Resources – Page 6 – A Pennsylvania Dutch Genealogy

Oakland County, Michigan Tax Records

Kris Hocker on 22 Apr 2011

The Oakland County Historical Society has announced that they’ve digitized and indexed tax assessment records for 1884, 1890 and 1894 for Brandon Township, Oakland County, Michigan. The announcement states:

“The Oakland County Genealogical Society (OCGS) has digitized the 1884, 1890, and 1894 tax assessment rolls for Brandon Township, Oakland County Michigan. Volunteers created an index of the names in the records, and the index is available on the Society’s website at http://www.ocgsmi.org. The index and images are also available at the Oakland County Historical Resources website at http://www.OaklandCountyHistory.org. The digitization was funded from the Society’s Ruth S. Kennedy Oakland County Records Preservation Fund.

The release of the databases marks the beginning of the Society’s 1890 Census Substitute Project, which focuses on locating and digitizing Oakland County records created between 1884 and 1894. The 1884 and 1894 State of Michigan Census for Oakland County and the Federal Census for 1890 for Michigan no longer exist, so replacement data is very useful to genealogical researchers.

The OCGS Board of Directors has allocated an additional $3,000 from the Kennedy Fund to continue the 1890 Census Substitute Project. Custodians of Oakland County records which are suitable for inclusion in the project are encouraged to contact the project director, Pamela Epple, at 1890sub[at]ocgsmi.org. Donations to the Kennedy Fund are appreciated, and may be made with a check to OCGS at the Society address.

Founded in 1977, the Oakland County Genealogical Society is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to locating, publishing and safeguarding public and private genealogical records; and to encouraging and instructing in the science of genealogical research and compilation through workshops, sharing, and other educational means. Donations, gifts and legacies are tax deductible. OCGS meets at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Troy, Michigan, a meeting schedule and more information are available on the Society website at http://www.ocgsmi.org. The Society is a charter member of Oakland County Historical Resources.

OaklandCountyHistory.org is the work of Oakland County Historical Resources (OCHR), a 501(c)(3) consortium of libraries, genealogical and historical societies, which seeks historical materials pertaining to Oakland County, Michigan to make them searchable and accessible to the public. OCGS is a member. OCHR offers affordable membership options to organizations dedicated to preserving Oakland County history. Please contact Linda Sickles, director of the Orion Township Public Library for membership information, (248) 693-3000.”

Friday Finds: Maryland Historical Magazine

Kris Hocker on 4 Mar 2011

I was recently going through the stacks of materials distributed around my “office” when I came across a document I’d ordered from PERSI—”Proceedings of the Committee of Observation for Elizabeth Township District [Washington County]” from the Maryland Historical Magazine, Volume 13. I had ordered this because copies I had made at the Pennsylvania State Library were difficult to read; I was hoping for a clearer copy.

What I found made me unhappy. The copies I’d made were not from volume 13, number 2; they were from volume 13, number 3. So, here I have a nice stack of reading that doesn’t include the information that I was seeking. My bad for not clearly marking each photocopy with its full source citation!

Maryland Historical Magazine, Volume 13, Number 3, page 245 PDF

I went online to see if I could find somewhere I could order copy of the pages from the correct volume. Instead I found a page on the Maryland Historical Society’s website that seemed to imply that they were providing online access to the periodical.

Wow! I logged in and sure enough volumes 1, number 1 through volume 99, number 4 are available online as PDFs through a joint project of the Maryland Historical Society and Maryland State Archives. Volumes 101-104 are available to members of the Maryland Historical Society. The volumes have been indexed, so you can search them.

Online viewing through the PDF viewer I have was not optimal—the text appears jagged and bitmapped. Opening the file in Preview on the Mac (an option in the viewer) was similar. However, downloading the file and viewing in the Adobe PDF viewer solved the problem—crisp, clear text! I search for “Hoover” in the PDF and it skipped to the first notation (see blue highlight).

I’m so glad I decided to clean up a bit and discovered my mistake. It lead to a wonderful online resource!

Irish Family History Foundations Exceeds 18 Million Records!

Kris Hocker on 3 Mar 2011

In March our thoughts turn to Ireland—and where else would they be with St. Patrick’s Day coming up? So, this announcement is rather timely! If you’ve got ancestors from Donegal, listen up…

The Irish Family History Foundation’s Online Research Service (ORS) are pleased to announce the availability of an additional 90,000 civil death records from Donegal Ancestry along with other corrections and updates including 6500 new birth records.

Just go to the following site and login using your existing IFHF login details. http://donegal.rootsireland.ie/

We now have over 18 million records online.

Remember that you can purchase and spend your credit at any of the IFHF online centres.

Please check out our interactive map to see which centres are currently live.

If you have any questions or comments please check our Online Help and if this does not provide an answer, then do not hesitate to contact us or one or the county centres.

FamilySearch: New Records Added

Kris Hocker on 2 Mar 2011

FamilySearch.org announced the addition of new records for: Brazil, England, India, Italy, Nicaragua, Spain, Wales and the United States.

