Tag Archives: US

Happy Birthday GenealogyBank!

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GenealogyBank is 3 years old today!
Wow – and has it grown. GenealogyBank has gone from 1,300 newspapers to over 3,800 newspapers – that’s the equivalent of going from 160 million articles to 346 million articles, documents and reports – GenealogyBank now has more than 130 million obituaries and death records. If you haven’t checked GenealogyBank in awhile – you should celebrate its birthday and try it today.

In October we added:
41 newspapers from 22 states
21 new titles
8,052 issues added from 1800-Today
Added nearly 14 million records, articles, documents

In the past 3 years GenealogyBank has ….
= More than doubled in size since it launched
= Added 186 million more articles, records and reports
= Jumped from 1,300 newspapers to over 3,800 newspapers
= Added 92,000 reports & books in just the past 12 months
= 130 million obituaries & death records
= Best source of old newspapers on the planet
= Largest collection of US newspapers published in German, French, & Spanish languages

It’s a great day for Genealogy!
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Vermont attacked during Civil War

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19 October 1864 the residents of St. Albans, Vermont were surprised when a band of 20 to 30 Confederate irregular troops attacked the village intent on robbing the bank and setting fire to the village.

You can read all about it in the St. Albans Daily Messenger 20 October 1864

“In front and on all sides we observe the attempts of the Rebels to kill and murder.”

The Confederates fled to Canada where they were promptly arrested by the police and the $50,000 they had stolen was recovered.

Read the entire story of the attack, capture and trial as reported in the St. Albans Daily Messenger.

Our thanks to Dick Eastman for alerting us to the story.

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George Washington gave his farewell address 17 September 1796.

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George Washington gave his farewell address September 17, 1796.

Think of it.

He had led the nation in war and unified us as a new and separate country. He had served as President since April 30, 1789 and now he was leaving office. He was the image of stability, security, a father figure. He was called the Father of our Country.
Read what the newspapers wrote – as it was happening:

“The President of the United States, has in an address worthy of his goodness and his greatness, announced to his fellow citizens, his resolution to decline being considered among the number of those, out of whom choice is to be made of a citizen to administer the Executive Government when the present period of office expires”.

You can read the complete address as it was printed in the New-Jersey Journal 28 September 1796.

He would would serve to the end of his term on March 4, 1797 and then passed away just a few years later on December 14, 1799.

Read the news as your ancestor’s read it.
See it, day by day as it unfolded in their lives.
The uncertainty – the stories of their lives.

GenealogyBank – over 3,800 newspapers – 1690 to today – All 50 States.
No other site covers the Colonial period like GenealogyBank.

Obituaries – Routinely Published in Government Reports & Documents

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Get the most out of GenealogyBank!


The annual reports of the Department of the Interior are in GenealogyBank. They were published annually as part of the US Serial Set.

I didn’t know that was in GenealogyBank!

What the Commissioner of Education did was publish the obituaries of teachers and educators at all levels. See this example of the obituary of Jeremiah Root Barnes (1809-1901).


What did we learn from this obituary?
Full Name: Jeremiah Root Barnes
Date/Place of Death: 1 Jan 1901 – Marietta, Ohio
Date/Place of Birth: 9 March 1809 – Southington, CT
Education: Yale College, 1834; Yale Theological Seminary – 2 years; Honorary Degree – Yale (1892).
Career: Pastor: Evansville, IN; Salem, IN; Piqua, OH; young ladies seminary (1850) suburbs of Cincinnati; founder of Carleton College in Northfield, MN; publisher of: Western Magazine
Military: Civil War – in the Freedmen’s Bureau 1861-1865.

Tip: Obituaries were published not only in newspapers but also in government documents and reports.
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This example is from: Annual reports of the Department of the Interior for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1902. Report of the Commissioner of Education. Volume 1. Date: 1903-01-01; Publication: Serial Set Vol. No. 4464, Session Vol. No.25; Report: H.Doc. 5 pt. 5.1

The Old Cemetery – a tour in 1822

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Newspaper articles can tell us about our ancestors and also the details of the cemeteries where they were buried.

