Online Genealogy

Free access to 1812 Records for a limited time

Ian —Sun, 06/03/2012 - 11:41

2012 is the 200th anniversary of the war of 1812. While living in Baltimore, MD, I learned a bit about the war. Baltimore played a pivotal role in the war, and was a hub of America Privateers. I have many friends in Baltimore that are both members of the NSSAR and General Society of the War of 1812.

With that in mind, Fold3 (Formerly Footnote) has made several records set free for the month of June. You can click on the image below to take you to those record sets.

Improving source citations: Headstones from Find-a-grave

Ian —Wed, 04/18/2012 - 00:11

Evidence Explained Cover One of my stated goals this year was to work on improving my source citations in my Family tree. Part of the reason that I find genealogy interesting, is that it is very much about the details. I would imagine that it is very similar to detective work, and somewhat like science, in that you are trying to unravel a series of facts to figure out what happened. In Science, the work that you do is only as good as the documentation you can present. The documentation is presented so that others can review your work and then try to reproduce it. Genealogy is (Or rather should be) the same. All of the work that we do as genealogists is only as good as the documentation or sources that we provide for it. Source citations are key, and that is why I am working on improving the sources in my family tree. My goal (and I feel like it should be the goal of every genealogist) is to document my tree to the point that there is no question about the information presented. When I do this, others in the future can work on solving issues that I could not, rather than re-inventing the wheel, covering the same ground that I already have.

Over time, I have improved with sourcing my research, but there is always work to be done. When I first started I did not add sources to anything. Eventually I started adding references to census records, but these entries were pretty lack luster and in retrospect, I doubt that they would have done anything to help other genealogists in the future.

On your Mark, Get set, Go….Its 1940 Census time!

Ian —Mon, 04/02/2012 - 10:35

So today is the day, after a 72 year wait the 1940 Census is here. It’s a big day for a lot of genealogists around the country (and perhaps world) because today at 9:00 am the 1940 US Census is made public. It is my understanding that this is the first time that the census is being released on day 1 as digital images. Previous releases were done using microfilm. The National Archives (NARA) is providing access to the images free of charge. NARA is working with Archives.com to host the images. The scale of the project is huge, with the 1940 US census containing over 3.8 million pages. You can start searching the

collection here.

Access to more Digital Genealogy Books

Ian —Wed, 03/07/2012 - 01:00

Great news for those of us out there that are always on the lookout for new source material. After reading a post over on Dick Eastman’s blog, I learned that the familysearch.org website has announced that they have digitized over 40,000 family history books, and posted them online. Here is what the Familyhistory website has to say:

Sharing you Genealogy Research

Ian —Wed, 02/08/2012 - 21:35

I have been interested in my families’ genealogy for around 10 years now. I remember that my first real start was in the summer of 2002, when my uncle Phil gave me some of the research he had done on the family. I looked at the info that he gave me, and then set it aside. I did not really get started on doing some real research until about 6 years ago. I have now compiled a great start on my families’ genealogy and it has been a pretty interesting process.

Several times I have run across an attitude that I do not understand. I have met individuals that are unwilling to share their work (I have not encountered with my surname, but rather other collateral lines). I just do not understand this idea at all. You can find many posts on the internet about people who do not want to have their work “Stolen” etc. It just does not make any sense to me, and here is why:

My Family tree....By the numbers

Ian —Sun, 01/08/2012 - 16:30

Every year I set a few goals for the year, and often time, goals about my family tree are in the works. In the past I have been more concerned about "growing" the tree based on the number of individuals alone, but this year I am also looking to improve the "Quality" of the tree, by increasing the number and use of sources in the tree. Previously, it was easy to discern if I had met my goal, just record the number of Individuals that I had before the year started, and compare to the number I have at the end of the year. This year, I will be looking at more than just the number of individuals that are added, so I need to record more data at the start of the year. This post is intended to do that. With that said lets get started.

James to John to James Arbuckle. HELP!

