).

My numbers are pretty much what I expected. I did perfect (100%) up to my 2nd great grandparents (the fifth generation). And did pretty good on my 3rd great grandparents (the sixth generation) scoring in the 90s. After that it was down hill.

I'm mostly German. Luckily for me most of those ancestors were from Mecklenburg-Schwerin where there are bountiful records available. If that had not been the case, my numbers would have been even lower.

BUT some of those German ancestors of mine were from the Vorpommern area and Brandenburg where records are not so available and that pulled down my numbers. And then there is that one non-German line where I have a third great grandfather of whom nothing is known but his name. On top of this, that branch contains my only colonial roots that is for the most part keeping mum about itself. Though I've made some progress here and there, I still have not gotten another generation further back yet.

So here is a screen capture of my results. Randy and the rest (see the comments made to his post) were comparing their results at the 10th generation level. So overall for my 10th generation, I am at 17.99%.

But if I have correctly determined the parents and thus ancestry of one of my 4th great grandmothers (my some progress), I will have added several more generations of ancestors to my results. Curious, I wrote the potential ancestors on my Ahnentafel printout and added up the changes it would make to my eighth generation and beyond. Below are the alternate results. My 10th generation moves up to 18.96%.

Hopefully, this year I can find a bit more proof to finally feel comfortable adding this line to my tree. So if the genealogy angels/fairies are reading...

Happy New Year!

©2014, goneresearching. All text and photos in this post are copyrighted & owned by me (goneresearching) unless indicated otherwise. No republication (commercial or non-commercial) without prior permission. You may share (tell others) of this blog as long as you give credit and link to this site (not by downloading or copying any post). Thank you.

Joseph Vincent – Who were You?

Today, October 7th, was my second great grandmother’s 161st birthday. That is if she was still living today but she died at age 68 many, many years ago.

Though I never came close to meeting her when I think of Grandma Sarah Eliza Vincent I always wonder about her father. You see, he is the endpoint of the third shortest branch on my family tree.

What we actually know about third great grandfather Joseph Vincent can be counted on one hand.

1. His name was Joseph Vincent.
(Notes copied from a second great aunt to a cousin to us say his name was Joseph or John. But as far as the actual documents found it has only been given as Joseph.)

2. He died 3 months before his second daughter Mary E. Vincent was born in 1855/1856.
This would be useful information if we knew the birth month of Mary along with an exact year. But Mary is almost as elusive as her father. He may also have died from a lumbering accident. But I have to verify where that part of the story initiated.

The rest of the story we were told was that Sarah and Mary’s grandparents helped raise them. The 1861 Canada census seems to confirm this. Sarah and Mary are listed in the household of their maternal grandparents, Seneca and Martha Rider in Madoc Township, Hastings County, Canada West, which later became Ontario. Their mother Mahala or Mahalia Rider Vincent has not been found on this census. We’ve looked near and far. We’ve used various spellings, initials and the maiden and married name in the search. From her father’s probate we know she did not remarry at this time.

We can guess about some information about Joseph but they are only guesses not facts.

1. Joseph Vincent and Mahala Rider likely married after 11 January 1851 and before 7 October 1852.
Why? Mahala is single on the 1851 census and from what we know Sarah was not illegitimate.

2. Joseph Vincent’s birth was possibly sometime before 1830 possibly as early as the 1810s.
This is only a guess assuming Joseph was near the age of Mahala who was born in 1830. My real guess is Joseph was born sometime in the 1820s but again it is only a guess.

3. Joseph and Mahala lived in Hastings County, possibly in Madoc Township.
This guess comes from Sarah’s birthplace given in her obituary. Since the actual source (Sarah herself prior to death, a document, etc.) is unknown I am not sure of this information’s reliability.

Despite having a likely location we have not turned up any further information on Joseph. Church records for this time period are scarce. (I have not yet learned if the early records of the nearest church still survive.) Joseph does not appear in land records nor probate records in Hastings County. Widening the search location has not turned up any further leads yet.

