Native American Records added to Ancestry

I just noticed this post on Ancestry's blog just a few minutes ago, and I thought I would post on it. Ancestry has added records pertaining to Native America genealogy. From what I read, the databases added appear to census records of reservations. You can read the rest of the article here: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1573.

I don't have any experience in researching Native American genealogy, but I hope that the addition of these records makes doing genealogy reasearch easier for those doing research in Native American genealogy.


Update: 27 June 2007: I had to change the link to the article on Ancestry's blog, as Ancestry redid their posts from the past two days. I'm sorry if anyone tried the link, and couldn't find the article.

Michigan Genealogy 101 - Part One - Vital Records

As I promised a few weeks ago, here is the first post on Michigan genealogy! By now everyone has probably figured out that I am from Michigan, and since most of my ancestors settled in Michigan during the Mid-1800s, most of my genealogical research has been done in Michigan.



The state of Michigan began officially recording births, marriages and deaths in 1867, although some of the counties did not begin recording until 1868. You can easily find out when a county started recording vital records through the Library of Michigan's county clerk directory. (To those who already know this and are reading this post, I am sorry for repeating information.) When I read Carol McGinnus' book, I remember (I think) that she mentioned that the law called for recording vital records starting March of 1867. So, if you had an ancestor who was born or died before March 1867, the chances are that you will probably not find a civil record.



Marriages before 1867, on the other hand, may have been record by a county clerk. From what I remember, I think Carol stated in her book that county clerks were required by law, since 1805, to record marriages. Of course, that depends on when the county was formed. I know St. Joseph County has recorded marriages since 1832 primarily because I've done research in that county. Again, the link up above would probably be the best way to find out when a county started recording vital records.



If you go to the Library of Michigan to research, be aware that the Library only has vital records dating from 1867.



In my next post, I'll talk about doing research in the Library of Michigan.

More Genealogy blogs posted

Over the past several weeks, I have posted links to several different genealogy blogs. Since I added links several blogs in the past several weeks, I don't remember when I posted all of the new ones, so if I miss mentioning the name of a blog, it is not intentional and you have my apologies.

Some of the blogs I have posted links to recently are:

• FamilySearch's FamilySearch Labs
• Jasia's Creative Gene
• Becky Wiseman's Kinexxions blog
• Miram's 'AnceStories: The Stories of my ancestors'
• Nancy Robertson's 'News from Nancy, State Librarian of Michigan'

If anyone has any other genealogy blogs that they want listed or should be listed, just post the name and a link in the comments. I welcome all suggestions.

Two More History Books

I just thought that I would mention two history books that might be useful in doing genealogy. What I mean is that these two books maybe beneficial for background information or for research. Currently, I am still reading both books at the moment.

The first book is Small Town America: A Narrative History, 1620-the present by Richard Lingeman (Houghton Mifflin Co.: Boston, 1980). As the title suggests, the book is about the history of small towns in America, and how the towns developed.

The second book is The Puritan Family: Religion and Domestic Relations in Seventh-Century New England by Edmund S. Morgan (Harper Torchbooks: New York, 1966). As this title suggests, the book is on the Puritan family.

I realize these may be old or out of print, but they may be in libraries. I just thought I would mention these two books as possible background sources.

My Personality Type and Other Quizes

I just learned about this personality test How Rare is Your Personality? from reading Randy Seaver's post on this quiz.

Here are my results:

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISFP)

Your personality type is caring, peaceful, artistic, and calm. Only about 7% of all people have your personality, including 8% of all women and 6% of all menYou are Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Perceiving.

http://www.blogthings.com/howrareisyourpersonalityquiz/">How Rare Is Your Personality?

Well, according to this quiz, my personality is only slightly rare. Oh, well, there still isn't anyone else like me out there.

After I took that quiz, I took another personality type quiz: What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Here's what this quiz said:

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well.An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly.You are also good at remembering information and convincing someone of your point of view.A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofintelligencedoyouhavequiz/">What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Well, it seems to be somewhat accurate. Either way, I think these quizes are fun and really don't mean that much. There are many other types of personality quizes on the site. Some I think are really funny, and others that I don't think are appropriate.

Ancestry has teamed up with a Genetics company

I realize that I am little behind on writting about Ancestry's new partnership with a genetics company. Ancestry's blog posted this article on their blog within the past few days: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1542.