More fascinating collections were published this week online at FamilySearch.org—39 million new records, to be exact. The England and Wales 1901 Census will certainly be a favorite for British and Welsh researchers. And how about one million images added for Italy? Or India Land Ownership Pedigrees? FamilySearch’s Texas collections have always been popular, and this week Texas collections have grown by 1.5 million new records (including birth, tax, and county records). In addition, more collections were released for Brazil, Nicaragua, Spain, and the U.S. (Delaware, New Hampshire, and Virginia).

A wide variety of original source records from around the world are continually being added to FamilySearch’s online collections. Search them now at FamilySearch.org.

See the table below for additional details about the latest collection updates.

Collection	Records	Images	Comment
Brazil, Catholic Church Records	0	233,420	Images added for Sao Paulo (Piracicaba);Minas Gerais (Guaxupe, Pouso Alegre, and Joao del Rei); and Rio de Janeiro (Nova Iguacu).
England and Wales Census, 1901	34,138,362	1,456,023	Rich index with links to images on FindMyPast.com.
India, Moga Land Ownership Pedigrees	0	7,640	Set of land ownership pedigrees (Shajjra Nasb) that show familial relationships as land was passed from father to son (in Sanskrit).
Italy, Civil Registration, 1806-1940	0	944,579	Additional images added for Ischia, Napoli City, Nuoro, Mantova, and Padova.
Nicaragua, Managua, Civil Registration, 1879-2007	0	265,237	New digital images added.
Spain, Catholic Church Records, 1500-1930	17,348	87	Additional records from the diocese of Ávila.
U.S., Delaware Marriage Records, 1913-1954	53,352	112,854	Name index and images of Delaware statewide marriage records. The certificates are arranged by year and then by certificate number.
U.S., New Hampshire Marriage Records, 1637-1947	318,102	1,028,209	Index and images of New Hampshire marriage records. These records consist of cards giving the names of the bride and groom with the town and date of the marriage and often much more information. Note: There are two images for each marriage.
U.S., Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-1934	440,509	416,479	Currently years 1903 to 1909 and 1926 to 1934 are available. More years will be added later.
U.S., Texas County Tax Rolls, 1846-1910	0	678,887	New digital images added.
U.S., Texas, Mills County Clerk Records, 1841-1985	0	90,818	New digital images added.
U.S., Virginia Naturalization Petitions, 1906-1929	0	11,999	Naturalization petitions from four U.S. District Courts in Virginia; these records correspond to four record series at the National Archives.

1911 Scottish Census Coming…

Kris Hocker on 16 Feb 2011

The 1911 Scottish Census will be released 5 Apr 2011. More than 4.7 million Scots provided information for this census. Is your ancestor one of them?

What will you be able to find in this census? Details from Scotlands People below:

The records will include the name, address, age, occupation, birthplace and marital status of everyone counted in the 1911 census, as well as details about their children. For the first time, the census data will be presented in full colour rather than black and white.

It will cost 1 credit to view an index entry for the 1911 census. An image will cost 5 credits. Unlike previous censuses, the image spans two pages due to the additional questions that were asked about the fertility of marriage and the profession or occupation. Each page measures 34 cm long by 43 cm high so the images are best viewed on your computer screen or if printed, on size A3 paper.

I’ve used Scotlands People myself to find my Scottish ancestors on my paternal grandfather’s side of the family. It’s a great resouce, easy to use, and well worth the money for a family historian with Scottish ancestry who can’t get over to Edinburgh.

A Bundle of Genealogical Joy from PerSI

Kris Hocker on 14 Oct 2010

I just got a delivery of articles that I ordered from PERSI. 87 pages of genealogical material to go through looking for information that could help my research. I love getting new materials to go through, so this was like getting a packet of genealogical joy in my mailbox! Just browsing through it, I’ve already seen several more sources to look up.

What’s PERSI? It’s the PERiodical Source Index. The good people at the Allen County Public Library have been collecting genealogy and local history periodicals since the 1800s. Over the past decade or so, they’ve been indexing it by surname, location, and research methodologies (for how-to articles). There are nearly 1.8 million items in the index from thousands of publications.

You can search the index through HeritageQuest—available in a lot of libraries, sometimes with remote access—or Ancestry.com. Once you find something of interest, you can order copies of the article from the Allen County Public Library Foundation. There is a handling fee and a per page copying fee. All in all, I got 87 pages of materials for less than $25.00. The order form is available online or you can download a PDF. Simply print it, fill it out, write out a check, and send it to the address on the form. 6-to-8 weeks later you may get your own bundle of genealogical joy.

