Civil War Ancestors

Here's some advice from Amy Johnson Crow's blog on how to get an idea of what your Civil War ancestor looked like.

Preserving Your Past

Here is the first in a series of articles from the Florida State Archives Florida Memory blog about how to preserve important papers, photos, etc.

Freedmen's Bureau database

The Freedmen's Bureau was formed by the federal government after the Civil War to provide assistance to former slaves. The database includes information about freedmen from 15 states and the District of Columbia. Read about the database and find a link to it here .  source: ResearchBuzz

Using Evernote for Genealogy

Evernote is  a very useful tool for online genealogy. Take a look at this collection of YouTube videos explaining what you can do with it.

Irish Soldiers 1920-22, African-American Newspapers.

The UK's National Army Museum has made records of 5 Irish regiments available. Get the information and link here ....efforts are underway at USF St. Petersburg to digitize old issues of the Weekly Challenger newspaper, based in St. Petersburg.  They need copies of editions published prior to 2000. An article about it from the Tampa Bay Times is  here.
source: ResearchBuzz

Genealogy Interest Group meeting dates

Beginning in January 2017, the Genealogy Interest Group will meet from 10-12 a.m. on the FIRST WEDNESDAY of each month at the West Hernando Branch library, 6335 Blackbird Ave:

Jan 4th      Apr 5th      Jul 5th      Oct 4th
Feb 1st     May 3rd     Aug 2nd    Nov 1st
Mar 1st     Jun 7th      Sep 6th      Dec 6th

source: Links and Bridges- The Genealogy Society of Hernando County Newsletter. For more information on the GSHC, visit their  website .

Finding Female Ancestors

This article from Amy Johnson Crow's blog offers some advice on researching female ancestors- you may be making assumptions that result in your missing out on helpful information.

Best Websites 2016

Here are FamilyTreeMagazine.com's Best State Genealogy Websites for 2016. Florida's is the Florida Memory Project.
 
source: ResearchBuzz

Special interest databases

These databases may be of interest to you if you are researching:

Jews in London in WWI ;

African-Americans working in the film industry during the silent era ;

or

people named as witches in Scotland in 1658. For that one, come to the library and click on "e-resources", on our homepage, followed by "Ancestry Library Edition". Click on search, then on the card catalog, and search for:   Scotland, Names of Witches, 1658.

Source: ResearchBuzz

Death records

This post from the Genealogy Insider blog talks about the different types of death records.

National Archives Virtual Genealogy Fair Today and Tomorrow

There is still time to catch this nationwide event on YouTube. Free viewing and handouts.

Florida State Library

If your research deals with Florida, take some time to look at what materials and services are available at the State Library. For services, click on "Research" at the Genealogy Resources page, and then on "Services for Floridians".

Canadian WWI Soldiers

Library and Archives Canada continues to add names to its database of WWI soldiers. Here is information on the database. Find the database here.
(source: ResearchBuzz)

Blogging prompts

If you are a genealogy blogger, you might find yourself short of topics to write about. Here is a list of prompts,  courtesy of geneabloggers.com. to get you posting again.

Cemeteries

This  is an interesting article about a method of inventorying and photographing a cemetery. It comes from the Graveyard Rabbit blog in 2014.

School records

Lisa Louise Cooke's blog  provides some options for tracking down school records. It includes some very helpful links to newspaper collections.

Photoshop

Here is an article from Make Use Of  about using Photoshop to restore old photos. The article includes a link to another article aimed at Mac users, comparing Photoshop to the more affordable Pixelmator. (source: ResearchBuzz)

Historic Maine newspapers

The Maine State Library in Augusta has been awarded a grant to digitize old newspapers from the Pine Tree state some time in the near future. New Jersey is doing the same. Stay tuned.

Jewish Genealogy on Facebook

If you are researching Jewish Genealogy and have a Facebook account, you may want to look at the
Tracing the Tribe  page.

"Call Me Ishmael"

The New Bedford Whaling Museum has a database of  crew members who sailed from New Bedford on whaling ships between 1809 and 1927. Most records seem to consist of a last name, the name and type of the vessel, and the year. The link to the museum website is here. Click "explore", then "collections", and then "crew list database"(the link is a photo on the right side of the page). While you are at the website, you should take at the look at the collection of old photographs and photographs of paintings.
A  brief article about the database from the Boston Herald can be found here.
(source: ResearchBuzz).

