Philadelphia Marriage Index 1885-1951 Online

Posted on June 11, 2008 by Tom Kemp

Last month we told you about the Philadelphia Death Certificates 1803-1915 going online.

This week FamilySearchLabs.org has put up more data. The indexes to Philadelphia Marriages 1885-1951 are now online. Click Here to search them.

Genealogists can page through this index to find the date and marriage license certificate number for their ancestor’s marriage.

The index is divided into five sections: 1885-1916; 1917-1938; 1939-1942; 1943-1946; and 1947-1951.

Simply select the time period you want to search and browse the index to locate your ancestor.

The Philadelphia Inquirer 1860-1922 along with over 280 Philadelphia and Pennsylvania newspapers from the colonial period right up to today are already online at GenealogyBank

It’s a great day for genealogy!

New York City – APG Chapter takes detailed tour of GenealogyBank

Posted on June 3, 2008 by Tom Kemp

I had the opportunity Monday night to speak to the New York Metro Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

I have been a member of APG from the beginning – and a member of the New York Metro Chapter for many years.

Living in Connecticut I welcomed the opportunity to go to the city and speak about GenealogyBank.

It was a good group – the room was full and it was clear that most members of the group were already actively using GenealogyBank. We spent the evening walking them through the many types of records found in GenealogyBank and in particular showing them examples of records that they might not have used before … obituaries published in government reports, marriage announcements, Civil War pension records from the 1920s, passenger arrival notices/lists; rare documents and more – showing them clear examples of what could be found and their value to genealogists.

Many thanks to the Chapter leadership Joy Rich & Eileen Polakoff for a job well done in arranging for tonight’s meeting.

More Birth, Marriage & Death Records Go Online

Posted on May 22, 2008 by Tom Kemp

We reported earlier that FamilySearchLabs has put up the Philadelphia Death Certificates from 1803 to 1915.

Volunteers working at FamilySearchLabs are digitizing microfilm and original vital records and putting them online. (Photo, courtesy: Newsroom.lds.org)

Today I see that they have added records for:

MICHIGAN

Michigan Birth Records 1867-1902 – Complete – includes digital images of the original documents

Michigan Death Records 1867 to 1897 – Complete – includes digital images of the original documents

WEST VIRGINIA

West Virginia Births 1853-1930 – 36% complete – includes digital images of the original documents

West Virginia Marriages 1853-1970 – 36% complete – includes digital images of the original documents

West Virginia Deaths 1853-1970 – 50% complete – includes digital images of the original documents

GERMANY and MEXICO

In addition to that FamilySearchLabs has put up German & Mexican baptismal & marriage registers for 1700-1900. These two resources are text only and give the citation for the original document but not the digital page images.

This is great news!

FamilySearchLabs is keeping up a brisk pace of uploading genealogical records and images.

GenealogyBank adds 4 million articles and records each month. To see what has been added this month click here.

GenealogyBank now has over 227 million records and documents – that’s over 1 billion names. Give it a try now – search and see what GenealogyBank has on your ancestors.

¡Hola! – Hispanic Newspapers added to GenealogyBank

Posted on March 6, 2008 by Tom Kemp

GenealogyBank has launched the Next Big Thing in genealogy – online resources:
Hispanic Newspapers.

This is the single largest compilation of Hispanic newspapers in the country.

Cronista del Valle. Brownsville, TX – 20 April 1925

GenealogyBank has added the first 20 titles from 4 States – (IN, MO, NM, TX) -1855 to 1956.

The entire collection of Hispanic newspapers will span 1808-1980.

This is unique data not available online anywhere else.

Search on every word – find birth, marriage and obituary announcements – historical events even the advertisements.

Bejareno. San Antonio, TX 17 May 1856

Finding People with Common Names

Posted on January 26, 2008 by Tom Kemp

Finding people with unusual names can be very difficult but it is easy to find them on GenealogyBank.

Today I was looking for Henry B. Platter and his good wife, Rachel (Bittinger) Platter. The Bittingers are my cousins and many of them are from Garrett County, Maryland.

Now, Platter is an unusual name. It would be easy for a search online to bring back every record that spoke about cooking, kitchens, plates or platters.

