Cleveland Public Library- Genealogical Resources

When researching in Northeast Ohio one of my favorite places to conduct research is at the Cleveland Public Library- History and Geography Department on Superior street.  The unique items in this collection make it well worth a personal trip, but some of the records can be accessed online.  I will highlight some of the items in the collection that I find unique.

As mentioned in a previous article on City directories it is one of my favorite between census sources for documenting a families location.  The library has a complete collection of directories for the city directories for the City of Cleveland on microfilm. This collection starts as early as the 1840's. Other cities that are covered are Bay Village, Bedford, Berea, Chagrin Valley, Euclid, Fairview Park, Garfield Heights, Lakewood, Lyndhurst, Parma, and Rocky River.  The years vary in this collection and the records are not available online through the library, but some are available on Ancestry.

My favorite part of the collection and what I find to be a amazing source is the Cleveland Necrology File.  It is a amazing resource.  This is the death notices in the City of Cleveland that appeared in the paper from roughly 1833, 1847-1848 and finally 1850-1975.  Now for the amazing part this collection is available for review online.  Included in the online information is the persons name, date of death, name of paper, address, survivors and where they were buried.  The papers included are the Plain Dealer, Herald and the Press.  I can not say enough good things about this collection.

In the upcoming weeks I will be highlighting other items from this collection.  As always please post your questions and ideas for me.  Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Civil War- GAR genealogy

Thought folks might like reading a recent article I did. http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art177148.asp

Free Genealogy Websites- Part 2

Let me clarify that sections of these websites are free.  Some sites charge a nominal fee.  Still have value though when you use the free areas.

11. genserv.com

–        Over 21 million individual listings.

–        Some databases need a small fee.

12. ingeneas.com

        Free passenger lists for Canada. Must order the actual record for a fee. 

13. rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bwo/

        Free look ups from people offering this service.

14. archives.gov/research/arc/

         Lists Dawes rolls, WW II Draft registration, Casualty list, Indian Bounty Apps, Criminal Case files

15. ellisisland.org

         Must register to access. List of passengers between 1892-1924

16. freebmd.org.uk/

         Lists vital records between 1837-1983. England and Wales Vital Records.

17. geonames.usgs.gov/

         Over 2,000 names and helps with locating ones that do not exist anymore.

18. castlegarden.org

        Immigration information between 1830 to 1890. Port of New York

19.  geneanet.org

        Primarily based on French records across the world.

20. lva.virginia.gov/

        Lists land grants from 1623-1992.Digital images of 6,000 + bibles. Searchable index of wills pre 1800. Digital library of Virginia

Have some fun with these websites.  More to come in the upcoming weeks.

Sailor arrival records

Thought this would be a interesting link for ancestry users.

http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2139

City Directories- Underused Genealogical Source

Have you been attempting the time of arrival or departure of family member to a Urban area between census records?  Looking to see where your ancestors were between 1880 and 1900 the large census gap in the United States?  City directories offer a excellent way to track your family that is very accurate.

Directories were printed for all large cities, but were also printed for a large amount of small towns.  Many records date back into the 1700's.  Majority of directories started consistently in the 1850's in the United States.  Provide a excellent year to year way of tracking your ancestors.  Allows you to pinpoint location as a catalysis to finding other records.  These records are also also being put on the internet in large amounts.

There are many successful methods that will help in locating your ancestors.  The first one is the "Straight Search".  This allows you to see all the persons living in a particular area at a specific time for possible family relationships.  Lists employment of both females and males.  You want to look for people with common employers and living in same neighborhoods as your ancestors.  Look for multiple names that are located at the same address.  Listings will include older children that are living under their parents roof, but have outside employment.  Make sure to compare the addresses with a city map for the time period to be aware where all people are located.

The next method is the address or street search method.  Will identify people living at the same address with your ancestor that may not share the same surname.  This is a great way to find parents, in-laws, siblings and other collateral family lines.  Allows you to also look at neighbors for possible relationship.  Make sure to check out business listings to see if other family members are working at the same employer.  Family members often worked the same occupation for generations.

Get out there and look at those city directories.  Excellent way to locate ancestors between census records and is often more accurate.

Jewish Genealogy Northeast Ohio

Mark your calenders for this exciting genealogy event that will be focused on Jewish Genealogy.

http://jewishgen.blogspot.com/2012/06/announcement-jgs-of-cleveland.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Free Genealogy Websites

Thought you might be interested in trying some free websites.  Let me know your results.

1. www.rootsweb.com
1. –One of the largest family tree based genealogy based sites on the internet.

   –Allows for updating and correcting information.

   –Proceed with caution and check all data.

   –Data base contains over 3 billion names and 300,000 family trees.

   –You can also submit your family information for free.
2. www.familysearch.org
1. –This is the official website of the LDS

   –Provides the largest collection of free records in the world.

   –Has excellent image quality and interesting ways to access the information.

   –Provides a wide variety of records that cover the world and are in English.

   –Will be the portal on the internet to access the complete collection of the LDS in ten years.
3. glorecords.blm.gov
1. –More than two million land records between 1820 to 1908.

   –Includes most of the midwest.
4. interment.net
1. Has over 5,000 listing from across the world.
5. worldgenweb.com
1. Similar to USGenWeb but it covers the rest of the world.
6. collectionscanada.gc.ca/lac-bac/search/arch
1. Includes WW1, census, dominion land grants, immigration records.  
7. geneabios.com
1. List of bios on regular folks.
8. rootsweb.ancestry.com/~obituary/
1. –Dates back to 1995

   –Lists over 2,500 obits daily

   –This is a index.
9. rootsweb.ancestry.com/usgenweb
1. Lots of free record listing pertaining to specific geography in the US
10. ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com
1. 64 million citizens that have died since 1962.