A Trip to Salt Lake City

Join me for a fun-filled week in October at the Family History Center in Salt Lake City.  You will arrive on Sunday, 14 October and depart on Sunday, 21 October.  Each participant makes their own travel arrangements, either flying, taking the train (Amtrak) or driving.  A block of rooms are reserved at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel next door to the library.  Participants will receive discount rates on their rooms.

As your tour director, I will provide you with a pre-consultation on Sunday afternoon or evening (for late comers Monday morning) and I will be available throughout the week for advise, help and consultation.  The cost for the consultation service is $150.  If you book the tour prior to 1 August 2012, you will receive a $50 discount.  The discount is good only until the trip fills up or for registrations postmarked by 1 August 2012, whichever comes first.  There is a minimum of 15 persons and a maximum of 20 persons for the trip.

With over 45 years of genealogical research experience in professional research, I can guide you through a week of research to achieve success.

Find your ancestors in Salt Lake City, join your friends and make new friends.  For the Nebraska Genealogy Tours brochure and registration form, e-mail at rvcole@charter.net.  Check out my web page, Genealogy Works.

Kansas Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Carbondale, KS 1892

In the late 1860s the Sanborn Map Company of Pelham, New York began surveying the business districts n towns and cities of the United States.  This would provide insurance underwriters with detailed information that would be necessary to assess their liability for insurance purposes.  The survey included the size, shape and construction of homes, commercial buildings and factories.  Property boundaries, names of streets, the use and buildings, along with house and block numbers was included.  This makes the use of Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps very appealing to the genealogists.

The University of Kansas houses and provides access to a collection of Sanborn maps for 241 towns and cities in Kansas ranging from 1883 through the 1930s.  The maps from 1883-1922 have been digitized and can be viewed at their website.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Beloit, KS 1911

While it may take some time to search through the maps, it is worth the time if you have Kansas ancestors.  Once you locate a map of interest, it can be adjusted for viewing, making it smaller or larger.  You can also select a size for exporting the map, or make a printer friendly copy of the map.  In a small thumbnail group at the top of the screen you will see other maps in the set for the same location.

If you do not have Kansas ancestry, be sure to check for other Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps in a search on Internet.  You may be surprised at what turns up!

Christmas Past

The years go by, pages of the calendar are torn off, holidays come and go and our lives progress minute by minute to what we call the future.  As a genealogist, I leap backward into the past, sometimes forgetting the day and time as well as the future.  With that leap comes memories of Christmas past.  The ghost of Christmas Past has never visited me, but in my mind I travel back in time.

One of my fond memories is of the enormous Christmas tree that my family decorated when I was five years old.  It was larger than life and seemed to fill the entire room.  As I grew older the trees grew smaller and shorter.  It wasn't a larger than life tree, I was just a small girl looking up at a large, tall tree.  But what a precious memory that has been.  I can still see the angel on the top and have never seen one like her.

As I decorate my Christmas tree of 2011, memories are conjured up about decorating trees in years past.  There was the thrill of seeing the lights on the tree and hoping that none would burn out.  The ornaments that students gave me still remain precious to me.  There are fragile ornaments that my children made in school.  Rounded out with home made ornaments, they make my tree festive and special.  If only I could find the angel that topped the tree over sixty years ago.

Terry .. Christmas at age 2

On my bookcase I have a collection of Santas.  There is one made of paper that my husband gave me years ago.  Another is an old ceramic Santa.  Then there is the large Santa in regal splendor.   It was a gift I gave to my Mother when she lived in assisted living.  She wanted her room decorated immediately after Thanksgiving.  The next day was not too soon.  I can still see her gently touching the garment of her Santa.  Little did I know that she would pass away less than two weeks later.

Christmas is for all ages.  I love the sights, smells and sounds of Christmas.  It is seeing awe in the eyes of children which we can than return in love through our eyes.  One of my favorite Christmas photographs is of my nephew, Terry.  He was two years ago.  Terry passed from us too soon at the age of 46.

Perhaps conjuring up memories brings moments of sadness, but we can always find love through sadness.  Merry Christmas to all of you ... and to all of you best memories.

Ruby

Pinning History to the World

Partnered with Google, Historypin brings over 71,000 photos, videos, audio clips and stories to your computer in ways you have never imagined.  You can explore their collections and create your own collection of photographs linked to history.  It's fun, easy and addictive.  On the home page a video will take you through the highlights of Historypin in 90 seconds.  Be sure you watch it!

