You can search and browse the collection in the State of Massachusetts’ DSpace online repository here.
Using the US Public Records Index for Genealogy
The US Public Records Index can be useful for genealogy–if you understand what it is and how to use it properly. Here’s an example and some tips.
Not long Russ sent in this tip recommending the US Public Records Index for genealogy:
“I was listening to Genealogy Gems Podcast 181 [in which] you were talking about where do we search while we are waiting for the 1950 Census….I recently discovered a wonderful resource, on Ancestry.com, that I have used along with city directories. The name of the record group doesn’t sound interesting but it can be a Gem for you: the US Public Record Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1 and 2. Volume 1 is far more interesting with more data. A search will return a name AND birth date, along with more than one address, zip code and sometimes phone numbers.”
Here’s a sample search result:
Russ kindly sent me Ancestry’s description of its online database for Volume 1, which says that original data comes from public records spanning all 50 states, such as voter registration lists, public record filings, historical residential records and other household database listings.
Collection Profile
What: U.S. Public Records Index
Where: Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage
Years Spanned: 1950-2009
Source Type: Lacking original source citations. “Hints to go on and follow up with further research into verifiable sources.”
Then he shared the following example of using the US Public Records Index to find recent relatives that he can’t look up yet in the 1950 census:
“I had a hint for a cousin in a yearbook. I know that she recently lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I didn’t know where she went to college and I know her birthday. The name is not unique, not also not common. At the same time, I had the hint for the Public Record Index. You know those things we can’t use in a proof argument, but there [she] was in Philadelphia. The yearbook had her picture and only her name, not spelled the way I know it, but the Public Record Index puts her in Philadelphia at the right time and place.
I have seen 2 or 3 addresses for folks in the 1980s and 1990s in these indexes. Not all addresses have dates, but some do. I have one cousin with 5 addresses since 1983 and he won’t be in a census until the 1960 Census Records are released.”
Russ blogs about his family history at worthy2be.wordpress.com/. Thanks for the tip!
The U.S. Public Records Index pops up in my search results sometimes, too. Both volume 1 and volume 2 are searchable on Ancestry.com, as Russ says, in separate databases. Each has over 400,000 records in it. There’s also a free partial version of this database for 1970-2009 at FamilySearch.org and yet a third version at MyHeritage, with 816 million records, with nearly the same time frame. The FamilySearch database says its data comes from “telephone directories, property tax assessments, credit applications, and other records available to the public.”
More on the US Public Records Index
Here are a few tips worth mentioning about the US Public Records Index. Some of these points come from the FamilySearch wiki:
- Not everyone who lived in the U.S. appears in the index, and you’re more likely to find birth information for those born between 1900 and 1990. What you’ll find is primarily where someone lived, and often when they lived there.
- It’s rarely possible to positively identify a relative in this index since there’s limited information and it spans the entire country for up to a half-century, and you can’t follow up on the record it comes from because the index doesn’t say where individual records come from. So as Russ says, this is a great resource to use in combination with other records. It’s a similar concept to the way you might consult family trees that lack sources: hints to go on and follow up with further research into verifiable sources.
- When you find more recent listings, you can sometimes find telephone numbers for living distant relatives. If the thought of cold-calling distant relatives seems a little intimidating, listen to my Family History: Genealogy Made Easy podcast, episodes 14-15, for tips–and to get your courage up!
More Gems on Researching Recent Relatives
- The 1950 Census Substitute: What to Use Until Its Release Date
- Google Earth for Genealogy: Map Your Own Childhood Homes
- World War II Military Yearbooks
Episode 200
The Genealogy Gems Podcast
Episode 200
with Lisa Louise Cooke
Listen Now
It’s finally here – the 200th episode of the free Genealogy Gems podcast, also celebrating its 10th year.
In this special episode, Lisa invites Professor Mark Auslander to share his discoveries about a mother and young daughter separated by slavery. Learn how he pieced together their story from a poignant family heirloom found at a flea market.
Throughout the episode, you will hear from several listeners, past podcast guests, Gems staffers and supporters in the genealogy industry with congratulations, memories, stories, and favorite Gems tips. Listen for the DNA success story of an adoptee who never gave up his search for his biological roots.
