Take your research skills to the next level! With the sheer number of online resources at your fingertips, it's easy to dive into your family history research without any formal training as a genealogist. Certainly, you'll learn along the way and devise your own methods, but it's also easy to become overwhelmed and form bad habits. Whether you are new to genealogy, want to refresh your skills, or learn best practices, this course will set you on the right path to getting the most out of your family history research.
New Database! Worcester, MA: Scots-Irish Settlers, 1700-1850
Today we're featuring a new database, Worcester, MA: Scots-Irish Settlers, 1700-1850. This study project, researched by Shirley (Robinson) Pizziferri features over 20 families who lived in the Worcester area in the early 1700s. The database contains nearly 200 pages of family histories and contains over 12,000 searchable names. These sketches are intended as comprehensive sources on which researchers can base further study of Scots-Irish settlers of Worcester, MA. Join American Ancestors to access this database and more!
Coming up next week: explore 19th century America and the impactful lives of the immigrant Blackwell sisters, the first women to receive MDs in the United States and founders of the New York Infirmary, with biographer Janice P. Nimura. The Doctors Blackwell provides a history of medicine, women, and our country. Later in February, hear from Richard Thompson Ford about Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History.
Due to popular demand, we are providing special view-only access to our online course Writing & Publishing Your Family History. You will have until the end of April 2021 to watch, download, or print the course materials. This course will provide you with a step-by-step approach to turning your research into an illustrated narrative, Register-style genealogy or Ahnentafel.
Monroe County is located in south central Iowa. Albia is its county seat. The Monroe County Historical Society has made a historical newspaper collection with more than 20 newspapers available in its digital archives. They cover the period from 1850 through 2019. The newspapers include Monroe County News (1898-2019), The Monroe County News (1928-1987) The Albia Union-Republican (1923-1973), LoviliaPress (1907-1957), Union Republican (1995-2017), The Albia Republican (1900-1922), Albia Union-Republican (1973-1987), The Albia Union (1904-1922), Albia Union Republican (1987-2011), The Tuesday Union (1893-1903), The Friday Union (1894-1903), Melrose Bell (1916-1924), The Weekly Albia Union (1865-1893), and Monroe County News and Albia Democrat (1898-1902).
Our free webinars, public lectures, and outreach programs bring the knowledge of our experts to the world. Your support has helped us introduce high school students to genealogy, teach new and curious researchers how to begin their family trees, and host the brightest genealogists of our time in free programs. Supporting American Ancestors educational programs today!
Long Lost Love: Moldovan Villagers from Important Soviet Photo Discovery Found Last year photographs by Zaharia Cusnir, a Moldovan whose work depicting rural Soviet life lay literally rotting in a village house, were published. The film student who discovered them has met with six now-elderly Moldovans featured in the photographs.
Last week's survey asked about about whether your grandparents lived their entire lives in one state or province. We received 3,513 responses. The results are:
17%, All four of my grandparents each lived in only one state or province.
12%, Three of my grandparents each lived in only one state or province.
29%, Two of my grandparents each lived in only one state or province.
17%, One of my grandparents lived in only one state or province.
23%, None of my grandparents lived in only one state or province.
<1%, I don't know.
This week's question asks about early interest in genealogy. Take the survey now
Want to share your thoughts on the survey with us? We are always happy to hear from our readers. Email us at weeklygenealogist@nehgs.org. Responses may be edited for clarity and length and featured in a future newsletter.
Last week's survey asked about whether your grandparents lived their entire lives in one state or province. Thank you to everyone who replied. Below is a selection of reader responses.
Jim Axtell, Bolingbrook, Illinois: My paternal grandmother lived in one city her entire life. She was born in Detroit in 1894 and died there in 1973, about 15 miles from where she was born. She could recall a time when horses and buggies still predominated on the streets, but by the time she died, freeways had destroyed her old neighborhood. From 1900 to 1950, Detroit's population grew from 286,000 to 1.85 million. Of course, the auto industry brought my grandfathers and maternal grandmother to Detroit. Thanks to the kindness of distant cousins, I have a photo of my grandmother, about 1901, from her first communion.
JoEllen Schaffer, Thousand Oaks, California: My maternal grandfather, Frederick Donald Fillmore, was born in 1891 in Half Moon Bay, California, and died in San Francisco in 1979. Aside from a stint in the Army during World War II, he lived in a 50-mile stretch of the California coast his entire life, as did my great-grandmother, Jessie (Johnston) Fillmore (1868-1938), and my mother, Charlotte (Fillmore) Coldwell (1918-2002). I too have spent my entire life in the state, making me a 4th-generation Californian—however, I've added 300 miles to the 50-mile zone.
EuGene Smith, Clinton, Arkansas: My maternal Grandmother, Amelia Louise (Schwarz) Smith lived her whole life in Pulaski County, Arkansas (Little Rock & North Little Rock). She was left alone in the 1920s with two young children when my grandfather (Onie Harry Smith) abandoned the family and moved to Hawaii. Grandmother worked various clerk-type jobs for a spell until she landed a nice-paying job as a switchboard operator at a local VA Hospital, where she worked until she was in her 70s.
Janice M. Sellers, Gresham, Oregon: My paternal grandfather, born in New Jersey, went back and forth between New Jersey and New York for several years, then moved to Florida, where he remained for the rest of his life. My paternal grandmother was born in New Jersey, moved to Florida, then moved to Minnesota. My maternal grandfather was born in Brooklyn, moved to Florida, then to Nevada, then returned to Florida. My maternal grandmother was born in Manhattan, moved to Florida, then to Nevada, then back to Florida, and finally to Nevada. No wonder I can't stay in one place!
Last Chance! The Federal Census: Moving Beyond the Population Schedule
When most family historians think about the census, we think of the population schedule—but there is so much more to the Federal Census! On January 28, census expert Lindsay Fulton will discuss how mortality, agriculture, manufacturing, business, and other social statistics schedules can be used in your genealogical research. She’ll review what data was collected for what years, how to access these non-population schedules, and how to leverage this information in your own family history.
