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Plotting Land with Google Earth Pro
The places where your ancestors lived can tell you a lot about their lives. I’m going to show you a free and easy technique for plotting land in Google Earth.
episode 67
Would you like to be able to find your ancestor’s property on a map today? Keep reading and watch the video to learn how. We’re going to take U.S. government survey legal land descriptions found in sources such as Federal Land Patents and quickly and easily plot the boundaries in Google Earth Pro. I’ll also show you an easy way to do it for property in Canada too.
Episode 67 Show Notes
(PREMIUM MEMBERS: Get your ad-free PDF cheat sheet for this episode in the Resources section at the bottom of this page. Not a member yet? Click here to join the Genealogy Gems family and get all the benefits.)
In the video I show you how to plot the boundaries of a piece of land in Google Earth. We’re going to take U.S. government survey legal land descriptions found in sources such as Federal Land Patents and quickly and easily plot the boundaries in Google Earth Pro. I’ll also show you an easy way to do it for property in Canada too. These strategies come from my book The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox,
Download or Update the Free Google Earth Pro Software
These days there are actually three versions of Google Earth:
- Google Earth downloadable software
- Google Earth for Chrome Web browser
- Google Earth app
All are free, but they are not the same. The app and web browser versions are sort of “Google Earth lite.” The software is what you want because it has all the bells and whistles that will allow you to do all the things I’m going to show you today.
Plotting legal land descriptions in Google Earth has its advantages. If you’re plotting the land of your ancestors, you’ll be able to see what the area looks like today and what the current street names are. In Google Earth you’ll also have access to additional tools that you can use in conjunction with the boundaries you’re going to create, such as historic maps, area photos, and a wide range of data sets that provide more information about the area.
The first thing to do is check to make sure you have the most current version of Google Earth on your computer. Again, we’re using the software so you need to do this on your desktop or laptop computer. You want to make sure you have Google Earth Pro – LINK – A tell tale sign that you don’t is if the Google Earth globe icon on your desktop is grey and not blue. Open it and in the menu go to Help > About Google Earth. Here it should say Google Earth Pro and you can see the version number.
Check the current version number here, and if you don’t already have the program, go ahead and download it.
Now that you have it on your computer, open it up and leave it running in the background. You’ll need a decent internet connection for it to run.
Next pull up the legal land description that you want to plot. Here’s one that I have for some property owned by George Burket. I found this at the Bureau of Land Management Government Land Office Records website. This free website is where you can search for land patent that your ancestors once held.
Legal land description at GLO
Even though the Bureau of Land Management places it on the map on their website, you can’t download this or add to it. The advantage of plotting this in Google Earth is that you will have access to much more geographic data, you can add many more details to the map, you can use it in conjunction with other related mapping work that you’re doing, and you can save and share it.
This description gives us the exact coordinates of the property. Jot down the land description or keep it open in your browser tab so you can refer to it.
In a new browser tab, we’re going to type in http://www.earthpoint.us. This will take us to the Earth Point website.
Search by legal land description at Earth Point
This website is free, although some of the features are available only with a paid subscription. Thankfully, the tool for plotting your ancestor’s land patent is free. Some of the free features do require that you sign up for a free account. The feature we are going to use currently does not.
On the Township and Range – Search by Description page you will see a field for each piece of information found in the land description. It’s important to enter this information in the order presented starting with the State. Select the state from the drop-down menu. Pause a moment to allow the fields to recalculate. This allows the appropriate data to be loaded into the next field based on your selection.
Entering data at Earth Point
After you have made each selection, click the Fly to on Google Earth button. This will generate a KML file which can be saved to your computer. KML stands for Keyhole Markup Language, which is the file type that Google Earth uses and understands. KMZ are zipped KML files which also are used by Google Earth.
Save the file to the desired location on your hard drive. Then click the file to open it. It will automatically open in Google Earth (which you already have open). The KML file is now located in your Temporary Places folder in the Places panel. The land is has now been automatically plotted on the map.
The orange outline is the township. In this example it is township T20N R14E. Click the orange ball in the center of the township for details. In the details you’ll find the total number of acres in the township, the latitude and longitude coordinates for the center of the township and corners.
Township in Google Earth
The pink / magenta outline is the Section where the property is. Click the pink center dot for the details:
Land section in Google Earth
In this example Section 9 consists of 648 acres.
