Wishing you a Merry and a Happy .....

We wish all of you the very best!

It has been a wonderful year for us here at GenealogyBank.

Everyday we receive notes and cards from genealogists sharing their appreciation for what they've found in GenealogyBank - like this comment we received yesterday:

Thanks also for the new additions
to the Historic Newspapers file.

You are continuing to make

the best archive of old newspapers

even better!

Wishing you all success in finding every article about your ancestors in America's old newspapers!

Hunt is on for phony POW's...

Today's Chicago Tribune has an interesting article by Steve Mills about Mary and Chuck Schantag of the P.O.W. Network who say they have exposed close to 1,900 people who have falsely claimed to be prisoners of war. Click here to read the article "Hunt is on for Phony POW's".

A quick check of GenealogyBank shows almost one million articles about POW's, documenting their brutal experiences. It is an excellent source for verifying these claims.

TIP: Use GenealogyBank to search for previously published news articles that can expand on the details you find written in an obituary notice.

If Captain James Garcelon was the first "Garcelon" to come to America - then who was Peter Garcelon?

Genealogies often begin with the comprehensive statement that "the first (insert surname here) to come to America was...".

In our family that would be Captain James Garcelon born in 1739 on the Channel Island, Guernsey, England.

However in searching old newspapers you can find the details that just might change family traditions and supply the information you need to accurately document your family tree.

In GenealogyBank I found this article in the Pennslyvania Gazette (March 14, to March 21, 1737) - It is a list announcing the unclaimed letters at the post office.

That is two years before James was born.

So, time to track down exactly who Peter Garcelon was and just how he fits into the family tree.

Here is the entire article:

Did you get snow? Bet it was nothing like the snow of 1898.

We got snow this weekend - lots of it.

Here's a picture showing the snow piled on the railing of our back deck.

But, it was nothing like the Blizzard of 1898 - with 15' high snow drifts.

We found many articles about the Blizzard of 1898 in GenealogyBank - including this one...

...about Abram Decker who was saved from freezing to death in the snowstorm by the persistence of his "devoted wife".

This story was picked up and printed by the Idaho Daily Statesman, 18 Aug 1898.

Wow, what a story. His wife searching for him through 15' snow drifts - finally spotting his foot above the snow and her efforts to rescue him by taking the railings from a fence to build a bonfire - lit by the flame in her lantern, to keep him warm. The fire got the attention of two farmers who came to their rescue.


Now that's an incredible family story.

Tip: Don't limit your search to just one state - Remember that the articles you're looking for may have appeared in a newspaper in another state - in this example the story was picked up and printed in a paper clear across the country in Idaho.

Green-Wood Cemetery - Brooklyn, NY - Honors Civil War Vets

Newspapers are producing more than newsprint - they are adding video news clips.

Flickr photo from George K's Photostream

Here is an example from the New York Times - "Green-Wood Remembers Civil War Dead"

Click here and watch in depth report about Green-Wood Cemetery's effort to document the graves of Civil War veterans.

It's must viewing!

Chicago Marriage certificates 1871-1920 going online

It's a great day for genealogy. There are only a small handful of Internet sites that are putting up sharp, clear digital images of genealogical records, the kind of resources that genealogists want to use and will rely on for their research.

FamilySearchLabs has been doing just that. They have just added Cook County (IL) Marriage Records from 1900 to 1920 and announced that they will expand these back further to 1871. Cook County - is more than just Chicago - it includes the townships of Barrington, Berwyn, Bloom, Bremen, Calumet, Cicero, Elk Grove, Evanston, Hanover, Lemont, Leyden, Lyons, Maine, New Trier, Niles, Northfield, Norwood Park, Oak Park, Orland, Palatine, Palos, Proviso, Rich, River Forest, Riverside, Schaumburg, Stickney, Thornton, Wheeling, Worth.

Here is a typical example: the marriage certificate of Wyatt Nelson Cronk (1877-1976) to Agnes Brunnell Garcelon (1876-1962). They were married in Oak Park, Cook County, Illinois on 28 March 1908.

Mora Evelyn Boone (1901-2008) world's oldest genealogist

Mora Evelyn Boone (1901-2008) has passed away.
She was the nation's and probably the world's oldest genealogist.

Her great-granddaughter Alice Boone wrote about her life on their online site at: Ben and Alice. She describes an indomitable woman who was beloved by her family and added that despite her age, "She was an enthusiastic Internet user for her genealogical research."

"My great-grandmother saw a lot of things change in her life: just to give one example, she traveled around Texas in a covered wagon when she was little and never flew in an airplane, although she did get to ride in my grandpa's Prius."

