Free UK Census Records (England, Scotland, Wales) Online

The Free UK Genealogy initiative sponsors this site to provide free access to US Census records. The search form allows you to filter by name, birth year range, birth county, and census county/place/year.

The results of your search are in a transcribed list, so you don't see the actual census document, but the information presented is quite extensive.

FreeCEN - UK Census Records (England, Scotland, Wales):

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PGS Events for the Week of 29 Oct - 4 Nov

Tuesday, 31-Oct-2017 at 2:00 PM--Was Your Ancestor Accused of Being a Witch? Exploring the Colonial New England Witchcraft Trials--We have been fascinated by the stories of the New England witchcraft trials, particularly those in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, for hundreds of years. This presentation will explore what happened and what our ancestors believed, and try to explain why these events took place. Fortin, Aging Well Center, Clearwater [NOTE LOCATION]

Tuesday, 31-Oct-2017 at 6:00 PM--Spanish-American War-- This class is an exploration of the causes, conflicts, and results of the United States’ war with Spain in 1898. In addition to the history of the conflict and its consequences, the types of records generated during the conflict will be discussed along with guidance on where to find those records. Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Wednesday, 1-Nov-2017 at 10:00 AM--Writing Brief Narrative Sketches – Sharing Interesting Ancestors with Family--Do you want to share your family history research and enthusiasm with your relatives, but find that their eyes tend to glaze over when you pull out your pedigree charts and family group sheets? Try presenting the information to them in bite-size chunks, one interesting ancestor at a time, using brief, 1-3 page narratives with visual impact.   Fortin , Local History Room, Largo Library.

Friday, 3-Nov-2017 at 10:15 AM--Franco-American Discussion Group.Geographic areas include: Europe (primarily France, but not limited to France)-Eastern Canada (primarily Quebec, some Ontario, but including the Acadians of the Maritime Provinces)-USA (Central North America and New England, also Louisiana and the surrounding Southern states). Local History Room, Largo Library.

Saturday, 4-Nov-2017 at 10:00 AM--Family Tree Maker User Group--Questions & Answers and Demonstration of how to use the Family Tree Maker genealogical database software. Hosmer-Bryan, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Update to "Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records"

I have mentioned Joe Beine's wonderful collection of topical indexes, and seldom miss the chance to give his work visibility. Joe frequently updates is indexes and this note is to alert you to an update to "Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records"

Scroll to the bottom of the landing page to find hot links to his other indexes.

Online Searchable Death Indexes, Records and Obituaries:

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Accuracy/Inaccuracy of Historical Records

James Tanner, writing in his Blog Genealogy's Star, gives us a thoughtful piece on "How Accurate Are Historical Records?"

We have all been plagued with misspelled names, incorrect relationships, dubious dates, etc. Read James' article to get a fresh perspective on this issue.

Genealogy's Star: How accurate are historical records?:

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Online Index of Park View Cemetery, Schenectady, NY

Those of you with Ancestors from the Schenectady, NY area may be interested in this online cemetery index.

To get to the index, click on "Search a Grave" located in the bottom right of the landing page. You can then search by name for the record of interest. The index gives the first and last name, the dates of death and interment, and the grave location.

Check it out at:  Park View Cemetery | Schenectady, NY:

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PGS Events for the Week of 22-28 October 2017

Tuesday, 24-Oct-2017 at 11:30 AM--DNA Testing for genealogy—What you can and cannot do with DNA testing relating to your family history—an introduction. Manning, Jenkins A, Largo Library.

Tuesday, 24-Oct-2017 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. Manning, Jenkins A, Largo Library.

