Vital Records

The William Wade Hinshaw index to Pennsylvania Quaker meeting records

Stroudsburg Pennsylvania Monthly Meeting Book

These monthly meeting records were abstracted from the original Pennsylvania Quaker Monthly Meeting records in the 1930’s by William Wade Hinshaw of Washington, D. C. They are a transcription of the microfilmed records containing birth, death, burial, and marriage records, as well as meeting minutes, removals and certificates. After Hinshaw’s death, the unpublished material was deposited at the Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania. This collection is known as the William Wade Hinshaw Index to Quaker Meeting Records. The following record has been transcribed from a microfilm copy of this Index. As this copy is several generations removed from the … Read more

Winnebago and Boone Counties Genealogy Society

1875 winnebago and boone

The Winnebago and Boone Counties Genealogical Society has placed online at the Cherry Valley Public Library District website, numerous genealogical indices which cover the counties of Boone, Cook, McHenry, and Winnebago. These free genealogy records are PDF’s downloadable to your computer.

Nailer Tom’s Diary – Thomas Benjamin Hazard

Nailer Tom's diary title page

The journal of Thomas B. Hazard of Kingstown, Rhode Island, 1778 to 1840, which includes observations on the weather, records of births, marriages and deaths, transactions by barter and money of varying value, preaching Friends and neighborhood gossip.

1912-1943 Mississippi Death Index

1912-1943 Mississippi Death Index Sample page

Christopher Smothers, a college student, and professional genealogist who specializes in Deep South research, always wondered to himself why the Mississippi Death index for 1912-1943 was hidden at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in Jackson Mississippi. Why wasn’t this more widely available? Fast forward a few years, and multiple conversations, and the cog wheels at the archives have finally relented to allow these weathered and cracked microfilms to be digitally re-scanned and released to the public. Props to Christopher for making this happen! With assistance from Reclaim the Records, who fronted the cost for the microfilm, and from … Read more

Iowa Death Records by County

Many experts recommend starting your research with the death records first. The death record is the most recent record, so it will more likely be available to you. Death records are kept in the state where your ancestor died, not where they were buried. However these records can provide a burial location. Death records are especially helpful because they may provide important information on a person’s birth, spouse, and parents. Some researchers look first for death records because there are often death records for persons who have no birth or marriage records. Early death records, like cemetery records, generally give … Read more

New Jersey Marriage Index 1901-2016

Index of Marriages in New Jersey

Alec Ferretti, a budding genealogist, took upon himself the task of filing an OPRA request with the New Jersey Department of Health, seeking the marriage indices that legally should have been made available to the public (based on the law) but had not been. After being denied his request, he sought the help of genealogist’s newest friends, Reclaim the Records. They with their legal team helped Alec successfully challenge the denial, and to make this story short, though it wasn’t, they were able to get the indices available opened to the public and published on Archive.org. The setup at archive, not being conducive to a quick search, I have provided the links straight to the data, along with explanation text as provided by Reclaim the Records.

Lowell Massachusetts Genealogy

1894 Map of Lowell

Tracing ancestors in Lowell, Massachusetts online and for free has been greatly enhanced by the University of Massachusetts in Lowell which provided digitized version of a large quantity of the Lowell public records. Combined with the cemetery and census records available freely online, you should be able to easily trace your ancestors from the founding of Lowell in 1826 through 1940, the last year of available census records. To add color to the otherwise basic facts of your ancestors existence we provide free access to a wide range of manuscripts on the history of Lowell, it’s manufactures and residents.

Lowell Massachusetts Annual Reports 1862-1928

Lowell City Documents

Most towns in New England started publishing annual reports of the town’s public business in the 1800’s and many smaller towns still carry on that trait today. The following list of 52 free annual reports for Lowell Massachusetts covers the years of 1862-1928 (incomplete). Each town provided different reports in it’s annual publications, but they generally contain information on vital records (births, marriages and deaths) for the year of publication (not always included in early years), lists of public officials, lists of police officers, firemen, and other government workers, including school teachers. Don’t overlook the town’s expenditures list, as it often included payments made to town citizens for work they performed in the town’s behest. Also, many towns include payments made for the support of the indigent within the town.

