Montgomery County Illinois on line in a big way

The Historical Society of Montgomery County's digital archive holds tons of information that would be even better with a bit more context:

* searchable index of 27,044 death certificates 1877-1950, with a link to the form for requesting actual copies from the County Clerk/Recorder.

* searchable index of 6,946 first land purchases, mid-1800s; helpful information on how to read these descriptions is at the Illinois State Archives' web site, from which at least some of the information appears to come.

* vintage photos, biographies, and historical tidbits for 17 towns from Butler to Witt.

* searchable list of 10,214 veterans with DD 214 discharge forms registered with the county clerk/recorder, going back to World War I.

* searchable index of 22,737 obituaries 1980-2008 from two local newspapers, as scrapbooked by society members.

* names and detailed location information for 125 cemeteries.

And that's just on the research tab! If you don't lose track of the time perusing this site, your ancestors sadly must not have passed this way.

Hat tip to Cyndi's List What's New.

War of 1812 Records

As if you needed another reason to join the National Genealogical Society? The current (April-June) issue of its NGS Magazine includes a detailed how-to article by Marie Varrelman Melchiori, CG, CGL, on how to find relevant War of 1812 veterans' records in the National Archives. I do mean nitty-gritty: "When using the microfilmed indexes for the 1812 pensions, there are pages that appear to be blank . . . [meaning that] the film needs to be turned," because applicants under the "Old War" pension act have jackets with a stamped form at the very bottom of the envelope. Don't even think about working these people without this article in hand.

Some of these veterans received bounty land warrants for portions of land in what is now more than a dozen counties in western Illinois -- between the Illinois River and the Mississippi, AKA the "Military Tract."

Online Military Records

Who knew Joe Beine has an Online Military Indexes and Records site to go with his vital records sites? Not me! Fortunately I see that it's been updated. The free sites dealing with individual states include:

Illinois data from Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War, Civil War, and World War I.

Indiana data from Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War, World War I, and World War II.

Ohio data from Revolutionary War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II.

Michigan data from Civil War, Spanish-American War, and World War I.

Wisconsin data from Civil War.

Missing from this site, however, is the relatively recent Michigan bonanza of Civil War resources (blogged here March 5) just as you would find them if you visited the archives in person -- i.e., largely unindexed.

Antiwar records?

Regardless of personal beliefs, genealogists depend on records created by the actions of intrusive governments, paternalistic churches, and wars. If US history had been more peaceful, we'd have fewer documented ancestors; if the country had had a state church, we might have more.

In this context it's interesting to read Ron Briley's review at History News Network of We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now, an anthology edited by Murray Polner and Thomas A. Woods, Jr. I haven't seen the book. Briley generally approves of the editors' documentary work, and their observation the opposition to war historically has come from all points in the political and regional spectrum. Briley notes that the editors failed to collect much material on the opposition to two significant military episodes: the series of expansionist wars against various Indian tribes, and the Korean conflict (evidently still the "forgotten war").

Are there genealogically useful records to be quarried from this tradition? I don't know. Chicago was not a hotbed of support for the Union cause in the Civil War, nor for US entry into World War I. And if memory serves, the Midwest leaned isolationist in the runup to World War II.

St. Clair County Illinois Quarterly #4 of 2008

Like most ambitious state and regional publications, the St. Clair County Genealogical Society Quarterly welcomes actual articles, but still subsists largely on a diet of transcribed records. Why not write up your southwestern Illinois ancestors for them?

In issue #4 of 2008:

"Extracts from Death Register Book II, 2 January 1886 - 6 July 1886, tr. Melinda Cahill and Diane Walsh

"Marriage Index 1911," tr. Judy Phelps

"Document Conservation," an information-packed one-page summary of a recent society meeting where former Belleville Public Library archivist Patricia Hamilton spoke.

"Military Discharges 'L'," tr. Art Rubeck and Sheila Kronenberger

"Plan, Analyze, Begin Again: A Davis Family Example," by Diane Walsh. At the Salt Lake Institute last month I complained a bit about the lack of information about how to do research planning beyond the stage of brainstorming and list-making; this article is the beginning of an answer, as the quarterly editor takes us through an actual research situation and shows how to respond to new information, when to focus on the task at hand and when to draw back and make a note of an alternative path to perhaps be followed later.

Genealogy in South Bend

The new (January) quarterly newsletter of the South Bend Area Genealogical Society is out. The big news is the annual one-day Michiana Genealogy Fair will be Saturday, March 14, at the Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library in downtown Mishawaka (SB's twin city to the east), featuring Jeff Bockman from Illinois on "Using Maps for Genealogical Research" and "No Birth Certificat, No Problem." Exhibitors (including my local society from the next county west) will be hawking our wares and talking with visitors.

Meanwhile here's the other stuff in the newsletter:

Minutes of the 27 October and 24 November 2008 programs: Don Litzer of the Allen County Public Library on "Networking Genealogically," and Garry Harrington of the Rum Village Nature Center on the topographical-geographical-ecological early history of St. Joseph County, respectively.

