Hell Froze Over: NYC Historical Vital Records are Digitized, Online ... Free !

We are catching up after a few days without internet and a few days of catching up due to the outage.

A few days ago, on the morning of Wednesday, March 16, an event happened equivalent to the likes of "the day hell froze over." An exaggeration? Not much.

That morning, the New York City Department of Records and Information Services launched a new website page ...  The NYC Historical Vital Records Project -- with 70% of an estimated 13.3 million records already online. These are searchable WITH digitized images (some in color) for free! (We did say hell froze over.)

What is included? Check the Digital Vital Records menu tab. Under each record type (Births, Deaths, Marriages) there are breakdowns by borough -- Bronx, Kings (Brooklyn), Manhattan, Queens, Richmond (Staten Island) -- showing a bar chart of digitized, not digitized and not available covering the time span of years for the full-page certificates in the collection. Note that Registers/Ledger Books for years prior to 1898 are on microfilm viewable in-person. There is less information in the register format than in the certificate format. If your record type/time period is not online yet be patient. (We know how to do that, right?)

Regardless, thank you NYC for finally making these records available. It is a good start. We are still wanting the older records. And thank you to organizations like Reclaim the Records for its efforts with getting government entities around the country to make records available.

So how do you use this new site? Well, try the search.

There are two main ways: by Certificate Number and by Last Name. But remember this is not a fancy site, the surname may not have been read correctly or it may not be spelled on the record the way you know it. You can reach the search either by the right-side of the main blue bar, or by the Search beta tab in the toolbar/menu above the blue bar.

Initially you have to pick a record type and you have to pick a borough to search.

After you get results, you can discard the borough and/or record type and update your results.

 

When you find your desired records, click and it will be presented as a PDF which you can download ... for FREE!

Our chosen example has a local connection to Macomb County. This is the marriage record for the founding couple Adam and Victoria of Olejnik Farms and Greenhouses on 23 Mile Road. The family-owned farm celebrated its 95th year in business last year.

One tip we have is if you are having trouble finding your people and you have Ancestry.com or access to Ancestry Library Edition, use the various data collections for the indexes for New York, New York and Ancestry's soundex and other similar filter capabilities for the names. For example:

New York, New York, U.S., Index to Death Certificates, 1862-1948

New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909

New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Marriage Index, 1866-1937

New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018

New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948

New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Birth Index, 1878-1909

There are a few other additional data collections for New York City vital records indexes under the New York collections too. And the webpage for the project has a few additional tips as well.

Have fun and good luck searching!

See you soon someday at our favorite library!
LE

September 1, 2019, SeekingMichigan.org Begins Transition to Michiganology.org; Digital Items Move First, Later the Guides

A date has finally been announced — September 1, 2019. That is when the digital collections at Archives of Michigan website, SeekingMichigan.org, will be removed and Michiganology.org the Archives' new website takes over access to the digital collections.

The change in this case is a good thing. It is based on giving the Archives of Michigan website's users — us — a better and more powered experience. Instead of having to search three different collections for death certificates separately the new site will be able to search all three together in one search. A new feature, standard at many other websites, will be the ability to just browse a record collection.

The ability to search on the Michiganology website actually begins August 31, so there will be a day or so of overlap between the websites and on September 1 the digital collections will no longer be at SeekingMichigan. The various guides (county, subject, indexes and general information) will be moved over to Michiganology at a later date. The Archives will send out a notice when that move is complete. It is planned that there will be no loss of record access during the changeover.

According to a Q&A over at the SeekingMichigan website, the current Michiganology.com storefront for Michigan-themed merchandise and the new Michiganology.org websites will be merged. The Research Requests currently found at SeekingMichigan under Services will be found at the new website under Shop and then Research Requests.

One downside to the move is if you have used the URL for an image at the SeekingMichigan website that URL link will be broken. For example, as a link on the FindAGrave website. The Archives tried very hard to come up with a redirect but was unable to do so.

Have you been waiting for the 1943 Michigan death certificate images? From a presentation given at one of our MCGG Friday meetings earlier this year, at the time of this website changeover the images for the 1943 death certificates should be included on the new website. The yearly release of an additional year's worth of death certificate images usually has occurred around February. The new website delayed that release this year.

Hopefully we will find other useful features and options added to the new website!

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

The Evidence Explained Website is Back!

