Seventeenth century court records, diaries, and other records contain accusations of witchcraft and demonic possessions. However, many of these records are fragmented and while offering up clues rarely told complete stories. Drake show the witchcraft worry spread far beyond Salem, and for a period long before and after.

Drake was one of the founders of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. This same organization is responsible for having reprinted and making available this book. “Drake’s work is a resource worthy of renewed interest, one giving us a closer view into witchcraft in New England through the presentation of original materials, useful commentary, and the inclusion of several intriguing and lesser-known cases.”

Annals of Witchcraft in New England and Elsewhere in the United States is available from Family Roots Publishing; Price: $17.59.

As the authors, Carol Cook Darrow and Susan Winchester, say, “the census taker came every ten years and often missed people, The tax collector came every year and seldom missed anyone.” North American tax records date back to the earliest colonial period, back to the 1620s. Records can help establish location, real estate, personal possessions, economic status, occupations and businesses, and sometimes even relationships between individuals, helping link you to your ancestor. This guide was written to help the researcher find the various tax records and understand the information they provide.

The first two chapters provide the necessary background and skills needed to successfully search tax records. The remaining chapters cover the different types of tax records, including:

• Poll taxes
• Real Estate taxes
• Personal Property taxes
• Federal Taxes
• Inheritance taxes
• School taxes
• Liquor taxes and more…

No two taxes are collected in the same way. Government at all levels can imposes taxes. This book examines the history of tax records in the United States, including early colonial taxes, along with common tax forms and collection procedures. Learn how to evaluate tax records and compare records of different years to track your ancestors and possibly gain additional information about their families.

In addition, tax records are especially helpful for the period prior the first U.S. Federal decennial census in 1790 and for the period between 1880 and 1900, with its missing 1890 census.

Table of Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Preface

Chapter 1. Getting Started in Tax Records

• Benefits of Tax Record Research
• Research Can Be Tedious – Until You Succeed
• Tax Process
• Locating Tax Records
• Research Tax Records at Courthouse or Archive
• Tax Records as Substitutes for Census Records
• Verify County Formation Date
• Following the Records Year By Year
• Isolated Records
• Indexes: Never the Final Answer
• A Word About Slaves
• Finding the Right Record in the Wrong Place
• Ready to Begin?

Chapter 2. Research Techniques

• Types of Taxes
• Tax Records May be Combined
• How to Approach a Tax Record
• Identify Information Being Collected
• Sources for Interpreting Tax Information
• Consider Spelling Variations
• Become Familiar with Notations and Abbreviations
• Research Example: Separate Men with the Same Name in the Same County
• Doing the Math
• Research Example: Estimate Wealth of an Ancestor
• Records That Report Only Assessed Value
• Paying Taxes in the Coin of the Realm
• Calculating with Pounds, Shillings, and Peace
• Research Example: Estimate Wealth of an Ancestor
• Forming a Hypothesis
• Summary of Research Techniques

Chapter 3. Poll Taxes

• Taxes “By the Poll” Were Earliest American Taxes
• Massachusetts Poll Tax, 1646
• Virginia Tithables
• The Tithables Process
• Poll Books and Voting Rights
• Research Example: Separate Men with the Same Name int eh Same County
• Tracking Changes Through Tax Lists Over Time
• Research Example: Identify Men as They Become Adults
• Finding the Landless Ancestor
• Research example: Research A Landless Ancestor
• Poll Tax Records Can Replace the Census

Chapter 4. Land Taxes

• Colonial Land Distribution
• Land Taxes After the Revolution
• Land Exemptions Used to Encourage Settlement
• Tax Records Can Identify the Land and Location
• Research Example: Separate Men with the Same Name in the Same County
• Research Example: Use Tax Information to Lead to Other Valuable Records
• Delinquent Land Tax Sales
• Tracking Delinquent Land Tax Sales Records
• Land Tax Records Can Point to a Migration Trail
• Land Holdings May Imply Arrival Date
• Tax Ledgers Arranged by Legal Land Description
• Additional Information Collected in Tax Records
• Information Common to Land Tax Records

Chapter 5. Personal Property Taxes

• Paying for Government
• Estates Are Taxable
• Research Example: Establish a Year of Death as Estate Becomes Taxable
• Land and Personal Property Tax Lists Combined
• Research Example: Estimate Wealth of tan Ancestor
• Property Tax Lists Expanded Over Time
• State Income Tax Replaces Some Personal Property Taxes
• Homestead Exemptions Enacted
• Personal Property Tax – “Everyman” Tax

