1940 CENSUS : FAMILYSEARCH : UPDATE ON STATES READY TO BE SEARCHED BY NAME!

The following states are now activated for searching by name! There are still a number of states that desperately need volunteers. Do one page!

VERMONT ALASKA IDAHO NEVADA WYOMING ARIZONA UTAH COLORADO KANSAS DELAWARE VIRGINIA FLORIDA MAINE NEW HAMPSHIRE
WOW!

WASHINGTON STATE DIGITAL ARCHIVES : DEATH BIRTH and MORE

The State of Washington has an on-line database that can help you locate records. Remember that you'll want to order copies of the original certificate which should have more information that shows on the database. Here's the link!

WEST VIRGINIA OFFERS SOME SEARCHABLE BIRTH, MARRIAGE, and DEATH INDEXES

"The West Virginia Vital Research Records Project
is a collaborative venture between the West
Virginia State Archives and the Genealogical
Society of Utah (GSU) to place online via the
West Virginia Archives and History Web site
selected West Virginia county birth, death
and marriage records, and selected statewide
death records in a viewable, downloadable and
searchable format accessible"

STATE OF NEW JERSEY SEARCHABLE DATABASES : NAME CHANGES ENLIGHTENIING

If your research is PRE 1900 (or so) New Jersey, the Department of State of New Jersey offers some searchable databases on line. These focus on early colonial and 19th century records. I see a lot of availability and duplication of those records, but HERE IS A GEM! (Link above!)

Legal Name Changes, 1847-1947 may be of some help for researchers focusing on the great age of immigration. You'll find a lot of "ethnic" surnames made shorter or made easier to pronounce or gone Anglo here: Italians, Poles, and Hungarians doing major changes. Some of these however, may just be about adoption, divorce, or not wanting to be associated with bad news relatives.

https://wwwnet1.state.nj.us/DOS/Admin/ArchivesDBPortal/NameChanges.aspx

I love searchable databases THAT RESPOND TO FIRST NAMES as well as surnames like this one Also consider what an ethnic name in another language may translate to in English when you search. Francis, Franko, etc became Frank.