Genealogy Database Updates

Highlights for May 4th, 2008

2008-05-04T15:54:00.000-04:00

At a recent used book and paper show, I discovered an 1832 government report that included An Abstract of Licenses granted to persons to Trade with the Indians during the year ending 30th September, 1831. Check out Licenses to Trade with Indians 1831.

Two registers of convicts from the New Hampshire State Prison: 1863 and 1880.

A continuation of an earlier report, Passengers from Ireland (1815-16). Plus, even more transcriptions of souvenir passenger lists:

These are just some of the 22 resources published today. Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

Highlights for April 27th, 2008

2008-04-27T12:45:00.001-04:00

One of my book dealer contacts found an interesting series of reports for the Hospital of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Penna. Each of the reports includes listings of Railroad, Machine Shop and Factory accidents. 1885 Report, 1887 Report, 1888 Report, 1890 Report, 1893 Report, 1894 Report, 1907 Report, and 1908 Report.

Plus, a few more transcriptions of souvenir passenger lists:

These are just some of the 20 resources published today. Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

Highlights for April 20th, 2008

2008-04-20T18:23:00.002-04:00

This week you'll find additional transcriptions of souvenir passenger lists:

Also, additional articles from the American Irish Historical Society which included passenger arrivals: Irish Immigrants in Eighteenth Century (1773-1775), Irish Immigrants to New England (1762-1769), and Passengers from Ireland (1811).

These are just some of the 20 resources published today. Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

Highlights for April 13th, 2008

2008-04-13T14:24:00.001-04:00

What's the saying, "leave no stone unturned"? Well, the same goes when searching for ancestors. Recently when shopping for ephemera, I found a small pile of receipts and on a whim decided to look on the backs. To my surprise, each listed assessment information for a different month. These 16 little pieces of paper included death details for 225 individuals... what a find! Check out Grand Jurisdiction of Missouri A. O. U. W. Deaths (1887-1889)

Two reports for the Saginaw (Michigan) Police Department (1907 and 1913) included more than just rosters of the policemen. Included were listings of criminals sentenced during each of those years.

Also this week, the first installment of records published in the early 1900's by the American Irish Historical Society, including Irish Burghers of New Amsterdam (1695-1808), Revolutionary Patriots in Vermont, Early Marriages in Worcester County MA (1741-1786), and Morristown First Presbyterian Church Records (1745-1806).

These are just a few of the 36 resources published today. Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

Highlights for April 6th, 2008

2008-04-06T23:49:00.003-04:00

This week, while I was looking for some personal research items, I stumbled upon a box containing a stack of souvenir passenger lists purchased back in 2002 (before this database project even started). These little booklets contain the names of cabin passengers, so while they are not as helpful as the ship manifests, they may help you connect the dots with one of your immigrant ancestors. Here are the 19 lists transcribed this week:

Stockholm 1922 (Goteburg to NY)

Plus, two others that were transcribed back in 2004:

These booklets were distributed to cabin passengers. They may not be as accurate as the actual passenger manifests.

Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

Highlights for March 30th, 2008

2008-03-30T13:07:00.004-04:00

I recently stumbled upon some papers from the Woman's Relief Corps, which contained lengthy lists of the recent appointments. This was an auxiliary group to the Grand Army of the Republic. Check out 1926-1927 General Orders No. 4, No. 5, No. 6 and No. 10. Another batch from 1895 will be transcribed in the near future.

A few more tax lists were completed this week: Orrington ME 1918, Westerly RI 1897, Charlton MA 1886, and a voters' list for Seaforth, Ontario 1923.

Several interesting trade group membership lists were also completed: Charitable Mechanic Association MA 1861, Master Builders' Exchange NJ 1909, and the Providence Association of Mechanical Engineers RI 1902-1903.

These are just a few of the 32 resources published today. Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

Highlights for March 23rd, 2008

2008-03-23T18:00:00.003-04:00

An interesting item for folks with Californian roots... Index to Precinct Registers of Plumas County, California, 1910. What I think is neat about this document is that it not only lists name, age, occupation, address for residents eligible to vote, but also their party affiliation.

Several church member lists this week... Bridgeton NJ First Presbyterian Church 1870, Waterloo NY First Presbyterian Church 1874, Keene NH First Congregational Church 1900, and Reformed Church at Peapack, NJ 1881. More of these are in the works and will be uploaded in the weeks ahead.

