Free Genealogy Resources

Showing posts with label databases. Show all posts

Freebie for Newfoundland Genealogy

Yesterday I was poking around on the internet and came across a great site for those tracing ancestors from Newfoundland. According to the Newfoundland's Grand Banks website, it offers "genealogical and historical data for the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador." I'm still exploring to learn the true depth of the site, but from what I've found so far, it could be an invaluable free resource for those tracing their genealogy.

The site offers a message board for genealogists researching families from the area, a wide array of transcriptions and historical information on the area. Specific genealogical data you can expect to find includes

Cemetery Transcriptions
Census (Newfoundland, US, Canada and British
Directories
Family Bibles
Legal Documents
Newspapers
Photographs
Passenger Lists
Parish Records
Voter's Lists
Vital Statistics
Wills

On the historical side, the site offers

Colonial Office Records
House of Assembly Records
Historical information on some communities
Disasters
Military Records
Stories

If your family has a connection to Newfoundland and you haven't yet checked out this free genealogy resource, make sure to add it to your to-do list. You may be surprised what you can find.

Free Databases at Ancestry.com

When most people hear Ancestry.com, they automatically think subscription genealogy site. While it is primarily a subscription site, it's a little known fact that a number of databases on the site are available for free to the public.

The free databases cover a variety of categories from census to christenings to naturalizations, and everything in between. It's not just records from the United States either. The databases cover multiple locations around the globe including Poland, Prussia, Norway, France, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, Lithuania and Australia, just to name a few.

To check out these free genealogy resources, go to Ancestry.com and look at the card catalog (found under the search button dropdown in the main toolbar). In the keyword box, put in the word free and then hit search. At the time of this post, it returned 449 results.

One thing to remember is that these free databases may or may not include the actual image of the document. Some will only search the database index for your ancestor's name.

You may be asked to register before you are can view the results of your search. Registration is free and also gains you access to the message boards where you can submit queries about your research interests.

A free trial may be offered. It's up to you whether you take it. If you plan to use the trial, I would suggest first making a list of what you want to research before starting the trial so you can make the most of your free access. If you don't plan to subscribe, make sure to mark on your calendar when the trial ends so you can cancel before you get charged.

South Carolina Resource

While researching some of my family from South Carolina recently, I came across the Online Records Index for the South Carolina Department of Archives & History. This free genealogy resource offers a number of great tools to help you with your family tree research.

At the time of this post, there are over 300,000 items available in eight record groups. These records groups are Records of Confederate Veterans 1909-1973, Criminal Court Records, Index to Multiple Record Series ca 1675-1929, Legislative Papers 1782-1866, National Register of Historic Places, Plats for State Land Grants 1784-1868, School Insurance Photographs 1935-1952 and Will Transcripts 1782-1855. Each of these main eight record groups contains or or more series within them. For instance, the index to Multiple Record Series has a plat collection, judgment rolls, memorial books, petitions to practice law, a militia enrollment and more.

To search this free genealogy resource, just scroll down and click on Enter On-line Records Index. The search screen allows you to search by record group (can also search all at once), up to two individuals, location, topic, document type and date range. You also have the option of using Soundex for name search, which can be helpful if your ancestor's name may have been spelled more than one way.

Clicking the show advanced search functions button doesn't really offer much more search options. Instead, it adds an additional field where you can choose the series and a selection box to choose whether results are sorted sequentially or chronologically. You also have the option of selecting a second location or topic for your search.

When typing in an individual's name (surname first), you will notice that a drop down appears with names. You can either type in the individual that you are looking for or select the name from the drop down. Both the location and topic boxes will provide a drop down as well.

The results screen has four columns. The first column lists information about the record such as the series, reel, film and item. The second column provides a description of the item. the third column has the date. The final column is where the images are linked. Not all results will have online images available.

For those results that do have online images, they are free to download or print, provided they're not for commercial use and you cite the source when you use them. Results without online images can be ordered from the archives. There is a limit of ten documents per request. A price quote will be given once your request is received.

Resource for African American Cemeteries

If you have African-American ancestors in your family tree, you might want to browse through the African American Cemeteries Online website. The site is organized by state, county and then cemetery. There is a section for cemeteries outside of the United States in Canada and Barbados as well. When available, each cemetery page will list known burials and the dates for each individual.

If you're unsure of the exact burial location, you can also search the full website from the homepage. Just make sure to mark the radio button to search cemeteries, rather than the web.

This free genealogy resource has more to offer than only cemetery transcriptions. From the left sidebar, you can access pages for black churches, black funeral homes and death notices. A little further down on the same sidebar, you can click to pages on cemetery preservation, including the names of endangered cemeteries and state preservation agencies.

If you're done exploring the parts I've covered, don't rush off. On the menu bar beneath the header, you can find even more resources for your genealogy research. The forum is for cemetery queries and discussion of issues related to African-American cemeteries.

If you don't find the information you are seeking there, click on the Queries link in the same menu bar to go to the queries submitted to the site prior to the addition of the forum. You may find someone seeking information on the family you are researching. Email addresses are included with the queries so you can contact them. Keep in mind that the query page appears to date from 1999 and 2000 so it's possible that the email address may be out of date.

Last but not least, check out the links page from the menu bar for more free genealogy resources. This page includes links to sites for cemetery databases or photos, historical or cultural information, state preservation societies and more.

Free Genealogy Resources for Hawaii

Today I visited the website of the Hawaii State Archives. Even those I have no ancestors from the state (at least that I know of at this point), I was curious about what they have to offer. Those who do have Hawaiian ancestors will be pleased to hear that they have several digital collections.

