august 28, 2020 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 4 Comments

Legacy Tree Onsite: The Historical National Archive in Cape Verde

Legacy Tree Genealogists works with researchers from across the globe to access records for our clients. We asked one of our onsite researchers located in Cape Verde to share an overview of the record collections available at the Historical National Archive in Cape Verde.

Historically, Cape Verde’s archipelago was a meeting point for citizens from Europe, America and Africa, mostly due to the slave trade, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Due to this unique past, the documents contained in the archives of Cape Verde can reveal answers about the shared past between Portugal and its islands of Azores and Madeira, Spain and the Canary Islands, the neighbouring countries of Angola, Mozambique, and Saint Tomé and Principe, and even Brazil.

Cape Verde Archives

Cape Verde’s historical legacy is preserved in the Historical National Archive (HNA), which has its headquarters in the old colonial customs building in Gamboa, Praia, on Santiago island. It is responsible for the protection of documentary heritage, and a dependency of the Ministry of Culture of Cape Verde.

In the 1960s, Cape Verde was under the administration of the Ministry of Overseas of Portugal, and was compelled to send a great amount of documentation to the mother country. Because of this, most of the key documents in Cape Verde’s history are kept in foreign collections, principally in Portuguese archives.

Record Collections at the Historical National Archive in Cape Verde

Although many collections are kept in foreign archives, the Historical National Archive keeps documentation of interest for African and Cape-Verdean culture and history, from the 16th to the 19th century, including the transition between the Ancien Régime and the new constitutional order; and the years before the independence of Cape Verde, into the 20th century. The main collections at HNA include the following:

Church Registers Collection: this collection is the most important for genealogical research and holds Catholic Church registers of christening, marriage, and death from all islands. Civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths began in 1867; the HNA keeps among its collections the church and civil registers from 1792 to 1916. In addition, the Church of Our Ladyship of Grace, in Plateau, Praia, also has a collection of earlier documents.
Registry of Notaries Collection: includes protocols and wills which can contain useful genealogical information.

Central Administration Collection: houses documents which belonged to the General Government’s Office (books of register and manuscripts from 1674 to 1928, and papers from 1803 to 1926). In addition, this collection houses documents of the civil administration, taxes and customs provincial departments; the Institute of Work, Insurance and Beneficence documents (from 1926 to 1975); and the Prime Minister’s Cabinet documentation from 1974 to 1990.

Ministerial Collection: includes documents which belonged to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (from 1975), the Ministry of Economic Coordination, Justice, Culture, Infrastructure and Transports (from several years), including provincial departments.

Taxes and Customs Collection: this collection has great value for the analysis of historical foreign trade relations with Cape Verde, including papers from the former taxes and customs authorities, such as the islands of São Nicolau, Fogo, Brava, Maio and Boavista.

Judiciary Collection: this collection holds documents of the Cape-Verdean Court of Justice: all the civil and criminal proceedings between citizens and public institutions. This includes the papers of the Regional Court of Ribeira Grande, the Court of the Region of Sotavento, and the Court of Praia (from 1700 to 1969).

Local Authorities Collection: documentation of the Administrative Office and the Council of Praia (from 1848 to 1975), and the papers of the City Council of Riberia Grande, Paúl, Porto Novo, São Nicolau, Sal, Boavista, Maio, Santa Catarina, Santa Cruz, Tarrafal, Praia (from 1812 to 1977), Fogo and Brava.

African Collection: documentation of neighbouring countries which share strong bonds with Cape Verde, such as Saint Tome and Principe, through the papers of the Guardianship of Services and Colonists (from 1900 to 1975).

Finally, the rich documentary legacy of the HNA of Cape Verde includes an important bibliographical collection of legislative documents from the former Portuguese colonies, such as Angola (from 1870 to 1974), Guinea Bissau (from 1905 to 1974), India (from 1935 to 1961), Macau (from 1926 to 1974), Mozambique (from 1926 to 1974), Saint Tome and Principe (from 1910 to 1973) and Timor (from 1920 to 1972). The HNA brings this essential African and Cape-Verdean history documentation within researchers’ reach.

If you need help researching your Cape Verdean ancestry, the team at Legacy Tree Genealogists is experienced at tracing and extending family lines, wherever they originate from. Our network of onsite researchers have access to the archives you need to make serious progress on your family history. Contact us today to discuss your research goals and request a free quote!

august 10, 2020 by Legacy Tree Genealogists Leave a Comment

Meet Rachel, Project Manager for Legacy Tree Genealogists

Meet Rachel, one of Legacy Tree Genealogists talented project managers!

Rachel Derenthal comes to Legacy Tree Genealogists with a background in business, accounting, and family history research. She originally obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Middle East Studies and Arabic from Brigham Young University however her post graduate jobs pushed her towards the field of business and accounting. In 2016 she decided to switch career paths and enrolled in the Family History Research program at Brigham Young University-Idaho with a specialization in British Isles research. While working towards this degree she was hired as a Southern States researcher with Ancestry ProGenealogists and gained experience working with DNA and brick wall cases.

In 2019 she and her family moved to New Jersey where she started her own genealogy company which focused on immigrant and African American heritage cases in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. She has given lectures on navigating genealogy websites and getting started with personal family history research.

Her own family has its share of mysteries, brick walls, black sheep, and heroes. Many of her ancestors are veterans who served in the Revolutionary War, Mexican War, Civil War, World Wars, and most recently in the Vietnam War. She enjoys locating and sifting through old military records and has used pensions and muster rolls to solve many genealogical mysteries for herself and others. If she had to choose one record group to research for the rest of her life, it would be old court records in a local county courthouse. The documents found there show the true character and tell the unheard stories of an ancestor!

In addition to researching, Rachel enjoys gardening, playing Nintendo Switch with her boys, and volunteering with the local refugee population. She is excited to use her business and research experience in her new role as project manager for Legacy Tree Genealogists and looks forward to helping you find your ancestors.

We’d love to help you with your family history, whether we’re breaking down brick wall mysteries, finding your biological parents, or just starting from scratch finding the stories about your ancestors. Contact us today for a free quote.

august 7, 2020 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 16 Comments

Pathways to Membership in The Jamestowne Society

Many are under the impression that to become a member of the Jamestowne Society, one must have an ancestor who was a first settler of the Jamestowne colony. Although that is one route to join, the Jamestowne Society provides six pathways to membership! Learn more about them.

