Ancestry Offering Military Databases Free – For a Limited Time

Just in time for the long Memorial Day Weekend – Juliana at 24/7 Family History Circle is reporting that Ancestry is offering free access to its military database until May 31. If you don’t subscribe to Ancestry but are in the mood to do a little research from home, here’s your chance. Click on this link and get started! 

Maybe my mind is a little fried but I don’t remember seeing Michigan databases available on the FamilySearch Labs website, so if you already are aware of this – just excuse my tardiness on reporting this item. Below is a list of Michigan databases currently offered: 

Michigan Births 1867 – 1902 

Michigan Deaths 1867- 1897

Michigan Marriages 1868 – 1897 

These databases have linked images – no relying on another’s abstracting abilities. You can see the pages for yourself! 

I was surprised to find some of my Bettsville family members listed in the marriage index. It actually created one of those “ah ha moments” when I found my great grandmother’s brother, Ross Feasel, marrying his former wife. There had been a huge gap between their first child and their remaining children – now I know why. 

The databases do not indicate how complete they are, which leads me to suspect that FamilySearch is merely at the beginning stages of adding to these databases, so you will want to keep that possibility in mind. Seriously, if you have not checked out the FamilySearch Labs website lately, you may be pleasantly surprised at the number of databases that have been added. 

Until Next Time – Have a Safe Weekend!

© 24 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Desktop GenealogistCivil War Pension Index - Free! Free! Free!-

Just a quick note. I saw this reported by Kimberly Powell at her About.genealogy. She reported that you no longer have to register to have access to Family Search Labs. One of the new databases - Civil War Pension Index. I checked, the index is said to be 90% complete. Right now this is a free and open website, so go on over and check out all the lovely goodies this site has to offer. You will be pleasantly surprised! Great heads up Kimberly!

Until Next Time!

Note: This post first appeared on Desktop Genealogist May 14, 2008.

© 14 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

News to Know — FamilySearch Labs Records Online

I'm not sure if everybody who reads this blog realizes all of the cool things going on at the FamilySearch Labs Web site. They have been indexing a whole slew of different types of records. Some are already available and ready for viewing online. So why should you care? Well, for those of us living here in Ohio, the ability to see the actual death certificates from the Ohio Historical Society's own Death Index is enough to make you do a genealogical happy dance. That's right you can SEE THEM, SAVE THEM, PRINT THEM. 

To view the records, you must first register. You can do that by going here http://search.labs.familysearch.org. Next, you have to be patient while you wait to get your confirmation e-mail telling you that you have completed the registration process, and can now go online. Not all the records available for viewing have been indexed, but the Ohio Death Certificates are not only searchable, but there are advanced options that allow you to search, for example, by a mother's maiden name.

Of course, the indexing is only as good as the information that was supplied on the actual death certificate, but the possibilities of finding lost siblings for great grandma or great grandpa are lovely to contemplate. Records (that's the ACTUAL IMAGES) available for viewing that have been indexed and are now searchable include: 

1. 1900 US Census 

2. 1895 Argentina Census 

3. Freedman Bank Records 1865-1874 

4. England, Cheshire, Register of Electors 1842-1940 

5. Maryland, Cecil County Probate Estate Files 1851 -1940 

6. Freedmen's Bureau Virginia Marriages ca 1815-1866 

7. Georgia Deaths 1914-1927

8. Utah Death Certificates 1904 -1956 

9. Ohio Death Certificates December 20, 1908-1956 

Other records are available for browsing (such as 1942 World War II Draft Registration cards, which are about 30% complete), along with indexes or abstracted information (such as Ontario Deaths 1869-1947 or Texas Death Index 1964-1998) which have been indexed and are searchable. I have to admit when I first heard about the agreement brokered between The Generations Network (parent of Ancestry.com) and the FamilySearch folks allowing free access to Ancestry.com at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, along with 13 of the largest regional family history centers,

I wondered if that meant that FamilySearch may have quietly agreed to stop putting records online that people could view for FREE. I'm suspicious that way. I guess only time will tell how this all plays out for the little guy living out here in corn country. 

If you would like to be a part of the indexing movement going on at FamilySearch Labs, you can read the details at http://www.familysearchindexing.org/en/index.jsp. 

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! Note this post first published online, January 23, 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 23 January 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder