Germans are the second largest ethnic group in the United States. Only the English are more numerous. Even at that, these groups represent generations of families living in America. European countries hardly represent today’s largest immigrant groups. However, they are the foundation for the larger part of the population and were once the largest groups [...]
Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration: A British Government Redemptioner Project to Manufacture Naval Stores is a scholarly book, full of details and amassed facts in an effort to explain the mass migrations from the war torn Rhine Valley in the early 1700s. The Palatines were driven from their homes, into the British Empire, by circumstance [...]
Across the Atlantic and Beyond: The Migration of German and Swiss Immigrants to America is an attempt to explain the genealogical mysteries associated with so many immigrant families. Why are there so many different spelling changes for family names? What drove people to move around? What factors contributed to the turbulent environment so many lived [...]
The following is from FamilySearch, April 2, 2013: FamilySearch has added 23.9 million indexed records and images this week with new browsable image collections from Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, England, Italy, Mexico, and the United States. Notable collection updates include the 19,206,333 images from the new United Kingdom, World War I Service Records, 1914-1920, collection, the [...]
Since Columbus introduced (or re-introduced if you prefer) the Americas to Europe, people have come, wave after wave, seeking a new life in the rich new world. America, since its colonial days, has experienced an almost never ending flow of immigrants. There are at least four identifiable time periods in which “waves” of people came [...]
The following press release is from Ancestry.com: Ancestry.com Celebrates America’s Immigrant Influence by Revealing Name Trends Throughout History PROVO, UT–(Marketwire – Mar 14, 2013) – Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, is revealing name trends from the past 150 years to inspire Americans to learn more about their immigrant roots. Regardless of their [...]
The Maritimes, a.k.a the Maritime Provinces or the Canadian Maritimes, consist of the eastern Canadian provinces of New Brunsick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Ports on these islands became a major debarkation point for European emigrants. From these ports people spread all over North America. One major group to come through these ports are [...]
In another of the fantastic books reprinted in 2012 by the New England Historical and Genealogical Society (NEHGS), the 1874 book The Original Lists of Persons of Quality: 1600-1700, by John Camden Hotten, provides individual names compiled from documents listing seventeenth-century English immigrants to New England, the Chesapeake, and the Caribbean. The current reprint comes [...]
The following is from FamilySearch: FamilySearch added an additional 6.6 million indexed records and images in the last two weeks. Included in this update are 15 new collections: 1 from Canada, 1 from Guam, 4 from Italy, 1 from Russia, and 8 from the United States. Among these collections are the China Collection of Genealogies [...]
In 2012, the New England Historical and Genealogical Society (NEHGS) reprinted and published a number of books of significant historical and genealogical value to the New England area. The Founders of New England, by Samuel G. Drake, is another of last year’s releases now available at Family Roots Publishing. In November, 1858 Drake took a [...]
The following excerpt is from the January 24, 2013 edition of the Lake County News-Sun. A “treasure trove” of Lake County historical documents dating back to the 1840s was transferred to Illinois State Archives on Thursday. Hundreds of U.S. naturalizations documents have been tucked in the county’s Clerk of the Circuit Court’s storage room. The [...]
Ever hear the phrase, “Everything you ever wanted to know about _____ can be found here?” It’s a great exaggeration. I have even used it in conversations from time to time to highlight the value of some resource. Yet, I know the phrase is not true. I could study a subject of interest for years [...]
The following News Release is from FamilySearch.org dated January 15, 2013: FamilySearch added an additional 7 million new, free indexed records and images this week to its collection. Notable additions include the 1,747,863 indexed records and images in the Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books collection from 1592-1910, the 1,308,956 indexed records from the United States [...]
The following excerpt is from an article by Seth Berkman published in the January 2, 2012 Jewish Daily Forward. Ellis Island, the historic point of arrival in the United States for more than 12 million European immigrants, has been closed since Hurricane Sandy hit New York Harbor on October 29, and the damage to its [...]
The following was received from FamilySearch December 28, 2012: FamilySearch added an additional 38.5 million new, free indexed records and images this week to its collection. Notable additions include the 6,095,759 indexed records in the new United States World War II Army Enlistment Records collection, the 4,068,907 indexed records for the new United States Germans [...]