Chapter 6. Federal Taxes

• Direct Tax of 1798
• Tariffs and Import Duties
• Direct Taxes of 1813, 1815, and 1816
• Direct Tax of 1861
• Federal Income Taxes (1962-1872)
• Confederate Taxes
• Tariffs Decline in Significance
• Income Tax Reconsidered
• Tax Protests
• Tax Assessors and Collectors

Chapter 7. Inheritance and Estate Taxes

• Federal Estate and Inheritance Taxes
• State Estate and Inheritance Taxes
• Research Example: Identify the Heirs of an Estate
• Estate and Inheritance Taxes Can Prove Relationships

Chapter 8. Miscellaneous Tax Records

• Militia Service
• Road Orders
• Ecclesiastical Taxes
• Faculty Taxes
• Business Licenses
• Liquor Taxes
• School Taxes
• Federal Head Tax on Aliens
• Old Age Assistance Tax

Chapter 9. Summary

• Summary of Research Techniques

Appendix A Textural Records of the Direct Tax Commission in the Southern States

Appendix B Microfilmed Records of the Internal Revenue Assessment Lists, 1862-1874

Appendix C State Inheritance Tax Laws Through 1913

Appendix D State Old Age Assistance Laws, as of 1934

Glossary

Research Bibliography

Bibliography of Selected Tax Records

Index

Order a copy of The Genealogist’s Guide to Researching Tax Records from Family History Publishing; Item #: HBD4298, Price: $19.60.

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the USCT, and the National Archives is pleased to announce the completion of the USCT Service Records Digitization Project. In partnership with Fold3, the project provides online access to all service records—more than 3.8 million images—of Union volunteers in USCT units.

From May 22 to 31, the digital collection will be free on www.Fold3.com. (All National Archives collections on Fold3.com can always be viewed for free at any National Archives facility nationwide.)

Compiled military service records (CMSRs) are part of Record Group 94, the Records of the Adjutant General’s Office. They contain card abstracts of entries related to an individual soldier such as muster rolls and regimental returns.

Many CMSRs also contain original documents called “personal papers,” which are especially valuable to researchers looking for documentation on former slaves. These papers include enlistment papers, correspondence, orders, prisoner-of-war memorandums, casualty reports, or final statements. Unique to the records of the USCT are deeds of manumission, proofs of slave ownership, and bills of sale.

Starting in October 1863, a slave owner could offer his slave for enlistment in military service and be entitled to compensation up to $300 upon filing a valid deed of manumission and release, and making satisfactory proof of title. These forms offer researchers rare information and document the life of a slave person in the absence of other vital records.

Edmund Delaney was a slave who served in Company E of the 117th USCT Infantry. He was 25 years old when he enlisted in August 1864. Delaney’s owner, Harvey C. Graves of Georgetown, Kentucky, filed a compensation claim for his military service in December 1866. Graves stated that he “purchased [Delaney] at private sale when he was quite a small boy and owned him at the time of his enlistment.”

The claim form was accompanied by a proof of ownership form to which Graves attached a rare “likeness,” or photo of Delaney, and several of Delaney’s letters written to him while serving in Brownsville, Texas. The letters offer us a rare glimpse into his lonely soldier’s life, especially when he laments that no friends have written back to him:
“somehow most of them seem to be very much afraid of their pens and ink.”

The USCT service records also reveal the social issues faced by free blacks, such as the story of Fortune Wright, a soldier of the 96th USCT Infantry. Wright was a free black man before the Civil War began, and he enlisted in Louisiana in July 1862.
On October 23, 1865, a white doctor and another man thought they observed Wright beating a black woman on a street in Jefferson, Louisiana. When they attempted to reprimand Wright, a fight ensued. Wright—fearing for his life—stabbed the doctor, who was beating him with a cane. The doctor died.

Wright pleaded not guilty at his court-martial trial but was found guilty of murder and sentenced “to be hanged by the neck until dead” on January 5, 1866.

The accused offered his explanation while in prison in New Orleans. He stated that he was approached by an “immoral colored woman” who put her hand on his shoulder and was “acting her willingness to prostitute her person.” The woman told him to give her a dime. Wright said that he didn’t have a dime, and that if he did have a dime, he would give it to his wife. Wright stated that he was angry with the woman for her insulting conduct and language. If she repeated her language, Wright told her, he would slap her. She did repeat herself, and Wright slapped her.

The two white men appeared on the scene at this point without knowing how the argument began. As Wright walked away, the doctor followed and struck Wright on the head with a walking cane. Wright reeled around and grabbed the stick while the doctor cursed at him to let go. The doctor grabbed Wright by the collar of his coat and then punched him in the face. The second white man yelled to “kill the damned black yankee [since] there is no law for him.” Wright warned that if they both jumped him, he would cut one with his knife. When he was attacked, Wright stabbed the doctor with his knife.

