Researching Genealogy with Military Records and Lists in Newspapers

Researching Genealogy with Military Records and Lists in Newspapers
From the Revolutionary War to Pearl Harbor to Iraq, newspapers are a valuable resource for researching your military ancestry and learning about the history of war in the United States. Newspapers have been a dependable source of information that Americans have relied upon throughout this nation’s history.

U.S. War History in Newspapers
This was vividly demonstrated after Dec. 7, 1941, when Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor launched the U.S. into World War II. The next day Congress declared war on Japan—and Americans were riveted by the bold headlines and news stories splashed across the front pages of the nation’s newspapers.

Omaha World Journal (Omaha, Nebraska), 8 December 1941, page 1.
Newspapers tell us what happened every day of our ancestors’ lives.
From the Revolutionary War to the wars in the Middle East, newspapers let us read about our ancestors’ participation in the nation’s conflicts—and what the country as a whole went through. We volunteered, we were enlisted in the U.S. military through the draft—and when we didn’t register for the draft, the government issued “slacker lists” to encourage full participation in the war.

U.S. Military Draft Lists
Military draft lists were published in newspapers, like this one printed in the 26 July 1917 issue of the Perry Republican (Perry, Oklahoma), page 1. It is a census of the men living in Noble County, Oklahoma, in 1917—a valuable genealogical resource to help with your family history research.
Similar lists were the “slacker lists” or “draft dodger lists”: listings of those persons that tried to evade the draft. After World War I the United States War Department issued lists of those men that did not register with the military draft. These lists were widely published in newspapers across the country, like this example from the Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey), 25 May 1921, page 1.
From the declaration of war through obituaries published decades after the conflict ended, newspapers have been a dependable source of information about our ancestors and their participation in the United States Armed Forces. Newspapers reported on the battles and covered the stories of the war every step along the way. Family historians can gather facts for their family trees and put them in the context of the war as it happened.
U.S. Military Casualty Lists
Another valuable resource for family historians are the war casualty lists many newspapers published. In this example, published in the Macon Telegraph (Macon, Georgia), 6 August 1918, page 1, the newspaper published the full casualty list and spiked out the Georgia men that died in a prominent boxed note that appeared on page one.
Most U.S. citizens do not remain in the military as a lifelong career. However, their military service was almost always mentioned in their obituary notice—as in this example, published in the Barre Gazette (Barre, Massachusetts), 31 July 1840, page 2, of the late Isaac Van Wart (1751-1840) of Tarrytown (Westchester County) and Pittstown (Rensselaer County), New York. Obituaries, birth announcements and marriage notices are some of the excellent resources newspapers provide family historians. During times of war, draft, slacker, and casualty lists are another helpful genealogical resource. In addition to information about your individual ancestors, newspapers provide the stories about what the entire United States was going through, to help you put your ancestors’ experiences in context and thereby come to understand them a little more. Digital newspaper archives online have become the core tool for modern genealogy, helping genealogists and family history researchers discover more about their family’s military past than ever before possible. Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 7 April 1917, page 1.

Best Source for Finding Old Marriage Records!

GenealogyBank is your best source for finding old marriage records.

Newspapers regularly published marriage announcements – like this one from the Weekly Pelican (New Orleans, LA) 26 Oct 1889.

Whether you’re looking for a wedding announcement published in 1802, 1862 or 1962 – GenealogyBank is your most comprehensive source.

TIP: Focus your search by the type of article.
In this example in the Historical Newspapers section – limit your search to only the marriage notices. Click on the highlighted topic and only the wedding and marriage announcement articles will appear in your search – saving you time.

Find and document your ancestors in GenealogyBank – the best source for old newspapers & documents on the planet.

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Newspapers Go Online -

GenealogyBank keeps on growing!

GenealogyBank.com added more newspaper coverage for over 1,600 newspapers – in all 50 States this week.