Thanks to all listeners and friends who sent congratulations! Among them are:
Allison Dolan, Publisher, Family Tree Magazine. She mentioned the Family Tree Magazine Podcast
Bruce Buzbee, RootsMagic family history software
DearMYRTLE, veteran online genealogy educator and author of the award-winning DearMYRTLE blog. She mentioned Lisa’s Family History: Genealogy Made Easy podcast; her all-day seminars at societies; and classes at her booth during conferences.
Geoff Rasmussen, Legacy Family Tree webinars, and author of Kindred Voices: Listening for Our Ancestors
Jim Shaughnessy, Findmypast.com
Mary Tedesco, host and genealogist on PBS’ Genealogy Roadshow, founder of Origins Italy, co-author of Tracing Your Italian Ancestors and a guest on Genealogy Gems Podcast episode #175, talking about Italian research and her work on Genealogy Roadshow
Steve Luxenberg, author of Annie’s Ghosts: A Journey into a Family Secret. Listen to Lisa’s conversation with him in The Genealogy Gems Podcast episodes 120 and 121. This book and interview planted the seed for the Genealogy Gems Book Club!
Yev Pusin, Social Marketing Marketer, Backblaze online computer backup service, also celebrating its 10th anniversary
MAILBOX: LISA AND SUNNY
The following were mentioned in listener emails and voicemails:
Family History: Genealogy Made Easy Podcast by Lisa Louise Cooke. This is a FREE step-by-step series for beginning genealogists?and more experienced ones who want to brush up or learn something new. One listener mentioned the series on naturalization records in episodes 29-31.
The Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast by Lisa Louise Cooke. Monthly episodes?and the full archive of past episodes?are available to Genealogy Gems Premium website subscribers. This podcast takes what you love about the free Genealogy Gems podcast and goes deeper, broader and more exclusively into topics of interest for U.S. and international audiences.
The Genealogy Gems app is FREE in Google Play and is only $2.99 for Windows, iPhone and iPad users.
Using Evernote to organize your family history research: free tips and great resources to help you make the most of this free app (or its Premium version) to keep all your genealogy research notes and links organized and at your fingertips.
Netvibes computer dashboard tool and mobile apps for genealogy
Computer backup story from Kathy: “I was robbed! They took the computer AND the backup drive!”
Keep your family history research, photos, tree software files, videos and all other computer files safely backed up with Backblaze, the official cloud-based computer backup system for Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems. Learn more at http://www.backblaze.com/Lisa.
DNA WITH YOUR DNA GUIDE DIAHAN SOUTHARD
Diahan’s series of how-to videos, available to Gems fans for a special price.
Diahan’s series of DNA quick guides, available in print or as digital downloads
Lisa Louise Cooke uses and recommends RootsMagic family history software. From within RootsMagic, you can search WebHints on FamilySearch.org, Findmypast.com and MyHeritage.com. Soon RootsMagic will also be able to search records and even sync your tree with Ancestry.com, too.
MyHeritage.com is the place to make connections with relatives overseas, particularly with those who may still live in your buy medicine online worldwide ancestral homeland. Click here to see what MyHeritage can do for you: it’s free to get started.
INTERVIEW: MARK AUSLANDER
Mark Auslander is an Associate Professor and Museum Director at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA and the author of The Accidental Slaveowner: Revisiting a Myth of Race and Finding An American Family.
“Slave Mother’s Love in 56 Carefully-Stitched Words”
Mark’s path to the probable family of this artifact used these techniques:
Look closely at all clues from the artifact: the fabric, stitching, colors, facts conveyed in the text, etc. Look at both the historical clues and the artistic or symbolic aspects of it.
Create a profile for the people mentioned based on what is known. Probable age for Ruth Middleton in 1921, etc.
Use contextual and social history clues to hypothesize a scenario. The inclusion of “South Carolina” hints that the seamstress didn’t live in South Carolina, so he guessed that she was part of the Great Migration of millions of African-Americans in the early 1900s who headed from the rural South to the industrial Midwest and other urban cities.
Take advantage of unusual clues. Rose is a common name for an enslaved woman, but not Ashley.
Look through all available records. Possible census listings for Ruth Middleton in 1920 didn’t seem likely candidates. He dug through marriage records for Northern states until he found a woman named Ruth who married a man named Middleton who fit the profile he’d created.
Use specialized sources for African-American research, especially records created by and about the slaveholder that relate to the holding, sale or transfer of enslaved people.
Mark says that some researchers describe the search process as “guided by some force larger than yourself that keeps you going through those endless hours in microfilm rooms or online. But it does connect us all in very profound ways to those who came before and those who come after?.Through genealogical work, in a sense we can triumph over death itself and we can move back and forth in time in the most remarkable way.”
