GenealogyBlog

The following news release was received from Tom Champoux, with the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
AmericanAncestors.org reflects the organization’’s expanding national collection and resources.

Boston, MA – August 19, 2010: – D. Brenton Simons, President and CEO of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), today announced the launch of AmericanAncestors.org, the organization’s new website that [...]

Following is an excerpt from a fascinating article dealing with various “famous folks” wills. Ancestry.co.uk is posting 6 million English & Welsh wills running from 1861 to 1941. If you do a Google News search, you’ll come up with all kinds of articles about this. However, this exceprt is from the best one I could [...]

Maps are an integral part of doing any genealogy or historical research. The following excerpt is from an interesting article at Mainebiz.biz.

Smaller is better for Historic Map Works. The company recently relocated from the former Portland Glass building in Westbrook to a 1,285-square-foot office in Portland’s Marine Trade Center, downsizing by two thirds.
The reason for [...]

According to an AP article currently circulating, the University of Tennessee will manage a project wherein about 2500 rolls of Tennessee newspapers on microfilm will be digitized and posted as part of the “Chronicling America” project. The project concentrates on papers published between 1836 and 1922.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ― A couple of years from now, [...]

The following was received from Debra Chatfield of findmypast.co.uk:
Findmypast.co.uk, leading UK family history website, has launched an easier way to find the births of English and Welsh ancestors online. The company has re-indexed over 100 million birth records dating from 1837 to 2006.
Findmypast.co.uk’s fully re-indexed birth records make finding ancestors much simpler and [...]

LONDON and PROVO, Utah, Jul 15, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) — Ancestry.com Inc. (ACOM 17.50, -0.56, -3.10%) today announced the closing of its acquisition of Genline.se, the leading Swedish family history Web site.
Genline currently has more than 17,000 paying members with access to 26 million pages of digitized Swedish church records spanning more than [...]

The following news release was received from Debra Chatfieid, marketing manager at findmypast.co.uk:
As the 2010 Wimbledon Championships head towards the closing stages, leading UK family history website findmypast.co.uk has delved into its collection of census records from 1841 to 1911 to find some interesting tennis-themed entries..
The finds…
In the 1891 census, a Miss [...]

The following information was received this morning from Paul Nauta with FamilySearch:
There were over 150 new collections added or enhanced this week at FamilySearch.org. FamilySearch volunteers indexed over 120 million records — over 300 million new names — from original source documents to accomplish this great feat. The massive release was announced [...]

The following newspaper titles were recently added to the family history archives found in GenealogyBank.com and ObitsArchive.com. They recently added more than 104 newspapers from 35 states - over 130 million new articles.
ObitsArchive.com
NEW CONTENT: (1977 to present day)
CA-Mammoth Times
CO-Montrose Daily Press, The
CT-New Canaan News-Review
CT-Ridgefield Press, The
FL-Hernando Today
IA-Daily Democrat, The
ID-Independent Enterprise
IL-Macomb Journal
IL-Voice, The
IN-Indianapolis Recorder, The
IN-Pilot-News
MI-Shelby-Utica News
NC-Stanly [...]

I just got a note from my friend, Illya D’Addezio, telling me that genealogists can now view results from the Record Search pilot from within Live Roots.
“The FamilySearch Record Search pilot include millions of indexed records, and is expanding each month. When you perform a search in Live Roots, you will see a [...]

I got a note from my friend, Tom Kemp, this morning, apprising me of the fact that GenealogyBank.com is now up to over 280 African-American newspapers in their online offerings. The following is from the website:
This fully searchable and expanding collection of newspapers provides details about the daily lives of millions of African [...]

The following databases have been added at The Original Record:
1130-1770 - Bodleian Library Charters and Rolls
A large accumulation of documents preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, formerly constituted the antiquarian collections of Anthony a Wood, Roger Dodsworth, Ralph Thoresby, Thomas Martin of Palgrave, Thomas Tanner bishop of St Asaph, Dr Richard Rawlinson, Richard [...]

One of the resources that we were informed about on January 8 when the bloggers visited Ancestry.com was the 1950 census substitute. Ancestry.com announced this last week that the resource was now posted.
This “substitute” for the yet-to-be-released 1950 census is made up of about 2500 city directories. My first foray into the collection was [...]

The following small databases have been added at Family Tree Connection:
CONNECTICUT
Montville First Congregational Church 1875 Manual - Manual of the First Congregational Church, Montville, Conn, 1875.
Connecticut College for Women 1929-1930 Catalogue - Sixteenth Annual Catalogue of Connecticut College. Announcements for 1930-1931. Published at New London, Connecticut, March 30, 1928. Fifteenth Series, Third Number.
Connecticut [...]

The following news release is directly from the Oregon State Archives website.
As a legacy to the sesquicentennial of Oregon’s statehood, the Oregon State Archives presents the Early Oregonians Database. The information that can be found in the database is from census, death, probate, and other records to help researchers find relevant information and documents about [...]