Notice that Earth Point was able to plot the land down to the Section level. However George Burket did not own the entire section. We must return to the land description for the Aliquots.
Aliquots in Legal Land Description
In this example, the land was the southeast quarter (SE1/4) of section 9. The land was a total of 160 acres.
We can use the Polygon tool in Google Earth to plot the 160 acres. In the toolbar, click the Polygon tool. This will open the New Polygon dialog box. Type a title, description and source citation.
As you hover your mouse over the map you will notice that the cursor is now a square shape. Click the screen on each of the four corners one at a time in order to set the four corners of the property – in this case the southeast quarter of the section. Once you have drawn the shape you can click on the handle on any corner to adjust precisely.
Click the Style / Color tab in the New Polygon dialog box to adjust the color and opacity of the acreage polygon. You can add color and thickness to the outline, and color and opacity to the fill of the shape. When you have it set the way you want it, click OK to close the New Polygon box. The Polygon is now set.
Moving Plotted Land in the Places Panel
On the left side of the Google Earth screen you will see a series of panels: Search, Places and Layers. At the bottom of the Places panel is the Temporary folder. This is where the KML file was placed when it was opened. However, like its name implies, this is a temporary location. If you want to keep it, you’ll need to move it to a filed location within the Places panel. This will not change the position of the polygon on the map, only where it is filed and saved in the Places panel.
To file a polygon, click on the file in the Places panel, drag it to the desired location, and drop it. Next, go the main menu and click File > Save My Places. This will save your work so that when you close the program it will not be lost. Google Earth doesn’t auto-save.
Turning Google Earth Polygons On and Off
The polygon plotting the acreage will be visible on the map when the box is checked in the Places panel. If you uncheck the box for the polygon it will still be there, but it will not be visible on the map. This allows you to create and save many items of interest without always having to have them displayed and cluttering up the map in Google Earth.
How to Edit a Polygon in Google Earth
After your land polygon has been set, you may want to rename it. There are two ways to do this:
- On a PC right-click on the polygon, either on the map or in the Places panel, and select Rename from the pop-up menu. Type the new name and then press Enter on your keyboard.
- Click to select the polygon in the Places panel (highlighting it in blue) and then go to the main menu to Edit > Rename. Type the new name and then press Enter on your keyboard.
You can also restyle the polygon and edit the text. Start by going to the Places panel and click the arrow pointing at the Polygon’s globe icon. This will open it and show the nested content. Click to select the Polygon. Now you can right-click it (PC) and select Properties – OR – go to the menu under Edit > Properties. Either way it will reopen the Polygon dialog box so that you can make the desired changes. When you’re done, click the OK button to close the Polygon.
Saving and Sharing Plotted Land
Snagit is the tool I used to capture the various views of the land I plotted in Google Earth. Learn more about Snag it by watching my videos and reading the show notes for episode 61 (for beginners) and episode 66 (advanced). Get Snagit with our affiliate link and get a discount for a limited time. (thanks for supporting our free content!)
Plotting Canadian Land
Although the Earth Point website doesn’t plot Canadian land, the Legal Land Description Converter website does. It can help you find land in Western Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan & Manitoba) subdivided by the Dominion Land Survey (DLS) and the Alberta Township System (ATS).
How to Plot Canadian Land
- Go to Legal Land Description Converter at https://www.legallandconverter.com.
- Enter the Section, Township, Range and Meridian information from the land description.
- Click the Calc button.
- Click the generated KML file and save it to your computer.
- Click the file to open it in Google Earth. It will open in the Temporary folder.
- It will fly you the location on the map and outline it for you.
- Rename the file if desired, and add source information.
- Add source citation.
- Drag and drop it to the desired location in your Places panel.
- Save your work: File > Save My Places.
Resources
Watch more videos about using Google Earth for genealogy in the “Geographic” section of the on-demand Premium Video classes. (membership required)
Answers to Live Chat Questions
Gwynn: I would like to know how to match plat with GPS coordinate/ current street address.
Answer: I cover how to overlay a plat map in Google Earth and discover the current street address in my book The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox.
Roger D: How exact do you need to be in picking points? Does Google snap to mid-points of lines?
Answer: Try to be as exact as you can, however as I showed in the video you can reposition them as needed. Google Earth doesn’t snap.