Coming up next month in The Genealogy Gems Podcast episode 201: An interview with Angela Walton-Raji on finding African-American ancestors. She shares tons of resources! Even if you haven’t found any African-Americans on your family tree, the challenges and rewards of African-American genealogical research are both fascinating and moving to learn about.
Legacy Tree Genealogists provides expert genealogy research service that works with your research goals, budget and schedule. The Legacy Tree Discovery package offers 3.5 hours of preliminary analysis and research recommendations: a great choice if you’ve hit a brick wall in your research and could use some expert guidance. GENEALOGY GEMS EXCLUSIVE OFFER: Go to www.legacytree.com/genealogygems and use coupon code GEMS100 to save $100 off your purchase of research services (expires 4/30/17).
CONVERSATIONS WITH MORE GEMS
Amie Tennant, Gems Content Contributor: see the Genealogy Gems blog
Lacey Cooke, Gems Service Manager
Vienna Thomas, Associate Producer and Audio Editor; she mentioned a favorite Genealogy Gems Book Club title and interview were with Chris Cleave, author of Everyone Brave is Forgiven
GENEALOGY GEMS BOOK CLUB
The Truth According to Us by internationally bestselling author Annie Barrows
It’s the summer of 1938, and wealthy young socialite Miss Layla Beck is now on the dole as a WPA worker, assigned to write a history of the small town of Macedonia, West Virginia. As she starts asking questions about the town’s past, she is drawn into the secrets of the family she’s staying with?and drawn to a certain handsome member of that family. She and two of those family members take turns narrating the story from different points of view, exploring the theme that historical truth, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder.
Click here to read an introduction to using WPA records for genealogy.
Annie Barrows is also the co-author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. This novel takes place after World War II in a London recovering from the Blitz and an island recovering from German occupation. At the heart of Guernsey is an unlikely love story and the inspiring tale of a community that took care of each other in their darkest days with humor, compassion and good books.
Click here to see more Genealogy Gems Book Club selections and how you can listen to Lisa’s upcoming exclusive conversation with author Annie Barrows about The Truth According to Us.
Music from this episode is from the band Venice
The song played at the opening was “We’re Still Here,” from the album Born and Raised.
The song played at the closing was “The Family Tree” from the album 2 Meter Sessies; click to purchase the album or download the song as a single.
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Genealogy Websites: #1 – 4 of our 25 Websites for Genealogy!
VIDEO & SHOW NOTES: In this video, my guest presenter Gena Philibert-Ortega covers 4 of the biggest genealogy websites that are must-have for family history research. This is a great chance for you to discover some new online tools as well as refresh your memory about terrific sites that may have fallen off your radar. This video is part of a 5 part series totaling 25 essential websites for genealogy.
Websites 1 through 4 of Gena’s 25 Websites for Genealogy
I’m Gina Philibert Ortega, and welcome to 25 Websites for Genealogy, What I’d like to do is talk to you about websites that are must-haves for your genealogical research.
Some of these websites will be new to you, and others are going to be very familiar to you. In talking about the familiar websites, I want to get you thinking about them differently, explain a little bit more about what you can do at these websites, and how to get the most out of them.
In this series of 25 Websites for Genealogy, we’re going to be looking at websites in different categories. Our first category is the big genealogy websites (#1 through 4). So let’s go ahead and get started!
Download the ad-free Show Notes cheat sheet for this video here. (Premium Membership required.)
Websites #1: FamilySearch
The number one website for me is always Family Search. Why is it number one? Well, first of all, Family Search is free. And it’s always nice to find free stuff, right? We want to exhaust what’s free, and what’s available, before we spend money or travel or do anything like that. So for me, the first place you should always go is Family Search.
Learn more: Deep Dive FamilySearch Wiki!
Website #2: Ancestry
as of the time of this video, Ancestry had 33,000 databases that can help you in your genealogy research! Remember to move beyond the search engine and dig into that Card Catalogue to find all the available gems.
Learn more about using Ancestry effectively with our videos:
Website #3: Findmypast
Even though Findmypast is based in England and is heavily focused on British research, you don’t have to have British ancestors to find it useful. It has records from the United States and other countries as well. If you haven’t been using Findmypast, I suggest you go on the website and sign up for a free account. This will allow you to see what they have. You can also go to a FamilySearch center near you and possibly use it for free as many of these genealogy websites have library editions.
