Exciting news from Findmypast! If you have Catholic ancestors, you'll be very pleased to know Findmypast has announced an initiative to digitize the historic records of the Catholic Church in the U.S., Britain, and Ireland — the Roman Catholic Heritage Archive. They've also added to their U.S. Marriages Project. Get all the details below in their press release!

Quick Links:

• Check out the archive for more information: http://www.findmypast.com/catholicrecords
• Check out the history of Catholicism in the U.S. timeline: ​https://twile.com/timeline/catholicismintheus
• U.S. Marriages Collection: http://www.findmypast.com/marriages

~Caroline

Thursday 9th February 2017
Time: 8am MT, 10am EST, 3pm GMT
 
Leading family history website, Findmypast, today announced the creation of the Roman Catholic Heritage Archive, a ground breaking initiative that aims to digitize the historic records of the Catholic Church in the United States, Britain and Ireland.
 
Findmypast is today releasing over 3 million exclusive records including sacramental registers for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1757 to 1916 as well as for the British Archdioceses of Westminster and Birmingham from 1657 onwards. This builds on last year's publication of more than 10 million Irish Catholic parish registers.
 
The Catholic Church holds some of the oldest and best preserved genealogical records ever created. However, as many of these documents memorialize important religious sacraments such as baptism, marriage and burial, their privacy has long been protected and access to original copies has traditionally been hard to come by.

In collaboration with various Archdioceses of the Catholic Church, Findmypast is helping to bring these records online in one unified collection for the first time ever. Exclusively available on Findmypast, images of original documents will be completely free to view in many cases. Fully searchable transcripts will also be included, providing family historians from the around the world with easy access to these once closely guarded records.

The next phase of the Catholic Heritage Archive will include records from the archdioceses of New York and Baltimore as well as additional records from Philadelphia. There are over 30 million records in just these three dioceses. The digitization of the whole archive is a monumental undertaking and, when complete, will contain hundreds of millions of records for the USA alone.
 
Brian Donovan, Licensing Manager at Findmypast said; “The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination in the world. Despite the popular perception that it had few adherents in Britain, or was not that important in American settlement, it has always been a significant component (up to 25%) of the population. The Catholic Heritage Archive will uncover the history of millions of Irish, Italian, German, Polish and many other nationalities as they made a new home in the USA.”
 
Kate Feighery, archivist at the Archdiocese of New York said; “The Archdiocese of New York is delighted to begin the process of opening their sacramental records for historical research.  As one of the major immigration hubs in the country, and the second largest diocese in the United States, many Catholic Americans can trace their ancestors back to New York. The Catholic Heritage Archive will allow interested amateur and professional historians to more easily find out more about their family’s roots in Catholic New York.”
​
Cait Kokolus, Director of the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Records Center said; “ The digitization of parish records is a great gift to the Catholics in the Archdiocese. Now they will be able to find where their grandmother was baptized, or when their great-grandparents married. In such a quickly changing society, many people are discovering that knowing their family history gives a sense of identity and stability.” 
 
10 million new US marriage Records
Findmypast has also just released a further 10 million United States Marriage records in association with Family Search International. The new additions cover 45 states, over 1,800 counties and date from the early 17th century up to the present day. Over 65 million records are currently available to search within the collection.
 
Covering 360 years of marriages from 1650-2010, when complete this landmark collection will form the single largest online archive of U.S. marriages in history and will only be found in its entirety exclusively on Findmypast.
 
The launch of these new US records is central to Findmypast's growth strategy in the U.S. They will complement Findmypast’s massive collection of British and Irish data, providing many more connections and a more comprehensive experience to family historians in the US and all over the world.

About Findmypast 
Findmypast (previously DC Thomson Family History) is a British-owned world leader in online family history. It has an unrivalled record of online innovation in the field across its family of online brands, which includes The British Newspaper Archive and Genes Reunited, amongst others. It’s lead brand, Findmypast, is a searchable online archive of over eight billion family history records ranging from births, marriages, deaths and censuses to migration records, military collections, historical newspapers and more.

