Indholdsfortegnelse for March - April 2020 i Family Tree

Bright lights. Mobs of screaming fans. The hottest celebrities. No, it’s not Woodstock or Lollapalooza—it’s RootsTech! Alright, so genealogy conferences aren’t quite as rowdy as rock concerts. But family historians are no less passionate than music fans. And genealogy’s “headliners” are just as influential and talented in their own world as rock stars are in theirs. In the Beatles-themed “The Fab Four” (page 18), Sunny Morton compares the records, family trees, DNA tests and other key features of the big four genealogy websites: Ancestry.com FamilySearch, Findmypast and MyHeritage. Their “setlists” might be different, but each site hits its own high notes that make it worthy of an encore. With Sunny’s comparison guide, Rick Crume’s tips on searching digitized censuses at each of the “Fab Four” websites (page 56), and our…

Family History on Display Spring is in the air, and that means spring-cleaning time. Spruce up your walls with this clever picture frame, featuring clotheslines filled with family photos. A quick online search of clothesline photo display will bring up several affordable options. I hung mine in my laundry room, then topped it off with an upcycled old shelf filled with vintage household memorabilia. I don’t know if I like ironing any more now than I did before, but the display does put a smile on my face every day! Sites to See A gateway to more than 1.4 billion records, the website of the New England Historic Genealogical Society <www.americanancestors.org> is a haven for researchers worldwide—and not just for folks with New England roots. The database spans 22 countries…

Subscription genealogy giant Ancestry.com <www.ancestry.com> has curated what it’s calling the world’s largest obituary database. Using artificial intelligence, Ancestry.com extracted and indexed names, relationships and other facts from millions of digitized obituaries on its sister site, Newspapers.com <www.newspapers.com.> The resulting collection contains almost a billion searchable names pulled from more than 250 million death announcements from the United States and beyond. Ancestry.com subscribers may search the “Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s–current” index on that site <www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61843.> Those who have an All Access or Newspapers.com Basic subscription may view full obituaries on Newspapers.com. (Certain newspapers may require a Publisher Extra subscription.)…

Unlike many other countries, the Netherlands did not take a nationwide census every 10 years. Rather, from 1850 on, every municipality was obliged to use population registers (bevolkingsregisters): an ongoing registration of every person who lived in the municipality. These registers are an invaluable source when looking for your ancestors, providing: names, birth dates and places, marital statuses, occupations, addresses, family relationships and details about any emigration. Population registers existed until the beginning of the 20th century, when municipalities started to use one card per family. Shortly before World War II, administrations switched to cards per person (persoonskaarten, or “person cards”). In 1994, these paper documents were digitized, and most information was entered in one central database. Older censuses and population registers are public. Because of privacy regulations, many archives…

By my reckoning, US federal census records are the best source of information on American ancestors. Taken every 10 years since 1790, the census reveals names, relationships and occupations—not to mention details on military service, immigration and marriage. Starting with the 1940 census, you can work your way back through each enumeration to put together a rough outline of your family tree to the early 20th century. The loss of nearly the entire 1890 census was a tremendous blow for genealogists. But get past that gap, and you can continue to mine every-name enumerations back to 1850. While the censuses from 1790 to 1840 list only heads of household, they still provide valuable clues that can lead you to discoveries in other records. Four huge genealogy websites—yes, the same four…

A In November 1917, seven months after the United States entered World War I by declaring war on Germany, President Woodrow Wilson issued an executive order requiring the registration of all German-born men ages 14 and older who were not naturalized American citizens. A similar requirement was extended to German-born women in April 1918. Registration took place at the nearest US district court. The resulting forms—“Registration Affidavit of Alien Enemy” for men and “Registration Affidavit of Alien Female” for women—include a wealth of information useful to genealogists: birth date, birthplace, employment information, date of arrival, names and residences, names and birth dates of spouse and children, previous military service, physical description, a photo and even fingerprints. Unfortunately for researchers, today these records are scattered among regional branches of the National…

