Quick Workaround: When You Can't See Ancestry.com Records from the Profile View

My 3rd cousin 3x removed Bixler cousin, Lewis Edward Bixler, who was a glass blower in Muncie, Indiana.  I want to add hashtags to his profile in my Legacy 9.0 database. Most of the hashtags I create come from information in the records I've attached to each profile at Ancestry.com.

But when I clicked on his 1900 Census to View the image I got this error message.

For whatever reason, Ancestry.com sometimes gets in its own way.  As an example, it has been impossible today to look at attached records by simply clicking the View button.

Fortunately there is a quick workaround.

Click on the Search link and...[edited to add: you can also click directly on the small image of the census and that will take you to directly to the image and not the indexed data]

The links to the census records are available to click, and this time they actually work.

And now I can see the indexed data Ancestry.com provided, and then View the image (unless there is a snag in the imaging function).

© 2020 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Information Overload

Ancestry is telling me that I have 99+ messages.

To anyone who has messaged/emailed me recently, I apologize for not responding in a timely manner.  I was already chronically behind in my responses, and now feel overwhelmed!  Please have patience, I will get back to you.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: Oklahoma School Records Available at FamilySearch

Elvin Worden, my 2nd 3xs removed cousin on my mom's side, went to school in Arnett, Ellis County, Oklahoma, in 1934.

Elvin's record in context of the entire record.  He is one of two of E. B. Worden (Earl Byron Worden)'s kids. Elvin's sister Verna is also listed.  This information is consistent with other records I have already found on them.  "Oklahoma, School Records, 1895-1936," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSM9-F3ZQ-C?cc=1926701&wc=QX9C-HNL%3A1590390017%2C1590390574 : 3 February 2017), Ellis > School census, District 1-113, 1931-1934 > image 3245 of 3312; Woodward county records indexed by Northwest Oklahoma Genealogical Society; citing various county offices, various Oklahoma school district offices and Cimarron Heritage Center, Boise City.

In the past I found Oklahoma records online to be quite scarce, but the state's been catching up.  Ancestry recently released an Oklahoma Marriage record set, and now I stumbled up on Oklahoma school records, which provide birth dates and some relationship leads.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Getting There

It used to be over 57,000 people.  I've eliminated almost 6,000 since the beginning of this year.

I don't know what an ideal amount of people on a tree is, but I don't think it is anywhere near 57,000+.  I've been doing an overhaul of my tree, taking off people who don't seem to be relevant to my lines and updating, correcting, and otherwise upgrading all of the profiles on my tree.  It has taken a lot of time, but it was very necessary.  I was originally inspired to do this so that I could standardize my locations, making my tree more functional for the Legacy 9 software I purchased.  Now I'm hoping to finish this upgrade by the end of the year.  We'll see if it happens that soon.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Marc's Results from AncestryDNA Came Back Last Week

No surprise, my son is a DNA match to me!  The entire turnaround time for this DNA test took about 4 weeks, from spitting in the vial to the online results.  That is the fastest I've experienced.  They must be clearing the decks for the holiday season, when Ancestry tends to offer reduced prices on their autosomal tests.

You can see Steve and my DNA ethnicity estimates here.  Marc's results are totally consistent with what I expected:

He got my Migrations (Norway and settlers of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana).  He has a ton of German ancestors when you take both my and my husband's ancestry.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Reminder to Always Scrutinize City Directories

My 3rd cousin 2x removed Mildred Hester Nichols was married to Theodore William Woodbeck, and they lived in Jackson, Mississippi in the mid-1940's. They had one child under 18 living with them--how do I know that?  Jackson, East Jackson and Pearl City, Mississippi City Directory, 1947, "Woodbeck Theo W (Mildren H)" p. 1105; digital image, U.S. City Directories (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2469/13635560/828798955 : 7 November 2017).

