24 December 2024
21 December 2024
YOUR ANCESTORS LIVED THROUGH HISTORY AND WE ARE TOO! I CANNOT MATCH THE STRENGTH and COURAGE OF MY ANCESTOR, ROSE
It's always a pleasure to research and write this genealogy blog which includes American History with it's main focus being genealogy in the United States and for Americans.
I was reminded recently that we too are living through history.
The other day I was showing a new friend some photos I had found, my immigrant ancestors on their 50th wedding anniversary, which took place in the 1950's. My new friend comes from one of the oldest American immigrant heritages there is - Dutch into New Amsterdam. His heritage has been part of is family story as long as he can remember, including the name of the wooden sail ship his ancestors were on that came across the Atlantic in the 1600's. I, on the other hand, had almost nothing to go on but the names of my grandparents.
I told him the story of my ancestors in particular the woman named Rose, whose strength and courage I cannot match.
All I had known as a girl of ten, who was beginning to understand that I was actually related to some of the people I met when we visited, was that Rose had been an orphan. I didn't know until years later that in Europe an orphan was a fatherless child, but Rose had been "Double Orphaned." It was assumed she had been alone as a child, without siblings or relatives.
Rose passed before I had any idea that I should be asking questions and what those questions should be. So, on a trip to visit relatives years later, I asked her youngest daughter, "How was Rose orphaned."
The story came forward sans any details. One parent "burned up in a fire" and the other was "killed on the road."
When Rose was in her 80's she stayed with this relative for a couple weeks summer vacation. One morning she was up especially early. She explained that she had just had the most wonderful dream. She explained that in her dream a man had come to her and said, "At last I have found you!" Then, in the dream, they danced and danced and danced.
Rose was a humble women who always wore a long house dress and an apron and it was not easy to imagine her dancing. One wondered if she'd had a boyfriend before marrying at nineteen and coming to American with a baby onboard the steamship.
The man she had dreamt about turned out to be a brother!
All these years later, scraps of stories that I overheard, or that were all that was left of memories that may have been considered too horrible to relay to children, have been rooted in genealogy research and embellished with historical and cultural research.
Rose, it turns out, was the result of a marriage of a woman who had been widowed and a man who had been widowed twice. Her mother had three children, so she had three half siblings. Rose's father (who most think was the one "killed on the road" was thus the step-father to three. She also had two brothers, who had come to America but decided to go back to Europe after they realized the conditions they would have to live in if they worked in factories here rather than farms there.
But, Rose said, "When we were orphaned, my brother, the one who had come to her in a dream, said, "Don't worry, you will always have me."
What happened to him?
"He went down with the ship."
For years now I have from time to time worked on finding out what ship and when it went down. It was not the Titanic (everyone asks). Though I don't have the name of the ship, or know if he was on crew or a passenger, through genealogy I've been able to narrow the years this could have happened between a visit or immigration of his wife and her remarriage in Europe a few years later.
As a woman who lost both of her parents as a child, likely before the age of thirteen (the death records are nowhere to be found), and who went to work that young, who married a man their friends arranged, and immigrated to America, Rose was likely traumatized, yet she and her children prevailed, She not only come to America with a baby in her arms but also have birth to many more children.
I sometimes weep a bit for Rose but I more often think that compared to her I'm weak and cowardly!
I take inspiration from her...
I'm proud to have met her!
How do ancestor's figure in your story?
Happy Holidays!
Christine
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17 December 2024
12 December 2024
11 December 2024
CASTLE GARDEN UPDATE : NATIONAL ARCHIVES CASTLE GARDEN COLLECTION BEING DIGITALIZED
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE : CASTLE GARDEN This Castle Garden information page tells us what the new immigrant saw and went through as they arrived in New York Harbor before the Ellis Island facility was set up. Castle Garden opened in 1855 and was used until 1890 - or so.
In the past I had a link to a Castle Garden search page, which I've personally used for my own research. (Ancestors who came on first and second class tickets did not go through Ellis Island.) However, that page no longer exists and has been taken down from my sidebar.
The NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES is planning digitalization of those records: NATIONAL ARCHIVES CASTLE GARDEN COLLECTION
06 December 2024
MISSING NATURALIZATION FOR IMMIGRANT INTO EARLY 1800's PENNSYLVANIA ?
Q : I'm from early pioneers into Pennsylvania and I can't find a naturalization for my ancestor. What am I doing wrong?
Walter
A: If you found the head of household on a census and/or know the location, such as the county or city, do historical research to learn what the custom was at the time and place for naturalizations. Did your ancestor have to wait a while to declare, simply go into a local courthouse or other location and swear, what were the changes that occurred as the colony became a state?
