It's a great day for genealogy!

I received an early Christmas present from my cousin in North Carolina.
He sent me a photograph of our 3rd-great-grandparents - Robert and Abigail (Haskell) Starbird of Gray, Maine. Wow.

They lived in the early 19th Century - and until now I had no idea that there was a photograph of them. Now, there it was. Wow.

It reminded me of when I first started putting the online historical newspapers to the test. I picked an unusual name on my family tree and searched for every "Starbird" in the file - letting the computer sift through millions of articles to find over 1,300 "hits" for the surname.

Opening each one - there was one that immediately caught my eye - in the 19 August 1828 copy of the Eastern Argus.

It was the marriage of Robert Starbird to Abigail Haskell in August 1828 in Gray, Maine. I thought - I know that name. After a quick check of my genealogy - sure enough that was them - my 3rd-great-grandparents. I didn't have their marriage date - and now there was the announcement of their wedding in the Portland, Maine paper - the Eastern Argus. Wow.

I was hooked. This was going to work for me. My obscure relatives were actually in these newspapers! Who knew! Well, now I did and I've been using GenealogyBank to find hundreds of other articles about the family. Wow.

It's a great day for genealogy!

PS: Take full advantage of the Thanksgiving Special - and subscribe to GenealogyBank at a great rate - only $69.95 - we'll leave that rate up until Monday :)

Wow - great finds on GenealogyBank!

I am an ecstatic subscriber to GenealogyBank as well.

My family has lived in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, a little coal-mining town, continuously since the 1830s ... they were a coal-mining family, for generations. They certainly weren't among the more prominent residents (most of them!).

But, you wouldn't believe the hundreds of articles about my family I have found on GenealogyBank. And, they just keep coming!

I've found obituaries, dates of marriage, dates of death, dates of birth (and death) of little children I never knew had existed.

I never knew my Dad's mother put on little musical productions using children in the neighborhood, where some kids sang, some danced, some recited. My Dad was in one as young as six months of age. These were written up in the newspaper!

I could go on and on with interesting finds I have made.
I am truly overwhelmed!

One of the best investments I have ever made.

I am truly thrilled!
Thank you.

Donna
Peachtree City, GA

Maybe he went to Alaska!

Sometimes you just don't know where they went.

John B. Bosworth was born in Galveston, Texas about 1867. He married and settled his family in Oklahoma but a search of the records turned up no further information about him - that is until he died in 1917 - in Alaska. According to the article in the Daily Alaska Dispatch (April 5, 1917) Bosworth was working as a miner in British Columbia and then joined a mining company in Treadwell, Alaska in November of 1916. The article describes the wall collapse in the mine that killed him and mentions an (unnamed) son living in Tacoma, Washington.

Victor N. Dupuy "one of the most popular young mining men of Juneau" was born in Ironton, Ohio - and received his civil engineering degree from Ohio State University. After five years working in Ohio he moved to Alaska to work for the Alaska Gastineau Company. There he met and married Henrietta Heid - the "second girl" born in Juneau. The article went on to say that following the wedding the couple left at midnight on the ferry Amy for Sheep Creek, Alaska "where they will make their home." The details of the wedding are reported in the Daily Alaska Dispatch on 12 August 1913.

Gold called people to Alaska. Leroy W. Miner (10 Nov 1871-17 Jan 1901) was born in New London, Connecticut. According to the Daily Alaska Dispatch 0f 21 Jan 1901 he had come to Douglas, Alaska in November 1898 and worked at the Treadmill mine in the winters and panned for gold in the summers in Porcupine, Alaska. The article goes on to discuss his life in Alaska and his brother & three sisters back in New London, CT.

GenealogyBank has thousands of newspapers from all 50 States - over 210 Million records and articles that give details like these about our ancestor's lives - taking us beyond the names and dates recorded in vital records and the census.

It's a great day for genealogy.

Thanksgiving - a time for families to gather

Families have been gathering for Thanksgiving since the Pilgrims first arrived 387 years ago!

Don't we wish that there were scribes recording everything that went on at these reunions - documenting each member of the family, the old family stories, the recipes and the details of their lives.

Lucky for us many of these family gatherings were recorded in newspapers.

Here is an article that was published in the New Hampshire Sentinel - 28 Dec 1865 which had picked it up from the Providence Press.

This terrific article describes the physical stature and ability of 82 year old Daniel McIntyre of York, Maine and his good wife who was more than three times his size. The article supplies the interesting details that four generations of the family had gathered for Thanksgiving - that they had twelve children - eleven of whom were still living and ten that attended the gathering along with their children.

A quick search of familysearch.org shows that it was their first child, Nancy McIntyre (abt 1811-1838) was the child that had passed away. The article also speaks of Mary (Staples) McIntyre's good cooking - she probably liked to eat. Clearly she liked her own cooking - and for those of you who might be thinking of cutting back over Thanksgiving - consider that Mary at 225 lbs outlived her good husband at 72 lbs. by eleven years!

GenealogyBank had more articles about McIntyre's from York, Maine - there is Rufus McIntyre who served in Congress and a David S. McIntyre whose "reputation for mathematics" caused him to be called a "born mathematician". Guess over the Thanksgiving weekend I'll sort out how all of these McIntyre's are related.

It is really amazing what you can find online - these newspapers just beginning to open up and are now easily available to researchers.

What a great day for genealogy!

So, When Was Your Great-Grandfather Naturalized?

You know that your great grandfather was naturalized but cannot seem to find out when/where it happened.

In sifting through old newspapers I’ve found that it was common for editors to write about their neighbors – and in particular about those new immigrants that made the effort to become a permanent part of the nation and took the oath to be officially naturalized citizens.

These articles are so common that they could have just the information you need to fill in the family tree – giving the when and where your great grandfather and other relatives were naturalized. To illustrate the point here are a few examples taken from www.GenealogyBank.com

“Large Class to be Naturalized – Aliens From Fourteen Nations Will Get Final Citizenship Papers Here Tuesday” – reads the headline of the 28 August 1922 Ft. Wayne (IN) News Sentinel. The article then goes on in detail to name all 43 future citizens and the countries that they came from. Great stuff.

Another article published in the 5 May 1881 Dallas (TX) Weekly Herald gives even more details about a family in Dallas, TX. It was titled: “A Woman Naturalized” -

In 1881 it was unusual for a woman to be naturalized. In fact that this was the first such case in Dallas area. It was the practice then for women to be naturalized upon the naturalization of their husband’s and not as a separate action.

Mrs. Collette Vandenbasch became the first woman naturalized in her own right in Dallas, TX. She was the widow of the late G. J. Vandenbasch and according to the article her husband had begun the naturalization process by filing papers with the Dallas County Clerk on 6 August 1860. Tragically he died in 1868 without completing the process.

The article went on to say that they were both citizens of Belgium and that for her to take possession of their “considerable” property there she had to first become a naturalized citizen of the U.S. And so, the process was begun but it would take another 13 years for Mrs. Collette Vandenbasch to complete the process, breaking with tradition to become a citizen of the U.S. in 1881.

What will you find?

It is a great day for genealogists.