Hershey Before Hershey

Kris Hocker on 3 Sep 2010

Hershey Before Hershey

Trolling about the internet following leads, I came across a site with some fantastic tools for those researching ancestors from Derry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The site—Hershey before Hershey—is a collaboration between Hershey High School and the Hershey/Derry Township Historical Society in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The interact section includes lists of ancestors from the 1700s, 1800s, and 1900s, a list of tract holders from the warrantee township map with links to the tract surveys on the Pennsylvania Archives web site, and an interactive warrantee township map—a google map with the warrantee map as an overlay! The explore section includes information on various cemeteries and other places of historical interest—including a photo of the house of my 6 times great uncle Martin Hocker. The experience section includes brief histories of the townships, religious groups in the township and various ethnic groups.

Pennsylvania Warrant Township Maps

Kris Hocker on 12 Feb 2010

I’m always looking for new ways to research my family. Living in New England, I’m a long way away from sources of Pennsylvania information. So, I especially love to find FREE sources of information ONLINE. The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission and State Archives usually have something good.

Jacob Hoover’s German Township property

In the past I’ve used the online Pennsylvania Warrant records and Patent indexes and the Copied Survey books to find surveys for land my ancestor settled. On my most recent visit to the site, I noticed that they’ve added PDF files of the Warrantee Township Maps.

These show the all the original land purchases within the context of the present-day townships. You can see your ancestor’s property in and amongst their neighbors. The map also provides the name of warrantee, name of patentee, number of acres, name of tract, and dates of warrant, survey and patent. It makes a nice summary and geographical index of the warrant/patent information of each township.

Please remember that the townships are shown by present-day boundaries. I spent some time looking in the townships referred to in the surveys I’ve obtained. Several townships later, I finally found what I was looking for. So, make sure you look in the current township.

While you can download these file to view, you can’t print them. However, if you’re interested in getting a paper copy, you can purchase one from the archives.

Drop me a reply and let me know what you find!

Census Substitutes

Kris Hocker on 10 Feb 2010

You may know that some of the US Federal census records have not survived to the present day. The 1890 census is the most famous example, but there are other earlier records for various states that are also not available. What alternatives do you have for finding information on your ancestors from a specific time period if the census records for their location do not exist?

There a number of different sources available for finding this kind of information:

State Censuses—State census records, where available, can provide information on your ancestors for the years between federal census records. They were usually taken every ten years—like the federal census—but usually at the midpoint between census years, i.e., 1885. You can find a variety of information in these records; they were sometimes designed to collect specific data relevant to the needs of the community for revenue assessment and urban planning.
Tax Assessment lists—Tax assessment lists are a source commonly used for locate information on individuals between census years. Usually they provide the names of the head of household—like the pre-1850 federal census records—but sometimes the names of men (of legal age) are listed even though they may have no taxable property. These records will show an individual’s level of wealth and provide a year-to-year location for that individual. They may also help to narrow down a marriage date or death date for an individual. A reference to an individual as a freeman one year, but not the next year may indicate a marriage sometime between assessments. Additionally, I’ve seen reference to an individual one year and to their estate the next, helping to narrow down a death date when other records were unavailable.
City Directories—City directories are the precursor to our modern day telephone books. These records will help determine the location of your ancestor’s residence in years between the census enumerations, helping to determine whether or not they moved. Sometimes a move—even within the same city—can make it more difficult to locate them in the next census enumeration. Additionally, some city directories will even list occupation which may help you to discern who is your ancestor.

Other sources to check might be militia enrollment lists, voter or poll registration list, or juror lists. Ancestry.com, Footnote.com and the country websites online are valuable resources for finding this type of information.

For more information, check out this article on census substitutes from Rootsweb.

Lancaster County Deed Books Online

Kris Hocker on 8 Feb 2010

Note (2017): The new Lancaster County online deed viewer is easy to use and includes the deed indices! Make sure to check it out.

Note (2018): Deeds are also available online on FamilySearch.

Did you know that you can view Lancaster County deeds from 1729 through 1981 online? You can! Visit the Lancaster County Recorder of Deeds to use their online e-film reader to view digital versions of the deed books.

E-film reader film roll field

There is no online index to the records prior to 1981, so you’ll need to know what you’re looking for ahead of time. Simply type in the book you’re looking for in the Film Roll field—ie. G9, for book G, volume 9—or click the “…” button to see a list of book links. If you’re looking for an early deed book with no volume number, check out the links in the top of the film roll box. Book A is shown as 000A.

E-film reader film frame field

Enter the page number in the film frame field. Since the film frame number and page number are not an exact match, you’ll need to adjust the number or scroll through the pages until you find the page you’re looking for. If you start with your page number, you should land on a page that’s prior to the one you’re looking for, so scroll forward.

The image quality is not too bad, all things considered. Having scrolled through the microfilm myself, I’ve found these images to be fairly good—perhaps not always easy to read—but certainly much better than some of the copies I’ve made from the microfilm.

Although I’ve found no online index to these records, there are images online from the Lancaster Deed Books Grantors Index. I used them to put together my Huber/Hoover grantors index. You can find them at the Southern Lancaster County Historical Society’s site on RootsWeb. These images have been removed as of Oct 2014.

Good luck with your search! If you find something, drop me a line and let me know.

Category: Resources