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Volume 2 Issue 3
Well, here we are in mid-August, the kids have gone back to school. (at least the kids in SC have!), vacation time is over, and it’s time to get back to work on our genealogy research. This month we have a few articles for you, some websites, and a few tips for finding those ancestors who seem to have come to the U.S., only to disappear into the air!
There is a lot of help to be had out there, and some of it is FREE! Of course, first on our list would be our own Genalaogy Forum! Free help, in live, moderated chats, for anyone who has a computer. Our website is growing daily it seems, and with each visit I find something I hadn’t seen before. There are lots of links, lots of information and articles, and some wonderful ideas to help you. Our chat moderators are THE BEST!! Not really bragging here, but I do think we have some of the best around! Our moderators are knowledgeable, and eager to help.
The message boards are working very well too, folks seem to like asking a question, and getting an answer. Check them out, you might find that YOUR surname is listed there!
We are growing daily, with an average of about 900 hits a month on the website. I’d say that was pretty good! Please tell your friends about us.
We have an article this month from GFS Cheri, about a new project to get MO records online!
Of course, we have some links for you too. It’s funny, I find these things, set them aside, then I move stuff around and lose them. Months later I pick up a piece of paper, and there’s this terrific idea, or link, or article. Here is one from January!!!!!! This is the place to look if your ancestors came from some little town, which might not even be in existence now, or may have had its name changed. I just checked this place out, and I can guarantee that I will be spending a lot of time there. I looked up Rutherford, New Jersey; the town where I grew up! There was a hand drawn map, dated 1902. I was amazed to find that the street I had lived on for 10 years didn’t exist in 1902. But the High School was there, as was the Library, a beautiful old building that I always loved when I was a kid! There were pictures of these old buildings, and listings of businesses that were there in 1902. Some of them are STILL there! You can zoom the map and the drawings in and out, and check out each street in town. Check it out! I know you are going to love it!
Helen Durbin has also sent in an obituary she found while doing her own research. She sent it to us, because it was about a man who served with George Washington. I thought it was quite interesting! So, I’m passing it on!
For Anderson/Pendleton South Carolina Area Researchers
For you South Carolina researchers out there, I have a family genealogy for the Mauldin – Reed families. This book has a Lineage Chart listing the following surnames:
Mauldin, Reed, Hamilton, Hammond, Liddell, Gunn. Acker, Johnston, Shanklin, Howard, Halbert, Calhoun, Jenkins, Davis, Southerland, Hill, Smithens, James, Williams, Davis, and Adams. There are MANY more names listed in Family Group Sheets, Decadency Charts, Decadency Records, Pedigree Charts, and narratives. Dates on the Lineage Chart go back to 1644.
Other names listed as the ancestors of Teresa Caroline Hammond are:
Browne, Fowler, Hill.
There is a chapter on the “Pocahontas Connection. Here is a quote from this chapter. “Through our grandmother, Teresa Caroline Hammond we have some very interesting lines of ancestry. Through her grandmother, Susannah Halbert Acker, we have known of our descent from the Indian maiden Pocahontas, who married John Rolfe and was taken by him to England, and there known as the Lady Rebecca, and introduced to the Queen. After the birth of a son, she died there.”
This is followed by the line of descent from Pocahontas down 8 generations.
Another interesting part of the book is about Emmala Reed. Emmala lived in Anderson SC during the Civil War, and she kept a journal. This journal has been published as a hard cover book. It’s quite an interesting view of her perspective of the war, as a young woman. If you have an interest in Emmala Reed, or any of the other names in this book, please email me at GFSJAN@aol.com, and I will be glad to look up whatever you need and send it on to you.
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Here’s another terrific website for you! If your ancestors came before Ellis Island, you’re gonna love this one!
LATEST NEWS FROM THE NYG&B - JULY 27, 2005
CastleGarden.org. On August 1, the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Castle Garden immigration station, The Battery Conservancy will launch www.CastleGarden.org, giving you access to a database created from the Port of New York passenger lists from 1820 (when the lists begin) to 1892 (when the Ellis Island lists start). Some 10 million immigrants entered the Port during these years, and the database currently covers 80% of them, with work continuing.
A basic search for a name will be free, and more advanced searches will be available for a fee. We are pleased to announce that The Battery Conservancy has asked The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society to be their partner in helping those who find names in the database to pursue further research on their families. http://www.castlegarden.org/
Thanks to NKYRoots for this information! It’s a good site, and can only get better!