Here is just a list of some of the new content that has been added.
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AK
Juneau
Daily Record-Miner. 1911-01-05 to 1911-05-04

AL
Birmingham
Wide-Awake*. 1900-01-24
AL
Mobile
Mobile Register. 1970-01-04 to 1978-11-30

AR
Garden City
Jonesboro Evening Sun. 1905-12-02 to 1921-08-18
AR
Little Rock
Arkansas Gazette. 1846-11-02 to 1872-05-19

AZ
San Manuel
San Manuel Miner, The. 03/27/2010 to Current
AZ
Tucson
Amigos. 1976-08-03
AZ
Tucson
Tucsonense. 1917-01-03 to 1922-12-23

CA
Benicia
California Gazette. 1851-08-23 to 1852-01-24
CA
Los Angeles
Prensa. 1932-04-03
CA
Los Angeles
Regeneracion. 1913-01-25 to 1914-02-14
CA
Oakland
Oakland Sunshine*. 1915-03-20 to 1922-02-25
CA
Sacramento
Sacramento Weekly Union. 1851-10-31 to 1853-04-15
CA
San Francisco
Grafico Internacional*. 1937-02-01 to 1937-04-01
CA
San Francisco
Hispano America. 1923-08-25 to 1925-10-10
CA
San Francisco
San Francisco Vindicator*. 1887-05-02 to 1889-02-16
CA
San Francisco
Weekly Pacific News. 1849-12-31 to 1851-04-01

CO
Colorado Springs
Gazette-Telegraph. 1904-09-29 to 1907-08-02

CT
Hartford
Hartford Daily Courant. 1868-04-07 to 1876-12-30
CT
Hartford
Hartford Daily Courant. 1852-02-20 to 1866-05-29
CT
New London
New London Daily Chronicle. 1850-09-03 to 1852-06-23

DC
Washington
Leader*. 1888-12-08 to 1889-12-21
DC
Washington
Washington Bee. 1882-06-10 to 1920-06-26

FL
Jasper
Jasper News, The. 03/27/2010 to Current
FL
Mayo
Mayo Free Press, The. 03/17/2010 to Current
FL
Tampa
Internacional. 1941-02-27
FL
Tampa
Traduccion Prensa. 1946-05-06

GA
Americus
Americus Times-Recorder. 2010-05-06 to Current
GA
Augusta
Augusta Chronicle. 1841-10-19 to 1860-12-30
GA
Augusta
Loyal Georgian*. 1866-01-20 to 1868-02-15
GA
Savannah
Savannah Weekly Echo*. 1883-08-26 to 1884-02-10

HI
Homolulu
Afro-Hawaii News*. 1987-06-01 to 1991-12-31

IA
Des Moines
Iowa State Bystander*. 1896-11-13 to 1900-12-28
IA
Des Moines
Weekly Avalanche*. 1893-01-20
IA
Oskaloosa
Oskaloosa Herald. 2010-03-24 to Current
IA
Ottumwa
Ottumwa Courier, The. 2010-03-05 to Current

IL
Chicago
Latin Times. 1958-10-04 to 1972-05-05
IL
Chicago
Sunday Times. 1874-07-19
IL
Effingham
Effingham Daily News. 2010-01-29 to Current

IN
Indianapolis
Freeman. 1899-08-17 to 1916-11-25
IN
Indianapolis
Recorder*. 1899-01-07 to 1900-12-29
IN
New Albany
Weekly Review*. 1881-04-16

KS
Baxter Springs
Southern Argus*. 1891-06-18 to 1892-02-04
KS
Coffeyville
Afro-American Advocate. 1891-09-02 to 1893-09-01
KS
Coffeyville
American*. 1898-04-23 t0 1899-04-23
KS
Coffeyville
Kansas Blackman*. 1894-04-20 to 1894-06-29
KS
Lawrence
Historic Times*. 1891-07-11 to 1891-11-14
KS
Leavenworth
Leavenworth Advocate. 1888-08-18 to 1891-08-22
KS
Leavenworth
Leavenworth Herald*. 1894-02-07 to 1896-12-26
KS
Nicodemus
Nicodemus Cyclone*. 1887-12-30 to 1888-09-07
KS
Nicodemus
Nicodemus Enterprise*. 1887-08-17 to 1887-12-23
KS
Parsons
Parsons Weekly Blade*. 1892-09-24 to 1900-12-28
KS
Topeka
American Citizen. 1897-01-29 to 1902-05-23
KS
Topeka
American Citizen. 1889-01-11 to 1889-06-21
KS
Topeka
Benevolent Banner*. 1887-05-21 to 1887-10-22
KS
Topeka
Colored Patriot*. 1882-04-20 to 1882-06-22
KS
Topeka
Evening Call*. 1893-06-13 to 1893-07-08
KS
Topeka
Herald of Kansas*. 1880-01-30 to 1880-06-11
KS
Topeka
Plaindealer. 1900-01-26
KS
Wichita
National Baptist World*. 1894-08-31 to 1894-11-23
KS
Wichita
People’s Friend*. 1894-05-24 to 1894-05-24
KS
Wichita
Wichita Times*. 1972-01-11 to 1977-09-22