The Jamestowne Society, founded in 1936 and incorporated in 1958, is a lineage society based in Richmond, Virginia with the mission to discover and record the names of early Virginia settlers and their descendants. They work to promote restoration of historical records, documents, objects and edifices, and bring members into closer association through activities and the organization of state companies (see the full mission statement at http://www.jamestowne.org/). To date the society has over 10,000 members.

On 6 December 1606, the ships Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery sailed from England with 104 boys and men to establish what would be known as Jamestowne, the first permanent English settlement in North America. The first English women arrived in Jamestowne in 1608. Many of the first settlers died without descendants, or have lineages which cannot be proven today with surviving records. After a series of misstarts, the settlement became an active port for new arrivals and the beginning of the establishment of what was known as the Colony of Virginia.

Pathways to Membership in the Jamestowne Sociey

Many are under the impression that to become a member of the Jamestowne Society, one must have an ancestor who was a first settler of the Jamestowne colony. Although that is one route to join, the Jamestowne Society provides six pathways to membership. You may qualify if your ancestor meets one or more of the following criteria:

One: Was a stockholder in the London Company or Virginia Company, or a member of one of the guilds which invested in the above, during the active investment period.

The stockholder did not need to have been a resident of Virginia during their lifetime. One ancestor who qualifies under this criterion is John Vassall, the builder and owner of the Mayflower, who was also an investor in the Virginia Company. His granddaughter Judith Vassall married Mayflower passenger Resolved White, whose line qualifies for membership in the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. All those with membership in the General Society of Mayflower Descendants under Resolved White also qualify for membership into the Jamestowne Society through ancestor John Vassall.

Two: Owned land on Jamestown Island or lived on the island prior to 1700.

Three: Was a resident in Virginia at the time of the 1624/5 muster or earlier.

This is the most popular category for membership. The compilation Adventures of Purse and Person, 4^th edition, edited by renowned genealogist John Frederick Dorman, CG, FASG, records settlers six generations forward in two categories. The first was through “Purse,” defined as stockholders in the Virginia or London Company who either came to Virginia between 1607 and 1625 and had descendants or who did not come to Virginia but whose grandchildren were residents within that period. The second was through “Person,” defined as immigrants to Virginia with descendants who arrived between 1607 and 1625. The compilation has identified 109 individuals and their descendants that fit into one of those categories.

The books can be ordered thorough the Jamestowne Society merchandise page, and also might be available at your local library or archival facility. The last printing was the 4^th edition in 2004 and the volumes are divided into four books: Volume One, Part A, Families A-Ch; Volume One, Part B, Families Cl-F; Volume Two, Families G-P; and Volume Three, Families R-Z.

A searchable database for those named on the muster can also be located at http://www.virtualjamestown.org/Muster/introduction.html.

Adventurers of Purse and Person, 4th Edition, Volume Three, Families R-Z.

Four: Served as Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Attorney General, Clerk of the General Court, Member of the Council or House of Burgesses prior to 1700; these persons shall be conclusively presumed to have had their domiciles on Jamestowne Island during their terms of office.

There are many qualifying ancestors in this path to membership. The Jamestown Society website provides a list of those who were present at the first General Assembly in 1619. Any ancestor who served in the Assembly or later Burgesses for any district or county in Virginia before 1700 qualifies.

Membership certificate. William Hockaday arrived in Virginia about 1635 and was member of the House of Burgesses for York County.

Five: Was an Anglican minister in Virginia prior to 1700.

Six: Served as an official Indian Interpreter in Virginia prior to 1700.

A list of qualifying ancestors, organized alphabetically, can be seen on the Jamestowne Society website, while the most comprehensive and up-to-date list can be found in the Jamestowne Society booklet “Jamestowne Society List of Qualifying Ancestors,” last printed in July 2019. It can be ordered on the Jamestowne Society merchandise page for $13.00.

Added and Dropped Ancestors

The Jamestowne Society welcomes any person who can document new ancestors. A list of new ancestors added from 2014 to 2017 is located on their website with a more updated list in the Jamestowne booklet entitled, “Jamestowne Society List of Qualifying Ancestors.” Multiple women, Indian interpreters, and Anglican ministers have been added to the qualifying ancestor lists. Among the most notable new ancestors that have been added since 2014 is Cornelius Dabney, “Interpreter to the Queen of Pamunkey,” and Mary Addy, the wife of Christopher Branch and the third-great-grandmother of Thomas Jefferson.

At one time the Jamestowne Society accepted certain settlers as qualifying ancestors, but recent evidence has proven that they do not meet the above criteria, and therefore have been removed from the qualifying ancestor list. The most common reasons for an ancestor being dropped are first, evidence of no known descendants; or second, no documented land ownership on Jamestowne Island.

Revolutionary Era

A partial name list of Revolutionary War patriots with connections to their Jamestowne ancestors can be located on the Jamestowne Society website. If a Revolutionary War patriot is listed, it is possible that an approved application has been submitted to the Jamestowne Society on this line. For example, the first Revolutionary War ancestor on this list shows Thomas Abbe (1731-1811) descendant of John Vassall, Jamestowne Qualifying Ancestor A9471. Cross-referencing Thomas Abbe to the Daughters of the American Revolution database at https://www.dar.org/ shows Thomas Abbe of Massachusetts and Connecticut as Daughters of the American Revolution ancestor, A000038, with 65 approved applications.

Membership

Membership into the Jamestowne Society is by invitation only, but an invitation is easy to obtain. A list of local companies (chapters) can be located on the Jamestowne website. If a potential member does not reside near a company, and/or does not know a member in the society, that potential member can email the Jamestowne office at [email protected] and express interest. Instructions for membership will then be communicated. The office can also match a proposed lineage with the most current and documented application for $38.00. Instructions on how to order lineage papers is located in the merchandise section of the Jamestowne Society website.

Once approved, membership is lifetime.

Early Virginia research can be daunting. Many areas, from settlement in the seventeenth century to the Civil War, suffered a catastrophic loss of records, while some records in other areas remain largely intact. Often, no direct evidence exists which name a relationship, but indirect associations through existing documentation have survived.

