ANCESTRY WORSHIP - Genealogy: June 2024

29 June 2024

DON'T FORGET TO CALL THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE, THE BRANCH LIBRARY, THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY : MANY HAVE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Believe it or not, many smaller institutions take great pride in one shelf or bookcase, or a hidden away spot in the basement where they keep a special collection. Always ask.

At the Getty Research Institute, a large and prestigious place,which focuses on art no doubt, I found that there were books on Native American culture, a massive Hungarian - English dictionary, and books on ethnic clothing - fashion and even burial customs.

So we cannot think of ART as only paintings or sculptures, but where DESIGN is. Fashion and the language of tombstones are very much part of our exploration into the society and culture that our ancestors lived in. I love that stuff!

Now here's the thing. If you've located your ancestor, say on a census, you should explore the schools and libraries around there. However, sometimes libraries hold collections that are about some other location because they were donated to that library for some other reason, such as that the donor retired in the area.

But with unlimited long distance cell phones, what's to stop you from calling and asking?

26 June 2024

MAPLE

Image from Graphics Fairy

25 June 2024

I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THE RAIL ROAD : RAIL ROAD EMPLOYMENT RECORDS TIED INTO PENSIONS : SOCIAL SECURITY?

If your ancestor was working on a train all their live-long-days, they may not be on the Social Security Death Index. That's because they may have been covered by the Rail Road Retirement System instead.

Here's the history of that Pension Plan from the Social Security Administration. The Great Depression had a strong influence on the decision to pay out in 1937.

SSA GOV :POLICY RAILROAD PENSION SYSTEM

22 June 2024

1950 FORWARD! A LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY MAY SO HAVE ARCHIVED INFORMATION FROM THE MID 19th CENTURY : CHECK THE HISTORICAL SITE TOO

It can be GENEALOGY MYOPIA to think that your local historical society only keeps or cares about, well, history. But history need not be Colonial, to be history. In fact, some of us are downright historical ourselves. So, don't hesitate to ask what a particular historical society has in their little archives. And while you're at it, ask them WHERE YOU MIGHT FIND WHAT YOU WANT. They may suggest the name of the branch library that has it, for instance.

I once went to a historical commemorative event at rancherio and there met a man who was a rare person indeed, six generations in Los Angeles, a descendant of Pio Pico. People who love to talk history are often docents at historical sites.

19 June 2024

NEWSPAPERS : AI CAN'T READ OLD GERMAN : NEWSPAPER DATABASES CAN BE VALUABLE

How smart is AI (Artificial Intelligence)? Well, I can tell you that AI for newspaper database is programmed in the United States to read English.

Recently I used one of them to find newspapers for Eastern Pennsylvania from the 1800's. The search brought up the surname I wanted and, excitedly, I wanted to have these translated. I located a person who said she was a whiz at reading Old German and well, we failed.

I tried downloading but the original size of the newspaper had been digitalized and it would not print out on 9 X 11 paper. Then, I tried sending links via the provided send to e-mail but that didn't work. Heroically, my contact went to another newspaper database and brought up the same newspapers with the surname. However she said she thought basically it was gibberish.

But what might you find? Well, a newspaper can provide announcements of births, marriages, deaths (obituaries), and some newsy stories. Some will list who is fighting in a war, who just got elected, who is playing on what team, who graduated high school, and who got citizenship.

But if AI readers are not a problem there's this. Some of those old type-set newspapers ran out of letters - usually vowels - so you may just have to try a number of mispellings to bring up the people you're curious about.

Worth a try!

16 June 2024

HONOR THAT DADDY !

13 June 2024

WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO TO LOCATE SOMEONE CIRCA 1960? PHONE BOOKS! GOT ANY? DONATE THEM TO A GENEALOGY LIBRARY

Phone books are fragile, the paper used isn't the best. I'm not sure exactly when phone books went extinct but there was a time where, if you had a phone. now called a LAND LINE, you got a phone book update once a year. The last time I got a phone book was ????? and it was a yellow pages. As the years went by, you could usually choose to have your number UNLISTED!

With the Internet there are many sites that help you locate a person, their address, possibly their phone number and their e-mail. WAY TOO MUCH INFORMATION.

There is misinformation on the Internet about me So...

Check the library closest to where your ancestors lived to see if they have a phone book collection. Los Angeles Public library has some phone books for places other than Los Angeles.

If you have old phone books consider donating them to a Genealogy Library!

10 June 2024

IF YOU or AN ANCESTOR WERE MEMBERS OF LATTER DAY SAINTS THERE IS A 1960 CHURCH CENSUS as well as 1914, 1920, 1925, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1950, 1955

This is a census of the members...

FAMILYSEARCH CHURCH CENSUS This is an information page and will bring up some data but you'll have to go into your FamilySearch account to go further.

Excerpt: Church census records include censuses for the years 1914, 1920, 1925, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1950, 1955, and 1960. Included with the 1914-1935 census are some delayed birth certificates which originated in the Church Historian's Office and a few Salt Lake Granite Stake genealogical survey cards. The records are arranged alphabetically by the head of the household. Microfilm of original records in the LDS Church Historian's Office, Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Church records are kept by many denominations. For instance for Roman Catholics the records are usually in the Diocese archives. And church records are usually of baptisms, marriages, and deaths, while sometimes there are also records of Confession, Communion, and Confirmation, as well as Converts

07 June 2024

1960 CENSUS YEARS AWAY - 2032 - BUT WE'RE STILL INTERESTED IN HOW TO GET TO 1960

We're still working on our 1950 census research but here's some information on the 1960. It was the first MAIL OUT census and computers read the data! Some of us reading this post may not be alive long enough to use this census! What a thought!

CENSUS GOV. 1960 OVERVIEW

In a moment I'll provide some ideas for how to research 1950 forward.