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Kevin is BACK!
We want to welcome back our long lost host, GFS Kevin, who has taken time off from hosting to play with his new baby, Seth Conner! Congratulations, Kevin! You can see Kevin on Tuesday nights in the forum chatrooms, as he resumes his Chat on Genealogy and Your Computer. Kevin, I hope I got that Chat name right!
Here’s Helen’s article: She sent it to me for the July issue, which of course didn’t get put out because I was working too many hours! So here it is, just a bit late! Thanks so much Helen!
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Another Fourth of July is here. We, as a nation, all celebrate the founding of our country. We are one nation, and back when this nation was young, it was made up of all nationalities, just like it is today. Today, I would like to honor the Father of Our Country, and one of his comrades:
Washington Crossing the Delaware
The Reporter and Tribune, Washington, Pennsylvania, Thursday, April 26, 1860.
Another Patriot Gone.
A very aged Revolutionary soldier died last week in New Washington, Clearfield County, Pa.
John Ludwig Snyder. Born in Michnelstadt, Germany, Aug. 5, 1746, he arrived in America in 1758, being 12 years old at the time. He resided in Pennsylvania 101 years, 7 months, and 18 days. He died March 23, at the wonderful age of 113 years, 7 months and 18 days. He entered our service in 1775 and fought throughout the whole war. He was with Washington when he crossed the Delaware on Christmas night, 1776, and was in the battle of Trenton the 26th of December. The light of day just beginning when the Americans drove in the outposts of the Hessians through a thick snow storm. Snyder was in the battle of Brandywine. He was transferred to the command of Gen.Wayne and was in his defeat near Paoli, Sept. 29, 1777. He was in the battle of Germantown, October 4, and he was encamped with Washington at Valley Forge, Dec. 11, 1777. He has said that the winter of that year was the coldest he ever experienced. Our troops, he has told us, shot squirrels and drew their skins over their feet for shoes. He was in the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1774, under Wayne and was with Wayne at the taking of Stony Point, where the watchword was, "Remember Paoli, brave boys." He was with Lafayette at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, on the 19th of October, 1781, and in his own words, "in many more scrimmages that he could not remember the particulars of."
This warrior left descendants to the fourth generation, and to the number of nearly three hundred. He was a gunsmith by trade, and made a prefect gun when he was 107 years of age. During the last summer he could read without spectacles. When he was over 90 he walked to Cicatfield and back, a distance of nearly 30 miles and then back again, a distance in all of 60 miles before dark on one and the same day. We are assured that he did not feel "any the worse" of this walk. He never missed a Presidential or a Gubernatorial election since the very first. He always enjoyed good health until "of late," as our informant writes, "when he began to have weak spells," and was only "bedfast" from the Sabbath before he died. "He was a man," adds the writer, "that had no enemies so far as he knew, neither living nor dead. At peace with all men, no man could speak evil of him, nor he never was heard to murmur about anything." A hero manifestly--in all senses
We owe our freedom to these brave hero's when our nation was young, and to all of those who have served and/or lost their lives since September 11th, 2001.
Here’s an article from GFS Cheri, about what is going on in the Missouri State Archives! A good opportunity for those of you who want to help out! Thanks Cheri!
Missouri Birth & Death Records Database
Missouri Post-1910 Death Records Project:
Frequently Asked Questions
1.) What records are included in the Missouri Post-1910 Death Records Project ?
The records included in the Missouri Post-1910 Death Records Project are those death certificates created according to Missouri law after 1910, and more than fifty years old. These records are now in the legal and physical custody of the Missouri State Archives, and will be subject to the access and research policies prescribed by the Archives. There are nearly two million individual certificates of death, comprising 571 cubic feet of original records, in this collection. The project is ongoing and additional records will be made available each year. For example, in 2004, certificates from 1910 to 1954 will be open; in 2005, the 1955 certificates will be opened for research; in 2006, the 1956 certificates, etc.
2.) How did the Missouri State Archives acquire these death records?
House Bill 1634 (2004) made changes to RSMo 193.225 and 193.245 (4), the Missouri statutes that govern the reproduction of vital records and the information contained therein. The legislation, effective August 28, 2004, states that death records over fifty years old shall be transferred to the Missouri State Archives, and copies of death records over fifty years old may be disclosed upon request.