In such a case, a study can be written to argue that relationship. Legacy Tree Genealogists has a team of early Virginia experts ready to assist in organizing your application for membership. Contact us today to request your free quote!

*Legacy Tree is not affiliated with The Jamestowne Society

1. “Seventeenth Century Qualifying Ancestors,” Jamestowne.org, accessed December 2019.

juli 29, 2020 by Legacy Tree Genealogists Leave a Comment

Meet Ryan, Project Manager for Legacy Tree Genealogists

Meet Ryan, one of Legacy Tree Genealogists talented project managers!

meet Ryan, project manager for Legacy Tree Genealogists Ryan Rockwood’s interest in the genealogy industry began when while living in Japan he saw how a deep reverence for and understanding of one’s ancestors can literally change people’s lives. This interest sprang into a career goal when he noticed how people of Asian descent had far fewer genealogical resources than those of other nationalities.

In an attempt to address this need, Ryan received a bachelor’s degree in Japanese from Brigham Young University with minors in Family History and International Business. While attending Brigham Young University he completed a number of internships that pushed him closer to his goal of helping those of Japanese descent with their genealogy. He was a Global Experience Operations Intern for FamilySearch, spending a portion of the internship in their Tokyo office where he assisted patrons all over Japan. He loved the opportunity to help people of all ages and experience levels discover and connect with their ancestors. Ryan also interned in the Brigham Young University Center for Family History and Genealogy where he worked on the Nauvoo Project, an initiative focused on tracking pioneers who lived in Nauvoo during the journey West. At the same time, he worked in the Brigham Young University Record Linking Lab, a lab focused on using AI and machine learning to assist in genealogical research. Although the emphases in these jobs were wildly different than that of his past internship in Japan, Ryan was grateful for the opportunity to broaden his understanding and experience in the industry. Finally, Ryan was accepted on grant and scholarship to intern simultaneously at the Hawai’i State Archives and with the Pacific Collection at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Library in order to work with their Japanese and Asia Pacific records. These internships were both unfortunately canceled due to travel restrictions stemming from the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In his academic pursuits, Ryan has appreciated the opportunity to research Japanese migration on the macro and micro levels. He especially enjoyed researching the life and family of Seito Saibara, a Japanese pioneer who established a Christian colony in Eastern Texas in the early 1900s.

juli 23, 2020 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 3 Comments

Legacy Tree Onsite in Istria, Croatia: One Peninsula, Three Identities

Legacy Tree Genealogists works with researchers from across the globe to access records for our clients. We asked one of our onsite researchers located in Istria, Croatia, to share some of the nuances of genealogical research in Istria.

Istria is a peninsula in the Adriatic Sea belonging to Croatia, Slovenia and Italy. Its name derives from the name of the tribe Histri. When the Roman army invaded their capital in 177 BC, the Histrian king Epulon, his guard and their families committed mass suicide, choosing death over slavery. A few stones left from that period can still be seen in the open-air museum of Nesactium (known as Vizače in Croatian).

Nesactium (Vizače) Hillfort, Istria, Croatia.

Rome was not the only foreign power to rule Istria from afar. Over the centuries, Istria was ruled from Venice, Ljubljana, Vienna, Belgrade and Zagreb. Due to this history, records for Istria are held in various archives. The main genealogical archives for Istria are in Pula, Pazin, Rijeka and Zagreb, all cities in Croatia. However, some records are also held in the archives of Koper in Slovenia and Triest in Italy.

The Three Official Languages of Istria

For genealogical research in Istria, it is very useful to know the names of towns in all three languages, because records will be in different languages depending on the time period and area. There are three official languages on Istria: Croatian, Italian and Slovene, in addition to a few ancient languages and distinct dialects. The table below shows a few examples of town names in Croatian, Italian, and Slovene:

Croatian	Italian	Slovene
Istra	Istria	Istra
Pula	Pola	Pulj
Pazin	Pisino	Pazin
Rijeka	Fiume	Reka
Zagreb	Zagabria	Zagreb
Kopar	Capodistria	Koper
Trst	Trieste	Trst
Mleci	Venezia	Benetke
Rim	Roma	Rim
Beč	Vienna	Dunaj

Changing Borders

State borders in Istria shifted several times in the last two centuries. Every time new borders were drawn, there were consequences in the record-keeping as some dioceses and even parishes were split and redefined. Therefore it is vital for a researcher to know the history of the area. The main question before beginning research is to know when the parish was created and which towns were included in each parish.

The majority of the registers for Croatian Istria are still held by local parishes or in the archives of Pazin, Poreč, Rijeka or Triest. The original books are generally still held in the churches by the local parish priests. However, sometimes smaller parishes were incorporated into a larger, neighboring parish, and then the books will be held by that parish. The first step in determining where the parish registers are for a certain town is the National Archive of Pazin, Državni arhiv u Pazinu (DAP). This archive holds a list of parish registers and family books for all of Istria, both in book form and available online. Their website is in Croatian and English, though not all English pages work properly so it is a good idea to also search in Croatian with Google translate.

Duplicate Register Books

The dioceses of Triest, Poreč-Pula and Rijeka hold duplicate books of births, deaths, and marriages from every year from each parish from 1835 until World War II. Unfortunately, there are no indexes or family books (status animarum) that can be used to narrow down the research. This means research is a bit more challenging for bigger towns where there were several hundred births registered every year. Another difficulty in researching in cities is that the baptism could be a couple of months after the birth, so knowing the exact date of birth is crucial for successful research.

The Diocesan Archive of Triest, “Archivio storico diocesano di Trieste”, holds parish register copies for all of Istria except for the southern and north-easternmost parts for the period from 1835 until the end of the World War II. The Archdiocesan Archive of Rijeka, Arhiv Nadbiskupije Rijeka, keeps the duplicates for some northeastern parts of the peninsula that are not known as Istria but are called Čičarija and Kvarner. The territory of today’s Diocese of Poreč and Pula comprise all of Croatian Istria. Its Diocesan Archive of Poreč-Pula, Porečko-Puljski biskupijski arhiv, holds the majority of duplicates from 1827 to the present. This archive is not open to public but allows access to professional historians who must write an application letter for admittance.