Most entries in city directories are self-explanatory, but sometimes a directory will use code to indicate something extra about the residents.  In this case I found that the Jackson, Mississippi 1947 city directory indicated how many children under 18 were in the household:

Part of the explanation page shows that they accounted for children under 18, something I had not seen before.  Since the 1947 city directory was only partially digitized I could not find its Explanation page, but the 1945 Jackson, Mississippi city directory was complete and appeared to use the same format as the 1947 one.  Jackson, East Jackson and Pearl City, Mississippi City Directory, 1945, "Explanation" image 9; digital image, U.S. City Directories (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2469/12888254#?imageId=12888262 : 7 November 2017).

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Spring Cleaning in October

Crista Cowan explains and shows why a clean tree improves your genealogy.

Let's just say I've gotten carried away with the research and shiny bright things since I started using Ancestry in 2009.  Right now I have over 52,000 people on my tree (down from over 57,000! a few months ago) but that is truly unnecessary and ridiculous.  I'm not sure what the right amount of people on a genealogical tree is, but it can't be that many.

So as I've been standardizing my locations (i.e. fixing all the locations in every profile) I've also been pruning any and every one who isn't a blood relation or FAN club member.  Turns out there are a ton of siblings of distant cousins' wives and husbands, as well as stepchildren galore (including stepchildren of stepchildren), who don't add anything to the tree or my research, but are just there as remnants from an over-enthusiastic research session.  I figure that if any particular person is important I can always add them back on.

I can't wait until I've tightened up my tree and standardized the locations, because I have a lot of plans for using my Legacy 9 software to do some interesting reports. But for now I have to atone for my sins and do some much needed clean up.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Tip: Look Closely When Adding City Directory Records on Ancestry

Crop of the Oakland, CA city directory title page.  Note that other addresses in other nearby cities are also included. R. L. Polk and Co. of California, "Polk's Oakland (California) City Directory, Vol 1930 XL, Including Alameda, Berkeley, Emeryville and Piedmont; Containing an Alphabetical Directory of Business Concerns and Private Citizens, a Street and Avenue Guide and Much Information of a Miscellaneous Character; Also A Buyer's Guide and a Complete Classified Business Directory" (Oakland, CA), 1930; digital image, U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 database (http://www.ancestry.com/ : 29 September 2017).

I highlighted some examples of people who appear in the Oakland city directory but actually live in a nearby city/town.  A = Alameda, B = Berkeley, Pied = Piedmont.  Some people worked in Oakland but resided in other places like Richmond and San Leandro.  If you added one of these highlighted people's indexed record Ancestry would automatically put "Oakland; Alameda; Berkeley; Emeryville; Piedmont, California, USA" as the residence, although they may have actually lived in just Berkeley or Piedmont.  Page 600 of the Oakland City Directory 1930.

Ansgar actually lived in Berkeley.  This particular indexing reflects the major cities/towns represented in this directory; some indexed city directories just add the main city (like Enid, Oklahoma, or Seattle, WA) and it is up to you to know there are other options.

I admit it, I'm guilty of adding records like the above without edit.  Let's just say mapping tools don't like addresses like this!


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Throwback Tuesday: Crista Cowan presents "Geography and Genealogy" (published Nov 25, 2016)

Crista Cowan did this video "Geography and Genealogy" last year for Ancestry, and she provides some great ideas and sources to consult when researching where your ancestors lived.

As I've been cleaning up/standardizing my locations on my tree I've found Wikipedia entries on locations to be easy to find and helpful, especially in getting a reality check on when counties and locations were first settled.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

New (to Me) Database on Ancestry.com: "Iowa, Death Records, 1920-1940"

I only had the death year for my 2nd cousin 3x's removed cousin Mildred Brush's first husband, Allen Leonard Swift (1925).  Now I know the exact date, and more of the story (although there is no second image in the scan, despite the "over" note in the cause of death field).  State of Iowa Department of Vital Statistics, Buchanan county, death certificate no. 10-1049, Leonard Swift (1925); digital image, Iowa, Death Records, 1920-1940 (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=61442 : 9 September 2017).

