oktober 31, 2019 by Legacy Tree Genealogists Leave a Comment

Legacy Tree Honored as One of Utah’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies for the Third Year in a Row

Legacy Tree Genealogists has been named to MountainWest Capital Network’s (MWCN) 2019 Utah100, the annual list of the state’s fastest-growing companies. This is the third year in a row the company has made the list, this year being ranked at #56.

MWCN’s exclusive awards program brings together investors, entrepreneurs and professional service providers while recognizing Utah’s 100 fastest-growing companies and the economic and business impact they bring to the state.

MWCN Utah100 — Legacy Tree Genealogists' president, Jessica Taylor.

Founded in 2004, Legacy Tree Genealogists provides full-service genealogical research for clients worldwide, helping them break through genealogy “brick walls” to create and preserve their family legacy. The Legacy Tree team also provides essential DNA analysis, helps clients identify unknown parents or grandparents, helps clients prepare to visit their ancestral homelands, gathers documents for dual-citizenship applications and much more.

“We are excited to receive this recognition once again,” said Jessica Taylor, founder and president of Legacy Tree Genealogists. “Our continued growth wouldn’t be possible without the efforts of each member of our team and their commitment to provide consistently high-quality research for our clients.”

Utah 100 honorees were chosen based on both their percentage and dollar revenue increase between 2014 and 2018. MWCN’s award event, now marking a quarter century of recognizing the top companies in the state, honored award recipients at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City.

“Utah’s economy has never been stronger, and it’s in large part thanks to the tremendous efforts of these companies and others that make Utah truly the place to be for business,” said Ryan Dent, chairman of the MWCN Utah 100 committee. “We’ve had 25 great years of honoring the companies making Utah great, and we look forward to the next 25 years and beyond.”

Legacy Tree Genealogists combines both traditional genealogy research with advancements in genetic genealogy to resolve even the most difficult research questions. Contact us today to request your free quote.

oktober 25, 2019 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 2 Comments

Legacy Tree Onsite: The National Archives in Iaşi, Romania

Legacy Tree works with researchers all over the world to access records for our clients. We asked one of our onsite researchers, located in Iaşi, Romania, to share his experiences with genealogy research in Romania at the National Archives in Iaşi, and the records available to help with your family history.

The city of Iaşi and its archives – an overview

The city of Iaşi is the largest locality in the northeast of Romania, a region called Moldavia. Not to be mistaken with the Republic of Moldova, which represents the eastern half of the former Principality of Moldavia, occupied by Russia after 1812, a region called Bessarabia, which belonged to Romania only in the interval 1918-1944.

The city of Iaşi was the capital of the Principality of Moldavia from the 17^th century to the year 1862, when the Principalities of Moldavia and Walachia united and when the capital was set in Bucharest.

According to modern standards, the Archives of Iaşi were constituted on January 1^st, 1832, with one headquarter. Until 1832, the documents were kept in the institutions that issued or received them, or in private archives (secular or confessional). Hence, between 1832 and 1862, Iaşi was the headquarters of the Moldavian Principality Archives, and subsequently they acquired a regional character, within the Romanian Archives. Though they were founded in 1832, thus far the deposits of the Romanian Archives in Iaşi have gathered many old documents, dated even to the 14^th century. Until the present, the Archives in Iaşi harbor almost 17,000 linear meters of documents, from the oldest one (within the 14^th century) to the present, thus the second largest archive in Romania.

Visiting the National Archives in Iaşi

The current headquarters of the Iaşi archives are on B-dul Carol I no. 26, on one of the most prestigious and select streets, close to “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University. The hours for the lecture hall – where researchers are granted a free permit – are listed on the website of the institution. However, as far as research, only little information is available online. Consequently, for most research topics, genealogy included, it is mandatory to actually stay in the library. Researchers may access 15 documents and 5 registries daily. You are allowed to take photos using your own camera, and the daily photo fee is Lei 7 (less than 2 US dollars), without any limit on the number of photos taken.

Documents useful for genealogy research in Romania

As for the documents useful for genealogy research in Romania, it is worth knowing that – by the legal character of the documents preserved in the archives – there are differences in terms of the historical period and the category of population to which the searched family belonged.

Ownership documents

Until mid 19^th century, most preserved documents pertain to the ownership of buildings and lands within cities or to lands owned outside the cities. Thus, a genealogical reconstitution before the 19^th century is possible only for the families who owned properties. It must be mentioned that, based on medieval law – in force until mid 19^th century and in case of Jews until 1918, when they were granted full civil rights – only the Orthodox Christians were allowed to own properties outside the city territories. Catholics and Armenians had a derogation only concerning the lands with vine. Consequently, until the 19^th century, the best chances for retrieving the genealogy concern the families of boyars (noble families) and to a certain extent, the rich urban citizens, and almost null for the other categories of population.

Statistical documents

There is a category of useful documents for genealogical studies. Such documents are dated to the second half of the 18^th century and they represent tax censuses; authorities noted the family heads in those lists. Based on the lists, it is possible to develop the genealogy of certain families, until the second half of the 19^th century, when – mainly after 1832 – such tax censuses were organized every seven years. Only a part of those lists has been published. For the city of Iaşi, two volumes were issued, titled Documente statistice privitoare la istoria oraşului Iaşi, vol. I (1755-1820) and vol. II (1824-1828) [Statistical Documents concerning the History of the City of Iaşi], Iaşi, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Press, 1997.

Also in the first half of the 19^th century, various categories of taxpayers were recorded separately, such as merchants, artisans or foreign subjects who lived in the Moldavian Principality, most of them in the urban areas. Many of those who had the status of foreign subjects were Jewish. A volume that reunites the census of the foreign Austrian subjects in 1832 was published recently at the Al.I. Cuza University Press in Iaşi (The Austrian Subjects in the Moldavian Principate (1833-1835), Iaşi, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Press, 2014 – in Romanian language; http://www.editura.uaic.ro/produse/rezultatele-cautarii-pentru/silviu-vacaru/supusii-austrieci-in-principatul-moldovei-1833-1835-contributii-1307/1), but the archives of Iaşi host many other such lists, still unpublished.

