New information is being put online daily by libraries, societies and more

Posted 8/21/15

I’ve been very busy genealogically, but haven’t had time for new research. This summer, I did research for a client and read lots of books and magazines. And, I’m trying to input all the data I discovered on the last couple of research trips I …

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New information is being put online daily by libraries, societies and more

Posted

I’ve been very busy genealogically, but haven’t had time for new research. This summer, I did research for a client and read lots of books and magazines. And, I’m trying to input all the data I discovered on the last couple of research trips I took.

I gave a PowerPoint presentation on “Genealogy 101” for the Bristol Historical & Preservation Society in March. It was an update of a presentation I gave six years ago.

While updating the syllabus, I had to recheck the details on every library, research facility and website. I was sad to see some of the small, free websites I used in the past had been bought out by bigger players, such as Ancestry, or had disappeared completely.

I know some researchers bemoan the many paid sites sprouting up. On the other hand, more and more historical societies (state and local) and libraries are in the process of digitizing their collections and putting them online for free. If you haven’t discovered the American Libraries Internet Archive, it’s a treasure trove of collections from across the country that range from local libraries to the Library of Congress. It’s at https://archive.org/details/americana. You can search by library or topic and within those categories by date or subject.

While creating pages for the PowerPoint presentations, I looked for examples on Ancestry and at Family Search (the best free site).

One of my brick walls, which I’ve mentioned before is a traveling salesman, my great-great-grandfather. He was a slippery devil, not appearing in many censuses and disappearing from time to time, from New England to Iowa. But, I discovered the company he worked for through a city directory in Iowa and some other details in newspapers. While searching for a copy of the city directory page for my PowerPoint presentation, I found his death certificate (which hadn’t been online last year).

He died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1909. Probably a hazard of being a salesman (he belonged to a lot of clubs). Unfortunately, I didn’t get his second wife’s name. It just referred to her as Mrs. John Smith. But, he had returned to his hometown in Massachusetts.

So, never give up. Keep plugging away, search in new locations and revisit the popular websites every six months or so because new things are being digitized daily.

Some other interesting sites

• The diaries of World War I soldiers from 1914 to 1942 are being placed online at the British National Archives at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/first-world-war/. If you have a British or an American soldier in your family tree, this is a way to learn firsthand what they experienced. Of all the wills held by the archives, 280,000 handwritten wills were put online last year. Searching is free; however, there may be a charge to download documents. This is part of “First World War 100,” an extensive program from 2014 to 2019 marking the centenary of the war with digitization of letters, diaries, maps and photographs. They have lots of other online collections, too, including service records, pension records, nurses’ records, prisoner of war interview reports and more.

• Search for the wills of 41 million people in England and Wales (there also were people from Australia, Ireland and Scotland) at www.gov.uk/search-will-probate. Choose from “wills and probate 1996 to present” or “wills and probate 1858 to 1996” (or soldiers’ wills). At a minimum, you have to fill in a surname and the year of death to search. It’s 10£ to order the actual will. I couldn’t find my fourth great-grandfather, but I found a will for one of his sons who stayed in England.

• If you have ancestors from Kerry or Cork in Ireland (unfortunately, I don’t), Joe Maher is doing you a big favor. He snapped pictures of the graves in Kerry for over a year and posted all the photos (50,000 of them) on his website at www.kerryburials.com. He’s indexing them and now he’s started photographing graves in Cork, too. He says his goal is to do all the graves in Munster. So, check out his website for graves from 1700 to 2015.

• The Baby Name Wizard (www.babynamewizard.com) is mostly designed to help people pick a name for their baby. But, you can put any name into the NameVoyager (down at the bottom of the page) and get information on it. My name is shown from the 1920s to the 1980s in this country, and peaked in popularity in the 1940s. It also listed famous Lyndas — Lynda Carter and Lynda Bird Johnson Robb.

Inserting a name into the NameMapper shows its use around the U.S. from the 1960s to the present. And, you can get lists of the most popular baby names from around the world. The site also allows you to add information on a name, such as personal experiences, nicknames, its meanings and history, and famous people with the same name.

Research trip

The R.I. Genealogical Society is planning another trip to Boston (choose from the Massachusetts State Archives, Boston Public Library or New England Historic Genealogical Society library) on Tuesday, Oct. 13. These are great trips — no driving or parking. The bus picks up trip-goers at the Park ’n’ Ride in East Providence at 7:20 a.m. and returns about 6:30 to 7 p.m. depending on traffic. It is $25 per person and registration is required. Visit www.rigensoc.org for more information. Click on RIGS Events.

Lynda Rego has a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/lynda.rego where she shares tips on genealogy and other topics. Stop by, click on Like and share any interests you have for upcoming columns.

family tree, genealogy

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