You may remember that find Findmypast has PERSI, the periodical source index. Although no longer have PERSI, you can find it at the Allen County Public Library’s Genealogy Center website. Check out our videos below to learn more about using PERSI at the Genealogy Center, and a terrific photo collection at Findmypast.
Learn more about using Findmypast effectively with our videos:
#4: MyHeritage
Like Ancestry and Findmypast, MyHeritage also provides a platform for building your family tree, and has a card catalog called the Collection Catalog featuring over 7000 collections. You can even order a DNA test or upload results from other companies. Use the filters to filter collection, and then by location.
Learn more with our video about 10 of the best features at MyHeritage:
MyHeritage 10 “Don’t Miss” Features You Need
Resources:
Download the ad-free Show Notes cheat sheet for this video here. (Premium Membership required.)
Not a Premium Member yet? Discover the benefits and join today.
Time to Explore New Online Genealogical Records
You’re going to want to make some time in your schedule this week to explore these new genealogy records that just might help you discover a new branch of your family tree! This week we highlight a wide variety of intriguing records including historical maps, oral histories, workhouse records, and historical newspapers. (Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for helping us bring these free articles to you!)
Bird’s-Eye View Maps Are Now Online
Maps are often things of beauty, and many of the maps at the DSpace online repository are no exception. Like many libraries, the State Library of Massachusetts has a large collection of bird’s-eye view maps. These maps have now been digitized and are available online.
Though the collection focuses on Massachusetts, the maps are not limited to just that state. A search of “New York” retrieves this Bird’s-eye view of the city of New York from 1853:
This online collection currently includes 120 maps and most of the maps date from the late 1800s up to the early 1900s.
Keep an eye on this collection, particularly if you’re genealogical research takes your family tree into Massachusetts because the word is that there will be many more added in the near future.
World War II ended in 1945 making a man who enlisted at the age of 18 that year, 92 years old today. A new digital archive at Bowling Green State University is striving to digitize old cassette tapes and video tapes that contain interviews with over 100 veterans from Ohio.
According to the website, the exhibit “provides full digital access to the History 303 World War II oral histories (MS-0871). The oral histories were collected from 2000-2004 for a “History of World War II” (History 303) course taught by Drs. Walter E. Grunden and Kathren Brown in the BGSU Department of History, who assigned students the project of recording an interview with an individual who directly experienced the war, whether as a military veteran, Holocaust survivor, refugee, or non-combatant on the home front.”
BGSU’s World War II veteran oral histories include both men and women. who served.
The project is part of a $6,700 grant the university received from the Ohio History Connection. A helpful finding aid is available for the collection here at the BGSU website.
You can search and view the interview here. If you’re like me, you’ll find these interviews with many of the Greatest Generation compelling to watch even if you don’t have relatives from Ohio.
Findmypast: New and exclusive Donegal Workhouse records
Findmypast has added over 400,000 Donegal, Ireland records to their growing collection of Irish Workhouse records.
The Donegal Workhouses Registers and Minute Books have been digitized and published online for the first time by Findmypast in partnership with the Donegal County Council.
The records consist of both transcripts and images of original admission and discharge registers as well as board of guardians’ minute books spanning the years 1840 to 1922.
The collection covers the unions of:
- Ballyshannon
- Donegal
- Dunfanaghy
- Glentis
- Inishowen
- Letterkenny
- Milford
- and Stranorlar.
As well as registers and minute books, users can also expect to find:
- accounts
- death registers
- dispensary notices
- letters
- notices
- notifications
- petitions
- relief registers
- supplier contracts
- Union receipts, and more.
From Findmypast: “High levels of poverty in 19th century Ireland meant that hundreds of thousands of Irish people passed through the workhouses. Irish workhouses were generally built to accommodate around 800 inmates although it soon became clear that more space was needed and programme of building took place throughout the 1840s and 50s.
Former workhousein Dunfanaghy, Donegal Flickr user nz_willowherb [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]
Life inside was grim. At first, there was no so-called outdoor relief, as would have been common in England. Outdoor relief was when the poor could simply use the workhouse facilities as needed by undertaking a day’s work. Indoor relief was initially the only option and required the poor to prove they were destitute before they were admitted.”
This new collection is part of an existing archive of Irish Workhouse records which now includes over 3.1 million records covering Dublin, Clare, Sligo and Waterford.