On GenealogyBank, I was able to instantly zero in on records
about them.

With just a few clicks I was able to find a dozen documents
about the Platter family. I began opening them one by one.
The first hit came from the historical documents and was a pension request by Henry’s wife, Rachel Platter. I quickly discovered Henry had served in the Civil War, a private in Company A, Second Regiment, P.H.B. Maryland Infantry and received a pension of $72 a month (certificate No. 1045070). (This is from: Pensions and increase of pensions for certain soldiers and sailors of the Civil War. Feb 5, 1925: Serial Set Vol. No. 8392, Session Vol. No.A68th Congress, 2nd SessionH.Rpt. 1385).

This is a terrific document – it gave me a lot of details about the family. The record showed that he and Rachel had married on March 12, 1867. That would have been hard to find anywhere else.

It also states that he died on October 4, 1923 leaving her in need of assistance; how long he had served in the Civil War and that his disability was caused during the war.

This document showed that she owned her own home, the value was $500. Perhaps her house looked like this one.

It is a picture of her nephew Charles “Wooly” Henry & Sarah (Hoover) Bittinger and their family in front of the family home in New Jerusalem, Garrett County, MD.

It was taken in 1937 just a few years after Rachel Platter had requested a pension. Perhaps Rachel had a similar home.

(Photo by Arthur Rothstein; Library of Congress Photo LC-USF34- 026095-D).

Wow. It’s great that GenealogyBank has been digitizing so many documents. I never would have found this one on my own. It was easy to find it online at GenealogyBank.

Their names, marriage and death dates, military service; details about their house, their income – bingo, there it was – all this family history in one document.

GenealogyBank added over 42.5 Million family history records last year and added another 2 million just this week. It now has over 216 million historical newspaper articles, obituaries, government and historical documents online. records and documents online.

Give it a try right now. It’s available at a great “get acquainted” rate – only $9.95 for 30 days.

I found documents that gave me the details I needed for my cousins in the back hills of Maryland ….. what will you find?

GenealogyBank – Added Over 42.5 Million Records Last Year!

Posted on January 22, 2008 by Tom Kemp

GenealogyBank reported explosive growth in 2007 increasing its digital archive with over 40 million historical newspaper articles and modern obituaries.

GenealogyBank is quickly becoming the fastest growing newspaper archive for family history research with over 3,300 U.S. newspapers in all 50 states. The exclusive collection features newspapers from the 1600’s to the present day with over 106 million historical newspaper articles and more than 26 million obituaries now available for family history research. Each article is a single digital image that can be printed and preserved for family scrapbooks.

To celebrate, GenealogyBank is currently offering a 30-Day trial for only $9.95.

“We are excited about the rapid growth of our newspaper collection and the vast breadth of family history information we now have available” says Genealogy Director for NewsBank, inc., Tom Kemp. “GenealogyBank provides exclusive access to more than four centuries of important genealogical information such as obituaries, marriage and birth announcements as well as interesting and often surprising facts about our ancestors.”

Latest additions to the GenealogyBank historical newspaper collection features big city dailies and regional weeklies including: San Jose (CA) Mercury 1886-1922, Baltimore (MD) Sun – 1837-1901, Kansas City Star (MO) 1815-1922, NY Herald 1844-1863, Philadelphia Evening Post – 1804-1912, Philadelphia Inquirer 1860-1922 And many more. View entire list.

Kemp added, “Toward our stated goal of creating the single most comprehensive resource of newspapers for family history research, GenealogyBank will continue to digitize millions of family history records in the upcoming months that will greatly expand and increase the depth of our collections. We will begin releasing Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980 in February along with hundreds of additional historical newspaper titles.”

About GenealogyBank: GenealogyBank, a division of NewsBank, inc., supplies individuals interested in family history research with over 300 years of U.S. newspapers, government documents and other historical records in all 50 states. GenealogyBank contains over 214 million family history records including obituaries, birth, marriage, death notices and much more.

Wow, at this great price – give it a try right now. I have been finding hundreds of articles, articles with critical new information about my family – write me and tell me what you find.

Try it right now – click: GenealogyBank

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