National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Passport Applications: Chicago,
New York City, New Orleans, San Francisco and Seattle, 1914-1925; Collection Number: ARC Identifier
1246000 / MLR Number A1 535; Box #: 4161; Volume #: 1 via Ancestry.com

By Shannon Combs-Bennett, Student

Ok, I am chugging right along through the US Immigration and Naturalization Records course and modules 3 and 4 were very cool.  Module 4 was a lot of new material for me, particularly since I have not spent a lot of time learning about Canadian border crossings. No one in my family (that I have found) ever came through Canada. My husband however is a different story. His great-grandparents nearly starved to death (according to his mother) trying to farm in Alberta from 1920-1922 before going on to Washington state to settle.

While that was very interesting I was fascinated to read about the US passport regulations.  Nowadays we take it for granted that if you want to leave the country you need to get a passport.  It is a very simple process, and they are handy forms of government identification.  I did not realize  that this was not the law until 1941.

Personally, I think passport applications are an underused resource for genealogists and should be used a heck of a lot more. Especially if you know your ancestor traveled a lot, either for fun or for business.  I learned this last year when I helped a friend start her genealogy journey.  Her great-grandfather traveled back and forth to Central America for work and the information on his application actually broke down a huge brick wall on where her family came from. She learned that his father was born in Scotland and what his name was!

The last section of the module was on ports of emigration. One day I am sure they will come in handy for me, as soon as I figure out where those pesky ancestors came from. I did not realize how many ports still have a significant amount of records. With all of the destruction from World War I and World War II. I know that many places have no records left. Needless to say it gives me hope!

Next time I will be talking about the last modules of the course. Should be interesting since one of the subjects will be on fraternal orders. See you online!

Group of emigrants (women and children) from eastern Europe on deck of the S.S. Amsterdam. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/91482252/resource/

By Shannon Combs-Bennett, Student

Oh Module 2, you are my savior! Yes, in this module we delved into strategies for locating those pesky immigrant ancestor’s origins. Now, did it personally help me? No, not yet. I do hold out hope though that this module laid the groundwork for successful future research.

Frequently, it may be said that  these courses pack a lot of information into a short amount of pages. I felt it was particularly helpful that this module was broken into 3 sections:

• Only the country of origin is known
• Only the county, district, or region of origin in known
• Specific place of origin  is known

Seeing as all of my family fall into section 1, I studied the other sections for that day when I have a break through!

In each section the instructor walked us through how to work with the information we have. He talked about clues we could use to find more information. Also listing many resources to research to determine if there are any hidden gems out there. There is even discussion on using foreign record sets when applicable. Unfortunately, you have to know the place name for your ancestor before that is a viable option in most cases.

In section 2 PERSI was brought up.  PERSI, or the Periodical Source Index, is a great tool and I was excited to see it brought up in this course.  If you have never heard of PERSI, the  Family Search wiki has a great entry on it. Created by the staff from the Allen County Public Library Foundation and their Genealogy Center, PERSI is fast becoming a great research tool for genealogists.

PERSI is a subject index of articles that are of interest to genealogists.  Just as a warning, it is NOT an every name or every word index. For my own research, PERSI has lead me to some great articles not only about my family but also the areas they were from. For immigration and naturalization purposes the instructor suggests we use PERSI to look to titles of articles concerning our surnames and the county names our ancestors are from. Then we can retrieve the articles and determine if they hold information for us. Warning, it is such a great tool you can lose hours there.

The next two modules will cover an ancestor’s immigration, border crossings, and emigration records.  Lots of good information I am sure!

See you online!

The naturalization of foreigners in New York City – Judge McCunn sitting in the Superior Court, passing on applications for citizenship, Friday evening, October 22, 1869. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3c21666/

By Shannon Combs-Bennett, Student

If you live in the United States it is a good chance that you or your family came here from somewhere else. People from all over the world have immigrated to the United States in its 239 year existence making us truly a nation of immigrants. However, for genealogists, learning about those brave souls who traveled here, many times under desperate circumstances, can be the bane of our existence. Why, oh why, couldn’t they just once put down the town they came from!

