GenealogyandFamilyHistory.com

By: Carolyn L. Barkley

I’m writing this post from my hotel room overlooking the Salt Palace, site of next week’s RootsTech Conference, in Salt Lake City. I’m looking forward to a week of research before the conference – a few client problems to solve (note the positive attitude)–spending most of the time working on my own family lines, something that I seem to do all too infrequently.

As I have prepared for this trip, I’ve been thinking about the role of a college education in the lives of our ancestors. In my own family, my mother, father and I are the only individuals who have a college education, my father and I proceeding on to receive masters’ degrees. The generational immediacy of college attendance and graduation in my family may not be unusual. There are, however, families for whom the opportunity, and perhaps the expectation, that each generation would attend a college or university was commonplace. Looking for college records may often be an often overlooked step in family research, but it is an important possibility to entertain as we pursue more about our ancestor’s lives.

My first experience with collegiate records was during a trip to the National Archives of Scotland (then still called the Scottish Record Office) some years ago. At the time I was actively compiling content for the Barclay One-Name Study (now the Barclay Genealogical Database). During the course of my several days in Edinburgh, I discovered a book in the SRO reference section listing many years of graduates of Aberdeen University. As the northeast of Scotland is an area populated by many Barclays, I happily transcribed a long list of graduates for the one-name study (and somewhere in a pile under the eaves that transcribed list awaits the light of day).

What sources are available today if you wish to look for collegians in your family research?

• Alumni Lists. This online database is hosted by Rootsweb and includes 283,724 records that encompass 65,097 distinct surnames. The content derives by submissions from visitors to the site. In searching the site, one can perform both general surname and specific surname/given name searches. A surname search for “Barclay” provided a list of twelve names dating from 1909 to 1979 from schools in Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Oregon, New York, and Minnesota. It is important to note that entries are not all at the collegiate level. Of the twelve Barclay entries, only one was from an institution of higher education (VPI in Blacksburg, Virginia); the rest of the entries recorded high schools. A surname search for “Barkley” produced a list of ten names; again, the majority of the entries were for high school. However, one 1948 entry for Purdue University provided additional information including the residence of the individual; the date, time and location of the graduation ceremony; the name of the president of the university at the time; and the source of the information. I came by this additional information by clicking on the “more information link.”
• School Alumni Lists at DistantCousin. This site provides access to a “free online archive of school alumni records (Yearbooks, alumni publications, etc.) and scanned images. A surname search is possible or you can browse alumni lists by location. My standard “Barclay” surname search identified five entries including four Barclays (digitized full-text page images) who appeared on page 34 in the Directory of Former Students of Harvard Living in 1919; the entry included years of attendance and address. A single individual from the class of 1887 who appeared in the 1913 Alumni Record of the University of Illinois, also included the individual’s degree, date and place of birth, parents’ names, marriage date and name of spouse, children’s names and birth dates, and address at the time of publication. I also looked at another database that was supposed to include a Barclay, the Vassar College Class of 1925, but was unable to find the referenced entry. Not all states are available to browse geographically. Those that are available include California, Washington, D.C., Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. I found eight institutions available for Massachusetts (seven colleges/universities and one high school). Among them was my alma mater, Wellesley College, for which a listing of the class of 1905 provided names and addresses.
• Ancestry. A card catalog search for “alumni” provided a list of twenty-one links, not all of them pertaining to colleges or universities. Among them, however, are two interesting British databases spanning many centuries: Cambridge University Alumni 1261-1900 and Oxford University 1500-1886. While the fifty-four Barclays included in this database represented several colleges, Trinity was by far the Barclay the most numerous affiliation. By contrast only twelve Barclays were listed in the Oxford database.
• Cyndi’s List. A search for “yearbooks and annuals” provided access to 156 links to sites, including yearbooks and alumni organizations and resources. One of the most extensive is the Dead Fred Genealogy Photo Archive. Some links point to school specific sites such as the University of Wisconsin School Annual 1883 to 1889, providing cabinet cards of students and faculty for those years.
• Family History Library. A subject search for “alumni” in the Family History Library Catalog  provided a list of forty-two titles including such interesting titles as Necrology of Alumni of Harvard College; Princetonians: a Biographical Dictionary; The Historical Catalogue of the University of Mississippi 1849-1909, and the interesting sounding Yale’s Confederates: a Biographical Dictionary. If you happen to know your ancestor’s specific college or university, a Google search will assist you in identifying available resources.
• Notable Alumni by College. If you have a famous person in your family, you will want to check this site. It claims to offer a “complete directory of famous alumni, listed by individual school. Photos and metadata are included in each famous student’s list – although to be clear, the lists are not definitive for graduates, but rather include all notable students who attended a school at one time, not just the prominent alums who graduated with a degree.” You can scroll through an alphabetical listing of famous and not-so famous colleges, universities, and high schools. Included are such surprising (at least to me) entries as Prince Albert II of Monaco, listed under Notable Amherst College Alumni/Students.
• Just a Joy. This website has established a family heirloom exchange which is an “indexed artifact matching service designed for families who are searching for original authentic items that belonged to their ancestors.” Items on the site are for sale and many items are yearbooks and annuals. Thirteen items are currently available for the surname Barclay including the Dartmouth Freshman Green Book for the class of 1926, the 1957 Yearbook for the 1^st Battalion, 2^nd Regiment Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, and the 1942 edition of Yackety Yak, the yearbook from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Talking with family members and reviewing family documents and photographs may document a college or university graduate in your family. Then, with the help of available print and online sources, you may be able to tell the story of the academic life and experiences of your ancestor.

By: Carolyn L. Barkley

I think that curiosity motivates genealogists. Remember the adage, “curiosity killed the cat?” I recently read an extension of that statement, written by contemporary fantasy novelist, Holly Black: “If curiosity killed the cat, it was satisfaction that brought it back.” The interplay between curiosity and the satisfaction realized in ferreting out a challenging bit of genealogical knowledge drives my research. I looked for other views on curiosity, to see how else it might relate to my work (aha…curiosity about curiosity). Samuel Johnson stated, “Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.”Albert Einstein believed that “Curiosity is more important than knowledge.” (Perhaps that fact is what sustains us when there is no apparent answer to a research problem.) Finally, Charles Baudelaire wrote, “I set out to discover the why of it, and to transform my pleasure into knowledge.”

My consideration of curiosity and its place in my love of genealogy led me to wonder how any of us might have gotten started in this field, whether hobbyists or professional researchers. Watching television programs such as “Who Do You Think You Are?” might have inspired some of our first genealogical steps; someone who is already a genealogist might have sparked our interest; or family experiences might predispose us to a love of family history.

In my own case, I was destined to be a genealogist. I spent my summers in a household with three older generations–the oldest member having been born in 1865–and my mother had known an earlier generation. This exposure to earlier generations provided first-hand information and stories that would foster my love of history beginning at an early age. In addition, my grandfather was a city clerk for fifty years and instilled in me a love of records and the need for their preservation. One of my earliest summer memories was tramping around the woods of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, with my grandfather and my parents, looking for old cellar holes, and comparing them to land ownership maps in a county historical atlas. During holiday visits, I was able to spend part of a day in my grandfather’s city hall office, thumbing through all of the vital record file drawers (these files still exist and I was able to see them while on a trip to Springfield, Massachusetts, last April). When I was a teenager, he introduced me to land records, and together, we traced the ownership of the summer property he owned. My future as a genealogist was never in question, and I became the designated genealogist/historian for the family. That status has continued over the last forty years, despite my erstwhile unsuccessful efforts to interest other members of the family in my growing passion for genealogical research. My husband initially was interested in my work on his family, but lost heart when I hit a 1750s brick wall. My son would listen to information on his paternal line, but I think he was just being polite. I began to eye my three granddaughters, weighing which one might be the one to assume the family’s genealogical mantle in the future. Then, last fall, a single event changed everything.

I was spending the day in Roanoke, Virginia, with my son and his family. His wife, adopted at birth, was interested in seeing if some individuals she had found on Facebook might be members of her birth mother’s family. She and I did some searching on Ancestry.com, and based on what information she did know about her birth family, we were able to determine that these Facebook folks were indeed related to her. The next day, I had been home again for just a few hours when my son called. Apparently the two of them had spent much of the time since I had left searching for more information not only on her family, but his as well. And…they were hooked, just like that! Later, it was very rewarding to discover that, when we were dividing up some family silver, he knew who I was talking about when I commented on the monogram on a bread tray.

