GenealogyBank.com has 1883 Pensioner List Online

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Tom Kemp

GenealogyBank.com is pleased to announce that it has the five volume List of Pensioners – 1883 online. This basic reference set is actively used by genealogists.

List of Pensioners on the Roll January 1, 1883; giving the name of each pensioner, the cause for which pensioned, the post office address, the rate of pension per month, and the date of original allowance. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1883. Senate Document. Serial Set Vol. No. 2078, Session Vol. No.5; Report: S.Exec.Doc. 84 pt. 1-5.

The List of Pensioners – lists the pensioners by State/Town. Volume 5 includes the lists of pensioners that lived overseas.

Each entry gives:

Name of Pensioner

Pension Certificate Number

Date of the Original Pension

Reasons why the person received the pension

The monthly pension payment

Post Office where the pensioner receives their mail

Tip: This is a crucial source for identifying pensioners from all wars still living in 1883 and it pinpoints where they were living – anywhere in the US or around the world.

Volume One

Connecticut; District of Columbia; Maine; Massachusetts; New Hampshire; New Jersey; Rhode Island; Vermont

Volume Two

New York; Pennsylvania;

Volume Three

Illinois; Iowa; Ohio

Volume Four

Alaska; Arizona; California; Colorado; Dakota; Idaho; Indiana; Kansas; Michigan; Minnesota; Montana; Nebraska; Indian Territory (Oklahoma); Nevada; New Mexico; Oregon; Utah; Washington; Wisconsin; Wyoming

Volume Five

Alabama; Arkansas; Delaware; Florida; Georgia; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maryland; Mississippi; Missouri; North Carolina; South Carolina; Tennessee; Texas; Virginia; West Virginia.

Countries of the World – including Hawaii which was listed as the “Sandwich Islands”.

Africa; Austria; Belgium; Brazil; Denmark; England; France; Germany; Ireland; Italy; Madeira Island (Portugal); Malta; Mauritius; Mexico; Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Peru; Romania; Russia; Scotland; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Wales; West Indies; Foreign – Address Unknown.

Portland, Oregon Street Names

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Tom Kemp

Ever wonder who the streets in your town were named for?

The Oregonian (Portland, OR) newspaper ran a regular series giving the history of the names of the streets in Portland, Oregon.

Read these street histories in GenealogyBank.com

Tip: Find these articles quickly by going to the special site we’ve created for searching just the Oregonian newspaper 1861-1922.

Put “Portland Street Names” in the other search terms box and all of the articles in this series will be displayed.

Click on these links to see a few examples from the series.

Funeral Sermons – a core genealogical resource

Posted on May 23, 2009 by Tom Kemp

GenealogyBank.com has over 7,000 funeral sermons – full text digital copies and excerpts.

These are a core source for genealogists searching for the details of their ancestor’s lives in Colonial America and the early Federalist period. (Photo, Ian Britton. FreeFoto.com).

It was common in Colonial America to have a funeral sermon printed and distributed “at the request of the family” to the mourners.

These slim pamphlets can range from six to thirty pages. While it was common for these to be printed – they were printed in small press runs, so it can be difficult for genealogists to locate copies. In many cases only one copy of the sermon – with its critical biographical information survives.

In my experience the earliest published funeral sermons that survive were for ministers and their wives. This practice expanded to include older members of the community and by the late 1700s to early 1800s it was common to see printed funeral sermons for children, men, women of all backgrounds and occupations.

Clergy routinely printed and circulated their sermons on all topics as a way to encourage the faithful to live better lives. I always assumed that the reason their funeral sermons survived while the others that may have been printed didn’t is that ministers/their wives were more widely known then regular townspeople.

Their funeral and other sermons were likely circulated to clergy in other cities; seminaries; townspeople in prior towns where they had been stationed etc. The wider the circulation – the more likely a copy would be preserved.

These sermons would not just be homilies to promote religious values but “news” – that people would want to read to be informed and reminded of the lives well lived by the ministers that had served them over the years. This would give more opportunities for people to have kept them – making it more likely for these fragile pamphlets to have survived.

Newspaper accounts of funerals vary – some give the complete sermon and some stories give brief details of the service – like this account of Mark Twain and his wife “listening” to the funeral service of her mother – Olivia (Lewis) Langdon, by telephone. (Inter-Ocean, 12 Jan 1891).

Another newspaper account gave the details of the “Most Impressive Funeral Service Ever Held” – the funeral of the Rev. Thomas Allen Horne. It was also the most unusual since he realized that he would soon pass away and had recorded his sermon to be played at the funeral.

His powerful remarks, in his own voice, made “grown men weep” and “women faint”. The family had a recording of the Rev. Horne and his late wife singing the old hymn “There is a Better Land“.

Tip: Click & Read this:

Imagine the impact in 1890 of listening to the funeral sermon of the deceased – recorded in his own voice; the shock in 1890 of hearing the recorded voices of he & his wife singing their funeral hymn – the poignant, personal remarks in his sermon – again recorded in his own voice. No doubt, that would have been the “Most Impressive Funeral Service Ever Held”.