Lyn: Can I do this with English tithe maps?
Answer: There isn’t a website converter that I know of. However I do cover how to overlay digitized maps in Google Earth in my book The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox.
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Using Google Earth to Research Your Ancestors’ Neighborhood
Elevenses with Lisa Episode 22 Video and Show Notes
Live show air date: August 20, 2020
Join me for Elevenses with Lisa, the online video series where we take a break, visit and learn about genealogy and family history.
Please note: As is often the case with technology, sometimes things just don’t work like you think they will. As it turns out, items displayed clearly on my computer in Google Earth were not displaying in the live stream or captured on the video. Don’t worry, if you ever want to create a digital movie of your Google Earth maps, Google Earth has a video recording feature built in so this won’t happen. However, I did everything in this episode live and in real-time through live stream which apparently was at the root of the problem. Keep reading, because I have all the notes for you on what we covered, as well as screen shot images of everything that did not appear on the screen in the video!
Using Google Earth to Capture Your Ancestors’ Neighborhood
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, and we are going to have some fun exploring one of my ancestors’ neighborhoods. Along the way I think you’ll pick up some interesting ideas on how you can explore your ancestors’ lives in a deeper way by getting to know their neighbors.
While you may not find it worthwhile to create a project like this for every family in your family tree, it could prove very helpful for:
- writing a story
- writing a family history blog post or article
- writing a book
- creating a family history story video
- teaching kids about the family history
- satisfying your curiosity!
We see our ancestors’ neighborhoods when we review census records. But have you ever wondered what was life really like in their neighborhood? This project can answer questions such as:
- Did they live close together?
- Did they share the same backgrounds?
- Did any of them work together?
- Did they have things in common?
- Were there a lot of children on the street?
The Google Earth Neighborhood Project
The genealogy project I’m creating in Google Earth in this video is the neighborhood of my great grandparents who lived in San Francisco from 1900-1912. Now, don’t be discouraged if your ancestors were farmers. Remember, everyone has neighbors and a community. Every community has records.
All the techniques covered in this video are covered in detail in my book The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox available here.
Available in the Genealogy Gems Store
The family: Charles Allen & Ellen Burkette
The Census: The 1910 U.S. Federal Census tells us that they lived at 288 Connecticut Street, San Francisco, CA.
Most of their close neighbors, don’t appear on the same page with them. Instead, the neighbors of Connecticut Street appear on the previous page. Always look at the pages before and after the page where you find your ancestor. Often you will find other relatives, close friends, and other people with connections to your family.
For this project we will need the free Google Earth Pro software. Although Google Earth is available in a Web version and an app, these do not include all of the same tools. I always use the software. If you already have Google Earth, check to see if you have the most recent version.
You will also need an a good internet connection to operate Google Earth.
Follow along with the video with the notes below.
Rumsey Historical Maps
In the Layers panel, turn on Rumsey Historical Maps in the Gallery by clicking to check the box. Gold medallion icons will appear on the map. Hover your mouse over the icons to see the title and date. Click the select a map. In the pop-up box, click the thumbnail image of the historic map to automatically overlay it.
The map will be listed in the Temporary Places at the bottom of the Places panel. You can click drag and drop it to any location within the Places panel.
Videos in Placemarks
Videos before and after the great earthquake of 1906 (See Images) Add videos from YouTube to placemarks by copying the Share embed code and pasting it into the Description area of the placemark.
Historical YouTube video displayed in a Google Earth placemark.
Map Overlays
Click the box to activate items like the custom map overlay I created using the 1905 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Connecticut Street.
Search for Addresses
Search for addresses like 288 Connecticut, San Francisco in the search box in the upper right corner of Google Earth.
Add Placemarks in Google Earth
Set a placemark for a home by clicking the Placemark icon (yellow pushpin) in the toolbar the top of the screen.
Use Street View to Get a Closer Look
Visit the street up close and person with Street View. Click on the Street View icon in the upper right corner, drag it over to the map, and drop it on the blue line.
Add Photos to Placemarks
Photos can be embedded into placemarks, such as the photo of my Grandpa and his father (See Image)
Photo of my grandather being held by his father displayed in a Google Earth placemark.
and the photo of my Great Grandfather next to his streetcar. (See Image)
Click the placemark to display the photo.