One of my personal favorite topics is HORSE THIEF detecting and pursuing organizations. The documents for these groups are very scarce, but I found another one last month. Cumberland Detective Society R. I. 1916 lists the members.

These are just a few of the 17 resources published today. Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

Highlights for March 16th, 2008

2008-03-16T13:53:00.005-04:00

Yesterday I attended the Ephemera Society of America annual conference Ephemera/28 in Old Greenwich, CT and brought home a bunch of insurance records: Union Mutual Fire Insurance Co. 1854, John Hancock Mutual Life Ins. Comp 1889, North-Eastern Mutual Life Association 1875, Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co. in N. H., Schuylkill Valley Mut. Fire Ins. Co. 1876, Chester Co. Mutual Fire Ins. 1915. Some of these only have a handful of names, but if you get lucky and find a match, you should check the local newspaper for articles about the fire, etc. and/or obituary that led to the claim.

I also acquired the Pinkerton Academy 1884 Graduation Program, which has three graduates. This is an excellent example of how unique this database project is. You'll find documents this small, as well as, many with several thousands of names.

More Black Sheep, this time in New York... Erie County Penitentiary 1895 Report!

These are just a few of the 26 resources published today. Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

Highlights for March 9th, 2008

2008-03-09T11:45:00.001-04:00

This week, there was a definite focus on tax records. Check 'em out: Danville VA 1819, Swansey MA 1875, Swansey MA 1890, Medford MA 1847, Richmond NH 1887, Oakham MA 1909. These are great alternatives to Census records, especially the ones around 1890. I own 140 more of these reports (for a variety of towns), so there's a lot more coming in the months ahead.

And for those Black Sheep in your family tree... New Hampshire State Prison 1889 Report

These are just a few of the 15 resources published today. Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

Highlights for March 2nd, 2008

2008-03-02T17:00:00.003-05:00

Another batch of insurance papers were added this week. Also check out the Ladies' Miscellany for May 12, 1829, a very old newspaper with a couple of marriage and death announcements. I found some neat papers that included Pay Roll data for the City of Great Falls, Montana. I purchased a bunch of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen's Magazines and began transcribing the information this week. I'm going to try and get one issue posted each week.

The City of Newburyport, Mass., List of Persons Assessed for Poll Taxes, Ward Six, 1916 and the Exeter 1930 Tax Book have been transcribed. There are a number of Poll and Tax Lists in progress, stay tuned!

These are just a few of the 34 resources published today. Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

Highlights for February 24h, 2008

2008-02-24T17:25:00.002-05:00

There are a bunch of insurance-related items this week, including claims paid by Monmouth Mutual Fire Ins Co. (1851-52), Woodworth Lodge No. 2 A.O.U.W., Maine State Relief Association (1897, 1899), Windsor County Mutual Fire Ins. Co. (1859-60), Montgomery County Mutual Ins. Co. (1852-4) and Continental Life Insurance Company of N. Y., Ohio Branch, (1872). Some of these items are very small, partial sheets of paper that have a dozen or so claims listed.

I picked up a copy of the New York Tribune for Saturday, August 13, 1864, and discovered it had a listing of the Deaths of Soldiers in the Hospitals in and about New York from August 5 to August 12, 1864 on the cover. I'll be looking for additional copies of the paper for this time period.

These are just a few of the 32 resources published today. Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

Highlights for February 17th, 2008

2008-02-17T13:32:00.006-05:00

I really like insurance claim information. How interesting would it be for you to find information about a significant event (e.g. fire) in your ancestors' lives? There are three insurance-related items in this weeks' update: Farmers' Mutual Fire Ins. Co. (Vermont), Blooming Grove Mutual Fire Ins. Co. (Pennsylvania), and Knights Templars and Masons Life Indemnity Co. (Illinois). More insurance claims records are currently being transcribed and will be included in upcoming updates. Well, I'm starting to believe that there must be an association for just about every group of workers that ever existed! Here's a fun one: an 1893 membership list for the American Ticket Brokers Association.