British & Irish Newspaper Update
Findmypast has added 137,896 new pages to The Archive. These have been added to 18 existing publications spanning 128 years from 1871 to 1999.
The historical newspapers with new additions include:
- Staffordshire Sentinel: 1906-1910, 1918-1919
- Newcastle Evening Chronicle: 1894, 1913, 1919
- The People: 1946-1949
- Newcastle Chronicle: 1875-1896, 1899-1900
- Surrey Advertiser: 1909
- Limerick Chronicle: 1825
- Aberdeen Press and Journal: 1983-1984
- Walsall Observer, and South Staffordshire Chronicle: 1873-1911, 1925-1933, 1958-1969
- Pinner Observer: 1999
- Harrow Leader: 1998-1999
- Ealing Leader: 1998-1999
- Hayes & Harlington Gazette: 1998-1999
- Acton Gazette: 1871-1880, 1885, 1888-1892, 1894-1903, 1910-1917, 1921-1939
- Amersham Advertiser: 1998
- Hammersmith & Shepherds Bush Gazette: 1991
- Dumfries and Galloway Standard: 1874, 1884
- Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough: 1901-1902
- Hamilton Advertiser: 1889-1892, 1894, 1897, 1901, 1903-1904, 1906-1908
New Free Historical Records at FamilySearch
Search these new records and images by clicking on the collection links below. The number shown in parenthesis is the number of indexed records added.
Australia: Australia, South Australia, Prison Records, 1838-1912 (81,971) New indexed records collection
Belgium: Belgium, Namur, Civil Registration, 1800-1912 (402) Added indexed records to existing collection
Canada: Nova Scotia Births, 1864-1877 (183,455) Added indexed records to an existing collection
Canada: Nova Scotia Marriages, 1864-1918 (18,885) Added indexed records to an existing collection
England: England, Herefordshire Bishop’s Transcripts, 1583-1898 (594,707) New indexed records collection
Germany: Germany, Saxony-Anhalt, Halberstadt, Civil Registration, 1874-1982 (12,060) Added indexed records to an existing collection
Lesotho: Lesotho, Evangelical Church Records, 1828-2005 (302) Added indexed records to an existing collection
Liberia: Liberia, Marriage Records, 1912-2015 (2,475) Added indexed records to an existing collection
Luxembourg: Luxembourg, Civil Registration, 1796-1941 (73,901) Added indexed records to an existing collection
Peru: Peru, Cemetery Records, 1912-2013 (42,164) New indexed records collection
Scotland: Scotland Presbyterian & Protestant Church Records, 1736-1990 (109,064) New indexed records collection
United States: Arkansas Confederate Pensions, 1901-1929 (33,779) Added indexed records to an existing collection
United States: Arkansas, Church Records, 1922-1977 (306) New indexed records collection
United States: California, Church Records, 1864-1985 1,941 New indexed records collection
United States: California, Santa Clara County, San Jose, Oak Hill Cemetery Headstone Inscriptions, 1838-1985 (61,966) New indexed record collection
United States: Colorado, Church Records, 1692-1942 (35,030) New indexed records collection
United States: Connecticut, Vital Records, Prior to 1850 (8) Added indexed records to existing collection
United States: Massachusetts, City of Boston Voter Registers, 1857-1920 (32,996) New indexed records collection
United States: Michigan, Civil War Centennial Observance Commission, Committee on Civil War Grave Registration, Burial Records (15,951) New indexed records collection
United States: Minnesota, County Deaths, 1850-2001 (8,672) Added indexed records to an existing collection
United States: Nebraska, Box Butte County, Funeral Home Records, 1919-1976 (3,491) Added indexed records to an existing collection
United States: Nebraska, Church Records, 1875-1899 (151) New indexed records collection
United States: Pennsylvania, Berks County, Reading, Charles Evans Cemetery and Crematory Burial Records, 1887-1979 (106,043) New indexed records collection
United States: Texas, Bexar County, San Antonio Cemetery Records, 1893-2007 (4,981) Added indexed records to an existing collection
United States: United States Deceased Physician File (AMA), 1864-1968 (78,215) Added indexed records to an existing collection
Share Your Story
Did you find an ancestor or bust a brick wall using our list of new online genealogical records? Please leave a comment below and share your story and inspire others. And while you’re at it, please share this article using our social buttons (at the top of this article) with your genealogy friends. We thank you, and they will too!