Wednesday, 25-Oct-2017 at 6:00 PM--AmericanAncestors.org: Searching the Online Databases--American Ancestors, the website for the New England Historic Genealogical Society, provides more than 1 billion records in over 450 databases online. Although much of the collection focuses on New England, records from around the U.S. and even some from other countries are available. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the website, and will go through the basics of searching these extensive databases. Fortin, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Thursday, 26-Oct-2017 at 10:30 AM--WAR WITH MEXICO -- This class is an exploration of the causes, conflicts, and results of the United States’ war with Mexico. In addition to the history of the conflict, the types of records generated during the conflict will be discussed along with guidance on where to find those records. Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

National Archives Virtual Genealogy Fair on YouTube (October 25, 2017)

This notice comes from the National Archives Blog:

FREE NARA 2017 Virtual Genealogy Fair (save the date -- 25 October 2017) #genfair2017

From our friends at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)!  An always great opportunity to learn about federal records and just how valuable they can be to your genealogy research.

WHAT: The National Archives will host a live, virtual Genealogy Fair via webcast on YouTube. Participate in our biggest genealogy event of the year! Sessions offer advice on family history research for all skill levels. Topics include Federal government documents on birth, childhood, and death; recently recovered military personnel files; Japanese Americans during World War II; 19th century tax assessments; and a “how to” on preserving family heirlooms. For the schedule, videos, handouts, and participation instructions, visit the Virtual Genealogy Fair online (https://www.archives.gov/calendar/genealogy-fair )

WHEN: October 25, starting at 10 a.m. EDT

WHO: Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero and records experts from National Archives’ facilities nationwide.

WHERE: Anywhere! Participate during the Fair while it is live streamed on the US National Archives’ YouTube channel

Captioning: Live captioning will be available online. If you require an alternative or additional accommodation for the event, please send an email to: KYR@nara.gov or call 202-357-5260 in advance.

Follow the following link to the YouTube channel:
2017 National Archives Virtual Genealogy Fair (2017 October 25) - YouTube:

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Obituary Index for Rush County, Kansas

The Barnard Library provides an online obituary index to Rush County newspapers. The newspapers covered and their dates of publication are: Walnut Valley Standard (1874-1901), Walnut Valley Standard (1893-1896), Democrat (Walnut City), Walnut City Gazette (1886-1890), McCracken Republican (1900-1902), McCracken Midget (1949-1951), Rush County Leader (1895), Bison Courier (1930-1938), and Bison Bee (1902-1918).

Instructions for using the index are front and center on the landing page.

Barnard Library Obituary Index:

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Pinellas Genealogy Society Free Lecture Series Features George G. Morgan

The Pinellas Genealogy Society is pleased to announce another in its Lecture Series, this time featuring George G. Morgan giving two presentations. The first is “Laying Out Clues in Funeral Home Records”:  synopsis--Funeral home and mortuary records can provide clues to many other sources, especially before death certificates were issued and between censuses. Learn what information may be included, what it infers, and places to locate the records. Examples of records from online sources are presented and discussed.

The second is “Timelining Your Ancestors”:  synopsis--Your ancestors lived complex lives, interacting with family members, friends, neighbors, and associates of all types. They participated in their communities, and they were affected by events in their communities and around the world. You want to place your ancestors into geographical, historical, and social context so that you can better understand their lives. This seminar suggests a wide array of resources for locating details about your ancestors, and presents a methodology for constructing a chronological timeline of their lives.

This event is free and open to the public and runs from 11am to 3pm at the Largo Public Library (120 Central Park Drive, Largo, FL) on Saturday, 18 November 2017. There will be a short break for lunch after the first presentation. Plan to bring a brown bag lunch, or make use of the Bookmark Café in the library.

George G. Morgan is president of Aha! Seminars, Inc., and an internationally recognized genealogy expert who presents in the U.S., Canada, England, on cruise ships, and on webinars. He is the prolific, award-winning author of hundreds of articles for genealogical magazines, journals, newsletters, and at online sites internationally. His twelfth book, the fourth edition of How to Do Everything: Genealogy, was released in January 2015. He is a regular writer for the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly, Family Tree Magazine, Internet Genealogy, and Your Genealogy Today. He has won writing awards from the Association of Professional Genealogists and the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors (ISFHWE). He is a past president of ISFHWE, and has served on the boards of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, the Florida State Genealogical Society, the Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa), and is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Genealogical Speakers Guild, and societies in the U.S. and U.K. George is co

List of Genealogy Pages on Facebook

If you are a Facebook user and want to find genealogy-oriented pages on the site, this link is for you. Katherine Willson has done the heavy lifting for us, and provides such a list. The list is alphabetized by state/county name, and all entries are hot links. So, for example, when you click on "Georgia" you are taken to a list of Facebook pages associated with that state, and when when you click on a specific entry in that list, you are taken directly to that page on Facebook. And did I mention that the list is international in scope?