Civil status registries – marital status as registered by parishes

Along with the statistical and tax-related documents, for the period between 1832 and 1865, the Archives in Iaşi also includes civil status registries, drafted in parishes. Unfortunately, thus far, only a small part of the civil status registries were inventoried and available for research.

Before analyzing the period after 1865, it must be stated that – along with the Cyrillic paleography of the old documents – the genealogical research is made even more difficult by the fact that, until 1865, no strict rules were imposed concerning last names, though attempts had been made since 1832. For this reason, in the tax and civil status records up to 1865, individuals were generally registered using the formula: X the son of Y, and in the subsequent generation, Z the son of Y, but there were also cases of formulas such as: X + occupation. The preservation of a name across several generations is frequent only in case of noble families; for the others, such cases are rare.

Civil status records – after 1865

More information, comprising a greater number of details pertinent for genealogy research, is available for periods after 1865. In 1865 the organization of the Civil Status Service following the French model entered into force; thus, the births, marriages and deaths were no longer recorded by parishes, but by civil offices constituted within city halls.

In terms of advantages compared to the previous period, first of all, they began drafting up the documents using Latin characters, and then they enforced the standard of using last names. The Civil Status Funs has been inventoried almost integrally and it may be researched. Unfortunately, they are not available online, and the registries even less so. Consequently, documents may be consulted only in the study hall. A researcher may research the lists of people who were born, got married or who died in the period 1865-1916 and he/she may order up to 5 registries. According to Archives rules for the protection of personal data, civil status documents newer than 100 years old are not available for public research.

The Archives of Iaşi preserve the registries of people who were born, got married or who died for all the localities within the county of Iaşi, the city of Iaşi included. For the other localities in Moldavia, registries are within the Archives of each county centre (Suceava, Botoşani, Piatra-Neamţ, Bacău, Vaslui, Galaţi, Focşani). The research rules are the same as for the Archives in Iaşi, but the hours may differ, (they are usually shorter).

In the Archives of Iaşi we find – for the period 1865-1908 – approximately 3,000 registries for the births, were 59,779 births were recorded. For the period 1865-1905, there are approximately 1,500 marriage registries, where 21,731 marriages and divorces were registered. For the period 1865-1908, there are approximately 4,000 registries of deaths, comprising around 80,000 deaths.

It is also worth noting that, in terms of the demographic structure – mostly in the cities in northern Moldavia, the city of Iaşi included – in late 19^th century, the Jewish population accounted for around 50%. Since the last years of the 19^th century, the number of Jews decreased gradually, initially through immigrations across the Ocean, mostly in the USA; after the Second World War, due to the massive emigration to Israel, the Jewish population in Iaşi and in Romania, in general, dropped dramatically. Currently, the community of the Jews in Iaşi counts around 200 members.

Hence, in order to study the genealogy of the families who – since late 19^th century – left the urban localities in the county of Iaşi, emigrating from Romania, the types of documents presented here briefly – mostly those pertaining to civil status dated after 1865 – are very useful.

Here, is an example of a death record within a registry of civil status.

genealogy research in Romania — *National Archives of Iaşi, Civil Registrar of Iaşi, Deaths, 14/1866, f. 27 recto*

TRANSLATION:

Civil Registrar for deaths

Death certificate

In the year of one thousand eight hundred sixty-six, on the fourth of August, at eight o’clock a.m., came to us, officer of the Civil Registrar of the commune of Iaşi, police district no. three, county of Iaşi, Mr. Daniil Lazar, aged forty-five, an old clothes man, the uncle of the deceased, domiciled in police district no. three, Târgul de Sus, and Mr. Avram Herş Ox, aged twenty-nine, a shoemaker, domiciled in zone (police district) no. four, Sfânta Vineri street, and they declared that on the third of August, at ten o’clock p.m., Mr. Leiba, son of Moise Lazăr, aged seven, Israeli, domiciled with his parents, son of Mr. Moise Lazăr, old clothes man, domiciled in district no. three, Târgul de Sus no. 990, and of Mrs. Feiga, the latter’s wife, has died in the house of Herşcu Marcu, because of cholera.

After we made sure of it ourselves, we drew this certificate that the declarants, after reading it, signed with us.

Officer of the Civil Registrar, Th. Codrescu <m.p.>.

The declarants sign.

If you need help accessing and obtaining documents in Romania to continue extending your Romanian ancestry, our professional genealogists and onsite agents are ready to assist you! Our team of genealogists is experienced at tracking down all kinds of family history records in a variety of locations, and can help you extend your ancestry as far back as records will allow. Contact us to discuss which of our project options would best fit your needs.

oktober 16, 2019 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 9 Comments

The Lure of the Land: 4 Types of Land Records That Can Help Solve Genealogy Brick Walls

Land records are some of the most underutilized, yet most useful, records available in genealogy. Often, they are the only records which state a direct relationship between family members. They can also be used to prove relationships indirectly by studying the land laws in force at the time. Sometimes they can even be used to locate an ancestor’s farm or original house, so that we can walk today where our family walked long ago.

Land records exist in the United States in abundance for most locations, yet they are an often overlooked resource for many genealogists. Don’t make the same mistake! Read on for more information about how land records can help you scale seemingly impossible brick walls in your genealogy research.

Land Ho! The Importance of Land Records

The search for new land is one of the main themes of American history, so it makes sense that land records would be an important part of researching that history. The right to own real estate was not universal in most of the countries from which the majority of American immigrants came. And even when it was possible to own land legally, it was often too expensive and thus out of reach for most people.

As a result, the lure of vast expanses of relatively cheap and plentiful land has proved irresistible to millions of immigrants to American shores over the course of the past 400 years. The land records created throughout those years to document ownership of all that real estate have accumulated in seemingly limitless amounts throughout the vast area that now comprises the United State of America, even in the face of catastrophic record loss in some locations.