I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not. I haven't given much thought about genetic genealogy primarily because I have only been doing genealogy for the past four years. Personally, I think genealogy is much more interesting and fun when one is digging through old documents. My concern is that if Ancestry is going to have DNA data put into an electronic system, they will charge an extreme amount for other people to access. Also, if DNA data is going to be digitized and available on the internet, wouldn't that information be easily stolen by hackers? I know that this concerns may seem to be trivial, but has anyone taken any consideration of the consequences of what Ancestry and Sorenson Genetics are doing?

It would be nice if the price of DNA testing kits dropped; then it would be much easier for those who are interested in genetic genealogy to take time to have their DNA tested. Since I really do not know much about genetic genealogy, I don't believe I have the qualifications to write very much on genetic genealogy.

"MyHeritage Site"

I just learned about the "MyHeritage" genealgoy site a few days ago from reading an article on Randy Seaver's blog. You can read his article here: http://randysmusings.blogspot.com/2007/06/visiting-myheritage-data-portal.html#links .

I don't know how many people already knew about this site, but this was the first time I heard about. I didn't post anything on this website earlier because I was testing out the site. This site has a search engine that will search for a surname and up to ten variations of that surname that are listed on genealogy sites. The engine simplifies searching for genealogy information by only looking at genealogy websites. In order to use that search you have to register and download a program that will enable you to carry out the search. The search may take a while to complete as it is searching a very large number of genealogy websites, and it may take longer to finish if your computer runs slow. Unfortunately, my computer runs slow and everytime I tried to do a search my computer froze. So, I really have not been able to truly test this site out, which is frustrating to me. So, you may want to keep in mind if you do decied to use this search engine, your computer may run slow.

Of course there is more to this site than the search engine; I just haven't had chance to check out the rest of the site as a result of the problems I have had with my computer. If you are interested, here is the link to the site: http://www.myheritage.com/

A Useful Article of Tips from Ancestry's Blog

I forgot to mention this article earlier in the week when it was posted on Ancestry's blog. The article is on how to determine the religious affliation of your ancestors. I read this article with a great interest because I am having difficulty determining the religious affliation of some of my ancestors. Without knowing my ancestors' religious beliefs, I will defenitely have difficulty tracing my ancestors. I hope to use some of the tips in this article.

You can read this article by clicking on this link: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1501

Ancestry.com is working on Canadian passenger lists

I forgot to mention this; it was posted a couple of days ago. Ancesty.com is working with a Canadian group to index Canadian passenger lists. You can find out more information on ancestry's blog: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1488

Of course, you know what that means: another Ancestry database.

An Interesting Michigan History book

Although I read this book a few years ago, I still wanted to mention it because it deals with an unfimiliar part of Michigan's history. Tom Powers' Michigan Rogues, Desperadoes, and Cut-throats (Friede Publications: Davison, Miscigan, 2002) is, as the title suggests, about 19th Century Michigan criminals. The book only showcases a few of Michigan's criminals; however, I wanted to mention this book because of the descriptions of life in towns near the lumbering mills. I also wanted to mention this book because I plan to start posting information on doing Michigan genealogy.

Speaking of Michigan genealogy, I hope to begin posting on that topic soon.

FamilySearch Indexing

For the past several weeks I have been a volunteer with the FamilySearch Indexing program. So far, I have primarily helped with indexing the 1900 Census. Some of the handwriting has been hard to read, but most of the handwriting on the censuses images that I have transcribed and indexed were not difficult to read.

I am not a member of the LDS church. I just found about the project while searching on the internet, and I decided to volunteer.

You can find out more about FamilySearch Indexing here: http://www.familysearchindexing.org/en/index.jsp

Please note, that you will have to download FamilySearch Indexing's program in order to help index the images of that are being indexed.

More blogs listed

I've added several more blogs today. You can find these and others on the lower left side of the page. Here's the list:

• C. McNicholl's The Scottish Genealogy blog
• Daniel Morgan's Genealogy blog
• David Lambert's blog
• Family Bibles blog
• Family Research: English, Scottish and Irish Genealogy News and Articles
• Footnote blog
• Renee Zamora's Genealogy blog
• Steve Danko's Genealogy blog
• Susan E. Smith's "Midwestern Genealogist"
• Teri's Pennsylvania History and Genealogy blog
• The Genealogue
• Wally Huskonen's Ohio Genealogy blog
• West in New England
• Melissa's Australian Genealogy blog

Another blog listed

I just added another genealogy blog today:

Craig Manson's Geneablogie

You can find his blog and others on the left side of the page. If anyone has any other suggestions for blogs, he or she is more than welcome to post them.