There are few languages used in the duplicate records: Latin, Italian, Croatian, Slovene and German. There are also two different scripts used: Latin and the German Gothic alphabet. Personal names were also translated into the language of the record in the 19th century. For example, a boy named Josip was born in Pazin, but when he got married in Pula he was recorded in Italian as Giuseppe, and when he died in Dekani, Slovenia his name was written as Jožef. For some names this is complicated further with dialect variations: the English ‘John’ is equivalent to the names: Ivan (Slavic), Ioannes (Latin), Giovanni (Italian), Janez (Slovenian), or Zouanne (a dialect). Because names were translated into the language the priest was using at the time, researchers should not make assumptions about the ethnicity of the person based on a given name alone.

Priests copied out duplicates from their parish registers very year in December or January for the past year. Since they were copies, the handwriting is generally legible, nicer and often calligraphic from the mid-nineteenth century. Using duplicates is sometimes the only possible way to research a family if the originals no longer exist, but it is important to be aware of possible mistakes that occurred while copying data.

An example of a mistake in the duplicate registers.

Digital Copies

Digital copies of parish registers before 1900 from the Croatian State Archives are available from FamilySearch. The copies are from 40-year-old microfilms, so they are in black and white. Fortunately, these copies were made before the Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995). Due to record destruction during the war, these black-and-white digital copies are the only remaining copies for certain places and time periods.

A very early baptism dated 1 February 1537, Labin, Croatia, from FamilySearch. Zaharija Dragonja (Zacharias Dragognia) baptized a girl called Matea, the daughter of Juraj Božić (Georgi Bosic).

Digital copies of microfilms and the microfilms themselves are still stored at the Croatian National Archive in Zagreb, Hrvatski državni arhiv (HDA), for the all of Croatia. This archive also keeps many family books in addition to the digitized parish registers, and the latest copies are in color. The archive is housed in a palatial building built in 1913 in the Art Nouveau style and has a huge reading room with a beautiful ambience. If you need access to these records, one of our onsite researchers would be happy to assist!

The reading room of the Croatian State Archives.

If you need help researching your Croatian ancestry, the team at Legacy Tree Genealogists is experienced at navigating the challenges presented by changing borders and record destruction to extend family lines as far back as records will allow. Our network of onsite researchers have access to the archives you need to make serious progress on your family history. Contact us today to discuss your research goals and request a free quote!

juli 2, 2020 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 3 Comments

“Does My Family Have a Coat of Arms?” Eight Tips for Your Heraldic Research

“Does my family have a coat of arms?” We share eight tips for heraldic research to help you find out!

Coats of arms and other heraldic devices are beautiful and filled with symbolism: blue signifying truth and loyalty, lions indicating bravery, and the phoenix symbolizing resurrection. They conjure up images of knights jousting and rooms filled with nobleman and ladies and suggest a possible relationship to a famous king or queen.

The coat of arms of the Earl of Durham.

Unfortunately, many people misunderstand heraldry and the rules surrounding coats of arms. Here are eight tips to help you determine if you are armigerous—have the right to use a heraldic achievement—and where to go for more information.

Coats of arms belong to an individual, not to a surname.
Simply because you are related to a person who had a coat of arms does not entitle you to that device. Coats of arms descend through the legitimate male line, specifically the eldest son (primogeniture). This means you are likely to already know that you are armigerous. However, if there are no heirs along a line of descent, a descendant of a second son (or a sister) would be the person entitled to that coat of arms.

Many coats of arms are associated with nobility, and both the title and the coat of arms descend together.
These are hereditary arms. For instance, the present Earl of Durham is the 7^th Earl of Durham. He is the only son of the 6^th Earl but has an older sister who did not inherit the title or the coat of arms. The present Earl of Durham has four children, and the oldest, a boy, will inherit the title and the coat of arms upon his father’s death.

Women can only inherit a coat of arms if there are no male heirs.
This means that before a woman can inherit, all of the woman’s brothers have died and all of the brothers’ children have also died. The woman’s oldest son inherits upon her death.

The Lord Lyon is responsible for coats of arms in Scotland.
The Lord grants arms in Scotland and maintains information regarding Scottish arms and their inheritance. Do note that it is generally not possible for a non-British citizen to successfully petition to be granted Scottish arms.

The Republic of Ireland also grants arms.
However, there are eligibility rules regarding citizenship status and residency.

In France you may assume any arms you choose.
There is no official college of arms for registering or granting coats of arms in France. But be warned—you may not usurp coats of arms associated with a family name. So do your homework.

Coats of arms aren’t only for people.
They can be granted to businesses. Schools and other organizations can also petition to be granted coats of arms.

The United States neither recognizes nor prohibits its citizens from adopting a coat of arms.
This means you can create your own coat of arms and, if you like, you can register it for free at the U.S. Heraldic Registry.

For more information, see:

England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand

Court of the Lord Lyon (Scotland)

Republic of Ireland

France

U.S. Heraldic Registry

Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry (1909)

The team at Legacy Tree Genealogists has been helping clients worldwide discover their roots for over a decade. If you need assistance extending your family tree for any reason, we would be happy to help. Contact us today to request your free quote!

juni 26, 2020 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 2 Comments

Legacy Tree Onsite: New England Historic Genealogical Society

Legacy Tree Genealogists works with researchers from across the globe to access records for our clients. We asked one of our researchers to share the ins and outs of visiting the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) in Boston.

Planning Your Trip to the New England Historic Genealogical Society

Located on Boston’s famous Newbury Street, the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) is close to anything and everything. Newbury Street is a shopper’s paradise, and all kinds of hotels are within a 15-minute walk, from the five-star Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental and the exquisitely beautiful Fairmont Copley Plaza to a Sheraton, Hilton, Westin, and Marriott, plus several boutique hotels.

New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS)

The New England Historic Genealogical Society does not accommodate parking. The closest parking garage costs $40 to park over 90 minutes. NEHGS is between two “T” or subway stops for economical visitors. The Arlington “T” stop is at Boston Public Garden, two blocks east, and the Copley “T” stop is across from the Boston Public Library, one block west and one block south. Also, an Amtrak Station is a ten-minute walk away, just off I-90.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society is member-based. Individual members pay $89.95 USD per year for on-site and online access. Non-members may purchase a day pass for $20 USD. If you take the free tour on Saturday mornings (not every Saturday, so call ahead!), you are welcome to stay and research.