Good News for devotees of Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills, the Evidence Explained website is back online! Apparently this happened around December 17, 2018.

The EE website was down for really a long time (since before June 2018) due to needed updates and modernization. So EE devotees had to rely on the Evidence Explained Facebook page which left non-Facebook users out in the cold. The new website is at the same URL so if you bookmarked it in your browser the same bookmark should get you to the "new" website.

From a short Q and A on the EE Facebook page's December 28 post, if you were a registered user (not needed to view the website, but needed to post to the forums) you will need to re-register on the new website. The website features a blog, QuickLessons and forums where users can ask their source and citation questions getting clarification or help crafting their source and citations from other users and even EE herself.

So if you have a question about a source or citation that has been burning for an answer, the forums are back to help you.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Got Illinois Roots? There is a New Hub on the Digital Public Library of America

Illinois Heritage Hub at DPLA

As of January 5, the collections of the Illinois Digital Heritage Hub are live and ready to explore on the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA.)

The newest hub from Illinois represents a collaboration between the Illinois State Library, the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI), Chicago Public Library, and, previously a Content Hub partner, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

According to the announcement, "Like each Service Hub, Illinois brings its own essential mix between unique local stories that help DPLA represent the diversity of experiences across the country and collections of national significance that contribute to our common heritage."

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Free Index to 1.5 million U.S. National Railroad Pensions is Recently Released

A FREE index to 1.5 million US National Railroad Pensions was recently released on the Genealogy Quick Look.

The Genealogy Quick Look is new online service of the Mid-Continent Public Library's Midwest Genealogy Center that allows users to search the indexes of various genealogical resources.

While the new online resource does not give direct access to the records it does help one locate a pension record. The index covers pensions records from across the United States dating from 1936 to the early 2000s.

The Midwest Genealogy Center is located in Independence, Missouri, and is one of the largest genealogy-focused libraries in the United States.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Ancestry.com has Free Access to 13 Colonies databases in Honor of July 4th

It is a little hard to find but according to its FaceBook page, Ancestry.com is giving free access to birth, marriage, death and divorce records from the original 13 colonies of the United States including its just released Virginia vital records collection. The free period runs from July 1 to July 5, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

The access point to get to the free access is listed on Ancestry's Facebook page. Here is the full list of what is available during the free access to the 13 Colonies.

To view the record results found from your search, you do need to register your email. It says a username and password will be emailed to you for free access. I believe this is different from the free trial membership method that usually requires a credit card.

Good Luck Hunting Everyone! And Happy Fourth of July aka Independence Day!

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

In Honor of July 4th Fold3 Offers Free Access to Revolutionary War Collection

The subscription history/genealogy website Fold3 is granting free access from July 1 through July 15 to Revolutionary War Documents.

The entire Revolutionary War Collection is included in this free access.

According to the Fold3 website, "Explore millions of American Revolutionary War documents that are found nowhere else on the Internet. Discover details about individual soldiers, read letters penned by the Founding Fathers, view documents from The Continental Congress and more."

From past experience please note that to download or print a document/image you may need to sign in with either your membership account (if you have one) or create a free user account. I could find no mention of needing to do this but I know it is the case when accessing the free War of 1812 pension records.

Good Luck Hunting Everyone! And Happy Fourth of July aka Independence Day!

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

In Honor of the Fourth of July NEHGS Offers Free Access to Several Databases for The Great Migration Project

NEHGS's Website

Got really early immigrants to America? Like in Early Colonial, founding of our nation times before we even thought of being a separate nation? Yea? Then set aside some time this week for some online research for those lines.

The New England Historical Genealogical Society (NEHGS) is granting free access from July 1 through July 8 to all online searchable databases related to The Great Migration Project. You just need to register as a Guest User to the NEHGS's website if you are not already a registered guest user or current NEHGS member with access to NEHGS's AmericanAncestors.org website.

These are the databases available for free research during this week.

Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to N.E. 1620-1633, vols. I-III
Great Migration Newsletter, v. 1-20
Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume I, A-B
Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume II, C-F
Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume III, G-H
Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume IV, I-L
Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume V, M-P
Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume VI, R-S
Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume VII, T-Y
Search the Entire Great Migration Study Project

According to the NEHGS website, "The authoritative study of all immigrants to New England, 1620–1640 — the Great Migration Study Project — is your best source for finding and documenting early American ancestors." Being a registered user of the website also gets you access to a few other databases on the society's website.