LA
New Orleans
L’Union*. 1862-09-27 to 1864-07-19
LA
New Orleans
Times-Picayune. 1940-06-22 to 1975-07-28
LA
New Orleans
Times-Picayune. 1866-02-13 to 1879-12-16
LA
New Orleans
Weekly Louisianian. 1882-01-14
LA
New Orleans
Weekly Pelican. 1887-01-29 to 1889-08-31
LA
St. Martinville
Echo*. 1873-03-15

MA
Amherst
Amherst Bulletin. 2009-10-02 to Current
MA
Boston
Boston Daily Advertiser. 1874-01-01 to 1874-04-30
MA
Lawrence
Eagle-Tribune, The. 2010-05-12 to Current
MA
Provincetown
Provincetown Banner. 2009-10-02 to Current
MA
Springfield
Springfield Republican. 1925-02-01 to 1946-09-26
MA
Springfield
Springfield Republican. 1886-12-02
MA
Springfield
Springfield Union. 1947-04-01 to 1963-02-15
MA
Worcester
National Aegis. 1825-01-12 to 1827-12-12

MD
Baltimore
Afro-American*. 1893-04-29 to 1898-03-26
MD
Baltimore
Baltimore American. 1905-06-18 to 1910-04-24
MD
Baltimore
Race Standard*. 1897-01-02 to 1897-01-16

MI
Detroit
Plaindealer. 1889-09-27 to 1892-11-18
MI
Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids Press, The. 2010-05-12 to Current
MI
Holland
Holland Sentinel, The. 2009-10-02 to Current

MN
Minneapolis
Afro-American Advance*. 1899-05-27 to 1900-11-17
MN
Sleepy Eye
Sleepy Eye Herald Dispatch. 2009-10-02 to Current
MN
St. Paul
Broad Axe. 1894-02-01 to 1902-06-12
MN
St. Paul
Negro World*. 1900-03-10 to 1900-06-09
MN
St. Paul
St. Paul Daily Pioneer. 1855-11-01 to 1855-12-22
MN
St. Paul
Western Appeal*. 1885-06-13 to 1888-12-29

MO
Kansas City
Cosmopolita. 1917-12-08 to 1919-11-15
MO
Kansas City
Kansas City Times. 1891-12-23 to 1895-10-16
MO
Kansas City
Rising Son*. 1903-01-16 to 1907-12-28
MO
Sedalia
Sedalia Times*. 1901-08-31 to 1903-12-19
MO
St. James
St. James Leader Journal. 2009-10-02 to Current
MO
St. Louis
St. Louis Palladium*. 1903-01-10 to 1907-10-05

NC
Asheboro
Courier-Tribune, The. 2010-04-06 to Current
NC
Boone
Watauga Democrat, The. 2009-10-02 to Current
NC
Littleton
True Reformer*. 1900-07-25
NC
Nashville
Nashville Graphic, The. 2010-01-28 to Current
NC
Raleigh
Gazette*. 1893-12-16 to 1898-02-19

NE
Omaha
Afro-American Sentinel. 1896-04-25 to 1899-03-25
NE
Omaha
Enterprise*. 1895-08-10 to 1897-07-03
NE
Omaha
Progress*. 1890-03-22 to 1891-03-07

NH
Concord
New Hampshire Patriot. 1879-06-26 to 1881-02-17
NH
Exeter
Freeman’s Oracle. 1786-07-01 to 1789-07-28

NJ
Flemington
Hunterdon County Democrat. 2009-10-02 to Current
NJ
Wayne
Wayne Today. 2009-10-14 to Current