Due to the paramount importance of land ownership in what would become the United States, land records often are the only records in which you will find your ancestors mentioned in some areas. They also usually exist from the date of formation of colonial, state, and county governments, where the records still exist. They often state relationships or provide other, indirect, evidence of family relationships. Understanding what kinds of land records exist, where to find them, and how to use them is often critical to solving genealogical mysteries.

Types of Land Records and How to Use Them

Land Deeds

The most essential land record is the deed. Deeds document the transfer or sale of title, or ownership, of a piece of land or other property from one party to another. Deeds usually concern land, or “real” property, but they also often mention moveable or “chattel” property, such as household goods and even enslaved persons.

land record deed index — *Example of deed index, courtesy of FamilySearch*

They sometimes, but not always, contain explicit, direct statements of relationship between family members. Sometimes this can be a parent-child relationship, but deeds can also include a list of people who are children or heirs of a particular deceased person who owned the land being sold. Sometimes the language in deeds involving heirs makes it clear that the heirs are children, sometimes not, so some care must be taken not to assume that all heirs are children. Research in other records sets such as probate, census, and church records may make the relationships of the heirs to the deceased land owner clearer.

In the early years of a settlement, and sometimes later, deeds books also often contained other types of transactions, including the sale of enslaved persons and sometimes even wills. These are often records for which no other copies survive. Thus, surviving deed books should always be checked for ancestors and their family members in every jurisdiction in which you do genealogy research.

Also, remember to check published abstracts of deeds if they exist, as witnesses to deeds were not included in most indexes to the original deed books. Witnessing a deed was one of many ways relatives assisted one another, and thus the presence of one of your ancestors as a witness for someone else suggests they had some kind of relationship, which might lead to the discovery of previously unknown ancestors.

Also keep in mind that not all states required the recording of deeds throughout their history, or did not require them to be recorded in a timely fashion. Pennsylvania is an example of this lackadaisical attitude to record keeping that now seems foreign. When researching land records in Pennsylvania it is important to remember that deeds for an ancestor might have been recorded years, even decades, after the actual transaction took place. Therefore, always remember to check the indexes for deeds and other transactions many years after the person in question died or left the area.

In other states, such as New Jersey, land was sold at the colony and state level for longer than is typical in other areas and thus land records must be sought at the state or colony level up to that time. In the case of New Jersey, deeds only began to be recorded in the various counties around 1785. Therefore, New Jersey real property research must be done at both the county and state or colonial level. In the case of colonies and states with massive record loss, such as Virginia, land records recorded on the state level are often the only records that survive for some counties, and thus are critical for success in navigating such “burned” counties.

Land Grants and Patents

Land grants and patents issued by the various colonial, state and federal governments are also an important resource, including land lotteries in states like Georgia. In many states, such as Pennsylvania and North Carolina, the original applications, warrants, surveys, and patents or grants still exist and can be searched at the state archives or online. While these documents do not often state relationships, they sometimes do, as in the case of one of my ancestors whose father had applied for a land patent in Pennsylvania in 1787 but had died before the patent was issued in 1800, and thus it was granted to his son by the same name. However, the land patent spelled out that the original applicant had died and his son was the person actually receiving the patent.

Land patents and grants, as well as deeds in general, can also document the dates in which an ancestor resided or at least owned land in a given location, assisting the researcher in establishing timelines for ancestors and for differentiating between two or more individuals residing in a given area with the same name. Anyone dreading research on their Smith and Jones ancestors might just find the solution they seek in those old, musty deed books!

Mortgages

Other land records that might prove essential in solving genealogy puzzles are mortgages, which in some states like New Jersey were recorded locally earlier than deeds and sometimes survive for earlier years than do deeds. A mortgage is a promise by a borrower to repay a loan using real estate as collateral—in effect deeding title to the real estate to the creditor if the loan is not repaid. A similar instrument called a deed of trust, or trust deed, performs the same function with the exception that a third-party trustee takes title if the loan is not paid back in full. In the early years, mortgages and trust deeds were usually contracted with private individuals, but as the banking industry grew in the United States over the course of the nineteenth century, they began to be taken out with banks instead of private persons.

The two parties involved in a mortgage are the “mortgagor” and the “mortgagee,” and indexes can often be found for mortgages using those terms. However, sometimes early mortgages and trust deeds were recorded in the same books as deeds, so keep an eye out for them. And remember: the mortgagor is the borrower, while the mortgagee is the creditor. But don’t be put off by their sometimes-confusing terminology. Old mortgages and trust deeds are some of the most underused land records in existence—yet they can sometimes be the key that unlocks the door to that next ancestor. Don’t overlook them!

Tax Records

One other land record that could crack the case is land tax records. Everyone who owned land had to pay taxes on it, at least in theory. Sometimes, land tax books include notations about one person inheriting land from another, or more commonly, the change in owner’s name from one year to the next can indicate inheritance of the land. The absence of a deed or will showing the transfer might be explained by checking the land tax books.

The Law of the Land: Primogeniture and Genealogy

In some cases, the inheritance and real estate laws of the time might allow you to make a determination of parentage even without a will or deed stating the suspected relationship. The legal concept of primogeniture, or inheritance of land by the first-born son, was in force in many parts of the Thirteen Colonies until soon after independence, especially in the southern and middle colonies. Thus, when a land owner died, his first-born son would often inherit all or most of his land if he died intestate, or without a will.

The emergence of one man as the owner of a given piece of land in place of the previous owner, either as the seller, or “grantor,” in a deed or in the land tax records, could indicate that the previous owner died and the land was inherited by his “heir-at-law,” the first-born son. There might not be any record of this transfer, so knowing the “law of the land” can prove to be instrumental in cracking the case.

In these and many other ways, land records can be used to find direct and indirect evidence of family and other types of relationships, often when no other record does—or even survives. It is for this reason that land records research must be part of any reasonably exhaustive genealogical investigation.

Land Records: Where Are They Now?

In some areas, land records are the only records that survive which state relationships or can be used to provide indirect evidence of them. They also are useful in establishing biographical timelines for ancestors, and to learn more about their lives. They can sometimes also be used to identify the location of ancestor’s farms and sometimes even their original homes, so that today’s genealogists can often literally walk in the footsteps of their ancestors. But where are those records now?