Click Here to read the entire story: Charlotte (NC) News 15 March 1890.

GenealogyBank has thousands of funeral sermons – elegies, memorials etc. Many of these are full digital copies and others are the full sermon or excerpts that appeared in the newspapers.

Here are some typical examples of what you will find in GenealogyBank.

Harris, Thaddeus Mason, (1768-1842). A tribute of filial respect, to the memory of his mother, in a discourse, delivered at Dorchester, Feb. 8, 1801, the Lord’s day after her decease. Charlestown, MA: Printed by Samuel Etheridge, 1801. 20p.

The biographical and genealogical details of the late Rebekah (Mason) Wait (1738-1801) begin on page 16. We learn that she was born on 28 Dec 1738 – the daughter of Thaddeus Mason “of Cambridge, who survives her, in his 95th year.”

On page 17 we learn that she was married twice. She married her first husband, William Harris of Cambridge, MA on 20 Aug 1767. He died 30 Oct 1778. She married her second husband, Samuel Wait of Malden, MA on 2 Mar 1780. She died on 2 Feb 1801 “leaving behind her a widowed husband and five children (four by her first marriage and one by the second) to mourn their loss.”

Maxcy, Jonathan, (1768-1820). A funeral sermon, occasioned by the death of Mr. John Sampson Bobo a member of the Junior Class in the South-Carolina College, who was unfortunately drowned in the Congress River, near Columbia. Columbia, SC: Faust, 1819. 16p.

Moore, Martin, (1790-1866). Death of the saints precious in God’s sight a sermon delivered in Natick, June 13, 1819, occasioned by the death of Mrs. Hannah Coolidge, wife of Mr. William Coolidge, aetatis 40. Dedham, MA: Mann, 1819. 15p.

Passenger Lists to America

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Tom Kemp

Newspapers routinely published the list of passengers on board ships bound to and from America. Here are just a few examples of the thousands of passenger lists published in newspapers that can be found in GenealogyBank.

Newspapers 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 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 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 from Vera Cruz, Tuxpan, and Tampico – all ports in Mexico.
Times Picayune. 25 August 1875. p. 1

Passenger Lists New York City, NY
11 June 1819. Ship Amity. Left for Liverpool (England)
Philadelphia Inquirer. 12 June 1819. p. 3
11 June 1819. Ship Atlantic. From Liverpool (England)
Philadelphia Inquirer. 12 June 1819. p. 3
11 June 1819. Ship Magnet. From Liverpool (England)
Philadelphia Inquirer. 12 June 1819. p. 3
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 genealogical content in the historical newspapers, books and documents that can be found in GenealogyBank.
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Linda Fay Kaufman, genealogist, 1940-2009

Posted on April 17, 2009 by Tom Kemp

Remembering one of our own: Linda Fay Kaufman, genealogist, 1940-2009

Enthusiastic genealogist Linda Fay Kaufman (1940-2009) has passed away.
She put her family history research online and actively corresponded with genealogists across the country. A search of the genealogy lists shows her posts as recently as the last few months.

Star Tribune: Newspaper of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis, MN) – April 12, 2009
Kaufman, Linda Fay Born in Hanover, NH on July 15, 1940, died peacefully on March 30, 2009 surrounded by family at North Memorial Hospital.

She is survived by husband Stan, daughters Eleanor Kaufman (Chicago, IL) and Elizabeth Shiroma (St. Paul, MN), son-in law Ian Shiroma, grandson Ryan Shiroma, sisters Marcia Fay (Bethlehem, PA) and Norma Bigos (Baltimore, MD), nephew Jon Bigos (Baltimore, MD), and extended family across the U.S.

A graduate of Newton High School and Wellesley College in Massachusetts, Linda studied classical languages and literature in graduate school at Yale University. During this time, she met Stan, and they married in 1964.

Linda taught at Vassar College and at the Thomas School for Girls. In 1969, she embarked with Stan for universities in Germany, first in Heidelberg and then in Mainz. In Heidelberg, she taught English to German-speaking adults.

Later, she worked in the University’s Library of Southeast Asian studies, organizing and cataloging documents in the many languages of that region. At the University in Mainz, she assisted in the Comparative Literature Department.

In 1976, Linda and Stan moved to Minnesota, and adopted their first daughter Elizabeth the next year; their second daughter Eleanor was born in 1979. When the children were in school, Linda held several accounting positions. She then became a Certified Professional Accountant and developed a small practice of her own, specializing in tax returns with international involvement. She especially enjoyed her work assisting recent immigrants in the Somali community.

During the past decade, Linda conducted extensive genealogy research on her New England family roots. She developed comprehensive family websites, collaborated with many others, and responded to world-wide inquiries from fellow genealogists and distant relatives.

Linda will be remembered lovingly by her family and the many people whose lives she touched. A gathering in her honor will be held later in the spring. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations to Green Belt Movement (http://greenbeltmovement.org) or Books for Africa (http://www.booksforafrica.org/)

Edition: METRO
Page: 5B
Copyright (c) 2009 Star Tribune: Newspaper of the Twin Cities

Did you know GenealogyBank has more than 130 million obituaries and death records – from Newspapers 1690 to Today; Government Reports like the US Army Register and hundreds of other sources?

