Tag Archives: Genealogy Records

New Genealogy Search Tools! Search for Ancestors by Date in GenealogyBank

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We heard you.

A number of our GenealogyBank members have written us and requested some new features to make it easier to search for your ancestors by a specific date or date range. We are pleased to announce that these new date genealogy search tools are now live on GenealogyBank.

These enhanced date searching features include multiple options to narrow down your family search.

GenealogyBank search form with Date Range option selected

GenealogyBank search form with Date Range option selected

Search the Date Range Your Ancestor Lived

With the “Date Range” button checked, you can search a range of years of genealogy records.

This is the most common search on GenealogyBank.

You will want to use this option to narrow down your search to the time period your target ancestor lived.

This genealogy search tool is also handy for limiting the number of records so that you can thoroughly review all search results in manageable increments.

Search a Specific Date

Notice that you can check the “Date” search radio button and it opens up more options for you to fine-tune your ancestor search.

GenealogyBank search form with specific Date option selected

GenealogyBank search form with specific Date option selected

If you enter a specific date or year in the Date box, a pop-up menu gives you a number of search choices. The default search is for +/- 10 years of the date you entered. If you click on the blue check mark next to this option, these other choices pop up for you to select (+/-):

  • 5 years
  • 2 years
  • 1 year
  • Exact

You can enter the date you want to search for in a number of ways. For example, you may search for:

  • 1842
  • January 1842
  • Jan 18, 1842

Be as precise as you want to be in your date search criteria. This feature can save you loads of time while searching for genealogy records in a specific time period.

Sometimes you are not sure of the exact date an event took place; in that case, you can simply enter the year.

Perhaps you want to browse through all of the issues of a newspaper for October 1878. Now, it is easy to do that.

Or search for your ancestors on an exact date in history.

In Colonial America it was common for an obituary to appear weeks after a person died. Perhaps there were articles about an accident, extended illness or the gathering of family members. There may have been other articles about an engagement, plans for the coming marriage, the marriage itself, and then the honeymoon. Simply plug in the specific date or year of the event you’re interested in and ask GenealogyBank to search all articles in both directions: the time leading up to and after the event.

These handy new date genealogy search tools will save you huge amounts of time and focus your ancestor searches.

It’s a great day for genealogy!

Genealogy Search Tip: Are Your Queries Returning Too Many Records?

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GenealogyBank has grown from 160 million records since its inception to over 1.3 billion records today. That is a lot of articles to search through to find information about your family history. Genealogists often approach GenealogyBank with a direct search—using a surname—searching across the entire database to make sure we don’t miss any genealogy records about the family.

Sometimes, though, the simplest search query returns too many records for you to reasonably examine them all. When that happens, GenealogyBank has created over a dozen targeted search pages to help you narrow down the number of results you get back. Here’s a quick list of these helpful targeted search pages to get you started:

You can also perform targeted ethnic family searches with our African American, Hispanic and Irish American search pages.

Use these special search pages to narrow down your search to a particular type of newspaper article, as the following example shows.

Let’s say you’re searching for all the arrivals and departures of the ship Hector. If you search GenealogyBank just using the word “Hector,” you’ll get 400,000 hits. But, if you search the word “Hector” using the handy Passenger Lists link on our home page or in the left navigation pane of the Newspaper Archives category, you can narrow those search results to 14,000 passenger and ship records that specifically mention the ship Hector.

GenealogyBank Passenger List search for "Hector"

GenealogyBank Passenger List search for “Hector”

Even 14,000 records are a lot to examine. Limit the search again by a range of years when your relatives likely arrived on the ship Hector and you’ll have a manageable number of articles to sift through. Let’s say you are reasonably sure your ancestors arrived in America on the ship Hector sometime between 1820 and 1825—go ahead and use that date range in your search query.

GenealogyBank search results page for Passenger List search on "Hector" from 1820-1825

GenealogyBank search results page for Passenger List search on “Hector” from 1820-1825

Save time and zero in on the articles you need. GenealogyBank has more than a dozen targeted search pages: use them to focus your searches for the type of newspaper article you are looking for.

GenealogyBank targeted search pages

GenealogyBank targeted search pages

Researching State Archives for Genealogy Records

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Introduction: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary talks about how valuable state archives can be for your family history research, and describes how to access them.

If you’re looking for an exciting resource to help with your genealogical research, I recommend visiting your State Archives as soon as possible. Although archives are supported by open records laws, they are vulnerable to budget cuts—so don’t take state archival research for granted, as shown by the close call that recently happened to Georgia’s state archives.

On 13 September 2012 the governor of Georgia made this announcement:

“The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget has instructed the Office of the Secretary of State to further reduce its budget for AFY13 and FY14 by 3% ($732,626)…To meet the required cuts, it is with great remorse that I [Gov. Nathan Deal] have to announce, effective November 1, 2012, the Georgia State Archives located in Morrow, GA, will be closed to the public.”