It used to be that if you wanted to do genealogy the right way, one of your first stops had to be at the county courthouse where your ancestors lived. This is still a good practice, as many treasures held within the walls of the hundreds of courthouses scattered across this land are not microfilmed, digitized, or abstracted, and likely never will be. The Recorder of Deeds and the County Clerk are therefore often the genealogist’s best friends. So, planning a trip to the courthouse or archive where land records are held is still a good idea. But many of us live far away from where our ancestors owned land and lived out their lives. How can we access these records if we don’t have the time or budget to travel to the areas in question?

Thankfully, the digital revolution has made researching land records and other types of documents much easier, but often still time consuming and at times overwhelming. The land records held at the state level for “state land” states (the original thirteen colonies and the states formed from them such as Maine and Kentucky) are usually indexed and can often be accessed digitally at the website for the state archives, commercial genealogy sites such as Ancestry.com, or can be ordered via correspondence with the archive.

In states that were part of the old Northwest Territory, such as Ohio and Indiana, as well as the other public land states (any state formed under the Constitution that was not carved out of one of the original colonies), grants from the federal government to the first recorded owner of that land can be found at the Government Land Office site created by the Bureau of Land Management. Their site allows searches for names of individuals who purchased federal land in public land states and even includes digital images of the land grants, including the signature of the President of the United States at the time.

Other types of records associated with federal land, including applications for public domain land grants, Homestead Act applications, Freedman’s Bureau land records, and bounty land warrants and applications for veterans are all held at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Many of these records also state relationships and add rich detail about the lives of ancestors. However, most of these records have never been digitized and must be searched in person or requested via the National Archives’ online order service.

Land records at the county or town level are still held at the local county courthouse or archive, if they survive. Many jurisdictions have digitized their land records and made them available online, in many cases for free. This can sometimes include the entire run of a county’s land records, back to the formation of the county. County clerks and recorders will also sometimes do research via correspondence, though most are unable to do so due to time constraints.

Most importantly in the field of land records research from a genealogical perspective is the massive digitization project undertaken by FamilySearch, the website for the genealogical Society of Utah. Millions of land records from all across the United States, and even some from other countries, are available at their website free of charge—and viewable either from the comfort of your own home or at a Family History Center or the Family History Library itself, depending on the license agreement FamilySearch has with the original repository. This vast trove of land records is almost completely unindexed by FamilySearch and will thus not appear in results using their “Records” search page. They must instead be searched in the “Catalog” search page.

Despite not being indexed by FamilySearch, the digitized microfilms themselves usually have indexes, either in separate volumes or at the beginnings or ends of the digitized individual deed books. Most of the digitized land records made available by FamilySearch date from 1900 or before, so a trip to the courthouse might still be warranted for most twentieth-century deeds and more recent land records research. If all else fails, don’t forget to ask the recorder or clerk for help if you have a limited research goal, such as one deed copy—you just might be surprised how eager and willing they are to help.

If the land records you need are unavailable online or are held in a remote location, consider hiring a professional genealogist to go to the courthouse in person on your behalf. Legacy Tree Genealogists has a worldwide network of onsite researchers who can obtain nearly any record that still exists in most areas. Call or email us today so that we can assist you in the search for your ancestors and the records of their sometimes only tangible piece of the American dream—land!

Indeed, land ownership was more widespread in the Thirteen Colonies and the United States than most any other nation on earth. But what if your ancestors still didn’t own any land? How do you find those elusive family members who for whatever reason were unable or uninterested in owning land? Well, that’s a topic for another day.

In the meantime, however you access them, land records are absolutely critical for success in genealogy and should be thoroughly examined whenever possible. You’ll be glad you did.

Do you have a family history mystery or genealogy “brick wall” you can’t seem to break through? The experienced team at Legacy Tree Genealogists can help! Contact us today to request a free quote!

oktober 11, 2019 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 5 Comments

Why Is It Not on The Map? How Learning History Aids Your Genealogy

«Why is it not on the map?» We discuss how learning history can help you in your family history research–especially when it involves areas with shifting boundaries and name changes!

One of the biggest frustrations for a family historian is finding a new place name written in a family record … but then not being able to find that place on a modern-day map, as was the issue we recently discussed in our blog article, Finding Vital Records for Galicia, Austria-Hungary.

Sometimes this quandary develops because the place name has been mangled through phonetic or oral transmission over generations or after immigration. In other instances, it may be due to an actual change of the place’s name or a shift in the boundaries of the higher jurisdiction to which the place belonged politically. This can happen anywhere in the world, but we’ll give some examples from both the United States and Europe, as well as a suggestion about how to account for place name changes in your family history records.

Why Is It Not on the Map?

It’s not unusual for communities’ names to change for a variety of reasons. In Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, for example, the names of nearly every major city or borough have been altered. Its county seat Lebanon was begun as Steitztown (in honor of founder George Steitz) but the Moravian religious community was prominent enough to justify the shift to the current name.

Two boroughs in the same county were both named and renamed for their initiators but in opposite ways—present-day Fredericksburg was originally Stumpstown but traded its founder Frederick Stump’s surname for his given name. Jonestown, on the other hand, was originally Williamsburg, going from the first name of founder William Jones to his surname.

In Lebanon County’s case, there’s A Gazetteer of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania by David J. Bachman (Masthof Press, 2007) that lists all the historical and present-day names. Many counties have similar publications or online tools.

Learn Some History

In addition to the garbling of names that might require learning phonetics of foreign languages, you could also find that previously separate villages have been merged into bigger cities and erased from the map. Municipal mergers in Germany, for example, resulted in the villages of Niedereisenbach and Hachenbach—separated by the Glan River—being connected with the new name of Glanbrücken, which won’t be seen on maps created before its founding in the 1970s.

This is especially a thing in Europe’s German lands, where historically there was much upheaval and a “non-linear” pattern of history was followed. In the United States, new municipalities and counties are generally created from existing entities—a “linear” political history. Germany, on the other hand, was a collection of small, independent states that were constantly being sliced, diced and otherwise disconnected as noble dynasties went extinct, lost wars or were divided amongst sons.

