Genealogy in the Metaverse?

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the future of the internet and how it will impact our daily lives. Some see this future as a shared 3D virtual reality world. Mark Zuckerburg, CEO of Meta (formerly Facebook), is pushing this concept he calls the “metaverse”, as his own company is one of several racing to develop the virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and extended reality (EX) technology behind it. We’ve already seen some of the same artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning that will build the metaverse reach through to genealogy with MyHeritage’s “Deep Nostaliga” application that brought photos of our ancestors to life.

While we can agree that change is coming, it’s hard to imagine what doesn’t exist yet. We know that not every vision for the future will come true - but it’s fun to think about! And since one of my passions is genealogy, I’d like to explore how this evolving concept of a metaverse, or virtual reality world, might possibly impact the field of genealogy in the next decade or two.

As I’ve come to understand it, and please correct me as needed, the metaverse aims to be a single virtual world, that is alway on and perpetually exists, and can be accessed through multiple forms of technology and devices. You interact with this 3D world, and everyone else in it, through your own unique and customizable avatar. You can create, buy, or sell virtual goods through various businesses, as well as play games, or meet and be social with others. Someday you might hold a job in this virtual space, or your children might attend class. 

In his Founder’s Letter this past October, Zuckerberg idealizes that “in the metaverse, you’ll be able to do almost anything you can imagine - get together with friends and family, work, learn, play, shop, create - as well as completely new experiences that don’t really fit how we think about computers or phones today…In this future,  you will be able to teleport instantly as a hologram to be at the office without a commute, at a concert with friends, or in your parent’s living room to catch up. This will open up more opportunity no matter where you live…” 

So what opportunities would a virtual world like this create in the field of genealogy? While the field itself seems to be living in the past when it comes to tech in certain areas (I still search Roots Web mailing list archives, and use the Wayback Machine to browse now defunct websites for example) we’ve all come to embrace home DNA testing, photo enhancing technology, and easier access to digitized records. 

Here’s what I imagine, or hope for, in the virtual genealogy landscape of the future: 

1. Improved record access by being able to virtually visit record record repositories, like those at libraries and universities. Not having to worry about travel times, parking tickets, or time limits. Research at far away places, in the middle of the night if the mood strikes. How great would it be to put on a VR headset and instantly be transported to the FamilySearch Center in Utah? See what’s available on the shelves and find resources you didn’t know to search for previously online. Get instant help from virtual assistants. 

2. Immediate access to all of your research, while conducting research virtually. We do this already on our computers - usually switching between many, many tabs running on our browsers - but I imagine a much more fluid experience where you can instantly connect with the data you need, represented by multiple forms of media (images, texts, records, timelines, maps, notes, etc) to compare with new data you find in the metaverse.  

3. A multi-media Family Tree with integrated and overlapping data all stored in one place and easily accessed. Continuing off my last point, I feel current technology limits our ability to best visualize our Family Tree. Sure we can upload images to our ancestor’s profile page right now, and we can link to various records - but we usually have our research notes stored on our desktop, and a map of our ancestor’s houses stored in Google Maps, and a list of sources we found elsewhere, and so on. Imagine a virtual home for all of these resources, that you can pull up and view all at once, in an aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate format. 

4. Viewing the world in 3D will help our research, and create new research methods. Much like Google Maps and Google Street View improved our research capabilities, viewing accurate 3D virtual representations of the physical world will help us in new ways. Walk into a graveyard and see your ancestor’s tombstone is surrounded by a family of a different name - perhaps they are related? 

5. Immersive 3D experiences of the past will help contextualize our ancestors’ daily lives, as well as historical events. Like at the living historical village of Plimouth Plantation in Massachusetts, in the metaverse you could experience what life was like as a pilgrim. Some of these kinds of “virtual field trips” exist today in video format, but will feel more personal in the metaverse experienced through your avatar. Other experiences don’t fully exist yet, but I can imagine different ways we could relive the past to better understand it. Some experiences will likely have more accuracy than others, but should be fun for history aficionados. 

6. An improved method of browsing non-indexed records. Anyone else find it much easier to flip through a book of records than scroll through images on a computer screen? This one could be wishful thinking, but I’m hoping in the metaverse that browsing records is more like flipping physical pages of a book and the process becomes easier and less time consuming. Even if we were given the same dataset of images, it should be faster when controlling page turn and zoom with simple hand motions, right?

7. Easier collaboration with other researchers. Imagine finding a record of your great-grandmother, let’s say a census record, and being able to leave a virtual note for other researchers that come across the same record. You’re able to connect with the descendant of your great-grandmother’s neighbor, and they have a photo of your great-grandmother with their ancestor on her front porch you’ve never seen before! If we could leave research notes, or links to our own research, somehow attached to a record (but in no way changing it) we could work together so much better. 

8. Immediate digital copies of records created and saved with both source and record information.  You no longer have to download an image, save it in a specific file folder with full title, and write down the entire source in your notes while also remembering where you saved the image file. In the metaverse I hope there will be a way to store an image or record, along with it’s metadata, notes about the image, and a link to the original source. It’s hard to conceptualize before the tech exists, but I know we need better organization methods to record sources together with records! 

9. Artificial intelligence photo recognition and algorithms to identify ancestors. There are some programs that already utilize some form of this, like Google Photos will identify and attempt to name / group people that look similar in your photo collection. Now if I have all of my photos of our ancestors in a virtual space, and you also upload all of your ancestors photos (some of which are unnamed), would the AI be able to tell you that an unnamed photo in your collection is likely to be so-and-so that matches a named photo in my collection? Perhaps it would also unite all of us that have the same ancestors in our photo collection (assuming no privacy restrictions). Discovering new photos of our ancestors (if the photos exist in the first place) should become easier as technology develops. 

10. Education from anywhere, at any time. Take workshops and classes from a wide variety of experts. Yes, you can do this now with Zoom and other video meeting applications, but the idea with the metaverse is feeling present in a 3D world more than you would on a flat screen. 

11. Social meetings with other genealogists. Similar to the previous idea, getting together with your genealogy society or lineage membership group in a virtual space will feel more personal than online meetings. You’ll also be able to connect with other genealogists, like those in your favorite Facebook group, in a virtual meeting area. Hopefully the metaverse will facilitate more connections between all of those with an interest in genealogy, allowing us to learn from each other (and perhaps find more relatives!). 

All this being said, I’d expect there to still be constraints over access to records, with companies maintaining ownership of database sets and charging for virtual access. You would also still likely rely on their search algorithms and other aspects of record searching. This virtual world would not be a free one. 

We would also be dependent on each library, museum, or university to create their own virtual space, which will take a lot of time and effort. There is also a huge amount of records not yet digitized, some of which will never become digital and must be researched in the physical world. 

And finally, we will have to reexamine how we view “authentic” sources, as authenticity may be harder to determine in a virtual reality world, though not much different from today’s internet. 

Whether or not you think the concept of the metaverse will happen and we will all be hanging out in a shared virtual world together in the near future, it’s still important to think about how the coming technology changes will impact genealogy - a field often overlooked by those creating this tech - and what we want to happen. 

Sources: 

Zuckerberg, Mark. “Founder’s Letter, 2021” Meta. 28 October 2021. (https://about.fb.com/news/2021/10/founders-letter/)

2021 Gift Guide: Over 50 Ideas for Genealogy Enthusiasts

In the first annual gift guide, I’m sharing over 50 ideas to gift the genealogy enthusiast in your life - or perhaps, to put on your own wish list this holiday season. There’s a great mix of things to help you research better, productivity tools and technology, and new family heirlooms, all at a variety of price points.

Note all Amazon links within the gift guides are affiliate links.

While I usually spend my genealogy budget on database subscriptions like Ancestry.com, I love discovering a magazine in the mail to enjoy with a cup of coffee. Some options:

1. Family Tree Magazine

2. Who Do You Think You Are

3. Irish Roots Magazine

4. BBC History Magazine

5. Storyworth subscriptions. I’m using two of these subscriptions right now with two of my relatives, and find the once-a-week email prompt really encourages them to keep going with the project. The questions are easy to edit and re-order, and I’m looking forward to seeing the final product - a book, which can be easily passed down to future generations.

6. I want to carry this awesome tote bag, “It’s a Beautiful Day for Genealogy” everywhere!

7. We should all have this “Warning: May Start Talking About Genealogy” sticker on our laptops, notebooks, and water bottles.

8. This Cassette to MP3 recorder is perfect for converting that stack of home-recorded cassette tapes that hold old family interviews!

9. Whether you pick 23andme or ancestryDNA, a DNA home testing kit is an entertaining gift for a relative, and can also help you in your research. Don’t forget to ask them to share the results with you.

10. I love this Lighted Reading Magnifier for zooming in on hard to read physical documents.

11. This Document Holder makes transcribing a breeze.

12. This Time Capsule would make an awesome family project to create together, and I love that it comes in different size options.

13. These photo safe pencils from Stabilo are good for writing on the back of modern, glossy photographs.

14. Everyone needs archival quality storage boxes for holding records, photos, and keepsakes. I like this Pioneer Photo Album Storage Box and this Lineco Museum Storage Box.

15. This Brother Compact Mobile Photo Scanner goes with me on all research trips, and anytime I visit a relative, and I highly recommend it!

On the left, the Epson Perfection V600 Color Photo, Film, Negative & Document Scanner. On the right, the Kodak Slide N’ Scan. Both great options for converting negatives to digital files, and the Epson is great for documents and photos as well.

16. Some documents are too big or too fragile to fit in the mobile scanner, so a flatbed scanner is an essential home office tool for every genealogist. I like this Epson V600 model.

17. Gift this Kodak Slide N’ Scan to a relative, and hopefully they’ll share all their newly converted negatives with you.

18. Get them a favorite photo repaired, or enlarged, and nicely framed. This etsy shop thePaperFramer has some nice options.

19. We could all use a photo consultation with an expert, like Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective.

Two great options for personalized family treasures to gift: on the left, a Family Tree Serving Bowl from Uncommon Goods and created by Sheree Burlington . On the right, a Handwriting Plate from etsy shop phpottery. Both awesome products linked below.

20. This hand-painted Personalized Family Tree Serving Bowl would make a wonderful family heirloom to pass down to future generations.

21. Capture a loved family recipe with this Handwriting Plate.

22. Convert those VHS home movies to digital files, so you can edit and share with family members and also preserve for future generations. I’ve used this ClearClick Video to Digital Converter with success.

23. Shutterfly gift cards to make family photo books.

I love these minimalistic and nicely designed novelty genealogy tees from Etsy shop StagandPeachCo. Individual shirts linked below.

24. Novelty t-shirt option one: “Eventually All Genealogists Come to Their Census”

25. Novelty t-shirt option two: “Eat Sleep Genealogy Repeat”

26. Gift the genealogy lover a research trip to anywhere they want to go - maybe the FamilySearch Library headquarters in Salt Lake City for example.

27. You know I had to include a copy of my Genealogy Planner and Workbook, makes a great gift!

28. Ask them for a list of books on their wish list - some of us have very specific requests related to things we want to learn about, or locations, or family lines.

29. Books by Elizabeth Shown Mills, like Evidence Explained: History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace or Professional Genealogy: Preparation, Practice & Standards

30. Mastering Genealogical Proof and Mastering Genealogical Documentation, both by Thomas W. Jones, should be on every genealogist’s bookshelf.

31. If they don’t have it yet, they need Genealogy Standards by the Board for Certification of Genealogists is essential reading.

On the left, a custom Census Mug from etsy shop GenealogyGifts. On the right, a book from the National Archives Store.

32. Gifts from the National Archives Store supports the museum and their education programs, like the book Genealogy Tool Kit: Get Started on Your Family History at the National Archives by John P. Deeban.

33. This custom census mug is great for those late night research sessions.

34. A new external hard drive, at least 1tb or 2tb in size, is helpful for storing all your files and photos and staying organized.

35. If you’re like me, you’ve hit the limit on your free cloud storage services that came with your gmail or other accounts. Having all of your files in backed-up in the cloud allows you to access your files from anywhere, and offers a layer of protection if something happened to your computer files. And genealogists have a lot of photos and files! I recommend Dropbox or Google Drive Storage

36. Backup File Protection is similar to cloud storage, but with automatic backup of your computer files instead of additional storage. Never accidently delete a file, forget to upload anything, or worry about a broken device. Backblaze Personal Backup or Carbonite

37. Organize Your Genealogy: Strategies and Solutions for Every Researcher by Drew Smith

38. Lineage Membership Application Fees or Dues. Read more about lineage memberships. Has your genealogist always thought about applying to a group like The Daughters of The American Revolution (DAR) or The Mayflower Society? Or if they’re already a member, pay the upcoming dues or even splurge for a lifetime membership.

39, Tickets to any genealogy conference, like RootsTech

40. Educational genealogical courses, like a session from the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) or Boston University’s Genealogical Principles or Certificate program.

41. For the ultimate gift - a heritage trip to their ancestral homeland!

42. The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy by Blaine T. Bettinger, would pair great with a DNA testing kit.

43. The NGS (National Genealogical Society) includes NGS Magazine, and the scholarly journal NGS Quarterly (NGSQ), and NGS Monthly, all with searchable access online of back issues. There’s also free access online to skill courses and discounts to education programs, discounts to books and the annual NGS conference, and more member benefits. Purchase a gift membership.

44. An American Ancestors membership is essential for anyone researching in early New England. Includes the American Ancestors Magazine and the journal. Review membership options.

45. Support local historical societies by gifting a membership, that often includes access to an affiliated history museum. For example, joining the San Mateo County Historical Association includes admission to the San Mateo County History Museum as one of the many perks.

46. Local Genealogical Society Memberships. These local societies can be at the county or state level. I belong to both the San Mateo County Genealogical Society and the California Genealogical Society, for example. These groups provide workshops and presentations, research help at the local level, and access to certain repositories and libraries. Offer to pay membership dues for your favorite family history fan.