Looking for potential candidates for Joseph in the area prior to marriage has turned up a couple Vincent families but no definite candidates standing out from the few available. But there is no guarantee that he was from a family in the area.

Unfortunately, there is still too much unknown about Grandpa Joseph Vincent. I hope to someday figure him out. At least I have a name … I think.

Happy Birthday Grandma Sarah and D.!

©2013, goneresearching. All text and photos in this post are copyrighted & owned by me (goneresearching) unless indicated otherwise. No republication (commercial or non-commercial) without prior permission. You may share (tell others) of this blog as long as you give credit and link to this site (not by downloading or copying any post). Thank you.

Genealogy Roadshow – My Impressions and Thoughts on the Newest Genealogy Show

Note: Going into the viewing of the first episode of Genealogy Roadshow late Tuesday night (I caught a first repeat at midnight) I knew that a “call” had been put out earlier this year for people interested in solving a family history mystery. So I, like most in the genealogy community at large, had a little background knowledge of how the people came to be filmed. Here are my impressions and thoughts ...

Boy! That line looks like they’re there for an Antiques Roadshow episode. They even have a host a la Mark Walberg or Lara Spencer. But as they’re showing this, they seem to have quickly glossed over that people have submitted their questions to be answered prior to this day. (So I don’t think the others standing there in line have questions in hand and are getting answers at a table like the onsite appraisals at the Antiques Roadshow but that’s sort of the impression being given.)

It’s fast paced with dramatic music to enhance “the moment.” They give a bit of info to each participant but again, like in Who Do You Think You Are (WDYTYA), not a lot of genealogy how-it’s-done is being shown or explained as they do the reveal. I think a bit more how to/where to go needs to be presented. I realize that for those viewers who likely have not dipped their toes into researching their genealogy this might be a snoozer. BUT by presenting a bit more how to/where to go, those viewers who are motivated to get started with their genealogy don't get a shock when the answer they seek requires more than just a little work. I wonder if they have anyway to figure the statistics on their audience in regards to the percent that have never done genealogy, does a little, and does a lot. I'm guessing if you watch it, you have some level of interest whether you've done anything about it or not.

The two presenters are both quite lively but sensitive when needed with their delivery of both good news and bad news.

After a few of these reveals and the follow up with the host after each reveal, I’m getting a People’s Court feeling mixed in with the Antiques Roadshow feel at the beginning and in between things. It’s kind of odd, but kind of/sort of works sometimes. There’s also the feel of being at a meeting and having this revealed in front of “friends” – quite different than a presenter and participant alone in a room somewhere like on WDYTYA. I wonder what the original Irish version of this show is actually like. HINT: BBC America/PBS – bring the original UK version of these shows (WDYTYA, Genealogy Roadshow) to America. Perhaps make it a mixture of the various seasons using the personalities that we in the US might know from WDYTYA UK, Canada or any of the other international versions. (I know legal logistics would make this unlikely.)

The fast pace is more upbeat but maybe a few less reveals would allow a more thorough coverage/presentation of the reveals. (I think this is the genealogist in me. I wouldn’t just gloss over what’s been found. I explain why we looked at something and what it tells us.)

The follow up with the host showed in at least one case that a miss-connect appears to have happened -- though the presenter said “highly-probable” the participant took it as “I’m definitely related.” Those two statements are not equal. I hope someone gently pointed this out to the person.

Another very brief segment had to do with DNA. They didn’t even bother to explain it nor that it took how many weeks to get the results. The topic really should have been presented better. (Though the presenter did fine with what was presented). I hope for the next DNA reveal the topic is covered more thoroughly.

Overall, I think it was a good mixture of a variety of questions answered and different situations. I like that they took on both the bad news (no, you are not related to …) along with the good news.