Click Here and Start Searching Now

Nantucket, MA Newspapers 1816-1849 Now Online

Posted on April 17, 2009 by Tom Kemp

GenealogyBank has put the Nantucket, Massachusetts archive of historical newspapers: 1816-1849 online.

Click here to search Nantucket, Massachusetts Newspapers 1816-1849 online

Or click on the individual titles below to search a specific Nantucket, MA newspaper:
Inquirer and Mirror 1822-1832
Nantucket Gazette 1816-1817
Nantucket Inquirer 1821-1849

TIP: Other Handy Massachusetts Sites:
Search over 275 Massachusetts newspapers:
Click Here to Search All Massachusetts Newspapers 1690-1975
Click Here to Search All Massachusetts Obituaries 1985-Today

Massachusetts Death Records
Click Here to Search Massachusetts Deaths 1937-2009 (Free)

"Family Historian" Susan Boyle wows them on UK "Idol" TV Show

Posted on April 15, 2009 by Tom Kemp

“Family Historian” Susan Boyle wows them on UK “Idol” TV Show!

Susan Boyle is the woman with a dream that lives in Blackburn, in West Lothian near Edinburgh – a short distance from East Lothian, Scotland where my Kemp family hails from. Now 47, she lives at home with her cat Pebbles.

All her life, since she was twelve, she has had the dream of being a professional singer as successful as Elaine Paige and signing, performing before a large audience.

Saturday night in Glasgow she got her chance on UK’s version of the American Idol TV show - Britains Got Talent.

Her performance was stunning, overwhelming and deeply emotional.

A triumph for her and for us. She sings of the dreams, the dreams in all of us – and no doubt the dreams of our ancestors, both realized and unfulfilled. Her moving presentation has been viewed live by millions and by well over 10 million more people in just the last few days via the Internet. She captivated her audience with this haunting anthem of dreams, seemingly almost lost and for her now realized at this time in her life.

You will want to watch this – again and again
Click Here to see her performance.

Is Susan Boyle a genealogist?
I don’t know – but she made history for her family Saturday night.

In the words of Susan Boyle herself, this presentation was “just so emotional; unbelievable and emotional; fantastic.”

I dreamed a dream from Les Miserables.

I dreamed a dream in time gone by

When hope was high

And life worth living

I dreamed that love would never die

I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

Then I was young and unafraid

And dreams were made and used

And wasted

There was no ransom to be paid

No song unsung No wine untasted.

But the tigers come at night

With their voices soft as thunder

As they tear your hope apart

As they turn your dream to shame.

And still I dream he’ll come to me

That we will live the years together

But there are dreams that cannot be

And there are storms

We cannot weather…

I had a dream my life would be

So different form this hell

I’m living so different now from what it seemed

Now life has killed

The dream I dreamed.

Thanks to Elaine Maddox for sending this to me.

Pittsfield, MA Historical Newspapers 1788-1922; 1998-Today

Posted on April 14, 2009 by Tom Kemp

GenealogyBank has set up a handy site for searching Pittsfield, Massachusetts’ archive of historical newspapers: 1788-1922, 1998-Today.

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Newspapers
Click here to search Pittsfield, MA newspapers 1788-1922
Click here to search Pittsfield, MA obituaries from 1998-Today

Or click on the individual titles below to search a specific Pittsfield, MA newspaper:
Berkshire Chronicle 1788-1790
Berkshire County Eagle 1826-1828
Berkshire County Whig 1841-1849
Berkshire Eagle 1998-Today
Berkshire Gazette 1798-1800
Berkshire Reporter 1807-1815
Pittsfield Sun 1861-1873
Sun 1795-1922

TIP: Other Handy Massachusetts Sites:
Search over 275 Massachusetts newspapers:
Click Here to Search Massachusetts Newspapers 1690-1975
Click Here to Search Massachusetts Obituaries 1985-Today

Massachusetts Death Records
Click Here to Search Massachusetts Deaths 1937-2009 (Free)

Reviewer looking for your opinion of GenealogyBank.com

Posted on April 13, 2009 by Tom Kemp

We received this note from Claudia Breland looking for the experiences and opinions of genealogists in using GenealogyBank.
Let her know what you think.

Here is her letter:

Hi all, I’m writing a review of GenealogyBank.
If you’ve been using it regularly for 6 months or longer and would like to express your opinion, please email me off list.

I’m especially interested to hear from anyone using their Spanish newspapers.

Thanks!

Claudia Breland
ccbreland@comcast.net
http://www.ccbreland.com

Savannah, GA Historical Newspapers 1763-1922, 1999-Today

Posted on April 11, 2009 by Tom Kemp

GenealogyBank has set up a handy site for searching Savannah, Georgia’s archive of historical newspapers: 1763-1922, 1999-Today.

Savannah, Georgia Newspapers
Click here to search Savannah, Georgia newspapers 1763-1922
Click here to search for the obituaries in Savannah newspapers from 1999-Today

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