Database Subscriptions. Everything that helps a genealogist complete their research would make an amazing and very useful gift. If you’re like me you rotate memberships to save money, and would love subscription gifts to any of the following:

47. Newspapers.com

48. Fold3.com

49. Ancestry.com

50. Findmypast.com

51. Myheritage.com

Hope you found some inspiration in this list to gift the genealogists in your life, or to add to your own wish list. Happy Holidays!

Can You Solve These "Country Codes"?

This is a bit different of a post today - one in which I am asking for your help to solve. I have posed this question to several different genealogists, asked around in Facebook groups, and have done diligent research and have yet to come up with an answer, so I’m posing this to all of you.

We’ve talked a lot about U.S. passenger arrival lists lately. I’ve shown in my last blog post how the Immigration Act of 1924 codes show up as handwritten notations near the visa columns relating to the type of immigrant, such as “3 - 2” for a government official, or “4 - B” for a returning immigrant that was legally admitted before. I’ve also reviewed additional abbreviations and marks in an earlier post.

However, in my research and review of all of this, I’ve noticed additional notations in many passenger lists for those arriving to the U.S. in the early 20th century, that seem to be related to the locations. I’m calling these handwritten notations “country codes” for now, but keep in mind they could be related to visas, immigration quotas, taxes, passenger counts, race of people, or something else entirely.

My question is - what does these numbers mean, and is there reference material for them we can cross-reference? And of course, in understanding the meaning, do they offer any more information for general genealogy research?

An excerpt from “New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1925 - 1957.” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-G54Q-NCW?fbclid=IwAR3qnmlWVQBCBhPQe7lh8PZQQK6SaktioLG07VlhwO0Gx_0UgFqZ9UyRg1A&i=222&cc=1923888). Highlights my own. Passengers sailing from Liverpool, England, in 1928.

Here’s a breakdown of what I’ve noticed about these codes:

• The numbers in the “Place of Birth” column are often four digits in XX - XX format, but they can also appear as fractions

• The numbers in the “Last Permanent Residence” column are often two digits, XX

• In the “Place of Birth” column, the country could have more than one number. Note in the image above England has both an “03” and “04”.

• In the “Last Permanent Residence” column on the right, these seem more static and more likely country codes unique to each location.

• There are some similarities between different passenger lists using the same codes (such as England being “04 - 15” in the first and second example), but more differences than similarities. Japan and the U.S. are usually “99” but other countries, such as Chili and Panama in the image below, have also been “99”. Canada is usually 80.

• When there is a column for “Race or People” there are also two digit numbers in that column, but only two digits in “Place of Birth” as opposed to the other pattern of XX - XX. Perhaps this means the first part of the four digit number in the “Place of Birth” in the other passenger lists has to do with race?

Another example of similar markings in this 1931 passenger arrival list. “New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925 - 1957”. database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-G5CK-K23?fbclid=IwAR38puxolsWRKGXo0533OG9yTrIO7iITpJjpCrgNkrVYGmBEz__4nGcfZjg&i=10&wc=MFKM-1TL%3A1029954601&cc=1923888).

In this second example above, Chile is marked as both 99 and a 4/12, while Cuba is 83. We also see a “04 - 15” for England, which we’ve seen before in the first example.

A third example from 1931, also arriving to New York, showing the U.S. as “99”. “New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925 - 1957” database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-G5CF-91VY?fbclid=IwAR1DaQeDwqvhBkR7RiRYGEctQH5R1v0hGPqEZzbn6IFjjk4OfpfeRiTnj3w&i=50&wc=MFKM-529%3A1029955901&cc=1923888)

You may have noticed all three examples above have been from New York, so the following three examples are from Boston.

This passenger list from 1931 arriving in Boston adds another column for Race or People, with a “17” for Irish”. There’s also a “13” marked for Ireland, and “99” for U.S.A. “Massachusetts, Boston Passenger Lists, 1891 - 1943”. database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YW3-VT6?i=38&wc=M6B4-6TG%3A219635101&cc=1923995)

An early passenger list from passengers arriving in Boston in 1927. Like the example before it, there is a “17” for Irish and “13” for Ireland. Also Australia is “78”, Canada is “80” like others examples, India is “45” and Germany is “12”. From “Massachusetts, Boston Passenger Lists, 1891 - 1943”, database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYW3-PQM?i=17&wc=M6B4-Z29%3A219600901&cc=1923995)

A 1931 manifest of passengers sailing from Nova Scotia to Boston. Note two digit numbers in the Race column, an “80” marked for Canada, and “99” for U.S.A.“Massachusetts, Boston Passenger Lists, 1891 - 1943”, database, FamilySearch. (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYW3-VRJ?i=47&wc=M6B4-6TG%3A219635101&cc=1923995)

It’s very possible these notations may not be of significance or hold any genealogical value at all - but how will we determine that if we don’t know what they mean?

So what do you all think? Help me solve this - or perhaps, if the answer is already known to some, please fill me in! I’d love to see more examples as well.

Join the discussion on our Facebook page or contact me.

Immigration Act of 1924 Codes on U.S. Passenger Arrival Lists

Today’s post is a follow-up to a recent blog post, “Passenger Lists: The Meaning Behind the Notations, Abbreviations, and Marks” as I wanted to add a bit more information, specifically about notations you may see on U.S. passenger arrival lists related to the Immigration Act of 1924.

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Massachusetts, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1963. Ancestry.com. Series Number: T843; NARA Roll Number; 340. Note the highlighted area with notations, that refer to the Immigration Act. Can you decipher these codes using my table further below?

The Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the Johnson-Reed Act or National Origins Quota Act, “limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota. The quota provided immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people of each nationality in the United States as of the 1890 national census. It completely excluded immigrants from Asia.” (United States Department of the State). It capped the number of annual immigrants allowed at 165,000.

This act also required everyone to present a visa prior to entry. Those that were subject to quota restrictions would have a Quota Immigrant Visa (QIV), while those not would have a Non-Quota Immigrant Visa (NQIV). The Act “exempted from the new quota highly skilled immigrants, domestic servants, specialized workers such as actors and wives or unmarried minor children of U.S. citizens” (Pew) making these examples of non-quota immigrants. Those immigrants whom had been legally allowed entry into the U.S. previously would need a Re-entry Permit (RP), while U.S. citizens would require a Passport Visa (PV).

Starting in July 1, 1924, when this act went into effect, you may see notations on passenger arrival lists made by the immigration inspector at the port of arrival. These numbers and letter combinations referred to different sections and parts of the text of the Immigration Act of 1924, which I summarized in the table below.

Section	Part	Excerpt from the Immigration Act of 1924
3	Definition of an Immigrant
3	1	“A government official, his family, attendants, servants, and employees"
3	2	“An alien visiting the United States temporarily as a tourist or temporarily for business or pleasure”
3	3	“An alien in continuous transit throughout the United States”
3	4	“An Alien lawfully admitted to the United States who later goes in transit from one part of the United States to another through foreign contiguous territory”
3	5	“A bona fide alien seaman serving as such on a vessel arriving at a port of the United States and seeking to enter temporarily the United States solely in the pursuit of his calling as a seaman”
3	6	“An alien entitled to enter the United States solely to carry on trade under and in pursuance of the provisions of a present existing treaty of commerce and navigation”
4	Non-Quota Immigrants
4	a	“An immigrant who is the unmarried child under 18 years of age, or the wife, of a citizen of the United States who resides therein at the time of the filing of a petition under section 9…”
4	b	“An immigrant previously lawfully admitted to the United States, who is returning from a temporary visit abroad”
4	c	“An immigrant who was born in the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, the Republic of Mexico, the Republic of Cuba, the Republic of Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Canal Zone, or an independent country of Central or South America, and his wife, and his unmarried children under 18 years of age, if accompanying or following to join him”
4	d	“An immigrant who continuously for at least two years immediately preceding the time of his application for admission to the United States has been, and who seeks to enter the United States solely for the purpose of, carrying on the vocation of minister of any religious denomination, or professor of a college, academy, seminary, or university; and his wife, and his unmarried children under 18 years of age, if accompanying or following to join him”
4	e	“An immigrant who is a bona fide student at least 15 years of age and who seeks to enter the United States solely for the purpose of study at an accredited school, college, academy, seminary, or university, particularly designated by him and approved by the Secretary of Labor, which shall have agreed to report to the Secretary of Labor the termination of attendance of each immigrant student, and if any such institution of learning fails to make such reports promptly the approval shall be withdrawn”
5	Quota Immigrants
5	“When used in this Act the term “quota immigrant” means any immigrant who is not a non-quota immigrant…”
6	Preferences within Quotas
6	1	“To a quota immigrant who is the unmarried child under 21 years of age, the father, the mother, the husband, or the wife, of a citizen of the United States who is 21 years of age or over…”
6	2	“To a quota immigrant who is skilled in agriculture, and his wife, and his dependent children under the age of 16 years, if accompanying or following to join him…”

Above excerpts from The Immigration Act of 1924, also named “An Act of May 26, 1924, Public Law 68-139, 43 STAT 153, to Limit Immigration of Aliens into the United States for Other Purposes” found in The National Archives Catalog. Additional non-relevant sections of the act were not included, but should be referenced as needed.

Looking back at the first image (close-up below), with the passengers sailing from St. John’s Newfoundland and arriving in Boston, Massachusetts in 1925, we see a list of notations in the immigration section:

By referencing the Immigration Act of 1924, through my table higher above, we can decode these notes as follows:

• The “3 - 2” would be a tourist or a temporary visitor, for either business or pleasure. We see the remark “pleasure” next to the first reference.

• The “4 - B” would be an immigrant, legally admitted to the U.S. before, that is returning from a trip abroad.

• The “4 - C” would mean an immigrant born in Canada, Newfoundland, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, etc. (in this case likely Newfoundland as that’s where they are sailing from) or the immigrant’s wife or minor children

This Immigration Act was in effect in various forms until the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, or Hart-Cellar Act, replaced the quota system (Pew), with some restrictions on Asian immigrants repealed earlier, though we still use a system of visas.

Read more about Visa Files at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Note this immigration visa number written on passenger lists is not the Visa File number you need to request from USCIS.

Sources:

Pew Research Center. “Chapter 1: The Nation’s Immigration Laws, 1920 to Today”. 28 Sept 2015. (https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2015/09/28/chapter-1-the-nations-immigration-laws-1920-to-today/) Accessed 8 October 2021.

The Immigration Act of 1924. ”An Act of May 26, 1924, Public Law 68-139, 43 STAT 153, to Limit Immigration of Aliens into the United States for Other Purposes”. National Archives and Records Administration. (https://catalog.archives.gov/id/5752154) Accessed 7 October 2021.

United States Department of State: Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute. “The Immigration Act of 1924 (The Johnson-Reed Act)” (https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act) Accessed 7 October 2021.

Blue Books and Society Register Lists

High society flourished in the late 19th century, during a period often called “the Gilded Age” in America, as the economy boomed and some quickly gained a vast amount of wealth. It was also a time of great wealth disparity and inequality, with many struggling workers and an influx of poor immigrants. Those that had money celebrated it with ostentatious displays, throwing extravagant dinner parties and lavish balls to carefully selected guests deemed worthy by the host.

In 1870’s New York, Mrs. Caroline Astor’s list of party guests for her annual ball became known as “the four hundred”, a curated group of elite society members (theorized to be the number of which could fit in her ballroom on Fifth Avenue). Mrs. Astor was the social queen bee of the knickerbockers, or those with old money that came from inherited wealth and well-known ancestry (likely descendants of original Dutch and English New York settlers), as opposed to the less favored nouveau riche, or those with newly made money and unknown backgrounds - like the Vanderbilts. There was contention and rivalry between the two groups, dueling over who threw the most extravagant parties, and who was included in the festivities and who was shunned.

In any big city, a list of people was essential for both the social climbers and the people hoping to stay at the top. The very existence of the nouveau riche formed the idea that seemingly anyone could make the right business decisions, investments, and connections to become wealthy and respected leaders of society. Everyone had to know who they should be inviting to their parties, visiting with, doing business with, and having over for dinner. Who was a suitable bachelor or bachelorette for their child? Who was recently engaged or married, or moved away? Who did others recognize as the cream of the crop?

Families and wives kept their own personal society lists, but certain publications soon became the respected authority. Inspired by Mrs. Astor’s 400, Louis Keller, “a prominent socialite, compiled the “visiting lists” of elite families into one volume. These lists enumerated those who called on prominent ladies during visiting hours” (Sargent, NY Times). He called it a Social Register, and this 1887 version would be the first of many in New York and major cities in the U.S. Copies of the early Social Register sold for “$1.75. For $3.25 more, a subscriber got a monthly update of addresses, engagements, marriages, deaths, and elections” (Winship, Los Angeles Times).

Excerpt from The Summer Social Register, 1918 from The Internet Archive. Public Domain.

It wasn’t just socialites who purchased it - retailers wanted the names and addresses of potential clients. Certain hotels would only allow guests if they were in the book, other businesses wanted copies available for their guests to read. And while The Social Register did not have any advertisements, other publications were full of them, especially those whose title included “shopping guide”.

Other editors had similar ideas, collecting thousands of names of their local elite society members and compiling it into a book. In Cincinnati, Miss Clara Ann Rich Devereux created Mrs. Devereux’s Blue Book in 1894. The Cleveland Social Directory: Ladies Visiting Lists and Shopping Guide predated Keller’s publication with it’s first edition in 1880. Before that, in 1877 was the first issue of The Boston Blue Book. Even earlier was Clark’s Boston Blue Book published first 1876 by Edward E. Clark, more than ten years before the Social Register.