I think the series will accomplish what is one of its likely goals: get viewers interested in genealogy. But, I hope when these newbies go seeking their family history they find the help they need – things are not handed to you like in these reveals! There is work involved. HINT: Hey, Genealogy Roadshow: If you get a second season, wrap up each episode telling viewers to seek out their local genealogical and historical societies because many offer help in getting started. After all, your presenters are both presidents of two national societies.

©2013, goneresearching. All text and photos in this post are copyrighted & owned by me (goneresearching) unless indicated otherwise. No republication (commercial or non-commercial) without prior permission. You may share (tell others) of this blog as long as you give credit and link to this site (not by downloading or copying any post). Thank you.

Got Michigan?

I have scribbled parts of this information down or dictated it numerous times as I’ve helped people find their ancestors that settled in or wandered for a time in Michigan. Those familiar with the internet for genealogy likely know most of these resources for Michigan. But for those not so familiar with the internet for genealogy some of these resources for Michigan may be new to them.

In either case, an important point to remember is: not everything is digitized or on the internet. Microfilm, books and paper files do and must have their place in our research. That said, the many resources that have been indexed and digitized give us easier access and quicker results – hopefully positive results.

So here are the internet resources with Michigan-related records that I recommend. Many have the type of records that are necessary for a proven (record-based not myth-based) family history. I’ll start by highlighting specifics from some websites and then cover other websites more generally – places (websites) to check for the particular area you are researching. Are you researching another state? Some of these sites will have something to offer you too. But for the Michigan-specific sites, use them as a guide to see if similar sites exist for your state of interest.

So let’s start with the website where the early State of Michigan vital records can be accessed along with many other things.

FamilySearch – a free website of the Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ (LDS)/Mormons
Several years ago the LDS began to digitize the microfilm collections and other records (with permission of the record owners) and placing them on their website, FamilySearch. While there is quite a lot for all over the world, not everything is digitized. So visit often to check what has been added. The FamilySearch catalog will help you find record collections. (I suggest search by place – try looking just under the county first, then try the town/township, then the city/village.) If it isn’t digitized you can likely order (rent) it to view at a local FamilySearch Center (formerly Family History Center) near you.

For the digitized collections you can find them by clicking on search, on the records page scroll down to browse locations and click on the region you want to search. The camera icon to the left of the database title indicates record images are available, browse means at present there is no index but you can look at the record images (kind of like viewing microfilm but with a mouse click not a hand crank).

Tip: Want to see what has been added lately or since your last visit? Once you are at a region's database collections page, click on the "Last Updated" column header and the database list sorts by date added/updated. That's one way I keep my eye on new things.

You will find the United States Federal Census listed under United States not under each state. (From the home page, click on search, on the records page scroll down to browse locations and then click on United States.) So scroll down the list of database collections to the U area. Or in the left column scroll down and click on Census and Lists and then scroll down to the U area. Note: there are indexes for all census years but some years do not have the actual census images, only links to the images at other websites (some are free, some are pay sites.)

By selecting Michigan in that left hand column (after going to United States), you’ll see the Michigan specific database collections. Want a vital record – birth, marriage, death? Then start here – Michigan, Births, 1867-1902; Michigan, Marriages, 1867-1925; and Michigan, Deaths, 1867-1897. They are indexed with record images and free! Note: These are the records kept on the state level at the Department of Health not the county level. Michigan vital records began in 1867 but like everywhere else it took time for people to comply with the law. So for earlier events there is a chance they were not reported/recorded.

Other Michigan databases include: Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952 (index only at present time but enough info to get started); Michigan, Probate Records, 1797-1973 (a newer collection still in progress, with no index, organized by county with records available varying); Michigan, State Census, 1894 (index only); and Detroit Manifests. There are also several databases that have information extracted from various sources -- some are parts of the former International Genealogical Index (IGI).

There is one other website with important vital records for Michigan. And by that I mean a site with images of the actual vital records.

SeekingMichigan – a free website of the Archives of Michigan  
The shining star on the Archives of Michigan's SeekingMichigan website is the Death Certificates Collection 1897-1920. Its search engine is not so fabulous (no soundex capability) but you will see and be able to download the actual death certificate once you find it.