Click on "Explore the Map."  This brings up a Google map of the British Isles and continental Europe.  The fun is not limited to that part of the world.  Query boxes are located at the top of the map page.  You can enter search terms, such as a location or topic or combination of the two.  Next to that is a time frame that allows you to select the era of interest, or explore all of the time periods.  Let the whirling fun begin as you travel to that location in the world!

You can zoom in and out, change time periods and best of all, begin clicking on the photos that are pinned to the map.  A small photo will pop up along with information.  If you click on the pen and paper, a story will appears, sometimes with audio.  Zoom in on the map or in satellite view for a closer look around.

Historypin does even more.  In the description box of the photo, look for the double arrow.  Click on that and suddenly you are taken to a street view.  In the background is the street as it appears today with the old photograph superimposed over it.  To go back to the map and resume searching, look for the double arrow in the right hand portion of the screen.

Between GoogleEarth and Historypin, I may come up only for air.  Somebody order pizza delivery.  I'm glued to my computer!

Maine Town Records

Recently I discovered Maine Town Records at the Raymond H. Fogler Library, the University of Maine.  No, I didn't drive or fly to Maine.  The web page can be accessed anytime of the day or night wherever you are located.

Maine towns represented in town reports

Boothbay Harbor Town Report 1891

Not all towns are represented, but there are many on the web site with links to a variety of years of reports. The dates are usually from the mid 1800s to the late 1800s.  Information is different by towns, counties and type of report.  Expect to find information on resident taxpayers, non-resident taxpayers, insolvencies, teacher reports and businesses.  If you think this is "boring" information, think again.  Your ancestor may be listed in these reports.  The dates between 1880 and 1900 fill in with information that is lost to us on the 1890 U.S. Census.

One of the links on the web page is Windows on Maine.  Here you can search and browse to find information on places and topics in Maine.  There are moving images, maps, photographs, texts and databases.

Caribou Town Report 1891 

The web site also hosts a special project, Plantation of Lakeville.  Even if Lakeville doesn't interest you, drop in for a visit to see what is digitized regarding the town.  Beginning in 1859 the records include the petition for organization, list of voters and return of enrolled militia.

You will want to bookmark this excellent page for reference in your Maine research.

Genealogy Webinars

There are many genealogy webinars available on Internet.  You need to plan in advance to attend them at their specific day and time.  Some are free and some cost to attend.  However, you don't to fill up the car with gas, get airplane or train tickets, reserve rooms ... they are brought to you on your computer.

Michael John Neill has announced his Genealogy Webinars.  One started yesterday, but you are in luck because there are still webinars scheduled through October 16th.  Michael is an excellent speaker and very knowledgable about genealogical research.  You can keep up with his research ideas and tips at his blog, RootDig.com.  He also writes  Casefile Clues, a subscription newsletter,  delivered to your e-mail address weekly.  I particularly enjoy his blog, Genealogy Tip of the Day, which provides a very quick read about a genealogy topic.  Do you have problems reading old documents?  Check in with Michael at his blog, Daily Genealogy Transcriber.  Another blog he writes is Search Tip of the Day.  You will want to check out all of them as they are beneficial to researchers.

The schedule for the remaining webinars that he presents:
Two German Women in Illinois - 23 September
Seeing Patterns and Organizing Information - 25 September
Determining Your Own Migration Trail - 1 October
Introduction to Federal Land States - 16 October

There is a fee of $4.25 for each webinar and you will also receive a PDF handout several days before the seminar, along with instructions.  All of this information can be found at Genealogy Webinars with Genealogist Michael John Neill.

Check out the webinar schedule and learn from Michael John Neill.  He is one of the best!

Finding City Directories

Salt Lake City, Utah 1869 Directory by Smith

Genealogists are adept at using federal and state census records, but often stop short of continuing their research in city directories.  Taken at various years and locations, city directories can supply interesting information, plus fill in gaps between census years.  There are many in transcription and/or digital format on Internet.  You can also find them in libraries, historical societies and archives.  The trick is to find them!

Miriam Midkiff's Online Historical Directories Website is a great place to start when looking for online directories.  There you will find links to city directories for the United States and other countries.  Not all states have complete listings because it is a work in progress.  Some of the links will take you to free sites for city directories and others to subscription sites.  The city directories are for a variety of years and may be city, county, town directories, as well as business and farm directories.

Doniphan County, Kansas Directory, 1868-1869 by Smith

When using the website, be sure you read Miriam's blog, Online Historical Directories,  for updates and interesting information about directories.  Her web page is always under construction as directories are located.  It's one of those you bookmark and remind yourself to check frequently.