Websites Ancestry.com Irish Records <www.ancestry.com/irish> AskAboutIreland: Griffith’s Valuation <www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml> Belfast Newsletter Index, 1737–1800 <www.ucs.louisiana.edu/bnl> Cyndi’s List: Ireland and Northern Ireland <www.cyndislist.com/ireland.htm> Emerald Ancestors <www.emeraldancestors.com> Eneclann <www.eneclann.ie> FamilySearch Wiki: Ireland <www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Ireland_Genealogy> Fianna Guide to Irish Genealogy <rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fianna> Findmypast Ireland <www.findmypast.ie> GENUKI: Ireland <www.genuki.org.uk/big/irl> Griffith’s Valuation, 1848–1864 <www.failteromhat.com/griffiths.php> Immigrants at Grosse Île Quarantine Station, 1832–1937 <www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/immigrants-grosse-ile-1832-1937/Pages/immigrants-grosse-ile.aspx> Information Wanted: A Database of Advertisements for Irish Immigrants Published in the Boston Pilot <dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentld=doi:10.7910/DVN/UNJU3N> Ireland Old News <www.irelandoldnews.com> The Ireland Story <www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland> Ireland’s History in Maps <rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlkik/ihm> Irish Genealogy <www.irishgenealogy.ie> Irish Genealogy News <www.irishgenealogynews.com> Irish History Links <www.irishhistorylinks.net> Irish Times Digital Archive <www.irishtimes.com/archive> National Archives and Records Administration: Irish Famine Immigrants Search <aad.archives.gov/aad/fielded-search.jsp?dt=180&> National Archives of Ireland: 1901 and 1911 censuses <www.census.nationalarchives.ie> RootsIreland.ie <www.rootsireland.ie> Ulster Historical Foundation <www.ancestryireland.com> What’s What in Irish Genealogy <indigo.ie/~gorry> Books Army…

MyHeritage has acquired the company that owns and operates SNPedia and Promethease. SNPedia <www.snpedia.com/index.php/SNPedia> is a community-sourced wiki of scientific knowledge pertaining to over 110,000 genetic variants and associated medical conditions or risks. MyHeritage announced plans to keep SNPedia free (it operates under a Creative Commons license), but has acquired the rights to utilize it commercially to enhance future DNA health products. Promethease <www.promethease.com> has been an inexpensive online platform through which users could compare their own autosomal DNA test results with SNPedia. MyHeritage plans to keep Promethease separate from its own DNA health test offering; see <blog.myheritage.com/2019/09/myheritage-acquires-promethease-and-snpedia> for more information. Sunny Jane Morton is a contributing editor for Family Tree Magazine, content manager at Your DNA Guide and industry expert on the giant genealogy websites.…

1800 Washington, DC, becomes the official US capital 1814 British troops burn most of Washington’s public buildings and records 1846 The Smithsonian Institution is founded 1864 Arlington National Cemetery is established 1867 Congress establishes Howard University 1899 Jazz legend Duke Ellington is born in DC 1954 Washington DC integrates its schools 1961 DC residents gain the right to vote for president 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech near the Lincoln Memorial 1970 DC gains an elected nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives 1992 The House of Representatives approves statehood for Washington DC; the Senate does not…

1787 Modern Wisconsin is part of the Northwest Territory 1835 John Phillips opens the first brewery in Wisconsin, in Mineral Point 1836 Black Hawk War ends in a massacre of the Sac tribe at the Bad Axe River 1846 The State Historical Society of Wisconsin is founded 1856 German-speaking children attend the nation’s first kindergarten at Watertown 1861 Gov. Alexander Randall calls for Civil War volunteers; more than 90,000 answer during the war 1884 The town of Baraboo hosts the Ringling Brothers’ first circus 1932 Wisconsin is the first US state to enact an unemployment compensation law 1934 Sons of Wisconsin politican Robert LaFollette form the influential Wisconsin Progressive Party 1980 Eric Heiden of Madison wins five Olympic gold medals for speedskating 2011 Wisconsin lawmakers make national news when they…

Most genealogists not living in the Netherlands will start their search for Dutch ancestors by using some of the big genealogy websites discussed on page 18: • Ancestry.com <www.ancestry.com/search/places/europe/netherlands> • FamilySearch <www.familysearch.org/search/collection/locatio n/1927059?region=netherlands> • MyHeritage <www.myheritage.nl/research/category-Netherlands/nederland-genealogie-vital-records> True, these three companies offer large collections with civil records, parish records, court records, notarial records and all kinds of other interesting sources. But the formats of these records vary: indexes without images, indexes with images attached, or images without indexes. Collections that connect the index entry to an image of the original source are the most valuable. FamilySearch has indexed some records with the help of its volunteers, but most websites offer data that were created by third parties. These records are available as open data, a specific format that enables companies like…

Mark your calendars: The 1950 census is scheduled to come out on April 1, 2022, 72 years to the day after it was taken. That’s still a couple of years away, but you might be curious about what to expect. The 1950 census asked fewer questions than the 1940 census did. The enumeration recorded responses to just 20 questions, including name, age, address, relationship to head of household, marital status, state or country of birth, occupation and (if foreign-born) whether a naturalized US citizen. A 5-percent sample was asked additional questions, including the country of birth of the person’s father and mother and whether the person had served in the US military. When it was released in 2012, the 1940 census was placed online and made available for free, but…

The free family tree-building website Geni.com <www.geni.com> has added a valuable Consistency Checker to its online platform. According to a company announcement, the tool “will constantly monitor changes to profiles in the family tree to detect common errors or inconsistencies” and alert users to them. Potential errors that the tool will check for include a child being born before their parent and events occurring after a person’s death. This feature is also available on the website of Geni.com’s parent company, MyHeritage.…