Mora Evelyn Waddell was born 23 Dec 1901 in Greenville, Hunt County, Texas. She passed away 11 Dec 2008 in Houston, Texas. She married James Leroy Boone, (born 15 October 1898 in Carlisle, Lonoke County, Arkansas; died 22 Mar 1996 in Bryan, Brazos County, Texas) on 25 December 1921 in Houston, Texas.

Remembering Carole Callard ...

I paused this week to remember Carole Callard - she was a terrific genealogist, teacher, librarian and friend.

Carole passed away 3 years ago this week. Her obituary appeared in several newspapers including the Lansing State Journal (MI) - December 12, 2005

Carole Crawford Callard
Lansing, MI
Age 64, died December 10, 2005; born August 8, 1941 in Charleston, WV. Carole was a well-known and respected Librarian and Genealogist for many years, before retiring in June from the Library of Michigan. She is survived by her daughters, Susan (Martin) Philp of Tecumseh and Anne Cottongim of Northville and sister, Rosemary (William) Marquart of Hilton Head, SC. Memorial services will be celebrated Wednesday, December 14, 2005, at 10:00 a.m., at St. Mary's Cathedral, 219 Seymour, Lansing, with the Rev. George C. Michalek officiating. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the church, as well as on Tuesday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. at Gorsline-Runciman Funeral Home, 900 E. Michigan Ave, Lansing. Scripture Services will be held Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. Those desiring may make contributions to the Carole Callard Endowment Fund, c/o Library of Michigan Foundation, 717 W. Allegan St., P.O. Box 30159, Lansing, MI 48909, in memory of Carole. Copyright (c) Lansing State Journal. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc., GenealogyBank.com

What the obituary doesn't say is that Carole was a tireless worker - she lectured all over the country - instantly drawing in her audience, encouraging them and teaching them how to climb their family tree. She wore many hats in her career - she was one of the national GPO Documents Collection Inspectors, worked in Ethiopia to improve library services; Ann Arbor Public Library; University of Michigan Library; Allen County (IN) Library and the Library of Michigan.

There is an old phrase - "to waste and wear out your life" in a good cause. Carole did just that. For years she poured herself into indexing the 1870 census of Michigan - no doubt this contributed to her deteriorating eyesight. Carole didn't let her limited vision slow her down - she was daily at her post assisting genealogists, attending every conference, giving every lecture - right up to the end.

Carole was honored in 1997 as the first recipient of the Abrams Chair of Genealogy at the Library of Michigan - one of the few endowed positions in librarianship and the only endowed chair in genealogy. She received the Filby Award (2003) and the Distinguished Service Award from the Library and Information Science Program at Wayne State University in June 2005.

More newspapers go online

GenealogyBank adds 17 newspapers - from 10 States to America's Obituaries Section

That section now has 1,161 newspapers!
Here is the list of the new titles added:

Alabama
Daily Mountain Eagle (Jasper, AL)
Obituaries: 01/30/1998 - Current
Death Notices: 01/22/1998 - Current

Arkansas
Benton Courier, The (Benton, AR)
Obituaries: 05/14/2008 - Current
Death Notices: 05/08/2008 - Current

Carlisle Independent (Carlisle, AR)
Obituaries: 06/06/2008 - Current
Death Notices: 10/24/2008 - Current

Malvern Daily Record (Malvern, AR)
Obituaries: 08/12/2008 - Current
Death Notices: 08/01/2008 - Current

Connecticut
Fairfield Sun (Shelton, CT)
Obituaries: 09/18/2008 - Current
Death Notices: 09/18/2008 - Current

Hawaii
West Hawaii Today (Kailua-Kona, HI)
Obituaries: 09/02/2008 - Current
Death Notices: 08/31/2008 - Current

Kansas
Abilene Reflector-Chronicle (Abilene, KS)
Obituaries: 12/17/1999 - Current
Death Notices: 01/10/2000 - Current

Dodge City Daily Globe, The (Dodge City, KS)
Obituaries: 08/17/2005 - Current
Death Notices: 08/09/2005 - Current

Kentucky
Times-Tribune, The (Corbin, KY)
Obituaries: 06/17/2008 - Current
Death Notices: 10/06/2008 - Current

Massachusetts
Enterprise, The (Brockton, MA)
Obituaries: 10/09/2008 - Current

South Carolina
Aiken Standard (Aiken, SC)
Obituaries: 09/01/2008 - Current
Death Notices: 08/27/2008 - Current

Pickens Sentinel, The (Pickens, SC)
Death Notices: 08/13/2008 - Current

Texas
Borger News-Herald (Borger, TX)
Obituaries: 06/11/2008 - Current
Death Notices: 06/12/2008 –

Cleburne Times-Review (Cleburne, TX)
Obituaries: 07/25/2008 - Current
Death Notices: 07/18/2008 - Current

West Virginia
Fayette Tribune (Oak Hill, WV)
Obituaries: None received to date
Death Notices: 06/11/2008 - Current

Montgomery Herald (Montgomery, WV)
Obituaries: None received to date
Death Notices: 04/01/2008 - Current

Princeton Times (Princeton, WV)
Obituaries: 09/12/2008 - Current
Death Notices: 04/17/2008 - Current
.