3.) How can I access death certificates that are part of the Missouri Post-1910 Death Records Project ?
For preservation and security reasons, the Missouri State Archives will not allow any access to the original records in the Missouri Post-1910 Death Records Project.
Photocopies of death certificates may be requested, pursuant to stated policies. Photocopies will be provided at the cost of $1.00 per record. Indexes of the death certificates, for available years, will be made available in the Archives Reference Room.
Missouri Post-1910 Death Records Project: Access and Reproduction Policy
E-mail and postal mail patrons may request a search for one death certificate per request form, pursuant to current Reference Room policy. If an exact date of death is not known, patrons should request searches within a five-year time span. The Archives does not accept telephone requests for genealogical research.
In-house patrons who search the death indexes may request up to ten records at a time; those requests must be fulfilled before additional requests can be made.
The Archives cannot provide same-day service for post-1910 death certificate requests. In-house patrons may leave their request, with payment, at the time of their visit. There is a charge of $1.00 per death certificate. Photocopies of the certificate(s) will be mailed, at no extra cost, as soon as possible.
Certified copies of death records must be obtained from the Division of Vital Records. Patrons requiring this service should contact Vital Records for payment information at (573) 751-6387 or www.vitalcheck.com.
In addition, each certificate will be imaged and made available online for research purposes. The scanning project will begin with the 1910 death records and proceed chronologically. The project is ongoing; scanned records will be available online as each year is completed. The database project will allow online searches in the following categories: name, date of death, county, and certificate number. Once a record is identified, patrons can link to the record image online. NOTE: Currently, it is not possible to provide immediate service for those patrons wishing to access the death certificates. The records are not easily accessible and various preservation and security measures must be taken before full service is instituted at the Missouri State Archives for in-house visitors, online researchers, and postal mail requests. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but assure all patrons that this valuable collection will be made available as soon as possible.
4) How can I help the Missouri Post-1910 Death Records Project achieve its goal of providing online access to this collection?
Transcribing records from your home
The Missouri State Archives sponsors a successful "e-volunteer" program in which volunteers, working from their home, index and transcribe historical records. With the help of “e-volunteers,” the Missouri State Archives plans to post online a database index of nearly two million death certificates from 1910 to 1954. This index will then be linked to a digital image of the death certificate.
Volunteers to this project will be provided photocopies of the death certificate index, transcription instructions, and a spreadsheet template to transcribe these records. A sample of the index to be transcribed is available for viewing in Adobe PDF format.
The index is arranged by year and alphabetically by surname within the year. Because of the size of the project the index has been divided into approximately 50 page sections for transcription.
If you are interested in participating in the Missouri Death Certificate Project, please send the following information to archvol@sos.mo.gov.
Your name
Postal address for mailing the photocopies of the index
Email address
Information on the spreadsheet application (MS Excel, MS Works, etc.) you will use.
In the subject line of the email please title the email “post-1910 Death Certificate Project.” Please note that the creation of this electronic index is the first phase of this project and required before the Missouri State Archives can begin the digitization of the death certificates. A date has not been set yet for the release of the database online.
Processing records at the Archives
Volunteers wishing to work in the Missouri State Archives are also needed for processing the records by arranging them into boxes and folders. We are seeking volunteers and groups of volunteers to come to the Archives to work on this exciting and far-reaching project. Hours and tasks are flexible and training is included. If you are interested in volunteering for our death records project, please contact Patsy Luebbert, Senior Archivist, 573-751-4217 or patsy.luebbert@sos.mo.gov.
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The Last Word
One last thing, I am compiling a list of favorite genealogy websites, and I would sure love it if you would send me your favorites too. Tell my why you like them, and we’ll add them to the list! These can be sites about genealogy research, anyplace, any time, any type of site (Surname site, a Home Page, a site about a particular country, state or town, a site from an archive, whatever you find that has helped you in your research. We will eventually have all these sites up on our website here at genealogyforum.org, We’d love to know what sites you like best!
Thanks to Helen and Cheri for their help this month, and as always to Mel, who does the really HARD stuff, sending this out! One of these days I will be able to sit down with her, and learn THAT part of the newsletter work! You are ALL appreciated, more than you can know!
Have a great “end of summer”, hope you all get a chance to run away from home just one more time!
Jan
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