RePost from 2015: Catholic Parish Registers at the National Library of Ireland

A post this morning by the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) brought this to my attention. The National Library of Ireland (NLI) has just put its microfilm collection of Catholic parish registers recording baptisms and marriage from most of Ireland's parishes in Ireland and Northern Ireland up to 1880 online for research and download. Starting dates for these records vary from region to region and parish to parish.*

[National Library of Ireland on The Commons, photostream on flickr]

Read what the NLI says about its mammoth project:

Church registers of marriage and baptism are considered to be the single most important source for family history researchers prior to the 1901 census. In many cases, the registers contain the only surviving record of particular individuals and families. With growing numbers of people engaged in family history research and limited on-site facilities at the NLI in Dublin, the decision was taken in 2010 to digitise the parish register microfilms. Following a tender process, the contract for digitisation was awarded to AEL Data who converted 550 microfilm reels, containing over 3500 registers into approximately 373,000 digital images. These images correspond to a page or two-page opening within a register volume. 

Of course since these records are organized by parish within each county, searching for your Irish ancestors will be easiest for those who know where to start. The NLI has a useful section on its Help page on finding the right parish with links.**

[St Saviour's Church and the Tait Memorial Clock in Limerick. National Library of Ireland on The Commons, photostream on flickr]

The NLI site is well-designed and easy to use. Best of all, it's FREE!

*The several counties (Meath, Armaugh and Galway) didn't have anything earlier than the very late 18th century.
**For more information about Irish genealogy in general, this link is a very good place to start.

© 2015 Copyright, Pat Hartley, All Rights Reserved.


© 2018 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.

Saturday Night Free Legacy Family Tree Webinar: Jane Wilcox Presents "New York City and State Governmental Vital Records"

I don't have any direct ancestors from New York City, but I definitely have a lot from upstate New York, and I struggle to find information beyond censuses.

Jane Wilcox explains how to approach New York City and state records in "New York City and State Governmental Vital Records" which was recorded yesterday, May 12, 2017:

New York is a notoriously challenging state to find birth, death and marriage records. Navigating New York City and State governmental vital records requires a "quick sheet" to make sure you have looked in every possible place to find the indexes and the records. Civil registration jurisdictions need to be clearly understood and considered, plus the key dates for laws and regulations that give context to what was actually collected, and when. And importantly, learn what is accessible today and how to order records. We'll also explore examples for using the records.

Free to non-subscribers through May 19, 2017.  Runs 1 hour 32 minutes.





© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

California Birth Record Registrations Start

Some background info from Ancestry's California Birth Index, 1905-1995.

I've used the California birth index regularly since I started doing genealogy on Ancestry, the first search naturally being my own birth (it's there!).  It is a great source for finding birthdate and the child's mother's maiden name.

But these records didn't just magically happen, of course.  In the years leading up the July 1, 1905, there was a push to make vital records like births mandatory, as evidenced by this plea by "T.C. Stockton, Health Officer" in San Diego in 1901*** ("Attention to the Law: Health Officer Desires It. Notices Being Mailed to Physicians," San Diego Union (San Diego, California), Saturday, 27 April 1901, p 5, col 3; digital images, GenealogyBank (http://bit.ly/1QjMWkp : accessed 16 Jan 2016).
Notice he mentions the San Diego city charter laws (Article IX of Chapter 3, sections 3 and 4) as well as the Ordinance No. 193 (in the city charter?), which required vital and interment records kept.  He also made a personal plea to "the physicians of the city" to keep good records.

In the beginning of July 1905 newspapers across California began publishing notices about the new law, which included a mailing out of "blanks" (forms), according to this mention*** in the Evening Tribune ("Business for Supervisors: New Blanks," Evening Tribune (San Diego, California), Monday, 3 Jul 1905, p 5, col 4; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://bit.ly/1RQbvXY : accessed 16 Jan 2016).

Here is a more thorough explanation*** from San Francisco/Oakland ("Family History Must Be Given," San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California), Wednesday, 12 Jul 1905, p13, col 3; digital image, GenealogyBank (http://bit.ly/1OteQbh : accessed 16 Jan 2016).


I am a bit dismayed that I was unable to ascertain an online source for either the city charter or the specific state legislation mentioned in the San Francisco article.  I have a lot more to learn about researching California state and San Diego law history, obviously.  I am guessing that the law for the state-wide collection of vital records was probably passed in 1904.

***You must be a GenealogyBank subscriber to view these links.



© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994 on FamilySearch.org

This Fantastic Find should be filed under New to Me.

I believe they have had this collection, California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994, for years, but hadn't quite realized what this database contained.  It's a hybrid of indexed and unindexed scanned images of various birth and death records from most county courthouses in California.