NM
Albuquerque
Bandera Americana. 1903-10-01 to 1903-11-06
NM
Albuquerque
Daily Citizen. 1887-03-16 to 1892-12-31
NM
Albuquerque
Daily Times*. 1893-06-14
NM
Albuquerque
Evening Citizen. 1893-06-29 to 1893-06-29
NM
Las Cruces
Labrador. 1904-12-30
NM
Las Cruces
Tiempo. 1885-04-30 to 1902-04-02
NM
Las Vegas
Misionero Bautista: Organo Oficial de la Convencion Bautista Hispano-Americana de Nuevo Mexico. 1943-12-21 to 1951-08-21
NM
Mesilla
Mesilla News. 1879-04-19 to 1884-02-09
NM
Mountainair
Independent. 1918-02-02 to 1920-09-25
NM
Santa Fe
Daily New Mexican. 1871-04-15 to 1875-06-30
NM
Santa Fe
Santa Fe Weekly New Mexican and Livestock Journal. 1888-05-31 to 1895-09-26
NM
Socorro
Defensor del Pueblo. 1924-12-19 to 1938-02-11
NM
Springer
Colfax County Stockman. 1910-07-23 to 1911-06-10

NY
Albany
Albany Evening Journal. 1857-07-23 to 1876-12-13
NY
Brooklyn
Colonia Latina*. 1938-01-08
NY
Garden City
Eco. 1930-11-15
NY
New York
Morning Telegraph. 1877-12-09
NY
New York
New York Herald-Tribune. 1874-11-02 to 1888-11-02
NY
New York
Cosas*. 1931-12-03
NY
New York
Doctrina de Marti. 1897-04-30 to 1897-08-31
NY
New York
Ecos de Nueva York. 1954-10-10
NY
New York
New York Age*. 1889-11-02 to 1892-11-19
NY
New York
New York Freeman*. 1886-01-02 to 1887-10-08
NY
New York
Western Star*. 1900-01-27

OH
Cincinnati
Cincinnati Daily Gazette. 1867-04-13 to 1881-02-03
OH
Cleveland
Cleveland Gazette*. 1883-12-01 to 1941-08-09
OH
Cleveland
Plain Dealer. 1947-11-23 to 1975-12-10
OH
Cleveland
Plain Dealer. 1846-02-27 to 1858-10-30

OR
Portand
Oregonian. 1917-07-03 to 1918-08-12
OR
Portland
New Age*. 1900-01-27 to 1902-09-20
OR
Portland
Oregonian. 1925-08-22 to 1971-11-20
OR
Portland
Portland New Age*. 1905-12-23 to 1907-03-30

PA
Harrisburg
State Journal*. 1883-12-13 to 1885-01-24
PA
Philadelphia
Aurora General Advertiser. 1796-03-24
PA
Philadelphia
Philadelphia Inquirer. 1830-01-08 to 1831-12-28

SC
Charleston
South Carolina Leader*. 1865-10-07 to 1866-05-12
SC
Columbia
Southern Indicator*. 1921-02-21 to 1923-02-03

TN
Knoxville
Negro World*. 1887-10-15 to 1887-11-26

TX
Beaumont
Beaumont Enterprise and Journal. 1906-04-11 to 1911-09-23
TX
Brownsville
Cronista del Valle. 1925-01-23 to 1929-09-06
TX
Brownsville
Daily Cosmopolitan. 1884-09-10 to 1885-07-11
TX
Brownsville
Heraldo de Brownsville. 1937-12-30 to 1940-02-28
TX
Brownsville
Puerto. 1959-03-21
TX
Dallas
Dallas Morning News. 1979-11-11 to 1980-07-20
TX
Edinburg
Defensor. 1931-07-10
TX
El Paso
Clarin del Norte. 1906-08-11 to 1906-10-06
TX
El Paso
Continental. 1935-12-31 to 1960-03-08
TX
El Paso
Defensor*. 1894-09-24 to 1895-03-03
TX
El Paso
Sunday Herald. 1888-10-28 to 1889-05-18
TX
Fort Worth
Torchlight Appeal*. 1890-01-17 to 1890-02-22
TX
Houston
Gaceta Mexicana. 1928-05-15
TX
Kingsville
Notas de Kingsville*. 1957-05-16 to 1960-08-18
TX
Kingsville
Tex. Mex. Reflector. 1922-04-21 to 1939-01-21
TX
Laredo
Evolucion. 1917-06-30 to 1918-08-11
TX
San Antonio
Epoca. 1919-03-23 to 1927-05-08
TX
San Antonio
Pan American Labor Express. 1918-08-28 to 1918-11-13
TX
San Antonio
Regidor. 1913-08-14 to 1915-06-30