GSHC Newsletter Highlights

Some events mentioned in the Jul-Aug 2016 edition of Links and Bridges, the newsletter of the Genealogy Society of Hernando County:  The August 19th meeting of the GSHC will feature a presentation about obituaries by the Merritt Funeral Home....the genealogy library at the John F. Germany Public Library in Tampa will present a program on tracking down photos of your ancestors. The event will take place on August 20th, at 10:30....The Florida Genealogical Society will present Judy G. Russell, "The Legal Genealogist", at Robert R. Saunders library, 1505 N. Nebraska Ave, in Tampa. on October 1st, from 9am - 4 pm. For more information, visit fgstampa.org.

The GSHC meets at 10 a.m. on the 3rd Friday of month (except Dec.) at the LDS Family History Center, 21043 Yontz Road, in Brooksville. Visit their website at gshc.tk

Creating Family History videos

Click here to begin viewing a series of videos by Lisa Louise Cooke on how to create family history videos.  Scroll down to find the link to the first video; the rest can be found on her YouTube channel.

Put Your Smartphone to Work

This article talks about using your smartphone as a research tool. Of course you can take a photo of what you are looking at, but why not creat a PDF document right there on your phone?

Missouri and Rhode Island

If you have any ancestors from Missouri who served in WWI, or just have an interest in the war in general, Missouri Over There may be of interest to you. Also, here is an article about, and a
link to,  court records from colonial-era Rhode Island. (source: Research Buzz)

World's Oldest Profession and the Census

Here is one of several articles linked from Cyndi's list regarding prostitutes and the census.

Colored Conventions

 Free and fugitive blacks came together in state and national "Colored Conventions"from 1830 until sometime after the Civil War. There, they discussed how to achieve educational, labor and legal justice for African-Americans. The website coloredconventions.org is digitizing the minutes of those conventions, which include both prominent and long forgotten names. You can view what has been transcribed so far, and also assist with the transcriptions. (source: ResearchBuzz)

Abolitionist Diary

The diary of  Philadelphia's William Still, an important figure in the Underground Railroad, is online at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's digital library.  Covering the years 1852-1857, this diary documents the names, physical characteristics, and other details of escaped slaves.  An  article from the Philly Voice talks about the history of the diary and about plans by the Historical Society to create a searchable database of the names mentioned in it.

Until then, researchers will have to search page by page. The best way to view the diary is to click on "zoom/more media" below the viewer.  Some pages are illegible, but other portions can be read as is, or with the help of your computer's magnifier (for Windows,  press the Windows logo key and the + or - signs to bring up the magnifier and  zoom in and out).
(source: ResearchBuzz)

Free New York records

The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) will allow free access to its New York databases for the month of June. There are 23 databases including church records, property records, marriage notices, and cemetery inscriptions. (source: ResearchBuzz)

Scotland genealogy

The National Library of Scotland has a collection of 400 family histories that can be read online or downloaded for reading off line. While you're there, look at what else their site has to offer.

Using Maps in Genealogical Research

This article by the U.S. Geological Survey at census.gov talks about how maps are helpful in tracking down your ancestors. Determining where someone lived can be tricky as place names and boundaries can change more than once over the years. Also included are list of books and free online resources. The library can help you locate and borrow material through inter-library loan, and assist with navigating the Web and Ancestry.com.

Library Survey

The library is getting ready to overhaul the library website to make it  cleaner, clearer and more easy to navigate. We are asking for your input. Keep an eye out for an online survey, to appear on the home page soon.

Reunion of Long-lost Siblings

This article,  posted on Dick Eastman's blog, tells

about two young brothers separated at the end of World War II and reunited after 65 years. A documentary on their story premiered this week in Canada.

New tool from Google.

Google Keep can help you organize your online research. This article includes a link. You will need a Google account to use Keep. (source: ResearchBuzz)

NYC Marriages

From the Reclaim the Records newsletter:

“Reclaim the Records is very pleased to announce that the index to the New York City Clerk’s Office marriage records (the application, affidavit, and license) for 1908-1929 is now online and open for public use. There are no logins required, no paywalls, no copyrights, and no usage restrictions. The index is now free and open data, forever.” 

Read about it and find the link here.

(source: ResearchBuzz)

Courthouse research

Here is any article from Amy Johnson Crow on preparing for research at the courthouse.

