Thursday, June 30, 2016

Dutchess County, New York Ancient Documents Online

The Dutchess County government has provided online access to 12,000 pages of eighteenth century legal documents. This introduction comes from its website:

"This enhanced County Clerk system allows customers to search and view digital images of 12,000 pages of eighteenth-century legal documents. Drawn from the Dutchess County Ancient Documents Collection, these records comprise the oldest surviving manuscripts from the Dutchess County Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions, which began operation in 1721. These documents detail daily life in Dutchess County as seen through both civil and criminal cases that came before the judges and justices of the peace."

Click on the "Continue" button when you get to the landing page to see the search form.

If the hotlink below does not work, simply copy it into the address field of your browser.

http://www.co.dutchess.ny.us/CountyGov/Departments/CountyClerk/26868.htm

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Findmypast Gives Free Access from 29 June to 6 July 2016

This alert comes from Bob Bryan:

From June 29th until July 6th 2016, over 1 billion UK, US and Irish records will be completely free to search and explore on Findmypast.

This includes all 118 million “Travel and Migration” records, 116 million US marriages, and all UK, Irish and US censuses.

Over 7 million new US Naturalization records and over 1.7 million US Passport Applications have also been released, marking the first phase of two brand new collections ideal for uncovering early immigrant ancestors. More details at https://goo.gl/ncGByk.

Monday, June 27, 2016

Online Searchable Death Indexes, Records and Obituaries Has Been Updated

Check out Joe Beine's update to his Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records. The landing page will give you a list of states that are hot links to lists of related records and indexes. At the bottom of the state list you will find links to 5 specific major cities' death records: Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, and St. Louis.

If the reference is to a site where a fee is required, the list alerts you to that fact.

Online Searchable Death Indexes, Records and Obituaries:

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Lee County Genealogical Society Annual Picnic on 21 July 2016


Friday, June 24, 2016

PGS Events for the Week of 26 June to 2 July 2016

Monday, 27-Jun-2016 at 10:00 AM--INTRODUCTION TO GENEALOGY (Beginner) -- Basics of how to get started in researching your family history—what to do first, where to look & how to do it. Bryan, Local History Room, Largo Library.
Wednesday, 29-Jun-2016 at 6:00 PM--NATURALIZATION RECORDS -- Many of our ancestors became naturalized citizens, and left a paper trail when they did so. This class explains the naturalization process, what information can be found in the records, and where those records can be found. Summers, Local History Room, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Caro, Michigan Area District Library Online Collectioins

Some of you "Michiganers" may find this link helpful. It leads you to digital copies of the Tuscola County Advertiser from 1868 to 1942, and the Caro High School yearbooks from 1922 to 2006.

Check them out at:  Digital Collection — Caro Area District Library:

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Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America Biennial Conference 31 July-3 August

The Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America ( http://ogsa.us) is holding their biennial conference, "2016 Ostfriesen Family Reunion," in Minneapolis, MN from July 31 to August 3, 2016. 

The conference includes speakers from Germany and across the US on Ostfriesen cultural, historical and genealogy topics, an extensive reference library with research assistance, special events such as an Ostfriesen Tea Party, Art Show and optional tours of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. 

More information including the registration form can be found at

Monday, June 20, 2016

Why Obituaries Contain Hidden Family Trees

The GIT Magazine GenealogyInTime)  gives us an article about the value of researching obituaries. Even though you may thing the reasons are obvious, the article is a good refresher, and it contains several links that will be of value (to search engines, to searching guides, etc.).

Give it a look at:  Why Obituaries Contain Hidden Family Trees:

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Friday, June 17, 2016

PGS Events for the Week of 19-25 June 2016

Wednesday, 22-Jun-2016 at 1:00 PM--DNA Interest Group--Share your DNA knowledge and discuss your results with others interested in making DNA Connections.  This is a group for DNA novices to learn together. Luce, Local History Room, Largo Library
Saturday, 25-Jun-2016 at 10:00 AM--RootsMagic User Group--Questions and answers and demonstrations of how to use the RootsMagic genealogy database software program. Bryan, Local History Room, Largo Library

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program

If you have Indiana ancestors, this site may be of interest to you. This newspaper collection contains over 106 thousand issues consisting of over 806 thousand pages. The site is operated by the Indiana State Library.