I worked for many years in a public library with a wonderful reference staff who, like many librarians, would have happily slipped out the back door when genealogical customers asked for help. As I was both a librarian and a genealogist, I provided training programs on how to best serve these customers. While well-received, no one was really excited until, for reasons still unknown to me, a training on the about to be released 1930s census seemed to light a fire under many of the staff. The palpable excitement resulted in several field trips to the National Archives where staff worked on their own family history and began to understand more fully “what those people were doing in their library.”

In all fairness, for some library staff, these trainings did not represent their first exposure to family history, nor the seminal moment that started them on the genealogical pathway. One individual relates, “From the time I was a toddler, my father walked me through the graveyard at the church one of my Revolutionary War ancestors founded in Albemarle County, Virginia, introducing me to my ancestors.” A second shared the following story:

“When I was just starting school, my paternal grandmother lived with us part-time. As she was not pleased with my printing skills, every night after dinner, she would sit down with me to practice. I would sit at the table with a big primary pencil and a sheet of lined paper and ‘Susie’ would give me a name to write down. Each name was an ancestor. After we got the spelling and printing properly executed, ‘Susie’ would tell me a little story about the person: an immigrant from Scotland who supported the Pretender; a great-grandmother who was killed by lightening; a World War I nurse in France. Even when I had no understanding of the events surrounding these stories, I was convinced that the history of the world was advanced due to the efforts of my ancestors! My father (her son), who at best thought her obsession was ancestor worship, and at worst, compensation for lost glories, went so far as to borrow a huge blue-printed family tree from a distant cousin. It was so big that he had to lay it out on the living room floor, and he and I crawled around the edges pointing out people!”

She also tells a story about her nephew, who “when he was about 10, spent spring break with my parents. As he didn’t live in Virginia, my parents drove him around to all the family homes, historic sites, and cemeteries they could cover in a week. When he wrote his school report, ‘What I Did on My Summer Break,’ he included the memorable line, ‘I know more dead people than any other kid in the fourth grade.’”

It is particularly gratifying to see others take part in an activity we love. The individual whose writing skills were honed by practicing family names today teaches Genealogy 101 classes to Virginia Beach Public Library users. Sometimes staff members attend this class and become curious about their ancestors. One newer staff member emailed me to say that “I got started in genealogy to find out more about my father’s family [about] which, out of six children in my family, no one ever thought to ask any questions. As a result I took [the] Genealogy 101 class at the Central Library, and have traced the…family back to the early 1800s.”

Curiosity is the foundation of genealogical research. It is as satisfying to learn personally as it is to inspire others to do so. Best of all, I have discovered that my youngest granddaughter (age 10) likes taking pictures in cemeteries. I think I’ve got another convert!

“The ‘How You Got Started in Genealogy’ article originally planned for today will appear on January 27th instead. Please enjoy this week’s article and visit us again next Friday. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”

By: Carolyn L. Barkley

I recently worked with a client’s manuscript in which his father’s letters home during World War II played a prominent part. That project was followed almost immediately by my discovery of two long letters written by my father during the war, the first including details of his troop train ride between Miami, Florida, and Oklahoma after basic training; the second including details of his travels across France in 1946 to board the ship that would take him home. Both experiences led me to think about how to identify and locate service-related records for members of the “greatest generation.” Since members of this age group are leaving us more quickly now that they are entering their 90s, learning about their wartime experiences has become more imperative. This article provides a brief introduction to World War II records research – enough to get you started.

• A good first step (as with many genealogical endeavors) is to learn the stories and discover the documents and artifacts that exist within our families. In my case, I have the two letters (my mother having apparently discarded the others), some photographs (not always identified), some uniform patches, separation qualification record, enlistment record and report of separation, honorable discharge papers, and honorable discharge certificate.
• Identify the unit in which the individual served and request copies of military records. Because my father was buried in a Massachusetts Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery, his military records were easily found in family files. If they had not been, I would have requested them from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri. This request requires a Standard Form 180. Alternatively, if the veteran applied for veteran’s benefits after the war, you might be able to obtain information from the Veteran’s Administration (VA), or discharge papers may be on record in the local county clerk’s office. These records document the major elements of an individual’s service. My father’s records document his enlistment in the Army Air Corps on 23 September 1942, in Boston, Massachusetts, and his entry into active service on 20 February 1943. He attended an eight-week course in the maintenance of aircraft records at the Edmond Oklahoma Engineering and Operating Clerical School, took a civil service examination to qualify as an interpreter in Portuguese, and “served overseas in England and France for about 28 months with the 370^th Air Service Group” where he was “in charge of all correspondence coming through headquarters for correction and submission to [the] adjutant for signature…Typed 30 words per minute. Performed duties of personnel clerk for 22 months handling the work records of 400 men in an aircraft instrument hangar in England.” He was discharged as a Staff Sergeant, received a Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, Victory Medal, and the European/African/Middle Eastern Theatre Campaign Ribbon, and was separated from service at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts, on 9 February 1946. This information has added context to my father’s stories about his wartime experiences (largely stories about bicycle rides around the English countryside with a buddy, and less about his day-to-day work).

If the soldier died during the war, you may be able to identify his branch of the service (but not necessarily unit), rank, service number, home, and manner of death (killed in action, died of wounds, died non-battle) in the World War II Registry of the National World War II Memorial or the World War II Honor Roll of the American Battle Monuments Commission. A Barkley surname search in the Honor Roll identified a John W. Barkley Jr., of Ohio, who served in the 547^th Bomber Squadron, 384^th Bomber Group, Heavy, as a First Lieutenant in the U. S. Army Air Forces. He died 29 February 1944 and is buried in the Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England. He was awarded the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters. A similar Barkley surname search in the World War II Registry provided an entry for a Bernard W. Barkley of Canton, Illinois, who served in the U. S. Army Air Forces. It provides further information stating that he “served as a B-25D ‘Mitchell’ medium bomber student co-pilot,”
and was killed October 12, 1944 “along with the student pilot during a nighttime navigation training mission…northeast of the La Junta Army Air Field, La Junta, Colorado.”

An additional source of information is the World War II collection on Ancestry.com. I located my father’s enlistment record in a database entitled U.S. Army Enlistment Records 1938-1946. All of the information matches that contained in my copies of his separation and discharge documents – with the odd exception of the statement of his civil occupation as “actors and actresses” (he was an undergraduate student in English)! This collection includes several databases such as U.S. Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949, World War II Draft Registration Cards [1942], and World War II Missing in Action or Lost at Sea. The army enlistment records database filters by birth date; unfortunately this filter is not available for the naval muster rolls database, so I have not yet located the record for my uncle, Robert C. Smith, among the 43,000+ entries that are identified by a search on his name alone. (While I do have his military record in my files, it will take some time to locate it and that will have to be a future project.

• Identify further information about his military unit to create a chronology. The most useful records are found in After Action Reports that provide narratives of the unit’s monthly progress throughout the war. These records are located at National Archives II in College Park, Maryland. While NARA staff will not do the research for you, they will assist you in identifying what unit-specific records are available and will do the copying for you. You will also want to obtain Morning Reports for the soldier’s company or squadron, which you will have identified from his separation papers. These records (which were not lost in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center) will include information about location of the unit as of 2400 hours on a specific date, any men with personnel status changes, a daily record of events for the company, and the strength count of the company for a specific day. These reports may be obtained from the Military Organizational Records Unit of the National Personnel Records Center at 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO 63138. You will want to make it clear in your letter that you are not asking for individual personnel records, but that you are requesting copies of all Morning Reports, including all attached documents, for the specific unit within a specific time frame.)