For millions of members around the world, Findmypast a crucial resource for building family trees and conducting detailed historical research. It is home to the largest online collection of Irish family history records, over 450 million exclusive UK parish records dating back to the early 16th century, and the Periodical Source Index; a rich, exclusive collection of the world’s best family history periodicals.

Since 2003, Findmypast has partnered with a wide variety of public and genealogical organisations to bring millions of records online for the very first time and, in February 2015, partnered with FamilySearch international to create the largest online archive of U.S. marriages in history.

​My grandfather, Joseph Marschall/Marshall, a.k.a., Big Paw Paw, was a bigger-than-life character who had some really rocky relationships. Though not well-loved nor fondly-remembered by many (that I can find), his story and his family's story seem to demand to be found and told.

I've been reviewing some older research I did previously on Big Paw Paw so I can unearth his parent's and grandparents' stories. Basically, I've been exploring as many of the details of his life I can possibly find in the two places he lived in Texas — Galveston and San Antonio.

In doing so, I researched a little more about his marriage to his first wife, Emma Rosin, who also happened to be his sister-in-law — his oldest sister's husband's youngest sister. (Emma wasn't my grandmother. My grandmother was Big Paw-Paw's Wife No. 4. What can I say? My Big Paw Paw was a complicated man, but his complications have left me records. So there's that.)

St. John's maintains their own records and archives on-site and it's partially online as well. Their church records date to their founding in 1857. Here is a list of what can be found on their website:

• History of St. John's Lutheran Church
• Pastors that have served St. John's Lutheran Church
• St. John's Cemetery History
• Map of Eastside Cemeteries District
• Burials at Immanuel Cemetery
• Map of Old Lutheran Cemetery
• Burials at New Lutheran Cemetery
• Burials at Old Lutheran Cemetery
• Map of New Lutheran and Immanuel Cemeteries
• Church Records, Vol. 1, 1859-1899, Index
• Church Records, Vol 1, Part 1, 1857-1899, pages 1-137
• Church Records, Vol 1, Part 2, 1857-1899, pages 138-412
• Church Records, Vol 1, Part 3, 1857-1899, pages 413-576
• Church Records, Vol 2, 1900-1908, pages 1-156
• Marriage Records, 1869-1899, Transcribed

Pretty nice, huh? Online and free — magical words that make a genealogist's heart beat faster. Makes their pulse race. Gets their blood pumping ... well, you get the picture.

Big Paw Paw's and Emma's marriage record was not online but a quick email sent to their office yielded, within a few days, a copy of the church marriage record entry that provided the names of the witnesses to their ceremony.

Since its founding in 1857, St. John's Lutheran Church served the German-Texan community in the San Antonio area. And it's still an active church. If you have German-Texan ancestors who lived in the San Antonio area, checking these records just might help you with your family story just as it has helped me find a few more research avenues for discovering more about my Big Paw Paw, his parents, and his grandparents.

And his wives.

And his mistresses.

​I told you he was complicated.


~Caroline

And here's an example (from OneNote) of what one looks like (the first page) already filled out. Basically, after finding a record that I was looking for (from my research plan), I added it to this log under "Record". Then I created the citation for the record (Your future self is really going to love you for this.) and logged it under "Source". Then I added notes to each one briefly explaining or summarizing what I found in regards to how it may or may not fit into the puzzle (question) I'm trying to solve (answer). 

Manually doing this really forces you to stop and really take a look at what you are, well, looking at. Also, if the record doesn't help, I log it too. That way I know I've found and looked at it. I also log a search for a record that I thought would be where I was looking and wasn't. That's important to remember too and the log helps you to remember. (Not finding it where you thought you'd find it also may be helpful for finding the solution to the problem.)

Also, remember that just because I'm giving templates for specific technologies, the most important thing is that you use a research history log in whatever manner you want to. Handwrite it on notebook paper and put it in a binder or folder.  The point is to get it done.

So, below are the freebie templates. Enjoy!