These are just a few of the 22 resources published today. Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

Highlights for February 10th, 2008

2008-02-10T17:53:00.000-05:00

You may notice quite a few yearbooks in this weeks update. I have hundreds of yearbooks from around the country sitting in boxes and wanted to get some more of them online. The June 1920 Hard Lines is an interesting one from North Dakota. Also interesting this week is the 1927 Directory for the Park Hill Church of Christ in Arkansas. And there's a large list of Deceased Soldiers and Sailors from Rhode Island in the 1871 Monument Dedication.

For those of you craving information for Canadian Ancestors, this week we added the June 1915 Classic (Normal School at Stratford) and the 1916 Hya Yaka (Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario).

These are just a few of the 43 resources published today. Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

Highlights for February 3rd, 2008

2008-02-03T11:39:00.000-05:00

If you have a plumber in your family tree, you're in for a special treat this week. Check out the 54th Edition of the Directory of Members of the National Association of Master Plumbers of the United States. We've added yet another report for the Soldiers' Orphans Schools of Pennsylvania. This one is for 1890 and also includes a list of "Sixteeners" -- children being discharged as a result of turning 16 years old. And here's an interesting military resource: Reminiscences of the Experiences of Company L, Second Regiment Massachusetts Infantry, U. S. V., in the Spanish-American War.

These are just a few of the 37 resources published today. Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

Highlights for January 27th, 2008

2008-01-27T22:10:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you'll find excellent information included in programs from parades and events. I stumbled upon this one from 1918 for the City of Cleveland and it included the entire rosters of both the Police and Fire departments. In Lake Forest, Illinois, there was a school for young women called Ferry Hall. I found a 1904-1905 catalogue for the school which included a listing of all their alumni back to 1871. We've added another report for the Soldiers' Orphans Schools of Pennsylvania. This one is for 1879 and includes a list of "Sixteeners" -- children being discharged as a result of turning 16 years old. And also check out the list of New Hampshire Odd Fellows' Home Residents for 1914. It includes Indigent Odd Fellows, their Wives and Orphan Children. There will be another listing (I believe for 1900) coming in a few weeks.

These are just a few of the 22 resources published today. Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

Highlights for January 20th, 2008

2008-01-20T23:57:00.000-05:00

This week, be sure to check out the Nevada Inspector of Mines 1929-1930 Report, which includes listings of fatal and non-fatal mining accident victims. While these types of reports don't include many names, if one of your ancestors is mentioned, it will be a truly wonderful find. If you've got ancestors from Oneida County, New York, take a look at 117th N. Y. Volunteers 1909 Roster, which gives the names and addresses of survivors, and the name and year of those deceased. This is the Fourth Oneida County Regiment. Recently, I found a very interesting Returns of Desertions, Discharges, Deaths, Etc., in Maine Regiments, for the Months of May, June and July, 1864. All of the information has been carefully transcribed and put online. And a friend of a person whose grandfather was an instructor at the Iowa School for the Deaf contacted me as they were selling several graduation programs. Check them out: 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916 and 1917.

These are just a few of the 34 resources published today. Every week I send out a complete listing of the items added. If you'd like to join this RootsWeb mailing list called GenToday-L, click here for instructions.

A New Year, A New Blog

2008-01-19T14:03:00.000-05:00

Beginning in 2008, this blog will highlight some of the most unique items included in the Family Tree Connection database. Each week new items are added, and we would like our readers to see just how original some of the information being posted is. With so much great information appearing on the Internet, we'll also post articles about interesting items found while surfing around the WWW.

If you've made a discovery in the Family Tree Connection, we'd love to share your story on our blog. Send us an email with the details and we'll post it.

Railroad Employee Business Cards Added

2007-01-22T15:55:00.000-05:00

Here are the surnames of additional railway employees added to the vintage business card collection at Genealogy Today: Bailey, Baird, Barnes, Bastable, Beck, Benson, Brome, Castater, Cleland, Cleveland, Coldwell, Colvin, Coman, Craig, Crosbie, Crosby, Duffy, Egan, Glarum, Glorioso, Gold, Gottschald, Guthrie, Haischer, Hale, Hang, Harrow, Hatfield, Haugh, Herron, Hess, Hewitt, Hoydar, Hulsey, Jahn, Kikunaga, Kirby, Knight, Liechty, Marlatt, Martin, McNeal, McNutt, Moonert, Morningstar, Murray, Newlean, Nichols, Noble, Olmsted, Page, Pengra, Perkins, Pierce, Pinger, Redding, Rosenbaum, Sage, Sears, Sheahan, Sheldon, Smith, Starin, Stevens, Storey, Sullivan, Thiehoff, Thomas, Turner, Watson, Weed, Whitney, Wilson, Woodworth.