Tip: click on advanced search. This will get you tailored filters for each specific collection if you only search one collection at a time.

A newer addition to this site is the 1884 and 1894 State Census for the counties that the Library of Michigan/Archives of Michigan has in its possession. Again, a better search engine would be greatly appreciated along with another wish -- the ability to search page by page (those neighbors were often relatives back then.) There are other collections to investigate: civil war focused databases, oral histories, earlier state census, etc.

It was mentioned at a seminar in Fort Wayne, Indiana, last month that the releasable Death Certificate images from the 1921-1952 FamilySearch indexing project will be located on the SeekingMichigan site at some point in the future. Some of the online databases that were at the Library of Michigan’s website are now in the "Seek area" or "About area" of the SeekingMichigan website. The Naturalization Indexes that were created for many counties whose records are at the archives can be found on the Seek area. The County Clerks Directory can be found on the About area.

Library of Michigan
Related to the Archives of Michigan is the Library of Michigan. Michigan’s state library and archives situation has been rocky the past 10 years. Much of the Library of Michigan’s genealogical collection has been transferred to the Archives of Michigan. At least most of the collection has not been broken up and sent to other places – that surely would have been a great loss for the state. Most of the residents in Michigan came from someplace else so naturally the collection should have items from other states. A lot of the online resources that were on the library’s website seem to have been shifted to the archive's website.

One database listing still on the Library of Michigan’s website is the Library of Michigan Newspaper Microfilm Holdings Lists. Use it to find out what newspapers are in its microfilm holdings before you head to the library in Lansing. The newspapers are listed by county.

So if you are researching another state, don’t forget to check out the resources of its state library and state archives. Note: in some states some counties have a county archive in addition to a county library.

Ancestry.com/Ancestry Library-Edition – a $ pay-service via home or library subscription
Ancestry is one of the big commercial sites. If you don’t have a home subscription, then check your local libraries to see if one of them subscribes to the library edition of the website. Usually at the library you can bring in a USB flash/thumb drive and download images from the library computer. Or some libraries with wireless internet allow you to connect your laptop/tablet and use the website on your device while you are in their library. In that case, you can download the image straight to your device's drive.

The easiest way to see what Ancestry has for Michigan is to click on the main search tab (not the pull-downs). On the main search tab page, scroll down to the map and select Michigan. Now you will see all the databases that apply to Michigan sorted by categories. Here are some highlights.

You will find all the Federal census years 1820-1940. (That is correct, there are no 1790, 1800, or 1810 census years for Michigan.) Don’t forget to check out special census years/forms collections: Veterans, Mortality, Indian, Non-Population (like agricultural), Defective/Dependent/Delinquent – you never know what you will learn. The IRS Tax Assessment Lists may provide another view of your ancestor. There is an index to the 1894 Michigan census but no census page images.

Find early French Catholic records for Michigan in the Early U.S. French Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection) 1695-1954 database. The Michigan Death Records 1897-1920 is an index to the death certificates found at SeekingMichigan. This index has the soundex search option, a few more search options, and links to take you to the images on SeekingMichigan. There are a couple other death indexes that cover more recent times also. And don’t forget to check the social security death index. (Yes, they’ve taken some information out but it is better than nothing.)

Remember with any database (where ever it is), read the “about this database” to find out what is included and not included in the database. And to learn where more information might be located.

Under Immigration & Travel, there are Detroit Border Crossings and Great Lakes Crossings of various years. (You may be surprised how mobile your ancestors were back then.) There are Michigan Eastern District Naturalizations if your ancestor was in the Detroit-area. There are a few naturalization and passport databases that cover the whole United States so you may find your Michigan person included.

Though not solely Michigan-focused, some databases to check out for your immigrant ancestors are the Passenger Arrival Lists (like New York) and the Passenger Departure lists (like Hamburg). They are indexed and most have page images.