If you add images from your computer, they will only appear when the map is viewed in Google Earth on your computer. If you host the image in cloud on a photo sharing site or your own website, you will be able to share your map file with other people and they will be able to view the images.
Plot Where Your Ancestors Lived Using Placemarks
Search for each family address and mark the locations with placemarks.
3D Models in Google Earth
3D models (like the streetcar I showed) are created by other Google Earth users and are available online. The HTML code is pasted into a placemark. (You can learn more about this in episode 13 of my Google Earth for Genealogy video tutorial series.
Search for Neighbors
Search for the addresses of neighbors you find in the census and other records.
The census image displayed in a Google Earth placemark.
In this case I searched for the address I found for Bertin & Lenora Hall (293 Connecticut.) Bertin was a locomotive engineer, born in the United State, and they were renting their home.)
Add a Folder to the Google Earth Places Panel
You can add folders to help keep your items organized in the Places panel by right-clicking on MyPlaces, and selecting Add > New Folder. Name the folder as desired, and then drag and drop it to the desired location in the Places
Use Historical Maps from a Variety of Years
Comparing the locations with maps from various years helps you see the evolution of the neighborhood. Notice that some maps don’t line up exactly with the modern map. This is due to inaccuracies often found in old maps.
Add Country of Origin Icons
We can learn more about the makeup of the neighborhood by designating their country of origin. Some neighborhoods may be predominately filled with many people from the same country or even village. Others, like my Great Grandfather’s neighborhood, were quite diverse:
Burkett – U.S.
Hall – U.S.
Dunne – Ireland
Becker – German
Harrington – England
Crawford – Scotland
McTiernan – Irish
Rutherford – Canada
Geib – Germany
Customize Placemark Icons
Add custom icon images to represent the family’s country of origin. Images around 40 px x 40 px work well. (Premium Members click here to download the icons I used.)
Customizing the placemark icon in Google Earth
The Google Earth Opacity Slider
Use the Opacity slider to make a map overlay being displayed more transparent. Start by clicking the space just below the map in the Places panel in order to select it. Then click the Opacity button at the bottom of the Places Slide the slider to change the transparency.
Add Details to the Placemark Description
I typed information into the Description area of my placemarks such as their occupation, fully street address and country of origin. Typically the first two lines of text will be visible in the Places Click the placemark to open and read or add all of the information desired.
Researching and Recording Occupations
Explore old maps, city directories, county histories and other resources to locate possible places of employment. You can then mark each location with a placemark. I used the “wrench” icon to represent work.
Search for Locations
Where did David Rutherford work? I searched for “Cannery San Francisco” and sure enough Google Earth found a site in the northern part of the city.
The Neighborhood School
Let’s not forget the children – I marked the school attended by my grandfather and a photo of him with his classmates. (See Image Below)
My grandpa and his school mates c. 1911.
The Future of the Neighborhood
The neighborhood continued to grow well after they left as revealed by another David Rumsey historic map from 1938 found in the Layers Panel > Gallery.
Resources for this Episode
- Live show chat log
- Premium Members: Download the show notes handout
How to Use Church Records for Genealogy
PREMIUM: Elevenses with Lisa Episode 41 Show Notes
Welcome to Elevenses with Lisa, our weekly little slice of heaven where friends get together for tea and talk about the thing that never fails to put a smile on our face: Genealogy!
As you know, birth, marriage and death records are essential to genealogy. We call them vital records, and there are two types: civil and church. Each records unique information. To get the full picture, you need both when available.
In this week’s Elevenses with Lisa show, my special guest wrote the book on finding U.S. Church Records. Sunny Morton is the author of How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records. She’s going to help us discover the important and very unique role that church records play in genealogy.
Even though Sunny’s book is focused on how to find records in the U.S., everyone can benefit from seeing how church records can be effectively used to solve genealogical challenges.
GET THE BOOK:
Sunny Morton’s book is available at Amazon (Affiliate link – we will be compensated when you use our link which helps support this show. Thank you!)
Church Records in Genealogy
In this episode Sunny provided three case studies testifying to the value of using church records on common genealogy brick-wall topics:
- finding an overseas birthplace,
- finding unknown parents’ names,
- and finding unique insights that turn boring names and dates into compelling stories and ancestral identities.