"World War I and World War II Draft Registration Cards: A Genealogical Treasure Trove," by Eric Craig

"George Milburn, Captain of Industry," by Ken Reising -- an active businessman who helped fossster Studebaker and Oliver manufactureres "during critical periods, when they expanded from job shops to major manufacturers," but who is little known locally in part because he moved his wagon firm to Toledo, Ohio, in 1874.

"Thomas McCartney 1809-1861 Biography," by John E. McCartney

"The Johnsons: The Swedish Connection," by Jack R. Newman

"New Books on the Shelf" at the St. Joseph County Public Library, including as well the bad news that the Indiana state legislature's ill-advised 2007 property tax cap will require the Local and Family History and microfilm rooms to close on Sundays when the rest of the library is open.

Six more reasons to join IGS!

The Indiana Genealogical Society has added six new databases to its members-only resource section. In addition to the six public databases, members now can search 28 Indiana databases: 7 of county records, 3 church records, 8 military records, 8 school records, and 2 miscellaneous (what I would call political records). Your idea of how to categorize them may vary.

These are databases, not original images, so they're most valuable as searching tools and pointers to the original source, which should be checked to guard against typographical and other errors. In order to browse any given database, just bring up the blank search form and click the search button.

Among the new offerings are enumerations from Marion County, and the list of deceased Methodist ministers (as of 1917) from northern Indiana, taken from the notoriously under-indexed book History of the North Indiana Conference by Herrick and Sweet.

Hat tip to the IGS blog. Membership page is here.

So many manuscripts, so little time

The Ohio Historical Society's more-or-less-monthly blog "Collections" just announced the availability of 28 new manuscript and audio-visual collections. The descriptions are a little terse, but if you plug in any interesting collection's number at the catalog page you can get a better idea of what's there. It turns out that collection #VFM5693, "War with Mexico Muster Rolls," consists of 7 rolls for the 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry in that war. Collection #VFM 5699 is Civil War muster rolls, but almost all from Clermont County only. Check 'em out, but also check out the OHS's new hours before you head for Columbus. Amy's Genealogy Etc. Blog has the sad story of the ongoing funding disaster that is slowly engulfing OHS.

St. Clair County IL GS Quarterly

SCCGSQ's second issue of 2008:

"Extracts from Death Register book II," 1883-1884, by Melinda Cahill and Diane Walsh

"Marriage Index 1909," by Audrey Cannady Massingill

"Military Discharges 'K'" by Annette Weber and Edith Hock

"Walnut Hill Cemetery: A Memorial Tribute to Our Forebears: New Project"

"Unindexed Bounty Land Applications," by Diane Walsh

"Vital Statistics Extracted from the Belleville Daily Advocate 1927-1954," comp. Nancy Giles

"Milwaukee Area Research," by Mike Ackley

Michigan Genealogist

Articles in the Summer 2008 issue of the newsletter of Michigan's Department of History, Arts and Libraries (PDF):

"Researching the Politician in Your Past," by Gloriane Peck

"Military Records from the United States Government, Part 2," by Leelyn Johnson

"Genealogy from a Stone," by Edwina Morgan -- a Civil War tombstone in the Bahamas, no less


and of course a reminder of their two-day seminar starting tomorrow!

Michigan Military Camps

Retired archivist Le Roy Barnett has compiled a list of names, namesakes, locations, and years for 86 military camps established in Michigan between 1860 and 1920 -- from Abbey (Grayling, 1915) to Withington (Island Lake, 1884 and 1900). It's in the Winter 2008 edition of the Michigan Genealogical Council Newsletter.

Military records can surprise

Darlene Shawn in the Norman [Oklahoma] Transcript says it better than I can:

Do not miss the opportunity to learn more about your ancestors by searching for their military papers. You never know what you may learn....

My ancestor Solomon L. Beaver (Bever) had remained in Ohio when he was discharged from the Union army and remarried without the benefit of divorcing his first wife who lived in Indiana with his five children. The pension papers were filled with affidavits from two women who were trying to get a pension based on Solomon's military service.

Unfortunately, my female ancestor, Mary Blair Bever had remarried before the death of Solomon so she was not entitled to a pension nor was his second unlawful wife. However, the five children by the first marriage did receive a pension from their father's service.

Someday all these papers will be digitized; meanwhile the price of ordering them recently doubled. They're still a genealogical bargain .

Coming up in Fort Wayne

Indiana's Allen County Public Library's "Genealogy Gems" e-zine for 29 Feb announces a monthly fourth-Saturday series of "Tree Talks":

22 Mar -- Melissa Shimkus on census research

26 Apr -- John Beatty on Indiana church records

26-27 Sep -- Marie Varrelman Melchiori, CG, CGL, on military records -- this one's $50 including a dinner and dinner talk Friday night. "Space is limited so it is certainly not too early to
register." Check out Melchiori's website; the first, third, and fourth topics on her list are the ones scheduled.