OneNote Research History Log Template Versions 2010-2013 (For those who use the current version of OneNote. Download the file and open in OneNote. Then you can save it as a template in OneNote. See my OneNote page and videos on how to do this.)

Evernote Research History Log Template (Links to a shared public Evernote folder with other free templates; just copy and paste from there into a note in your Evernote. For more detailed instructions, visit my Evernote page and watch my Evernote video.)

Decorative Printable — PDF Version of the Research History Log Template (Download and save to your computer, print it out, and fill it in manually.)

~Caroline

Last week's episode of PBS' Genealogy Roadshow was jam-packed with all sorts of genealogical and historical topics of the American Southwest and shared heartwarming family stories. What sets Genealogy Roadshow aside from some of the other genealogy television shows is that they research the family histories of non-celebrities while sharing a wide variety of research resources and tips. While they give some research tips on their website, I thought I'd throw together some selected resources for those who have New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico ancestry. It's not exhaustive but it's quite a bit to get you started with finding your own heartwarming (and sometimes surprising) family stories.

Databases & Research Guides

Ancestry (Some $$, some free)

• New Mexico Collections
• Ancestry New Mexico Research Guide (Free)
• Arizona Collections
• Ancestry Arizona Research Guide (Free)
• Researching Your American Indian Ancestors on Ancestry (Free)
• Using Religious Records (Free)
• Finding Your Family in Wills and Probate Records (Free)
• Red Book: American State, County, & Town Sources (Free)
• Mexico Collections

FamilySearch (Free)

• New Mexico Collections
• Guide to New Mexico Genealogy Wiki
• Arizona Collections
• Guide to Arizona Genealogy Wiki
• Guide to American Indian Genealogy Wiki
• Guide to United States Marriage Records Wiki
• Guide to United States Church Records Wiki
• Mexico Collections
• Guide to Mexico Genealogy Wiki
• Guide to Mexico Church Records Wiki

Findmypast ($$)

• Arizona Collections

MyHeritage ($$)

• New Mexico Collections
• Arizona Collections
• Mexico Collections

USGenWeb (Free)

• New Mexico
• Arizona

WorldGenWeb (Free)

• MexicoGenWeb (Free)​

US GenWeb Archives (Free)

• New Mexico
• Arizona

Genealogy Trails (Free)

• New Mexico
• Arizona
• Native American

​
Cemetery Databases
Findagrave
Billiongraves
Interment.net

Researching Your Ancestors Who Went Out West

• Shades of the Departed eMagazine: The Fecklessness of Fashion, The Out West Issue, 2011, p. 54, by Caroline Pointer (Free, online, and contains tons of links!)

Newspaper Links & from The Ancestor Hunt (Free)
TheAncestorHunt.com has the biggest and most up-to-date listing of online newspapers. Plus, he has tons of tutorials and videos to show you how to find your ancestors in newspapers — all for free!

• New Mexico
• Arizona
• 10 Special Collections of Online Historical Newspapers
• General Strategies & Helps for Newspaper Research

Cyndi's List (Free)

• New Mexico
• Arizona
• Mexico
• Native American
• Marriages & Divorce

Linkpendium (Free)

• New Mexico
• Arizona

​Maps
►New Mexico
Various present-day maps showing counties, rivers, etc.
Historical maps
►Arizona
Various present-day maps showing counties, rivers, etc.
Historical maps
►Mexico
Various present-day maps
​Historical maps

Selected Archives/Libraries

• New Mexico Digital Collections
• ​Genealogy Center at the Albuquerque Public Library
• Online Archive of New Mexico
• Rocky Mountain Online Archive
• New Mexico State University Archives & Special Collections
• New Mexico State Library — Southwest Collection
• Arizona Archives Online
• Arizona State Library, Archives & Public Records
• ​Consortium of Arizona Museum, Archives & Libraries
• National Archives at Denver
• National Archives at Fort Worth
• ​​National Archives at Riverside
• ​Description on FamilySearch Wiki of Mexico Archives & Libraries​​​