The date on this database is 2017, and doesn't show up in the "Recently Added and Updated Collections on Ancestry" page (which goes back to June), so this little treasure must have been released in the first part of this year.  While I'm late to the game (probably because I've been concentrating on my locations cleanup), I welcome this.  I have a ton of Iowa cousins whose death certificates might help my research.  The Texas, Missouri, and Indiana death certificates already on Ancestry have certainly proved that.

I think I might treat myself to a break in location cleanup today, and use a technique I posted about already "Fantastic Find: Genea-Musing's Ancestry Hack to Search Hints By Specific Database" to find out who on my tree now has a death certificate waiting for me.




© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Delilah "Delia" Grove (1845 - 1925) Iowa Census Records, Ancestry vs. FamilySearch

When I looked at what I had written about this maternal great great grandmother in 2014 I found that I hadn't included entries for her (and her husband Richard Worden) from various Iowa State Census records.

While that omission may have because I didn't think it important to add those records for a couple who remained in the same location (Jones County) from their arrival there by the 1850 U.S. Census until their deaths* it also could have been, at least in the case of the 1915 state census, because of the poor quality of the image provided by Ancestry.

[Ancestry.com. Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. Original data: Microfilm of Iowa State Censuses, 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925 as well various special censuses from 1836-1897 obtained from the State Historical Society of Iowa via Heritage Quest.]

I had forgotten that when a record appears in two separate websites, it's useful to check both databases because what I found at FamilySearch is obviously the from the same source but is much easier to read.

["Iowa State Census, 1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-8926-ZVY9?cc=2240483&wc=QSZP-HZ9%3A1291580202%2C1291585001 : 5 October 2016), Jones > Tasker, Mrs. Minnie-Zumbrunnen, Peter > image 1958 of 2374; Iowa State Historical Department, Des Moines.]

Inspired by that I decided to look at another Iowa census, this time for 1905 to see if there was a difference. What showed up via Ancestry was an index of the enumeration but not the individual cards for both of them.

[Ancestry.com. Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. Original data: Microfilm of Iowa State Censuses, 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925 as well various special censuses from 1836-1897 obtained from the State Historical Society of Iowa via Heritage Quest.]

The records on FamilySearch have been indexed and I located Delliah's card (#585) but a search for Richard Worden (#584) produced nothing. The cards in this file are not in numerical or alphabetical order (either by surname or township) so there's no clue to where his is.

["Iowa State Census, 1905," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9ZV-BWXH?cc=2126961&wc=QDRZ-TC3%3A1589972866 : 23 August 2016), 007486409 > image 3127 of 3956; State Historical Department, Des Moines.]

Although her given name is spelled Delliah in both these censuses, that's not the way it was recorded in other records. I honestly don't know which spelling she preferred.

Here's how she's related to me.

[Ancestry.com]

*1912 for Richard and 1925 for Delilah.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Results from AncestryDNA Genetic Communities

I got three Genetic Communities.  I would upgrade these connection ratings from Likely and Possible to Definitely.  That is actually a decent summary of my ethnic background based on what I know and what the paper trail reveals.

So AncestryDNA now has a Genetic Communities feature.  I thought that I would have the same ones as my parents, but as you'll see, with the exception of Norwegians through my father, they have different communities than me.

I think this is an interesting new development for AncestryDNA.

My father's Genetic Community is Norwegians in Hordaland and Rogaland, which is exactly where his maternal grandparents came from. His other ethnic heritages are apparently too diffuse to pinpoint to a specific place, although he has a huge amount of British Isles and German ancestry that I know about.

My mother got two Genetic Communities.  They seem right on point.  I was surprised that her New England heritage didn't come through as strongly, though.  EDITED TO ADD: She actually has another Genetic Community, "Settlers of Central Georgia and Central Alabama" in her shared matches, but it doesn't show up (yet?) in her summary seen above.  That estimated GC is also on point.

Our dear reader Bonnie DID have a Genetic Community in New England.  This is not just possible, it is definite.

My husband Steve's Genetic Community is right on track.

Where my husband's great grandfather Ignatius Manczuk (1877-1933) came from (Trzyrzeczki, Poland).

