Ten Common Facts

As family Genealogists . We tend to research the familiar - using the most common,
popular, or convenient databases or records. But there are plenty of other resources
available - if you know where to look! In this class, we'll review ten facts you have
over looked!

[NOTE: All website talk about will be listed at the end of this presentation.

1. Disregarded Personal and Family Items. Look in every attic, basement, closet,
etc. for documents, photographs, and ephemera. Don’t have any? What do you do?
• Reach out to family members including second, third, and fourth cousins!
You never know who has a document you will need for your research.
• Keep an eye out at flea markets, garage, yard, or estate sales.
• Check e-Bay.
• For old photographs: Search DeadFred or Ancient Faces.
• Join JustAJoy.

2. Historical Map Collections. Often brick walls come out of not searching the correct
location for an ancestor’s records. Understand historical time periods and boundaries. It
is important to know where the records are located now and what county a city/town
was in when your ancestors lived there. (See Map Collections below).

3. Coroner's Records. Check for coroner's records, especially if your ancestor died
young or suspiciously, or experienced an accidental or violent demise. Sometimes a
coroner’s statement is attached with the death certificate. How to find them:
• Sometimes a coroner’s statement is attached with the death certificate
• Check with the county clerk's office, where coroner’s files may be included
among probate records, justice of the peace records, or in the local court
system records
• Some coroner's records may have been transferred to state libraries or
archives
• FamilySearch Microfilm
• Search Google for location and Coroner’s records

4. Fraternal and social organization records and publications. At the turn of the
twentieth century, almost five million men and women belonged to fraternal
organizations. If your ancestors were living in North America at that time, chances are
pretty good (about one in seven) that at least one of your ancestors belonged to a
fraternal group. (See Legacy QuickGuide® on Fraternal Societies by Jen Baldwin)

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5. Old Postcards and Stamps. Determine dates and locations. Some postcards are
photos of the person. Find them at flea markets and yard sales, eBay, postcard
websites. (See Valasek article referenced below).

6. College, University or Public Library Special Collections. Contain a treasure

trove of papers, manuscripts, and other materials. Consult the finding aids or guides on
the website.

7. Ethnic Resources. Look for booklets, Emigrant Guides, newspapers). Key

Repositories are: Balch Institute, Immigrant History Research Center, Ethnic
Genealogical Societies, and Special Collections as noted in #6. (see Websites below).

8. Social Media. Blogs (Geneabloggers, Blogging Genealogy); Social Media, YouTube

Look for topics and pages/groups/videos related to your surnames, ancestral places.
Check FamilySearch Research Communities on Facebook.

9. Town and County History Pictorials. Check with the local genealogical or
historical society, museums, Google Books, Arcadia Publishing Images of America
Series. Useful Books: The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy and
Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources. Check the Ancestry.com Wiki
for free online versions!

10. Different Databases. Try searching a database you have not searched before,
even if you don’t think your ancestors will be there—you never know!

For Further Reading

Articles by Lisa A. Alzo

Please visit http://www.lisaalzo.com/publications/articles to download PDF versions of

the following articles:

“Buddy System” Family Tree Magazine March 2011

“Cold Cases” Family Tree Magazine March 2011
“Endangered Sources” Family Tree Magazine, August 2010
“Super Sources” Family Tree Magazine, May 2007
“Treasure Hunt,” Family Tree Magazine, January/February 2013
“Trouble Makers” Family Tree Magazine, May 2009

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Archives.com

“Seven Ways to be a Lucky Genealogist” March 14, 2003

http://www.archives.com/experts/alzo-lisa/seven-ways-to-be-a-lucky-genealogist.html

“Why You Need to Join an Ethnic Genealogy Society--Now!” Aug 9, 2012

http://www.archives.com/experts/alzo-lisa/ethnic-genealogy-society.html

Other Articles and Guides

About.com: Articles of Visiting Genealogy Research Libraries

http://genealogy.about.com/od/libraries/Genealogy_Research_Libraries.htm

“How Menus, Letters, and Business Cards Could Unlock a Genealogy Secret: The
Importance of Ephemera,” by Gena Phillibert-Ortega, Association of Professional
Genealogists Quarterly, June 2012. http://www.apgen.org

“Two Cowboys, A Frenchman, and a German Pole Walk into a Room,” by Paul S.
Valasek, Gen Dobry!, Vol. XIII, No. 7, July 2012.
http://polishroots.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=nOfwIbPWlU0%3d&tabid=60&mid=377

Legacy QuickGuides®
http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=71

Guides specifically recommended for use with this webinar:

Fraternal Societies by Jen Baldwin (PDF edition)

Researching County Histories by Julie Tarr (PDF edition)

Unraveling Brick Wall Mysteries by Sharon Atkins (PDF edition)

You may choose to purchase other guides as well.

Books

Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, 2nd Ed. by
Elizabeth Shown Mills (Genealogical Publishing Company, 2009).

Mastering Genealogical Proof, by Thomas W. Jones (National Genealogical Society,

2013).

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The Family Tree Problem Solver, by Marsha Hoffman Rising, (Family Tree Books,
2011).