Learn some History—Part 2!

Here’s an example of how maps and the political boundaries they show (as well as that historical background knowledge genealogists need) can help narrow down the focus of research even when a village of origin isn’t known.

A researcher was trying to find an immigrant ancestor whose birthplace is variously identified as Hesse-Darmstadt in the 1860 U.S. Census but as Prussia in the 1870 headcount—and sometimes as the entirely unhelpful “Germany.” While censuses can just be plain wrong, there’s a map of Hesse (Hessen in German) that gives a decent theory on how to square the circle of these various assertions of the immigrant’s birthplace.

The map “Hessen bis 1866” shows the boundaries before they were adjusted by a Prussian land grab that occurred in a war that year. The red boundaries on this map show Hessen-Darmstadt before that war; among the changes as a result was that the thin “arm” centered on Biedenkopf was ceded to Prussia, making the relatively small number of villages in that arm the prime suspects for the immigrant’s home village, since that would be consistent with reporting Hessen-Darmstadt as his place of birth in records before 1866 and Prussia afterwards.

Examples of Map Resources

Learning the history is helpful, but you’ll likely need map resources to help you interpret that history. There are maps and maps tools on many Internet sites (FamilySearch Wiki is a good place to start looking for them) but one of the best examples is MeyersGaz.org, which covers the Second German Empire that existed from 1871 to 1918, when the largest number of America’s No. 1 ethnicity came to the U.S.

The MeyersGaz website takes the writeups from the leading geographical dictionary of the time (known by the shortened title Meyers Gazetteer) profiling more than 100,000 places in the German Empire. But the website doesn’t stop with the original writeups—it includes locator maps (both from modern-day maps and a historical map from the late 1800s) as well as ways to the locate sites of church and civil registers.

In the example of a modern place name that won’t be found on historical maps, you can see here that today’s map (top) shows Glanbrücken while the historical map (bottom) shows Niedereisenbach and Hachenbach.

why is it not on the map? Name changes can complicate family history research. why is it not on the map? How shifting boundaries can affect family history research

That Was Then, This Is Now

A question many genealogists have in situations such as this is the logical one: “How do I record the place name in my records?”

While there may be differences of opinion on some details, most genealogists would agree that the recording should at least give a nod to the name of the place (and the larger jurisdictions to which it belonged) at the time the event took place. Still and all, to make your information comprehensible to current and future readers, giving data “as of the present” is useful, too, at least as a parenthetical following the “as of the time of the event” reference. In the case we’ve been following here, a nineteenth-century family in what was then Niedereisenbach, the place reference would look like this:

Niedereisenbach, Sankt Wendel, Trier, Rhineland, Prussia (today, Glanbrücken, Kusel, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)

At Legacy Tree Genealogists, our network of researchers “knows the code” about all sorts of name and boundary changes that may confuse the average genealogist. Contact us today for a free quote and to let us know what our experts can do for you.

oktober 4, 2019 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 1 Comment

Mapire: A Free Tool for Historical Maps of Europe

Historical maps of Europe are an often underutilized resource in European genealogy research. We share a free tool that allows you to add European maps to your genealogy toolbox!

Since most records were held on the town/parish level in Europe, locating the correct town is an essential first step before researching your ancestors in their country of birth. Over the centuries, borders in Europe sometimes changed drastically, so it is important to know to which country or empire your ancestral hometown belonged in the time period of interest as well as today. Border changes can impact where records are held, the language(s) in which they were recorded, and even the name of the town. Sometimes smaller villages or hamlets named in records no longer exist today, but their former locations and names are preserved on historical maps. Finding a contemporary map of the area in the time period your ancestors lived there can also add fascinating detail to your understanding of their lives. Did they live on the edge of a forest or a lake? Did they cross a field to get to church or were they just down the street? Was their house made of stone or wood? Is it still standing?

Mapire – A Valuable Resource for Family Historians

Mapire.eu holds a wonderful collection of historical maps of Europe, including the military surveys of the Habsburg Empire, country maps, cadastral maps and thematic maps. Each map is overlaid on a modern map, enabling one to compare historical structures with the same area today. It is also indexed, with the ability to search by city or town on each map. A historical map can be viewed side-by-side with the modern map of the same area, using the synchronized view, or the opacity can be adjusted to show the modern map below the historical map, and there is even a 3D option. Mapire is free to use (high-resolution copies can be purchased) and it was created in partnership between several archives in Hungary, Austria, and Croatia. More archives have also contributed to the collection since it was created in 2014, including archives and libraries in Finland, Scotland, Belgium, and even Texas, so while the bulk of the collection focuses on the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, other countries are also included.

There are five main collections available to search on Mapire:

Maps of Europe

The military surveys included in this collection were created for the Habsburg dynasty that ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire and cover the lands in their empire but also many other countries in Europe.

These military surveys are particularly useful for determining archaic names of towns and viewing the geographical features of the land at the time. This can be useful in determining the likelihood of a family attending church in a specific neighboring parish if there are multiple options—if crossing a field or through the forest was a quicker path to a town with a church, they may have attended church there regardless of where the road led.

Europe in the eighteenth century (includes First Military Survey 1763–1787)

includes maps for Bukowina, Galicia, France, Bohemia, Wallachia, Moravia, Croatia, Slovenia, parts of Germany, Netherlands, Hungary

Europe in the nineteenth century (includes Second Military Survey 1806–1869)

includes maps for Norway, Bohemia, Croatia, Galicia, Habsburg Empire, Hungary, Greece, Austria, Italy, Russia, Belgium, France, Switzerland among others.

Europe in the nineteenth century (Third Military Survey 1869–1887)

includes maps for England, Wales, Scotland, Prussia, Russia, Finland, Italian states, France, Netherlands, German states, Greece, etc.

City Maps

This collection includes historical maps for Amsterdam, Budapest, Venice, London, Moscow, Rome, Saint Petersburg, Sarajevo, Paris, and Vienna. Most are from the eighteenth and ninetenth centuries.