Here is a story about an ambitious project by a historical society in Delaware. After spending 13 years cataloging local graves, they are now linking each grave photo, location, etc. to other information and artifacts related to the deceased person.(source: ResearchBuzz)

Here is a 20 minute video on how to preserve old letters. (source: amyjohnsoncrow.com)

Brooksville City Directories

Brooksville City Directories  (includes Spring Hill)

located at the Train Depot Museum, 70 Russell Street, downtown Brooksville

(352)-799-0129

1959  1961  1963  1965-66   1969-78   1980   1982-85   1987   1989-93   1999   2000

Irish letters of 1916

Ireland has begun its first public humanities project. Letters of 1916  will digitize thousands of letters  written between November 1915 and October 1916, giving readers a window into life in Ireland a century ago. There is an image of each original letter and a transcribed copy. And, if you are interested in  a challenging volunteering opportunity, you can transcribe some of the letters yourself.
(source: ResearchBuzz)

Free webinars

With St. Patrick's Day approaching once again, FamilySearch is offering free webinars on Irish Genealogy. (source: ResearchBuzz).

The Mormons and Genealogy

If you've ever wondered why and how the Church of LDS (the Mormons) came to accumulate all that genealogical data, here is an interesting article from the New Republic. The amount of information they hold is astounding,  and we were unaware of how big a role the church played in the development of data storage. 

Genealogy Interest Group- March meeting date

The Genealogy Interest Group, which usually meets the 2nd Tuesday of the month at the West Hernando branch, will meet the 2nd Wednesday of March--March 9--- still at 10 AM.
The group will meet on the 8th.

Using the Library's E-Resources to Find Obituaries

The library's Florida Newspaper Database is a good source for local obituaries for the years 2001 - 2016:

Click on E-RESOURCES on the library's home page.

Scroll down to  Florida Newspaper Database

(If outside the library, enter your library card # (the bar  code on the back of your card) as a password.

Click on Publication Search.

Enter the name of the newspaper and click on search (click on Search All Publications if you don't know the name of the newspaper you need).

Click on the name of the paper in the results.

To the left, you will see a drop down menu with a year displayed. Use the drop down menu to select the year. (note: the earlier years(1990's to 2000) of some publications do not include complete January-December coverage - some days/months are missing).  

Click on a specific day.

In the “search within results” box  enter last name , or last name, first name, and click on the magnifying glass icon.

Click on Obituaries, and scroll through the listings to find the one you are looking for.

 Notice the Tool menu  to the right. Here you can print, email the obit, etc.

These instructions can also be used for Florida and non-Florida newspapers in  the Popular Magazines database, also found in our E-Resources.

Asbury Park, Catholic Registers from Ireland, Pullman Porters

For a fee, you can read 111 years of  the Asbury Park Press online, including birth and wedding announcements, and obituaries....
Ancestry will be putting a collection of Irish Catholic Registers online next month. Ancestry Library Edition is available at the library in our e-resources....The Pullman Porter Museum  is constructing an online registry of  Pullman porters- click on the 'National Registry" tab on their home page. (source: ResearchBuzz) 

Digital Public Library of America

Read this blog post  about the DPLA, a website that provides free access to more than 11 million digitized items. The article by professional genealogist Amy Johnson Crow provides a link to the database. Scroll down below the article to find some other potentially helpful posts.

Cursive writing- Should it still be taught?

This is a bit off topic, but while searching for websites that assist with deciphering the old handwriting we encounter in our research, we found this argument against teaching our kids cursive writing. In the meantime, we found this list of tips.

Blogging

If you like to read genealogy blogs, or are considering creating one, a good place to visit is geneabloggers.com. There you will find  a listing of 3000+ blogs; resources to start your own;  prompts to get you started, and instructions on how to have your blog included on the list.

Internet Archive

The Internet Archive has more than 120,000 genealogical works available online. The menu on the right side of the page breaks the collection down by year, and then by content. New material is always being added. While you're there, take a minute to explore what else the archive holds by going to the homepage: https://archive.org/

Syrian Immigrants

Our first post of the new year concerns Syrian immigrants to NYC in the late 19th century. Linda K. Jacobs, author of Strangers in the West, about Syrian immigrants to the Lower West Side, created very detailed spreadsheets of immigrants and their backgrounds. Source: ResearchBuzz