It’s hard to say who was first as earlier examples of published lists of the rich and powerful can be found, including The Wealth and Biography of the Wealthy Citizens of the City of New York: Being an Alphabetical Arrangement of the Names of the Capitalists Whose Wealth is Estimated at One Hundred Thousand Dollars and Upwards, With the Sums Appended to Each Name, and Genealogical and Geographical Notices of the Principal Persons, published in 1846 (tenth edition). by Moses Yale Beach. What a mouthful of a name! But these lists were factual reports of earnings and, in the above example, all those who made at least 100k were included, unlike The Social Register and Clark’s Boston Blue Book and such whose editors chose people based on social ranks and other factors. Not to mention social directories existed in various forms in Europe, like the Who’s Who books, or Burke Peerage books.

I’ve collected links to as many of these various Blue Books and Social Directories as I could find available online for free, thanks to various resources like the HathiTrust Digital Library, the Internet Archive, FamilySearch, Google Books, and more. This resource will continue to be updated as I come across more. Some of these collections, like those on the Internet Archive and Google Books, allow you to search the inside of each publication - a helpful tool when looking for ancestors.

Links to Blue Books & Social Register Lists

California - Illinois - Maryland - Massachusetts - Missouri - New York - Ohio - Pennsylvania

All Other States (including Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington State, Washington D.C., Wisconsin)

National or Multiple States (including the Summer Social Register and others)

These links can also be found via the “Records” tab in the left navigation menu.

As I’m completely fascinated by these social directories, let’s keep discussing them! There’s a lot to unpack here and it’s not a topic I’ve seen discussed in genealogy groups very often. I’ve formatted the rest of the blog post into question / answer for your quick reference.

What exactly is a Blue Book, Social Register, Social Directory, or Visiting List?

I use the terms “Blue Book” and “Social Directory” interchangeably to refer to any published collection of a few thousand elite society members for a specified area, usually published annually. The individuals were chosen at the editor’s discretion. Some have the descriptor “private address directory” or “ladies visiting list and shopping guide” in the title. They were at the height of popularity in the late 19th century and early 20th century, with the majority published in the 1870’s through the 1920’s.

Excerpts from Our Society Blue Book, Season of 1895-6, from the Internet Archive

What kind of information was available in these publications?

The type of information varied by publisher and edition, but usually included an alphabetical name and address list, sometimes organized instead by street. It did not show every member of the family, nor did it always list the wife’s name. Phone numbers were included mostly post 1890. The majority list reception days when it is respectable to pay a visit.

A key for the abbreviations to appear after an individual’s name, as shown in The Social Register, Boston, 1922 published November, 1921 by The Social Register Association (as found online by HathiTrust Digital Library, url: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89066401647&view=1up&seq=9&skin=2021). Note many alma matters like Princeton, Harvard, and Yale as well as some club memberships.

Check the first few pages of the book for an abbreviation key for alma matters and clubs. Some books have separate club directory pages. Most blue books and registers carry a dilatory domiciles section in the beginning to show if an individual has moved or to share other changes.

Other information may include births, deaths, marriages, travels (if an individual is “abroad”) and addresses of country homes. Note the fashionable habit at the time of telling others a person was traveling to avoid falling out of social graces, due to the lack of an invitation to a ball for example, might mean an individual was not in fact traveling abroad.

A selection of the marriage notices included in The Brooklyn Blue Book and Long Island Social Register, 1903, published 1902 by the Brooklyn Life Publishing Co. (found online on HathiTrust Digital Library). Look at all that amazing genealogical information!

There may be lists of hotels and their residents, and newspapers and their personnel. I’ve also seen editions with the names of yachts and representative drawings of each boat. There are theatre diagrams in some to help the affluent purchase and locate their boxes and seats. Some have extensive advertising, others, like The Social Register have none. In the ones with advertisements there may also be a shopping guide.

Why were some called “Blue Books”?

Many of the covers were blue, but not always. The Social Register was black and orange (like the colors of Princeton University). The Chicago Blue Book, 1895 reads “The title, “BLUE BOOK,” is simply a name given the work on account of its blue cover. It does not refer to blue blood, as many people suppose. Webster’s definition of Blue Book is as follows: “BLUE BOOK - A parliamentary publication, so called from its blue paper cover, such being commonly used; also, a book containing a list of fashionable addresses.”...It is simply a compilation of thirty thousand names of the most prominent householders of Chicago, and suburbs within a radius of thirty miles, published in the most convenient form for reference by our lady patrons” (The Chicago Blue Book, 1895).

When is a “Blue Book” not a “Blue Book”?

It may have the phrase “Blue Book” in the title, but it’s not always a list of society’s upper class. Take for example the Kelley Blue Book, used to valuate cars and first published in 1926. The term “Blue Book” can refer to any such collection of information or almanac. In your research you will likely come across government blue books, published by the city or state, sharing the names of employees as well as offering local history. I have tried to exclude these from my collection of links, but if you know your ancestor was a government employee they may be helpful to you.

Also of note it seems in New Orleans, the several blue books were actually a directory of prostitutes masquerading as a social directory.

Where there Blue Books for every city?

As you will notice from my collection of links, the most publications still available now are from big cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco - but you should be aware these collections often included a wide area. The San Francisco Blue Book of 1922 included San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Redwood City, Palo Alto, San Jose, and even as far south as Los Angeles and San Diego.

No blue books, social registers, or other forms of society lists could be found for free online from the following states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming), with the exception of some of these places within multiple state directories. They may exist, and please let me know if you come across any!

Why were their multiple publications in the same city and year?

In larger cities, there may be multiple “blue books” or society lists for the same years, with different publishers or editors, and they may or may not contain the same people.

View fullsize

Above, a comparison of three society lists from 1921 - 1922 highlighting the inclusion of Mr. Faxon D. Atherton (yellow highlight box from me). On the left, The San Francisco Social Register 1922, in the middle is The San Francisco Blue Book of 1922, and on the right is the New Society Blue Book of 1921 and 1922. Faxon D. Atherton was considered the father and namesake of the town of Atherton, California - though since he died in 1877, this is his son Faxon Dean Atherton, Jr.

How often (and when) where these books published?

The majority were published annually, (with an additional summer version of The Social Register) but be sure to look closely at the date. They were published earlier than the title date. The Social Register San Francisco, 1922 was actually issued November, 1921 with updates (in the form of a supplementary “Dilatory Domiciles” showing change of addresses and other news) sent to subscribers in December, January, and March.

How do I know if my ancestor was in any of these books?

It’s hard to say! Note that some editions published hundreds if not thousands of individuals more than others, so chances may be higher the longer and less exclusive the list. For example, Clark’s Boston Blue Book for 1901 declares it has the names of over nineteen thousand householders and is almost 720 pages long, while the more restrictive The Social Register, Boston of 1901 is only 148 pages and by my estimates has under five thousand.

What does it mean if my ancestor was listed one year but not the next?

Unlike a city directory that listed all citizens, these social directories did not guarantee inclusion at any time. Appearing one year and not the next did not necessarily mean the ancestor moved away, married, or died - but it’s a possibility. Also possible was a change in financial standing or some kind of social misstep, or perhaps the editor had a change of heart.

Be sure to check the “dilatory domiciles” usually listed in the front section of the directories that showed changes of address and other updates. The Social Register also published “The Locater” which summarized the names of all those in all locations of the Register and the city and family name under which it appears, but I have yet to find any online copies.

How were people chosen for inclusion?

These lists of prominent society members were created at the editor’s whim and discretion. At The Social Register, board-reviewed applications were necessary aside from a select few that were automatically included, like the President of the United States.

Who was excluded from these social directories?

While committing social faux pas could lead to your exclusion in these publications, if you weren’t white, Anglo-Saxon, and protestant (WASP) you likely didn’t stand a chance. The Social Register was the most restrictive on race and ethnicity. Black, Catholic, and Jewish populations were often excluded, especially from earlier editions. In the first Social Register in 1887, of the 5,000 elite New Yorkers,  “Newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, who had recently bought the New York World from railroader Jay Gould, was the only Jew listed” (Winship, Los Angeles Times). The latter, Jay Gould, did not make the cut.

However, these people may be listed in other versions specific to their race or ethnicity. A few examples:

• The Chicago Jewish Community Blue Book, abt 1918 - Internet Archive

• The Colored People’s Blue Book and Business Directory of Chicago, Ill., 1905 - Internet Archive

Where can I find copies of The Social Register and other Blue Books?

In addition to all the online links I’ve shared, there are some available for purchase from rare book websites or sellers like eBay. You may be able to find physical copies in your local library or historical archives. Repositories like the NEHGS library and FamilySearch library are sure to have copies, I suggest searching the catalogs or reaching out if you are looking for something specific. I’ve also come across some at used bookstores.

Sources

Sargent, Allison Ijams. “The Social Register: Just a Circle of Friends”. The New York Times. 21 December, 1997. (https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/21/style/the-social-register-just-a-circle-of-friends.html)

Winship, Frederick M. “Social Register Marks 100 Years of Listing Everybody Who’s Anybody”. Los Angeles Times. 11 Feb 1988. (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-02-11-vw-42230-story.html)

Win a Copy of My Just Published "Genealogy Planner and Workbook"!

UPDATE SEPT 2021: This giveaway has ended, congratulations to our winner!

I’m so excited to announce my first publication, Genealogy Planner and Workbook: Record Your Research Notes Efficiently, is now available for purchase on Amazon! And to celebrate, I’m doing another giveaway!

About the Genealogy Planner and Workbook:

I wanted to make something practical, based on how I record and organize my own research. It is a five part book filled with unique, fill-in worksheets for you to personalize.

The book begins with a section for your own personal information. Record information about your subscriptions including your member ID, when they renew, how much they cost, and your usernames and passwords. Keep track of your lineage, historical, and genealogical society memberships. Create a list of notable websites. In Part Two, Networking, you can store contact information, and easily reference each contact in the correspondence log.

Part Three, The Research, is where it starts getting really good! There are three pedigree charts, of four generations each. You can choose to continue one line through all 12 generations across the three charts, or utilize each chart for a separate line. Give each person a number, and link them to a Family Group Sheet (FGS) for easy cross-referencing (pictured below).

There are a total of 30 Family Group Sheet sets, that’s one set for each of the 24 couples on the pedigree chart, plus 6 more for second or third marriages that resulted in children or that you want to research more.

Each Family Group Sheet set has room for you to enter:

• Birth, marriage, and death information for both parents

• Their parent’s names

• Up to 15 children (continues on to second page)

• Timeline / known residences list

• Research notes

• Source list (up to 18 entries)

Part 4 is the planning section, (some of which is shown above). There are 12 undated calendar pages with up to six weeks on each page. Dates were left off so you can start using the calendar section immediately and start it from the current month. There’s several pages of task checklist sheets and some other tools like a page to manage ongoing maintenance and another page to set some goals, but my absolute favorite part are the trip planner worksheets - these are so useful! Easily prepare for a research trip by writing out specific items and records you hope to find, and keep notes of your success. Refer to this page if you plan a return visit, so you’re not repeating your efforts in vain.

To close out this workbook and planner is Part 5, several pages for your research notes. In addition to all of this, there are several more worksheets throughout the workbook, like “Brick Wall Questions” and “Surname List”, that are very helpful when researching new databases and resources.

I’ve found having all my research notes easily portable like this is perfect for research trips and traveling. You can quickly refer to your notes, add more information, and record sources as you work. As a bonus its great to refer to when you’re in an area with limited or no WIFI as well.

Please continue to provide feedback to me as you use the book, I can’t wait to hear from all of you!

Thank you so much for all your support!

About the Giveaway:

I am giving away one copy of my Genealogy Planner and Workbook to one lucky winner! To enter the giveaway, visit our Facebook page: facebook.com/startresearching, and comment on the post about the book / giveaway!

Be sure to like our Facebook page as well to stay informed about our blog updates and future giveaways.

Full rules below.

Giveaway Rules & Disclaimers:

• Giveaway ends Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 11:59 pm PT.

• Open to all residents of the United States; 18 or older (or age of majority in their state of residence, whichever is greater) with a mailing address able to receive packages. Winner may be required to verify age upon request.

• Winner will be picked randomly from all entries received. Only one winner will be chosen. Odds of winning depend on number of entries received.

• Winner will be notified privately via Facebook messenger (not announced on our sites publicly), and must respond with a proper mailing address within 2 days or prize will be forfeited and given to runner up. Your address will not be used for any means other than sending you the prize.

• No cash prize alternative.

• This contest is in no way affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Amazon.com, Facebook.com, or Squarespace.com.

• We are not responsible for any items lost, stolen, or damaged in the shipping process.

Indigenous Residential Schools in Canada and America: A Troubled History (with Research Links)

This post discusses events which may be triggering or distressing. In Canada, there is a 24hr National Residential School Crisis Line available at 1-866-925-4419.

This past May, researchers discovered the bodies of hundreds of indigenous students at the sites of former residential boarding schools across Canada. To-date more than 1,000 of these unmarked graves have been located, with the help of ground-penetrating radar, and researchers expect to find more.

While the trauma experienced by indigenous people at these schools was already known, (Canada had already faced it’s largest class action settlement in history with the Indian Residential School Agreement in 2007), the vast number of student deaths was widely unknown. Temporary memorials with children’s shoes have been held across the country, as well as some churches reportedly burned.

In America, where there were twice as many of these schools, there has not been as much of a public out-cry. However, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American to be in this position, has said there will be a federal investigation (read the press release from June 22, 2021).

Caption reads “Henry Standing Bear [Top], Wounded Yellow Robe [Left] Chancy Yellow Robe [Right]: Sioux boys as they entered the school in 1883 [on the left side], Three years later [on the right]”. As found on the Internet Archive, in the book “Souvenir of the Carlisle Indian School” by J.N. Choate, 1902.

In this post, I’ll be talking about how these Indian boarding schools came to be and what happened to the children at these schools. I’ve also included some links to help those who wish to research these students and the schools they attended, and I encourage you to share more links in the comments to help your fellow researchers.