​
Selected Genealogical, Historical, & Lineage Societies

• New Mexico Genealogical Society
• ​Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico
• Historical Society of New Mexico
• Arizona Genealogical Advisory Board
• Arizona Historical Society — Library and Archives
• Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Genealogical Research System (GRS)
• Sociedad Genealógica y de Historia Familiar de México

​​​Blogs

• MexicanGenealogy.info
• Geneabloggers blogs that mention New Mexico
• Geneabloggers blogs that mention Arizona
• Geneagloggers blogs that mention Mexico

Selected Books
These are just a very selected few. Links go to Amazon, but they are not affiliate links.

• Origins of New Mexico Families: A Genealogy of the Spanish Colonial Period by Fray Angélico Chávez
• Mexican-American Genealogical Research: Following the Paper Trail to Mexico by John Schmal and Donna Morales (Heritage Books)
• Mexican Genealogy Research Online: A Guide to Help You Discover Your Ancestry by Moises Garza

Selected Facebook Groups
Meet and collaborate with others in Facebook Groups!

• New Mexico Genealogical Society Group
• ​New Mexico Genealogy! Just Ask! Group
• Arizona Genealogy Advisory Board Group
• Arizona Genealogy! Just Ask! Group

Links to Other Topics Covered on Genealogy Roadshow

• American Indian Studies: Oral History Guides 
• Code Talking
• Navajo Code Talkers

So, do you have any resources you'd like to add? Share in comments below! And don't forget to watch the next episode of PBS' Genealogy Roadshow in Miami on Tuesday, May 24th at 8PM ET / 7PM CT on your local PBS channel. 

​~Caroline

Other articles you might like:

• Resources to Help You Find Your Ancestors
• Texas Genealogy Resources
• Finding Evidence of Death

Catch-up with recent records and resources added to online genealogy & history databases & websites with this handy list! Are your ancestors revealed in these records?
​

• May 8th: Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia
• May 9th: Louisiana, Michigan, North Carolina, and Virginia
• May 10th: Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, North Carolina, and Virginia
• May 11th: Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, and Virginia
• May 12th: Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, and Virginia
• May 13th: Louisiana, Texas, and Virginia
• May 14th: Louisiana, Michigan, North Carolina, and Virginia

​
​~Caroline

So, which immigrant ancestor photo, if you have one of them, would you like to recreate? Or even if you don't have a photo of them, which one would you like to dress up as if you could? Which one inspires you the most? Why?

For me, it'd have to be my 2nd great grandmother, Annie Josephine (O'Brien) Vaughan. She came from Ireland in 1872 to just visit her maternal Lennon cousins in New Orleans, Louisiana. And then stayed after meeting and marrying my 2nd great grandfather, Daniel Rook Vaughan. Family lore says she fell in love with Daniel, a carpenter, while he had been remodeling her cousin's house in New Orleans while Annie was visiting from Dublin.

I'd love to recreate her look below.

​~Caroline

Having problems finding your ancestors in a particular time or place?

Having problems learning who their parents were?

How about confirming their date of birth?

All of these clues/answers (and more) might be found in school census records. In many areas in quite a few states, school districts would take a census of their students to help them properly allocate funds for each school. They did them in various time periods and are incomplete, but if your ancestor was attending a school in a school district where it was taken *and* in a time period they took it, they can be a gold mine of information. 

At the very least, a school census record may place your ancestor in a time and location which can lead to more records and more answers. (And possibly more questions to answer because genealogy. ;) )

TIP: You will want to read each school district's instructions to the enumerator to make sure you fully understand the answers. 

