Genealogy

[PC Users Group – 19 Oct 2009]

Good evening. My name is Phyllis Rickard and I am the Local History Librarian here at the Lenawee County Library. The first signs of the genealogy bug in my life were seen when my gr-grandmother would tell me family stories about the photographs in the basket. The bug was fed by my father adding more family stories. In 1983, it became a full-blown case when I finally learned how to go about answering all the questions stored in my brain. Of course, each answer provides 3 new questions – but I can live with that!

I realize that we all are computer people in this room, but the first thing that I want to say tonight is that the best source for any record is the place in which that record was created i.e. the county courthouse or the church that holds that record. If an image of a record can be found online – consider yourself very lucky. If you don’t find it online, that only means you didn’t find it online. It does not mean that there is no record.

When you find the birth, death, marriage or baptismal record that you have been searching for, get a photocopy of that record or a certified copy from the government agency that holds the record. Hopefully, get both! You might need an official record of that information someday. If you just wrote down the information, you won’t be able to use that for documentation.

Which leads me to “documentation”. A transcript is not documentation unless it is a certified copy. This is a transcript of information from a World War II Draft Registration Card. While it does cite the roll of microfilm where the information was found – this is not documentation. It is a solid gold clue, but not documentation.

This image of the original card can be used for documentation. Yes, it is typed, but the person who provided the information signed this card verifying that all statements were true. If you had stopped with the transcript you would have missed having this man’s signature.

Always cite your sources – otherwise it’s fiction. All I’ll say about this tonight is that another person should be able to find that same source. For more complete directions – please borrow Evidence by Elizabeth Shown Mills.

Online Sources for Images of Original Documents

[The URLs for all these sites are on your handout]

Ancestry Library Edition, which the library subscribes to, has many images of the original documents. They have census, WWI and II Draft Registrations (though not all), passport applications, naturalizations and more.

You can use the library computers to access this database or you can bring your laptop and utilize our wireless connection.

Free Online Sources

Heritage Quest Online – is available here in the library or from the comfort of your home! (Be sure to tell you state rep. or Senator to support MI libraries!) Just go to mel.org, click on MEL Databases, scroll down to Heritage Quest Online, click on it, then log on using your MI Drivers License number.

HQ includes census images (though not all are indexed), thousands of books, PERSI, Revolutionary War Pension files, Freedman’s Bank records and the U.S. Serial Set.

The USGenWeb – is a collection of web pages created by volunteers to each state and county in the United States. Because they are each unique to their area, available records, and the ability to add it to the web page – what you will find on each varies greatly. “Cemeteries” on one county’s site might get you a listing of snail mail addresses to contact sextons – another might get you complete listings of who is buried in a cemetery along with photographs of those graves.

The same type of information can also be found in the WorldGenWeb. This time you choose a particular country.

Rootsweb is the oldest online genealogy group. They host databases for individuals, mailing lists, message boards, access to the SSDI, a Soundex converter and many more things.

Images of Original Records

Family Search Labs – includes Michigan births 1867-1902; Michigan deaths 1867-1897; and, Michigan marriages 1868-1925. Be sure to select the “Advanced Search” option. It will give you more control over your search by giving you the option to fill in given or surnames for parents and spouse.

The search results screen appears like this. It gives you some basic identifying information. If you click on the name of the person you will have this screen appear. It provides details found in the record and where the record itself is found. By clicking on the tab at the far right, the image of the original document will load on your computer. At that point you can save or print it. Notice that for this particular record, the second page from the ledger has not been included in this image. The second page is actually the image following this one.

SeekingMichigan.org – again, be sure to use the “Advanced Search” option where it is possible to select fields specific to death records. There are many other collections here that might help with your researching. One of them that I find fascinating is the WPA Property Inventories. You need to know the Town, Range and Section for the property, but you will find a complete description of the house, the siding, the roof, the foundation and a sketch of the floor plan. There are two pages to the information so be sure to look at the next image, too.

BLM-GLO Records

The Bureau of Land Management – General Land Office Records will give you the land patents for most of our states. For a complete list, see the site. The arrow is pointing to a bar where you can choose to search land patents or surveys. If you select land patents, this screen will appear. After entering your search criteria, your results page will look like this. An image of the land patent is on the site. Just click in the right places and you will have an image of the original document.

Google Patent Search

Google has many helpful programs which include Google Books and Google Patent Search. The sketches and documentation is there for patents. Even if you think you won’t find your family here – search anyway. You just might find them or you’ll find something very interesting.

Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Footnote.com charges for most of their databases, but this one is available to all for free. You can search on the name of the person you want. When their name is found, you will be able to click on “view image” for the person, or, if there are too many results, you can refine your search by many different facts. Among the many choices here is to view the Wall section that contains their name and to view a page of more personalized information. It is also possible to add photos, stories or comments.

This was just a brief overview of a few of the databases and websites that you might find useful. We could spend all evening on any one of these sites, but we won’t. There are many more sites on your handout and there are many, many more sites out there.

My advice is to spend some quality time with Google. Search for colleges, historical societies, libraries, or genealogical groups from the counties where your families lived. Any of them might have information or databases that might help you.