Finding Your Roots

You can get back to genealogy on Tuesdays by watching the PBS series "Finding Your Roots" with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. tonight at 7PM Arizona time.


Chefs Aarón Sánchez and Tom Colicchio learn how their immigrant ancestors brought their heritage and cuisines to America.


Here's the blurb from Ancestry, which is supporting this family history series:


"Many of our family stories began somewhere else. And immigration records can reveal the places and paths that your ancestors followed to get here. Watch Tuesday’s show for inspiration and see what new information you can find in our vast collection of global immigration records."

Draper Manuscripts

Mary Hill will present this week's webinar from Legacy specifically for intermediate and experienced researchers. The synopsis of the webinar follows:


Tracking Migration Using the Draper Manuscripts

"Learn about the manuscript collection of Lyman Draper which include gleanings from the Carolinas, Virginia, portions of Georgia, Alabama, the Ohio River valley, and parts of the Mississippi valley from about 1755 through 1870. Find out how to approach searching this vast collection and the hidden treasures that can be discovered therein. It is estimated that about one and a half million people are named in these folders!"



Draper was a lifelong student of early American history and made it his life's work to document the history of the "heroes of the Revolution" in the South. He bequeathed his manuscript collection to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

According to the WHS, the collection covers primarily the period between the French and Indian War and the War of 1812. The geographic concentration is on what Draper and his contemporaries called the "Trans-Allegheny West," which included the western Carolinas and Virginia, some portions of Georgia and Alabama, the entire Ohio River valley, and parts of the Mississippi River valley.

 

Legacy Webinar

Do you think that one of your ancestors could have been involved in the War of 1812? Thomas MacEntee will be presenting the October 15 webinar for Legacy. This discussion of the War of 1812 will be geared toward beginning and intermediate researchers. The description of the topic follows.



Researching Your War of 1812 Ancestor
               

"The War of 1812, often called America’s Second Revolution, left behind a valuable set of records that have proven valuable for genealogical research. Many of these records can help solve the “pre-1850 census” issues when only the head of household was named in the US federal census. Participants will learn about the War of 1812, the major record sets of benefit to genealogists, how to identify service information such as location and military section of service, and which records are available to access online."


Visit www.familytreewebinars for more information or to register to watch in real time.

 

Midwest Genealogy Center

We came south via Kansas City in order to visit what used to be the Mid-Continent Library. The new facility is now called the Midwest Genealogy Center and is located in Independence, Missouri.

 



 

We spent a day and a half using the second floor books, concentrating on names in our files with a connection to Missouri. Dick had used our GenSmarts program for this specific library to generate a printout of possible books to search. He also produced several custom lists from Family Tree Maker: those born in Missouri, married in Missouri, etc. I also found many books from counties in Iowa and Minnesota, and there are volumes available from all states.

 

The photo below shows the part of the library containing shelves of books dealing with Missouri counties.

 

 



Legacy Webinar

The October 8 webinar is perfect for those of us with extra time on our hands. We have had one or two presentations on indexing for FamilySearch, and this would be a refresher course. The webinar is geared toward beginners. Indexing is a way to say thank you to FamilySearch for providing all the free information online.



Welcome to FamilySearch Indexing!
               

"Indexes created at your fingertips! Be part of an international initiative to index the world’s largest collection of genealogical records. This class will give you indexing background and basics to help you understand where to begin, how to help, and what we can achieve."


The webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, October 8. To register or learn more, go to www.familytreewebinars.com.

Free Vital Records on Ancestry

Ancestry is opening its birth, marriage and death records for free access through October 6 to mark the new season of the PBS series "Finding Your Roots." Ancestry is a sponsor of the program.



You'll need to sign up for a free account with Ancestry.com (or log into the account you already have) in order to see the details of your search results.



This is a great opportunity for any club members who do not have a current ancestry account to access some of the basic records needed for family research. You'll find a link to Ancestry in our menu on the right.

Scottish Valuation Rolls for 1875

We heard from Susan Mavor this week with information about ScotlandsPeople. This subscription website is providing a good deal for the coming months for those of you with Scottish ancestors.

 

 

Here is Susan's info and suggestion:

 

"ScotlandsPeople are allowing a search and browse for free of the Valuation Rolls for 1875 until Dec 31st.  The trick is to sign up for an account but attach no credit card.  This gives you access to the advanced search."

 

 

Following is more information on what is included in those valuation rolls:

 

 

The Scottish Valuation Rolls for 1875

 

We're delighted to announce that the Valuation Rolls (VRs) for 1875 are now available on the ScotlandsPeople website. For the first time, the index is Free to Search and can be browsed free of charge until the 31st December 2014.

 

Among the hundreds of thousands of Victorian Scots who can be found in the latest year of Valuation Rolls to be released on ScotlandsPeople are two of the most celebrated sportsmen of the era, the golfers Old Tom Morris and his eldest son Young Tom. Valuation rolls for 1875 covering the whole of Scotland have become available, enabling searches for property owners, tenants and occupiers across Scotland from 1875 to 1920, and often revealing valuable information about the inter-census years. The latest addition comprises over 900,000 index entries and almost 72,000 digital images taken from 141 volumes of Valuation Rolls.

 

 

Thanks, Susan, and happy searching!

Legacy Webinars

Legacy's webinar for Wednesday, October 1, is directed at intermediate researchers. Judy Russell, a genealogist with a specialty in law, is the presenter. The description of her topic follows:



The Fair Court: Records of Chancery Courts
               

"Only one court has ever had doing what’s fair as part of its official mission: the chancery court. With different names in different states (and countries), it was often the go-to court for cases of great genealogical value, including divorces, guardianships, real property partition and more."



Another webinar is scheduled for this week. On Friday, October 3, Karen Clifford will present a topic for intermediate and advanced researchers. Those of you with brick wall problems may find this of interest.


Overcoming Destroyed or Missing Records
               

"Were you told that all the records in the courthouse were burned so you cannot go any further on your ancestor's line? Or have you searched many times at the local repositories only to discover that the records are missing for the years you need? This presentation will cover a handful of proven research techniques that may help you to overcome your destroyed or missing records."



For more information or to register to watch in real time: www.familytreewebinars.com