Okay, so let's take a look at and break down the following example of a school census record for Matagorda County, Texas from 1939. (1) [Click on the image for a larger view]

A — To Census Trustees: Read Carefully — The census trustee's (enumerator's) instructions. [Hint: The census trustees were the enumerators and understanding what their instructions were will help you to understand all of the information in this record. So, you need to read this carefully, too.]
B — Race — Schools were segregated based on race in this time period.
C — School district information; in this example, it was left blank.
D — Phone No. of school district.
E — First and last name of students of the same family household who would be six and under eighteen years of age on April 1st. All were to be listed even if they had different surnames, as long as they were in the same family.
F — Birthday of listed students.
G — Age the listed students would be when they would be starting school 1 September 1939; also gender is indicated by the column the age was put into.
H — Handicap designation: Census trustees were asked to indicate if each listed student had any of the following specific handicaps: blind, partially blind, deaf, partially deaf, speech defect, feeble minded, and/or crippled. For the ones who were characterized as crippled, the trustees were also asked to indicate whether the crippled student had a curvature of the spine, club feet, infantile paralysis, leg amputation, arm amputation, or if they were in a wheelchair.
I — Name of county in which family resided last April 1st.
J — How long has this family lived in this District?
K — Nationality (Indicate by language spoken in home) 
L — Parent/Guardian Certification made by the parent that the information given was correct; that they were a resident of the District as of April 1st; that they had custody or charge of the listed children; and that they had not already been enumerated in this State for the scholastic year 1 September 1939 through 31 August 1940.
M — Names of parents.
N — Signature of Parent, Guardian, or person rendering child [Hint: I would be careful with this information, or at least, I would be careful of the parents names listed before this as that explicitly asks for parent's names while this requires the signature of a parent, guardian, or one in charge of the child. Are they the same? Are the answers the same?]
O — Address (In this example, the trustee only listed the city.)
P — Give name of farm, if on farm (Hint: While left blank on this example, one cannot infer that this meant the family/household was not living on a farm because the trustee left other blanks empty on this form.)
Q — Date subscribed and sworn.
R — Signature of Census Trustee (enumerator).

So, is any of this type of information found on this record the type of information you are looking for when researching your family's history? Could it be useful to your research? You betcha! Not all school districts collected the same information unfortunately. Below are a few more examples of school census records in different states. (2), (3), (4)

How to find these records? Try these techniques and places: 11 Places To Look for Your Ancestor's School Records.

So, are you using school census records to find more information about your ancestors? Will you use them?

~Caroline

References:
(1) "Texas, Matagorda County, School Census Records, 1923-1946." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 11 August 2015; citing State Board of Education. Matagorda County Judge, Bay City.
(2) "Minnesota, Clay County, School Census Records, 1909-1962." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 11 March 2015. Citing State School Superintendent. Auditor-Treasurer, Moorhead.
(3) "Mississippi Enumeration of Educable Children, 1850-1892; 1908-1957." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 11 August 2015. Citing Department of Archives and History. Government Records, Jackson.
(4) "South Dakota, School Records, 1879-1970." Database with images, FamilySearch. (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK73-CQJ6 : accessed 11 August 2015), McCook County, 1939. State Historical Society, Pierre.

Findmypast has just announced it will finally integrate its sister site, Mocavo, into its subscription database site. However, they will also be maintaining Mocavo's pledge to remain free forever. That means if a particular collection was free to access before, it will remain free on the Findmypast site. Making both sites' collections searchable from one site, will make searching more convenient for users. Additionally, Findmypast mentions adding more unique US collections during 2016 as they expand into the US market. It will be interesting to see what they add this year. Read the Findmypast release below for more details.

~Caroline

Leading family history website Findmypast, has today announced that sister site Mocavo will be incorporated into Findmypast to create a single experience for customers interested in discovering more about their family history.

The move forms an important part of the US growth strategy set out by Annelies van den Belt, CEO of Findmypast, and will bring the best aspects and features of both sites into one place.
The two websites are currently working together to transfer Mocavo’s strengths and expansive record collections over to Findmypast.

The transition will begin immediately and is expected to be completed within the next few months.

The move is part of Findmypast’s continued expansion and growth in the US market. By merging the two brands, Findmypast will create a more focussed and efficient business that will offer a more comprehensive experience to US customers while continuing to offer the industry’s best British and Irish collections. 