A few years ago, Eli Kirshner made a startling discovery. The then-teenaged genealogist already knew his grandfather’s household operated a Jewish wedding chapel in the Bronx, N.Y. But when Kirshner Googled the chapel, he found a surprise tucked away in a Google Books result: The chapel’s Hebrew name was a the defendant in a court case, Scott v. Gan Eden. Someone was suing his family! According to the case files, an employee fell while setting up reception food for the groom’s family in 1935, allegedly slipping on meat grease. She required medical attention, and the jury decided in her favor. Kirshner’s family appealed the decision to a higher court—which promptly also ruled in Ms. Scott’s favor. “The jury decided unanimously, in 40 minutes, to award Miss Scott $2,000, which was…

Websites Cyndi’s List: District of Columbia <cyndislist.com/us/dc> DCGenWeb Project <www.theusgenweb.org/dcgenweb> The Freedmen’s Bureau Online <www.freedmensbureau.com> Tombstone Transcription Project: District of Columbia <www.usgwtombstones.org/dccolumbia/district.html> Publications The Guide to Black Washington, revised edition, by Sandra Fitzpatrick and Maria R. Goodwin (Hippocrene Books) The Jewish Community of Washington, D.C. by Martin Garfinkle (Arcadia) Official Register of the United States, Containing a List of Officers and Employees in the Civil, Military, and Naval Service, 37 volumes (Government Printing Office) Washington, Past and Present, three volumes by John Clagett Proctor (Lewis Historical Publishing Co.) Archives & Organizations Arlington Historical Society Box 100402, Arlington, VA 22210, (703) 892-4204, <www.arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org> District of Columbia Archives Office of Public Records, 1300 Naylor Court NW, Washington, DC 20001, (202) 671-1105, os.dc.gov/node/41092> District of Columbia Public Library Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library,…

Websites Central Wisconsin Digitization Project Online Collections <content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/cwdp> County Maps, Wisconsin Department of Transportation <wisconsindot.gov/Pages/travel/road/hwy-maps/county-maps> Milwaukee Public Library (MPL) Digital Library <www.mpl.org/special_collections/images> Recollection Wisconsin <www.recollectionwisconsin.org> University of Wisconsin Digital Collections <uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections> Wisconsin GenWeb Project <www.wigenweb.org> Wisconsin Historical Society Collections <www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS15310> Wisconsin Land Patents <www.wigenweb.org/blm-toc. html> Publications The Atlas of Ethnic Diversity in Wisconsin by Kazimierz Zaniewski and Carol Rosen (University of Wisconsin Press) Germans in Wisconsin by Richard H. Zeitlin (Wisconsin Historical Society Press) Heritage Books Archives: Wisconsin Volume 1 (Heritage Books) Wisconsin’s German Element: J.H.A. Lacher’s Introductory History edited by Don Heinrich Tolzmann (Clearfield Co.) Archives & Organizations Milwaukee Public Library 814 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53233, (414) 286-3000, <www.mpl.org> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Library Archives P.O. Box 604, Milwaukee, WI 53201, (414) 229-5402, <uwm.edu/libraries/archives> Norwegian American Genealogical Center…

Civil registration (vital records) started in the Netherlands in the year 1811—with a few exceptions in the far south, where it began in 1795. Civil records are public after 50 years (deaths), 75 years (marriages) or 100 years (births). • Birth records contain the name of the child, date and place of birth, and the names of the parents (if known). Informants were required to have personal knowledge of the birth. Witnesses were sometimes related, but later records didn’t require witnesses. Birth records might show extra remarks—for example, acknowledging an illegitimate child. • Marriage records contain the names of both spouses, date of marriage, ages or dates of birth, places of birth, places of residence, occupations and names of the parent(s). Parents had to consent to marriages if their children…

According to Dutch law, each citizen has one or multiple first names, as well as one family name. (Middle names, as such, do not exist.) A birth record gives the official spelling of a person’s full name, and an official name can only be changed through a strict court procedure. Most family names go back for centuries. They are derived from first names (patronymics, occasionally matronymics), occupations, toponyms or characteristics. Family names with van refer to toponyms—for example, “Van Buren” (“of Buren,” a town in the Gelderland province)—while names ending in –sen, such as “Jansen” (“son of Jans”), are patronymics. Prepositions and articles are written separately from the core of the family name, so don’t use them when searching databases. For example, “Vanderbilt” would be written van der Bilt. In…

President Thomas Jefferson defends the Louisiana Purchase in a letter to Senator John Breckenridge of Kentucky, dated August 12, 1803. Though US representatives signed the agreement with France to purchase the land on April 30, some lawmakers questioned its constitutionality. Ultimately, Jefferson prevailed when the Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase (which effectively doubled the United States’ size for just $15 million) on October 20.…