Explaining the history of the residential schools:

In 1869 and 1870, mission schools and day schools took hold in reservations, with Native American children forced to attend school near their homes. While they were made to speak English, it was soon determined that these children needed to be further separated from their families to become fully “civilized”.  Next, they made boarding schools, still somewhat close to the reservations, and allowed families to visit and children to go home in summer months, but this too was not viewed successful by the then U.S. government.

Lt. Richard Henry Pratt, who had overseen the education of released Indian prisoners and hostages, opened the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1879 in a vacant military barracks in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. This school, along with Pratt’s philosophy “kill the Indian, save the man”, became the blueprint for future residential boarding schools in the U.S. and Canada.

Note in early America these people were called “Indian”, and in Canada, “Aboriginal”, though today they are “Native American” or “Canadian Indian”, or also “Indigenous”.

On the left, “Chicirahua Apaches as they arrived at Carlisle from Fort Marion, Florida. Nov 4, 1886.” On the right, “Chiricahua Apaches four months after arriving at Carlisle.” From a book “United States Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, PA.” found on the Internet Archive. No known copyright restrictions.

At these residential boarding schools, children as young as five (though remains have been found of younger children and infants) were taken from their families and wiped of their culture. At arrival they were given haircuts – a traumatic experience for a culture that valued long hair - and uniforms. They were told not to speak their own language, say their prayers, or sing their songs. They were given new anglicized names and had to convert to Christianity, as well as speak English (sometimes French in Canada). Most were not allowed contact with their families.    

On the surface this was a forced assimilation of Native American children through education, when in reality it was eradicating a people. Many fell victim to the violence and abuse (physical, psychological, and sexual) that was rampant.  These children suffered and died from a multitude of ills, including hard manual labor, unsanitary living conditions, contagious diseases (especially tuberculosis, measles, and pneumonia), lack of medical care, starvation, and neglect.

Government Indian School, Swinomish Reservation. Library of Congress. No known copyright restrictions.

They were made to follow a military like schedule. Their labor, from gardening to splitting wood, kept the schools running. With “outing programs” children were sent to work for local white families as a form of cheap labor for the community, often with females as maids or cooks and males as farm hands.

Many Native American families resisted sending their children to these schools but were not given a choice. In the U.S, attendance was made mandatory by a federal law passed in 1891, by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which “withheld food and other goods from those who refused to send their children to the schools, and even sent officers to forcibly take children from the reservation” (Blakemore).  There are also many reports of children running away from the boarding schools and facing harsh punishments when caught and returned.

“United States Indian School, Carlisle, PA…six boys doing laundry.” Library of Congress. No known copyright restrictions.

Those that did survive these systems were left without the knowledge of how to raise a family, lacking a true education, and grasping only fragments of their indigenous culture, all of which would ripple like a shockwave through future generations.

Church involvement

In America, they would be run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) or church-run and subsidized by the BIA. In Canada, the money came from the Department of Indian Affairs, and the schools were largely run by Christian churches. “The Roman Catholic Church in particular was responsible for operating up to 70% of residential schools [in Canada], according to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society” (Honderich).  In ongoing efforts, “in 2017, Mr. Trudeau asked Pope Francis to apologise for the church’s role in running Canada’s residential schools – but the church has so far declined. The United, Anglican and Presbyterian churches issued formal apologies in the 1980s and 1990s.” (Honderich).

Read: “How has the Catholic Church addressed residential school abuses and what is expected now?” by Nicole Bogart for CTVNews Canada, published 9 June, 2021.

With the recent news of the discovery of many bodies at these residential schools in came the burning and vandalizing of multiple churches in Canada, some located on indigenous land.

How many of these schools existed?

According to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, there were at least 367 American Indian boarding schools in the United States. For a full list, organized by state: https://boardingschoolhealing.org/list/

They encourage those with any information about additional schools to send them leads.

“Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, PA”. A publication from 1895 depicts the school’s method of assimilating a Native American into the dominant society. Internet Archive. No known copyright restrictions.

In Canada, there were at least 150 Indian residential schools, most listed in an Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement (IRSSA), a class action implemented in 2007 that included a monetary compensation payout for former students, among other things.

You can view an interactive google map of these residential schools in Canada, created by Historic Canada.

What happened to these schools?

It took a long time for the laws to change. The New York Times reports “by the 1920s, one group estimates, nearly 83% of Native American school-age children were attending such schools” (Callimachi). Then in 1928, The Meriam Report raised awareness of the poor living conditions, and a few reforms took place. However, it wasn’t until the 1970’s that real changes were brought about. Towards the end of the decade, “in 1975, Congress passed the Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, which granted tribes the ability to assume responsibility for programs that had been administered by the federal government. It was the death knell for most residential schools” (Blakemore). And then in 1978, the Indian Child Welfare Act finally allowed parents the legal right to deny their children’s attendance at off-reservation schools. As boarding schools closed in America, many Native American children were transitioned into the public school system or on-reservation schools.

Changes seemed to take place earlier up north. With the revised Indian Act of 1951 students began integrating into provincial school systems. A series of government reports in the late 1960s condemned the remaining residential schools, including the Hawthorn Report, titled “A Survey of the Contemporary Indians of Canada”. In 1972, in response to the Canadian government’s 1969 White Paper, the National Indian Brotherhood released Indian Control of Indian Education, a policy which Canada’s Department of Indian Affairs accepted. This Brotherhood is now called the Assembly of First Nations.

Do any of these schools still exist?

In Canada, the answer is no - “the last federally-funded residential school, Marieval Indian Residential School located on the Cowessess 73 reserve in Marieval, Saskatchewan, was closed in 1997” (Wikipedia).

In America, “the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education [BIE] still directly operates four off-reservation boarding schools in Oklahoma, California, Oregon, and South Dakota. According to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS), a Native-run nonprofit, 15 boarding schools and 73 total schools with federal funding remain open as of 2021” (Blakemore). Of these schools still in operation in the U.S., “attendance is no longer mandatory, and Native children are not forced to be Christian in non-Christian boarding schools” (Smith).

Today in the U.S., “the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) currently supports 183 schools on 64 reservations in 23 states, with 48,000 students in total. Of these 183 schools, 59 are operated directly by the BIE and 124 are operated by local tribal school boards” (The Red Road).

“Carlisle Indian School, Carlisle, PA, class in English or Penmanship”. Library of Congress. No known copyright restrictions.

What kind of records can be found today?

• U.S. government records from the National Archives and the Bureau of Indian Affairs:

  • National Archives: BIA Schools

  • National Archives: Native American School Records

• Other U.S. government resources:

  • Bureau of Indian Affairs: Document Library

  • Bureau of Indian Education

  • Digital Public Library of America

  • Library of Congress: Classroom Materials: Native American Boarding Schools

  • Library of Congress: Native American Education in Chronicling America

  • Library of Congress: Digital Collections: Indian Schools

• Canadian government resources:

  • Library and Archives Canada: Residential Schools Collection

  • Indigenous Services Canada (ISC)

  • Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC)

• School records transferred to other University collections, or resources created by colleges and universities:

  • American Indians of the Pacific Northwest, by University of Washington Digital Collections

  • Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions, Marquette University

  • Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center, by Dickinson College

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison Library Digital Collections: History Collection, search for “Indian School”

• Resources from groups researching these schools:

  • The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition: Resource Database Center

  • National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation: Archives, University of Manitoba, Canada

• Records from local historical and genealogical societies:

  • Iroquois Genealogy Society: School Records

  • Oklahoma Historical Society: American Indian Records

• Museum records and digital archive collections:

  • Genoa U.S. Indian School Foundation Museum

  • The Indigenous Digital Archive, by the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, New Mexico

  • The Sherman Indian Museum Archive collection at Calisphere

• Various online reports and collections:

  • “Are the Eastern Industrial Training Schools for Indian Children a Failure?” by the Indian Rights Association, 1880, found on the Internet Archive

  • Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories

  • Student Snapshots: An Alternative Approach to the Visual History of American Indian Boarding Schools

  • The Native American, Volume 7, by Phoenix Indian School, on the Internet Archive

  • “United States Industrial School, Carlisle, PA”, from the Internet Archive

The above links are just a sampling of what you may find. You may also be able to locate records held by the schools themselves, as some of these schools continue to operate under different models and may have their own historical repositories. Additional records may be held by Indigenous tribes, and also various church affiliations that ran the schools. Another suggestion would be historic newspapers.

Tip: If you come across websites that no longer exist, see if they can be accessed through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

What about records of the students that died?

Sadly, “thousands of children died in residential schools and their bodies rarely returned home. Many were buried in neglected graves…there are no available records to mark their identities” (Honderich).

Still, researchers are working hard to put together facts and identify the deceased. A few years ago, “in 2019 the [Canadian] government committed C$33.8m ($28m; £19.8m) over three years to develop and maintain a school student death register and set up an online registry of residential school cemeteries” (Honderich). The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada is developing this, which you can now search by name or school:

National Student Memorial Register: https://nctr.ca/memorial/

Sources:

Blakemore, Erin. “A century of trauma at U.S. boarding schools for Native American children”. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/a-century-of-trauma-at-boarding-schools-for-native-american-children-in-the-united-states Accessed 22 July 2021.

Callimachi, Rukmini. “Lost Lives, Lost Culture: The Forgotten History of Indigenous Boarding Schools” New York Times. 19 July 2021. Updated 20 July 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/19/us/us-canada-indigenous-boarding-residential-schools.html Accessed 23 July 2021.

Honderich, Holly. “Why Canada is mourning the deaths of hundreds of children” BBC News. 15 July 2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57325653 Accessed 22 July 2021.

Smith, Andrea. “Indigenous Peoples and Boarding Schools: A comparative study” The UN. 26 January 2009. https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/IPS_Boarding_Schools.pdf Accessed 23 July 2021.

The Red Road contributors. “Education of the First People”. The Red Road. https://theredroad.org/issues/native-american-education/ Accessed 23 July 2021.

Wikipedia contributors. “Canadian Indian Residential School System”: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_residential_school_system Accessed 23 July 2021.

Volunteer Opportunities for Genealogists

A quick post today highlighting the many volunteer opportunities for genealogists of varying skill levels. The majority are transcribing projects that can be done online from the comfort of your home, whenever you have time. Others are more general, like volunteering at your local genealogical library, or teaching a class at a nearby community college, and may have to wait until your community allows more in-person activities.

Working on transcriptions is a great way to improve your own skills, and volunteering within your community is a wonderful way to make personal connections and network. Not to mention the value of helping others, and the benefits of improving records to everyone researching their family history.

Personally I am so grateful to everyone that’s ever spent time transcribing and indexing records to make it easier for everyone to search and find what they need. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Specific Opportunities

• Bible Rescue - This nonprofit out of Utah finds family bibles, records the information in them, and attempts to return them to relatives. Email them to find out how you can help from home.

• Beyond Borders: Transcribing Historic Maine Land Documents - A zooniverse research project to assist the Maine Historical Society.

• Citizen Archivist at the National Archives - Comment, transcribe, tag, and contribute to the National Archives Catalog. Note that NARA also has several in-person volunteer opportunities that are currently suspended due to the virus.

• Crowd Source Indexing - Various projects and various language transcription projects.

• Digital Maine Transcription Project - Assist with Maine records.

• Europeana Transcribe - Register for a free Transcribathon account and work on various projects from across Europe.

• Every Name Counts - A zooniverse project creating a memorial for victims of National Socialism.

• FamilySearch Indexing Projects - help FamilySearch index records from various countries.

• FromthePage.com - Sign up for a free account to help crowdsource various transcriptions for notable libraries, universities, museums, and others.

• Library and Archives Canada: Co-Lab - Help preserve Canada’s historical documents and make them accessible to all.

• Library of Congress Campaigns -Work on projects for the Library of Congress, from the papers of suffragists and poets to presidents.

• Measuring the Anzacs (New Zealand) - Another zooniverse project to help record the men and women of New Zealand in World War I

• Ohio Memory Transcriptions - Transcribe some collections from Ohio.

• Royal British Columbia Museum Transcribe - Various transcription projects for the Royal BC Museum in Victoria.

• Smithsonian Digital Volunteers: Transcription Center - Assist the Smithsonian with assorted projects.

• University of Iowa Digital Library: DIY History - Register to transcribe for the library, as well as commenting and tagging their digital photos.

• Washington State Archives - Create a free Scribe account to help the WA State Archives transcribe public records.

• World Memory Project from Ancestry.com and the US Holocaust Museum

General Ideas

• Contact your local genealogical society. If you have technology skills, you can help with their website, newsletter, or mailing list. You may consider serving on the board or being an officer. Many genealogical societies also maintain a library that needs volunteers.

• Reach out to your local history museum or historical society for volunteer opportunities.

• Your local State Archives often have a volunteer program

• Your local library may have a need for genealogists.

• Teach a class or a workshop, or give a presentation, through your nearby community college, local library. genealogical society or history society.

• Know another language? Help translate documents for others through social media requests (see our page on Facebook Groups)

• Assist someone with their lineage membership application.

• Search thrift stores and used book stores for family history books, and attempt to reunite them with descendants.

• Volunteer with one of the many genealogy conferences (there are sometimes added benefits like free admission or networking opportunities).

• Contribute to FindaGrave.com by photographing and transcribing gravestones not yet on the site.

• National Genealogical Society - contact them for opportunities on various projects or to help with their conference.

• Search Angels - A nonprofit, volunteer run genealogy service that requires background checks of it’s volunteers (currently a waitlist).

• Volunteer with one of the many genealogy conferences (there are sometimes added benefits like free admission or networking opportunities).

How do you volunteer your time? Do you know of more projects available to genealogists? Leave a comment here or on our Facebook post.

See also: Transcribing Records and Handwriting

Passenger Lists: The Meaning Behind the Notations, Abbreviations, and Marks

When you look at a list of passengers arriving at a port in the U.S., you’ll see the names of those traveling on the ship, as well as their ages, the port and country they departed from, and perhaps their place of birth. It might show how much money they arrived with in their pockets. They may have given a name and address of their connection in the country (which weren’t always factual), if they are able to read and write in English, their race, if they are married or single, their occupation, and their intended destination. That’s a lot of valuable information for a genealogist.

