Lincolns Assassination 150 years ago - FOLD3 records

This month marks the 150th anniversary of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. He was shot on April 14 around 10 o’clock at night while attending a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC. Read more about this and resources at FOLD3 here

Sharing Family History

Sharing family history: 16 Family Activities for sharing family history can be found here:

An interesting look at the last of the civil war veterans

For 90 years after the last shot of the American Civil War was fired, the men who had fought for the Union and the Confederacy, respectively, continued to meet, and in doing so wielded considerable political power in the nation that had divided them.

For one, the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) brought together Union soldiers, referred to as "veterans of the late unpleasantness." Starting in 1866, only one year after the war's close, and ending with the death of 109-year-old Albert Woolson in 1956, the G.A.R. boasted 490,000 members at its peak in 1890.

A hugely influential body, the G.A.R. was instrumental in electing a number of U.S. presidents in the late 1800s, from the 18th (Ulysses S. Grant) to the 25th (William McKinley). Orators for the G.A.R. were caricatured as "waving the bloody shirt."

For the South, the United Confederate Veterans (U.C.V.) was inaugurated in 1889. Local Confederate veteran associations proliferated after the war. At the movement's peak, more than 1,500 such groups were amalgamated in the U.C.V. The U.C.V.'s stated purpose was to promote "social, literary, historical and benevolent" aims.

During the 1890s, around 30,000 veterans and 50,000 further guests were present at the annual U.C.V. reunion. But in 1950, at the final reunion, a lone U.C.V. member was present: 98-year-old James Moore of Alabama.

About 617,000 Americans were killed during the Civil War. The number is equal to the entire number of Americans who had died in all wars up to that point, including both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

http://mashable.com/2015/04/10/civil-war-oldest-veterans/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link

Be a citizen archivist

Join AOTUS (Archivist of the United States) David Ferriero in transcribing some of the most important documents in America's history. This week — March 15-21 — is Sunshine Week for government: the annual nationwide celebration of access to public information. It’s “a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.”1

And, Ferriero thought, how better to promote access to public information than to help transcribe some of the most interesting — and, by the way, genealogically useful — documents of our nation’s history?

So this week NARA’s AOTUS has a Transcription Challenge going on. Citizen-archivists are challenged — okay, invited — to join in the challenge to transcribe any one (or more!) of millions of pages of handwritten or typed documents held by NARA and available through its online catalog.2 By tagging and transcribing the documents, our work will make the information accessible through the catalog system. So the end result will be both text and, in effect, an every-name index to the transcribed documents.

From: The Legal Genealogist Blog http://www.legalgenealogist.com/

Seeking Michigan - Indexes

The Archives of Michigan recently posted the card index to the Detroit News at Seeking Michigan: http://seekingmichigan.org/about/indexes.

Originally compiled by the staff of the Detroit News, this subject index of the Detroit News newspaper totals more than 1 million index cards. The tables of searchable PDF files are arranged alphabetically by subject and date approximately from the late 1800’s to the late 1990’s.

An index card indicates that a clipping file exists for those articles. Researchers may then request to look in the clippings file at the Archives of Michigan for the actual articles cited or visit a research institution that has the newspaper on microfilm.

Among this index, you will find other indexes that can help find Michigan family history from the Archives of Michigan.

Take a look and enjoy!

19 Strange Professions of Your Ancestors that no longer exist

These Weird Careers Are Now Ancient History

http://crestleaf.com/blog/19-strange-professions-ancestors-dont-exist-today/

Houston Chronicle Obituaries Online

Here is a brief summary of my morning presentation on Houston Chronicle obituaries online:

Full-Text Obituaries --- 10/29/2001 to present

• visit www.chron.com
• hover the mouse pointer over "Local" (do not click)
• click "Obituaries"
• click "Advanced Search" (located in the box labeled "Search Obituaries & Guest Books")
• change "Past 30 Days" to "All Time" (this will search obits from 10/29/2001 to present)
• enter first and last name of deceased and click "Search")
• if match is found, click "Read Obituary"

Lists of Names of Deceased taken from Houston Chronicle Obituaries --- 10/29/1985 to present***

• visit www.houstonlibrary.org
• click Research --->  Resources By Category --->  Newspapers
• click "Houston Chronicle (Article Search)"
• enter "obituaries" as an 'all text' keyword
• enter the surname you are searching as an 'all text' keyword
• click "Search"
• search results are sorted by year on the left side of the screen

*** Note: For some strange reason, these obituary lists of names seem to almost disappear after Feb 2009, although they are occasionally spotted in later months/years under different heading ("deaths" and "life tributes", for example).

I will add the above info to the Digital Newspapers Finding Aid at the Reference Desk as well.

Happy Hunting!

Steven 

Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States

Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States online!

From Dick Eastman's online genealogical newsletter:

Charles O. Paullin published his Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States in 1932.  It contains nearly 700 maps covering seemingly every facet of the country's social, econominc and politalc life, including maps, then novel, showing county by county results for presidental elections going back to the beginning of the Republic.

http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2013/12/online-animated-version-of-the-atlas-of-the-historical-geography-of-the-united-states.html

Sue

Family History Archive

As mentioned, the Family History Archive, the digital book project we partner which FamilySearch in has been moved to the new website.

http://www.books.familysearch.org/

All the books from the BYU Family History Archives servers have been moved to this site.  I am not sure when the link to "books" at the FamilySearch website will be updated to link to the new site.

The new platform the project sits at has increased functionality

Maps @ Genealogyinc.com

This is a website that I've found useful when looking for historical maps, atlases and county formations.  http://www.genealogyinc.com/maps/

When you go onto the site... just scroll down to the state section and pick a state.
Thanks,
Cary

FOLD3 New interface

Fold3 has new search features and results features.  Read about them here:
http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/07/fold3com-has-new-look.html
The home page used in the example is a personal subscription home page, however the results and some of the functionality are the same in the personal and institutional subscriptions.


Sue