If the individual was in the U.S. Navy, several online databases will provide interesting details. Fold3’s World War II collection includes deck log books (found under the subheading of “World War II Diaries”), which provide interesting background information. In the deck log book for the USS Bar Harbor Section Base for 2 April 1943, among the notations of visits by Brigadier General Thomas H. Jones USA and Major Wertenberger USA from Fort Williams, Portland, Maine, and the departure of IX66 (Migrant) from the harbor, is the detailed record of the receipt from the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. (A&P, for those of us who grew up in New England) of 16 lbs. cabbage, 50 lbs. turnips, 50 lbs. carrots, 24 lbs. lettuce, [and] 20 lbs. tomatoes; from Douglas Bakery, 40 lbs. bread; from Mt. Desert Island Dairies, Inc., 18 gallons milk; from Navy Supply Pier, Casco Bay, Portland, Maine, 255 lbs. apples, 267 lbs. catsup, 76 lbs. coconut, 150 lbs. crackers, 100 lbs. cereals, 255 lbs. figs, 200 lbs. flour, 300 lbs. jam, 248 lbs. lard, 1100 lbs. evaporated milk, 350 lbs. peaches, 260 lbs. pears, 255 lbs. pineapple, 300 lbs. prunes, 240 lbs. cranberry sauce, [and] 1000 lbs. granulated sugar.  These food stuffs were inspected as to quality for Lt. A. W. Mandelstam (MC) USNR, and inspected as to quantity by Ensign J. C. Rynd (S.C.) USNR. The log entry was signed by John A. MacDonald Jr., Ensign, USNR.

The Library of Congress American Memory collection, World War II Military Situation Maps, provides online access to maps showing troop positions from D-Day through 25 July 1945. In addition, the Veterans’ History Project is collecting oral histories and documents from several wars including World War II. Other pertinent information can be found at the Naval History and Heritage Command and the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center.

• Locate veterans and reunion groups for specific units. My husband, who served in Vietnam, belonged to a Charlie Company veterans group and, although he did not attend its national conventions, he did receive and read the group’s regular newsletter. Similar organizations exist for World War II units. Perhaps the best source for identifying a specific organization is Ben Myers Associations and Alumni Database, which lists veterans’ groups by military categories (Adjutant General, Cavalry, Engineers, JAG, Military Police, USAAC/USAAF/USAF, USN Ships, and many more). I have qualified this statement with “perhaps” as I have been unable to look at any of the entries due to a consistent “OBDC error code” (I have no idea what that means). Please try the site to see if you have better luck. Another site for this type of information is the Military Reunions Center where you can browse reunions by military branch.

Finally, there are several sources that you will want to consult as you begin and pursue World War II research.

Finding Information on Personal Participation in World War II, a pamphlet from the National Archives and Records Administration.

Finding Your Father’s War: a Practical Guide to Researching and Understanding Service in the World War II US Army, by Jonathan Gawne (Casemate, 2006).

How to Locate Anyone Who is or Has Been in the Military, by Richard Johnson and Deborah Johnson Know (MIE Publishing, 1999).

World War II Military Records: a Family Historian’s Guide by Debra Johnson Knox (MIE Publishing, 2003)

By: Carolyn L. Barkley

I find it hard to believe that it’s once again time for my annual get-organized-article. Facebook has recently been full of genealogists working on their goals for 2012. Are you one of them? If so, I hope that one (or more) of your goals has to do with organization of your papers and files.

Did you, like me, promise yourself last January that you would organize your research files and the piles of related papers decorating your work area floor, or perhaps your dining room table?  How successful were you in keeping your promises to yourself? Did you actually buy the office supplies, only to leave them sitting in the original store bags that you regularly step over and around? Have you piled more research paperwork on top of them? Are they still in the trunk of your car?

I know I have made similar resolutions every year for many years, but many of the offending piles are still under the eaves calling to me in increasingly strident tones in the wee hours of the morning – but I don’t have any supplies in the back of my Jeep. I actually accomplished a filing and organization project last spring, prior to attending the National Genealogical Conference in Charleston, South Carolina. In preparing for research into the Rowell family (of Charleston, and Marion County, South Carolina), I decided that it was a perfect time to put my organizational suggestions into action. The end result was a three-ring binder organized into almost twenty Rowell family groups. Preceded by a pedigree chart summarizing the family relationships, each separate section included a family group sheet, copies of census records and other documents, and applicable pages from the Find a Grave website. While researching in the South Carolina Room at the Charleston County Public Library, I was easily able to move from family group to family group, locate all pertinent documents, and add information as needed. (Yes, I could have taken a digital version with me, but sometimes I find it easier to have the printed page when I’m researching and to make the updates to the electronic files later). Based on that experience, I plan to create several other notebooks, perhaps one in anticipation of my research trip to Salt Lake City later this month. The Rowell notebook experience allows me to feel virtuous enough to share, once again,  the following tips with you as you develop your 2012 genealogical resolutions.

1. Before you file the first piece of paper, develop a clear and easily understandable organizational scheme for your files. My choice was family group sheets, but how you organize your files should be based on what best supports your research and your work methods. You might choose to file by surname, by generation, by geographical location, or by time period.
2. I suggest that you create and maintain your family research files digitally, printing them as needed for a specific research trip. (Some of us exist without paper better than others, and that’s okay.) If you are keeping the files on your computer, make sure your file names are not cryptic (you’ll want to know what they contain at-a-glance later) and group them in equally well-named folders. (And always – backup, backup, backup!) If you are keeping the files in printed form, decide whether you will use notebooks, as I did in the Rowell example, or hanging file folders. If you choose the latter format, in addition to labeling the main folder, clearly label individual file folders within each hanging file. This combination of files and labels will allow you to make adjustments in your filing scheme as your retrieval needs increase or become more sophisticated.
3. Take time for some fun. Visit your local office supply store to see what types of organizational software is available, as well as what physical folders and storage systems are available for print materials. While at the store, invest in a good label maker to produce consistent, readable labels for your physical files. If you lack space for a file cabinet – even a short narrow one – look for stackable containers that will accommodate your folders and that will fit under your desk or table, on book shelves, or in your closet. You should also buy a portable hard-drive to keep your backup files safe, or consider moving them to a storage utility such as DropBox or iCloud.
4. As you begin to set up your files and folders, pace yourself over several sessions. In order to keep from being discouraged, set yourself an attainable goal for each “cleanup” session. Tackle one pile of unorganized documents at a time, and place each document in its appropriate folder, or scan it into an appropriate file and folder. IMPORTANT: Handle each document ONCE. Do NOT separate the pile into separate piles and then even more separate files until you have no more floor space and can’t reach the file container. To repeat – pick up a document ONCE. Analyze its contents and decide where it belongs. Place it or scan it into its appropriate file and folder. If you are scanning, decide if you must keep the original document. Ask yourself if there is anything intrinsically valuable in the physical copy, or is the information contained in it the most important thing. If the latter, you may wish to discard the print copy. Repeat these actions, over time, until you have completed all of the piled-up papers and the carpet/chair/desk/table you forgot you owned can be seen once again.
5. When you are finished, congratulate yourself on a job well done and admire the new spaciousness of your room. Treat yourself to chocolate or wine – better yet both – BUT…
6. Make a new resolution to prevent the dreaded piles from returning. This resolution will not be as difficult to accomplish as you might think if you employ one basic strategy in the future. As soon as possible after every research trip, write a research report “for the file.” In the report, set out your research findings, analyze their impact on your project, and set new goals for any future research on this person or topic. Attach to the report all the documents that pertain to the research just completed and immediately scan or place in the appropriate file or folder. Voila! No piles of stray documents on the floor, no lost documents. Instead you have an easily retrievable report that will provide you with all of the information what you need for future research.

I invite each of you to comment on these tips and to share your successes in keeping the dreaded document pile-ups from taking over your workspace. I know that this blog makes it difficult to post comments, so please feel free to contact me via Facebook or my direct email address.

To help with your organizational process, as well add to your knowledge of research methodologies, you may want to consider the following titles:

• Managing a Genealogical Project, by William Dollarhide. Updated and Revised Edition (1999, reprinted 2001).
• Handybook for Genealogists. 11^th ed. (2006, but currently out of print).
• The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy by Val Greenwood. 3^rd ed. (2000, reprinted 2005).
• Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians, by Elizabeth Shown Mills. (2001, reprinted 2010).
• Evidence Explained. Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, by Elizabeth Shown Mills. 2^nd ed. (2009, reprinted 2010).
• How to Climb Your Family Tree: Genealogy for Beginners, by Harriet Stryker-Rodda. (1977, reprinted 1995).
• The Family History Research Toolkit: Forms & Charts for Genealogical Research

     (CD-ROM), by Michael Hait (2008, repr. 2012).

• Organizing Your Family History Search, by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack (Betterway Books, 1999).
• The Organized Family Historian, by Ann Carter Fleming (Rutledge Hill Press, 2004).