Look to the right side of the landing page and you will find buttons to click in order to browse the collection by title or by date. If you choose by date, you will get a calendar page where the month's sporting publications will be hotlinked. At the top of each browse page you will find a search tab to click. If you elect advanced search, you can drill down to a specific newspaper to search.

Check it out at:
Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program:

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Monday, June 13, 2016

Clearwater Public Library Has Digitized City Directories for Their Area

Clearwater Public Library has online images of city directories for Clearwater, Dunedin, and Largo Florida from the 1960's and 1970's. The library's collection is broader than those dates, but those are ones currently available online.

Check them out at:
Clearwater Public Library System : Free Texts : Download & Streaming : Internet Archive:

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Friday, June 10, 2016

PGS Events for the Week of 12-18 June 2016

Monday, 13-Jun-2016 at 6:00 PM--Familysearch.org—the class will demonstrate how to search the vast databases available on this rapidly-expanding site made available from the LDS (Mormon) genealogy collection. Bryan, Local History Room, Largo Library.
Wednesday, 15-Jun-2016 at 6:00 PM--Heritage Quest--Getting the most from this free* website. Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.
Thursday, 16-Jun-2016 at 1:00 PM--Irish Genealogy Interest Group--a discussion of resources and techniques for researching your Irish ancestry. Focareta—Padgett, Local History Room, Largo Library.
Saturday, 18-Jun-2016 at 10:00 AM--Computers in Genealogy--Question and answer session on the use of computers in genealogy research and record keeping. Bryan, Jenkins B, Largo Library.
Saturday, 18 Jun 2016 at 11:00 AM—Program Meeting, An Introduction to Jewish Genealogy, Bill Israel, Jenkins B, Largo Library.
Saturday, 18-Jun-2016 at 12:30 PM--Workshop tour of the Genealogy Center showing the many genealogical research resources there. Summers, Genealogy Center, Largo Library.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Facebook for Canadian Genealogy

Here is a link to the Blog Genealogy a' la carte, and a post about Facebook for Canadian Genealogy. The article provides a link to a list of nearly 400 Facebook groups and pages that focus on helping people with ancestors who lived in Canada.

Facebook for Canadian Genealogy | Genealogy à la carte:

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Monday, June 6, 2016

Looking for Michigan Ancestors?

Seeking Michigan  is the online platform for the Michigan Historical Center. It includes Archives of Michigan research guides and indexes and more.

The landing page presents a treasure of links to click on. It will be worth your time to click around a bit. Click on the "Discover" tab to view all of the collections or zero in on death records, censuses, or Civil War information, to name a few.

At the very top of the page is a search bar. Click on "Advanced Search" and you will be able to focus your search on specific collections.

Seeking Michigan:

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Saturday, June 4, 2016

PGS Events for the Week of 5-11 June 2016

Monday, 6-Jun-2016 at 6:00 PM--Female ancestors--locating and tracing the maternal line; tips and methods to finding maiden names. Bryan, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Tuesday, 7-Jun-2016 at 6:00 PM--Facebook for Genealogy. Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library

Friday, June 3, 2016

Irish Genealogical Research Society Calls for Your Stories

The Irish Genealogical Research Society is asking you to contribute stories of your ancestors. Some of the submitted stories will be published in an e-book, but all will be deposited for posterity in their 80th Anniversary Archive in the IGRS Library. The deadline for submission is 31 August 2016.

More information about the project is available at:  Tell Us About Your Ancestors! | Irish Genealogical Research Society:

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Thursday, June 2, 2016

"Genealogy and DNA" To Be Presented at Suncoast Genealogy Society

Denise Manning will be the speaker at the 25 June 2016 Suncoast Genealogy Society meeting, and her topic will be "Genealogy and DNA."

"Genetic genealogy can be fascinating and a little complicated. If you've tested your DNA for genealogical purposes and need more information in order to analyze results and matches, Denise can help. This program will focus on autosomal DNA tested through Ancestry, Family Tree DNA, and 23 and Me.

The meeting is at 2 pm at the Palm Harbor Library, 2330 Nebraska Ave, Palm, Harbor, FL.