“English names often startled us
as we walked through
the alleys of tombstones…”

I found this article giving a detailed tour of the Père Lachaise Cemetery (Cimetière du Père-Lachaise) written in 1822 – one of the oldest and most visited cemeteries in Paris if not the world.

Click Here: to read the complete article published in the 30 April 1822 Eastern Argus (Portland, ME).

By foreign hands thy dying eyes were clos’d,
By foreign hands thy decent limbs compos’d,

By foreign hands thy humble grave adorn’d,
By strangers honour’d, and by strangers mourn’d!
Alexander Pope “Elegy To The Memory Of An Unfortunate Lady. 1717”

Discover your heritage, preserve it and pass it on!

Be a part of GenealogyBank – Sign up Now.

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

Period!

African American Funeral Program Collection Online

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Hat’s off to the: East Central Georgia Regional Library. They have put their African American Funeral Program Collection online.

This impressive collection has more than 1,000 funeral programs from the greater Augusta, Georgia area. They date from 1933 to 2008, with the bulk of the collection starting from 1960 to 2008.

According to the website:

The programs typically contain a photograph of the deceased, an obituary, a list of surviving relatives, and the order of service. The collection provides extensive genealogical information about the deceased, including birth and death dates, maiden names, names of relatives, past residences, and place of burial. Alongside this genealogical information, the obituaries provide a rich source of local history about African Americans. Many of the people included in this collection were prominent in their communities, and many were involved locally in the struggle for civil rights.

The African American Funeral Programs from the East Central Georgia Regional Library is a project of the Digital Library of Georgia in association with the East Central Georgia Regional Library as part of Georgia HomePLACE. The project is supported with federal LSTA funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.
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Revolutionary War Graves List

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The annual reports of the DAR – Daughters of the American Revolution are in GenealogyBank. They were published annually as part of the US Serial Set.
I didn’t know that was in GenealogyBank!

One of the important contributions that the DAR has made over the past 119 years is their effort to locate and document the grave of every soldier that served in the American Revolution.

Each year the DAR published the details of the soldier’s graves that they had located the previous year.

It’s a terrific resource for genealogists.

Discover your heritage, preserve it and pass it on!

Be a part of GenealogyBank – Sign up Now.

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

Period!

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Deaths at the US Soldiers’ Home – Washington, DC 1898-1899

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Get the most out of GenealogyBank!

GenealogyBank has more than 250,000 historical documents and reports – like the Annual Reports of the War Department.

The War Department, like all US Government Agencies issues an annual report that includes the report of each of its component departments.

The 1899 report of the Secretary of War is 708 pages long – and it is packed with information for genealogists. (See: Date: 1899-12-04; Publication: Serial Set Vol. No. 3899, Session Vol. No.2; Report: H.Doc. 2 pt. 1)

For example – on pages 490-491 in the Annual Report of the Attending Surgeon of the US Soldiers’ Home in Washington, DC is a list of the old soldiers that died at the Home in 1898-1899.

Discover your heritage, preserve it and pass it on!

Be a part of GenealogyBank – Sign up Now.

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

Period!
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Funerals

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I attended a funeral today for an old family friend that we have known for over 44 years, Axel Ohrn. Seeing people I have not seen in decades Axel’s funeral was a reunion as family and friends gathered from around the state of Connecticut to remember and honor him. He was 98 years old.


Newspapers over the past three centuries routinely carry obituaries and death notices that alert us that a person has died. They also routinely carry news accounts of the funerals themselves. GenealogyBank has more than 130 million obituaries, death notices, published funeral news accounts and sermons.
Here are some examples from the 29 May 1905 Montgomery (AL) Advertiser.





In the 1700s and 1800s it was common for families to print a copy of the funeral sermon as a keepsake and remembrance of the deceased.

GenealogyBank has many funeral sermons online like this one printed in 1804 on the death of Jonathan Homer, Jr. (1783-1804).
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