Ancestry's guess as to Steve's Genetic Community.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

We're Related: I Broke Down and Downloaded the App

The first estimated famous relation was the only one I expected.  I do indeed believe that I am a 6th cousin to President Obama through my mother's maternal upline.  Our 4th great grandmothers were sisters, daughters of John Wilson and Ruth Welborn of North Carolina, Kentucky, and Illinois. I discovered this years ago when I first started my genealogy in earnest

I'm referring to the Ancestry app called "We're Related."

Judy G. Russell of the Legal Genealogist was also predicted to be related to the President, but found the actual connection to be unlikely, or at least unprovable as presented.  The other predicted relations she was given were also spurious, as have most of the ones I've been given have been.  I would be happy to claim Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln as distant cousins, but I'm not sure I believe the way the app estimates the relationships.  Still, it might be right once in awhile.

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings has done a number of interesting posts on the topic.





© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Nice Find! : Ancestry's Crista Cowan Blogs About "Quick Tips for Breaking Through Your Genealogy Bricks Walls"

I'm finally getting back into the game after being sick for a few months.  Funny how illness can sap one's mental energy.  But it is actually a good thing, because I can look at my tree with a fresh pair of eyes.

As I have been reviewing my information, looking for any errors, it is clear that I need to buckle down and work on my various brick walls.

Crista Cowan at Ancestry Blog has a few basic but very important points about busting through these brick walls in her "Quick Tips for Breaking Through Your Genealogy Bricks Walls."  I know and have employed all of these techniques, but it is time to cycle through what I have again systematically and see what accomplish.




© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

One Reason to Do Cluster Research

Our work on the Avery side has revealed that my 3rd great grandfather, John Warren Avery, had numerous siblings, including Sarah Avery who married Joshua Whitehead.  I'm a Facebook friend with a cousin who is a direct descendant of Sarah and Joshua, which is so cool considering I'd never known anything about the Averys until about 2010!

My mom and I have both done our DNA on Ancestry, and we each have our own tree.  My tree is ridiculously large (55,437 people as of today), since it includes all of our cluster research, while Mom's tree only includes her direct ancestors.  The smaller tree with just direct ancestors is easier to download, and it helps focus attention ON the direct ancestors (and not on interesting collateral relatives LOL).

The decision to include, or leave out, non-direct ancestors can definitely affect how Ancestry displays its AncestryDNA Insights:

Mom's "New Ancestor Discoveries" recently began displaying Joshua White and Sarah Avery.  Ancestry categorizes them as "potential new ancestors or relatives who are not already in your family tree".  Since Mom's tree only has direct ancestors the program doesn't know exactly where to place Sarah in relation to Mom, only that descendants of Joshua and Sarah share DNA with her.

My "DNA Circles" includes Joshua Whitehead and Sarah Avery, and correctly gives their relation to me.  Notice Samuel Avery and Mary Thornton, parents of Sarah Avery, on this page as well.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: Genea-Musing's Ancestry Hack to Search Hints By Specific Database

Want to search for hints from a specific database on your Ancestry tree?

Find your Ancestry tree number = treenumb (you can find this in every URL when you are looking at your tree)

Find the Ancestry database number = dbas

Insert those values into this URL:
http://hints.ancestry.com/tree/treenumb/hints?hf=record&hs=last&hdbid=dbas

If, like me, you regularly visit Randy Seaver's blog Genea-Musings you've probably already seen this hack ("Mining Ancestry.com Hints by Specific Record Collection - Updated"), but I love to refer to it whenever Ancestry releases a new database, like they did today for their "U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942" in time for Memorial Day weekend.

So for today's release I would use the following info:
the database number: http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1002
and my tree number: http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/14683958/family?cfpid=145378340

to get this:
http://hints.ancestry.com/tree/14683958/hints?hf=record&hs=last&hdbid=1002

This is a sample of the results.  30 pages??  I'd better get to work!

I often use this to check and see if any given database can be mined effectively.  It also helps me a regularly sweep of my entire tree (which is full of collateral relations as well as my direct ancestors), which is often neglected.


Edited to add 11 March 2023: This hack no longer works 😒


© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Tuesday's Rant: Ancestry, Get a Chromosome Browser Already!