Wright’s captain and his attorney sent pleas for a postponement of the sentence to Maj. Gen. Edward Canby of the Department of the Gulf. They were hoping for time to appeal to President Andrew Johnson for a pardon based on self-defense.

Several postponements were granted. The series of the documents leading to President Johnson’s final decision reads like the ultimate page-turner. On February 24, 1866, General Canby received a telegram from the War Department in Washington, DC, stating that President Johnson has ordered that “the [death] sentence be duly carried into execution.” A copy of this message on American Telegraph Company letterhead survives in the service record.

Wright was not notified of his fate until the evening before his hanging. A week earlier, Provost Marshal A.M. Jackson was warned in a letter from Eastern District headquarters in Louisiana that “Precaution must be taken that the office of hangman be confided to a capable person so that no disagreeable results may ensue, and that the body be not disturbed until the hangman has pronounced life to be entirely extinct.”

Jackson’s report of the execution dated the next day describes quite a different scene.

The knot on the rope was not soaped properly and the knot slipped as Wright fell from the platform. Though he was suspended, his neck was not broken and he could still breathe. Wright was taken down and put on the platform a second time. It took fifteen more minutes of strangulation before death took Fortune Wright. Jackson claimed that though the circumstance was “unpleasant,” Wright did not suffer “as he remained insensible from the time of the first fall.”

The stories of the USCT soldiers will be available free to non-subscribers on www.Fold3.com from May 22 to 31, and can be accessed for free at any time on computers at the National Archives.

(PROVO, Utah) – May 23, 2013 – Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, is celebrating the 30th anniversary of Bob Marley’s hit song “Buffalo Soldier.” The song commemorates African American soldiers’ important part in expanding the American territories via their admirable “fight for survival.” The family history site is making its records of these actual Buffalo Soldiers who inspired the song, available to the public, free of charge.

While the song was hugely popular, the men behind it were not. As the first African American U.S. Army units after the Civil War, the Buffalo Soldiers were some of America’s unsung heroes until Bob Marley made their story famous.

“Bob Marley was obviously moved by the important role these first African American troops played in the history of America,” said Dan Jones, VP of Content for Ancestry.com. “The 30th anniversary of the song’s release is a perfect time to reflect on what their hard work did for this country and how their struggles inspired musical legends like Bob Marley.”

Handwritten records reveal that life for the soldiers was difficult–even by military standards. The troops were given used uniforms, guns that didn’t always work and were not even issued shoes. When they arrived at the western battlegrounds, the troops found the forts to be in great disrepair, in need of rebuilding before the troops could even fight in battle. The records track the soldier’s special assignments, promotions, reassignments, sicknesses and more.

Though African American regiments have existed since the Revolutionary War, it wasn’t until the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army that they would receive the nickname of Buffalo Soldiers. During a skirmish with the Native American tribes the Buffalo Soldiers received the moniker that Bob Marley would later commemorate in his song. Although the tribes fought ferociously against the U.S. soldiers, almost the entire company of soldiers survived the battle. The Native Americans were impressed with the Buffalo Soldier’s tenacity, and as a sign of respect, they likened the Army units to a buffalo that will keep charging despite injuries or circumstance.

“We are happy to be able to bring to life the history behind the iconic song,” Jones said. “By being able to shed light on the ‘Buffalo Soldiers,’ we hope to inspire more people to look into where they come from.”

These regiments would remain intact until the start of WWII, when they were disbanded and reorganized into other regiments. The name of Buffalo Soldiers would follow over with some of the men, but the name traditionally belongs to those men who fought with tenacity and bravery in the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army.

To find out more about the lives of the real Buffalo Soldiers, visit Ancestry.com/buffalosoldier this Memorial Day weekend for access to the database, as part of 155 million military records that will be made available for free to the public through the 27th of May. One weekend not enough? Dig deeper into the past or see if you’re connected to the soldiers in Marley’s song by heading to Ancestry.com to sign up for a free 14-day trial.

About Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com LLC is the world’s largest online family history resource with approximately 2.7 million paying subscribers across all its websites. More than 11 billion records have been added to the Ancestry.com sites and users have created more than 47 million family trees containing more than 5 billion profiles. In addition to its flagship site www.ancestry.com, the company operates several Ancestry international websites along with a suite of online family history brands including Archives.com, Fold3.com and Newspapers.com, all designed to empower people to discover, preserve and share their family history.