In 2016, Findmypast will also be publishing hundreds of millions of new and exclusive US records to further enhance the experience for US family historians.
​
As part of Findmypast’s commitment to sustain Mocavo’s ‘free forever’ promise, Mocavo subscribers will continue to enjoy free access to all of the same records that were previously published for free on Mocavo.  In addition, they will be invited to take advantage of a subscription to Findmypast equivalent to their existing Mocavo subscription.  Mocavo customers can easily import their family trees onto Findmypast and can immediately start to receive hints opening the door to new discoveries that they never knew existed.  A subscription to Findmypast will allow them access to the site’s entire collection of records, containing over eight billion names, as well as the thousands of new records released by Findmypast every week.
​
findmypast.com  
Annelies van den Belt, CEO of Findmypast, said; “A key part of our 2016 US growth strategy is to centralise our efforts on one core brand, Findmypast.  Combining Mocavo’s strengths and Findmypast’s massive collection of British and Irish data will allow us to provide a richer and more comprehensive experience to family historians all over the world."

As I've been getting my daughter situated to go back for her second semester at college, I've been thinking about school records. She will be switching majors and switching to the main campus of her university after this next semester, and her records are completely digitized and handled online. 

A stark contrast to our ancestors' school records, for sure. A smidgen are online for us to peruse once we know where to look, but many of them are not. So, as with all records, trying to find what entities created the records and thinking about where they might be stored — online and offline — is the first step in trying to find your ancestors in them.

And just why would you want to find your ancestors' school records? Well they can, at the very least, put your ancestors in a time and a place — very helpful when you can't seem to find them in more-used records like the federal population census. And even when you can find them in population census records, where were they in between the censuses since they were only enumerated every 10 years? Another good reason to try and find your ancestors' school records is that they may reveal their parents' names or siblings.

So while not an exhaustive list, the following 11 places may yield school records for your ancestors.​

Today Findmypast added over 2.3 million UK records and newspaper artilces to their collections. Most notably, are the over 62,000 Pollbooks and Directories for England that span 1830-1837, making them a great census substitute for family history researchers with roots in England in that time period. Also, they have added an additional 2.25 million articles to their historic British Newspapers collection. Check out all of their recent updates with brief descriptions below from Findmypast.

​England, Pollbooks and Directories 1830-1837
 
England, Pollbooks and Directories, 1830-1837, contains over 62,000 records. Each record includes both a transcript and an image of the original source material. The information recorded may vary depending on the source and date, although most will include your ancestor’s name, details of the event that was being recorded and were it was recorded. In many cases, Pollbooks will also include details of their residence and occupation, as well as the names of eligible voters who did not vote. In this collection, you will also find The Quaker Annual Monitor. The Monitor is a list of all the British Quakers who died within the last twelve months. For many of the individuals listed, obituaries with short biographies including causes of death were printed. In some cases, the obituary or memorial is several pages long and details the individual’s dedication to the faith. The Monitor is an excellent source for family historians as the obituaries may include the names of other relatives.

Surrey, Southwark, Newington Apprentice Register 1891
 
The Newington Apprentice Register 1891 lists the details of apprentices who trained in the Newington district of Southwark. Each record consists of a transcripts created using the original apprentice records held at the Southwark Local History Library. Each transcript will reveal an individual apprentice’s name, age, the name of their master, where their master was based and the names of their parents.
 
Hertfordshire, Parish Registers Browse, 1538-1988
 
A browse function has been added to our collection of over 1.9million Hertfordshire Parish Registers. It is now possible to browse through over 1,600 register books from cover to cover. The books contain records of baptisms, banns, marriages and burials conducted across 400 years of the county’s history.
 
British Newspapers Update
 
Over 2.25 million new articles and 8 brand new newspaper titles have recently been added to our collection of historic British newspapers. The latest additions cover the cities of London and Glasgow as well as towns in the English counties of Devon, Lincolnshire, Shropshire, and West Sussex. Significant updates have also been made to 45 existing titles. 

~Caroline