By: Carolyn L. Barkley

As I was growing up, I do not remember my family celebrating New Year’s Day with any special customs. It was only after I left for college and heard about New Year’s Day experiences from roommates and friends (particularly traditions having to do with food) that I realized that anything was missing. Perhaps the lack of such celebrations came about because my mother’s birthday is New Year’s Eve, and that event might have overshadowed any other New Year’s Day celebrations.  As the years have gone by, however, I have begun to wonder if earlier generations in my family had perhaps celebrated differently.

I have British Isles roots on my maternal side (although several generations have passed since emigration) and Portuguese roots on my paternal side (my grandparents’ generation). Research into these ethnic origins offers some insight into how New Year’s might have been celebrated by my ancestors (even if the tradition has been lost somehow over the years).

My British Isles ancestors were predominantly from England, although there is at least one documented tie to Scotland in my third great grandfather, George Duncan. In Scotland, the New Year’s celebration is called Hogmanay and begins on New Year’s Eve and can last as long as four days, Hogmanay is a fire festival featuring the burning of  juniper branches to purify houses. In towns such as Stonehaven fireballs are carried throughout the town, and in other locations barrels of tar are lit and rolled down the center of the street, or bonfires are lit, as a means of burning out the old year and welcoming in the new. Today, the Hogmanay celebration in Edinburgh is a huge and well-attended event. Food also plays a role with haggis, shortbread, scones, oatmeal cakes, whisky, and the traditional black bun (flaky pastry filled with raisins, currants, almonds, spices and brandy) consumed in great numbers.

One of the most important parts of the New Year’s celebration is known as “first footing.” This tradition takes place immediately after midnight New Year’s Eve and its attendant renditions of Robert Burns’ Auld Lang Syne. Neighbors visit one another’s house, bringing with them a symbolic gift such as shortbread or black bun. In turn, they are offered a “wee dram.” It is important, however, that the first visitor (“first footer”) be a dark-haired man – preferably tall and handsome – to ensure good luck to the house for the New Year. While a blond-headed man might not portent totally disastrous luck, a red-headed one would, and a red-headed woman would signal the worst possible year-to-come. In England, many of the same traditions also are followed, such as the welcome given to dark-haired first footers and, in some counties, the burning of a hawthorn bush for luck in the New Year. One particular tradition was that girls would drop egg whites into a container of water. The shapes taken by successive eggs was interpreted to signify the first letter of the name of the bridegroom each individual girl would ultimately marry.

In Portugal, the New Year’s holiday is a very social occasion, with parties, singing, and dancing. Janeiras, or carolers, sing traditional songs house-to-house. There is an interesting take on “first footing” that involves getting down from a chair on the correct foot in order to start the year out right. My Portuguese ancestors may have believed in insuring luck during the New Year by eating twelve grapes (or raisins) as the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, each grape accompanied by a wish for one of the coming year’s twelve months. Other traditions included eating a king cake (sound like Mardi Gras?), and caldo verde e brao, a meal of green broth with corn bread. Many families would also have attended church services as part of their New Year’s activities.

Many countries have special traditions surrounding the change from the old year to the new. A comprehensive list of these traditions can be found at FatherTime’s.Net, where links to locations such as Armenia, Bengali, Burma, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Korea, Romania, Swaziland, Tibet, and more may provide hints as to how your ancestors may have celebrated the advent of the new year. Another site with information about various traditions is 123NewYear.com and Freelang.net provides a list of how to say Happy New Year in a long list of languages.

I hope you will think about your ancestors and how – and when – they may have celebrated the New Year and add this knowledge to your understanding of their family lives and times. In the mean time, Happy New Year; habliadhna mhath ur; feliz ano novo; bonne année; gelukkig nieuwjarr; got nytt år; unyaka omusha omuhle; a gut yohr; blwyddyn newydd dda; sretna nova godina; akemashite omedetô; felix sit annus novus!

By: Carolyn L. Barkley

As a school student, I was always curious about the founding of Rhode Island. Growing up in Massachusetts, I had learned that the first settlers who traveled from Holland and England did so in order to practice their religion free from persecution. Apparently, however, while seeking such freedom for themselves, they were not prone to extend it to others. An illustration of their rigidity is found in the experiences of Roger Williams, (ca. 1603-1683/84), who, with his wife, Mary Barnard, had arrived at Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the winter of 1631. As a minister in England, Williams had become persona non grata due to his strong advocacy of freedom of religion, and was smart enough to realize that a change of venue was necessary. Once in Massachusetts, he preached both at Salem and at Plymouth, but quickly ran afoul of the Puritans because of his views, and fled the colony to escape a court-ordered deportation back to England. He settled at the head of Narragansett Bay on land that was, at the time, still part of Plymouth Colony. This area had been explored in 1614 by Dutchman Adriaen Block, for whom the island (Block Island) off the colony’s southern coast was named. (Williams was not the first settler, as William Blackstone had arrived there in 1634.) Purchasing lands from the local Indians, Williams named his new settlement “Providence,” and during a trip to England in the late spring of 1643, he requested a charter for his new colony. Williams would serve as governor from 1654 to 1658, and the colony would continue to attract settlers thanks to its policy of religious tolerance, accepting Quakers in 1657 and Jews in 1658. Thanks to the efforts of Newport preacher, John Clark, the charter was finally granted in June 1663, when Charles II issued the Charter of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Rhode Island has enjoyed some unique moments in American history, including a prohibition against the importation of slaves in 1774; a 1784 emancipation act stating that all children born after 1 March of that year would be free; the establishment of the first successful United States cotton mill in 1790; and a refusal to participate in the War of 1812. As always, it is important to understand the history of any location new to your research. In this case, an understanding of the historical context will prove important when researching genealogical records, particularly if you are following an African-American family, or trying to discover War of 1812 service for an ancestor.

Rhode Island is a state with only five counties (Providence, Kent, Washington, Bristol, and Newport). Knowledge of the development of these counties and the location of specific boundaries at any given time is very important in accurately locating records. While William Thorndale and William Dollarhide’s Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920 (Genealogical Publishing Co., 2007), provides basic county outlines, more detailed information about the earlier county formation and boundary development in Rhode Island can be found in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island: Atlas of Historical County Boundaries (Simon & Schuster, 1993).

Compilations of state and local records and family genealogies are a good starting point if your knowledge of a specific family is limited. Last week I wrote about the Huguenots and my recently relaunched (maybe I should say resurrected) research into my Lanfare relatives (alternatively spelled Lanfair, Lanphiere, Lamphiere, Lanfear, etc., although I will use only one spelling here for simplicity). As I wrote then, my previous research notes are piled somewhere under the eaves, so some of my information about the Lanfares was based from memory. This week, when I was looking for a surname to use as examples in this article, I was chagrined to note that my Lanfares did not migrate to the Connecticut shore from Long Island, as I had stated last week, but rather from Rhode Island (Westerly, to be precise). (Well…I did remember the island part.)

I searched in some of the print titles on my shelf here at home, beginning with John Osborne Austin’s The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island Comprising Three Generations of Settlers Who Came Before 1690 (1887, reprinted by Clearfield, 2008). (While I thoroughly dislike the format of the text in this publication, I will forgive Mr. Austin given that he was compiling the information 124 years ago). Please do not look in the back of the text for an index and then give up when you don’t find one. In this case, there is an “Index of Families” included at the beginning of the work (pages vii-viii). When I consulted that list, I found “Lanphere, George” as an entry, and subsequently realized my error in last week’s blog. This name is not preceded by an asterisk, meaning that four generations are not included. In consulting the listing on page 119, I learned that George (wife’s name unknown) first bought land in Westerly, Rhode Island, on 18 April 1669, and took an oath of allegiance to the colony on 17 May 1671. He and his wife were baptized on 2 March 1678 (congregation not noted and wife still unnamed); that he took a further oath of allegiance on 17 September 1679; had 200 acres laid out in July 1704; and on 25 April 1727, was judged incapable of managing his affairs, after which his children divided some of his land among themselves under the guidance of the town council. George died in Westerly, Rhode Island, on 6 October 1731. Further, the entry lists his children [Mary; Shadrach (my ancestor); John; Theodosius; Seth; an unnamed daughter; Sarah; Elizabeth; and Richard], in addition to his grandchildren (all sixty-seven of them!). While no specific citations are provided as documentation, it appears that Austin consulted town council records, as well as will and probate records. Certainly, this specific entry provides a great deal of information to support further research and clearer documentation. A quick check in the Family History Library’s catalog cited Indexes of Town, Land, Probate and Vital Records, 1661-1745 (FHL US/CAN Film 1901837 item 1), which might identify appropriate records pertaining to George and his family. Unfortunately, my catalog search did not identify church records that would add to the information in Austin’s entry.

