What can you find at the Midwest Genealogy Center when searching for your Irish? Look at books located in the library in call numbers 941.5 through 941.96, or 929.1072. These books will give you information on specific subjects like Irish church records, jurisdictions, specific counties, the history of Ireland, estate records, beginner guides, planning a research trip, and finding census records. You will also find information on research tools, where to find the records, what records are available, etc...
I suppose if you are reading this blog, you have already noticed that the 1940 census was just released. Have you taken advantage of the links that the Midwest Genealogy Center has made available yet? I have! I am researching my mother’s family and am hunting for their 1940 address. I need to do a little more research for my father’s family as they were living in a rural area. I found my mother’s family in the 1940 Independence City Directory.
A couple of weeks ago, I read a handout from the recent RootsTech Conference for a class titled "Genealogy Internet Gems." The author suggested "The Big Three" as the first places to look when you are searching in the genealogy realm: Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, and Google. This really hit home today when I was helping a customer look for some names in her family tree from the early to mid-1800s. We found a couple of things on Ancestry and FamilySearch, but not as much as we hoped to find.
At least once a week, a new Library customer comes into the Genealogy Center and asks about how to begin their family genealogy research. They may have been inspired by the latest TV episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, or maybe, their child has a school assignment asking them to begin researching where they came from. Regardless of their mission, after getting an introductory tutorial of how to get started, the next question always amazes me. "How much do you charge?"
Now that the 1940 census has been released, I had a great time finding both of my parents on the census records. I emailed both of them the page with their family, but I think I was more excited than they were.
As part of our ongoing genealogy programs here at Riverside, I’d like to invite you to May 14th’s program, Passenger Lists. Learn what types of passenger lists are available, where to find them, and how to search them. A brief background on immigration is also included.
You're a genealogical savant, and you've finished your entire family tree. You know where and when every single person was born, where they died, and maybe even the exact addresses of where they lived. Okay, so maybe you’re not quite done just yet. Do you know the details of where your family lived? Maybe, you want a more intimate look at your ancestor's lifestyle.
1930s-1950s Jackson County, Missouri Voter Registrations to Be Digitized
FamilySearch, an online genealogy database, has been digitizing the Midwest Genealogy Center’s collection of Jackson County, Missouri voter registration books from the 1930s through the 1950s. These records contain valuable information for historical researchers and genealogists.
For Mother's Day this year, I made my mom a "Mother Tree" in cross-stitch. It traces the maternal line of the family back to 1754, through each marriage and birth of a daughter. And, I could never have done it without the genealogy resources at the Library.
Knowing that the 1940 census was being released without indexing, I despaired that there was no way I was going to be able to find my mother’s family on the census until later this year when it gets indexed. My grandparents lost their farm during the depression and moved frequently after that. One of the ways to find your 1940 ancestors is to locate them on the 1930 census. At http://stevemorse.org/census/unified.html, you can find the 1940 enumeration district (ED) number if you know the 1930 ED num
Tracking Down Your Ancestors Using the Filby Collection
Finding your ancestor’s name in a passenger list can be a challenge. The answer might be found using the collection of P. William Filby’s Passenger and Immigration Lists Index located in the Passenger List section of the Midwest Genealogy Center. The books contain thousands of passenger lists and naturalization records compiled from various sources. In fact, from 1980 to 2012, nine sets of the Filby books were published. The books are compiled yearly and then made into sets every five years.