However, if you’re not taking a look at the notations, abbreviations, and marks on the page you might be missing even more. Perhaps the person listed on the manifest never even made it on board the ship!

In this post we’ll go over some of the more prolific abbreviations and markings, including:

• Ditto or Quotation Marks

• USB (U.S. Born) or USC (U.S. Citizen)

• S.I. (Special Inquiry) and “X” and Several Reasons for Being Held (Husb., Bro, LPC, Under 16, Tel, Tel $, Med, DCD, LCD, No Boat)

• Line Through Names

• Not on the Ship (DNS or Did Not Sail; NOB or Not On Board; NS or Not Shipped)

• Naturalization Numbers

• DEP

While there were some discrepancies between ports and variations between years, you should be able to determine the meaning behind the markings in this post. You should also check out “A Guide to Interpreting Passenger List Annotations” by Marian Smith, available on JewishGen.org, for a more in-depth, qualified analysis of these and other notations and markings. Marian L. Smith, though recently retired, was the senior historian at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), previously Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), having joined the later in 1988 as their first historian (SHFG.org).

Ditto or Quotation Marks

Let’s start with an easy one that you’ve likely come across before in your work - things that mean “ditto” or “same as above”. This could be a quotation mark (or typed as _”_ or double quotation marks, ), the word “ditto”, or ditto abbreviated as “do”, or another letter or symbol (like the letter “V”). In the image below, what do you see?

In this early passenger list, you’ll see quotation marks meaning “ditto” or same as listed above, in the Name column, the Sex, Country to which they severally belong, and Country of which they intend to become inhabitants. Note while there is empty space in the Occupation column, there is no mark - so only the first passenger, Patrick, is a confirmed Blacksmith... Ancestry.com, Massachusetts, U.S. Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists. 1833, Oct, All Arrivals. [Database-on-line] Provo, UT. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2006.

In many pages, you’ll note multiple forms of this. You may see quotation marks used in one column, and “ditto” or “do” in another for example.

In the left column it says “U.S. born” and underneath the abbreviation “do” for “ditto” is written three times. Would you have noticed all of the Di Lorenzo children where born in the U.S. looking at this? There are also quotation marks meaning same as above / child in the far right column... Ancestry.com, New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957. Year: 1905; Arrival: New York, New York, USA; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Line: 1, Page Number: 41.[Database-on-line] Provo, UT. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

U.S.B. or U.S.C

In addition to “U.S. Born” (shown in image above) you may see “U.S.B.”. Also “U.S.C” for United States Citizen (See Smith’s section on “Annotations Regarding Nationality and Citizenship”).

Special Inquiry or “X”

A Special Inquiry meant cause for further examination, usually in the form of more interviews by officials or doctors. May show as the initials “S.I.” or “B.S.I.” for Board of Special Inquiry. May be a stamp of “Admitted” or “Deported” on or above the initials. Appears in the left column before the name.

Note on the left hand side, the initials “S.I.” with the word “admitted” stamped on them. FamilySearch.org, New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909; 1925-1957. Vol 8222-8224 Jan 5, 1925. Image 25.

While Special Inquiry means they were sent for a hearing or trial, an “X” in the far left column usually means they were just detained for a brief while (See further below: Husb, Bro, Tel, Tel $, or No Boat). Instead of an “X” you may see a “D” for “Detained” but depending on the port, those detained might also be subjected to a hearing.

Several reasons an alien would be held for Special Inquiry or Detained:

• Women (or children) waiting for someone to meet them. You may see “Husb” or “Bro” indicating their husband or brother was on their way to pick them up, as women were generally not allowed to travel alone. These passengers were likely detained for a short time.

• “LPC” or Likely Public Charge, or those likely to become a burden to tax payers. Many reasons for LPC like being a single woman, not having enough money, or having a medical condition. Could be grounds for deportation.

• Similarly “Under 16” was indicative of minor children not traveling to reunite with a parent.

• “Tel” or “Tel $” meaning Telegram, meaning they didn’t have sufficient funds to travel to their intended destination, and they sent a telegram requesting money from a relative or someone else.

• “MED” or medical reasons. These people may have been sent to hospitals or local medical buildings (some ports like Ellis Island had their own) or in some cases deported. You may also see D.C.D or L.C.D. for Loathsome or Dangerous Contagious Disease.

• “No boat”, meaning a smaller boat wasn’t available to take them to shore or the dock just yet, and they had to wait.

• “STOW”, a stowaway, usually deported.

This list above is not complete. For example, an immigrant may have been rejected for being a criminal or anarchist. Explore more reasons on Smith’s “Causes (Grounds) for Exclusion Noted on BSI Lists, ca. 1903-1924”.

In New York passenger lists, you may see a separate form (“Record of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry”) that may explain the charge for special inquiry, note the meals served (which can give you an idea how long they stayed if it doesn’t say elsewhere), and the resolution of the inquiry. These forms began in 1903 (Smith).

View fullsize

On a separate page, the reason Mr. Kenneb was held for Special Inquiry looks like “LPC” or Likely Public Charge. Though the ship arrived on January 6th, he had his initial hearing on the 7th, had a rehearing on the 9th, and was admitted on the 10th. If you visit the link for this image you’ll see he was fed three meals four times each. FamilySearch.org, New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909; 1925-1957. Vol 8222-8224. Jan 5, 1925. Image 37.

In the above image, under the heading “Actions of the Boards of Special Inquiry”, you may have noted referrals to page numbers, followed by the initials of the recording secretary. These court records, or transcripts of the inquiry by this secretary, “for the vast majority of immigrants who had BSI hearings were destroyed long ago” (Smith). Read more about this on the “Records of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry” page on JewishGen.org, where the aforementioned writings of Marian L. Smith are shared.

She also notes that, in addition to New York, records exist for Philadelphia’s detained immigrants from 1882 to 1909, with “some, dating from 1893 to 1909, are on microfilm as National Archives publication M1500. The majority remain in hard copy at the Regional Archives in Philadelphia” (Smith).

Line Through the Name

I noticed this example in a passenger list for my great-grandfather, shown below. I was not expecting to see his son (Vincenzo Costa) on the list as one of the crossed out names. This means they intended to sail together and purchased a ticket for him, but for whatever unknown reason did not.

In the above image, there are three names crossed out. To the left it reads “Not on boat”. Ancestry.com, New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957. Year: 1905; Arrival: New York, New York, USA; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Line: 11; Page Number: 25. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Note that a crossed out name could also mean they did in fact sail but were recorded on another passenger list or section, like a lower class part of the ship (often called 2nd class or steerage). Usually there’s some clarification on the same line or page as to the reason there was a line through the name. In the image above, to the left of the name we see “Not on boat”, without an explanation as to why.

Not on the Ship

In the case the person listed on the passenger list was never actually on board, like above, you may see the abbreviations D.N.S. for Did Not Sail; N.O.B. for Not on Board; or N.S. for Not Shipped. Other examples are Not on Boat or Failed to Join. Historian Marian Smith notes “perhaps they missed the ship, or changed their travel plans, or became ill and health officials prevented them from boarding the ship" (Smith). Passenger lists were created by the steamship companies before the boats even left, and had to be corrected later to make sure these companies were charged the correct amount of tax.

Check additional passenger records in case the individual made other travel plans.

Similar to “Not on Board”, this list has a line through a name with the stamp “Failed to Join”. Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957. Year: 1936; Arrival: London and Plymouth, England; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Line: 1; Page Number: 21. Ship: American Banker.

Naturalization Numbers

Some notations could even be done many years later when an alien applied for a passport or citizenship. While a record of immigration wasn’t required for naturalization until 1906, notations were not generally made until 1926 to cut down on fraud (Smith). Annotating these passenger lists helped prevent other people from using the same name and information when applying to be a citizen.

These naturalization numbers may be written by the passenger’s name, but are more likely to the right under nationality. There may be a date, either referring to the date the information was verified, or the date of naturalization. You may also see “NAT” or a similar abbreviation before the number.

The number itself may refer to the number on the passenger’s naturalization certificate. Other numbers written adjacent may refer to the location of the court where the person was naturalized. These numbers can sometimes be used to help track down your ancestor’s naturalization papers (see Marian Smith’s explanation and District Key Number Tables).

Sidenote: Personally I have not come across these type of annotations very much, if at all, aside from the examples in Smith’s article. If you come across naturalization numbers in your research please send me a link to the list!

Did your ancestor apply for citizenship in 1943 or later, and you’re wondering why you don’t see naturalization numbers on their passenger list? It’s probably because “the passenger lists were microfilmed in 1942/43, so records of immigrants who arrived earlier but did not begin the naturalization process until after 1942 could not be annotated” (Smith).

These naturalization numbers should not be confused with Permit or Verification of Landing markings, which may also appear in the name column, and usually have a “P” or ‘V / L” before the set of numbers. Read more about these notations for immigrants wishing to travel in the page on JewishGen titled “Markings in the Manifest’s Name Column” by Marian Smith.

DEP (Deportable / Deported)

In between the Family Name and Given Name, we see the initials "“DEP”. Ancestry.com, Massachusetts, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1963. Record Group Number: 85; Series Number: T843; NARA Roll Number: 291. [Database-on-line]. Provo, UT. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2006.

The abbreviation “DEP” likely stands for Deportable / Deported. These markings are done on individuals only in the U.S. for a short time.

Other Annotations

Are there other abbreviations or annotations still undeciphered on your passenger list? Look at the name of the immigration official listed at the end or on a following page and see if the initials match.

Also, as mentioned before, be sure to check Marian L. Smith’s guide (linked below).

I’d love to see more examples as you come across them. Use the Contact form in the left navigation to send me a note with the link, and any questions.

Sources and Additional References:

Alzo, Lisa. “Beyond The Arrival Date: Extracting More from Immigrant Passenger Lists.” Archives.com. 20 December 2011, archives.com/experts/alzo-lisa/immigrant-passenger-lists.html. Accessed 21 May 2021.

Powell, Kimberley. “U.S. Passenger List Annotations and Markings”. Thoughtco.com. 30 July 2018. thoughtco.com/us-passenger-list-annotations-and-markings-1422263. Accessed 21 May 2021.

Smith, Marian. “A Guide to Interpreting Passenger List Annotations”. JewishGen.org jewishgen.org/infofiles/manifests. Accessed 20 May 2021.

Society for History in the Federal Government. “2019 Roger Trask Award Winner Marian L. Smith”. SHFG.org. shfg.org/page-18338. Accessed 20 May 2021.

Further Research

Library and Archives Canada. “Terminology and Abbreviations”. https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/Pages/terminology-abbreviations.aspx

Strategies to Get Family History Information (and Photos) from Your Relatives

Do you ever have the feeling your relatives are holding out on you? You just know they’ve got a box of family photos somewhere they’re either to lazy to find or to reluctant to share for some reason…

Or maybe you’re planning on attending a family reunion soon now that things are starting to open back up, and you know it would be a great opportunity to gather some family history, but you’re not sure how to go about it?

Do NOT send them a blank genealogical form to fill out - let’s just get that out of the way first. It’s tedious, and people have genuine (and legitimate) privacy concerns when it comes to sharing personal information, like their mother’s maiden name or their birthdate. It’s important to respect your relatives’ wishes, especially your living relatives, and never publicly share their information without their permission. When asking for their information, be clear with your intentions regarding your plans for the info they share with you. For example, if you plan to assemble all the data into a family history book that will be distributed among family, let them know and ask if they would like to be included.

The Strategies

1. Make yourself known to everyone as “the family historian”.

This may seem simple, but it works! When relatives know you value family history, they’re more likely to share with you. And if their children don’t want a family heirloom, they may think of you to inherit it.

You can make yourself known as the family historian by expressing interest when your relatives share stories or photos. Also share stories of your own discoveries, and ask questions about things you genuinely want to know.

2. Be clear about what you want

“An Antebellum era (pre-civil war) family bible dating to 1859” photo by David Ball, Wikimedia Commons, CC by SA 3.0.

Not everyone understands what kind of things would be valuable to a genealogist. Ask for specific items. Is there a Family Bible? Can I make a copy of your wedding certificate? Do you have your parent’s naturalization papers? Have a look at our list of home sources for inspiration.

3. Bring a notebook to family events

Whether it’s a family reunion, wedding, or even a funeral, bring a small notebook with you - but be tactful about it. In my experience people love sharing family stories and memories at events like these. Write down important names, dates, and locations. Later, when you have a moment to yourself, write down what you remember from the stories in greater detail.

You could also use your phone as a recording device when people are feeling chatty, with their permission of course (though it might be hard to get a quality recording in a loud, crowded event).

4. Share what you DO know

Not only does this strategy give others the opportunity to “fill in the gaps” of missing information, it allows them to offer corrections. And people love correcting others!

Be careful not to overwhelm someone with too much information. Rather than sharing your whole family tree, break it down into smaller sections based on your audience. Write up a summary of one family at a time, and include dates of important events (like births and weddings) and relationships (parents, spouses, children, and so on). Keep it simple and easy to read.

Print it out (in extra large print if your audience is older) and hand it to them with a pencil or pen so they can easily make notes. Or mail / e-mail your summary.

I would include a list of sources, and offer to show them any if they have questions.

5. Conversely, share what you DON’T know

Give your relatives a specific mission they can help you with, or a problem they might be able to solve. For example, I told my Aunt I had never seen a picture of my paternal great grandmother, and in just a few days she was able to provide one to me!

6. Give them time to prepare before a visit

Just a simple heads up, like “Hey grandma, I was wondering if you could find the family photo albums before I visit this weekend?” has a much higher success rate than asking for family photos after you arrive. They may have forgotten where they stored something, or need time to organize their collection of photos. Or they may even have personal items, like birth certificates, held in storage at a bank and need time to retrieve them.

