Learn about essential digital resources and research strategies, attend lectures given by our staff on popular genealogical topics, chat with our experts and other participants daily, and receive one-on-one consultation time focused on your research questions.
We've added more than 15,700 records and 16,600 names to our "Boston, MA: Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society Immigration Records, 1904-1929" database, created and maintained in partnership with Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center at New England Historic Genealogical Society. These records include passenger lists, ship arrivals, correspondence, and names of immigrants who were detained and deported. Search Now.
FREE Guide to Proving Your Mayflower Ancestry
An estimated 35 million people can trace their ancestry to the Mayflower. Are you among them? Use this guide to search your ancestry for Mayflower connections. Download now.
Spotlight: Cass City, Michigan
by Valerie Beaudrault, Assistant Editor
The village of Cass City is located in Elkland Township, Tuscola County, in the thumb of Michigan’s lower peninsula. The Rawson Memorial District Library’s website features a number of genealogical resources.
Cass City Newspapers: This database for the Cass City Chronicle (1906-2017) and Cass City Enterprise (1881-1906) can be browsed by issue or searched by keyword.
Cemetery Records Databases: These burials databases and cemetery maps for Elkland Cemetery and Novesta Cemetery can be searched by deceased’s name, birth and death dates, veteran status, grave location, and more.
Cass City Yearbooks: Images of high school yearbooks from 1950 through 2009 are available for browsing.
Your Ancestors on Instagram
Each week, American Ancestors introduces a new theme in our Instagram feed to celebrate our ancestors. This week's theme is Halloween! Send us your best Halloween photos and family stories and we will share them on our social media platforms.Email now.
Online Panel Discussion: Finding Unexpected DNA Results Register Now
Which words first appeared in print the year you were born? Search now
Learn from home: 17th-Century English Research Register Now
Chat with a Genealogist!
Our experts are available to chat Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EDT) to answer simple genealogy or local history questions. This service is free and open to the public. Learn more.
What We’re Reading
City Seeks Assistance Placing Historic Gravestones The City of Boston has eleven fully intact gravestones ready to be placed in the correct burying ground. They are looking for historians, researchers, and genealogists who may have records indicating where these people were originally interred.
“Halloween costumes from the first half of the 20th century were terrifying . . . people often opted for more morbid, serious costumes than the pop culture-inspired ones of today.”
Williamsburg’s First Baptist Church was a spiritual home for free and enslaved African Americans, with a history on the site extending to the mid-twentieth century.
This Washington Post article profiles a FindAGrave contributor who has personally photographed and uploaded more than 90,000 photos of gravestones.
Author Event: Tamara Payne on the Life of Malcolm X
Join us for a talk by Tamara Payne about her award-nominated biography of Malcolm X, The Dead are Arising, co-authored with her father, the late Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Les Payne. L’Merchie Frazier of the Museum of African American History will moderate.
Presented by American Inspiration Author Series in partnership with the Boston Public Library and GBH Forum Network. FREE. November 5, 5-6 p.m. (EST). Register now.
The Weekly Genealogist Survey
Last week's survey asked how many U.S. states or Canadian provinces have been associated with your family history from immigration to the present. 3,209 responses were received. The results are:
4%, My family history has been primarily associated with one state or province.
32%, My family history has been primarily associated with 2 to 5 states or provinces.
35%, My family history has been primarily associated with 6 to 10 states or provinces.
21%, My family history has been primarily associated with 11 to 20 states.
8%, My family history has been primarily associated with more than 20 states.
<1%, My ancestors did not live in North America.
<1%, I don’t know.
This week's question asks about your genealogical experiences with cemeteries. 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.
Readers Respond: Ancestral States and Provinces by Lynn Betlock, Editor
Last week's survey asked how many U.S. states or Canadian provinces have been associated with your ancestors.Thank you to everyone who replied. Below is a selection of reader responses.
Elizabeth Ekstrom Richards of Durham, North Carolina: Trying to count 25 different ancestral states on my fingers just didn't work well! My ancestors followed the westward expansion of the United States, both north and south of the Mason-Dixon line. I was amazed to see that, aside from New England, most states east of the Mississippi were represented in my ancestry. West Virginia was a conundrum. I counted it, because the land my ancestors had owned is now in West Virginia, although they had migrated from Virginia before the state was split.
Gary Allard of San Diego, California: My great-grandparents emigrated from England to Canada in December 1912. Landing in St. John, New Brunswick, they boarded a train for their final destination, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Somewhere in the forests north of Lake Superior, the train encountered a blizzard and was stuck in the snow for three days. After three years of severe winters, they migrated south to Detroit.
Janice Harshbarger of Andrews, Indiana: I research my line and my husband's. I have found records of ancestors in 37 states and two provinces so far. The "county" count is up to 237. If I tried to count collateral relatives and their locations, I would probably end up with close to 50 states. But 37 will keep me busy learning, for as long as my brain will work.
Nancy Buell of Chapel Hill, North Carolina: So far, I have identified 996 ancestors in my family tree. Although they are connected to 18 states, all but eight of them spent most of their lives in New England, New York, and New Jersey. Those eight lived in Virginia and North Carolina. I was born in Washington State and now live in North Carolina. However, in between I lived in Massachusetts for 60 years and I still have a summer cottage in Maine.
Louise Thornton of Laguna Beach, California: My paternal grandfather’s ancestors were some of the first settlers in Quebec and Trois Rivères in the 1650s. My 7th-great-grandmother was a Filles du Roi. On my paternal grandmother’s side, several families were Loyalists in New Jersey and New York who ended up in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick during the British retreat, then traveled down the Saint Lawrence River, becoming some of the first settlers in Ontario at Long Point (Simcoe). Eventually, these families intermarried with descendants of early settlers of Massachusetts, Maine, and Connecticut. On my maternal side, ancestors were in Virginia, and to North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky before moving into Illinois, Missouri and Kansas. My own nuclear family was formed in Michigan and we arrived in California in 1951. I am the only one of my direct line still here; the rest have scattered across the county. By my count, my ancestors were in three Canadian provinces and 15 states.
Educator Survey
American Ancestors and NEHGS is undertaking the creation of a new K-12 family history research curriculum, and we want to hear from educators who teach family history. Your responses to this brief survey will help us devise a curriculum that works across a wide range of educational environments. Take our educators survey now! Upon completion of the survey, you can enter to win a 30-minute phone or online consultation with a genealogist. Email us for more information.
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To advance the study of family history in America and beyond, NEHGS educates, inspires, and connects people through our scholarship, collections, and expertise.