Come ON.

The potential for finding connections is tremendous due to their large database of DNA testers and trees, but for some reason the chromosome browser remains elusive.

Why?

Now, you can actually see how much total DNA in centimorgans across 1 or more segments you share with any cousin match:

What exactly am I supposed to do with this info?

But so what??  Shouldn't you see WHERE you match??



So, what can you do now on AncestryDNA?

You can search your cousin matches by last name and/or location:

Actually, this is a great function.  I wish it would allow custom locations for the search (you have to use whatever is in the preset locations, and not locations actually that have been added by users to their trees), but otherwise it is very handy.

Since 2014 Ancestry has provided "DNA Circles," which shows how many people have trees and shared DNA around certain of your own ancesters:

These are basically "confirmed" matches, although if everyone is claiming the wrong ancestor it can be wrong on that level, but this shows not only your cousin matches with ancestor hints, but also people that your cousins might match up with that you don't have on your cousin list directly.  SERIOUSLY, I could really use a chromosome browser with this one--so I could start my chromosome mapping in earnest.  Arghhhh.

Since 2015, Ancestry has provided "New Ancestor Discoveries," which shows people that are not on your tree but might be related since you match so many other people who do have them as ancestors:

I'm related to people who claim these people as ancestors.  Gee, I sure could use a chromosome browser to analyze these!

Last week "AncestryDNA’s Cutting-Edge Science Gets Even Sharper" apparently applied refinements to all the cousin matches, a move which I am agnostic about, but has upset a lot of people (most due to lost cousin matches, which at least can be downloaded for now).  I actually would prefer to "lose" matches instead of having too many false ones.


But you know what I really want?  A chromosome browser on Ancestry!

Why does this have to be like squeezing blood from a stone?  I know Ancestry has smart people doing really interesting stuff with the DNA, but why not a chromosome browser?

Yes, I'm on GEDmatch, which is insanely brilliant.
I've transferred my DNA to Family Tree DNA (which has a chromosome browser and a limited amount of trees).
I've transferred my DNA to DNA.LAND, which is limited (but interesting, and free).


But my genealogical tree is on Ancestry, and I have loads of cousin matches on Ancestry.



Ancestry, Get a Chromosome Browser Already!





© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Some Notes on The State Census of Alabama, 1866 on Ancestry

My 3rd great grandfather, Henry Hill Freeman (1815-1887), and his daughter Nancy "Nannie" Elizabeth Freeman (1857-1934), were my last direct ancestors to leave Alabama when they headed out for Texas in 1869.

I'm related to the Freemans through my mother's grandfather, James Chappell Warren Jr, son of Nannie.

Detail of where Henry Hill Freeman lived in Macon County, Alabama, in 1866.  From the Library of Congress: State of Alabama. October. 2nd. 1866.

The last Alabama census that Henry appeared on was 1866 Alabama Census.

Going to the Alabama Department of Archives and History led me to this description from the catalog entry description:

Title: State census, 1866.
Author: Alabama. Secretary of State.
Description: The series consists of 131 volumes organized by county. Four schedules were taken as part of the 1866 state census, but all four schedules may not be available for each county.
Schedule 1 headings include, for the "White Population": Name [of head of household]; Males under 10 years, Males 10 to 20, Males 20 to 30, etc.; Total Males; Females under 10 years, Females 10 to 20, etc., Total Females; Total White population; Soldiers [who had been in the household before the Civil War] killed, died of sickness, or disabled; Insane, Epileptics, idiots.
Schedule 2 enumerates the "Colored Population," listing each household's head and the number of males and females by 10 year groupings (under 10 years, 10 to 20, etc.)
Schedule 3 counts the white population by township and range, listing the name of the head of each household and how many members were male and female in each within the age categories of "under 10 years," "10 to 20," and "Over 20."
Schedule 4 tabulates white population and educational facilities by township and range under the headings: Population, Colleges, number of scholars, Academies, number of scholars, Common schools, number of scholars.