Remember your ancestors this Memorial Day Weekend with FREE Military Records May 24–27. Anyone can access the records by registering for free at findmypast.com.

With more than 34 million U.S. and International military records available, we encourage people to explore and learn about heroic figures in your family tree.

Military record sets will offer a captivating glimpse into the lives, losses and triumphs of your nation’s veterans such as:

• ‘WWI Draft Registration Cards’,
• ‘WWII Enlistment Records’,
• ‘U.S. Veteran’s Gravesites’,
• ‘British Army records 1710-1915’

From a ’war that will end all wars‘ to a ’date which will live in infamy‘, we invite you to search for all your military ancestors on findmypast.com this Memorial Day weekend.

A couple of weeks ago, while at the NGS Conference in Las Vegas, I wrote briefly, and posted a news release about technological breakthroughs made at MyHeritage.com. Since the conference, I’ve taken the opportunity to upload my genealogy database of over 5000 individuals to the MyHeritage servers to test what looked to be pretty cool tech. I kept it “private” for the moment, as I have some data I’m still attempting to prove within several of the families. I plan to make it public when I’ve either proven or disproven my theories.

I’m rather overwhelmed by the many heretofore unknown documents that MyHeritage has pushed to me. Yes – I wrote “pushed.” I now have over 1000 documents that I didn’t have before, almost every one of them being items that further my research. After uploading my GEDCOM file, and waiting a few days (yes – it took a few days, as my data had to go into a queue – other folks were ahead of me), I got what MyHeritage calls “Record Matches” – 1,457 Record matches! They have technology that searches across all the MyHeritage owned and affiliated websites and returns matches of relevant documents. The Record Matches are pushed to my Meitzler site at MyHeritage. I was able to then view, confirm, and import the data – complete with images and full citations – to my Meitzler database. All this with a few keystrokes!

Click here to get a special deal on MyHeritage – Half Price Off full access to the site.

In my case, the new data came from 27 collections, as follows:

• WikiTree – 371 matches
• Find a Grave – 277 matches
• Social Security Death Index – 206 matches
• Newspaper Archive – 191 matches
• Kentucky Births – 57 matches
• Maximillian Family Tree – 44 matches
• California Births, 1905-1995 – 42 matches
• California Deaths, 1940-1997 – 28 matches
• Texas Births, 1926-1995 – 25 matches
• 1930 U.S. Census – 25 matches
• Interment.net – 16 matches
• 1940 US Census – 15 matches
• 1920 US census – 15 matches
• 1910 US census – 14 matches
• Illinois marriages – 11 matches
• 1880 US Census – 11 matches
• Texas Marriages and Divorces – 9 matches
• Kentucky Marriages – 6 matches
• 1870 US Census – 3 matches
• Illinois Deaths, 1916-1950 – 1 match
• England and Wales Deaths, GRO Indexes, 1969-2077 – 1 match
• Long Island Genealogies – 1 match
• Bristol Lists: Municipal and Miscellaneous (1899) – 1 match
• Calendar of Wills and Administrations in the Court of the Archdeacon of Taunton, Parts 1 and II, Wills Only, 1537-1799 – 1 match
• Somerset Record Society, Volume 22, 1906 – 1 match

Now – if you look at these carefully, you can see that I could have found many of these resources on my own. But the point is, in many cases, I had not. I’m a very busy guy, and hadn’t yet spent the thousands of hours needed to make all the possible searches, transcribe the data into my database, attach a copy of the original document, and enter the citation. Using the MyHeritage Record Matches, I was now able to do all this quickly – very quickly!

Keep in mind that the 1457 matches added information to often multiple individuals – entire families in many cases. The MyHeritage Family tree program brings these onscreen besides – so 1000 or so new matches might equal data placed on MANY thousands of individual records!

One of the surprising aspects of all this is the accuracy of the matches. They say it’s something like 97% accurate, but from my experience it looks closer to 99% or 100%.

I started confirming and adding data that has been pushed to me with the Find a Grave matches – 277 of them (note that I could have started with People, but went with Collections instead). I clicked on the Find Grave icon, and got a two-column listing. On the left was the data from my family tree – and on the right was the data from Find a Grave. I could compare them side-by-side. If it looked like it might be a good match, I would then click on “Review match.” I was then given the opportunity to view the full record at Find a Grave. However, I could also just go ahead and hit “Confirm,” or “Reject” as the case might be. I found that the accuracy was so good that I almost always Confirmed. And now came the COOL PART! I could drag information from the Find a Grave site directly into my database with the click of an arrow, adding the source citation by just leaving the “Add source citation” default checked. I clicked on OK – and got a screen confirming that the data had been saved. At the bottom of the screen I find the new “Record Detective”feature. The Record Detective often brought up additional documents that I could confirm and extract data from – all with clicks of the mouse – no typing! It was so nice to add census data without typing!