Visiting the New England Historic Genealogical Society

The first floor has a small bookstore to the right on the entryway. Check-in is to the left. The Rotunda in front is stocked with how-to guides, an international reference collection, and teller windows from a previous life. A break room is on the other side, next to the bank vault, with more books. The elegant wood paneling, old paintings, intricate fireplace, and period chandeliers give it an antiquated and inspirational vibe.

The second floor holds meeting rooms and the third floor, administrative offices. The fourth floor contains the microtext collection, including microfilm and microfiche. It also has two scanners and a genealogist to assist in operating them. Collections include New England vital records, deeds, probate records, and city directories as well as items like Department of Motor Vehicle records.

The fifth floor is the reading room. It contains 40,000 state, regional, and local histories, a large table, and at least one genealogist. A branch of the American Jewish Historical Society is also housed on this floor. Manuscript requests are made here.

The sixth floor is more administrative offices. The seventh floor is the largest research floor, with six large tables comfortably spaced and six computers with access to newspaper databases and other subscription websites, including Ancestry and Fold3.

The corner to the right as you enter has current genealogical periodicals. The corner across the room has bound issues of older NEGHS periodicals. The corner to the left as you enter has a genealogist at a desk and shelves of several collections, including bound issues of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record and The American Genealogist, and every volume of Mayflower Families and The Great Migration. The opposite corner has a table with several computers. A collection of 30,000 published family histories are in the attached room on the left.

The bulk of NEHGS’s collection are here. An off-site location houses new and less popular collections that can be accessed with a week’s notice. Off-site collections include unpublished manuscripts. In total, NEHGS houses over 1,000,000 manuscripts. Since only about 20% of NEHGS’s collections are online, a visit could be well worth your while.

Researching at NEHGS

I brought three family names to see what I could find at NEHGS. All three are old eastern Connecticut names: Janes, Slafter, and Fenton. I found that each name had its own published family history and two histories definitely had my lines! Interestingly, the two books with my lines were published in the late 1860’s.

My favorite find on the fifth floor was a published Guide to Diaries in the R. Stanton Avery Special Collections of the NEHGS. Diaries are my favorite records since they have the most potential for giving insight into personalities and daily lives. Examples of information on diaries are: “Thomas Brewer, 1798, unspecified location,” “James Cox, 1779 – 1782, on ship,” “John Fiske, 1607 – 1676, Chelmsford and Wenham, Massachusetts,” “Julia Moses “1837 – 1918, Boston,” “Louise More, 1876 – 1945, NYC socialite,” “Susan Sparrow, 1833 – 1910, Cape Cod.”

The New England Historic Genealogical Society has collections from every state and genealogists on every floor to answer your questions. It is well worth the visit. If you plan a visit of several days and know that you’ll need to get out and take a break, you couldn’t ask for a better location. The picturesque Charles River is a ten-minute walk north with a great view of the world famous MIT. The fifty-acre Boston Common is a historically significant park that is a ten-minute walk east, in the middle of Boston, with swan boats and a Frog Pond. And if Newbury Street doesn’t offer enough shopping options, my favorite mall, The Shops at Prudential Center, is a ten-minute walk west.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society is more than a research facility, it is a rich experience. As much as I enjoy finding information online at home, I value the experience of visiting repositories, especially historic repositories. Whether you research on or off-site, the collections of NEHGS can prove invaluable in extending your family history.

Do you have ancestors from the northeastern United States? Our excellent onsite researchers can access the New England Historic Genealogical Society as well as other resources in the Boston area such as the Massachusetts Archives, Boston Public Library, and National Archives to find what you need. Contact us today to request a free quote!

mai 22, 2020 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 2 Comments

From Beaver Pelts to Totem Poles: Key Canadian Genealogy Resources East to West

A guide to key Canadian genealogy resources, coast to coast!

East to west, Canadian genealogy resources offer an abundance of delights for family history! The record landscape begins with the first non-indigenous early 16^th century settlement by the French in present-day Quebec, and although things didn’t really start rolling in terms of nation-wide settlement until Confederation in 1867 — the birth of the Dominion of Canada — the tantalizing opportunity for many families to be traced in Canada as far back as the early 17^th century exists.

Yet where should your exploration begin? If your non-indigenous ancestor lived in Canada before Confederation, it’s a safe bet — with some exceptions for Métis and fur trade ancestors — that you’ll be hanging out in provincial record sets belonging to the eastern half of Canada, for the country had yet to expand significantly beyond what are now the following provinces: Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Following Confederation, you’ll be casting a wider net to embrace all of western and northern Canada: Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. And so, let’s take a look at some choice Canadian genealogy resources from east to west — aside from those available on sites such as MyHeritage, Ancestry and FamilySearch — beginning with three national gems. All are a must-visit whether online, onsite or vicariously through genealogy professionals!

Explore Pan-Canada Genealogy Resources

You’ll want spend a little ‘getting-to-know-you’ time learning about Canada’s history and settlement, each province’s specialized records sets, and civil registration dates. Start with the mini-history over at Canada GenWeb, and pause to explore all the provincial and territorial volunteer-donated treats.

Next, shift to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) to build on your knowledge of the history of each province and territory and their associated genealogy records. From LAC’s home page, select ‘Genealogy and Family History’ from the drop-down menu under ‘Search the Collection’. To the left of the ‘Genealogy and Family History’ page, select ‘Places’ from the menu, and begin exploring! Under ‘Discover the Collection’, you can also learn about resources available for researching fur trade and Métis ancestors, and all of Canada’s ethno-cultural groups. Make sure to have a rummage through LAC’s essential collection of databases, which can be accessed again from LAC’s home page by selecting ‘Ancestors Search’ from the drop-down menu under ‘Search the Collection’. Of intrigue here are the Land Petitions of Upper and Lower Canada, for in pre-Confederation days, the paper trail was often parsimonious with information concerning an ancestor’s origins or relations. However, if an ancestor petitioned for land — which many did — the details in a petition have been known to resolve some particularly stubborn questions! Best of all, links to free, digitized images of the original petitions are provided at the bottom of each database page under ‘How to Obtain Copies’. If you can manage a visit to LAC in Ottawa, you’ll be treated to so much more, for only a tiny percentage of their dizzying collection of holdings — LAC is the 4^th largest library in the world — has been digitized.