This record set is available on Ancestry, but Ancestry does not make it clear what is included, but instead lumps its description with Alabama censuses from 1820, 1850, 1855, and 1866.  And unfortunately the drop down menu on the right doesn't clear up the fact that the 1866 census had 4 different schedules!  It is not clear to me that schedules 2 and 4 were included on Ancestry's collection.  The navigation certainly does not reflect their existence one way or the other.

I'd also really like to take a look at schedule 4 for information on education.  I'll keep looking!

But back to Henry Hill Freeman.

When I looked up "H H Freeman" on the Ancestry collection it showed him listed four times in Macon for that year.

Why is he listed 4 times in the census?

This proved to be duplicate pages in the actual census, not a mistake on Ancestry's part.  H H Freeman appeared on both Schedule 1 and Schedule 3, and each schedule was written out twice (not sure why).


Schedule 1:

1866 Alabama state census, Macon County, white population, Schedule 1, p 5, dwelling [blank], family [blank], for H. H. Freeman; digital image, Alabama State Census, 1820-1866 (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1576 : accessed 3 May 2016); citing Secretary of State, Alabama, at Alabama Department of Archives and History (SG5,686, Reels 3-17).

1866 Alabama state census, Macon County, white population, Schedule 1, p 50, dwelling [blank], family [blank], for H. H. Freeman; digital image, Alabama State Census, 1820-1866 (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1576 : accessed 3 May 2016); citing Secretary of State, Alabama, at Alabama Department of Archives and History (SG5,686, Reels 3-17).

An interesting aspect of Schedule 1 is that it provides a section at the end that includes losses of each family due to the Civil War, by tallying soldiers who had been killed, died of disease, or were disabled.  Henry Freeman had one son (and my 3rd great granduncle), Thomas "Tom" D Freeman (1846-1862) had died after the Battle of Perryville.  He served in Company H, Forty-fifth Alabama, under Captain Wilson, and was wounded October 12, 1862.  Note that the census showed he died of disease.



Schedule 3:

1866 Alabama state census, Macon County, white population, Schedule 3, Township No. 15, Range 24, p 7?, dwelling [blank], family [blank], for H. H. Freeman; digital image, Alabama State Census, 1820-1866 (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1576 : accessed 3 May 2016); citing Secretary of State, Alabama, at Alabama Department of Archives and History (SG5,686, Reels 3-17).

1866 Alabama state census, Macon County, white population, Schedule 3, Township No. 15, Range 24, p 63, dwelling [blank], family [blank], for H. H. Freeman; digital image, Alabama State Census, 1820-1866 (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1576 : accessed 3 May 2016); citing Secretary of State, Alabama, at Alabama Department of Archives and History (SG5,686, Reels 3-17).

Edited to add:  FindMyPast also carries this record set.  They have this to say about it:

A year after the American Civil War ended in 1865, Alabama conducted this state census to count the population. While state censuses were usually necessary to calculate representation in the state legislature, the state was placed under a military government after the war which lasted until 1868. However, the state government was then returned to local control.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: "5 Tips for Getting the Most from City Directories" from Ancestry Blog

There's my 3rd great grandfather, George W Hartley, shoemaker, in the 1831 Cincinnati city directory, right where I expected him to be.

Linda Barnickel over at Ancestry Blog wrote a great post a few weeks ago, "5 Tips for Getting the Most from City Directories".  I've already used Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and San Diego city directories quite a bit over the past few years, and yet I always get more out of them each time I go back.

From the same 1831 Cincinnati city directory that George Hartley was in, here is a rundown on their steamboat statistics, reminding me that steamboats were kind of a big deal back then.

Lately I've been thinking about how my ancestors traveled, and what kind of regular transportation routes were available to them, and as Linda points out, many city directories give some mention of them.  I think it is time I reexamine them once more.

Worth a read!



BTW Even though Fold3 is primarily a military focused site, they also provide non-military records, including their city directory collection, which is quite extensive.  It includes most major American cities from the early 1800's to about 1923.  And of course Ancestry has a huge amount of city directories throughout the US, some even into the early 1970's.




© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.