The course I am taking now  is United States: Immigration and Naturalization Records, which hopefully will help me locate my elusive immigrant ancestry along the way. Or at least I can hope, right?

Looking through the syllabus there appears to be a lot of great information covered. A weakness for me is immigration after 1870. The reason? Well, that is when the last of my and my husband’s ancestors came to the US. Due to that fact I have not invested a lot of time in learning about 20^th and 21^st century immigration and naturalization.  It will take all I have to pay extra attention in those instances but the knowledge will help me I am sure.

While the course seems to be centered on those of European descent I am hopefull that the section which covers the US laws will still be of interest to others. I mean, everyone who wants to immigrate goes through the same process no matter if they are from Europe or Asia.

The section on naturalization records will be interesting. I don’t know about you, but there are times I struggle to remember which law went into effect when for this topic. It seems for the first hundred years of our country there was a new way to do things every decade. I wonder how the people immigrating here kept up!  This could be a great reason to make a timeline or flow chart!

So it is off to another course!  See you online!

Probate court room, Wayne County Building, Detroit. Library of Congress. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a09788

By Shannon Combs-Bennett, Student

I have to say I had a lot of fun digging through the online probate resources for my family members after completing the US: Probate Records course.  I limited my afternoon search to online repositories since research into probate records for my family would take a plane ride or many long hours in a vehicle. With that being said, I think I hit the jackpot in a couple places.

If you are in the same predicament that I am where your ancestors lived in different states, don’t forget that you can find books online. First place I always try is Google Books. They have quite a few older research books on there that you can read and download. Next I try WorldCat  because I might get lucky and see that a nearby library has the books I am looking for, or maybe they will inter-library loan it to me. Of course, don’t forget the Internet Archive for those out-of-print genealogy books.  I have found so many great resources on these pages and I know you will too!

Since the majority of my family have lived in Indiana I decided to start there. Lucky for me, the books that are quoted as references to this section are now online at Ancestry.com. In fact, as I wrote this blog, Ancestry.com released their new probate collection. So, yeah, I went there and hit the jackpot.  Right now I am at a 25% success rate on searches for my Indiana ancestors but I am finding things!

With so many probate records now online with Ancestry.com I think I will be searching here for a while.  When those sources dry up I will need to look at physical locations. I guess that means a road trip is in my future!  Poor me.

If you are working to your American Records Certificate you will take this course. I enjoyed it and thought the information was presented well and in an easy to understand manner. If you are still learning what probate means, how inheritance works, and have a ton of questions you will get a lot out of this course.  As a history lover I enjoyed the background information and may need to beef up my research bookshelf on that subject. I have room next to my small collection of obituary books.

See you online!

Probate notice for Mary Pitman, single woman. Library of Congress. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.02917

By Shannon Combs-Bennett, Student

Up to this point in the US: Probate Records course we have learned a lot about the history and laws of the U.S. concerning probate situations. There were a lot of terms, examples, and information in the first three modules but I managed to make it through. The next two modules contained a directory of states which broke out information even more and concluded with a bibliographic resource list in Module 6.

The directory will be a useful tool for me in the future as I research my family across the country. Each entry gave a brief description of what information you can usually find, where it is typically located and any interesting facts about the state. Particularly useful is the information on lost record locations. We all know of counties or towns that have lost records due to natural disasters or war. There are records still being lost today due to fire, flood, or neglect.  It makes us look outside of our comfort zones for more potential records, but it is nice to know some of the possible problems up front before you start looking for something that no longer exists.

Finally, in Module 6 the course concludes with a directory of websites and books that are useful for research in each of the states. It is not a complete listing because let’s face it, that would be hundreds of pages long!  This listing contains larger inclusive books for the states and in particular indexes.  A few states do not have listings though since they only had county books or websites and nothing for statewide research.

I think I will take the weekend and see what I can find for some of my ancestors in the resources listed here. It will be a great way to put what I learned into practical application.  Look for my next post to see what I found!

See you online!