7. Bring scanning devices with you every time you visit (or use your phone)!

There are some relatives I only have the opportunity to visit with once or twice a year, and I always pack my little portable scanner and laptop with me when I go, and have had many successful trips in which I gained new photos and valuable information. I like this Brother mobile scanner (Amazon affiliate link).

I’ve discovered people, in general, are much more likely to allow you to scan a photo or document and immediately hand it back to them, then they are likely to let you leave their sight with anything. If someone said to you, “Hey, can I make a copy of your wedding certificate right now?” versus “Hey can I have your wedding certificate? I’ll return it to you as soon as I can.” Which option would you rather do?

I’ve also found that scanning items, like photos, in front of someone allows them time and motivation to discuss the photos with you. They can help identify people, tell you details about what’s going on in the picture, and offer stories you may not have heard before.

If it’s too difficult to bring a scanner and a laptop with you on your visit, or too hard to take photos off the wall and out of their frames (or perhaps the photo is too big for your scanner), you could take pictures with your phone. Some phones also have scanning features (with an iPhone, use the Notes app), or other scanning apps may be available to download.

Be sure to write detailed notes to help identify the items in the photographs, and transcribe any details. Take great care when scanning, and never write on documents or photos.

8. Ask for photographs of family heirlooms

“United States Military Medals & Insignia” from Flickr user Gary Todd, public domain. Items like military medals may be passed down within families, and could provide clues to a person’s military service.

People like to hold on to things, especially family treasures. They may not have even told anyone what they have in their possession for fear someone might try to claim it as their own. Or perhaps they have an item or two passed down to them that they’re holding on to for their own children, like a quilt their grandmother made or a family recipe book.

If you are visiting, ask them if they have any such items and carefully photograph them, while asking for information about the object. When you get home you can add the photo to your inventory, labeled, with the story attached. If you live to far to visit, ask them if they wouldn’t mind taking a photo or two of the object to send for your reference.

Some items can help us in our genealogy research by offering clues, like an engraved pocket watch, a high school ring, or a military medal. Other items, like a wedding dress, can be a bit more sentimental. All of these items offer a tangible connection to the past and give us context about how how our ancestors lived their lives.

9. Create a Facebook Group for your relatives

This strategy has been the most successful for me, though it’s worked better for one side of my family than the other. Facebook is free to join, and you are allowed to create as many groups as you’d like. Many of your family (especially the older generations) are probably already members.

I setup the group so that each family has their own photo album within the page. Anyone within the group can contribute and comment on photos, or share anything they want. I have the group set to “private” so that no tags or comments will show up to others outside of the group - but be aware people in the group can still download the photos and upload them anywhere they wish.

Note that Facebook does not automatically upload high resolution photos, this is a setting you have to manually select. Not everyone will remember to do this, but you can always request higher quality copies of originals from the person who posted them (or scan them yourself on your next visit), now that you know who has them!

I’ve seen so many new photos of my ancestors, gotten help identifying some old photos, and learned some interesting stories with this method and highly recommend it.

10. Reach out to everyone

Usually our instinct is to reach out to the older members of our family, but we can’t overlook the younger generations. They may have inherited photo albums, quilts, dishes, or other family artifacts. They may have their own memories to share with you, or new information to tell. Be sure to reach out to descendants of divorced marriages, and second or third marriages as well (or even those of second families or out-of-marriage offspring). Everyone has a story to share, and we need all sides of a story to form a complete picture.

Box of old photos. How great would it be to get something like this from a relative? Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

Keep detailed notes about where you got your information, including what was said, who shared it with you, and when. Always cite your sources and keep records.

We do not write on photographs or documents. Take care when handling them, and preserve them when possible.

Show your appreciation with a thank you note. If they give you a whole treasure box of photos or documents, maybe send them a gift as well!

AncestryDNA Giveaway!

UPDATE MAY 2021: This giveaway has ended, congratulations to our winner!

It’s a beautiful day for a giveaway! Starting today, there’s a chance to win a free AncestryDNA kit (valued at $99), on our Facebook page!

This kit includes the saliva collection tube along with instructions on where to send the sample. After you send it in, the company will use an autosomal test to compare your genetics with those of other populations, to give you an ethnicity estimate. You’ll also see a list of your DNA Matches, or those who also took this test and share a certain percentage of DNA with you. Make new family connections, learn about your likely ethnicity, and improve your research - all with this tiny little box.

View the rules and how to enter below - good luck!

The actual ancestryDNA kit I’ll send you in the mail! (No computer, table, or anything else in the image included in the giveaway, duh.)

How to Enter:

1) Comment on this Facebook post announcing the contest, answering the question: “What geographic regions or countries do you THINK you inherited your DNA from?”

And optionally - if you have taken a DNA test before, did the results match your assumptions?

And be sure to like our Facebook page!

Rules:

• Giveaway ends Friday, April 30th, 2021 at 11:59 pm PT.

• Open to all residents of the United States; 18 or older (or age of majority in their state of residence, whichever is greater) with a mailing address able to receive packages. Winner may be required to verify age upon request.

• Winner will be picked randomly from all entries received. Only one winner will be chosen. Odds of winning depend on number of entries received.

• Winner will be notified privately via Facebook messenger (not announced on our sites publicly), and must respond with a proper mailing address within 2 days or prize will be forfeited and given to runner up. Your address will not be used for any means other than sending you the prize.

• No cash prize alternative.

Disclaimers:

• This contest is in no way affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Ancestry.com. All product names, logos, brands, and trademarks are property of their respective owners.

• In order to use the DNA test, you must adhere to Ancestry.com’s terms and conditions which may require you to create an account.

• This contest is not affiliated with Facebook.com or Squarespace.com.

• This AncestryDNA kit was purchased in October 2020. We are not responsible for any results of the test, or issues.

• We are not responsible for any items lost, stolen, or damaged in the shipping process.

Read more about DNA Testing

Irish Records Part 2: Census Records and Parish Records (and Facebook Groups!)

In my previous post, “How to Find Irish Genealogy Records, Part 1: Civil Records”, I discussed the importance of determining which civil registration district your Irish ancestors are from, and how to use this information to find civil records of their birth, marriage, or death. In part 2, I’ll be exploring Irish census records (along with a couple census substitute options: the Griffith’s Valuation and the Tithe Applotment Books) as well as parish records.

Background image: “Cliffs of Moher, Liscannor, Ireland” via flickr user Giuseppe Milo, CC 2.0.

I’ve also included a summary of Irish genealogy Facebook pages and groups (for generic research and by specific county or location). I love connecting with other researchers, and people in these groups can often help guide you in the right direction or offer a new way of looking at things. You may even find relatives or those researching the same surnames (be sure to try The Irish Surname Registry FB group).

We can’t talk about Ireland’s genealogy records without acknowledgement of the incredible loss that occurred in 1922, when the Public Records Office (PRO) became a casualty of the Irish Civil War. In April of 1922, a group of Irish Republican Army (IRA) militants, opposed to the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty signed following the Irish War of Independence against Britain, took hold of the Four Courts buildings, where the PRO was located. This group of Anti-Treatists mostly wanted an Ireland that was independent, and not a domain of the British government (like Canada is today). They demanded a constitution that did not require it’s government to swear an oath of allegiance to the British Crown. And though the Provisional Government of Ireland attempted to remove this requirement through negotiations with the British, they failed.

In June of 1922, an explosion (possibly of stored ammunition) destroyed the Public Records Office of Ireland (PROI) in the Four Courts buildings in Dublin, Ireland, during the Battle of Dublin and the start of the Irish Civil War. Centuries worth of Ireland’s historical records were lost in this event. Flickr user: National Library of Ireland. No known copyright restrictions.

Under threat of invasion from the British, the Provisional Government of Ireland used their National Army, along with weapons supplied by the British, to begin a battle against the Anti-Treaty IRA group at the Four Courts. At some point during this fight, an explosion and fire would destroy the Public Records Office, though which side is to blame - and what exactly happened - remains a controversial subject. Nonetheless, a remarkable amount of Irish records were lost, and what followed would become the Irish Civil War.       

• Read: “What really happened in the Four Courts at the start of the Civil War” by Michael Fewer for The Irish Times, 3 December 2018

What was destroyed? Unfortunately, “census records for the whole of the 19th century going back to the first in 1821 were incinerated. Chancery records, detailing British rule in Ireland going back to the 14th century and grants of land by the crown, were also destroyed along with thousands of wills and title deeds. The records of various chief secretaries to Ireland and centuries of Church of Ireland parish registers vanished in the fire.” (Ronan McGreevy for The Irish Times, 5 Dec 2019) 

The loss, however, is not insurmountable. There are records that survived the fire, as well as records that were never in harm's way. There are efforts to digitally rebuild what was lost through Trinity College’s Beyond 2022 project, which aims to be available to the public on the 100th anniversary of the fire, June 30, 2022. And there are a variety of substitutes that can be used in place of the missing information.

With this knowledge in mind, let’s explore the various census records (and substitutes), and church records available to those of us researching our Irish ancestors.

Irish Census Records

The first place you should check for census records is The National Archives of Ireland which holds the 1901 and 1911 census returns for all 32 counties (pre-partition), and it’s all available online at no cost! Amazing. You can browse these records by place (Year > County > DED > Townland or Streets) or search the census records with many filter options. Results should return both a transcription and a PDF image of the scan.    

Tips: If your ancestor doesn’t appear on the census, check returns of institutions from boarding schools or asylums to prisons or hospitals. If you think they may have emigrated before the census, search for family members that may have stayed behind. 

For all other available census years (1821, 1831, 1841, 1851), only fragments of each have survived, largely in part due to the PRO fire.

Census Year	What Survived
1821	Parts of Cavan, Fermanagh, Galway, King’s (Offaly), Meath counties. Also mentioned: Antrim, Carlow, Dublin, Kilkenny, Limerick, Mayo.
1831	Parts of Londonderry (Derry)
1841	Killeshandra, County Cavan. (National Archives also say Cork, Fermanagh, and Waterford).
1851	Parts of County Antrim. (N.A. also lists Fermanagh, Belfast city, one ward only, and Dublin City, index to heads of household only).

(Data in above chart from Findmypast and National Archives)

What remains can also be searched at The National Archives and is also available (free with registration) on both FamilySearch and FindMyPast: 

• FindMyPast: Ireland Census 1821-1851

• FamilySearch: Ireland Census, 1821

• FamilySearch: Ireland Census, 1831

• FamilySearch: Ireland Census, 1841

• Family Search: Ireland Census, 1851

According to The National Archives, “the original census returns for 1861 and 1871 were destroyed shortly after the censuses were taken. Those for 1881 and 1891 were pulped during the First World War, probably because of the paper shortage.” (census.nationalarchives.ie)

Wait, did the Irish government really destroy the 1861 and 1871 census on purpose? Why? According to Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO) it was a matter of early public data privacy protection,  with the records destroyed to “protect confidentiality and to ensure that ‘returns should not be used for the gratification of curiosity”, as they had seen done before by the British Government. Though “in England and Wales the data had been transcribed into census enumerators' books for future preservation, before the original household returns for those countries were destroyed. Unfortunately, no such policy had been followed in Ireland.” (cso.ie)

No census was taken in 1921 due to the War of Independence. There was a census taken in 1926, the first taken by the Irish Free State, and it should be released to the public in January of 2027. 

Copies of some records are also held at the Public Records Office for Northern Ireland (PRONI) and the General Register Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI), but no valuable census data online from what I can tell.

Census Substitutes

We can look at land surveys, tax records, and other data to fill in the gaps from missing census records. A few of these sources include the Griffith’s Valuation, the Revision Books, and the Tithe Applotment Books.

Griffith’s Valuation of Ireland

Griffith’s Valuation was a national survey from 1848 to 1864 for all 32 counties, to determine the property and land value across all of Ireland, so they could properly assess the taxes (or “poor rate”) that supported the poor within each Poor Law Union. It was conducted by Ireland’s Valuation Office, led by it’s Commissioner at the time, Richard Griffith. These tenement valuations were organized by county, and took over a decade to complete. They will not list the whole family living in a building, but only the “occupier”, which is typically the head of household, and the “lessor”, or the landlord.   

These records are available to search online, for free, on Ask About Ireland. They are also on the following sites for free with registration:

• FamilySearch: Ireland, Valuation Office Books, 1831-1856

• Find my past: Griffith’s Valuation 1847 - 1864

Note that the Ask About Ireland website uses maps from a later time period, while Find My Past uses the original maps that correspond with the original valuations. I like the in-depth explanation by John Grenham on Irish Ancestors about this, Griffith’s Valuation Online.     

Also worth mentioning are the Valuation Office Revision Books (or “Cancellation” Books), which are copies of the Griffith’s Valuation records that recorded changes over the years, from ownership or occupancy to changes in buildings, size of the land, or values of the buildings or land. They are available for free online for Northern Ireland at PRONI for the years 1864 through 1933. For Ireland, it’s a bit more difficult to access these records. You can actually visit Ireland and go to the Valuation Office to see the records in person (when they are opened to the public), or order copies of the book(s) you need from Timeline.ie assuming you have confirmed knowledge of your ancestor’s home address.

Tithe Applotment Books

The Tithe Applotment Books show a record of the taxes paid to the Church of Ireland from anyone that owned land in agricultural areas, or rented farm lands, from mostly 1823 - 1838. These records do not show urban areas like cities or towns. Records only show the head of household, not other members of the family.  Records are available online, for free:  

• National Archives of Ireland: Tithe Applotment Books, Search

• FamilySearch: Ireland Tithe Applotment Books, 1814-1855

• County Clare Library: County Clare Tithe Applotment Books: Surname Index

• Northern Ireland PRONI eCatalogue search (Select Browse, enter PRONI reference “FIN/5”, and select FIN/5 in results to see what’s available. Click in a PRONI reference to see more detailed records. Click “view” to see digital record).