Venturing further, I had hoped to consult my CD copy of Records of the Colony and State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2003). I now use Windows 7, and while the CD acted as if it were going to load properly, when it got to the “Registering shared files” window, it sat unchanged for half an hour. You may have better luck, particularly if you are using a version of Windows older than Windows 7. This CD includes records published in ten volumes between 1856 and 1865 as Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England and Records of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England. These volumes include information on inhabitants of Rhode Island from 1636 to the end of the Revolutionary War. I was unable to locate these titles among the databases on the New England Historic Genealogical Society web site, but was able to find Rhode Island Vital Records, 1636-1850 (membership required to access this database), in which I was able to find 287 Lanphere entries, including one indicating that George died on 6 October 1731, and was buried the following day. This database was taken from the work of James N. Arnold, published as Vital Record of Rhode Island 1636-1850: First Series: Births, Marriages and Deaths: a Family Register for the People. A database derived from this work is also available on Ancestry.com.

I then searched for online databases from the Rhode Island State Library or the Rhode Island State Archives. In doing so, I realized yet again, how spoiled I am to live in Virginia and have access to the vast collection of digital records made available by the Library of Virginia. Sadly, Rhode Island does not seem to provide similar resources (or if they do, I could not find them), but I did locate the Rhode Island Historical Society website. Located in Providence, this society is the fourth oldest state historical society in the country and has “the largest and most important historical collections in existence relating to Rhode Island.” These collections include 5,000 manuscripts, 100,000 books and printed items, 400,000 photographs and maps, and 9 million feet of motion-picture film. Access is available free of charge for Rhode Island residents and $8.00 per day for out-of-state visitors. The society’s website provides online access to a portion of its collection as they continue to catalog the balance electronically. During my catalog entry search, I was able to identify Frances Lanphere Elder and Edward Everett Lanphere’s History and Genealogy of the Lanpheres: and the Pierces, Halls, Martins, Pikes, Achermans, and  Many Others, published in 1958. In addition, the Newberry Library in Chicago also houses materials on Rhode Island in its collection, and a finding aid is available online.

The Roger Williams Family Association is a lineage society open to lineal descendants of the founder of Rhode Island. On the association’s website is a database providing four generations of Williams’ descendants, including such surnames as Angell, Ashton, Brown, Carr, Chapman, Cranston, Dyer, Greene, Hart, Holmes, Olney, Ray, Rhodes, Sayles, Smith, Stafford, Thurston, Tillinghast, Waterman, Wightman, Winsor, Ward, among many more.

A title search for “Rhode Island” on Ancestry.com identified 150 databases, including Rhode Island Births, 1636-1930; Rhode Island Marriages, 1636-1930; Rhode Island Deaths, 1630-1930; Vital Record of Rhode Island, 1636-1850 (see Arnold’s work above); and Westerly (Rhode Island) and its Witnesses: for Two Hundred and Fifty Years, 1626-1876… taken from Frederic Denison’s book by the same title, published in Providence in 1878. Other resources to check include Cyndi’s List, Your Guide to Researching Rhode Island Ancestors (a useful compilation of links to other Rhode Island sites) and the Rhode Island USGenWeb Project.

Finally, over sixty titles are available on genealogical.com concerning Rhode Island. These titles include the two-volume Genealogies of Rhode Island Families from Rhode Island Periodicals; the two-volume Genealogies of Rhode Island Families from The New England Historical and Genealogical Register; and Census of the Inhabitants of the Colony of Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations 1774.

By: Carolyn L. Barkley

I have had little experience with genealogical research in continental European countries as my family research is almost entirely British Isles-based. Yes, my father’s parents did come from Portugal, but that country is on the fringes of the European mainland (and at this stage in my family research, I have done little work on my Portuguese lines beyond twentieth-century passenger arrival records.) Thus, I have always wondered just who groups such as the Palatines and Huguenots were, and how people came to have such individuals in their ancestral lines. I decided to look into the Huguenots recently, as I have returned to work on some of my own European lines after a long stretch of neglect.

One cold January evening some years ago, while in Salt Lake City for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, I happened upon a compiled genealogy containing information on the Lanfare family (alternatively spelled Lanfair, Lanphiere, Lamphiere, Lanfear, etc., although I will use only one spelling here for simplicity). Now, if my files were even remotely in order, I would have the name of the book at my fingertips and would not be writing this information from memory. Anyway, I remember that the compiler wrote about a Lanfare family with regard to France’s St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (thus suggesting a Huguenot connection) and that the line seemed to relate to my Lanfares, first from Long Island, and later from Stonington and Branford, Connecticut. I distinctly remember that he did not provide descendants for a particular Oliver Lanfare (a prevalent given name in my Lanfare line), but did indicate that the copy of the book he had donated to the Library of Congress included such amplification of the text.

As I resume my research into early Lanfares, I first need to understand who the Huguenots were and relocate this compiled genealogy during my January 2012 trip to Salt Lake City. If my memory is correct, then I will need to locate the Library of Congress’ copy during a subsequent trip to Washington D. C. (Both searches will probably be done more efficiently than trying to find my original notes here at home.)

Simply stated, the Huguenots were French Protestants. Various stories have been written to explain the meaning of the name “Huguenot.” One of the most prevalent is that it was a term applied to Protestants in Tours, in France, who assembled at night near the gate of King Hugo. (They assembled near the gate as they were barred from meeting within the town or city itself.) While espousing many of the tenets of the Lutheran faith begun in Germany by Martin Luther, these French Protestants were heavily influenced by the teachings of John Calvin. They believed in “salvation through individual faith without the need for the intercession of a church hierarchy” and believed in “an individual’s right to interpret scriptures for themselves.” These Protestants made themselves particularly unpopular with the Catholic Church and the French monarchy as early as 1536. In addition to the religious heresy of which they were increasingly accused, they also represented a large percentage of the artisan class in France, thus posing a threat to the economy if they were to leave the country to seek religious freedom elsewhere. Frequent periods of severe anti-Protestant persecution associated with a series of royal edicts that threatened the Huguenots’ existence and their ability to worship as they wished. These periods were also marked throughout by simultaneous outbreaks of religious warfare.

In this context, four seminal events defined Huguenot history:

• The Massacre of St. Bartholomew on 24 August 1572 occurred after Catherine de Medici (originally disinterested enough in religion to ignore the Huguenots), became jealous over the increasing influence over the king by Admiral Coligny, a prominent Protestant. She convinced the monarch to murder Huguenot leaders who were then meeting in Paris. It is estimated that 2,000 individuals were killed in Paris, with almost 8,000 killed elsewhere in France.
• The Edict of Nantes, in April 1598, brought years of religious warfare to a close and allowed Huguenots some degree of religious freedom, specifying twenty towns in which they could enjoy free religious expression.
• The Edict of Nantes was revoked by Louis XIV in October 1685, and persecution began once more with even more repressive measures instituted against the Huguenots. Protestants were not allowed to worship in public; churches were demolished; and meeting in private homes in order to worship was also prohibited. Even more drastic were measures stating that both men and women were barred from emigration, with perpetrators sentenced to the galleys for men or imprisonment for women. Nevertheless, large numbers of individuals, perhaps as many as 100,000, fled France. Many went to Germany, the Netherlands, and England. Others traveled to the British colonies, specifically the Carolinas, Virginia, and New York.
• The Edict of Toleration, dated 1787, granted non-Catholics many rights previously denied them, including permission to be married before magistrates, to have births recorded officially, and to practice their professions without interference. More importantly, the edict created an environment in which churches could be organized openly. Following the Reign of Terror and the French Revolution, Napoleon would include the restoration of rights for the Huguenots in his plans for pacification of France.

If you believe that you may have a Huguenot family in your ancestral lines, there are many opportunities to learn more about this group.