After LAC, head over to Héritage, LAC’s partner website, where you can access, for free, close to forty million digitized primary-source documents, such as parish registers, all of which are searchable.

Explore Eastern Canada Genealogy Resources

In Ontario, the Archives of Ontario (AO) is a must-access repository. AO houses so many key records — it’s the second largest archives in Canada — necessary to tracing families from the early days of settlement in the regions known as Upper Canada and subsequently Canada West. The most critical of these are AO’s probate and land records, and, although a bit more fortuitously available, church records and cemetery transcriptions. When sought-after mentions of family members and origins evade, they are often found in these collections. AO’s value does not end here, for their holdings embrace a seemingly endless supply of maps, photographs, books, immigration records, military records, municipal records, historical correspondence, and so much more.

Research in Ontario will also benefit from a visit to the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library. Here, you can delight in finding a bevy of local histories, transcriptions of cemeteries, church records, early township census and population returns, immigration records and passenger lists, telephone books and city directories, newspapers and transcriptions, guide books, rare historical books, maps, and more… not only for Ontario, yet all of Canada.

Quebec is one Canadian province in which you might expect to trace ancestors to the 17^th century. Also, if you suspect an early ancestor arrival to Canada — whether of French heritage or not — yet cannot place that ancestor, do try Quebec. Loyalists from the US, Scots, Irish, people of African descent, and many other groups started arriving before the 1800s. The best places to explore Quebec ancestors are Généalogie Québec and BAnQ, or Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec. Généalogie Québec is a comprehensive online source which offers, among their numerous prized sources, the complete Drouin and LaFrance collections of Quebec vital records. BAnQ’s impressive resources allow you to search online for ancestors in digitized original newspapers, directories, and importantly, files of Quebec notaries, which often contain wills and death information. For Quebec research, you will want to brush up on your French language skills, or corral the help of a translator or willing friend!

Collectively, some families in the maritime provinces can be traced to the 17^th century, for many, such as Acadians, shifted from province to province. You may find that your research in the Maritimes will need to appeal to the Drouin collection of Acadian records.

For the individual maritime provinces, beginning with Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Archives online genealogy guide is key, as are their digitized collections of early — dating to roughly the mid-18^th century — land records, census records, and historical newspapers. Next, an absolutely critical resource is the online, searchable Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics database.

Neighboring New Brunswick’s Provincial Archives have amassed a collection of thirty-seven compelling databases for you to search, and in many cases copies of original documents may be ordered. And, to augment your New Brunswick research, be sure to sift through the comprehensive listing of links to further treasures over at Can Genealogy’s page for New Brunswick.

Tiny, yet teeming with genealogy resources, Prince Edward Island’s PARO Collection is the place to begin. Here, vital records from the 1770s, census records and archival collections can be searched, and copies of original records ordered. Complement your research over at a favorite of PEI historians: The Island Register, a searchable trove of information. Finally, if you have early French PEI ancestors, the Archives Nationales d’Outre Mer offers scanned images of the original parish registers of Port-La-Joye, one of the first settlements of PEI (formerly known as Île Saint-Jean). Yes, here again, the French language will be a requirement!

Newfoundland and Labrador did not join Canada until 1949, and so its record system is distinct. Start learning about Newfoundland and unraveling family ties in the cherished, volunteer-run website Newfoundland’s Grand Banks Genealogical and Historical Data, which is crammed with transcriptions of historical documents of all manner, and directions to locate sources for originals. You’ll also want to explore The Rooms, Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Archives’ collection, embracing parish registers, wills, crown land records, and more key resources. Also, considering this province’s rich maritime history, you can explore shipping ancestors over at Memorial University’s Maritime History Archive, starting with a search of their Crew List Index.

Explore Western and Northern Canada Genealogy Resources

Post-Confederation vital statistics research in the western provinces and northern territories will be a slightly protracted affair, because the original records held by each province and territory are, for the most part, not accessible online. However, to ease your search, each provincial and territorial government vital statistics agency or archives offers searchable indexes or, in the case of Alberta, digital images of their vital statistics index, followed by instructions for ordering copies of original documents. If you can visit any western and northern provincial archives in person, hire a genealogist, or choose to appeal to any archives’ ‘research from a distance’ services, you are encouraged to access homestead — or land — records and probate records, which are all-important to genealogy research in western and northern Canada. While you wait for any of your requested archival documents to arrive, reward your patience by exploring what’s on offer at the following key resources!

If you are researching fur trade or Métis ancestors, you’ll certainly want to make use of the excellent Hudson’s Bay Company Archives offered by the Archives of Manitoba, followed by the treasured collection of online resources at the Virtual Museum of Métis History and Culture. For early Scots Selkirk settlers, the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives is again your go-to, followed by the labor-of-love website Red River Ancestry.

If your ancestors hailed from British Columbia, be sure to visit the Vancouver Public Library, home to several indispensable online collections such as their British Columbia City Directories and Historical Newspapers databases.

Traveling north, supplement your Yukon research at the very helpful site Yukon Genealogy, or the Nunavut GenWeb site.

Finally, in the comparatively sparsely populated historical regions of western and northern Canada, research in newspaper announcements can be the answer to piecing together family histories. For a round-up of digitized historical Canadian newspapers, you’ll want to explore Can Genealogy’s comprehensive summary.

We hope you have enjoyed your east to west exploration of some key Canadian genealogy resources. Do keep in mind that many Canadian ancestors were an itinerant bunch, and so you may be tracking them in more than one place!

With these key resources you should soon be nudging your Canadian ancestors into view!

Do you need help tracing your Canadian ancestors? With genealogists specializing in all different types of research and onsite agents worldwide, we can help you track down those elusive records that might provide the clue(s) needed to extend your family line. Get started today by requesting a free quote.

april 30, 2020 by Legacy Tree Genealogists Leave a Comment

“The Milkman’s Son”: Tips for Writing a Captivating Family History, and a Giveaway!

