Kentucky Genealogy: Many Resources available in Bluegrass Country both Online and Offline.

March 17th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Listen.  There are many websites dedicated to providing Kentucky genealogy.  Databases abound with information like low-hanging fruit, ready for your plucking; they are waiting for your Kentucky genealogy queries.  If your ancestors lived in Kentucky you will be delighted with the Kentucky genealogy websites, publications, and genealogy societies.  You may even find some hidden or missing relatives you didn’t know existed.

 
Important Date for Kentucky Genealogy
 
An important date as far as Kentucky is concerned was when on the 18th of December 1789 the General Assemble of Virginia enacted for giving Kentucky statehood and from 1st June of 1792, the state of Kentucky formally came into existence comprising all of nine states. Thus, the former part of Virginia became Kentucky, which has Tennessee, and Virginia for neighbors and Louisville is its capital and also largest city.

 
Free Kentucky Genealogical Databases

As you may already know, there are also many free genealogy databases that will aid you in your Kentucky genealogy search and there are also special databases pertaining to roster of military officers from Kentucky who were mustered according to the May 13, 1846 Act. In addition, you can even modify your Kentucky genealogy search methods and look through both the Kentucky Attorney’s Listed in Graft’s Legal Directory 1908-09 and Kentucky School Superintendents and Normal School Principals 1907, or if you wish to search according to photographic images, then check out Photo Album for the State where there are thousands of photos to view and see whether your ancestors left a photographic image of them.

 
Look For Lost Female Ancestors
 
Well, here’s the good news.  As far as finding out more about Kentucky genealogy, you have many ways of looking for your ancestors including looking for lost female ancestors whom you can find by looking through the Female Ancestors Database for Kentucky, and if you are interested instead in looking up ancestors based on surnames, you can check out Kentucky’s Surname Queries Registry. In addition, there are also Kentucky Death Records and also Kentucky Marriage Records for further searching.

 
Related Links
 
For more links related to Kentucky genealogy, you can try out GeneaLinks Kentucky, Kentucky County Genealogy Resources, All Surnames, Links on A Surname Site and also Genealogy on All Links. Besides, there are very many resources pertaining to Kentucky genealogy that are available on the Internet including Civil War Rosters, American Local History Network and Kentucky genealogy and also Cyndi’s List for Kentucky, to name but a few useful sites.

 
Who Can Use Kentucky Genealogy?
 
The good news is that anyone can use Kentucky genealogy.  Listen closely.  All of the information can be used for your own personal use so it will be easy to use these vast resources.  In no time at all, you will know who your ancestors were and will be able to start a family tree. This can serve as a legacy to your children and family members.


Genuine Michigan Genealogy At The Michigan Library And Historical Center

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Do your ancestors come from Michigan?  Well, I’ve got good news for you.  Probably the best place to check on Michigan genealogy is the Michigan Library and Historical Center that offers a wide range of family history research materials.  The Library of Michigan is closed Sundays, but it is open other days for Michigan genealogy research.  The website has information about how to conduct a genealogy research project, as well as links to other online research tools you can use from anywhere with an internet connection.   The Michigan death records from the year 1897 to 1920 are available online and are a mother lode of information for starting a family tree.

 
There are three new Michigan Subject Guides:

 
l        Courthouse Records

l        Organizing Your Genealogy Research

l        Pennsylvania Genealogy Resources

 
Best practices For Conducting Michigan Genealogy
 
At the Michigan Library and Historical Center, you can get valuable help when it comes to finding out the best means to conduct Michigan genealogy research and even a visit to The Library of Michigan’s Abrams Foundation Historical Collection should help you further, and there are also downloadable forms and also charts for the purpose of conducting research on family history. If you are stuck, you could always get help by asking the Library of Michigan and even the Archives of Michigan, while another source is the Michigan Genealogy Research Network.

 
Michigan 1870 Census
 
You can even check out the Michigan 1870 Census because the 1870 federal census for Michigan will provide you with lists of family names for every household in each county in the state and also for all townships in Michigan for the year 1870, and there is even the Michigan Cemetery Sources to check out where you can find the complete compilation of cemetery transcriptions, and which also provides the locations of over three thousand seven hundred different cemeteries in the state of Michigan.

 
Additional Resources
 
The Library of Michigan and also the Archives of Michigan have many online tools that will help you in your Michigan genealogy research and you can use the ANSWER Library Catalog, or check the Archives of Michigan circulars which will help you in identification of the records held in the Archives of Michigan on particular topics such as government documents, military records as well as diaries and even daybooks. In addition, there are also Genealogy Web sites to check out, and you can also use the Library of Michigan Subject Guides that will highlight certain areas useful for researching genealogy including regional as well as international sources and immigration as well as the Civil War.

 
Michigan County Clerks Directory
 
The Michigan County Clerks Genealogical Directory is organized alphabetically by county and holds all the public records that would be pertinent to anyone seeking to advance their knowledge of Michigan genealogy for the state of Michigan.  This genealogical search engine is available on the World Wide Web (Internet) since 1996 and continues to be revised as new information becomes available.  But don’t stop here.  Listen closely.  The Michigan newspapers contain archives that go back decades; they also contain Mackinaw history.  Don’t forget that there is a Michigan Naturalization Record Index that should prove valuable for those relatives that came from foreign lands and immigrated to Michigan.