Here is the link to THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE ARCHIVES:
Key Points Excerpted : Lists dating before the Revolution do not cover British subjects since their status remained unchanged by their removal from one part of the King's dominion to another.
In addition, naturalization records of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1794-1868(opens in a new tab) (Record Group-33) are available for the Eastern District (Philadelphia), Southern District (Chambersburg), and Western District (Pittsburgh). The records cover the period 1794-1868 and usually contain only the following information: person's name, country of former allegiance, date of petition, and affidavit of acquaintance. An index of the records of the Eastern District in Philadelphia covering the years 1794-1868 has been published in Philadelphia Naturalization Records: An Index to Records of Aliens' Declarations of Intention and/or Oaths of Allegiance, 1789-1880, in the United States Circuit Court, United States District Court, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Quarter Sessions Court, Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia (Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, 1982).
The Archives maintains naturalization lists of the Supreme Court and Courts of Nisi Prius(opens in a new tab) (Record Group-21) for the years 1740-1773. These lists consist of names of those people who swore an oath of allegiance to the British Sovereign. Arranged chronologically, these lists were published in Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, Volume 2 and have been reprinted as Persons Naturalized in the Province of Pennsylvania, 1740-1773 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1967), with an index.
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Be aware that the far Western portion of present day Pennsylvania, south of the Monongahela River near Pittsburgh remained Virginia for some time. In which case you'll seek your records in Virginia.
This site will help with that exploration: VIRGINIA PLACES : BORDER OF PA AND VIRGINIA
An exciting site with plenty of colorful maps and the story of establishing the borders, different from the original William Penn land grant.
Christine
Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot
03 December 2024
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED KINGDOM : AN IMPORTANT AND EXPANSIVE ARCHIVE BUT A BIT DIFFICULT TO NAVIGATE
NATIONAL ARCHIVES UNITED KINGDOM start page
OK I find this particular on-line catalog a bit difficult. The United States National Archives also was and in recent times was reworked to make it a tad bit easier.
So the first search I used was the word GENEALOGY. Here's where we go:
NATIONAL ARCHIVES UNITED KINGDOM WORD SEARCH GENEALOGY RESULTS
Though some of the listings that come up still are not quite what we are looking for, we're getting there. I'm going to excerpt from the listings involving Catholics and why this is important to genealogy research:
Excerpt: 1 WHY USE THIS GUIDE?
Until 1534, England was a Catholic country. Then, after years of upheaval, the 1559 Act of Supremacy made the Protestant Church of England the established church. Following this act there was a significant increase in the number of state records created documenting Catholics’ status and activities, subject as they were to new laws, taxes and a wave of persecution. The primary focus of this guide is on those records, especially from the 16th and 17th centuries, and how to find them at The National Archives. They include:
- records of penalties and punishments
- details of arrests
- letters from private citizens and spies sent to the authorities
- reports on Catholics sent by ecclesiastical and civil authorities
- baptism, marriage and burial registers
By the 18th century Catholics were no longer persecuted, but were still effectively barred from entering the professions, holding civil or military office, or inheriting land. Formal emancipation finally came in 1829 and state records relating to Catholics exists in smaller numbers from this date onwards.
Like all churches, Catholic churches kept their own records, though very few of these, in common with most local or parish church records, have found their way into The National Archives.
*** That's my italics, emphasizing that records for Catholics will still be found by finding the dioceses ...
I ENCOURAGE YOU TO GET INTO THIS CATALOG IF YOU ARE RESEARCHING ROOTS OF YOUR AMERICAN, CANADIAN, AUSTRALIAN, IRISH, WELSH, or SCOTTISH ANCESTORS!
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01 December 2024
30 November 2024
THE ARCHIVES and LIBRARIES OF NATIONS : SOME RESEARCH NOTES
Each country's archives we visited so far have a different point of view about what is important, are at a different stage in the progress of digitalization, have different levels of help from archivists and librarians to the general public who are employed there, and the collections may specialize or have have categories that are different one from the other.
I believe strongly that historical research is important to any Genealogy quest. Research the location by city, county, country - watch how borders and governments (including Kings, Queens, and noble rule) and seek out maps too. If your ancestors have taken part of any historical event (such as the founding or development of the city) there may be biographies of them in history books.
28 November 2024
25 November 2024
NATIONAL RECORDS OF SCOTLAND
A little commentary first: IMMIGRATION means people coming INTO a country, EMIGRATION means people going OUT of a country. So records are kept by the country the people are coming into when it's IMMIGRATION and records are kept by the country the people are leaving when it's EMIGRATION records.
The soldiers and airmen's wills is interesting to me. I'm not sure I've heard of such a collection before. Excerpt: The soldiers' wills have been made available online as part of the commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. The poignant documents include the last wishes of 26,000 ordinary Scottish soldiers. Most of them were killed in action, died of wounds or went missing on the Western Front. A smaller number served at Gallipoli, Salonika or in Mesopotamia.
Almost all the wills were written in their pay books by soldiers below the rank of officer, who served in the renowned Scottish infantry and cavalry regiments, as well as in many other British regiments, and all the army corps that were on active service.
In addition to the wills from the Great War, there are about 4,750 wills of Scots soldiers serving in all theatres during the Second World War, including some women auxiliaries, and several hundred from the Boer War and Korean War, and other conflicts between 1857 and 1965.
Used to be called National Archives of Scotland. NATIONAL RECORDS OF SCOTLAND
NATIONAL RECORDS OF SCOTLAND FAMILY HISTORY START PAGE notes
- Birth Death and Marriage Civil Records including
- Statutory registers of births, deaths and marriages from 1855
- Old Parish Registers (1553 to 1854)
- Other Presbyterian church records (1761 to 1854)
- Census records (1841 to 1911)
- Highland and Island Emigration Society records (on our ScotlandsPeople website)
- Valuation roll indexes (1855, 1865, 1875, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1920, 1925, 1930, 1935 and 1940)
- Wills and Testaments (1513 to 1925)
- Soldiers' and Airmens' Wills (1857 to 1965)
- Military Service Appeal Tribunals (1916-1918)
We also provide access to:
- Catholic Parish Registers (from 1703) from the Scottish Catholic Archives
- Coat of Arms (from 1672) from the Court of the Lord Lyon
23 November 2024
WALES : ARCHIVAL RESEARCH and NATIONAL LIBRARY OF WALES / ARCHIFAU CYMRU and LLFRGELL GENEDLAETHOL
Pride and preservation of the language and history of Wales is important to the archives and library in that small country which is also one of the United Kingdom. However, currently if something you're interested is not digitalized, you cannot get an archivist to find it for you. The emphasis is on the digitalization.
20 November 2024
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA homepage
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AUSTRALIA - WHAT'S IN THE COLLECTION link here for list:
The National Archives' collection contains records about key events and decisions that have shaped Australian history.
With more than 45 million items, our collection mainly includes Australian Government records from Federation in 1901 to now.
Records come from Australian Government:
- departments
- statutory authorities
- royal commissions
- military units
- security and intelligence agencies
- diplomatic posts
- law enforcement agencies
- Cabinet
We hold some key records that document Australia's journey to Federation.
We have records about:
- immigration
- military service
- transport
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- the environment
- communications
- security and intelligence
- foreign affairs
- the arts
- many other topics
We also hold some important 19th-century records about colonial activities that were transferred to the Australian Government. These include:
- customs
- patents
- defence
- lighthouses
- naturalisation
- shipping
- postal and telegraphic services
We hold some High Court of Australia records and papers from high profile Australians.
Governors-general, prime ministers, ministers, High Court judges and senior public servants have sent records to the National Archives.
While most of our records are paper files, we also have:
- photographs
- audiovisual records
- sound recordings
- maps and plans
- posters
- objects
- digital records
Our collection is unique and cannot be replaced.
18 November 2024
16 November 2024
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF IRELAND : GAELIC or ENGLISH LANGUAGE
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF IRELAND
13 November 2024
CANADA LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES NATIONAL ARCHIVES GENEALOGY OF OUR NORTHERN NEIGHBOR : CENSUS, VITAL RECORDS, IMMIGRATION, CITIZENSHIP, MILITARY
CANADA NATIONAL ARCHIVES - GENEALOGY
Canada's National Archives provides census history and a searchable database. Learn the history of census taking along with the history of the development of the country - what's missing - what's available.
The Canadian Confederation was organized in 1867. The Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were united into the Dominion of Canada...
Census was conducted in some areas well before that. Some Census is missing.
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES OF CANADA - GENEALOGY Vital Records, Immigration, Citizenship, Military
As a note the UNITED STATES CENSUS is the same: If it was not a state, then it was not counted during the Federal Census. And if the population of a county was small, it might not have been included in the Federal Census either.
11 November 2024
NATIONAL ARCHIVES : DON'T FORGET TO USE THESE FANTASTIC RESOURCES
Back in the day, when I started teaching genealogy at my local public library, the Internet was fairly new. The newest computers had been installed and people were just learning to use the Internet and fewer people had purchased home computers so to the library they went. Fewer people had cell phones and those came with Internet capacity. I didn't. I actually resisted cell phones for some time for all the reasons people do to this day. At the time I provided students with lists of web sites and the actual http addresses.... I must've had a hundred or so bookmarked...
