What I've Been Up To Lately and Other Things ...

Well, as you all have probably noticed, I haven't posted very much in a long time. Up until a couple of days ago, I had been extremely with school work, and therefore, I didn't have very much time to keep up with what has been going on in genealogy lately. Unfortunately, I am unsure as to when I will be resuming my normal posting schedule since I will still be taking a couple of classes this summer, and I will only have a few weeks break before I begin the next school year. Thus, blogging is probably going to be pretty light into the foreseeable future.

On a lighter note, I've noticed as everyone else has that FamilySearch's Record Search has added or updated quite a few databases, and I've done a little searching in some of the databases. I believe I have found some useful information on a few of my ancestors, and so, I have a few new leads to look up. Of course, I don't know if I'll be able to follow up on them this summer, but sometime in the future, I will pursue them.

I also wanted to list a few links that might help other people in their research. The first link is for some digitized parish books from Austria and Germany, which I learned about when I happened to be looking the website for the historical society of Gelnhausen, Germany for ways to further my research into my Kees ancestors. Only some of the parish books for the locations listed have been posted, but at the moment, it is free to view the images online. If you want to download any of the images, though, you would have to pay.

The other two links deal with genealogy research in Lancashire, England. The first link has transcriptions of parish records for churches in Lancashire, and are free to view. Transcriptions are added frequently, so if you don't happen to find transcriptions for the churches you are looking for, they might be posted eventually. The other link is for an index to the Birth, Marriages and Death records recorded in Lancashire county in 1837 and later. The index is also free to view, and the site lists information on how a person can order a certificate for the record. This site also frequently updates the index as well.

I hope these records might be useful and helpful for others in their research. Enjoy!

Updates On Researching My British Ancestors ...

Over the past couple of weeks I've received some answers on a couple of my British ancestral lines. A birth certificate for an ancestor and a marriage certificate for another ancestor arrived in the mail a couple of weeks to about one-and-a-half weeks ago, and I was able to confirm my suspicions about the ancestors' parents. The birth certificate confirmed the maiden name of my ancestor's mother, and the marriage certificate confirmed the bride's father's name. Also, I received an e-mail a couple days ago from a distant cousin from another line, and he sent me images of my the 1911 census for my ancestors and the images of another relative's World War One records.

As you can imagine, I'm excited by both of these events, and I do plan on writing about the World War One records of my ancestors and relatives on Veteran's Day. Enjoy and stay tuned for that post ...

Family History Center Visit 15

Earlier today, I visited the local Family History Center, and I took a look at the microfilm of church records from Weisenheim am Berg, Germany. I was able to go through the film and make copies of the church records in two hours. I think that today was one of the most successful research days I have had in a while, and as you can image, I'm pretty happy with my research.

I was able to find two marriage records for my ancestors of two different generations, but I was still unable to find the marriage record for Georg Klippel and Barbara Jost. I don't know if that is due to the missing years in the microfilm, or if it is due to them marrying in another town. When I glanced at Georg's burial record, I think I say something about his marriage, so I'll have to take a look at what that record says first. Overall, though, I am happy with my research. I believe I've moved back a couple more generations on the Klippel maternal side, but I still have to analyze the records. Of course, if I uncover more information, I'll let everyone know. Stay tuned ...

Family History Center Visit 14

Earlier today, I visited the local Family History Center, and with the help of my grandma, I looked at the three microfilms. Two of the microfilms were church records for Manchester, Lancashire, and the other microfilm was of church records in Weisenheim am Berg, Germany.

One of the Manchester microfilms was of baptismal records, and my grandma was able to find my ancestor in the baptismal records. When she looked at the other microfilm, which contained marriage records, she was unable to find the marriage record for that ancestor's parents. It turned out that I ordered the microfilm, and thus, did not get the right years of the marriage records. I'll have to order the right microfilm, although I am not sure when I will be able to do that.

As for the microfilm of German church records, I was able to find the baptismal record of my Klippel ancestor. I then tried to look for other siblings in the baptismal records, but I was only able to find a couple of other siblings. I was able to find the death records of his parents, but I was unable to find the marriage record of his parents. The microfilm was missing some of the years of the church book, so I'll have to look and see if they are on the other microfilm listed in the LDS catalogue. Until then, I cannot do too much research into my Klippel ancestor's maternal side. I was able to find out who his paternal grandparents were, and hopefully, I'll be able to do a little bit more research before I go back to school. So, I guess my research today was somewhat successful. Stay tuned ...

Family History Center Update

I just received a phone call from the local Family History Center, and learned that the three other microfilms have arrived. I hope to take a look at the microfilms later today, so stay tuned ...

Family History Center Update

I received an e-mail from the local family history center earlier today informing me that my other microfilm had arrived. This microfilm is of Church of England church records from Lancashire county, although I do not remember if the records are for Wigan or another city in the county. Well, I hope to go to the center soon, so I'll refresh my memory about which location is on the microfilm. Stay tuned ...

Family History Center Visit 6

I visited the Family History Center earlier today, and I went through the same microfilm as in previous visits. The microfilm for Trippstadt is still on back-order. Anyhow, I was able to find one more person in the microfilm, but I could not find the other three people I was looking for in my previous visit. It may be possible that they were baptized in another church in the area, or that I missed them when I was going through the film. Some of the images are dark and some of the ink on pages has bleed into other pages. Those may be the reasons why. Either way, I can try again, and maybe I'll order another microfilm or two. (I just haven't decided which ones I want.)

Family History Center Visit 5

Earlier today I went back to the local Family History Center. Again, I did searching through the microfilm of church records for Holy Trinity (now known as St. Peter's). I did find a few more siblings of ancestors, but I was still unable to find a couple of my ancestors' siblings ( and children). I am still waiting for the other microfilm I ordered on Trippstadt, Germany deaths as it has not come in yet. Apparently there is a backlog on orders of microfilms, so I have held off on ordering any more microfilms until the other one comes in.

Family History Center Visit 4

Earlier today, I went to the Family History Center. I was only there for a short time, but I was still able to find a few more people in that microfilm. The other microfilm has not come in yet, so I am still going through the same microfilm. Of course, I haven't finished going through that microfilm, so I guess it is a good thing that the other film hasn't come yet.

I'll keep everyone posted with my research.

Family History Center Visit 3

As I mentioned yesterday, I went to the local Family History Center earlier today. The microfilm for baptisms of the church that some of my British ancestors had attended came in, and I went in to see if I could find any of my ancestors listed.

So, how did I do? Well, I definitely hit pay dirt this time, at least in baptismal dates for my ancestors and their siblings. Of course, I haven't finished going through the microfilm yet, but I'm hoping to do so in my next visit. Hopefully, by that time, the other microfilm will have arrived as well. (And I will keep everyone informed on what I find.)

The baptismal records that I am looking at are from 1828 to 1900. These records list the name of the child and parents (without the mother's maiden name). The date of the baptism is given, and the residence of the parents is mentioned. Most of the time, the name of the town was only listed, but a few times street names and house numbers were given. The only disappointment that I had was that these records did not list the date of birth for the child that was baptized. Does anyone know how soon parents in England would have their children baptized after birth, especially when the parents went to the local Anglican church? Thanks.