by Lisa Cooke | Oct 20, 2013 | 01 What's New, History, Maps
A recent blog post at slate.com caught my eye because it features a map from the genealogists-love-it David Rumsey map collection. But what captured my attention was the story the unfolded behind the foldable map itself. I think you’ll love it!
Blogger Rebecca Onion uses a 1929 souvenir map of the United States to tell the story of early commercial air traffic–specifically the story of the origins
Rumsey TAT map
of airline giant TWA. Apparently early “transcontinental flights,” as they were advertised, were sight-seeing tours with short flights interspersed by train rides to the next flight location. The map featured in her blog post was a souvenir of one of these passengers, who added his own colorful comments on his experience.
This fun post is part aviation history, part map-lover trivia. The story unfolds even more in a short video documentary on Transcontinental Air Transport I’ve added below. It includes cool aerial shots and more on how the early air transport industry, er, got off the ground.
And don’t forget to use maps (storied or just the plain informational types) in your family history research! These can help you find your way around ancestral hometowns, chart migration routes as they would have and otherwise see the world (literally) in the same ways they did. David Rumsey’s map collection is one of the best online collections out there, with free access to over 44,000 high-resolution historical maps.
Learn more about how to use the David Rumsey historic map collection in conjunction with Google Earth by watching my free video class Google Earth for Genealogy.
My Genealogist’s Google Toolbox Kit, is a value bundle that includes my book The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox and Volumes I and II of Google Earth for Genealogy (on video CD). And right now the kit is available for 20% off!
by Lisa Cooke | Oct 14, 2013 | 01 What's New, Canadian, FamilySearch, Immigration
Mixed group immigrants, Quebec
Over a million indexed records and images for Canadian passenger lists (1881-1922) are among newly-announced records now searchable at FamilySearch.org.
The database includes records for Canadian ports–Quebec City, Halifax, St. John, North Sydney, Vancouver and Victoria–as well as U.S. ports for passengers who reported Canada as their final destination.
Before this time period, travel between the U.S. and Canada was common. But it was not always officially recorded because there were no border crossing stations on land. During the time period covered by these records, nations on both sides of the border became concerned about the impact of this invisible migration. Official border crossing record-keeping began in 1895. (See a database at Ancestry.com).
Here’s a tip: If you have immigrant ancestors who landed in the United States during this era but you haven’t found their passenger records, consider the possibility that they arrived via Canada. They would have avoided the increasingly strict monitors at the port gates of entry to the U.S. “golden door.”
Here’s a full list of recent updates to FamilySearch.org:
|
Collection
|
Indexed Records
|
Digital Images
|
Comments
|
| Argentina, Buenos Aires, Catholic Church Records, 1635-1981 |
539,210 |
0 |
Added indexed records to an existing collection. |
| Argentina, Capital Federal, Catholic Church Records, 1737-1977 |
682,002 |
0 |
Added indexed records to an existing collection. |
| BillionGraves Index |
407,422 |
407,422 |
Added indexed records and images to an existing collection. |
| Canada Passenger Lists, 1881-1922 |
1,673,051 |
61,099 |
Added indexed records and images to an existing collection. |
| Denmark, Church Records, 1484-1941 |
0 |
2,399,826 |
New browsable image collection. |
| Germany, Prussia, Brandenburg, Landkreis Ostprignitz-Ruppin, Miscellaneous Records, 1559-1945 |
0 |
9,569 |
New browsable image collection. |
| Italy, Campobasso, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1809-1918 |
0 |
2,171,641 |
New browsable image collection. |
| Italy, Napoli, Fontana, Parrocchia di Santa Maria della Mercede – La Sacra, Catholic Church Records, 1659-1929 |
0 |
54 |
Added images to an existing collection. |
| U.S., Illinois, Northern District (Eastern Division), Naturalization Index, 1926-1979 |
0 |
214,094 |
Added images to an existing collection. |
| U.S., Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994 |
980,427 |
951 |
Added indexed records and images to an existing collection. |
by Sunny | Aug 24, 2018 | 01 What's New, Records & databases
Nearly 6 million British family notices are now free to explore online! Find your ancestors from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales in more new and updated records, too: newspaper articles, British almanacs and directories, clandestine marriages, Liverpool Catholic...