The databases in the Military collection often cover the whole country. Some to remember to check are the WWI and WWII draft cards, the various Civil War databases and various pension lists.

There are a variety of Michigan city directories in the Schools, Directories and Church Histories category. Some are listed individually and some are in the US City Directories 1821-1989 database. The Tax, Criminal, Land and Wills category has a database on Pre-1908 Michigan Homestead and Cash Entry Patents and a database for the US General Land Office Records (those that bought land from the government). Got an inventor in the family? There is a database for the US Patent and Trademark Office Patents 1790-1909.

Under the Reference, Dictionaries and Almanacs category, there is the Michigan Pioneer Society Collections Report Vol. 12, the PERiodical Source Index (PERSI) along with many other broader-focused databases.

There are over 8,000 listings under Michigan in the Stories, Memories and Histories Category. Who knows what you may find. The entries range from family genealogies to abstracts of records. The Newspapers and Periodicals Category under Michigan does not have a lot of entries but there are a few. The newspapers are mostly smaller towns, several of them more up north or on the west side of the Lower Peninsula (the mitten portion of the state).

Don’t forget to check out the message boards and member-submitted family trees. For the last couple years when using Ancestry Library Edition, you cannot see either of these areas. But from home, you can create a registered user id on Ancestry.com (without subscribing/paying/giving a credit card) to be able to post messages and see the public trees. (Doing this allows you to communicate without revealing your email to spammers.)

RootsWeb – a free website but hosted by Ancestry.com 
RootsWeb is one of the older genealogy websites. RootsWeb's message boards are the same as the message boards on Ancestry. (Did you know that your user id works on both websites?) Some message boards are linked to mailing lists which you can subscribe to when at the RootsWeb site. (The message board messages appear on the mail list but the mail list messages do not appear on the message boards. If you subscribe, I suggest digest-mode so all messages come from the mail list together not from individuals whose emails you don’t recognize – it keeps your mailbox cleaner.) There are various databases hosted on this site too. User-submitted family trees, WorldConnect Family Trees, are here too. Also, the site hosts many personal and society websites. Use the website's index/search engine to locate sites for specific states/counties.

USGenWeb Project – a free website network  
Though it has been around for a long time, not everyone has heard of the USGenWeb Project. For every state and just about every county of each state there is a volunteer run website. What is on each varies but it is still worthwhile to check out the website for the county you are searching. Some just have where to go to search while others have transcribed records and cemetery readings among other things. Note: there is also the WorldGenWeb Project that covers other countries in a similar manner.

HeritageQuest – $ a pay-service via library subscription
If you are a Michigan resident use your library card or Michigan driver's license to access Mel.org (Michigan Electronic Library) for access to HeritageQuest and its Federal Census, digitized and searchable Family and Local History Books, PERSI (PERiodical Source Index) and other databases. Live in another state? Your state might have a similar agreement with ProQuest (owner of HeritageQuest) but the name of the access site will be different.  

County Government Websites like the County Clerk
Some Michigan counties actually have databases on their websites so check out the county government website (especially the county clerk) for the county you are researching. The database/index may be free or there may be a charge for seeing/accessing a specific record. Think birth, death, marriage, land, and probate.

Macomb County’s County Clerk page has a searchable death index for deaths from about 1960 forward though there are some earlier ones included but not all earlier ones. More recently a land records search (some fee involved to see the actual document) was added. Oakland County’s County Clerk has a genealogy research service page that allows you to search marriage and death records back to 1941 and then order/pay for a record you desire. (Remember the earlier records are free at FamilySearch or SeekingMichigan.)

University and College Libraries
University and college libraries may not immediately come to mind when thinking genealogy resources but they can have some useful stuff. Two that come to mind for Michigan are the HathiTrust Digital Library and MLibrary Digital Collections. MLibrary has in its featured digital collections Michigan County Histories and Atlases containing over 400 digitized titles.