One of the cards (W. D. Cleveland) belonged to an employee of the Oahu Railway in Honolulu, which was interesting because I had never thought that there would be railroads in Hawaii. Coincidentally, I was going through a box of ephemera and came across this photo of a train station in Honolulu. You can see (click on the image for a larger version) the name Ohau Railway on the building.

Stockholders of the Maine Central Railroad Company

2007-01-19T19:29:00.000-05:00

Maine Central R. R. Co. Stockholders - Maine Central Railroad Company Common and Preferred Stockholders as of April 1, 1924. This item was hand typed on very thin paper, which made it a challenge to get scanned. In addition, the item had been kept folded for many years. I visited my local Staples store and made a photocopy of the entire document to both shrink and flatten out the pages.

The cover reads: "The complete list of shareholders and their places of residence and the number of shares belonging to each on the first day of April, 1924." I obtained this Portland, Maine document from a Florida-based book dealer who had a booth at a genealogy conference in Boston, Massachusetts. It's amazing what information is floating around out there. Now its been archived and transcribed for genealogists.

Pennsylvania Railroad Medals Awarded

2007-01-15T14:19:00.000-05:00

Pennsylvania Railroad Medals for Heroic Service - Their Purpose, Conditions of Award, and Holders. March 1926. Issued from the General Offices, Broad Street Station, Philadelphia. This is an incredible find. There are lengthy descriptions of why the medals were awarded to these 82 heroic individuals.

Mitchell Lodge No. 296, F. & A. M.

2006-12-29T20:53:00.000-05:00

Mitchell Lodge No. 296, F. & A. M., 1912 Roster - Mitchell Lodge, No. 296, F. & A. M., Philadelphia, 1912. Extracts from the Ahiman Rezon and By-Laws, The List of Past Masters, Members, Etc.

A Santa Fe Railway Brakeman

2006-12-09T13:49:00.000-05:00

There's one source we often don't think to check when doing genealogical research: the special collections of libraries. I was surfing around for railroad employee information and stumbled upon a guide for the A. M. Spratt Railroad Collection.

What an interesting find. A. M. Spratt was born east of Sanger, Texas, on November 15, 1906 and lived there most of his life. He owned a café in Sanger until he became a brakeman for the Santa Fe Railway Company in July, 1943, working on the line from Purcell, Oklahoma to Cleburne, Texas.

The collection, in two letter-sized document boxes, is composed of material collected and saved by A. M. Spratt over the course of his 29 year career as a railroad brakeman. According to the guide, the collection contains employee Information, which consists of a variety of material related to employees, such as forms, seniority lists, rules, regulations, and health information.

This unique resource is open for research to anyone who visits the The University of Texas at Arlington Library, and was donated by Archie M. Spratt on July 30, 1987.

Genealogy Library Center Accepting Donations

2006-12-09T05:58:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting project launched by Arlene Eakle (blog). What would you do if you found a large plastic bag full of someone’s genealogy manuscripts? Of if someone brought you 6 1/2 tons of professional genealogy files? Well, Arlene and her associates purchased a large building, remodeled it, and are now accepting genealogical donations.

If you have a genealogy research collection that needs a permanent home, please consider donating your collection to the Genealogy Library Center, Inc.

Conductor Business Card Images

2006-12-03T15:58:00.000-05:00

We picked up six old business cards that belonged to railroad conductors. These have been added to the business card collection at Genealogy Today. Here are the names:

Richardson, F. M.
Cummings, L. J.
Goodspeed, R. S.
Kenyon, C. B.
Lang, J. A.
Darling, W. H.

The business card database, a free online service, currently includes hundreds of railroad employee cards from across the country.

Masonic Members in the Family Tree

2006-11-25T01:00:00.000-05:00

Edward King offers a good overview of locating Masonic records in his "Genealogy" article. "Genealogists often become curious about Freemasonry because of a mention in a relative's obituary or from finding a Masonic emblem on a gravestone. What's very important to remember is that neither Masonic Lodges nor their Grand Lodges are in 'the business of' genealogical research."