• The Huguenot Library. This library is part of the special collections library at the University College London (England) and features a collection of approximately 6,000 books, periodicals and manuscripts. Included in the collection are the records of several London Huguenot churches, as well as records describing relief funds distributed to Huguenot refugees and their descendants. One collection, the Wagner Pedigrees, details 1,000 Huguenot families. This library is temporarily housed at The National Archive in Kew; those wishing to access materials must make an appointment at least two weeks prior to the date on which research is to be conducted. The library’s collection can be accessed at eUCLid. One of the 5,823 items identified in a keyword search for Huguenot includes “An account of the deportment and last words of Mr. Richard Langhorne, who was drawn, hang’d and quarter’d at Tyburn for high-treason, on Munday, July 14. 1679.”
• The Huguenot Society of America. Founded in 1883, the society is organized to “perpetuate the memory of the Huguenot settlers in America, to commemorate the principal events in the history of the Huguenots, and to promote the cause of religious freedom.” Located in New York City, the society maintains an extensive library of books, monographs, manuscripts and other materials. The library is open by appointment and its catalog is not available online. Their website provides a list of ancestors accepted as a basis for membership (which does not include any form of the Lanfare name).
• Historic Huguenot Street. New Paltz, New York, is the location of Historic Huguenot Street, a National Historic Landmark District with stone houses dating to the 1700s, a burial ground, and a reconstructed 1717 stone church. This site, the oldest continuously inhabited street in America with its original houses, depicts the life experienced by Huguenot refugees who came to the colonies in 1678 and purchased 40,000 acres on which to settle.
• The Huguenot Society of South Carolina. This lineage society, located in Charleston, South Carolina, is open to those who can document “that they are descendants in the male or female line of a Huguenot who emigrated to America prior to the promulgation of the Edict of Toleration on November 28, 1787.” No connection with South Carolina is necessary for membership. One of its principal objectives is to “maintain genealogical records of the emigrants to this country and their descendants.” The society’s library is located at 138 Logan Street and is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9:00-2:00. The society charges a fee of $10.00 for non-members. On-street parking is available as are nearby metered lots. The library includes over 4,500 books, journals, newsletters and files, as well as materials on South Carolina history and families.
• The Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin in the Colony of Virginia is a lineage society for those individuals who are the descendants of French Protestants who came to Virginia before 1786. Huguenots arrived in Virginia as early as 1620, and five ships arrived at the mouth of the James River about 1700, having been granted lands in recognition of their military service to King William of England. They established a colony on the site of a village that had been deserted by the Monacan Indians. The society maintains a library next to the Manakin Episcopal Church. The library houses, among other resources, a full index to The Huguenot magazine, which may be searched online (still no mention of the surname of Lanfare).
• Ancestry.com. I identified eighteen databases through a card catalog search for “Huguenot.” One of these, the National Huguenot Society Bible Records database, was created from Arthur Louis Finnell’s National Huguenot Society Bible Records, originally published in 2004 by Genealogical Publishing Company. This database includes “proof files” of qualified members of the Society as well as files of applicants whose membership was awaiting further documentation at the time of compilation. Entries include “births, marriages, and deaths and in most cases indicate the name(s) of the principals, the date of the event, and sometimes, such supplementary information as his/her age or address, the maiden name of a parent, etc.” Included are records for more than 2,500 main families and 25,000 individuals of Huguenot or possible Huguenot ancestry (still no Lanfares).
• Cyndi’s List provides many links related to the Huguenots. In reviewing some of the links provided, I found it interesting that while the Huguenot Society of America does not list any variation of Lanfare in its list of accepted surnames, the Australian Family Tree Connections Huguenot Surnames Index includes a listing for “Lamphier (1775+ NY USA).”

In retrospect, I don’t know when – or if – I will be able to prove a Huguenot connection for my Lanfare family, but I am encouraged by the wide variety of available resources and will pursue this topic as part of my research into this family line.

By: Carolyn L. Barkley

I have never been quite sure of the definition of a “merchant marine.” My curiosity has led me into a little research, and caused me to wonder about what records might be available about ships and individuals involved in this career.

Historical information is often located (thanks to the power of the Google search engine) in unexpected sources, and I found one of the best historical overviews of the history of the merchant marine on a site dedicated to mesothelioma, a form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. (Further reading dispelled any sense that this combination of topics was coincidental. During the modern military period, exposure to military materiel and construction exposed civilian and military personnel to high concentrations of asbestos, making mesothelioma a significant medical risk.)

In summary, the historical article outlined events that shaped the merchant marine, beginning with the dependence of the American colonies on the shipment of commercial goods back and forth between colonial and European ports. As the colonies gravitated toward war, so did merchant shipping, and these ships were loosely designated as the “merchant marine.” One seminal event was the June 1775 seizure of the HMS Margaretta by citizens in Machias, Maine, thus preventing its shipment of lumber to Boston for British barracks construction. This action, then, anticipated the formation of both the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy. Beginning with the Revolutionary War, merchant ships and their crews would become crucial for all American war efforts, ferrying supplies and troops to depots and ports where they were most needed. Early on, the relationship between merchant mariners and their government was on an “as-needed” basis, with letters of marquee granted to privateers and other citizen ship owners engaging them to sail with cargo as agents of the government. No official formation of a merchant marine service occurred, however, until the 1920s. The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (46 U.S.C. Subtitle V—Merchant Marine (§§ 50101—58109), better known as the Jones Act, stated that “for the national defense and for the proper growth of its foreign and domestic commerce…the United States shall have a merchant marine of the best equipped and most suitable types of vessels sufficient to carry the greater portion of its commerce and serve as a naval or military auxiliary in the time of war or national emergency.” As with all such legislation, certain requirements were included, in this case stating any U.S.-flagged ships must not only be built in the United States and owned by U.S. citizens, but that all officers and 75% of the crew must by U.S. citizens as well. Further acts would amend, but continue, this initial legislation. The impact of the merchant marine during World War II was significant, particularly as the war increasingly was conducted on two fronts simultaneously, requiring massive effort to move personnel and war materiel. Eventually, in 1942, the Merchant Marine Academy was built at King’s Point, New York, in part to ensure the availability of trained officers for such service. Following World War II, the merchant marine fleet was put in mothballs or diverted to other uses. The Korean conflict would underline the need to maintain readiness and a substantial increase in merchant marine capacity was required during the 1950s, and again during Vietnam.

Due diligence is required to locate records concerning the merchant marine. Civil maritime records are pertinent during times of peace; military records during the several wars dating from the Revolution to the present day. In addition, information about both merchant marine personnel and about the ships themselves is useful in such research. Here is a brief overview of some of the resources that support merchant marine research:

1. Pre-Federal Era. Howard H. Wehmann’s A Guide to Pre-Federal Records in the National Archives (NARA, 1989) includes information about the contents of Record Group 45, the Naval Records Collection of the Office of Naval Records and Library. The Shaw Collection (CO.45.2) was created by Nathaniel Shaw, a New London, Connecticut, merchant during the pre-federal and Revolutionary War time period. His original papers, housed at Yale University Library, but available as microfilm in the Subject File of the U. S. Navy, 1775-1910 at the National Archives, cover the period 1775 to 1784 and include lists of merchants, information about the shipment of goods, the fitting out of U.S. warships and privateers, and the activities of U.S. privateers. Another series, Logs and Journals of American Privateers and Merchant Vessels, 1776-1867, provides information on specific ships and voyages including conditions and activities of the crew.
2. Pre-Civil War. Records Relating to Merchant Vessel Documentation, 1774-1958 is a record series which forms a part of the Records of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation (Record Group 41). Documents in this collection include certificates of enrollment, license, and registry and yacht licenses granted to American-flag merchant vessels. Such certificates include information about vessel owners and masters, date and place of construction, descriptive details, and home port, among other details.
3. Civil War. The Civil War was characterized by the very effective use of blockade runners, as well as commerce raiders such as the CSS Nashville, the Alabama, and others. One of the best books I’ve read on the topic is Tom Chaffin’s Sea of Gray: the Around-the-World Odyssey of the Confederate Raider Shenandoah (Hill and Wang, 2006). Other records can be identified through the Geraldine N. Phillips and Rebecca Livingston’s Inventory of the Naval Records Collection of the Office of Naval Records and Library: Record Group 45, Inventory 18 (NARA, 2005). Examples of information found in Record Group 45 include item 188, Register of Persons Captured on Blockade Runners (May 1863-July 1865); item 189, Rough Lists of Captured and Capturing Vessels (1861-65); and item 191, Lists of Officers and Crews Entitled to Share of Prize Money Received from Commanding Officers of Naval Vessels (July 1861-June 1865).
4. Post Civil-War. A good online source for information on the role of the merchant marine in more modern times is the American Merchant Marine at War web site. While the site includes information about merchant marine activities during earlier conflicts, its focus is on more modern conflicts, particularly World War II. As such it provides links to mariner casualty lists, ship lists, training, equipment, duties, names of mariners buried in national cemeteries overseas, wartime posters, and the text of the Merchant Marine hymn, Heave Ho! My Lads! Heave Ho!