Old Newspapers from 24 States go online

GenealogyBank adds content from 63 newspapers - from 24 States - 3.7 million records go online.

In a major upload GenealogyBank has expanded its coverage adding long runs of historical newspapers - 22,963 issues from 63 newspapers act - from 24 States.

Here's the list:
Alaska
Juneau. Daily Record-Miner. 42 issues. 10/7/1906 to 12/30/1906

Arkansas
Jonesboro. Jonesboro Evening Sun. 1,027 issues. 6/8/1905 to 12/21/1921
Little Rock. Arkansas Gazette. 191 issues. 1/13/1820 to 8/14/1891

California
Colton. Chicano. 45 issues. 10/13/1971 to 3/3/1977
Sacramento. Prensa Libre. 56 issues. 1/15/1969 to 12/31/1970

Connecticut
New Haven. *Connecticut Gazette. 71 issues. 9/20/1755 to 1/12/1767
New London. New London Democrat. 47 issues. 9/11/1847 to 12/23/1848

Florida
Tampa. Nueva Republica. 8 issues. 5/29/1897 to 5/28/1898
Tampa. Revista de Cuba Libre. 8 issues. 1/8/1898 to 8/6/1898

Idaho
Idaho City. Idaho Falls Times. 43 issues. 1/8/1903 to 9/27/1917
Idaho City. Idaho Register. 3 issues. 11/17/1905 to 4/23/1915

Illinois
Centralia. Centralia Sentinel. 1 issue. 12/27/1866
Chicago. Latin Times. 183 issues. 9/3/1960 to 11/27/1970
Chicago. *Sol de Chicago. 1 issue. 3/21/1960

Kentucky
Frankfort. *Palladium. 32 issues. 3/2/1805 to 11/20/1813

Louisiana
New Orleans. Times Picayune. 2,852 issues. 1/23/1861 to 7/22/1901

Massachusetts
Boston. Boston Journal. 4,708 issues. 7/1/1807 to 12/31/1898
Dedham. Norfolk Democrat. 25 issues. 1/4/1850 to 9/8/1854
Springfield. Massachusetts Gazette. 92 issues. 5/14/1782 to 7/20/1784

Maryland
Baltimore. Baltimore American. 107 issues. 1/24/1904 to 2/25/1912

Missouri
Kansas City. Kansas City Times. 148 issues. 1/1/1885 to 6/25/1895

Mississippi
Natchez. *Mississippi State Gazette. 138 issues. 3/6/1818 to 5/14/1825

North Carolina
New Bern. *State Gazette of North Carolina. 52 issues. 8/9/1787 to 2/20/1799

New Mexico
Las Vegas. *Revista Catolica. 301 issues. 1/8/1888 to 2/3/1895
Santa Fe. Weekly New Mexican. 9 issues. 7/13/1919 to 12/14/1919

New York
Albany. Albany Evening Journal. 154 issues. 2/1/1850 to 6/26/1871
Brooklyn. Curioso. 14 issues. 6/16/1934 to 5/4/1935
Brooklyn. *Guamaro. 15 issues. 9/26/1895 to 1/2/1896
Brooklyn. *Long Island Weekly Intelligencer. 7 issues. 7/3/1806 to 1/1/1807
Canadaigua. Western Repository. 14 issues. 11/1/1803 to 12/8/1807
New York. Cronica. 1 issue. 1/13/1950
New York. *Kan-de-la. 1 issue. 6/3/1949
New York. Liberacion. 10 issues. 5/3/1946 to 3/20/1948
New York. *Machate Criollo. 1 issue. 2/27/1927
New York. Nueva Voz. 37 issues. 7/29/1962 to 9/1/1965
New York. Prensa. 7 issues. 6/3/1925 to 8/28/1925
New York. Pueblos Hispanos. 14 issues. 2/20/1943 to 3/4/1944
New York. *Puerto Rico en Marcha. 19 issues. 8/21/1951 to 4/21/1969
New York. *Republicas Hispanas Unidas. 1 issue. 12/18/1943
New York. *Soberania. 1 issue. 4/21/1958
New York. *Vida Hispana. 9 issues. 6/25/1953 to 9/25/1954
New York. Voz. 2 issues. 2/1/1961 to 4/1/1962
NY. Troy. Troy Gazette. 65 issues. 4/5/1808 to 3/17/1812