Using Church Records to Find an Immigrant Ancestor’s Birthplace
She was looking for an overseas birthplace for Carolina O’Hotnicky, an immigrant who lived much of her life in Olyphant, PA, and died there in 1937. Sunny searched for and found many common genealogical records: census records, Carolina’s husband’s naturalization records, and her death certificate. None of these records revealed her birthplace. Church records offered new hope.
Carolina gave birth to several children whose baptisms were recorded at Holy Ghost Catholic parish. Sunny contacted the church, and they sent her transcribed certificates that listed an overseas birthplace for the children in what is now Slovakia. This didn’t quite make sense since the children were baptized just a day or two after the date of their birth in Pennsylvania, U.S.A.!
Sunny inquired about the discrepancy and the original confidential church register was rechecked. As can often happen, a slight error was made. The country listed (Slovakia) was actually the birthplace of both of the parents. Subsequent research into these overseas locations confirmed that to be the case.
As in this case, Catholic baptismal records can be an especially wonderful resource for finding an ancestor’s parents’ overseas birthplace. Access to original registers can vary by church, so it’s possible you may not be allowed to see them in person.
This is not an isolated case of church records providing important information about ancestral hometowns. In fact, a study from 2013 showed that the US source most likely to reveal an immigrant’s ancestral hometown was church records!
U.S. Records most likely to reveal the hometown of a German immigrants:
- Local church vital records 65-76%
- Military muster and pension records 20-30%
- County genealogies 20-25%
- State death certificates 20-25%
- Passenger arrivals, obituaries, county histories, state censuses 15-25%
“Tracing German American Immigrants,” Nathan Murphy, FamilySearch blog, May 9 2013, https://familysearch.org/blog/en/tracing-german-american-immigrants/.
Church Records Search Strategies Recap:
- Church records are often a source of ancestral hometown information
- When you find a record transcription, go the extra mile and try to obtain a copy of the original for review and comparison.
- When in doubt or when information doesn’t quite add up, go back and carefully revisit the source.
Using Church Records to Find an Ancestor’s Parents’ Names
Sunny shared the case of Henry Fox who was born in Colorado in 1890. He died in Colorado in 1961. Sunny found the Henry’s civil marriage record at the Colorado State Archives. Unfortunately, it didn’t mention the couple’s parents’ names. As was the case with Carolina O’Hotnicky, other typical genealogical records did not provide the answer.
A close inspection of the civil marriage record did provide a very valuable clue. The document was signed at the bottom by the officiant “G. Raeber, Pastor”, indicating that a church marriage record would also have been created. But which church? The first line of the document provides the extra nugget of required information: “a Catholic priest.”
Sunny used the strategies from my book The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox and located a Catholic Directory from 1889 in Google Books. This is a great example of church related records and sources that fall outside of birth, marriage, and death records. (Learn More: Discover more surprising genealogical sources that can be found in Google Books in Elevenses with Lisa episode 30.)
Using strategies laid out in her book, Sunny tracked down Father Raeber’s assigned parish for that year, St. Ann’s. She learned that the parish is closed, but she was able to find the records at the Archdiocese of Denver archives.
As is often the case, the archives would only send her excerpts – a copy of the single line from the marriage register book – but it was enough. These snippets told her the ages and birthplaces of Henry Fox’s parents. And it provided THEIR parents’ names! “Hallelujah!”
Church Records Search Strategies Recap:
- Carefully inspect civil records for clues such as the officiant.
- Use Google search, and specifically Google Books to search for supporting historical information.
- Take the time to track down where records are archived today and make inquiries.
Unique Insights Provided by Church Records
While reviewing the obituary for Oglesby Johnson found in an old newspaper, Sunny discovered a bit of information that could provide leads to tracking down the church he may have attended. Listed in the obituary was the name of the church where the funeral was held (New Hope Church) and the names of several Reverends.
Sunny set out to try to find the church on a map from the time period. She found success at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. There among the many unique historical maps in their collection, Sunny found a hand-drawn map of the Hartwell, Georgia area. On it was drawn the church and several residences.
Next, she turned to Google Earth to try and find the location today. Google Earth provided a wonderful aerial view as well as an up-close view of the church and cemetery today thanks to Street View. (Learn More: Watch episode 12 of Elevenses with Lisa to learn more using Google Earth for Genealogy. You can also find step-by-step instructions for many genealogical projects in Google Earth in the book The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox.)