The page is broken up into four sections-search, indexes, records and other resources. The search will look through all the digital collections that are indexed by name with the exception of the genealogy index, Mahele book, map and library catalog, and photographs.

The Indexes section has a Genealogy Index, Government Office Holders 1843-1959, Chinese Passenger Manifests Index, Japanese Passenger Manifests Index, Portuguese Passenger Manifests Index, two Land Indexes by name 1838-1918 (A, E, U only in one and R-Z only in the second), and a Name Index 1790-1950 (A-Bishop Only).

The Genealogy Index can be searched or browsed. The results will give you the specific location of the document, the name(s) and a link to an extract and actual image of the document. This particular index is a wealth of free genealogy resources with marriage records, divorce records, probates and wills, and naturalization, denization and passports.

The Government Office Holders Index can be searched or browsed. If browsing, you have the option to browse by name or office. The index is incomplete and doesn't offer a lot of data.

You can search or browse all of the passenger manifests indexes. Once you find the name you are seeking, click on the PDF icon for more information. This may include the person's full name, age at time, marital status, date of arrival, ship name and place they emigrated from.

The Land Indexes are incomplete. They are broken into two separate indexes, one for surnames beginning with A, E or U and one for surnames beginning with the letters R-Z. Again, this can be searched or browsed. Click on the PDF icon for more information such as date, land patent number, lot and location.

As with some of the other indexes, the Name Index is a work in progress. At this time, only A through Bishop is available. The PDF icon will show you a card which has various miscellaneous information about the individual. Available information varies by card.

The records are broken up into Judiciary Records, the Mahele Book, Photograph Collection, Tax Ledgers 1847-1900 (Hamakua and Hilo), Vital Statistics 1826-1929 (Molokai, Niihau, Kauai and some of Maui) and World War I Service Records.

The Judiciary Records collection is very limited. At the time of this post, it only has two probate case files. The description of the collection notes that more will be added as they are requested.

The Mahele Book is a PDF file. For those not familiar with the mahele, it was the division of lands between Kamehameha III, the chiefs, and the konohiki. This division occurred between January 28, 1848 and March 7, 1848. For a fuller description of the transactions documented in this book, I would suggest checking out the Hawaiian Kingdom Government's page on the history of land titles. Keep in mind that the book is a handwritten record and locations are given by their traditional names, not necessarily by what they are called now.

The Photograph Collections has 290 items. You can browse through the photographs 9 to a page or search by keyword. It includes pictures of various landmarks around the state and people. If your ancestors owned a plantation in Hawaii, you may get lucky and find a picture of it since there are several plantations in the collection.

You can search or browse by name the WWI Service Records. Information in this database was compiled from enlistment records. This free genealogy resource can offer information on the ancestors date and place of birth, service related injuries, residence and more.

The Tax Ledgers are organized by date or location. They open as a PDF file. They contain the individual's name, age, residence, type of property, property value and exemptions. The majority of the ledgers are in Hawaiian, but some offer English as well.

The Vital Statistics Collections spans the years 1826 through 1929. Currently, there are birth, marriage and death records for Kauai, Niihau and Molokai. There are birth and death records for Maui with a few marriages as well. You can search or browse by name or location. If you don't find your ancestor's name when browsing, it's recommended that you search the name as well as it may be indexed incorrectly.

Last but not least, the Other Resources section links you to the library catalog.

Mappy Monday: 4 Places to Find Historic Maps

When you first started working on your family tree, you probably didn't think a lot about using maps as a genealogy resource. I know I didn't. However, as you spend more time tracing your ancestry, you will find that maps can a helpful tool in more than one way.

First, maps can help you determine border changes. In many cases, whether moving forward or backwards through census records, disappearing ancestors are often the result of a border change. They probably have stayed in the exact same place, but that place may be part of a different county or state in that particular census. West Virginia was part of Virginia until 1863. Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina.

Second, maps can help you determine factors that may have affected the interactions of your ancestors. For instance, if you know the place where your ancestor was born was a remote valley in the mountains and transportation options were limited to horses, you can probably assume that (a) he stayed in the same area for most, if not all, of his lifetime unless there was a compelling reason to leave the area, (b) he probably married, raised a family and died in or around that area and (c) his spouse was from that area as well.

There are many places you can find historic maps online for use in tracing your ancestry. Many of these can be added to your free genealogy resources toolbox.

The University of Alabama Historic Map Archive

One feature I really like about this archive is that it isn't limited to only the United States. You can find maps for locations worldwide. There are also maps for special topics such as the Revolutionary War, Native Americans and railroads, just to name a few.

The United States Digital Map Library

A project of the USGenWeb, this collection has a variety of maps contained in three sections. The first section, US Maps, has maps of the US and specific regions of the US through time. The second section, State and County Maps, offers more, including specific ones for conflicts and railroads. Some states offer more than others. The final section is the Indian Land Cessions to the United States.

The Hargrett Historic Maps Database

This database is part of the University of Georgia's Rare Book & Manuscript Library. You can search by keyword, title, author or year range or browse by title, creator, facet or century. Not all maps listed will have a digital version available, but many do.

The Library of Congress American Memory Map Collections

This free genealogy resource shows a small portion of the Library of Congress' Geography and Map Division. Don't be mislead by the use of the word small. The entire collection consists of over 4.5 million items. The collection is divided into seven sections-Cities and Towns, Conservation and Environment, Discovery and Exploration, Cultural Landscapes, Military Battles and Campaigns, Transportation and Communication, and General Maps. You can also search by keyword or browse by geographic location, subject, creator or title.