UT
Salt Lake City
Broad Ax. 1897-02-06 to 1899-12-23
UT
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake Telegram. 1907-10-04 to 1922-11-12

VA
Richmond
Reformer*. 1900-01-27
VA
Richmond
Richmond Planet*. 1895-03-02 to 1900-01-13

WA
Seattle
Seattle Daily Times. 1936-10-20 to 1984-12-31
WA
Seattle
Seattle Republican*. 1900-01-19
WA
Seattle
World*. 1899-01-04

WI
Milwaukee
Guardia. 1969-10-21 to 1975-08-01
WI
Milwaukee
Wisconsin Afro-American*. 1892-08-13 to 1892-11-19

Archivist of the US to speak at FGS Conference

Breaking News:

The Federation of Genealogical Societies has announced that Archivist of the US David Ferriero, will be speaking at the annual FGS Conference – on Wednesday August 18th in Knoxville, TN.

He will be the luncheon speaker at the Focus on Societies Luncheon. His topic will be The Citizen-Archivist. He will also speak about the War of 1812 Digitization Project and have a question and answer period.

That same day he will also give remarks at the Librarian’s Day conference.

The FGS Annual Conference takes place in Knoxville, Tennessee from August 18-21, 2010. “Rediscovering America’s First Frontier” is the conference theme and it is co-hosted by the East Tennessee Historical Society and the Kentucky Historical Society.

Click here for more information on the annual FGS Conference.

Remembering Sgt. Baller

There is a nice story in today’s Wall Street Journal: A Final Farewell to Arms: Remains of vets left at funeral homes to be buried.

It is about a group of volunteer veterans that are giving the final salute to veterans – whose cremains have been left and long forgotten at funeral homes across America.
Among those vets to be buried on Memorial Day are Sgt. First Class Carl J. Baller who died in 1947.

Click here to read the entire article.


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Genealogy is my #1 hobby and profession. After hearing about your site, I signed up for a year. I have spent hours at libraries finding and copying obituaries and now some of them I can find just by typing in a name! I’m also finding the less common marriage notices and newspaper articles that I did not even think to search for because I did not know they existed until they came up on my screen!
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[....] I found something very valuable on your site, [...] the story of my ggrandparents getting back together after 20 years being apart back in 1901-2 time. I believe it was in one of the TX papers, don’t know why it was in it, because my ggrandfather went out to Wisconsin to seek his fortune after marrying my ggrandmother in Nova Scotia. He left after 2 weeks marriage (she was already pregnant but didn’t know it, with my grandmother) and her parents did not like him, so they kept all his letters from her. He went to Massachusetts to see a friend and he asked about her and was told she lived not too far away, never married. He went to her house, and the rest is history as they say.
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Nancie Brunk

I’ve been having a ball finding articles about my family. The biggest find for me…was discovering my gr-grandfather’s uncle in Congressional records as well as in newspapers. He had left home as a child and didn’t return home again until after his father died. It was reported in the newspapers that his elderly mother (my gr-gr-gr-grandmother!) almost went into shock after not seeing him for nearly 37 years. GenealogyBank gave me great insight into his life as a fisherman turned world traveler and the names of his children that he had with his Russian wife and his locations in Russia and Japan back in the 1800s! How cool is that??? :) I can’t wait to see what papers you will put up next. Keep up the great work!
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Ken Piper, Facebook

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-Mary McCanney Finley

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Most of the content found at GenealogyBank is unique, not found on other sites. You may search it for free to see how many records there are for your family. If it looks good, sign-up to see the full records.
Honestly, if you have colonial ancestry, you can’t afford not to use this new resource. For the first time ever, you will be able to access newspapers and documents not previously indexed or in many cases, accessible at all. What makes this collection unique is that much of the data is from the American Antiquarian Society in Worchester, Massachusetts. This organization holds the earliest American printed materials, including newspapers – and now, for the first time, much of this material is accessible to you and I – all in digital format.
-Leland MeitzlerGenealogyBlog.com