Church Records

Religious denominations in Ireland’s history include Roman Catholic (RC), Church of Ireland (COI), Irish Church, Church of England, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Jewish, Society of Friends, Lutheran, and many more. Since civil registration in Ireland didn’t start until 1864, church records may be the only record of your ancestor’s life prior to that time. They may include baptism records, marriage records, and sometimes burial records. You may also find other types of records, like meeting notes or marriage banns. 

St. Patrick’s Cathedral (Church of Ireland), in Armagh, Northern Ireland. Wikipedia user: JohnArmagh, CC BY-SA 4.0. There is another St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Amagh, that belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, on a nearby hill.

The Church of Ireland (COI) was the Established Church, or State Church, from 1536 through 1870. You may see these referred to as “Anglican” records. As they were the official church, they may hold records for many that were of other religions, and should be searched regardless of your ancestor’s religious affiliations. 

Tip: Looking for marriage records? Remember marriages, even today, often take place near the bride’s home, or near the family of the bride.

Generally records were kept at the individual parish level, though the Church of Ireland considered the records of their parishes as state property. In 1876 they ordered records to be sent to the Public Records Office (PRO), which would later be destroyed in 1922 during the start of the Irish Civil War. Fortunately some records were kept by local parishes, and some parishes created transcripts or copies before sending the originals to the domed Public Record Office.   

Note that in Ireland, a “Civil Parish” is an administrative form of land division, and not related to religion (though the Church of Ireland generally used these boundaries, sometimes combining multiple civil parish areas into a union). However you can use your ancestor’s location in a civil parish to cross-reference other maps and church locations, to try and figure out which church your ancestors may have attended. A few sites that help you do this include swilson.info and John Grenham’s Irish Ancestors.

How to Find Irish Genealogy Records, Part 1: Civil Records

In these two posts (part 1 and 2), I’ll be sharing several of the best ways to research your Irish ancestors online. For Ireland, I’ve learned this means mainly looking at civil records, census records (and census substitutes), and church records. The good news is you can actually do a lot of research from your home!

Background image: “Cliffs of Moher, Liscannor, Ireland” via flickr user Giuseppe Milo, CC 2.0. The Cliffs are a famous landmark located on Ireland’s west coast.

Since the Government of Ireland Act of 1920 (which took effect in 1921), Ireland has been divided into the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland, and the 6 counties of Northern Ireland (read more at Wikipedia: Partition of Ireland). Today, the Republic of Ireland is simply called Ireland, and is independent. Northern Ireland is still part of the United Kingdom (and therefore all of their records are held in UK repositories).

Quick tip: For a brief time during the 1920’s and 1930’s, the Republic of Ireland was referred to as the “Irish Free State”, so if you see this term in the U.S. Census records (especially the 1930 U.S. Federal Census) you know your ancestor is from Ireland and not from Northern Ireland!

You may also come across the Irish term “Éire” referring to Ireland, but it is somewhat frowned upon for those outside of Ireland to use this name. Northern Ireland may be referred to as “Ulster”, as the majority, 6 out of 9 counties, of this old province make up Northern Ireland.

Though I don’t want to explore the history of Ireland in today’s post, you should definitely aim for a brief understanding of the major political struggles and violence, as well as the famine years, to help give your ancestor’s lives context (and possibly learn their reasons for emmigration). If you are unfamiliar, here are a few sites that summarize it well:

• “A Brief History of Ireland” from livinginireland.ie

• “Ireland Profile - Timeline” from BBC News

• “Timeline: History of Ireland” from Open.edu

Now it’s important to remember one of the golden rules of genealogy: always work backwards, starting with the most recent records first. So if your Irish ancestors emigrated to America, start with the records you can find here. Look for vital records, census records, naturalization records, immigration records, newspaper records, church records, the whole deal. Build out your family tree, and records for each ancestor, as much as possible before moving on to your search of pre-immigration records.

With all of your research, you should be able to narrow down where in Ireland your ancestors came from, whether it’s a general county or specific address. While U.S. census records may tell you their parent’s country of birth, other records like passenger lists or naturalization papers may offer more detailed information, like last known address or name and address of next of kin in Ireland. If you don’t have much else to go on, a DNA test can usually give you a general county. Your ancestor’s Irish surnames may also hold clues about their location, by researching the surnames’ popularity in certain areas and it’s origination (see Ireland Surname Distribution by County for the 1850’s.

You should also know the names of your ancestor’s family members, especially the parents’ names of your immigrants, so that you can prove any new records you may find are correctly linked to your ancestor.

Quick tip: Knowing that many (but not all) Irish families followed a traditional naming pattern could offer clues into the relatives given names: the first son named after it’s paternal grandfather, for example (for more information, FamilySearch: Ireland Personal Names).

Gather all this relevant information nearby as reference material. It helps to also write out a summary of what you already know, including names, dates, and locations. Then come up with a research plan, with stated goals, and be ready to take notes as you go (including detailed source information).

Okay, let’s talk about Irish records. The three main things you should explore are civil records, census records, and church records - but it’s not all cut and dry. While there’s a lot of information available online, I feel like it’s spread out and buried like a squirrel that hid his nuts all over the yard, and then forgot where he put them!

Understanding Civil Registration Districts, Poor Law Unions, and Townlands

Civil vital records of birth, marriage, and death in Ireland are available from the General Register Office (GRO). They are organized by indexes from the year 1864 on, though non-Catholic marriages are from a bit earlier: 1845 (but don’t forget sometimes Catholics and non-Catholics married each other - and these earlier records also included Catholics who were married by a non-Catholic). Note for records older than this you’ll want to use church records, which we’ll explore in part 2.

Before you search these indexes, you should try to figure out your ancestor’s civil registration district, which was determined by where they lived at the time. Theses indexes that we’ll be searching show the place where the event occurred as this registration district, so knowing this ahead of time will really help us filter and improve results as well as confirm matches.

These districts were also known as Registrar’s Districts, and a bit later Superintendent Registrar’s Districts (SRDs). They did not follow the borders of counties or parishes.

You may also notice them called Poor Law Unions (PLUs) which existed previously (created by the Poor Law Relief Act of 1838), and had the same boundaries as the Registrar’s Districts. PLU’s were usually centered around a workhouse that cared for the poor of the townlands in their area, financed by local taxes, or ‘rates’. After the Medical Charities Act of 1851, these poor law unions were divided into 6 or 7 Dispensary Districts each, with a medical officer in each in charge of caring for his local area. When civil registration was introduced, this medical officer was responsible for filing and recording the births and deaths in his domain. These Dispensary Districts were renamed Superintendent Registrar’s Districts in 1864.

If all this isn’t confusing enough, these districts each contained District Electoral Divisions (DEDs), which are referenced in some records (Griffith’s Valuation, 1901 Census, and 1911 census). On top of everything, some documents still referred to outdated Barony and Parish divisions.

These administrative districts are a separate hierarchy of land division from “Country > Provinces > Counties > Baronies > Civil Parishes > Cities / Towns > Townlands” though there was some border overlap (and this description isn’t perfect, as some townlands included cities or towns, and baronies and parishes are no longer used.).

But here’s the thing - since townlands were the smallest land measurement (they could be as small as a neighborhood or hundreds of acres), if you can determine their townland, then you’ll know which civil registration district they lived in.

Once you learn one of your ancestor’s place names, you’ll have to consult a few different resources and do some cross-referencing to determine their townland, civil registration district, poor law union, and district electoral division, etc. so that you can easily search different types of Irish genealogical records. Utilize maps (modern and historical), townland indexes, and website tools. Some favorites include:

• IreAtlas Townland database

• Irish Townlands (Townlands.ie)

• John Grenham’s Irish Ancestors: Poor Law Union maps

• Placenames database of Ireland (Logainm.ie)

• Registration District Map by Shane Wilson

Searching the Indexes and Finding Civil Records

Now you should have some ideas about where your ancestors lived written down, and you’re ready to search the indexes. They can be found on FamilySearch (free with registration) here:

• FamilySearch: “Ireland Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958”

Tip: Don’t forget to use the women’s maiden name when looking for birth records, and married name when looking for death records! I know it’s a simple tip but I’m surprised how often people forget to do this. More tips should be read here: FamilySearch: Tips on Searching the Civil Registration Indexes).

Next, use the results from the indexes to find the records from the official Ireland’s government portal here:

• IrishGenealogy.ie “Civil Search”

Alternatively, use the index results to order either photocopies of records or official certificates from the General Register Office (GRO) in Dublin.

The GRO is sometimes called the General Register Office of Ireland (GROI) to distinguish from the office of the same in Belfast called General Register Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI). You should recall that records from Northern Ireland post 1922 will be held in GRONI and not in the FamilySearch Civil Registration Indexes linked above.

Additional Civil Records collections

• FamilySearch: “Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620 - 1881”

• Order certificates for Northern Ireland (post 1922) from the (GRONI) General Register Office (Northern Ireland)

• Ancestry.com, $: “Ireland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1620-1911)”

• Findmypast.com, $: Ireland: Birth, Marriage and Death (Parish Registers)

• RootsIreland, $: Civil Record Search

Note Ancestry.com and FindmyPast.com utilize the same records as FamilySearch. However the records from RootsIreland are transcribed from different sources - instead of referencing the certificates to the General Register Offices, the Irish Family History Foundation transcribed from local copies created at the time of registration (parish records) with a few other sources like gravestone inscriptions - making RootsIreland a unique depository.

May the luck of the Irish be with you as you research!

Now available: Part 2: Census Records and Church Records (and Facebook Groups!)

Hidden Source: Frakturs

Do you have Pennsylvania German history in your family? Or German, Swiss, or French ancestors that immigrated to the east coast in the 18th and 19th century? You may be surprised to learn about early American frakturs (pronounced “frok-tours”), a type of folk art often overlooked by genealogists, that may contain important information about these people’s lives.

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From The National Archives: Revolutionary War Frakturs collection on flickr, for Philip Frey of Pennsylvania, ca 1800 - ca 1900. Frakturs in this collection were generally used for bounty-land warrant applications or Revolutionary War pensions, to prove lineage. No known copyright restrictions.

Frakturs were illustrated manuscripts, created from mainly 1740 to 1860, with some as late as 1900. They were made with ink and watercolor, first by hand and later printed and hand-decorated or colored. They were often filled with motifs of angels, tulips and other flowers, hearts, stars, and birds (all of which are open to symbolic interpretation and linked to later prevalence within Dutch hex signs), as well as mythical creatures like mermaids and unicorns, and even a few historical figures like George Washington. 

The name “fraktur” comes from the latin fraktura, meaning a “breaking apart”, referring to the broken or fractured style of writing and similar style to the German typeface of the same name. This style of art was once called Frakturschriften, or “Fraktur Writings” (Library of Congress, Conner, and Roberts). The text was either in German or English, with a main entry in the center and often poems or quotes on the sides.

These frakturs were used to document important events and milestones in a person’s life, and can contain a wealth of genealogical information. For example, the Geburts and the Taufscheins, or the birth and baptism certificates, were often the only record of birth for an individual as they predated vital record keeping by local government. They contained names, family members, witnesses,  locations, dates, and the name and domination of the clergyman. Other types of frakturs include the Haus Segen, or house blessing, the vorschrift, or writing examples, and bucherzeichen, or bookplates.

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”Certificate of birth : David Kraatz was born on the 12th day of August A.D. 1824 in Alsas Township, Berks County, Pa., 1824”. An example of a cut-paper Fraktur, from the collection Pennsylvania German broadsides and Fraktur, 1750-1979. Penn State University Libraries Digital Collection, Public Domain.

It should be noted that “the taufschein and the vorschrift form the vast bulk of fraktur documentation. Wedding and death certificates are relatively rare.” (Library of Congress, Conner, and Roberts). For those interested in researching your ancestors, definitely start with the birth and baptism certificates by browsing online collections, which we’ve linked for you further down this post.

Frakturs were brought to the southeast Pennsylvania area by German-speaking immigrants, hailing from the Rhineland area of Europe and nearby Switzerland. Most belonged to the Lutheran and Reformed churches, but also Anabaptist (Amish, Mennonite, etc.) and others. Frakturs have also been found in other places the Pennsylvania Dutch migrated, including Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, New Jersey, and parts of Canada.

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Fraktur of John Hoagland of New Jersey and family, from the National Archives: Revolutionary War Fracturs collection on flickr. Frakturs in this collection were generally used for bounty-land warrant applications or Revolutionary War pensions, to prove lineage. No known copyright restrictions.

Though a form of frakturs existed in their homelands (or predecessors like the Patenbrief and the Goettelbrief), the type of art and tradition that developed in colonial America is unique to the new culture.

They were usually produced by ministers and school teachers, for those they came into contact with in their daily lives, or for their family and friends. The work was done as a side gig to their main profession. Later they would design and print blank forms to be hand colored with text entered by the families, though some communities had earlier access to printing presses than others. 

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An example of a birth certificate and baptismal fraktur. Caption reads: “Geburts- und Tauf- schein for Susanna Walder, 1825 Sept. 20-1825 Nov. 6” from Penn State University Libraries Digital Collection. More genealogy information in the description on their website. Public domain.

While the vorschrift, or writing samples, would be proudly displayed in schools and at home, the other types of more decorative fraktur were not made for hanging on the walls for all to see. In a religious culture where “public art, art for display, was forbidden”, these documents were personal and private treasures. They stored them hidden away “in Bibles or other large books, pasted onto the inside lids of blanket chests, or rolled up in bureau drawers” (Library of Congress et al). It was not uncommon for taufschein to be buried with an individual. 

Today most belong to museums and university collections, prized by collectors and sold at auctions for thousands of dollars. Handmade frakturs seem to be worth more than printed versions, as do aesthetically pleasing and unique designs, and those in good condition. Be wary of fakes and aware of modern reproductions, and always get any finds properly appraised.   