Randy Lindsay, author of The Milkman’s Son, shares tips for writing a family history others will want to read, PLUS a giveaway for a copy of his book.

Randy’s Story

In the summer of 2005, an ordinary trip to visit my dad changed my life. I should have known I was in for a surprise when he muted the sound on the television and had an actual discussion with me. Dad told me he was having dreams. He saw the faces of people he believed were his ancestors and even though none of these ghosts spoke to him, he knew they wanted their family history work done.

The responsibility for researching the family tree fell upon me. I became The Keeper of Names for both sides of my family. While I loved all of the work, the research into my surname was by far my favorite. The Great Lindsay Quest took me back as far as William “The Immigrant” Lindsay.” And that’s where I hit a serious brick wall.

William was born around 1800, in Ireland, but I could find no trace of him there. I switched gears and worked on other branches of the family tree. All that time, William taunted me. At least, in my imagination, he taunted me. Daring me to find him. Bragging about his skill in hiding from modern investigation techniques.

But I knew he couldn’t hide his DNA. I had it running through my blood. I pulled out the big guns, technologically speaking, and ordered a DNA test kit. Fortunately, they didn’t want any of my blood, just a little bit of spit. I sent in the kit and . . . waited.

Months passed by at a glacial pace. Then the results arrived. I scrambled to look through the information, looking for any evidence that would lead me to William’s location in Ireland.

Surprise!

William Petrauschke

I’m not a Lindsay. Not genetically. It turned out that I was a Petrauschke (pronounced Puh-trow-ski). Maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Since high school, my siblings have teased me about being the milkman’s son. I don’t look like the rest of them. I don’t act like any of them either. The results sent a thousand thoughts reeling through my head. One emotional storm after another tossed my heart about.

It took some time, but I adjusted to having two families. Then my writer friends urged me to write about the experience. None of their efforts to persuade me worked. I wasn’t interested in writing about myself.

Then, one of my closest friends suggested that I had the ability to make this whole experience accessible to the many people who might be going through the same thing. In other words, it would help others.

Oh, horse feathers. How could I say no to helping others.

So, I wrote a memoir. People discovered I wrote about my family history and having my DNA tested and wanted to know how to do the same. These people realized they needed to make their family stories interesting or else nobody would read them.

Then it hit me. These stories were important. Future generations would benefit from know more about their origins by reading about the lives of relatives who had passed away. Since then, I’ve switched from writing fiction to helping others to tell their stories in a way that’s interesting for others to read. I mean, what’s the point of writing a family history if the readers are going to lose interest and put the story down after the first page?

Not only do I love teaching people how to write their personal and family stories, but I also want all of these amazing stories to reach as many readers as possible. Here are a few tips that I hope will help you craft an engaging story.

Limit Your Material

It’s impossible to write about everything that happens in a person’s life. Not only do you not have the time to write that much material, but even if you did the story would fill hundreds of books.

Find a theme instead. Choose a single aspect of the person’s life and write about that. Show the reader how the situation came about. Describe the related events that came afterward. Discuss how it affected the people in the story. And then tell us how it ends. Write only about that single event.

My memoir, The Milkman’s Son, is not the story of my life. It’s about how I discovered I had a family I didn’t previously know, how that discovery affected both sides of my family, and how it changed my life.

Don’t Start at the Beginning

The beginning of a story needs to grab the reader’s attention or else they probably won’t make it past the first page. True stories are no different. The beginning of your story should start at the point when things get interesting. There will be plenty of time to add in details you want the reader to know, once you have their attention.

An immigration story might start as the person, or family, boards the ship that will take them to their new home. That’s the point where everything is new and scary for the immigrants. Readers will be intrigued to see what happens on the journey across the sea and in the place where they plan to settle.

The Milkman’s Son starts with my dad telling me that his dead ancestors are visiting him in his dreams. Talk about an attention-grabber. My book starts where the story gets interesting.

Goals and Struggles

At the heart of every great story is a person with a goal. Humans are instinctively drawn to find out whether a person succeeds in obtaining any goal they might have. Then when obstacles are placed in the way of those goals, we have . . . struggles.

Struggles are the reason people read stories. We want to find out if the characters in a story can overcome adversity. Hopefully, to grow stronger and wiser in the process. That is a central concept in our lives. All of us face obstacles. All of us must deal with adversity. Reading about how someone else has managed to succeed gives the rest of us the courage to work through our own struggles.

The obstacles in a family story need to be related to the theme, or event, you are writing about. Obstacles in paying off a student loan might be a distraction in a story about a young woman dealing with a fractured relationship with her sister.

For example, the obstacles I used in The Milkman’s Son include long-established beliefs about what it meant to be family, emotional conflict over meeting my new family, and financial difficulties in making a second trip out to visit my biological father.

Include Plenty of Details

Details bring a story to life. Without them, the readers are basically staring at an empty stage. Without details, the readers have nothing to picture in their mind’s eyes. Writing about a trip to your grandparent’s house will have a greater impact if you give it a colorful description. The more details you include, the more vivid a picture you place in the reader’s mind.

Compare the following two sentences.

I drove my car over to grandma’s house.

I drove my cherry-red 1967 Camaro, along the crowded I-17 freeway, to Grandma Jenny’s paint-peeling, two-story house.

The first sentence tells what happens, but the second sentence allows the reader to visualize what happens. It’s the details in the second sentence that makes the reader feel as if they are right in the middle of the action. And for me, that’s what writing memoirs and family histories is all about, letting readers experience the lives of their ancestors.

Keep the memory of your family members alive with stories that are interesting enough to grab the attention of future generations. These simple tips are a good start to writing family stories that people will want to read.

Win a Copy of the Best-selling Memoir, The Milkman’s Son

The Milkman’s Son reveals author Randy Lindsay’s family tree, pulling back layers of new information as he gets closer to the truth—a biological father, siblings, and family members he never knew about.

This is a story of accepting, forgiving, reuniting, and, most importantly, it’s about the bonds that connect us and the unconditional love that makes us feel like we belong.