Armed with information about the cemetery associated with the church she turned to the Find a Grave website. There she found a plethora of Johnson burials. Continued research dug up the book History of Reed Creek by Hugh Gray Jr. (Hartwell, GA: Gray’s Printing, 2002) which provided an insider’s view of community life in the church.
As is sometimes the case, Sunny was unable to locate records from church. However, she did discover there was a predecessor church. The New Hope Church was created when some existing members withdrew from the Reed Creek Baptist Church. She turned to PERSI, the PERiodical Source Index to look for old church records that may have been transcribed in an item like a journal or newsletter. In this case the records were transcribed and published in the Savannah River Valley Genealogical Society Newsletter! She found it on the shelf at the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. (Learn more about the Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library in Elevenses with Lisa episode 31 with Librarian Allison Singleton.)
She found that the Reed Creek Baptist Minute Book transcription showed Oglesby’s parents and the enslaving family. Sunny turned to a local area research who was able to track down the original records. These records had even more information than was provided in the transcription.
Church Records Search Strategies Recap:
- Clue to church records can be found in historical newspaper articles such as obituaries.
- The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has a vast collection of unique historical maps and gazetteers.
- Google Earth is an excellent free software program for finding geographic locations.
- Search for cemeteries and ancestors for free at the Find A Grave website.
- Search PERSI to find old journals and newsletters for organizations such as genealogy societies. Read my article PERSI for Genealogy: the Periodical Source Index to learn how to search the index and how to gain access to the records.
- Turn to local area researchers as needed to gain access to hard to access records.
Recap: Genealogy Found in Church Records
- Names, vital events, relationships
- Overseas birthplaces and other places
- Info on hard-to-find ancestors
- Contemporary accounts
- Unique stories
Sunny Says: “In many places, churches kept records of members’ names, locations, vital events, and family members’ names long before comparable government or other community records did the same. Better yet, church records weren’t generally kept at a courthouse, so if some of those important government records were destroyed by fire or other disasters, local church records from the same time period may not have been affected. Church records were often created at the time of an event, making them a relatively reliable source of information.”
Get Sunny Morton’s Book
Records created by U.S. churches are an often-overlooked resource for genealogists. But they can be a fantastic brick-wall buster, helping you find your immigrant ancestors’ overseas birthplaces, learn more about elusive ancestors (especially women and children and ethnic minorities), and flesh out their life stories. In How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records by Sunny Morton and Harold Henderson, you’ll learn to identify where a family may have worshipped, find any surviving records and put them to use for your family history.
Get 20% off your purchase of How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records with coupon code LLC20 when you shop at Genealogical.com. (Expires 2/5/21)
Sunny Morton’s book is also available at Amazon.
Answers to Live Chat Questions
One of the advantages of tuning into the live broadcast of each Elevenses with Lisa show is participating in the Live Chat and asking your questions.
From Bill: Loved your church records w/ Sunny. I found Roman Catholic sacramental records for all US military in NY. Here is the link: Catholic sacramental records of US Military members are all kept at the Archdiocese for Military Services USA, Office of Sacramental Records and can be obtained for a fee. See: https://www.milarch.org/sacramental-records
From Diane L.: I can’t wait for this! was going to order death cert for Gr Gpts, Is there certain guidelines to ordering death cert. to get them? Can I get one for GGP or a great aunt?
Linda J @Diane L. depends on the State as each is different. Go on State website, click until you find how to order Death Records. Some states are pretty easy, others not.
Sunny: Thanks for all the great questions! Remember, you can get 20% off How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records with promocode LLC20 at Genealogical.com. The promocode is good through February 5, 2021.
From GeneBuds: What was your initial cold call question?
Sunny: When I cold-called the relatives back in the hometown, I just asked something like, “If you’re related to the O’Hotnicky family that worked at the fire station in Olyphant, I’d love to hear from you.” I think I mentioned I learned some tips from Lisa Louise Cooke’s free Family History: Genealogy Made Easy Podcast, episodes 14 and 15.
Related Questions on Pennsylvania church records:
Question: My brick wall ends (starts?) in SW Pennsylvania. Her 1st child is born in SW Pennsylvania. How do I find church records for this area between 1790 to 1820?