County and Local Libraries
Investigate the websites of the county and local (city or township) libraries. Does a library have a genealogy collection? Does it have indexes or database resources on its website allowing you to find answers or prepare a research plan (what to look at) for when you are able to visit? Does it have a research/look-up service? Take a look. Your answers may be a click away, or a visit away.

Genealogical and Historical Societies/Groups  
There are two ways to use genealogical and historical societies/groups. The first is to join or attend one where you live. Don’t worry if you don’t have ancestors where you live. Many societies/groups have meetings with topics/speakers to help you learn your hobby. They are also great for meeting others with a like mind, cause, habit, or disease called genealogy (whichever stage you are in.)

The second is to join or check the website resources of a society/group in the area you are researching. Some societies/groups may have member publications with historical information/data. Or they may publish databases, books, etc. on the area’s history or records. In either case, look for these societies/groups and see if they have a website. Genealogical and historical societies/groups may be stand-alone groups or united with a historical commission or local library.

Cemeteries/Cemetery Associations
In this day and age, even a cemetery may have a website. Use a search engine and take a look. The cemetery’s website may have something as simple as a request form (or instructions on how to request information) or have a searchable database of who is buried there (and hopefully where.)

Related Cemetery Resources  
There are several websites out there that use volunteers to record and preserve tombstones/gravestone information from cemeteries across the United States and even the world. Try searching these websites; you never know what someone has posted. FindAGrave, BillionGraves, Internment.net are just a few.

Newspapers
It seems like not a lot of Michigan newspapers have been digitized. So odds are you will have to visit a library and view some microfilm. But there are some out there.

ProQuest has some Michigan newspapers (along with other states) that libraries can purchase subscriptions but these subscriptions are very expensive so not many libraries are able to do so. One example: The Detroit Free Press is available from the beginning to 1920. So check the websites of local libraries to see if they offer such databases. Usually these will be for in-library use only.

Two other websites, GenealogyBank.com and Archives.com, have some Michigan newspapers (usually smaller papers.) Before you go out and buy a subscription though, make sure a website has newspapers for the area(s) you are researching and the time period you are researching. At the time I wrote this post, on GenealogyBank it is fairly simple to find the newspaper titles for both the Historical Newspapers and Recent Newspapers. Each has a link to the newspaper titles on the home page below each database. You can also do a search without a membership to see what kind of results you will get. On Archives.com, it is a bit harder to locate its newspaper titles. To see a list of the newspapers on Archives, I’ve actually gone to the main browse page of NewspaperArchive.com (who licenses the papers to Archives) to find a list of newspaper titles by States in the United States.

A few libraries in Michigan do have digitized local newspapers but there is not one place to go to find them. The International Coalition on Newspapers (ICON) keeps track of many digitized newspapers not only for Michigan but worldwide. And a few other Michigan newspapers can be found in the Google News Archive. Google may have cancelled its Newspaper Project but what was done is still there if the copyright owner has not removed it.

Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records  
Did your ancestor buy land from the federal government or earn bounty land from the government? Check out the BLM GLO website. You can search by last and first name or simply last name and search all states or a single state. Even if your ancestor sold his bounty land to someone else, you will likely find his name now. Two points to remember: 1) not every state was a federal land state and 2) these are the first sales from the federal government to a person (non-government entity) and subsequent sales are not included in this database.

Fold3 – $ a pay-service via home or library subscription
The Fold3 site is digitizing military records and pensions. Some collections are done but many are in progress. So keep an eye on this site and any collections of interest to your research. For Michigan, the website also has Detroit city directories digitized and indexed (1861-1923) back from its former days when it was called Footnote. Directories are located under the Non-Military Records. Some libraries have subscriptions to Fold3 that you can access while in the library.

Other Websites that will be of help
And lastly, use a web search engine (such as Google) to search for your ancestors. You never know where they will turn up. See the Google help area for tips on how to search and on how to use search operators more effectively.

Happy Hunting!

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