Using the index, I tried for Tibbetts, which is one of my ancestral lines.  I came up with a cousin, Lee Buckmaster:

His mother was Serilda Clementine "Tillie" Tibbetts.  An interesting thing for me is that Lee's grandfather Wesley Tibbetts was the brother of my ancestor Henry Tibbetts, and Mary Ann Messinger was the sister to my ancestor Catherine Messinger, Henry Tibbetts's wife.  Lee and I share the same Tibbetts/Burnight/Messinger/Miller ancestry.

My own pedigree for contrast.

Using the index part of this database revealed a Tillie Tibbets:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV37-XV88

Lee's death certificate!

"California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV37-XV88 : accessed 30 August 2015), Tillie Tibbits in entry for Lee M. Buckmaster, 06 Jan 1946; citing Death, Lodi, San Joaquin, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 1,832,046.

That is so much more information than this index:

You'd never know he died of "Carcinoma of Lung."  For people doing genealogy for medical history this type of info is very important.

They have a huge birth and death collection for Los Angeles, which I will mine through as I've got loads of people there.

They may be continually adding to this database, as the description claims that Contra Costa (for example) is not represented, but browsing through the actual database reveals they have some death registers for that county.

Don't just rely on the indexing.  Some of FamilySearch's most amazing records are as yet unindexed.



© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: Catholic Parish Registers at the National Library of Ireland

A post this morning by the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) brought this to my attention. The National Library of Ireland (NLI) has just put its microfilm collection of Catholic parish registers recording baptisms and marriage from most of Ireland's parishes in Ireland and Northern Ireland up to 1880 online for research and download. Starting dates for these records vary from region to region and parish to parish.*

[National Library of Ireland on The Commons, photostream on flickr]

Read what the NLI says about its mammoth project:

Church registers of marriage and baptism are considered to be the single most important source for family history researchers prior to the 1901 census. In many cases, the registers contain the only surviving record of particular individuals and families. With growing numbers of people engaged in family history research and limited on-site facilities at the NLI in Dublin, the decision was taken in 2010 to digitise the parish register microfilms. Following a tender process, the contract for digitisation was awarded to AEL Data who converted 550 microfilm reels, containing over 3500 registers into approximately 373,000 digital images. These images correspond to a page or two-page opening within a register volume. 

Of course since these records are organized by parish within each county, searching for your Irish ancestors will be easiest for those who know where to start. The NLI has a useful section on its Help page on finding the right parish with links.**

[St Saviour's Church and the Tait Memorial Clock in Limerick. National Library of Ireland on The Commons, photostream on flickr]

The NLI site is well-designed and easy to use. Best of all, it's FREE!

*The several counties (Meath, Armaugh and Galway) didn't have anything earlier than the very late 18th century.
**For more information about Irish genealogy in general, this link is a very good place to start.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

2 Good Sources for Finding the Vital Records of the U.S. and U.S. Territories: FamilySearch.org and the Center for Disease Control

The symbols of vital records. Vital Records Collage. users Jane41 and DiltsGD, 30 Sep 2010. Digital image. FamilySearch wiki. http://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/File:Vital_Records_Collage.JPG

Vital records: birth, marriage, divorce, and death.

Every state and territory in the United States has its own unique history and timespan of generating vital records and making them available. It is necessary to contact the particular state or territory when you want vital records that are not already available online (although more and more do become available through free and fee sites).  There is no U.S. Federal department that has centralized these vital records, with the exception of records taken through an embassy or consulate for Americans living abroad.

The Division of Vital Statistics, part of the CDC/National Center for Health Statistics, maintains an easy to use index of states and territories called Where to Write for Vital Records that gives the basic facts on how much each vital record type costs, where to contact for more info, time range of available records, and which entity that holds/generates the records.  The pages are updated as needed.

The FamilySearch.org wiki article United States Vital Records goes a step farther, with more background information on each state,why and when records were created, and their availability. In fact, FamilySearch.org's Creation of Records is a nice summary on why it is important to understand how and why a record is created in the first place, and how it can improve your research.


Ancestry.com has a list of states and territories in their U.S. Birth, Marriage, and Death Records wiki article, based on Ancestry's Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.  This link is best used if you have a subscription to Ancestry, though, as it links to many of Ancestry's vital records databases, although the information from the Red Book is very helpful in general for understanding the following records and resources across the U.S.:
Vital Records
Census Records
Internet Resources
County Resources
Background Sources
Land Records
Probate Records
Court Records
Tax Records
Cemetery Records
Church Records
Military Records
Periodicals, Newspapers, and Manuscript Collections
Archives, Libraries, and Societies



© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.