Today I think people do word searches to bring up web sites rather than the belabored input of the https. I've done genealogy research using a cell phone, especially during Covid-19 closures but I didn't print out and then the cell phone died...
Back in the day there were many genealogy oriented start ups. These days certain ones are dominating. So it's easy to feel compelled to use those one, two, or three or four. However, I think people are failing to consider where the ORIGINAL SOURCE MATERIAL comes from that the databases use. These are usually governmental; federal, state, county, and city. Next come church or religious records.
I have an account with the NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES - NARA. (The Library of Congress is also helpful.) And the National Archives of few other countries.
Some countries are newer at having National Archive resources digitized. YOU WILL WANT TO INTERACT WITH THEIR ARCHIVISTS IF YOU HAVE MORE QUESTIONS and perhaps, the old fashioned way, send for copies or pay them to research for you. This is usually possible through e-mail. Some will ask you to set up an account, others not. (I know! More accounts and passwords to keep track of...)
For the next few weeks I'm going to link to some of the National Archives of other countries that you should consider when researching - especially when you find that the genealogy databases DO NOT HAVE EVERYTHING. And they do not.
C 2024 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot
10 November 2024
06 November 2024
SMITHSONIAN ON THE LATEST - NEANDERTHALS and DENISONVANS
SMITHSONIAN : HUMAN ORIGINS: NEANDERTHAL DNA a full and excellent article that provides information also on blood type evolution, the perception of bitter taste, dental enamel, immune response,
Excerpt:
Clotting, Depression, and Allergies
While many of the genes that we retain for generations are either beneficial or neutral, there are some that have become deleterious in our new, modern lives. There are several genes that our Neanderthal relatives have contributed to our genome that were once beneficial in the past but can now cause health-related problems (Simonti et al 2016). One of these genes allows our blood to coagulate (or clot) quickly, a useful adaptation in creatures who were often injured while hunting. However, in modern people who live longer lives, this same trait of quick-clotting blood can cause harmful blood clots to form in the body later in life. Researchers found another gene that can cause depression and other neurological disorders and is triggered by disturbances in circadian rhythms. Since it is unlikely that Neanderthals experienced such disturbances to their natural sleep cycles, they may never have expressed this gene, but in modern humans who can control our climate and for whom our lifestyle often disrupts our circadian rhythms, this gene is expressed more frequently.
05 November 2024
FALLEN
02 November 2024
AMAZING RECONSTUCTION OF SHANIDAR NEADERTHAL WOMAN'S FACE
BBC NEWS : FACE OF 75,000 YEAR OLD NEANDERTHAL WOMAN
The skull was smashed flat. In this story of cutting edge Archaeology and Science, despite the many pieces being soft, the skull was reconstructed, the "fat" and "muscles" added in the right places, and the face came forth.
Excerpt:
The rebuilt skull was then surface-scanned and a 3D print given to Dutch artists Adrie and Alfons Kennis, who are renowned for their skill in creating anatomically faithful representations of ancient people from their bone and fossil remains.
01 November 2024
31 October 2024
29 October 2024
TIME TO RECORD FAMILY MEMORIES : ALMOST LEGAL (MORE CONVERSATION TRIGGERS !)
Here are more conversation starters or interview questions!
What did you want out of your life as a teenager?
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26 October 2024
TIME TO RECORD FAMILY MEMORIES : MOVING TOWARDS ADULTHOOD (MORE CONVERSATION TRIGGERS !)
Here are more conversation starters or interview questions!
What were you like when you were growing up?
What clothing did you wear?
Where did you live? Were you in the city, suburbs, country? Did you move? (What changes did you experience by moving to a new place to live?)
Did you have siblings? Tell me about them. Did you have a special relationship with any of your siblings?
What were your interests when you were twelve?
What, if any, religion were you raised in? (Did you go through rituals such as Baptism or Confirmation? How did you learn about your religion? How has being raised in a religion effected you?)
Your family heritage: What is your ethnicity, race - how do you identify?
What values and beliefs did your family have?
Were your parents members of a political party?
Do you recall an interest in world affairs?
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23 October 2024
TIME TO RECORD FAMILY MEMORIES : SCHOOL DAYS (MORE CONVERSATION TRIGGERS !)
Here are more conversation starters or interview questions!
Tell me about your school days.
Did you go to nursery school, pre-school, or any special programs or classes as a child?
What toys or games did you have?
Did you make or create toys or games?
How about sports? Did you participate in a sport at school?