Lectures

“Proving Immigrant Identities: Once in Europe, Then What?” by Warren Bittner, 2013
Ohio Genealogy Society Conference, Cincinnati, OH. Order from JAMB Tapes, Inc.
($12) http://www.jamb-inc.com/genealogy/ohio-state/2013-ogs-conference--cincinnati-oh

“Strategies for Finding "Unfindable" Ancestors,” by Thomas W. Jones, 2013 Ohio

Genealogy Society Conference, Cincinnati, OH. Order from JAMB Tapes, Inc. ($12)
http://www.jamb-inc.com/genealogy/ohio-state/2013-ogs-conference--cincinnati-oh

“Some Underused Online Resources Presented by Gary R. Toms, Midwest Genealogy

Center, FamilySearch Video (Online Learning Center)
https://www.familysearch.org/learningcenter/lesson/some-underused-online-
resources/235

Map Resources

American Geographical Society Collection University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Library

http://www4.uwm.edu/libraries/AGSL

Animap http://goldbug.com/animap/ Available from Legacy store:

http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=ANI_DL

Atlas of Historical County Boundaries http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp

David Rumsey Map Collection http://www.davidrumsey.com

Google Earth http://www.google.com/intl/en/earth/index.html

Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection (The University of Texas at Austin)

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/map_collection_guide.html

History Pin http://www.historypin.com

WhatWasThere http://www.whatwasthere.com

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Websites

Ancestry.com ($) http://www.ancestry.com

Ancestry.com Wiki http://www.ancestry.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Ancient Faces http://www.ancientfaces.com

Arcadia Publishing http://www.arcadiapublishing.com

ArchiveGrid http://archivegrid.org/web/index.jsp

Balch Institute (Historical Society of Pennsylvania)

http://www2.hsp.org/collections/Balch%20manuscript_guide/html/contents.html

Balch Online Resources

http://www2.hsp.org/exhibits/Balch%20resources/emigrationusa/html/body_intro_emigra
tion_usa.html

Bible Records http://www.biblerecords.com

Billion Graves http://www.billiongraves.com

Castle Garden Database http://www.castlegarden.org

Center for Research Libraries (CRL) http://www.crl.edu

Coroner Casefile Wiki (University of Pittsburgh)

http://coronercasefile.pbworks.com/w/page/16512016/FrontPage

Cornell Digital Library http://cdl.library.cornell.edu

Cyndi’s List http://www.cyndislist.com

Darlington Digital Library http://digital.library.pitt.edu/d/darlington

DeadFred http://www.deadfred.com

DearMyrtle http://www.dearmyrtle.com

Digital Public Library of America http://dp.la/

DirectMeNYC (New York Public Library) http://directme.nypl.org

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eBay http://www.ebay.com

Eastman’s Online Genealogical Newsletter http://www.eogn.com

Ellis Island Database http://www.ellisisland.org

Evidence Explained Website https://www.evidenceexplained.com

Facebook http://www.facebook.com

FamilySearch http://www.familysearch.org

FamilySearch Research Communities on Facebook

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Research_Communities_on_Facebook

FamilyTreeDNA http://www.familytreedna.com

Find A Grave http://www.findagrave.com

FindMyPast ($) http://www.findmypast.com

Fold3 ($) http://www.fold3.com

4YourFamilyStory http://www.4yourfamilystory.com

48-Hour Ephemera Challenge Forum http://48hourephemerachallenge.lefora.com

Fraternal Organizations Research Guide http://www.newberry.org/fraternal-

organizations

Fulton History (Old Fulton Postcards) http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html

Geneabloggers http://www.geneabloggers.com

GenDisasters http://www3.gendisasters.com

Genealogy Karma http://www.mocavo.com/karma

Genealogy Research: Complete List of Fraternal Organizations, Part One and Part Two
http://www.exonumia.com/art/society.htm

Genealogy Today ($) http://www.genealogytoday.com

Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en

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Google Books http://books.google.com

Google Patent Search http://www.google.com/?tbm=pts&hl=en

Google Plus http://plus.google.com

Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com

Immigrant History Research Center http://www.ihrc.umn.edu

Internet Archive http://www.internetarchive.org

International Institute of Social History http://socialhistory.org

JewishGen http://www.jewishgen.org

JSTOR http://www.jstor.org

JustAJoy ($20 per year) http://www.justajoy.com

Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/index.html

LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com

Mocavo ($) http://www.mocavo.com

MyHeritage ($) http://www.myheritage.com

National Archives and Records Administration http://www.archives.gov

National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc

Old Postcards http://www.oldpostcards.com/

One-Step Webpages (Stephen P. Morse) http://www.stevemorse.org

Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com

RootsWeb Search Thingy http://sitesearch.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/search

23andMe https://www.23andme.com

Twitter http://www.twitter.com

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USGenWeb http://www.usgenweb.org

WolframAlpha (Computational Knowledge Engine) http://www.wolframalpha.com

WorldCat http://www.worldcat.org

WorldGenWeb http://www.worldgenweb.org

YouTube http://www.youtube.com