Also provided is a link to a similar list focused just on Canadian genealogy. Katherine also mentions that to be notified each time her list is updated, simply "like" her Facebook page (and she provides a link to do that).

Check it out at:  Genealogy on Facebook List – Katherine R. Willson:

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PGS Events for the Week of 16-21 October 2017

Tuesday, 17-Oct-2017 at 10:00 AM--King Philip’s War, 1675-1676: Causes & Consequences – Although largely forgotten, King Philip’s War was a widespread conflict that had a significant and long-lasting impact on New England colonists and Native Americans. The class will look at causes leading up to this brutal war, analyze the course of the war, and outline the consequences that helped shape the future of the United States. Fortin, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Thursday, 19-Oct-2017 at 1:00 PM--Irish Genealogy Interest Group, Padgett, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Friday, 20-Oct-2017 at 10:30 AM--German Genealogy Interest Group, Dietz, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Saturday, 21-Oct-2017 at 10:00 AM--Computers in Genealogy, Bryan, Jenkins B, Largo Library.

Saturday, 21-Oct-2017 at 11:00 AM--Program Meeting--How Advertising Brought Our Ancestors to the Midwest, Lyttle. Jenkins B, Largo Library.

Periodical Source Index at findmypast.com

I have pointed you to the Periodical Source Index (PERSI) before, but it deserves repeating.

PERSI is housed at the Allen County Public Library's Genealogy Center, but the collection is being indexed and presented by findmypast.com. Although findmypast.com is a fee site, use of PERSI in not.

PERSI is a collection of journal articles from genealogical and historical societies, and the index allow  you to search for those articles by subject/title. When you find the citation of an article you want, one way you can get a full copy is to send the citation to the Allan County Library and for a modest fee, it will be copied and sent to you. Instructions for ordering are on the landing page under "How do I get copies of the full articles?"

One avenue to explore to get a full copy of the article you want is to take the citation you find in PERSI and look for the source journal in our collection at Largo Library's Genealogy Center.

US, UK, Irish and Australian records | findmypast.com:

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PGS Features Presentation by Annette Burke Lyttle on 21 October--Free and Open to the Public

Views of the Men Who Made Those Sanborn Maps

Here is an article that is very interesting for a variety of reasons. First it tells us about some of the men who made the Sanborn maps and the procedures they used, and it also gives a good example of newspaper research on a topic.

The article comes to us from the "Preservation in Mississippi" Blog. It offers a collection of newspaper articles covering actions of "Sanborn Men" specifically in Mississippi, from their plans to send workers to the state, to identifying individual Sanborn employees as they work with city residents to complete their job.

If you work with Sanborn insurance maps in your research, you will enjoy historical perspective.

Who Were Those Sanborn Men? – Preservation in Mississippi:

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PGS Events for the Week of 9-14 October 2017

Tuesday, 10-Oct-17 at 10:00 AM--Facebook for Genealogy—how to use this powerful tool to aid in your family history research. Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Thursday, 12-Oct-17 at 10:30 AM--Google your family tree-- This presentation demonstrates how to use the powerful features of the Google search engine to discover genealogy information on the internet. Topics include: how to select keyword search terms, how to interpret the results, using Google Alerts, news archive searches, book searches and more neat things that Google can do for you. Bryan, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Friday, 13-Oct-17 at 10:30 AM--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.