Did you go to dancing school?
Did you bring your lunch or have lunch at school?
Did you have a lunch box or a back pack?
What was your favorite food and least favorite food?
Did your parents teach you? Sewing? Crafts? Swimming?
Give you advice?
Do homework with you? Read to you? Care about your grades?
Tell you about their days in school?
How much education did you have? Your parents have? Your grandparents have?
Were you an apprentice?
If someone asked you what you wanted to be when you "grew up?" what did you say?
As a child, what did you think about the adults?
What do you remember about your friends? Where did you meet them? The neighborhood, church, some other place?
Did you like to read?
Where there any books you especially liked?
What about television programs? Radio programs?
Did you listen to or watch a certain show as a family?
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20 October 2024
FALLING LEAVES
Remembering childhood....
18 October 2024
TIME TO RECORD FAMILY MEMORIES : CHILDHOOD
Originally posted October 20 2022
TIME TO RECORD FAMILY MEMORIES
There is never a better time than NOW.
If you can, record the interview.
If interview is too intimidating a word, have instead a lovely chat.
Tell me about your childhood...
What is your earliest memory?
When did you start school?
Where did you go to school?
What where your favorite subject(s) ? Least favorite?
Teachers?
Did you like school?
What games did you play?
When you were five, what did you want to do when you grew up?
Do you have any hobbies or interests that began in your childhood?
Tell me about your parents...
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15 October 2024
INTERVIEWING RELATIVES ! FORMAL AND INFORMAL INTERVIEWING
Originally posted On September 10th 2014...
Soon Thanksgiving will be here, and then the Holidays. Of course, your best time to interview relatives may be when you go on a visit to them and life isn't overly busy. Still, I find that visiting people during the holidays is a good time to talk about Old Days.
To do a FORMAL INTERVIEW you:
1) Contact the person and tell them that you want to interview them about the family history or focus on a specific aspect of family history. Although this can be on the phone, in person is best. Other people in this person's life need to give you both time and space and not interrupt.
2) Set up a time to focus on just that in advance that's good for both people, and be there.
3) Be prepared with a list of questions (at least to get you started) and a recording device.
(Whatever works for you. Some people are still using cassette machines. Some people are settling up more than one machine at a time "just in case" one of them fails." Recording is sometimes a more natural process as taking notes can also be distracting or stop the process. You want to make eye contact, be comfortable, and listen too!)
The recording device sometimes intimidates people. It may make the interview feel too important or heavy. You should tell them you intend to use one before hand, but it may help to put it out of the sight line. Test your recorder to be sure it will pick up a voice from a few feet away. Preserving the voice of a relative as they tell their story or give information can be very valuable, if you can keep doing technology updates with original recordings. Our voices tell so much about us!
4) Set up water or tea or other beverages before you begin. Avoid breaking the interview with eating food or other activities. Get into the flow.
5) If, however, it's going to be a long interview or a series of interviews, try to do the interview first before taking a meal or long break or wait until after the meal. You and your interviewee will probably respond best to knowing how it's going to go.
To do an INFORMAL INTERVIEW you:
1) Show up and seize the moment. (It's good to have that recording equipment close.)
2) Let the other person pick the topic or gently guide them to what you want to know.
3) Lends itself more than a formal interview to including more than one person.
12 October 2024
MEMORY TABLE FOR DEPARTED LOVED ONES
09 October 2024
DEATH CERTIFICATES and BURIAL RECORDS : WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
In modern times the burial record is usually spawned from the mortuary that prepared the body for burial or cremated it. The burial record will usually give information such as what cemetery, the name of a minister or priest or rabbi who conducted a ritual, and some other basic information. It is not a governmental civil records but the burial record and the death certificate seem to lean on each other.
A death certificate is a governmental - civil report on what the person died of, the name of a doctor who had been treating that person or if an autopsy was performed. It will often include the name of a spouse or next of kin, and don't be shocked but some people did not know the maiden name of their own mother!
Step one is to find a death certificate, as possible. Depending on location you might have to swear you are the spouse or child of the person who died. But privacy laws vary and these records are being loaded into databases based on those privacy laws.
Yes, go ahead and check a TOMBSTONE PROJECT.
Step two is to contact the cemetery named and ask them for the burial record. You might start by asking them for the plot location in advance of a visit.
Remember : Find A Grave TM and other such projects are TOMBSTONE PROJECTS. There are more burials in that cemetery than the tombstones. Consider that:
There was never a tombstone or the cemetery is one that does not allow them.
That family members may have been buried in with an earlier burial that the tombstone does not include.
That family plots may not include the names of all the people buried in the plot.
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