After this state government announcement, the Georgia archival research community provided a strong response, including letters, petitions and a FaceBook page at www.facebook.com/GeorgiansAgainstClosingStateArchives.

Faced with this public opposition, the governor made an online announcement using Twitter on 19 September 2012:

“In proclaiming Georgia Archives Month today, @GovernorDeal said he’d find a way to keep the archives open to the public.”

The archival research community welcomed this follow-up announcement from the Office of the Governor on 18 October 2012:

“Gov. Nathan Deal and Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced today that the state will restore $125,000 to Kemp’s budget to keep the Georgia State Archives open to Georgians for the remainder of the budget year…Georgia’s Archives are a showcase of our state’s rich history and a source of great pride…I worked quickly with my budget office and Secretary Kemp to ensure that Georgians can continue to come to Morrow to study and view the important artifacts kept there.”

Vanishing Georgia, Augusta Chronicle newspaper article 16 December 1982

Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Georgia), 16 December 1982, page 16

This story has a happy ending, but based upon an informal survey I took at a genealogy presentation on State Archives, only about 20% of family historians have ever visited one in person, or online. This is surprising, since state archives accessions include a vast assortment of genealogical documents, such as:

  • census records (state)
  • diaries (ex. Civil War)
  • oral histories
  • grave registrations
  • land records
  • military records
  • naturalization
  • probate
  • vital records and certificates (birth, marriage, death)
  • Works Progress Administration surveys
Archives Given 'Yankee Diary,' Greensboro Record newspaper article 8 November 1967

Greensboro Record (Greensboro, North Carolina), 8 November 1967, page 42

In addition to genealogical resources, state archives typically house historical state documents, state constitutions, governor’s papers, historical prints, and artifacts such as flags or maps.

The focus of state collections is similar to that of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), whose website is www.archives.gov.

NARA provides a summary webpage with contact information and links to all state archives at www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/state-archives.html.

National Archives and Records Administration's state archives website

National Archives and Records Administration’s state archives website

As this is a hard-to-remember URL, I generally locate the page by entering “National Archives State Archives” into a search engine.

Many state archives’ online sites contain databases and digital images. Some highlights include:

  • Missouri: Anti-Slavery Alphabet, Maps, Confederate Pension Applications, World War I Statement of Service Cards, etc.
  • Pennsylvania: Land Records, Maps, Military Files, Patent Indexes, etc.
  • Texas: digitized records pertaining to the Republic of Texas including Republic Claims, Confederate Pensions and Passports, etc.
  • Virginia: Revolutionary War records (Bounty Warrants, Rejected Claims, Pensions), Cohabitation Registers (African American), Works Progress Administration Life Histories, etc.

Tips for Online Archival Research

  • Since every website is uniquely designed, keep a log of the steps taken in locating an online resource.
  • To find related digital projects, search the Library of Congress website for Memory Project websites, or visit www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/statememory/.
  • Some digital projects partner with others, such as the Mountain West Digital Library for Utah, Nevada, Idaho, and Hawaii.

Tips for Visiting State Archives in Person (generalities, as each location is unique)

  • Many archives partner with libraries, where you will have access to extended resources.
  • Some state archives offer access to popular subscription databases.
  • When requesting to examine original documents, expect to register with a picture id., which may be valid for one year.
  • Prior to entering the archival document room, you may be required to store personal items in a locker, except for paper and pencil.
  • Options for obtaining copies may be available, although some allow the use of digital camera photography (without flash).
  • Be respectful of all historical items, and keep items in the original order.

Colonial Fire Tally: Genealogy Records Saved, Wines & Liquors Lost

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On 13 December 1747 a “most terrible Fire” broke out in Boston, MA.

It was just after six o’clock in the morning when the “Watch” spotted the flames at the Court House. The building was a total loss: the “spacious and beautiful Building, except the bare Walls, was entirely destroyed.”

It was an intense fire that lit up the skies of Beantown that cold winter night. “The Vehemence of the Flames occasioned such a great Heat, as to set the Roofs of some of the opposite Houses on Fire, notwithstanding they had been covered with Snow, and were extinguished with much Difficulty.”

All was not a total loss, however.

newspaper article about a fire at the Boston Court House, New-York Gazette or Weekly Post-Boy 04 January 1748

New-York Gazette or Weekly Post-Boy (New York City, New York), 4 January 1748, page 2

“But thro’ the Mercy of GOD, the County Records…and part of the Province Records…as also Copies of the Minutes of Council from the Beginning to 1737…were happily saved.”

The survival of these important genealogy records is good news to genealogists today who are researching their Colonial ancestry, and no doubt was a relief to government officials at the time.

There was one loss from the historical Boston fire, however, that likely was particularly painful to more than a few:

“In the Cellars which were hired by several Persons, a great Quantity of Wines and other Liquors were lost, to the amount of several Thousand Pounds.”