Luckily for those of us interested in the information these works of art contain, many of these collections can be browsed online and used for research remotely. 

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Notice the similarities between the earlier birth certificate of Susanna Walder above, from 1825, and this one from 1844. Same motiffs of angels and birds, though this one includes a seal of the United States in the top middle, perhaps indicative of newfound patriotism. From Penn State University Libraries Digital Collection, title reads: “Geburts- und Tauf-Schein for Emeleine Sara Anna Hix, 1844 Nov. 2-1844 Dec. 25”. Public domain.

Online Browsable Collections of Historical Frakturs:

• Free Library of Philadelphia Digital Collections: Fraktur

• F&M Pennsylvania German Fraktur Collection, from the Franklin & Marshall College Library

• Mennonite Heritage Center: Fraktur Collection

• MESDA: Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts; Fraktur Collection

• National Archives: Revolutionary War Frakturs

• Ontario Fraktur: a Pennsylvania-German folk tradition in early Canada (The Internet Archive / borrow for free)

• Penn State University Libraries Digital Collections: Pennsylvania German Broadsides and Fraktur

• Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University

• Ursinus College Fraktur Collection

Source List & Additional Online Reading:

• Beach, Laura. “Drawn with Spirit: Pennsylvania German Fraktur from the Joan and Victor Johnson Collection”. Accessed online February 2021, from: https://www.antiquesandthearts.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/German.pdf

• “Fraktur” from Treasures on Trial: The Art and Science of Detecting Fakes. http://treasuresontrial.winterthur.org/evidence/fraktur/

• Franklin & Marshall College Library, “Fraktur”. Accessed online at: https://library.fandm.edu/archives/gaimprints/fraktur

• Krahn, Cornelius, Harold S. Bender, Ethel Ewert Abrahams, Mary Jane Lederach Hershey and Carolyn C. Wenger. “Fraktur (Illuminated Drawing)”, Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Accessed online February 2021, from: https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Fraktur_%28Illuminated_Drawing%29

• Library of Congress, Jill Roberts, Paul Connor, and American Folklife Center. Pennsylvania German Fraktur And Printed Broadsides: a Guide to the Collections In the Library of Congress. Washington: Library of Congress, 1988. Found online at Hathi Digital Trust: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006934791

• Moyer, Forrest. “How we identify a fraktur artist,” April 15, 2020. Mennonite Heritage Center. https://mhep.org/how-we-identify-a-fraktur-artist/

• Shelley, Donald A. The Pennsylvania German style of illumination. New York: New York University, 1953. Found online at Hathi Digital Trust: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000378944

• Wikipedia, “Fraktur (folk art)” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraktur_(folk_art)

• Wikipedia, “Pennsylvania Dutch” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Dutch

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“Diese Sing-Noten-Buchlein gehoret Catarina Weillerin, 1788” from Penn State University Libraries Digital Collections. A beautiful example of a manuscript songbook fraktur, belonging to a Catarina Weillerin of Chester County, Pennsylvania, from 1788. Public domain.

Offline Suggested Reading:

Earnest, Corrine P., Rusell D. Earnest. The Heart of the Taufschein: fraktur and pivotal role of Berks County, Pennsylvania, Kutztown, PA, Pennsylvania German Society, 2012.

Shelley, Donald A. The Fraktur-Writings or Illuminated Manuscripts of the Pennsylvania Germans, Pennsylvania German Folklore Society, 1961.

Stopp, Klaus. The Printed Birth and Baptismal Certificates of the German Americans. Mainz, Germany; East Berlin, PA: K. Stopp, 1997.

The Best Historical Photo Collections on Flickr

Though you probably won’t uncover photos of your ancestors in these collections, you can gain great context about the way they may have lived, the events they lived through, and the locations they called home.

When a user, like The Library of Congress, uploads their photos to flickr they all show up in their Photostream. The user can optionally group these photos into Albums, and further group these albums into Collections. While the latter two are easier to browse, be aware that not every flickr user utilizes these features - and also there may be more photos in the photostream that are not in any albums.

You do not need a flickr account to browse these free photo collections. Be aware of photo rights, however, and do not distribute any photos without checking their license first. Ready to explore? Here’s my list of historical photo collections found on flickr!

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“Itinerant photographer in Columbus, Ohio”. Flickr: The Library of Congress. No known restrictions.

US. Government

• Library of Congress Collections: Historic Photos

• Library of Congress Collections: Historic Newspapers

• Library of Virginia

• National Register of Historic Places

• Smithsonian Institute

• The U.S. National Archives

• USMC Archives (U.S. Marine Corps)
  

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Dance at the J.W.B. Servicemen’s Center, Waukegan, Illinois, 1919. Flickr: Center for Jewish History; No known copyright restrictions.

Misc. Collections

• Ann Longmore-Etheridge (various collections)

• Black History Album

• Center for Jewish History

• Hands on Black History

• Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest

• The History of Photography Archive: The Patrick Montgomery Collection

• Perkins School for the Blind Archive (MA)

• Snapshots of the Past

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“NACA Employees Looking Sharp for a Staff Photo at Ames” Flickr: NASA on The Commons; No known copyright restrictions.

NASA & Space

• NASA on the Commons

• NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

• San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives

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“Florida State Normal and Industrial School class of 1904 portrait: Tallahassee, Florida”. State Library and Archives of Florida. Flickr: Florida Memory. No known copyright restrictions.

U.S. City & State Archives

• Baltimore City Archives

• Boston City Archives

• City of Minneapolis Archives

• Delaware Public Archives

• Providence Rhode Island Archives

• State Archives of North Carolina

• State Library and Archives of Florida: Florida Memory

• Texas State Archives

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“Group of men and women at shore”. Flickr: California Historical Society. No known copyright restrictions.

U.S. Historical Societies

The New York Historical Society has the full collection of the Children’s Aid Society Records and the New York Foundling Hospital Records, among others.

• Boston & Main Railroad Historical Society (MA & ME)

• California Historical Society

• Guernsey County Historical Society (OH)

• Hingham Historical Society (MA)

• Flat Rock Historical Society (MI)

• Missouri Historical Society (MO)

• Neenah Historical Society (WI)

• New York Historical Society (NY)

• Richfield Historical Society (OH)

• Sauk County Historical Society (WI)

• State Historical Society of North Dakota (ND)

• Williamson County Historical Society (TN)

• Vermont Historical Society (VT)

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“Game of Marbles, 1919” Flickr: UA Archives / Upper Arlington History. No known copyright restrictions.

U.S. Other Local History Collections

• Historic Bremen (IN)

• Lane County History Museum (OR)

• Nashua Iowa History (IA)

• Pasadena Digital History (CA)

• Redwood History Pics (MN)

• UA Archives / Upper Arlington History (OH)

• Utah State History Salt Lake City (UT)

• Wilson County Local History (NC)

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Derry, NH Winter Carnival Queen 1920s, flickr: Derry Public Library, Some Rights Reserved.

U.S. Libraries with Historical Collections

• Barrington Area Library (IL)

• Boston Public Library (MA)

• Bloomfield Public Library (NJ)

• CCPL Genealogy / Cass County Public Library (MI)

• Connecticut State Library

• Clayton Library History Room (NC)

• Derry Public Library: Historic Postcards of Derry (NH)

• Denver Public Library Western History Collection and Genealogy

• Douglas County Libraries (Colorado): Archives & Local History

• Iredell County Public Library (North Carolina)

• Keene Public Library and the Historical Society of Cheshire County (NH)

• Library Company of Philadelphia

• Library Pawtucket (RI)

• Missouri River Regional Library (Jefferson City MO)

• New York Public Library

• Pulaski County Public Library: PCPL_Photos (KY)

• Putnam County Public Library Local History and Genealogy (IN)

• Stark Library Genealogy (OH)

• Tipton County Public Library (IN)

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Miami University women’s basketball team, 1911. flickr: Miami University Libraries Digital Collections

U.S. Universities & Their Library or Digital Collections

• Cornell University Library

• Iowa Digital Library / University of Iowa

• Miami University Libraries Digital Collections

• North Dakota State University: Germans from Russia Heritage Collection

• Northern Illinois University Digital Library

• Northern Illinois University: Regional History Center & University Archives

• Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America (Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University)

• SMU Libraries Digital Collections (Southern Methodist University)

• University of Washington Digital Collections

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“Tea with friends, and one must wear one’s finest hat!” Flickr: Photos of the Past. No known copyright restrictions.

Outside of the U.S.

• Archives New Zealand

• Ballyfermot and St. Marks Photo Website / Ken Larkin (Ireland)

• Barb Lindberg (East Nissouri, Canada)

• ‘Beo’ Online Local Heritage Archives (Ireland)

• Blue Mountains Library, Local Studies (NSW, Australia)

• British Library

• Doukhobor Genealogy Website (BC, Canada)

• Dundee City Archives (Scotland)

• Gostalgia: local history from Gosford Library (Australia)

• Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

• Manchester Archives (UK)

• Nasjonalbiblioteket (National Library of Norway)

• Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands

• National Library of Ireland

• Nova Scotia Postal History

• Photos of the Past (UK)

• Plymouth Libraries, UK

• State Library of New South Wales

• State Library of Queensland (Australia)

• Swedish National Heritage Board

• The History of Stoke Newington (London, England)

• The Past on Glass at Sutton Archives

• The National Archives UK

• Toronto History (Canada)

• Tyne & Wear Archives & Museum

• University of Newcastle, Australia: Special Collections

• UBC (University of British Columbia) Library Digitization Centre

• Yarra Plenty Regional Library Local History (Australia)

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“Great-uncle Leon Griffin, about 1920” Flickr: Jim Griffin. Found in the group Dated Vintage Photographs (pre 1945). Public Domain.

Various Flickr Groups

• Black History

• Cabinet Portraits, CDV, photos on cardboard

• Daguerreotypes

• Dated Vintage Photographs (pre 1945)

• Early Photography in Germany

• Early Photography in the U.S.A.

• New York History

• Old Photos

• Old Photos of People Posing in a Group

• The Museum of Found Photographs

• Vintage Black and White photographs

• Vintage Photographs

• Vintage Portraiture

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“Barfields”. Flickr: Valerie Some Rights Reserved.

Family Histories, Genealogies, and Surnames on Flickr

• Betty Wood Family Tree (Wood / Simon / Haskell)

• Gransden Family Tree (Atkins / Balcomb / Bean / Bryants / Carter / Lees / Lockwood / Gransden / Pearse / Pratt / Stapley / Watson / Warnecke

• Helene Sauls Armstrong (Sauls / Baldoni / Hendley / Stephens / Barnes / Tingley / O’Steen / Jordan / Holst / Lennox )

• Jodi’s Genealogy (Mardell / Magnuson / Nelson / Jacobson / Carnes / Barrett / Stauffer / Johnson / Hagen / Gardner / Morgan / Peterson

  Ed Donlin (Donlin / Yocum / Herzner / Stadtmiller / Vornhagen )

• Mitchell Family Tree ( Mitchell / Medden / Fielding / Winder / Hill / McIntyre / Gardner / Johnston)

• Molly Brown (Jones / Burris / Sickenbergers / Brown)

• Out of My Tree Genealogy and The Social Historian ( Brown / Savage / Bulmer / Bond)

• Ruth’s Genealogy ( Turner / Stanley / Carrico / Rogers / McBurnett / Priddy / Copeland / Epperson / Hall / Carr / Brown )

• Sal Thomas (Thomas / Talbot / Morton / Willetts / Otter / King / Loud / Cowling / Bingham / Dallyn / Moore / Clarke / Thompson)

• Valerie’s Genealogy Photos (Barfield / Craft / Waters / Albea / Belk / Britt / Boatright / Huyler / Witt / Powell / Farr)

Know of another flickr page we should add to the list? Please let us know!

Upcoming Virtual Genealogy Conferences

January 6, 2021

Image: RootsTech.org. RootsTech Connect will look different this year!

Mark your calendars for these recommended 2021 (mostly virtual) genealogy conferences:

• International Greek Ancestry Conference, 29 - 31 January, Free, greekancestry.net/conference

• RootsTech Connect - 25 - 27 February, Free with Registration, rootstech.org

• New England Regional Genealogical Consortium Conference / NERGC, “Springing From the Past Into the Future”, 1 April - 31 May, Registration with Fees, nergc.org

• Ohio Genealogical Society Conference / OGS Conference, “Bringin’ It Home 2021”, 14 - 17 April, Registration with Fees, ogsconference.org

• National Genealogical Society Family History Conference / NGS Family History Conference, 19-22 May, “Deep Roots of a Nation”, Registration with Fees, conference.ngsgenealogy.org

  *Note: This conference has not yet announced plans to go virtual, and plans to be held in Richmond, Virginia*

• Southern California Genealogical Society / SCGS Online Conferences: Genetic Genealogy, 4 - 5 June, and jamboree 2021, 11 - 12 June, Free, scgsgenealogy.com

• International German Genealogy Partnership Conference / IGGP Virtual Conference, “Researching Together Worldwide / Weltweit Gemeinsam Forschen”, 17 - 24 July, Registration with Fees, iggpartner.org

• Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research / IGHR 2021, 25 - 30 July, Registration with Fees, ighr.gagensociety.org

Other interesting online events coming up:

• “The Federal Census: Moving Beyond the Population Schedule”, Thurs 28 January, 3 pm - 4 pm EST from NEHGS, free webinar on AmericanAncestors.org

• “Race and the Salem Witch Trials: Virtual Lecture”, Thurs 25 Feb, 3:30 pm PST from the Salem Witch Museum (Link opens Facebook event)

• “I Have a Civil War Ancestor…Now What?” Thurs 4 March, 3 pm PST from Boston Public Library Research Services (Link opens Facebook event)

Also see:

• Legacy Family Tree Webinars

• AmericanAncestors.org Upcoming Events

• FamilySearch Upcoming Webinars

• BYU Family History Library Upcoming Webinars