Ian —Sun, 09/04/2011 - 21:21

These three individuals are really giving me problems. These three are all that stand in the way to me proving Thomas Arbuckle as a patriot for myself and the NSSAR as well as my mother and grandmother for the NSDAR. I am looking for any and all information that can be credibly sourced to help me document these Individuals.

Here is what I know:

James Arbuckle: Born: 1769. Died 1845 in Rush County, Indiana. Married Susannah Bland. Shows up on the 1840 US Census records in Bartholomew County, Indiana. Son to Thomas Arbuckle. Father to John Arbuckle (Below)
John Arbuckle: Born: 1788. Died 1853 in Washington County, Indiana. Married Margaret "Peggy" Stucker. Shows up in the 1840 & 1850 US Census records Bartholomew County, Indiana. Father to James Arbuckle (Below, I know...name recycling can cause some confusion....)
James Arbuckle: Born: 10 Oct 1816. Died 02 July 1883 in Bartholomew County, Indiana. Married Henrietta louisa Spaugh (Spach). Shows up in the 1850 & 1860 US Census records in Bartholomew County, Indiana. Father to Martin Arbuckle.

These lineages are commonly accepted, but I have yet to run across any sort of document that can offer an sort of proof. I have proved that James Arbuckle (1769) is the son of Thomas Arbuckle. I have proved that Martin Arbuckle is the son of James Arbuckle (1816). But I still need help proving that:

Where in the World?

Ian —Wed, 08/24/2011 - 12:24

Where in the world did this happen?

This is an important question when you are doing genealogy research. Part of the practice of genealogy is to record the details of your ancestors life. Location is a key part of these details. Unlike dates and time, which are constants, locations are not. The names of places change over time based on the current geo-political environment. The actual location stays the same, but the name for that location changes over time. In the United States we have an easy example, everything before the Revolutionary War was technically part of England, and then became the United States. Virginia, being one of the first colonies / States, used to have a much larger footprint that it has today.

The Map to the left is an 1818 Map of Virginia by Mathew Carey from Philadelphia, PA. As you can clearly see the map includes what is now West Virginia, and clearly some of the Counties are not that large anymore. If you take a quick look at the left hand side of the map, around the middle, the county that has an orange border is labeled as Kenhawa County [SIC]. Kenhawa County [SIC] on the map becomes modern day Kanawha County, WV, and is much smaller (several counties are split out, including Cabell County).

When recording location information in your genealogy research, I feel that it is important to record the location name that was being used at the time the event occurred. This is important for a few reasons:

1940 US Census to be free on Ancestry.com

Ian —Fri, 08/19/2011 - 00:46

I have to thank Mr. Dick Eastman for pointing this out, but it appears that Ancestry.com will be making the images and index to the 1940 US Census free for all to access. According to a statement released yesterday (17 Aug 2011) on their "Corporate Blog" (which you can find here) Ancestry.com States: "Ancestry.com is committing to make the 1940 Census free from release through to the end of 2013, and by doing so hopes to help more people get started exploring their family history. As this census will be the most recent to be made publicly available, it represents the best chance for those new to family history to make that all-important first discovery."

For me this is big news, as I have dropped my Ancestry.com membership and had talked (here) about joining again for the 1940 census records. Looks like I may not have to do that.

SAR Applications are now on Ancestry.com

Ian —Thu, 06/30/2011 - 23:45

So I have to admit, I knew this was coming, but today, Ancestry.com made it official. NSSAR applications and lineage documents have been digitized by Ancestry.com and are now included as part of Ancestry.com's extensive collection. For a short period of time (Until July 4th), there will be "Free" access to the records. What is not really advertised is that this is not all of the applications, but rather all of the applications up to about 1970 or so. I am not sure on the exact date, but you get the idea.

The documents are not what I would consider "primary sources" but they can offer some great clues. To become a member you must be able to trace your family tree back to a point of having an ancestor who supported the cause of American Independence during the years 1774-1783. You then will need to "Prove" each generation with a document (Census record, Family Bible etc.) and list those "Proofs". This information is included on the applications, so they are a great source of information and could potentially identify a new source for you.

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