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…they are the kind of resources that help you to not only use source documents to learn more about your ancestry, but they also help you to put ‘meat on the bones’ of your genealogy as you work to create a family history. Now, individuals have access to a wide array of great resources, which are centralized and available through a single subscription service. GenealogyBank is quickly becoming a major player in the field.
Internet Genealogy, January 2007

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I never met my grandfather, but he sounds a lot like my dad (except my dad is brilliant). It was a totally unexpected discovery, and just goes to show you can find information in surprising places.
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It has a lot more and to me it has been worth the money. You can take it a month at a time. I have already found so much info on one of my surnames and it will take me days to go through it all. I love the site.
-Barbara Nichols

GenealogyBank is the most customer-oriented genealogy website I’ve ever had the pleasure to use. Its constantly-expanding content is remarkably varied, immensely useful, and delightfully out-of-the-ordinary. A vast number of the documents included in ‘America’s Government Documents’ and ‘America’s Historical Books’ are not found in the genealogy databases I’ve seen. GenealogyBank’s features are easy to understand and use. The Help section is comprehensive and well-written. GenealogyBank clearly was created and structured with the needs of genealogists at all levels of research in mind.
-Joy Rich, M.L.S., Editor, Dorot: The Journal of the Jewish Genealogical Society (New York)

I have never believed in paying for websites, but I finally broke down and subscribed to Genealogybank.com. I was thrilled to have found numerous articles on my family in the Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer. Thanks for your great website.
-Barbara Turner Woodbury, NJ

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Ship Passenger Lists

Newspapers routinely published passenger lists of passengers coming to and leaving from America.

Here are just a few examples of the thousands of passenger lists published in newspapers that can be found in GenealogyBank.

Newspapers routinely published not just lists of immigrants coming to America but also regularly published passenger lists of American’s going overseas; American’s returning home to the US and American’s traveling within the United States by ship.

Notice in this example from the Irish-American newspaper, The Shamrock (17 Aug 1816) – published in New York City – that these passengers left from the port of Sligo, Ireland on board the brig Juno and landed in New London, CT. There they boarded the “sloop MacDonough” which in turn set sail for New York City – where they arrived on 16 August 1816.

This pre-1820 passenger list tells us that these immigrants landed twice on their trip to America, that they took two ships to finally reach their destination – an alert that their names will appear on two different passenger lists. Once on the passenger list for the brig Juno that landed in New London, CT and again on the passenger list for the sloop MacDonough that landed in New York City.

Notice also that this passenger list gives the hometown or county of origin of each passenger. Critical information that is almost never given in the Federal post-1820 passenger lists.

Tip: Passenger lists were not collected by the government until 1820 – these early lists can be difficult if not impossible to find. Newspapers are a terrific source for Colonial passenger lists.

Click on these links to see a few examples of the thousands of passenger lists, published in newspapers that can be found in
GenealogyBank.

Passenger Lists of Columbus, GA
3 April 1894. Steamer Queen City.
Columbus (GA) Daily Inquirer. 3 April 1894.

Passenger Lists New Orleans, LA
20 February 1869.
Steamship Crescent City. From New York City.
Times Picayune. 20 February 1869.

23 October 1872. Steamship Saxonia.
Left New Orleans for Hamburg (Germany) by way of Havana (Cuba), Santander (Spain) and Havre (France).
Times Picayune. 23 October 1872. p. 1

29 April 1873. Steamship John G. Meiggs.
Left New Orleans for Aspinwall (Panama); Port Limon (Costa Rica); and Havanna (Cuba). Times Picayune. 29 April 1873. p. 8

25 August 1875. Steamship City of Merida.
Arrived in New Orleans from Vera Cruz, Tuxpan, and Tampico – all ports in Mexico. Times Picayune. 25 August 1875. p. 1

12 June 1848. Steamship Washington. From Southampton (England), by way of Halifax (Nova Scotia).
New York Herald. 16 Jan 1848. p. 2

Passenger Lists Philadelphia, PA
5 Nov 1881. Steamship City of Savannah. Departed for Savannah (Georgia).
Philadelphia Inquirer. 7 Nov 1881. p. 2