On the Confirmation screen, I could click on “View Profile” at the bottom of the individual’s record whom I just added data to. “View Profile took me to a screen dedicated to that person. There I found that person’s vital stats, education, work, photos, events, family timeline, personal info, and contact information. Also found on this screen are photo thumbnails and links to immediate family members (father, mother, brothers, and sisters). And at the top right of the screen is a “Research” icon, that, when clicked on, often brings up many more resources that I can compare, and import data from…

“Record Matches” is just one of the features found at the MyHeritage site. The site also includes excellent tools for building a family tree,“Smart Matches;” “SuperSearch”, Events Calendar; Timeline & Timebook for any person in the database!; Photos, Slideshow, and Videos; and so much more… But I’ll leave those subjects for later…

Would you like to try out MyHeritage.com? If so, I have arranged a great deal for you – Half Price Off through May 31st on full access to MyHeritage Data and a PremiumPlus Family Tree. This means everything MyHeritage has to offer at a 50% discount. Click Here to get this great deal and experience for yourself as I have the amazing power of MyHeritage Matches! Note that not only am I now a dedicated and avid user of MyHeritage, but I’m proud to say that I also have an affiliate relationship with them. I’ll more than thrilled with the product, and I think you will be too.
Leland K Meitzler
Genealogyblog.com & the Genealogy Newsline
21 May 2013

• The Photo Restoration KwikGuide™ – A Step‐by‐Step Guide for Repairing Photographs with Photoshop Elements®
• 19th Century Card Photos KwikGuide: A Step-by-Step Guide to Identifying and Dating Cartes de Visite and Cabinet Cards
• KwikTips from PhotoTree.com, which include:

• KwikTips: Daguerreotype, Ambrotype, And Tintype Photographs
• KwikTips: Carte De Visite And Cabinet Card Photographs
• KwikTips: Back Imprint For Cartes De Visite And Cabinet Cards

Yet again, Gary rises to the challenge with another clear and easy to follow guide, Real Photo Postcards KwikGuide: A Guide to Identifying and Dating Real Photo Postcards of the 20th Century. This new guide looks into the rise and fall of the real photo postcard. Inside the reader will discover two main elements to helping them identify and date these cards. These postcards can be examined in terms of the structure and style  of the card itself, as well as applying all the normal techniques for dating and identifying photographs. Here are just some of the items the reader will learn to examine for clues:

• Address format
• Stamp boxes and artwork
• Regular and commemorative stamps
• Image styles and sizes
• Manufacturing clues
• and so much more…

Flipping through the pages, the first thing I noticed was how many clear and easy to read samples there are. I don’t think there is a page in the guide that doesn’t have a picture, some have many images. I feel like running out and buy old photo postcards of just anyone, so I can test what I have learned. Making this book even better, it offers my four favorite things in a guidebook:

1. Easy to read
2. Easy to follow and adapt
3. Clear examples and images
4. Inexpensive

About the Author
Gary Clark is a professional photographer, restorer, and genealogist who has merged these skills with his passion for collecting photographs. His 30 years of experience in digital imaging brings a unique and thorough understanding of photograph problems and how to solve them. Clark introduced PhotoTree.com to genealogists and collectors in 2000, and he continually expands the free information with a gallery of over 1,000 images, weekly case studies, and historical information about 19th century photographs.

This guide gives a lot of bang for your buck. Order Real Photo Postcards KwikGuide: A Guide to Identifying and Dating Real Photo Postcards of the 20th Century from Family Roots Publishing for only $9.75 a copy.

Contents

Introduction

Identifying People in Postcards

Introduction to Real Photo Postcards

Definition of Real Photo Postcards (RPPC)