More blogs listed

I have just added these blogs today:

Ancestors at Rest

Death Records blog

Genealogy and How

You can find these blogs and other blogs on the lower left side of my blog. I realize that the blogs that are listed so far are not comprehensive. If anyone else has any other suggestions for genealogy blogs, he or she is more than welcome to suggest them.

Michigan Genealogy book

I realize I haven't posted very much on genealogy, so I have decided to begin a annual posting series on Michigan genealogy. Why Michigan? Most of my experience in doing genealogical research originated from doing research in Michigan. I am primarily familiar with Michigan records. Before I begin, though, I want to mention a genealogy book. Carol Mc Ginnis' Michigan Genealogy: Sources and Resources, Second edition (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.: Baltimore, MD, 2005), is a genealogy guide to starting genealogy research in Michigan. In addition to listing possibly records to research, she also lists other important information such as when Michigan took state censuses and when Michigan passed laws on vital records, especially when marriage laws were changed or amended. It is quite invaluable for doing research in Michigan, especially when you are trying to determine when a person could legally get married without needing parental consent.

In future posts, I will post more on doing genealogical research in Michigan and on my experiences.

Blog List Posted

I have added a list of genealogy blogs to this site. You can find them on the lower left. Please note: This is not a comprehensive list; I have just started this list, and I plan to add more in the future.

If you have any suggestions for other genealogy blogs, please feel free to list the blogs.

Thanks,

Jess

Another Interesting History Book

Even though Memorial Day has already passed, I thought I would recommend a history book that I read over a year ago and found to be interesting. Victory in Tripoli: How America's War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation by Joshua E. London(John Wiley & Sons, Inc: Hoboken, New Jersey, 2005) is about how the United States' dealt with the pirate states of North Africa. In short it is about the U.S.'s naval war against the pirates of the Barbary Coast.

I realize that this also a book on maritime history; however, this book deals with a war that would be unknown to most Americans.

The book is well written, and I highly recommend it for reading. It is definitely enlightening about an event in history that is not well-known.

Some Information on the Mexican-American War

I deceided to post some information on the Mexican-American War, since I complained earlier about Ancestry not included information on this war in their military database.

Here is a link to some information on the Mexican-America War. It is run by an organization made up of descendants of Mexican-American War veterans. http://www.dmwv.org/mexwar/mexwar1.htm

Also, one can find information on the war in Robert Leckie's The Wars of America (Castle Books: Edison, NJ, 1998). There is a whole section on this war in the book.

I realize that this is not a complete list. I did not intend this list to be complete; I just wanted to put out a couple of resources.

Free Access to Ancestry's Military Records

I just learned about this last night from an e-mail. Ancestry is making its military records available to look at for free online until June 6. Obviously, this is a wonderful opportunity for those who don't have an ancestry subscription to see if they can find military records on their ancestors.

You can find out more about the database on Ancestry's blog: http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=1436

My only problem with the database is that Ancestry has completely forgotten about the Mexican-American War, which was fought between 1846 and 1848. I realize this might be a petty complaint, but the war had an impact on U.S. history. The U.S. acquired the territory of present day California, and most of Arizonia and New Mexico as a result of this war.

I realize that not everyone is a student of history, but when it comes to posting a database on military records, there should be some acknowledgement that the U.S. fought a war against Mexico. My point is: if ancestry is going to post information on every major war that the U.S. has been involved in, they should make as much effort to ensure that they have posted information on all of the wars as they do creating the presentations about their databases. Ancestry has a nice presentation on their military database, but with all of the effort and time that was spent on creating that presentation, it does not appear as impressive when someone knows that one of the wars has been left out. To those who know that there was another war between the War of 1812 and the Civil War, it appears that Ancestry did not spend enough time researching or did not spend enough time on the project at all.

If someone is going to post an impressive presentation on military records online, that person needs to spend the time to ensure that he or she has all of the facts; otherwise, that person's presentation does not appear impressive.

Recommended Genealogy Book

So far, all of the books that I have recommended on this blog have been history books; however, I have decided to recommend a genealogy book that I read when I first started doing genealogy. (I am in no way connected to this author or any authors of any books that I recommend.)

A very good beginner's genealogy book is Unpuzzling Your Past by Emily Anne Croom (Betterway Books: Cincinnati, Ohio, 2003).

This book is, as I stated before, a how-to book for beginners, even though there are many great tips in the book. The book is focused on records in the United States. (On another day, I'll recommend other genealogy books on other countries.)