Country Maps

This collection includes maps of various countries including the United States, Sardinia, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Prussia, Italian States, Scotland, Norway, Moldavia, Hungary, France, and the German states, among others. The collection is somewhat eclectic (one of the Norway maps is from 1950, while the map of Lower and Upper Alsace dates to 1731) but it is worth checking to see if a map you need is included.

Cadastral Maps

This collection includes cadastral maps for many of the lands in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, with some gaps. Cadastral maps are detailed land maps showing the use of land on a village level. The various strips of land being farmed are usually numbered, as well as the houses in each village and sometimes even the names of the owners and tenant farmers were recorded. Different colored buildings sometimes even can indicate the material of which the house was built (the level of detail varies widely depending on who drew the map). The example below from 1864 Slovenia is highly detailed, showing stone buildings in yellow, wooden buildings in pink, house numbers and the names of tenant farmers recorded on the strips of land they farmed at the time it was drawn.

This level of detail makes these maps extremely useful for genealogical research—if the house number of a family’s residence was recorded in the parish registers, it can often be pinpointed on a cadastral map. Because these maps are also georeferenced, it is often possible to pinpoint the location of the ancestral house today.

Thematic Maps

The last collection on Mapire includes administrative maps of Hungary and a few topic-specific maps as the name implies. This includes a map of religions in Hungary (1910), ethnicities in Hungary (1910), and maps detailing changes in land-use for Transcarpathia over time.

As professional genealogists, we are skilled at thinking “outside-the-box” and utilizing every resource possible to discover your family’s story. We’d love to help you learn more about your ancestors, and will leave no stone unturned in our quest to do so! Get started today by requesting your free quote.

september 26, 2019 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 10 Comments

Finding Vital Records for Galicia, Austria-Hungary

Historical name and border changes can affect what records were created and where they are held today. In this article, we look at how to find vital records in Galicia, Austria-Hungary.

Before historical records can be searched for any location, it is necessary to understand the historical names and border changes associated with that place, since this can impact what kinds of records were created and where they are held today. If you have ancestors that reported they were from Galicia, Austria-Hungary in an immigration record, locating that place on a map can be challenging at first glance, since the region is not known by either name today.

The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria [Königreich Galizien und Lodomerien], also known as Galicia, was originally established as a result of the First Partition of Poland in 1772. The former territory was created from the entire southwestern part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and became a crownland (province) of the Austrian Empire in 1804 under the name Galicia.

vital records Austria-Hungary — *«Distribution of Races in Austria-Hungary» from the Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, 1911. Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.*

Inhabited by mainly Poles in the West and Ruthenians (Eastern Slavs) in the East, the multi-cultural province of Galicia also had a scattering of ethnic-German enclaves along with Jewish communities centered in cities and other towns throughout the territory.

After World War I, the former Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia was incorporated into the Second Polish Republic [Rzeczpospolita Polska], commonly known as interwar Poland, under the Treaty of Riga in 1921. Further complicating the geographical landscape, border changes after World War II split the lands of the former Galician territory between the Polish People's Republic [Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa] and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic [Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка]. This means that depending on which part of Galicia your ancestors were from, their vital records could be held in archives or civil registry offices in Poland or Ukraine today.

History of Vital Registration (Births, Marriages, and Deaths)

finding vital records in Galicia After the annexation of lands to form the new crownland of Galicia, the Austrian government implemented a requirement in 1784 making clergy responsible for recording birth, marriages, and deaths. A part of the new law included standardized columnar format registers.[1] Therefore, searching for Galician births, marriages, and deaths before World War I means searching in parish registers created by individual churches or synagogues, not governmental offices, and it is helpful to know to which religion your ancestors belonged. Austrian laws allowed Jews to maintain registers for their communities under Catholic supervision from 1789, but researchers will find most Jewish registers date from the 1830s or later. Under an Austrian government mandate in 1805, Jews were required to take surnames for the first time.[2]

The current civil registration records for births, marriages, and deaths were not created until the establishment of modern Poland and the Ukrainian S.S.R after World War I. Today, genealogists seeking vital records from Galicia (birth, marriages, and deaths) will find record collections scattered over a wide variety of archives throughout Poland, Ukraine and elsewhere. For this reason, it is essential to know the exact town from which your ancestors came before searching in civil or church records, because records were (and are) kept on the town or parish level and they are organized that way in the archives as well.

Note: Researchers should remember that not every town had a church or synagogue. Determining religious jurisdictions for parishes and Jewish communities is critical to achieve success in locating record collections.

Languages Used

For records kept according to religious confession, you will find many are recorded in Latin for Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, and Protestant churches with Polish, Ukrainian or Church Slavonic interspersed throughout the records, depending on geographical location. Jewish records are often written in Polish or German but may also have adjacent Hebrew or Yiddish inscriptions.

Poland

Civil registration records in modern Poland are recorded in each town's Civil Records Office (in Polish, “Urząd Stanu Cywilnego”, abbreviated “USC”), and records less than 100 years old are generally still kept there. USC offices are typically located in the Town Hall.[3]

Privacy Restrictions: After 100 years, the vital records registers are scheduled for transfer to the Polish State Archives for the current archival jurisdiction for the town. However, it should be noted these transfers can only take place after 100 years has passed from the most recent entry within the volume.

Ukraine

Similar to Poland’s governmental structure, modern Ukrainian civil registrations are maintained by the Department of Vital Statistics and Civil Status (RAHS) [Реєстрації Актів Громадянського Стану (РАГС)] offices for each town or city.

Privacy Restrictions: After 75 years, the vital records registers are scheduled for transfer to the State Archives of Ukraine Oblast Archives for the current archival jurisdiction for the town. These transfers can only take place after 75 years has passed from the most recent entry within the volume.

Accessing Vital Records

The complexity of access to records varies greatly between Poland and Ukraine. Since the introduction of the Polish State Archives digital portal Szukaj w Archiwach (SzwA) in 2013, over 38.4 million digital images of records held by over 100 institutions in Poland have been made freely available for research. In addition to SzwA, the Polish Central Archives of Historical Records [Archiwum Głowne Akt Dawnych w Warszawie] in Warsaw or more commonly known as AGAD, holds records not only for towns found in modern Poland, but for those located in Western Ukraine.