Good Luck Hunting Everyone! And Happy Fourth of July aka Independence Day!

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

You May Have Noticed Some Changes Here ...

If you have visited this site lately you may have noticed some changes. We added a page or two and changed another.

Why? The Macomb County Genealogy Group's board decided to move our internet presence to one site rather than have some information duplicated between our blog site and our website at Rootsweb. This will save us time and we will not need specialized software to keep the older website up-to-date.

Our old website will still be around for awhile to direct anyone who finds that URL (printed in older publications) to this blog site.

So this blog website now holds everything: the information about our group, our history, our meetings, links to our databases we have created with the Mount Clemens Public Library, our member surnames list, our newsletters, our publications for sale, and the Southeast Michigan Genealogy Events Calendar. And, of course, our blog where we strive to keep you informed.

MCGG Rootsweb Website 26 May 2015

Over the almost 8 years (19 July 2007 to 26 May 2015) that our Rootsweb website was our main internet presence, the site counted 9,306 unique visitors as of 26 May 2015, and we appreciated everyone of them.

Today as I write this post, this blog site has counted 9,497 visitors (and counting faster than I can type and edit) since August 29, 2013, the date of our first post almost two years ago. But we know that number tracks only some of our many visitors because there are many ways to view blog site posts. And like on our old website, we appreciate all of our visitors counted or not.

So please keep visiting and reading this blog to keep up-to-date with the Macomb County Genealogy Group.

See you soon at the Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE

Follow-up to Friday MCGG Meeting

As most of you know our scheduled speaker was sick and unable to make our meeting.

Our backup plan was a video on searching with a little digital organization suggestion thrown into the mix. In the question and answer afterwards we showed a few websites. Here is a list of them for you.

Quaker Archives
The Friends Historical Library 
The direct link to the New York Yearly Meeting Search Page 

Sites with links or lists of Newspapers

International Coalition on Newspapers (ICON) Newspaper Digitization Projects

Data Visualization Project (Stanford University) Growth of Newspapers Across the US 1690-2011

Michigan State University Library Guide to Newspapers

Library of Congress' Chronicling America

Here's a few we forgot to mention:

Central Michigan University has a newspaper list by County which indicates pay/fee or free.

Our Ontario Community Newspapers Collection

There is also a blog that has a pretty comprehensive list of Canada's progress with digitization of its newspapers.

Last but Not Least

We forgot to mention that if you are interested in Saving Money while doing genealogy, watch this week's Legacy Family Tree Webinar by Thomas MacEntee, "7 Habits of Highly Frugal Genealogists." It was presented on Wednesday, April 2. The archived webinar will be free to view until Wednesday, April 9.  Only Legacy Webinar members can view the archived webinars and access the handouts at any time.

Our Ann said there is a tip on how to save 30% off your Ancestry membership if you belong to AARP. You end up having to call Ancestry (which she did). If you have a membership you can get the discount when you renew. Ancestry put a notation in her file but told her to call again when they notify her that her renewal is coming up. The discount is runs until March 2015. Watch the webinar to learn more. Also, here is the Ancestry discount information from the AARP website.

See you soon at the Mt. Clemens Public Library! 

LE

Michigan Vital Records Online

Looking for births, marriages and deaths for Michigan but can't remember where someone said to find them on the internet?

Here's a run down of what vital records for Michigan are located where. I have indicated if actual records are available online.

FamilySearch - a FREE website of the Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ (LDS)/Mormons
The LDS have been digitizing the microfilm collections and other records (with permission of the record owners) and placing them on their website, FamilySearch. Find the digitized collections from the homepage by clicking on search, scrolling down to browse by location and then clicking on the region you desire. So after you select United States, either scroll down the list of databases to find Michigan or in the left column scroll down to click Michigan to see just the Michigan databases.

Here you will find:
Michigan, Births, 1867-1902 (index and record images, from Michigan Department of Vital and Health Records)
Michigan, Marriages, 1867-1925 (index and record images, from Michigan Department of Vital and Health Records)
Michigan, Deaths, 1867-1897 (index and record images, from Michigan Department of Vital and Health Records)
Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952 (index only, from Michigan Department of Vital and Health Records)
Michigan, County Marriages, 1820-1935 (index and images)
Michigan Death Index, 1971-1996 (index only from Michigan Department of Vital and Health Records, provided by ancestry.com)

There are also a couple of index only databases (Births & Christenings, Marriages, and Deaths & Burials) that are comprised of former parts of the International Genealogical Index (IGI) or Vital Records Index collections. You would need to check each entry to determine the original source of the information (extract from an original record or submission from a person).