Chapter 1 ~ Government Postcards

First U.S. Postal Postcards: 1873

Government Monopoly Until 1898

Chapter 2 ~ Private Mailing Cards

Private Mailing Cards – 1898

Chapter 3 ~ The Postcard Rage

New Postcard Name – 1902

RFD – Rural Free Delivery – 1902

Chapter 4 ~ The Modern Postcard

Divided Back: 1907 – A Lasting Change

Slow Transition to Messages on the Back

The Golden Era Begins

Chapter 5 ~ Stamp Boxes and Stamps

Clues From Postcard Manufacturers

Photographic Paper Changes

Stamp Box Gallery

U.S. Postal Stamps

Chapter 6 ~ Image Styles and sizes

Picture Masks

Use of Masks on Postcards

Postcard Image Sizes

Chapter 7 ~ Fashion and Style

20th Century Fashion Influence

Chapter 8 ~ Cars, Farms, and Gatherings

Postcards of America

Chapter 9 ~ The Demise of RPPCs

Pressures on Real Photo Cards

Appendix A ~ Early Kodak Cameras

Appendix B ~ Common Film Sizes

Appendix C ~ Postcard and Camera Influence

A Look at the Early 20th Century

Appendix D ~ Glossary

Notes

Index

D. Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS is the Business Development Manager – North America for bright-solid online publishing, the creator of findmypast.com, and the Lead Genealogist for findmy-past.com. He is a nationally known genealogical author, lecturer, and researcher. Joshua is a frequent speaker at genealogical societies, libraries, related organizations as well as an instructor/coordinator with the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. He has authored articles in American Ancestors, UGA Crossroads, FGS Forum, Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly, New England Ancestors and was a columnist for Digital Genealogist.

Active in the genealogical community, Joshua is the President for the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS). He is the former Director of Education and Programs at the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS). Joshua is the re-cipient of numerous awards and honors, including RootsTech’s Distinguished Presenter Award, the FGS Award of Merit, and the Rubincam Youth Award from the National Genealogical Society.

D. Joshua Taylor holds an MLS (Archival Management) and an MA in history from Simmons College. You may have seen him in several episodes of NBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? with Sarah Jessica Parker, Ashley Judd, Reba McEntire, and Rob Lowe.

Searchable historic records are made available on FamilySearch.org through the help of thousands of volunteers from around the world. These volunteers transcribe (index) information from digital copies of handwritten records to make them easily searchable online. More volunteers are needed (particularly those who can read foreign languages) to keep pace with the large number of digital images being published online at FamilySearch.org. Learn more about volunteering to help provide free access to the world’s historic genealogical records online at FamilySearch.org.

FamilySearch is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources for free at FamilySearch.org or through more than 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Collection – Indexed Records – Digital Images – Comments

Argentina, Santa Fe, Catholic Church Records, 1634-1975 – 1,834 – 0 – Added index records to an existing collection.
Austria, Seigniorial Records, 1537-1888 – 0 – 100,829 – Added images to an existing collection.
Italy, Como, Como, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1929 – 0 – 10,431 – Added images to an existing collection.
Italy, Cuneo, Alba, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1910 – 0 – 3,369 – Added images to an existing collection.
Italy, Cuneo, Saluzzo, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1942 – 0 – 106,557 – Added images to an existing collection.
Paraguay, Miscellaneous Records, 1509-1977 – 0 – 200,980 – Added images to an existing collection.
Portugal, Beja, Catholic Church Records, 1550-1911 – 0 – 116,091 – Added images to an existing collection.
Portugal, Portalegre, Catholic Church Records, 1859-1911 – 0 – 146,187 – Added images to an existing collection.
Spain, Province of Valencia, Municipal Records, 1611-1935 – 0 – 244,523 – Added images to an existing collection.
U.S., Georgia, Fulton County Records from the Atlanta History Center, 1827-1933 – 0 – 31,670 – New browsable image collection.
U.S., Illinois, County Marriages, 1810-1934 – 702,642 – 450,188 – Added index records and images to an existing collection.
U.S., Indiana, Marriages, 1811-1959 – 42,579 – 0 – Added index records to an existing collection.
U.S., Oklahoma, County Marriages, 1891-1959 – 0 – 2,533 – Added images to an existing collection.

In honor of Memorial Day next week, MyHeritage is granting free access to millions of military records from their most popular collections. The records can be accessed from here.

The free offer ends on May 28.

The collections will help you journey back in time to some of the most important conflicts in world history, which impacted American families as well as millions of families worldwide.

World’s Largest Online Family History Resource Sponsors TV Series with Personal Look Inside the Ancestry of Beloved Celebrities

PROVO, Utah, May 21, 2013– Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, announces it has teamed up with TLC, Shed Media US and Is or Isn’t Entertainment as an integrated sponsor of the upcoming season of the “Who Do You Think You Are?” television series, premiering July 23.

“We are thrilled to be teaming up with TLC, Shed Media US and Is or Isn’t Entertainment to bring this entertaining and inspiring series back for another season,” said Rob Singer, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Ancestry.com. “Charting one’s family history helps each of us better understand who we are. Through the journeys of these celebrities, we hope millions of Americans will see just how life-changing and rewarding genealogy can be and begin researching their own family history to make discoveries that tell them who they are and where they came from.”