Unfortunately, the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine has not followed the same path as its neighboring countries with digitization efforts and access to records. While some microfilmed record collections may be found on FamilySearch, many of these records still must be accessed in person, via correspondence, or through an onsite researcher, and still others are stored away in the Civil Registry Offices or still within the holdings of the local parish churches.

FamilySearch’s collections of records for the former territory of Galicia can be found via a search of the catalog by country and town name to determine if there are digitized (or microfilmed) records available for a particular place.

If you’ve hit a genealogy brick wall because you can't find vital records for your ancestor, let Legacy Tree Genealogists’ staff of experienced researchers help you. We have knowledge of where to look to help solve your “family history mysteries”. Contact us today to request your free quote.

[1] «Austrian Poland Civil Registration,» FamilySearch Wiki, https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Austrian_Poland_Civil_Registration, accessed August 2019.

[2] «Vital Records in Poland,» JewishGen, https://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/polandv.html, accessed August 2019.

[3] «Poland Civil Registration,» FamilySearch Wiki, https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Poland_Civil_Registration, accessed August 2019.

september 20, 2019 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 7 Comments

Putting the «Story» Back in Family History

Whether you want to build your family history with as many names and dates as possible, or choose to instead focus on discovering the stories and details of your ancestors' lives, there's no right or wrong goal. It's about choosing what's important to you.

Choosing How to Build Your Family History

As project managers, one of the questions we ask our clients is whether they want us to build their family trees as quickly as we can, only including biographical material if it is of unusual interest. A second option is to include limited biographical material, focusing our efforts on extending the family tree as far back as possible within the allotted research time. The last option is to spend time expounding upon biographical information, including material from documents beyond those used to prove genealogical linkages.

Why do we offer all three options? In our experience, everyone is interested in slightly different results.

Building a Broad Family Tree

One cousin of mine has spent years researching the family of our great-grandfather, dating back to the 1500s in Finland. He has filled five books with all of the descendants from the original five sons. When I brought photos to him of our family here in the States, he looked at me like I came from the moon. He was so focused on the names and dates that he never gave thought to how each of those names belonged to a real person. A year later, in the family magazine, he mentioned how he had never thought about the stories and photos and how his focus had started to shift to collect as much information as he could about each family member. If he had been focused on this all along, he might not have accomplished all he did to locate all of the names and dates that he has found.

Delving Into the Details

But for me, I have always loved the story. Who are these ancestors? Where did they live? How did they live? What occupations did they have? How did they interact with those around them?

I have always had a strong connection to the Marlborough apartments in Everett, Washington. During family vacations in Everett, we would drive past this stately old apartment complex where my grandmother had worked as a maid. Recently a Facebook post popped up on my newsfeed with photos of these grand old apartments, built in 1912. I’ve searched for them before, and this time when I searched there was a new webpage for a walking tour put on by the Historic Everett Society. There with the pictures of this apartment complex was a picture of my mother’s godmother, Mrs. Laura May Vollans, from 1922.

family history stories — *Courtesy of HistoricEverett.org*

When I saw the photograph of Mrs. Vollans, my interest was piqued again. I have several pieces of her glassware that my grandmother inherited, which I faithfully wash every few months. I know that my grandmother worked for her for many years as a maid and that eventually she became the godmother to my mother and uncle. Somewhere during that time, they had become friends, not just employer and employee. She was spoken of often in our family, but she passed away long before I was born.

I started my search with the apartments themselves. I had located a website a few years back where I had found that the new owners were renting the apartments as short-term-stay corporate apartments. Several pictures of the apartments showed they were appointed with lovely antiques, but I knew from the city directories and census records that Mrs. Vollans and her husband lived in apartment J, and it was not part of the website.
But this time, when I looked, the photos were there! On my screen were pictures of unit J with its lovely hardwood floors and refurbished kitchen. The images give you a good idea of the layout of the apartment, and the owners took special care to add some of the charm. TIP:

These photos of an old radiator and doorknob spoke volumes to me. While these features, along with the beautiful floors, may have been restored, it is also very likely that they are original to the building. My own grandmother would have dusted and made these items to shine, time and time again.
The last thing this website gave me was a look at the domestic quarters in the basement. While I don’t know which one my grandmother lived in, I do know that she did live there, and my great-aunt had many fun remembrances from her childhood of going to visit her older sister there.

My quest then was to know more about this couple. I knew they had no children, and my grandmother had inherited many of their lovely things. I was always under the impression that my grandmother worked for just Mrs. Vollans, but I discovered with the help of Ancestry that her husband was alive for most, if not all, of the time my grandmother worked there, as well. I found death certificates and their headstone. I found city directories that detailed a 20-year timeframe that showed when they moved into the Marlborough apartments and where they moved from as well as the business that Mr. Vollans owned. But, to really get to know her, I moved on to the newspapers and found several articles detailing the social events she attended, the friends she had, the golf club she belonged to. I learned that “Mrs. Bert H. Vollans, formerly of Everett, has taken an apartment at the Lowell [in Seattle] on the 22 December 1928.” From her obituary, I learned she was born in Illinois and died at home in this apartment at the age of 90, and she was the Sunday school superintendent in the First Presbyterian Church of Everett.

putting the story back in family history
One of the most interesting items I found, however, was an article about the first 10,000 license plates in the state of Washington that were mailed out on 12 December 1927. The state had 30,000 applications on hand, and the plates were being issued at the rate of 8,000 per day. It went on to talk about just a few who had the first 100 numbers. Laura M. Vollans of Everett received license number 28, and her husband, who had passed away just three weeks before, received number 20. This placed them higher than Senator W.G. Hartwell of Colville, who received number 42, but behind N.C. Richards of Yakima, who was the Republican national committeeman who received number 1. This, along with the photo of her standing alongside her car with a golf bag, shows me just what an independent woman she was.

