Newsletter
The City Directories can be a worthwhile source to use when searching for persons between census years. Some families came to many of the Northern states and Canada before 1880. Others migrated from the South prior to World War I or during World War II years. The directories can present a year-to-year location for relatives as well as their occupation, especially if they are residing with other known relatives. While some of the pre-Twentieth century years may be found in print form, it may be necessary to use the microfilm viewer for other years, if they are available.
Another site www.familysearch.org can also be a helpful source online, when looking for African Americans who were born between 1860 to 1900. The database has the Ancestral index for Mormons, 1880 Federal Census, IGI indexes and Social Security Death Index entries for many. IGI indexes can be searched for the name of the Head of families, if the children’s names are found. In some cases, other information will perhaps show state where born, mother’s name, age, where born, etc. Some marriage information may also appear.
Recently, a new free database called Pilot, has become available. To use it: Log-on at http://pilot.familysearch.org.
Indexes for many states can be checked. It has the 1900 Federal Census for the States loaded, and some State’s Vital Records, such as; birth, marriage, 1867-1925, etc. While it provides interesting data, it can be time-consuming in some instances. I have found it of great help in researching other families.
Don’t forget to check in military indexes when using the Ancestry.com records. While some additional information may be available in the military records of individuals, it may be necessary to obtain them through submitting SF 180 or requesting copies from National Archives (NARA.com)
The World War I Draft Registration was done in three time segments, and some individuals may even show up in the World War II Draft registration as well. Names, Addresses, birth date, where born, and place of employment, and spouses or parent may be listed in some cases. Most African American registrations will have the lower left-hand corner clipped off (ordered by the Selective Service personnel) to track African American draftees. Submitted by Mel Holley
The unanswered question - is the “W. Howard” (male) age 35 living two doors away great-great granddad? Perhaps Web Howard’s history will be further revealed on another trip, this time to Louisiana.
Submitted by Mike Bryan
The Michigan Genealogist is a electronic publication by the Library of Michigan online.
The news provided can be useful to grasp some of the events of past year’s history and persons.
SeekingMichigan.org will be online soon after the completion of digitization of the Michigan Death Records between 1897 – 1920. It may be sampled and viewed for a selected group of records now by paging through the file to gain an idea how it will be displayed. Only approx. 1,000 records are online from three (3) Michigan counties so far.
Visit the Library of Michigan Website: www. Michigan.gov/libraryofmichigan for other helpful materials.
Mel.org is another resource that should be visited for historical information and databases. Log-on to http://www.mel.org. Several databases can be found that have photographs, historic documents, etc. from the Archives of Michigan. Several catalogs can be searched with articles, books, magazines, newspapers, and other publications can be viewed on eLibrary. It is free to Michigan residents from the Library or from home, office or anywhere with internet access. Simply by signing on using your drivers license, State ID or MelCat Library card.
Recently, Governor Granholm announced her decision to close the Department of History, arts and Libraries. Although we do not know what this will