Family History Day: Census Mortality Schedule

After attending Family History Day, I had a list of sources to look for.  At the top of this list was checking to see if any of my ancestors would have been listed on a census mortality schedule.  My 4th great grandfather, John George Zeapfel died 17 Oct 1879 in Lancaster, Erie County, NY.  Searching for him on Ancestry did not yield any results, but reading mortality schedule did:

This shows he died of consumption and that there was not a doctor present at the time of his death.  It also gives his birthplace (Alsace, France), occupation (retired farmer) and marital status (widow).  Since NY state did not have death certificates this early in most cases, this is the only place to find some of this information.

Family History Day: Sources for New York State Research

My last lecture of Family History Day was “Sources for New York State Research” by Christopher Challender Child.  As someone from Western New York, whose ancestors are also from Western New York, lectures like this can be disappointing, as they often focus only on New York City.  Luckily, Christopher covered records for the whole state.

NEHGS actually has a site specifically for those of us with NY ancestors: NewYorkAncestors.org.  This includes databases and articles specifically for New York.

State census records are some of the best things to look at for your NY ancestors, particularly since the 1892 state census is a wonderful substitute for the 1890 federal census.  There are also marriage and death records for June – July 1855 and 1865 located with the census of that year.

Other records he recommended were tax records, poor house records, and mug books.

Family History Day: A Dozen Ways to Jumpstart Your Family History Project

The third class I went to for Family history day was also given by Lou Dennis Szucs.  This time she spoke on ways to jumpstart your family history project.

Often time, we feel stuck in our research as genealogists.  Maybe we hit a brick wall or we just don’t know where to turn next.  In these cases, Lou first recommends going back over what you have.  When was the last time you looked at all of your documents for information you may have missed or didn’t realize was important the first time around?  Even just writing the information out in a new way, such as a timeline, may give you a new idea.  Also, make sure you are looking at the witnesses, sponsors, neighbors and fellow passengers on those documents, as they can often give you clues about your family (or may even be your family!).  One of my favorite bloggers, Tina, has been doing this recently.  She is going through her entire document collection, cleaning up her database and posing about it on her blog Gen Wish List.  She has found a multitude of items and is only on the letter “L”.

It is also important to continually look for new sources.  This can be done by looking at new Ancestry.com databases, going to your local library (or your ancestors local library), using sources new to you (in my case mortuary records and mortality census records), and checking out family history societies and museums.  Also remember that the 1940 US census will be released April 2nd!

Can you speak for 5 minutes on every place your people came from/lived?  I can’t either, but think it’s a great idea.  Writing up sketches of ancestral homelands is another great way to jumpstart your research.  Include the history of the area, maps, and things such as major occupations, churches, and organizations.  I also like the idea of writing sketches of organizations your ancestors belonged to, such as churches or fraternal organizations, and their employer, as this will give you more insight into their life.

You should also be writing up biographical sketches of your ancestors themselves.  This goes along with her first point of seeing what information you have.  Do not just put dates, but try to show their personality as well.  You can turn these sketches into your own personal mug book. 

Lastly, it is important that we network with others.  You can do this through genealogical organizations, on message boards, on a blog, Facebook, or using Ancestry.com member trees.  The more ways you get your information out there, the more likely you will find others who are related or can help break that brick wall. 

Family History Day: Hidden Treasures at Ancestry.com

The second presentation I went to at Family History Day was “Hidden Treasures at Ancestry.com” by Lou Dennis Szucs.  It was pretty cool to hear someone speak in person who’s books I have read.

The most important take-away from Lou’s presentation was to not use the search box on the front page of Ancestry.com.  While it will give you things such as census records and vital records, the smaller collections will not rank highly enough for you to find information on your family member.  Always go to the specific collection or to the correct county, state or country page to do your searches.

What are some of the hidden treasures at Ancestry.com?

• Mortality Schedules for the 1850-1880 census
• Seamen's Protection Certificates
• US Veteran's Gravesites, 1795-2006
• Homes for Disabled Soldiers
• Returns from Military Posts
• African-American and Jewish landing pages

Lou also discussed how important it is to browse the records, not just look at the page your ancestor is on, take the information, and go on to the next thing.  Back before the internet, every census record found required going through sheet after sheet of the census.  This often meant finding other families you were looking for and knowing more about the friends and neighbors who associated with your relatives.  Although no one would want to go back to that time, we still should be looking at the surrounding pages in a record and the header of each record.

Family History Day: Immigration Records on Ancestry.com

On 17 March 2012, I attended the Family History Day sponsored by ancestry.com and the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Tarrytown, New York.

The first workshop I attended was “Coming to America: Finding Your Ancestor's Arrival Record on Ancestry.com” by Juliana Szucs Smith.

Juliana discussed the differences in arrival records throughout the history of America.  Pre-1820 are the hardest to find, as manifests were not required and those that were created did not tend to survive.  One of her tips was to check works such as the Great Migration Project and old publications for abstracts of lists.

In 1820, passenger lists were required.  Although there is not a lot of information available on these forms, it is always exciting to see your ancestors name listed.  One of Juliana’s best tips for this era is to look at the end of passenger lists, where births and deaths that occurred on board are often located.

In the 1890s, manifests expanded to include information such as marital status, last residence, final destination, if they had been in the US before, name of relative they were joining, ethnic background, and the name & address of a relative in the old country.  These more recent lists can help your research tremendously.

It is also important to remember that not all immigrants came straight to the USA.  It was cheaper to travel to Canada or Mexico, so many people went through there first.  Ancestry.com has passenger lists and border crossing lists for these countries as well.

Just like today, it is possible that your ancestors went back to their homeland many times and will be found on a multitude of passenger lists (or border crossings).  Passports were also popular around the World Wars for those traveling back home so that they could easily get back to the US.  Ancestry.com has these, as well, and the best of these even have photographs attached.

For more information on immigration, check out the Oral History Project by Ellis Island, Theshipslist.com, Jewishgen.org/infofiles/manifests, Germanroots.com/ei.html and books such as They Came in Ships, Forgotten Doors and Germans to America.