13 July 1883. Steamship Niagara. Marine Disaster. Burned off the coast of Florida.
Philadelphia Inquirer. 14 July 1883. p. 1

23 June 1891. Steamship Polynesia. Enroute from Hamburg, Germany.
Philadelphia Inquirer. 23 June 1891. p. 4

10 September 1901. Steamship Alleghany. Enroute from the South.
Philadelphia Inquirer. 10 September 1901. p. 16

Passenger Lists San Francisco, CA
6 September 1871. San Francisco Bulletin. 6 September 1871. p. 3

Click here to download and search the complete 1819/1820 Passenger List for all US ports.
This free resource is a good example of the genealogical content in the historical newspapers, books and documents that can be found in GenealogyBank.

Wow! Meryl Streep, Stephen Colbert and other celebrities trace their heritage

Those “Wow” moments in genealogy.

GenealogyBank readers write us all the time with their “WoW” moments – telling us what they found.

This new PBS television series let’s you see the wow moments as Meryl Streep; Stephen Colbert and other celebrities discover their roots for the first time. The genuine awe and surprise is real.

Faces of America” – is filled with “Wow” moments – watch this

The series starts this coming Wednesday – February 10th and runs through March 3rd in the 8-9pm (ET) time slot.

The series will trace the ancestry of:

Meryl Streep, Stephen Colbert, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Queen Noor, Yo-Yo Ma, Louise Erdrich, Kristi Yamaguchi, Mario Batali, Eva Lonigoria Parker, Malcolm Gladwell, Elizabeth Alexander and Mike Nichols.

It’s not often that genealogy is in the spotlight – get your family & friends to watch – maybe they’ll catch the genealogy bug too.

It’s a great day for genealogy!

Sign up for GenealogyBank now and see what you’ll find about your family!

Wow!

City Directories

Thousands of city directories are going online.

City directories are a basic tool for genealogists. City directories are like an annual census of the cities and towns across America. Now – thousands of them are being digitized and put online.

Read about the history of city directories here: Williams, A.V. Growth and Development of City Directories. Cincinnati, OH: Williams Directory, Co., 1913. 152p.
Download and Keep this book in your personal library!

City directories usually listed all adult residents of the community. Typical entries give:

Name; address; occupation; relationships; notification that a person moved & where they moved to; divorce dates/remarriages; widows etc.

Here is an example of entries identifying widows – giving the names of their deceased husbands in the Indianapolis 1914 City Directory. Here are just a few examples of the city directories that are going online:

Google Books

Internet Archive

Google Books

Google Books

Google Books

Google Books

Internet Archive has over 2,300 city directories online and Google Books has over 1,000 city directories online. These directories are not on GenealogyBank. All genealogists should use those sites to find city directories. Good things are happening all across the Internet.

It is a great day for genealogy!

I am looking for my family tree. Can you tell me how to find it in GenealogyBank?

GenealogyBank – is an online library of resources – millions of them. Like a library it has an index – in our case an index on every word making it easy to find references in each of the issues of the newspapers, books etc. It has over 1 billion names.

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Illustration: Wikipedia Commons)
Documenting your family tree is a lot like putting up the family Christmas tree. You have the bare tree and now you need to look in the boxes of Christmas decorations and put up each one.

It takes time to pick out and put the items in just the right place on the tree – but when you’re done – wow – it always looks great.

So – let’s get started on putting together your “family tree”.

What do you know about the family?

Who are you looking for?

For example – what are your grandparents or great-grandparent’s names?

When and where were the born?
When, where were they married?

So – you’ll see who you are looking for and with the when/where of their birth, marriage and death – you can decide where in GenealogyBank will I be likely to find that information.

If they died in say, 1982 – then look in the Social Security Death Index and in the America’s Obituaries section.

If they served in the Revolutionary War – then we’ll look in the early newspapers for articles and in the Revolutionary War Grave Index in the “Historical Documents” section.

Tell me more about your family and we’ll start researching in GenealogyBank to discover the original sources that document their lives.

Taking the time to gather together the facts to document your family tree is worth it – just like it is to take the time to put together the family Christmas tree each year.

We can do this.
Tell me more about your family.

Tom