SeekingMichigan - a FREE website of the Archives of Michigan
The Archives of Michigan's SeekingMichigan website is where you will find the Michigan Death Certificates Collection 1897-1920. These records are from the Michigan Department of Vital and Health Records. Use the Advanced Search and only search one database at a time in order to get filters specialized for the death certificates. There is no Soundex option in this search engine.

According to some news passed on from another group, the indexes of Michigan Death Records from www.familysearch.org will be added to SeekingMichigan in early 2014. After that the images of the certificates dated from 1921 to 1938 will be added to the site. The additional years will be added as the law allows. A search filter for mother's maiden name will also be added to the site.

Ancestry.com/Ancestry Library Edition - a $ PAY-service via home or library subscription
Ancestry is a commercial website. If you don't have a home subscription, then come into the Mt. Clemens Public Library and you can use the library's subscription. (Or check to see if your local library has a subscription.)

On Ancestry's website, you'll find the following index databases under Michigan:

Michigan Death Records 1897-1920 is an index to the death certificates found at SeekingMichigan. This database index has the Soundex search option and links to take you to the images on SeekingMichigan.

Michigan, Deaths, 1971-1996 (index only, original data from the Michigan Department of Vital and Health Records)

There are a couple other index only databases for vitals records that are based on the index only databases located at FamilySearch. Again, check where the information came from for each entry.

Related to civil vital records are church vital records. Ancestry has a database with index and record images called Early US French Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection, 1695-1954). It contains records for a variety of states. For Michigan, there are several Catholic churches, including records earlier than when the State of Michigan began recording vital records.

County Government Websites like the County Clerk
Check out the county government website for the Michigan counties you are researching. Several have index databases that make locating records easier. Searching the database may be free but there may be a charge for seeing/accessing a specific record. Here are some examples.

The webpage for the county clerk of Macomb County has a searchable death index for deaths from about 1960 forward though there are some earlier ones included but not all the earlier ones. You can then order a death certificate through a service (or go in-person during their genealogy hours and request it in person).

The Oakland County government website has a genealogy research service page that allows you to search marriage and death records back to 1941 and then order/pay for a record you desire.

The Genessee County Clerk has a searchable index for deaths from 1930 and a marriages from 1963.

There are likely more by now with similar indexes.

Genealogical and Historical Societies/Groups and Volunteer Sites
You can count on many of these groups to create an index where none were available.
The Flint Genealogical Society has indexed the Genessee County births, marriages and death. And of course check out the Mount Clemens Public Library's Genealogy, Local History or Databases pages to see the various databases that volunteers from Macomb County Genealogy Group have helped create.

Suzette Bromley has created indexes to St. Clair County Marriages and Deaths.

Joe Beine, runs a website DeathIndexesOnline that keeps track of which counties in each state have indexes online. There are some other indexes (cemetery, obituaries) mixed in amongst this list.

So what are you waiting for? Get searching.

LE

Follow Up to Friday's MCGG Meeting on the Roseville Family History Center

We hope you were able to make it to our November 1st Friday meeting. We had a great turnout.

David Lambert, a co-director of the Roseville Family History Center, described the resources of the Roseville FHC and gave an overview of the FamilySearch website ran by the Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ (LDS/Mormon).

In the presentation David talked about several pay-sites that patrons of the Roseville FHC can access for free while at the FHC. These are sometimes referred to as portal access sites.

Today, Dick Eastman's Blog, Eastman's Online Genealogy Blog, had an announcement that new parish records were recently added to TheGenealogist website. TheGenealogist is one of the pay-sites available through the FHC's portal access.

You can see what types of records are available at TheGenealogist without having a subscription. (You can not do a search though.) On TheGenealogist homepage, scroll down until you see the "Why Subscribe?" column on the left side. Click on the arrow next to "Parish and non-conformist records" and it will take you to another page. Once there you can click on the county in the right-hand column to see what parishes are included so far. You can also click on the other subject categories and then the county to see what areas and time periods are included in those categories.

So if you have ancestors in the United Kingdom and TheGenealogist website covers the area you need, you might want to visit the Roseville FHC and investigate this website.

LE