Authentic Missouri Genealogy

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Native American Genealogy – Hard, But Doable

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The first problem in doing Native American genealogy is finding what appears to be good information and then upon further research, you find that it conflicts with other data.  One of your elders told you that you are related to an Indian princess.  This relative lived at least 10 generations ago.  Trying to get accurate information that far back is hard enough, but the conflicting data will discourage you.  It just doesn’t add up.  Listen.  Early census records included few choices.  After all, they were done in pen and ink.  It wasn’t until the 1890 census before Indians, whether they were on a reservation or not, were counted in the federal census.  Sad to say, but persons of mixed heritage (Caucasian and Native American, just to cite one example) were not included in the census until the year 2000.  The Internet is filling the gaps that these problems created.

 
There is now a boom in people seeking to research their Native American heritage and there are now lots of genealogy search engines, which can help Native

American completes their family tree. 

 
The Boarding School Controversy
 
One of the more egregious examples of mistreatment of Native Americans is found in the controversy surrounding forced relocation of children to boarding schools. In these instances, many children were taken away from their parents and placed in state sponsored boarding schools. In some instances, the children lost contact with their parents and were put up for adoption. This would obviously have a negative effect on tracing one’s Native American genealogy as many of these records may have become lost or destroyed as the practice of forced relocation to a boarding school was eliminated. If there were a way to trace Native American genealogy under such circumstances it would be to avoid attempting to locate boarding school records exclusively and to seek out the tribe in which the individual belongs and see what their records may indicate.                                           

 
Native American Records
 
Thankfully, when it comes to Native American genealogy most tribes have maintained clear and accurate records and this has allowed for most people searching for their ancestry to find the answers to their questions in a relatively simple manner. Of course, this is not always the case and in such instances more in depth searches for information are required.

The Lost Bird Society
 
The story of Lost Bird of Wounded Knee will break your heart.  On December 29, 1890, United States troops entered the Pine Ridge Reservation and massacred hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children.  Her wounded mother and her baby, Lost Bird, escaped and found shelter in the bank of the creek.  Four days later, a rescue party found them.  The mother had died but the infant was still alive.  Her sensational story attracted the attention of powerful white men and General Leonard Colby adopted her.  His was not a happy marriage and the general abandoned his wife and child for the child’s nursemaid/governess.  The General failed to provide adequate support for his wife Clara Colby and Lost Bird who was now called Zintka.  Her life went from bad to worse.  Her loving mother, Clara Colby, died.  Zintka ended up in abject poverty.  She died of influenza on February 14, 1920.  Valentines’ day.

 
Indian Adoption Project
 
The Indian Adoption Project, from 1958 to 1967, put 395 Native American children from 16 states up for adoption by non-Indian families.  Many of these children are trying to connect with their Native American heritage and find their birth parents.  The Lost Bird Society was established to help Native Americans who have trouble in locating their relatives and their ancestry.  The Lost Bird Society can be found at this address:  Lost Bird Society, P.O. Box 952, Pine Ridge, South Dakota 57770.  Marie Fox Belly, a Lakota Indian, founded the Lost Bird Society.


What Everybody Ought To Know About Ohio Genealogy

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Here Is A Source That Is Helping Ohio Genealogy Research
 
Most states use the county courthouse as the primary storehouse for genealogical records.  In Ohio, meaning “Good River” in Iroquois, some of the most valuable genealogical records have been centralized in eight regional network centers known as the Ohio Network of American History Research Centers (ONAHRC).  By spreading the centers out, this can make genealogy research on mobile ancestors a lot more accessible.  Here’s a list of the centers:

 
l        The Ohio Historical Society

l        The University of Akron

l        Bowling Green State University

l        University of Cincinnati

l        Ohio University

l        Western Reserve Historical Society Library

l        Wright State University

l        Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor

 
New Englanders initially settled the “Buckeye” state and as more land resources became available settlers from Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina people joined the fray.  With such a diverse migration trail, Ohio has a variety of records to further Ohio genealogy research.

 
First Settled In Marietta
 
While searching for Ohio genealogy records, you will come to learn that Ohio which was the state that provided access to the western regions of the United States was first permanently settled by white people in Marietta, Washington County in the year 1788. When the land in this state opened up some more, there were many people coming here from Pennsylvania and Virginia as well as North Carolina and Maryland, which mean that if you are looking for your ancestors through Ohio genealogy records, you will probably find that your ancestors had roots in those places as well.

 
Polsky Building
 
Furthermore, there are many archives and also libraries in ONAHRC that include the Ohio Historical Society which covers the central parts of the state, the University of Akron Polsky Building that has information pertaining to some parts of the northeast of the state, Bowling Green State University that covers northwest Ohio, and various other resources that will prove useful for Ohio genealogy searching.

 
Eastern Ohio Ancestors
 
What’s more, if you find that your ancestors lived in north eastern parts of Ohio, then your Ohio genealogy search should take you to places such as New England and Pennsylvania because that is where most of the original inhabitants came from, while if you are looking for ancestors in south as well as southeastern Ohio, then you may well find that your ancestors were from Virginia and also Kentucky.

 
Other Ethnic Immigrants
 
Of course, the first immigrants were the Native Americans who crossed the land bridge at the Bering Straits about 20,000 years ago.  By the time the first settlers came to Ohio, there were many Native American tribes already occupying Ohio.  Immigration from overseas began in 1775 and a steady flow continued until 1850.  The majority of these Ohio immigrants came from Northern Europe, especially Germany.  Irish Immigrants were driven from their lands by the potato famine in Ireland and many landed in Ohio.  They worked initially in the canal and railroad industries.  By the year 1900, “more than forty languages could be heard on the streets of Cleveland”.  Other immigrants included Welsh, Italian, Russian, and Poles.  In addition, by 1900, it is estimated that 4.4% of Cincinnati was African American who mostly migrated north from the southern regions of the United States