To learn more or to purchase your own copy, visit: https://milkmanssonbook.com/

win a copy of "The Milkman's Son"
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april 24, 2020 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 13 Comments

Connecting the Dots: What Constitutes Genealogical Proof?

How do we know when we have compiled enough evidence to consitute genealogical proof of a familial connection? Read on to find out!

How do we know when we have compiled enough evidence to constitute proof? Is a birth certificate or an autosomal DNA test result sufficient to declare this person is the child of that person? Must we collect every record regarding an individual – the deeds, the tax lists, the newspaper clippings, the census reports – before we can declare a familial connection?

The Genealogy Proof Standard (GPS) directs us to perform reasonably exhaustive research, which requires that we identify and review all available records related to an individual. This is being as thorough and accurate as possible and is a goal toward which we should all aspire in our genealogical research.

But, let’s be honest: most of us do not want to spend weeks or months (or even years) documenting one person before moving on to the next individual. We don’t want to know every detail of grandpa’s life before we turn to grandma. We want to build a family tree which accurately provides us with the names of our ancestors so that we can identify our immigrant ancestor, or join a lineage society, or enjoy the satisfaction that comes from a balanced tree extending back a hundred years or more.

We want to be thorough and accurate, but we also want to make some progress. How do we balance the need for accuracy with the desire for results? How do we determine the necessary quality and quantity of evidence for our research? Below are some guidelines to demonstrate how we can go about compiling the necessary information to say with confidence “this person is my ancestor.”

1. One record/source is never enough.

Any one piece of data can say anything. A mother might lie on her child’s birth certificate for a number of reasons. A grieving spouse might not correctly recall the information for a husband or wife’s death certificate. There are typos and omissions and messy handwriting with which to contend. Even a lone DNA test is not sufficient evidence to prove a family connection.

We need multiple sources, and different kinds of sources, which corroborate the details of the others.

A single source is not enough. A marriage license does not guarantee that John and Griselda married. Photo courtesy https://newspapers.com.

A census report and autosomal DNA test results.

A deed and a will.

A birth certificate and an obituary.

Or, better still, a birth certificate, a census report, a deed, a will, an obituary, and autosomal DNA test results.

2. The more contemporary the source is to the person or event in question, the better.

Records of events made immediately after the event tend to be more accurate, and provide better details, than records created months or years later. As time passes, details become fuzzy, two events can be confused with each other, and our memories fade.

The passage of time between an event and the record of the event also allows for some revisionist history to creep in. A birth year is adjusted to make someone appear older or younger in order to avoid the draft, enlist in the military, mask a dramatic age difference between spouses, or conceal an out-of-wedlock birth. An obituary ignores the deceased’s first marriage because of some embarrassment associated with that marriage. A census report enumerates everyone in the household as natives of Stepney, London, when they really were born in Stepney, and Hackney, and Whitechapel, which explains why the baptismal records can’t be found in Stepney.

According to this obituary for Griselda, she was the widow of Willis Tenney, not John Wise. It appears Griselda and John did not marry after all. Photo courtesy https://newspapers.com.

This is particularly true when it comes to autosomal DNA testing. My autosomal DNA is more useful for identifying my ancestors than is my son’s because I am one generation closer to those ancestors. This is the reason we encourage people to test the oldest members of their family first: their DNA has the potential to be the most useful simply because they are from an earlier generation (or two).

3. It is okay to make appropriate assumptions, but be careful!

In genealogical research we must sometimes make assumptions. When research theories are based on logical reasoning, it is perfectly acceptable to make those appropriate suppositions.

Determining which assumptions are appropriate can be simple: the two-year-old child enumerated in the home of a 90-year-old woman in the 1850 census can safely be eliminated as a biological child of that woman; the man born in 1745 could not have been buried in 1739; the person with whom I share 3150 cM of DNA is my sibling.

The challenge is to avoid making what seems like an appropriate assumption but is really based on faulty reasoning or bias. For instance, we presume that every child listed in a household in the 1860 U.S. Census is son or daughter of the two adults listed first. However, the household could include step-children, cousins, or individuals not even related to the family who were erroneously assigned the same surname.

Other inappropriate assumptions include the notion that a baby was born within a week of his baptismal date; a woman’s reported surname on her marriage certificate is her maiden name; there is only one person in any village, town, or city with the name of your ancestor; someone who shares 2000 cM of DNA with you must be your grandparent, aunt or uncle, niece or nephew, half sibling, or grandchild (they could be a ¾ sibling, the child of one of your parents and the sibling of the other parent).

4. All of the data from the various sources must correlate, and there can be no unresolved contradictions.

When the birth certificate says Richard was born in 1914, the 1938 newspaper article about his wedding reports Richard was 24 years old and the 1942 World War II Draft Registration card notes Richard’s date of birth occurred in 1914, we can confidently declare Richard was born in 1914.

If the wedding article declared the groom was 23 years old the contradiction could be explained by the time of year in which the wedding occurred – before or after Richard’s birthday.

But if his birth certificate reported a 1914 birth, and the newspaper article noted Richard was 32 years old, while the World War II Draft Registration listed his year of birth as 1920, we have some important contradictions. It is most likely the records are for three different men with the same name.

By collecting additional evidence, we finally learn that Griselda and John Wise did marry, and after his death Griselda married Willis Tenney. If we had collected only one of these four records we would not have had the most accurate information regarding Griselda Paul. Photos courtesy https://familysearch.org.

It’s important to remember that once we have accomplished that initial goal of building out our tree a few generations or identifying our immigrant ancestor or determining if we are related to that historical person, we can – and should – go back and collect other sources related to that person, uncovering a more complete story of their lives in the process. As we can see from the four documents regarding Griselda Paul’s marriages, her story is much more than a simple list of birth, marriage, and death dates. As we identify, review, and analyze the other available sources, Griselda’s story will come alive with the facts and details we uncover.

*Kate was featured on the Genealogy Gems Podcast produced by Lisa Louise Cooke discussing genealogical proof. You can listen to the full episode and view show notes by clicking here.

If you need help evaluating evidence in your family history research, the team at Legacy Tree Genealogists is here to help! We’re experts at scouring every possible record source for clues to ensure our client’s genealogy is accurate and verifiable. Get started today by requesting your free quote.