VERSE
Give us the oil, give us the gas
Give us the shells, give us the guns.
We’ll be the ones to see them thru.
Give us the tanks, give us the planes.
Give us the parts, give us a ship.
Give us a hip hoo-ray!
And we’ll be on our way.

CHORUS
Heave Ho! My Lads, Heave Ho!
It’s a long, long way to go.
It’s a long, long pull with our hatches full,
Braving the wind, braving the sea,
Fighting the treacherous foe;
Heave Ho! My lads, Heave Ho!
Let the sea roll high or low,
We can cross any ocean, sail any river.
Give us the goods and we’ll deliver,
Damn the submarine!
We’re the men of the Merchant Marine!

In addition, the site provides contact information if you are searching for service records. Another online site of particular interest is the Naval History and Heritage Command website (known before 2008 as the Naval Historical Center). A search for merchant marine on this site provides access to an FAQ on Merchant Ships and Merchant Mariners during World War II: Research Sources as well as links to the “Marine Office-General Order Book of the U.S. Ship Independence” (War of 1812), and a variety of illustrations of merchant ships and other information. Supplementary ship information can be found on such sites as Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, and pictures of specific vessels can be found through a Google search for “pictures of merchant marine vessels.”

1. Crew Lists. Lists of crew members of merchant ships are available in many of the resources listed above, particularly in the case of able seaman certificate applications. However, another major source of such information is available in Record Group 85, the Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The U.S. Customs Service (beginning in 1819); later, the Office of the Superintendant of Immigration in the Department of the Treasury (1891); and more recently, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (in 1933 part of the Department of Labor, and then in 1940, moved to the Justice Department), submitted to the proper federal agency copies of passenger lists. In addition to passengers arriving on each vessel, the lists identify crew members. These records are arranged by port. For example, NARA microfilm publication M2005 provides access to “Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at Ashland, Wisconsin, August 1922-October 1954;” M1399 provides access to “Crew Lists Arriving at Seattle, Washington, 1903-1907;” T-941 includes lists for Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1918-1943; and T942, provides lists for vessels arriving at New Bedford, Massachusetts, 1917-1943. Descriptive pamphlets provide roll lists that are arranged by date of arrival, and then by vessel and port of embarkation. Crew lists are also available online. A card catalog search on Ancestry.com for the keyword phrase “crew lists” identified seventy-three entries. A quick “Barclay” search in Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at Boston, Massachusetts, 1917-1943 (NARA microfilm publication T938), identified twenty-four-year-old able-bodied seaman D. Barclay, whose home was Glasgow, arriving in 1918 aboard the barque Prompt which was carrying general cargo on a voyage from Durban, South Africa.

Merchant marines have played an important role in American history. Without their efforts and sacrifices, the outcome of many of our armed conflicts would have been quite different. If you believe that there was a merchant mariner in your family, a little research effort will reward you with a new understanding of the life experiences of that individual.

By: Carolyn L. Barkley

The holiday season is here and it’s time (or perhaps past time) to put your gift list together. As we research throughout the year, or as we attend conferences and exhibits, we see books, software, and other items that might be the perfect gift for another genealogist – or even for ourselves. If you are the only genealogist in your family, chances are that your potential gift-givers don’t have any idea what you would really like. If that’s the case, print the following suggestions, use it as a check list, and provide it to family members, thus insuring that at least some of your gifts will support your genealogical efforts. (Please note that items listed here were selected by the writer. They are not meant to be inclusive and are not specifically endorsed by genealogy.com).

□  1.  Give a subscription to an online service.

□ Archives.com: access to 1.5 billion fully searchable records and historical documents. Subscriptions cost $39.95 per year.

□  GenealogyBank.com: access to over one billion family history records, including historical newspapers (1690-2007), historical books (1801-1900), and historical documents (1789-1984). Subscriptions start at $9.95 for a thirty-day trial and then cost $69.95 per year (monthly rate is also available).

□  Newspaperarchive.com: access to 5,000 historical newspapers (1609-2011) from ten countries and all fifty-states. An annual subscription at $5.99 ($71.88) is the most economical, but monthly rates based on monthly or semi-annual subscriptions are available.

□  Fold3.com: access to 79,321,956 record images, among other features, with a focus on military records. Subscriptions cost $79.95 per year.

□  Ancestry.com: access to what is, arguably, the world’s largest collection of online genealogical resources. Ancestry makes it very easy to give a gift subscription; just look for the “gift membership” tab at the upper right of the home page. Subscriptions focusing on United States research are available for $159.00 per year, or $89.00 for six-months; subscriptions encompassing the world are available for $299.00 per year, or $169.00 for six-months.

□  2.  Give a subscription to a genealogical periodical.

□  Family Chronicle: the “how-to magazine for tracing your ancestors.” The subscription rate is $29.00.

□  Internet Genealogy: “your guide to successful genealogical research using the ever-increasing power of the World Wide Web.” Print subscriptions are currently available for $29.00 per year; online subscriptions for $19.95.

□  Family Tree Magazine: self-described as “the leading family history magazine for researching genealogy.” Print subscriptions are $27.00 per year, with digital subscriptions available for $24.00.

□  3.  Give a scanner.

Flip-pal: This mobile scanner is capable of scanning photographs, drawings, documents, and other printed items, as well as small objects such as coins. Images are stored on an SD card and can be uploaded to your computer or laptop. Cordless, compact, and lightweight, the Flip-pal makes the perfect scanner to take along on research trips. The cost for a Flip-pal is $149.99 with accessories such as a carrying case available for an additional cost.

□  4.  Give books.

□  At a Glance: This series is new from genealogical.com and features laminated, usually four-page quick references that are easy to pack, weigh almost nothing in your luggage or briefcase, and will prove invaluable during a research trip. Available titles include Ellis Island Research, Immigration Research, Scottish Genealogy Research, African American Genealogy Research, French-Canadian Genealogy Research, Michigan Genealogy Research, English Genealogy Research, Irish Genealogy Research, Revolutionary War Genealogy Research, and German Genealogy Research, with more titles to be released in the coming months. These titles are available for $8.95 each.

□  Map Guide to the U. S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920: My all time favorite reference book and an absolute must for your home reference library, this work shows all United States county boundaries from 1790 to 1920. On each of the nearly 400 maps, the old county lines are superimposed over the modern ones to highlight the boundary changes at ten-year intervals. Also included are (1) a history of census growth; (2) the technical facts about each census; (3) a discussion of census accuracy; (4) an essay on available sources for each state’s old county lines; and (5) a statement with each map indicating which county census lines exist and which are lost. Then there is an index listing all present-day counties, plus nearly all defunct counties or counties later re-named. With each map there is data on boundary changes, notes about the census, and locality finding keys. There also are inset maps that clarify territorial lines, a state-by-state bibliography of sources and an appendix outlining pitfalls in mapping county boundaries. This title is a bargain at $59.95!

□  Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace. The “bible” of documentation standards, this book is another essential title for your home collection, providing citation models for most historical sources–especially original materials not covered by classic citation guides such as The Chicago Manual of Style. Beyond that it can help us understand each type of record and identify each in such detail that we, and our readers, will know not only where to go to find our source, but, equally important, the nature of that source so that the evidence can be better interpreted and the accuracy of our conclusions properly appraised. This title is available for $59.95.

□  5. Give software. Genealogical software is one of the best vehicles to organize family       research and to share it with others.

□  Family Tree Maker: FTM is the best selling software program on the market and is perhaps the easiest for the beginning genealogist. Linked to Ancestry.com, FTM provides hints to records available on Ancestry. In addition, you can add photographs, images of historical records and interactive maps, share your family tree with others and create charts, reports and family history books. The software is available for both PCs and MACs and costs between $29.99 and $59.99 (promotional pricing) depending on the version purchased.