Saturday, 14-Oct-17 from 12:00-4:00 PM--Family History Assistance Day. This is the 14^th semi-annual event presented by PGS and Largo Library designed especially for beginning researchers. Bring what information you have about your family and receive free, one-on-one research assistance from a PGS consultant. No appointment is necessary--first come, first served. Tours of the Genealogy Center will also be offered. We will be in Jenkins A, B, on the first floor of Largo Library.

More Digital Newspapers Coming to Library of Congress--Chronicling America

Those of you doing newspaper research are probably aware of the great collection of digitized newspapers at Chronicling America at the Library of Congress website. You are also probably aware that the collection, large as it may be, is limited to the years 1836-1922.

That apparently is changing now, as reported By Lisa Louise Cooke in her Blog, Genealogy Gems."  Over time, that date range for the digitized collection of some papers may change to as early as 1690 and as late at 1963.

Read about the reason for the change and other interesting collection facts at:
Chronicling America New Records - More Digital Newspapers Coming:

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Annual PGS Seminar Being Held on 24 February 2018--Register Early

The Annual Pinellas Genealogy Society Seminar, co-sponsored by the Largo Public Library, is scheduled for 24 February 2018 at the Largo Public Library from 8 am to 4 pm. The library is located at 120 Central Park Drive, Largo, FL.

This all-day event features Judy Russell (JD, CG®, CGL℠), The Legal Genealogist, as the primary speaker, as well as two breakout speakers, George G. Morgan and Drew Smith, “The Genealogy Guys.” Judy's four presentations are titled (1) “That First Trip to the Courthouse,” (2) “No Vitals? No Problem --Building a Family Through Circumstantial Evidence,” (3) “Where There Is--or Isn't a Will,” and (4) “DNA and the Golden Rule.” Judy is a nationally known speaker, author, educator, and genealogy blogger.

The topics of the breakout sessions will be: (1) “Principles of Effective Evidence Analysis” by George G. Morgan, and (2) “Organizing Your DNA Testing” by Drew Smith. George and Drew are also highly regarded authors and speakers. They are also renowned for their “Genealogy Guys” podcast.

In addition to the speakers, this event boasts a continental breakfast, box lunch, raffles, door prizes, book sale, and plenty of time to network with other researchers and guest organizations. The registration fee is $40 for PGS members and $45 for non-members. After 15 February, the cost is $50, so register early.

We at PGS are proud of this annual, day-long event; and proud of the lineup of speakers and topics we have scheduled. There is something for everybody—novice researcher or experienced. Join us.

A detailed schedule of events and a registration form are found at http://www.flpgs.org/NMbrs/seminar/2018/Sem18.aspx . Questions can be addressed to pgsfla@yahoo.com .

Exploring Your Ancestry DNA Results

Linda Barnickel, writing for the Ancestry Blog, explains a couple of the important but often over-looked analytical tools Ancestry DNA offers.

If  you had your test done by Ancestry DNA, you may want to take a moment and read this helpful article.

See it at:  Exploring Your DNA Results Further – Ancestry Blog:

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Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay Features Drew Smith on October 8, 2017

Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay Meeting

Organizing Your Genealogy Research Process

Speaker: Drew Smith

Sunday, October 8, 2017

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay will meet at Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services, 14041 Icot Blvd., Clearwater, Florida on Sunday October 8, 2017 for a presentation by Drew Smith on  “Organizing Your Genealogy Research Process”.

The research process includes goals, questions, sources, information, evidence and conclusions. In this presentation, attendees will learn to use task management software, research logs, and other tools to keep track of their research.  

Country Jubilee at Heritage Village on 28 October 2017

The following comes from the Heritage Village website:

Country Jubilee

October 28, 2017

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

$2.00 donation suggested for 12 yrs & up

Children under twelve free.

Sponsored by the Pinellas County Historical Society

The Country Jubilee is the first place to search for gifts for the upcoming holiday season. The event features a large flea market and book sale, handmade holiday crafts, paintings, jewelry, stained glass, wooden treasures, musical entertainment, tours of historical homes and demonstrations of traditional crafts.

Heritage Village is located at 11909 125th Street N., Largo, FL.