Dedham Massachusetts Historical Society Register 1890-1903

Dedham Historical Register vol 1

From 1890-1903, the Dedham Historical Society in Dedham Massachusetts printed a quarterly pamphlet for it’s historical society called the “Dedham Historical Register.” In this pamphlet a variety of genealogical data was published on families of Dedham and the villages emanating from the early residents of Dedham, such as Dorchester, Franklin, Medfield, Medway, Needham, and Sharon, etc.

Free Massachusetts Vital Records

Vital Records of Bellingham Massachusetts to 1850

This is a collection of free vital records books, most of them known by “Tan Books” for Massachusetts towns. Generally, these records go up to 1849/1850 at which, the genealogist can use the census records to assist in identifying the family connections further. They’re called “tan books” because they were bound by tan cloth. Included with this article is an account of why and how these manuscripts were published along with links to all 205 Massachusetts vital records pdfs which can be freely read or downloaded.

A Record of the Agee Family

A Record of the Agee Family

James W. Agee wrote this pamphlet as a way to publish the vital records of every known Agee. Unfortunately, at the time of publication, he estimates to have received only a quarter of responses to the cards he sent out. Since he only asked for vital records, that’s all he presents in this manuscript. He claims all living Agee’s, except one, could claim descent from “the 24” who were the 24 children of James and Anthony Agee: Noah, James, Jacob, John, Hercules, Joseph, Rhoda, Ruth, Celia, Mary, Chloe, and Nancy, all children of James Agee; and Joshua, James, Daniel, Matthew, Jacob, John, Isaac, Joseph, Reuben, Anthony, Noah, and an unnamed daughter who married a ? Christian, all children of Andrew Agee.

Illinois Methodist Church Records

Record of Baptisms

The following collection of material reflects 250 churches of the Methodist faith which have closed their doors since 1824 in southern and central Illinois. This region makes up the Illinois Great Rivers United Methodist Conference. While the vast majority of the information relates to membership rolls and registers of officials, many of the churches also kept vital records of their members. Ancestry claims that “Baptism records are available until 1914, and Marriage records are available until 1970.” In fact I found baptism records which occurred after 1914, however, they’re not indexed. They appear in the records on the images only.

Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records

Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records

Most Connecticut researchers are as familiar with the Barbour Collection of town records as Massachusetts researchers are with their “tan books” of town vital records. For those not familiar, in short, the Barber Collection provides a transcription and index of pre-1870 Connecticut vital records on a town by town basis. The Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection, as it is officially known has been housed in the Connecticut State Library since Lucius created it. For non local researchers, microfilm copies have been widely distributed over the years. Finally, it’s now becoming available online in an even wider distribution. The 123 volumes are arranged in alphabetical order according to town name. Within each town, the records are arranged in alphabetical order according to surname. Each marriage record is so arranged that all the vital records for a person is together, so birth and death records may also be found within the marriage records database. Unfortunately, it’s not all available online for free. We have provided the links for each town below depending on it’s availability at a free website, and then as a backup to Ancestry if the specific resource is not available for free.

Michigan Divorce Records from 1897-1952

Michigan Divorce records - Tabulated Sample

Michigan began requiring divorce records to be recorded on a county level in 1897, however, some counties began recording them as early as 1892.There are two sets of information for this database. The first, comprises images, and an index to those images, of Michigan divorce records for the years of 1897-1938; the second contains only an index of records from 1939-1952. In total, however, you have access to divorce records issued in Michigan for the years 1897-1952, and a few earlier then that.

Registers of the Parish of Michilimackinac

Entry in Mackinac Registry 28 July 1768

The records from the register at Michilimackinac are here provided as they were translated by Edward O. Brown back in 1889. His translation came from a transcript of the original, which latter is kept in the parish church of Ste. Anne, at Mackinac. Annotated throughout are Mr. Brown’s biographical knowledge of the events of Michilimackinac and the people within. Don’t pass over the footnotes for the record, you may find a biographical reference hidden there!

Register of Interments in the Parish of Michilimackinac

The register of interments was evidently not as carefully kept as those of marriages and baptisms. The following first four entries have been abstracted from the baptismal register, being entered after the records of baptisms on the death of the child previously baptized. The record kept by Father Le Franc, beginning in 1754 and continuing through 1760, is continuous, and entered in one portion of the register, headed “Registre des morts depuis le ler aoust 1754” . The remaining entries were scattered miscellaneously among the marriages and baptisms, but have here been assembled in chronological order. Died August 10, 1743 … Read more