What Are Your Family History Goals?

So, as you think about starting or continuing your research think about your research goals. What type of information are you most interested in learning? Are you interested in taking your family tree back as far and as wide as you can go with a tree full of names and dates? Or, are you looking to learn the story that goes along with your ancestor’s names? Do you want to learn as many details about your family members as possible, or maybe even about their neighbors and employers, to learn all you can about your family story? Both types of research serve their purpose, and there is no right or wrong answer. Choosing the latter will definitely take more time, but if it is something that is of importance to you, the rewards can be well worth that extra time!

The team at Legacy Tree Genealogists would love to help you with your family history, whether you're interested in building a broad family tree as far back as possible, or delving into the details and stories of your ancestors' lives. Contact us today to request a free quote!

september 13, 2019 by Legacy Tree Genealogists Leave a Comment

Seeking Connection: The Importance of Family History

We explore the importance of family history in helping you find belonging, and how records can help you discover the meaningful details of your ancestors' lives.

importance of family history Family can mean different things to different people. For some, it means to be with people who understand and accept you unconditionally. For others, it is strictly those to whom they have a biological connection. Some of us don’t have ideal families, while others couldn’t imagine their life without family. Most often, though, it’s a mixture of each of these types of relationships.

When I think about my most ideal family relationships, I think of my dad’s Germans-from-Russia Mennonite cousins, double cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents… you get the idea. It’s a big family with lots of endogamous connections—I mean, my grandparents are first cousins once removed, and they didn’t even know each other before they were young adults and started dating. My favorite memories are of huge family reunions at a park with homemade ice cream, more kinds of pies than I could count, and a million and one family stories. I loved the stories and the food!

The Importance of Family History

But what if you don’t have a close, large family? What if you don’t know your family stories? What if you’ve lost the connection you once felt? Family history research can help you learn about your roots, your cultural connections, ethnic identity–and can play an important role in helping you find belonging.

Bringing Family History to Life

While genealogical research requires learning about the births, marriages, and deaths of various ancestors, the most important aspects of these records, created only as a byproduct of our ancestors living their lives, is that every detail on a record tells a piece of a person’s story. Below are some examples of common genealogical records, and the important details that may be gleaned from them:

Physical Description vs. Photograph

Military draft cards, passenger lists, and naturalization papers are three different record types that include a physical description of a person, which is the next best thing to finding an actual photograph. Many passenger lists also include the name of the person’s nearest relation back home and the name of someone they were joining in the United States. Naturalization papers include names of witnesses who could personally attest to how long an ancestor had lived in this country and in a particular town. These relatives and friends were ones with whom people frequently associated. Learning about them would add to the illustration of your ancestor’s life.

Census: More than a Locator Tool

In addition to showing exactly where an ancestor lived, censuses are full of other interesting facts. Depending on the census year, these records might include relationships, details about how many children a couple had versus how many children were living, how long a couple had been married, when a person arrived in the United States and his or her citizenship status, a person’s occupational information, and even whether an individual owned or rented a home. These fascinating details can paint a picture of day-to-day life. Don’t forget to browse the surrounding entries: These people were your ancestors’ neighbors, friends, and in some cases, extended family members.

What Church Did My Ancestors Attend?

*First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Racine. Courtesy of FirstRacine.org.*

Religion is a sometimes-overlooked piece of this puzzle. Before governments began keeping records of common people, the only records that included everyone were church records—parish registers of infant baptisms, marriages, and burials. These also help fill in some of the blanks in the family story.

Finding Complete Family Groups

Yes, family size played into the dynamics of our ancestors’ lives, but organizing complete family groups is also important because every birth or baptism record created for a child can give details, not just about that child, but also about the age, status, occupation, and residence of the child’s parents. Did they move around a lot? Did they stick to one profession? Did they lie about their ages? Were they married more than once? The answers to each of these questions help fill in the picture of who our ancestors were.

Newspapers

Society columns containing the juiciest of the local gossip; obituaries that shared the exploits or accomplishments of our dear departed; local court cases, some over property line disputes and others much more scandalous—each of these types of articles showed up in your ancestors’ local newspapers. Sometimes they were even the subject of the article. So dig deep if you want to find those family stories! Don’t just search for John Smith’s name—search for his wife, his children, his siblings, anyone whose life choices might have affected his. And remember, if the family lived in a German-speaking community, for example, then the chances are high that the best source of this type of information is going to be the local German-language newspaper. Don’t overlook it just because it’s written in a foreign language. Embrace the cultural and ethnic diversity and get help with the language if you need it!

Town and County Histories

Town and county histories feature biographies of prominent citizens, which might include ancestors if they were founding members or prominent members of the local community. These resources can tell you whether your ancestor was ever involved in local government. But even if your ancestors were “just farmers,” these histories shed light on the community in which they lived Was the town small or large? Were the farmers an afterthought or were they the backbone of the community? What were the local holiday celebrations like? Can you imagine your ancestor attending the Independence Day (Fourth of July) celebration based on a description of the festivities? This type of information puts our ancestors in context of what was going on around them at the time.

Local Historians

Local historians often have access to the collections of records from which the town and county histories were compiled. They often have information and stories about the local families who have been there for a long time, and even historical photographs of the area or of your ancestor’s home. You can usually find this person by contacting the local library or genealogical society.

Walking Where They Walked

Once your ancestor’s life is put in context, it is an amazing treat to be able to walk a day in his or her shoes. Visiting an ancestor’s home in person, walking Main Street in his or her town, or taking a genealogy tour to their homeland are things that will bring home to you the amazing lives your ancestors lived there.

If you are seeking connection, and want to learn who an ancestor really was, don’t be satisfied with only finding a name, a date, and a place. Seek out every record created by (or for) your ancestor. Reflect upon the importance of family history and what every detail in each record meant for your ancestor in his or her story… and what it means for you.

Our team of professional genealogists are experienced at pouring over every record and shred of evidence to weave together the details of your ancestors' lives into a meaningful narrative that will be cherished for generations to come. Get started today by requesting your free quote.