“Who Do You Think You Are?” explores the roots of celebrities who embark on an intense personal journey to discover their family’s past. Some of the celebrities to be featured in these all-new episodes include Christina Applegate, Cindy Crawford, and Zooey Deschanel. Each of the 8 hour-long episodes reveal the real person behind the celebrity as they come to understand the lives their ancestors lived that helped shape the person they are today. As part of the show sponsorship, Ancestry.com provides important family history research on each of the featured celebrities, which is used to build out the story of each episode.

Produced by Lisa Kudrow and Dan Bucatinsky, the show is based on an original format created by Wall to Wall Media. An earlier version of the series previously aired on NBC for three seasons.

These are the questions for which Thomas Jones attempts to provide answers in his new book, Mastering Genealogical Proof. Better stated, perhaps, is to say in Jones’ new textbook. For this book is written in textbook style. Each chapter provides the critical learning followed by problems, which provide the reader a opportunity to practice ans set in memory the concepts shared within the chapter.

In 2000, the Board for Certification of Genealogists developed and produced the “Genealogical Proof of Standard,” a.k.a. GPS. This standard was an attempt to create a system for proof, pulling from the field of law and applying the best practices used by genealogists. The final product was a fifty-six point research standard.

Jones’ textbook pulls from the GPS, distilling its contents into an understandable and useable methodology any researcher, student, or newbie genealogist can use. The book teaches and guides the reader with easy to read chapters containing sixty-two real world exercises. The examples were pulled from the author’s own family’s genealogy and contain American, British, Germanic, and Irish roots. These examples demonstrate the use of this methodology across “diverse ethnicities and geographic origins.”

In the author’s own words:

“I wrote this book to help other genealogists understand in a reasonable time frame what decades of trail-and-error have taught me. I hope the text and exercises will save them from the embarrassing blunders and misconceptions I have experienced.”

About the Author

“Thomas Jones is a professor emeritus at Gallaudet University, where he designed and managed graduate programs, conducted research, and taught and mentored graduate students for twenty-seven years. He has co-edited the National Genealogical Society Quarterly since 2002 and is a trustee and a past president of the Board for Certification of Genealogists. He coordinates courses at the British Institute, Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh, Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, and Samford University’s Institute on Genealogy and Historical Research; and he teaches in Boston University’s Genealogical Research Program.”

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1: Genealogy’s Standard of Proof

• What is genealogy?
• Why a genealogical proof standard?
• The Genealogical Proof Standard
• Modern technologies and genealogical proof
• Research and reasoning cycles
• Using the GPS
• Chapter 1 exercises

Chapter 2: Concepts Fundamental to the GPS

• Research questions
• Sources
  • Categories of genealogical sources
  • Importance of source distinctions
• Information
  • Informants
  • Categories of genealogical information
  • Importance of information distinctions
• Relationship of sources and information
• Evidence
  • Categories of genealogical evidence
  • Importance of evidence distinctions
• Relationship of sources and information to evidence
• Chapter 2 exercises

Chapter 3: GPS Element 1: Thorough Research

• What “reasonably exhaustive” means
• Planning thorough research
• Executing thorough research
• Demonstrating research extent
• Chapter 3 exercises

Chapter 4: GPS Element 2: Source Citations

• Citation components
  • Five questions that citations answer
  • Physical sources viewed as images
  • Sequencing citation elements
• Kinds of citations
  • Reference notes
  • Source lists
• When and how to craft a citation
• Resources for citing genealogical sources
• Chapter 4 exercises

Chapter 5: GPS Element 3: Analysis and Correlation

• Tests of analysis
  • Authored work or original or derivative record?
  • Primary, secondary, or indeterminable information?
  • Other tests of analysis
• Tests of correlation
  • Prerequisite to correlation
  • Ways to correlate
• When to analyze and correlate
• Outcomes of analysis and correlation
  • Casting doubt
  • Resolve conflicts
  • Yield conclusions
• Chapter 5 exercises

Chapter 6: GPS Element 4: Resolving Conflicts and Assembling Evidence

• How evidence conflicts
• Resolving conflicting evidence
  • Reasoning
  • Explaining conflict resolutions
• Unresolved conflicts
• Assembling evidence to establish a conclusion
• Chapter 6 exercises

Chapter 7: GPS Element 5: The Written Conclusion

• Proof statements
• Proof summaries
• Proof arguments
  • Differences between proof arguments and proof summaries
  • Divisions within proof arguments
  • Developing the argument
• Clear writing
• Chapter 7 exercises