From Robin J.: How to find birth or marriage records for eastern PA for Lutherans in 1750’s+ – my brick wall I’ve tried all the major site a and even on a research trip to the area.
Robin J.: Is there a Lutheran/German resource for church records in eastern PA for late 1700’s
Sunny: Finding church records in general can get harder the further back in time you go, and this time period begins to be more challenging. That said, the process of tracking down church records depends entirely on the denomination and sometimes on the individual church. Pennsylvania especially had a lot of religious diversity, and the various churches can be hard to tease apart. That said, there are some fantastic repositories in Pennsylvania that may hold the records you want. Learn more in my book!
From Carolyn S.: Lutherans and Catholics have good records for the most part. What about Baptist, Methodist or ??
Sunny: Methodist records tend to be pretty genealogically good, almost as good as Catholic or Lutheran. Unfortunately, Baptist records tend not to be as easy to come by, and when you can, they’re often not as genealogically helpful. Of course, there are exceptions to every generalization!
From Barbara D.: In the USA are there central places for specific religion records of certain States – ie – in Ontario we have Presbyterian Archives, Wesleyan Methodist Archive etc.
Sunny: Yes, each denomination has its own way of archiving records, whether to regional archives (Catholic diocesan or Methodist conference) or central archives (Latter-day Saints), or to specific archives such as the Presbyterian Historical Society or Congregational Library. That said, sometimes records were archived before a denominational library/archive was established, or there may not be one, in which case you’d have to look to regional archives, including Special Collections at universities that themselves are/were affiliated with a faith tradition. One of the reasons I wrote separate chapters for each of the major historical denominations was to be able to identify the various archives.
From K M: Catholic nuns change name. Is there a paper trail to find her family?
Sunny: Great question! Yes. Each order of nuns has its own motherhouse, which would have an archive. The archive should have files on each woman who was part of that order, which included her original name and her next-of-kin. Once, I was looking for a nun and all I had was the name she later assumed (Sister Mary Bertilla) and a time/place where she was serving. The diocesan archivist for that area put me in touch with motherhouse archivists for all the orders that existed in that time/place. They were very kind/prompt about checking their files for her name.
From Linda J.: Sunny, would Evangelical Lutheran be included with “Lutheran”?
Sunny: Yes!
From KT: Would the church hold records on deconesses, Sunday schools, organizations of the church the women participated in? want to find out gals .
Sunny: Great goal, KT! Yes, churches that had auxiliaries generally created records of their activities. I have especially seen these for Methodist churches. They would often have been archived wherever the church membership records ended up. A tip: sometimes the membership records end up online, or transcribed in a book, etc., but the auxiliary records don’t. Follow the source citation for the membership records back to the original archive and see whether their collection for that church has additional records.
Barbara C.: How to find Universalist records from 1800s Vermont?
Sunny: I do not specifically cover Universalist/Unitarian records in my book, so I’ll point you toward their official repository for any further questions.
From Sheryl T.: If your relative IS the minister, what kind of records in the church should I ask for?
Sunny: Great question. Some denominational archives have created ministerial files with biographical and career information in them; I would definitely check the denominational chapter in my book to see if such is the case for them. Many faiths kept ministerial directories and/or had annual meetings of ministers where their names/congregational assignments might be listed (the latter might also have information about their ordinations, salaries, disciplinary action, or committee work). The actual church records may have been personally maintained by your relative or at least will likely mention him in the course of performing weddings, baptisms, etc. He may also have maintained personal ministerial logs or journals, which may or may not have ended up with a church archive.
From Gayle P.: What are suggestions for searching Quaker Records in Pennsylvania?
Sunny: My book has an entire chapter on Quaker records. I’ll just say two things here: first, Quaker records are often incredibly rich in genealogical detail. Second, I’d start first with an enormous collection of Quaker records on Ancestry.com, if you’re a subscriber. It does include several record sets from Pennsylvania.
From Mary D.: How can you access PERSI without getting a subscription?
Sunny: PERSI, the Periodical Source Index, is exclusively searchable on Findmypast. You don’t need a subscription to search PERSI. Your searches will bring up a list of results with “teaser” information in them, which at times itself may be sufficient to lead you to an article of interest. Otherwise, if you’re not ready to subscribe, consider purchasing PayAsYouGo credits to get a la carte access to just the search results you’re interested in. Learn more about PERSI from Lisa Louise Cooke.
