Resources from Michigan, Kokomo, Common-Place, and Randy Seaver

In a 28 February post, "X Marks the Spot", on his blog, Kris Rzepczynski shows a fascinating new dimension of Seeking Michigan's 1897-1920 death records. Your research target may have death certificates in two different jurisdictions!

The on-line journal of early American history, Common-Place, has a good critical review of Alan Taylor's recent history of the War of 1812 -- an awesome book if you have any interest in the war at all.

In NEHGS's "Weekly Genealogist," the indefatigable Valerie Beaudrault points us to the Kokomo library's on-line index to the 7439 burial records of the Rich Funeral Home there 1893-1956. (That's Howard County, Indiana.)

Those wrestling with how to work with conflicting pieces of evidence in commercial genealogy database programs will want to check out Randy Seaver's typically and laudably transparent presentation of his own work over at Genea-Musings.

Watchdog Wednesday with Randy Seaver

Most readers of this blog probably need no introduction to the endlessly prolific Geneablogger From the Lower Left-Hand Corner of the United States, but on Watchdog Wednesday I still want to call attention to Randy Seaver's good work on tracking the curious history of Footnote Pages. Since he writes faster than I can read, I'm not going to link to his every posting on these subjects. Track him yourself. You have been warned.

Tax lists -- a beginning

Thanks to Randy Seaver for highlighting Gena's Genealogy post with a partial list of tax records available on line. It's a good day if you have taxpaying research targets in Williamson County, Illinois, in 1891, or in Belmont County, Ohio, from 1811 to 1816!

Hmm -- looks like it will be some little while before this versatile source type is anywhere close to being well covered on line...

Best and worst for vital records

Check out Craig Manson's posts at Geneablogie where he lists and describes states with exceptionally good and bad policies on access to vital records. (You'll want to stay awhile for his family stories, too. Hat tip to Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings for the pointer.)

The oversimplified quick story on the Midwest is that we go to extremes: Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri are good; Iowa and Michigan are not so good; and Indiana is located in "Vital Records Access Hell." Read the whole thing for the informative details.