Chapter 8 Using the GPS

• Chapter 8 exercises

Chapter 9 Conclusion

Appendix A Pritchett Article

Appendix B McLain Article

Glossary

Reading and Source List

Answers to exercises

• Chapter 1 exercise answers
• Chapter 2 exercise answers
• Chapter 3 exercise answers
• Chapter 4 exercise answers
• Chapter 5 exercise answers
• Chapter 6 exercise answers
• Chapter 7 exercise answers
• Chapter 8 exercise answers

List of Tables

• Table 1 Suggestions for Identifying Sources to Answer Genealogical Questions
• Table 2 Selected Guides Describing American Genealogical Sources
• Table 3 Long-Form and Short-Form Reference-Note Citations to the Same Source
• Table 4 Selected Documented Examples of Errors in High-Quality Sources
• Table 5 Correlation in a Narrative and a List
• Table 6 Timeline Separating the Identities of Men Named John Geddes in the Same Irish Parish
• Table 7 A Table Correlating Sources, Information, and Evidence
• Table 8 Seven Related Proof Statements in Context

List of Figures

• Figure 1 Who-What-When-Where-Where Elements in Four Citations to Published Sources
• Figure 2 Who-What-When-Where-Where Elements in Four Citations to Unpublished Sources
• Figure 3 Who-What-When-Where-Where Elements in Citations to Published Sources Viewed in Published and Unpublished Media
• Figure 4 Who-What-When-Where-Where Elements in Citations to Unpublished Sources Viewed in Published and Unpublished Media
• Figure 5 Map Correlating Evidence from Ten Deeds, a Chancery Case, and a Land Grant to Help Prove a Relationship
• Figure 6 Illustration and Analysis of an Explanation of the Resolution of Conflicting Evidence

Order your own copy of Mastering Genealogical Proof from Family Roots Publishing; Price: $24.45.

One guide from this new series is The Pocket Genealogist: Genealogical Numbering. Whether you are producing a report from your genealogy software, using an online system, or writing a custom list of family information, number systems are important. Following standardized numbering systems will help your reader follow your intentions. This numbering guide is intended to help you “navigate and implement these basic numbering systems in your writing.

In addition to covering standardized numbering practices, this guide shows the reader how to use the automatic numbering feature in Microsoft Word. Along with this main content, there are a couple of tips which stand out in their own shaded boxes. The NEGHS guides are three-color, four-page laminated guides, pre-punched for insertion into a three-ringed binder.

Topics Covered

Ancestor table numbering

Register-style numbering

Automatic numbering in Microsoft Word

Generational numbering

Order The Pocket Genealogist: Genealogical Numbering from Family Roots Publishing; Price: $6.81.

Click here to see a full list of laminated guides.

This book is comprised of several independent publications produced between 1888 and 1895. Thus, the book is broken into three main sections in accordance with those publications:

• “The Irish Scots and the Scotch-Irish”
• “How the Irish Came as Builders of the Nation”
• “Supplementary Facts and Comment”

In the historical review, reader learn of the relationships between Celts, Saxons, Normans, and various religions practiced by these groups. The Gaelic language is also reviewed. In examining American contributions, the book tells of Irish settlers who played prominently in early American and U.S. history. Adding value to genealogists, the book lists the surnames for many Irish immigrants of the 1700s. There are also lists of surnames of Irish natives who received land grants or had land set apart in the Plantation of Ulster in the early 1600s. There is also a list of Scottish names derived from Irish names.

Obtain a copy of The Irish Scots and the “Scotch-Irish”: An Historical and Ethnological Monograph, With Some Reference to Scotia Major and Scotia Minor from Family Roots Publishing; Item #: HBL0788, Price: $16.17.

Logan County, Kentucky: In March, Logan’s magistrates discussed renovating portions of the old county jail on Fourth Street in Russellville. The Archives and Genealogical Society now calls the historic structure home. Problems have been surfacing with rain getting into the building and the electrical system, which is outdated and a safety hazard.

Architect Robert Burge, who was in charge of the old courthouse renovation, was hired by the Fiscal Court to look into the problems and come back to the court with solutions. Burge attended Tuesday’s Fiscal Court meeting to present his findings, and suggest what the county can do to fix the issues.

The archives is the home of some of the county’s oldest documents and is operated by two part-time employees and a handfull of volunteers. The building, erected in 1869, once served as the county jail with living quarters in the front where the jailer lived. The bars are still visible from the outside of the structure, and the cells are all intact. The building is listed on the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, which is good news for the county, as it will be applying for historic funds to pay for the renovation project.

Read the full article.