Linda B.: I have United Brethren minister who rode the circuit from KY to Canada, any ideas of where to start? He lived in Auglaize Co, Ohio
Sunny: My book has a section on the United Brethren church in the “German Churches: Reformed and Sectarian” chapter. You’ll want to determine when he was a minister. There was a big split in the church in 1889, which means the record trail splits, too. My relative who was United Brethren stayed in the group that eventually joined with what is now the United Methodist church, and I found records about him in a United Methodist conference archive in Pennsylvania. Consult the chapter in my book about the various archives, depending on which church your minister was part of. It’s complicated—it took me a while to tease it apart myself (but this eventually helped me write this section of the book, so it won’t be as complicated for others!).
Sunny: Don’t forget your promocode: 20% off How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records using LLC20 at Genealogical.com through February 5, 2021.
From Lynnette B.: Can I transfer old home movies directly from a DVD to YouTube or do I need to have the information in mp4 form before transferring to YouTube?
From Lisa: YouTube accepts the following file formats:
- .MOV
- .MPEG4
- .MP4
- .AVI
- .WMV
- .MPEGPS
From Debbi W.; Searching for criminal records in California between 1906 – 1914, not prison but likely county jail and county court systems. any suggestions on where to start?
From Lisa: Check out the California Correctional Institutions page.
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7 Free Google Search Features Every Genealogist Should Use: Google for Genealogy
Google is a many-faceted gem when it comes to searching for ancestors online. Are you getting the most out of what Google offers?
Google searching–entering your ancestors’ names and other keywords into the main Google search box–is where you start using Google for genealogy. But the search box isn’t the only Google feature that can help you find hidden genealogy treasures online. Here are 7 important Google resources you need:
Google Alerts
Google will sweep the internet for your favorite keyword searches on a regular basis! Just set up as many of these searches as you need with Google Alerts. It’s free and you can customize it to search when and what you want. Click here to learn to set up Google Alerts for genealogy.
Google Books
You may already know that Google Books will keyword search within billions of pages of text in published books from around the world. Some of these books are even available to read in full on the site. Searching Google Books can lead you to facts, stories, new sources for your research and even images. For example, click here to read a post about finding old maps in Google Books.
Google Cache
Web content changes all the time. Sometimes the text, pictures or other content we most want just disappears. A page is revised, or a webpage or an entire website is taken offline. Use Google Cache to look at webpages that no longer exist! Click here to learn more.
Google Earth
I teach people all over the world how to use Google Earth in their genealogy research! Google Earth is the ultimate online map of the world: free, interactive, three-dimensional, multi-layered and crowd-sourced with all kinds of extra content. You can use it to identify ancestral hometowns and even their properties; zoom in to see what it looks like today; find old buildings, cemeteries, schools or churches relating to their lives, and more. Click here to watch a free video on using Google Earth for your genealogy.
Google Images
When using Google for genealogy you can also visualize your results. Google has a dedicated area for finding the images you want, like certain people, places or historical events: Google Images. Google Images will even narrow your results to certain parameters: black and white images only; maps or pictures of people only; photographs but not illustrations and–my favorite–images without copyright restrictions that you may re-use in your family history write-ups.
Google News Archive
Though no longer actively digitizing and indexing newspapers, Google News Archive can help you locate online content for specific newspapers. Click here to access its alphabetical listing of newspapers. You can also enter keyword-searches in the search box on that webpage for all the newspapers listed here.
Google Scholar
When you want to dig into scholarly articles, theses, dissertations and other academic sources, turn to Google Scholar. This resource specializes in searching the “smart stuff,” as I think of it. Sometimes you can find very specialized content, like a biography of a little-known minister or a history of a little tiny town. Read this inspiring story about using Google Scholar for genealogy!
Resource:
Ready to learn more about how to use Google for genealogy and mining it for your own genealogical treasures? The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox, is your go-to resource! In its chapters–fully revised and updated –you’ll learn more about all these Google tools and more. Better yet, after you learn how to use these tools for family history research, you’ll find yourself using them to find all kinds of things, from recipes to trivia, to a manual for your old car.
It’s Nice to Share
I’ll bet you have friends who would benefit from this article on how to use Google for genealogy. Share it and they will be doing the genealogy happy dance, and so will I!
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