□  The Master Genealogist: TMG is a powerful genealogical software program. As such it will meet the needs of the genealogist from the beginner to the professional and allows for a great deal of customization. One of its useful features is the ability to import Family Tree Maker and PAF files directly into TMG. The software is available for $34.00 (as a download) or $39.95 (CD by mail) for the Silver edition; or $59.95 (as a download) or $69.96 (CD by mail) for the Gold edition. The latter edition provides enhanced chart output and publication tools.

□  Personal Historian: Produced by RootsMagic¸ this software “helps you write the story of your life and of other individuals. Overwhelmed with the thought of writing a personal history? It breaks this seemingly monumental task into small, manageable pieces and then reconstructs it into a complete, publishable document. The software is available for $29.95, but is also available bundled with other RootsMagic software products.

□   6.  Give a conference registration. One of the best values for the money is registration at a genealogical conference or seminar.

□ National Genealogical Society annual Family History Conference: The 2012 conference is schedule for Cincinnati, Ohio, May 9-12. The conference program and the registration form is now available online. Member registration prior to 20 March 2012 is $175 ($210 after 20 March); non-members registration is $210.00 ($245 after 20 March).

□  7. Give something fun. Cyndi Howells of Cyndi’s List fame has just opened a new boutique at Café Press.  Her new collection features a wide-range of items including a coffee mug, mousepad, keychain, sweatshirt, iPad sleeve, stadium blanket, T-shirts, holiday ornaments, pj’s, and my favorites – a T-shirt for your dog and water or food bowls for those pedigreed canines and felines in your family. Just the thing to round out your shopping list.

I hope you have fun with this list and that it will help Santa put some genealogy in your holidays.

By: Carolyn L. Barkley

Almost exactly three years ago, I posted an article entitled “Footnote.com – A Gem of a Resource.” Proving that nothing is immutable in the world of technology, Footnote evolved and changed during the intervening time period, making an update appropriate.

In 2010, Ancestry purchased Footnote. Many of us, as subscribers, wondered what that purchase might mean, as Footnote represented one of the best research returns on subscription investment among online genealogical resources. A year later, in August 2011, the company announced that it would change its name to Fold3 and that it would focus primarily on United States military records. This rebranding elicited numerous blog postings ranging from thoughtful and constructive comments to more emotional complaints. The official explanation given on the Fold3 site was that “As we refocus our efforts on gathering the best online collection of military records and stories we wanted a name that would reflect military history and honor…Traditionally, the third fold in a flag-folding ceremony honors and remembers veterans for their sacrifice in defending their country and promoting peace in the world.”

When Footnote first went live in January 2007, it provided access to over 5,000,000 documents. Its developers understood the importance of convenient access to original documents “unaltered and unfiltered” by others. In its inaugural month, it announced a partnership with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to offer access to historical records in the collections of the various physical NARA sites – a total expected, eventually, to top nine billion records. Five months later, Footnote became a primary affiliate of FamilySearch, again providing for the digitization of and access to documents previously unavailable online. When I wrote my original article in 2008, there were 47,264,133 documents available on Footnote. As I write this updated article, Fold3 has 79,321,956 record images available, as well as 99,870,690 memorial pages. Even with price increases, and despite the complaints of some, I believe that Fold3 still represents a bargain for the cost of an annual subscription (currently $79.95), convenience of access (at my home, at midnight, when time has ceased to exist in the exhilaration of researching), and the quality of the digital images (remember those ugly copies from worn and barely readable microfilm?).

A useful new feature is Fold3’s Training Center which became available in October. Look for Uncle Sam’s image at the bottom right of the home page where you are invited (ordered?) to “Report to the Fold3 Training Center.” Once at the Center, you can view three tutorial videos (each about five minutes in length). These tutorials include “An Introduction to Fold3,” “How to Search on Fold3,” and “Browse for Records on Fold3.” I watched them on my iPad2 with no problem, so they can be watched as a review or to answer a specific question, even during research trips. Although I have been using the site for several years, I found the videos informative, and the techniques demonstrated in them have resolved some of my frustrations with the site’s search engine. In addition to the videos, the Center also provides thirteen “text tutorials” with illustrated, step-by-step instructions for using many of the non-search features of Fold3. Viewing these resources will definitely help you get the most out Fold3.

As a caveat, even after viewing the training videos, searches can be frustrating and care must be exercised, particularly in the application of filters to narrow search parameters. When I did an unfiltered name search for Charlton R. Barkley, no matches were found. When I searched more generically for Charlton Barkley, I found twenty-one matches. Nineteen of these were images from Charlton R. Barkley’s Confederate service record. The other two matches were records from the 1860 federal census for his relatives, Charlton Y. Barkley and Charlton N. Barkley, who both lived in Florida. I then tried to filter the responses geographically by typing in “North Carolina” without looking at the choices offered after I typed only an “N” (which I had been told to do in the training video!). Finding no matches, I then slowed down, read more carefully, and discovered that the suggested place name format was “N. Carolina.” The resulting single record match was the Charlton N. Barkley census image from Florida (presumably because he was born in North Carolina?), but not the one for Charlton Y. Barkley, and not the 1860 North Carolina census image that I know exists for Charlton R. Barkley, the subject of my search. On the positive side, the service record images are wonderful in comparison with those I have copied from microfilm in the past.

Many of you have accessed non-military documents before Ancestry’s acquisition of Footnote and may wonder about what has happened to these files on Fold3. On the home page, choose the Browse Collections option above the search box. You can then choose to look at a listing of all titles, a listing of records in one of seven wars (Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican and early Indian, Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Vietnam), and “Other records.” You will find non-military record collections in this latter category, including the African American collection, census (1860 and 1900-1930), city directories, newspapers, and more. My understanding is that these collections will remain on the site, but without further additions. I would recommend checking on the status of collections of particular interest to your research as future company decisions may alter this. Similarly, by subscribing to the RSS feed for the Fold3 blog, you can receive emails of blog postings, including announcements of content updates and other items of interest. For example, an August email included information on the availability of War of 1812 Pension Files, Mexican War Service Records, Confederate Casualty Reports, World War I Officer Experience Reports, and the World War II “Old Man’s Draft” Registration Cards. An October email included a brief discussion of the Confederate Casualty Report records. I have received two emails this month, one featuring “This Month in History November” with information on the Battle of Tippecanoe, and the other inviting users to explore the World War II collection.

Fold3 provides several opportunities for interactive history and social networking.

• Spotlight pages provide members with an opportunity to “show off an interesting image” in order to invite discussion. More information on this feature can be found in the Training Center. In addition, by clicking the “spotlight” button at the top of the home page, you can access spotlights of other members as well as interesting featured spotlights. Spotlights are open to member comment.
• Memorial pages allow subscribers to share ideas and attach related documents to them. The text tutorial for memorial pages indicates that you can share your research and personal experiences, write a biography, keep notes on your research, attach pictures and documents, see events on a timeline, and much more. By selecting the “memorials” button at the top of the home page, you can search memorial pages, view popular memorial pages, or view the special Vietnam Wall and USS Arizona memorial pages. Currently all memorial pages are “published and viewable” by all members.
• The Your Gallery function creates a location where you can upload images and documents from your PC or from your searches within Fold3. You can then annotate them, organize them, and connect them to other images. These images then serve as your source for creating personal spotlight or memorial pages.
• Watches and Notifications is a method of notifying you when an image of interest to your research is updated by an annotation, comment, or connection by another member. In addition, you can choose to be notified when new content is added to a particular title, or when new images are added that match searches you have tried in the past. You can manage your watches and notifications through your account details page.

I find that my Fold3 subscription is very useful in my research. Quality online genealogical searching requires the use of more than one subscription. This need for multiple subscriptions is illustrated by a search for Charlton R. Barkley in FamilySearch. One of the matches was to Charlton’s Confederate service record, but when I selected the match, it directed me to Fold3 to view the digitized image. If I did not have a subscription, I would have felt quite frustrated. If you do a lot of military research; moreover,  this resource will quickly pay for itself in both time and money. If your research is only occasional, you may be able to access the database through your local library. In the meantime, I’ll schedule the next Fold3 update for November of 2014 and we can explore what new research opportunities will have materialized in the intervening three years.