Ohio
Cincinnati. Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. 2,716 issues. 5/1/1871 to 9/30/1890
Wooster. Wooster Republican. 18 issues. 1/2/1862 to 5/22/1862
Cincinnati. *Spirit of the West. 21 issues. 7/26/1814 to 4/15/1815
Cleveland. Plain-Dealer. 1,445 issues. 6/17/1914 to 12/31/1922

Oklahoma
Perry. Perry Republican. 1 issue. 5/31/1917

Oregon
Eugene. Oregon State Journal. 250 issues. 4/6/1872 to 6/30/1877
Portland. Oregonian. 956 issues. 2/4/1861 to 8/22/1889

Pennsylvania
Philadelphia. *Public Ledger. 836 issues. 6/13/1838 to 11/12/1855

Texas
Brownsville. Republican. 1 issue. 7/5/1866
Cleburne. Cleburne Morning Review. 2 issues. 1/4/1911 to 1/6/1911
El Paso. Atalaya Bautista: Semanario Evangelico Bautista. 1 issue. 7/14/1910
Kingsville. Accion. 1 issue. 8/1/1932
San Antonio. Epoca. 1 issue. 4/21/1918
San Antonio. Prensa. 4,764 issues. 2/9/1916 to 5/28/1959
San Antonio. Revista Mexicana. 10 issues. 7/13/1919 to 1/25/1920
Taft. *Panamericana News. 136 issues. 9/21/1942 to 6/21/1956

Utah
Salt Lake City. Salt Lake Telegram. 331 issues. 2/4/1902 to 12/29/1914
Salt Lake City. Salt Lake Tribune. 3 issues. 5/19/1877 to 10/27/1877

Virginia
Richmond. Virginia Argus. 183 issues. 12/29/1797 to 10/19/1816

Vermont
St. Albans. St. Albans Daily Messenger. 725 issues. 1/11/1849 to 1/16/1922

Tip: GenealogyBank is a goldmine.

No other source has this many early US newspapers.
Over 3,700 newspapers - the best newspaper site on the planet.

Search GenealogyBank now.
What will you find?

Best source for old newspapers online

GenealogyBank is the best source for early US newspapers on the planet.

Last week I wrote about digging in GenealogyBank and finding articles about my early American ancestors in Maine.

I had found family death and marriage announcements - this week I kept digging for more information about William Garcelon (1763-1851) his wife Maria (Harris) Garcelon (1763-1850) and his father Sea Captain James Garcelon (1739-1813) - and I found it!

Wow - in GenealogyBank I found this article from the Maine Gazette 22 July 1799

reporting that William Garcelon lost a horse in 1799 - "a black mare, with a white face and two white hind feet, about 15 years old" - it adds the key fact that he was living in Freeport, Maine in 1799.

Looking further I found a shipping article in the Essex (MA) Gazette (1769) stating that [Captain] J[ames] Garcelon had set sail on the Schooner Alexander for Bilbao, [Spain].

By family tradition we knew that he was a sea captain but here was proof and details of this voyage in 1769 - just 10 years after he had settled in America.

__________________________________________________

Wow - A newspaper published in 1769?

I didn't know that newspapers that old had survived - let alone that they were digitized and easily searchable online.

Tip: GenealogyBank has old newspapers going back to 1690 - easy to search, read, print and save!

___________________________________________________

Then in the 25 Feb 1811 issue of the Maine Gazette was the advertisement that James Garcelon's farm was for sale. It gives a terrific description: 150 acres, 20 of them wooded, "handsome young orchard", a "very pleasantly situated" two story house and more. Wow, you could almost picture the property.

Why was James Garcelon (1739-1813) selling his home and property? Were he and his wife, Deliverance (Annis) Garcelon (1735-1828), moving in with one of his children? At age 72, had he become infirm and unable to manage the property? Probably so.

We get another clue from the probate notice in the 24 Jan 1814 Maine Gazette.

Sea Captain James Garcelon had died 17 November 1813. His son [Rev.] James Garcelon was the executor.
____________________________________

Tip: GenealogyBank is a goldmine.

No other source has this many early US newspapers.

Only newspapers give this level of detail about the lives of Colonial Americans.
Wow - over 3,700 newspapers - the best newspaper site on the planet.

Search GenealogyBank now.
What will you find? _____________________________________________________