PGS Events for the Week of 1-7 May 2016

Monday, 2-May-2016 at 6:00 PM--Female ancestors--locating and tracing the maternal line; tips and methods to finding maiden names, Bryan, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Saturday, 7-May-2016 at 10:00 AM--Family Tree Maker User Group--Questions & Answers and Demonstration of how to use the Family Tree Maker genealogical database software, Hosmer/Bryan, Local History Room, Largo Library.

All events are free and open to the public.

Registered Voters in the State of Florida

If yo are trying to locate living descendants of an ancestor, one tool you may use is a list of voters. This link takes you to a list for Florida, but it also will lead you to lists from several other states.

There are many ads on this site, so be aware of where you click. Often you have to scroll down a page a bit to find the list you are searching for.

Registered Voters in the State of Florida, U.S.A.:

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Terry and Jim Willard to Speak at PGS on 21 May 2016

JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry

If you have Jewish ancestry, you may be interested in this huge burial registry containing over two million names.

You can search by surname, given name, town, or broaden the search to any field. You can also choose various degrees of fuzzy searches. If you wish, you can narrow the search to a specific geographic region.

You can see the contents of the database by clicking a link near the top of the search form. This will display an inventory of all cemeteries included in the database, organized by country.

You may have to establish an account which is free. Check it out at:
JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry:

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PGS Events for the Week of 24-30 April 2016

Tuesday, 26-Apr-2016 at 6:00 PM--Ancestry.com--search techniques for getting the most from this huge collection of databases.    Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Wednesday, 27-Apr-2016 at 10:00 AM--Fold3.com--how to use this collection of over 60 million pages of historical documents--available free at Largo Library. Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Plainfield Public Library Historical Newspaper Collection Online

The Plainfield, NJ Public Library has an online newspaper collection that may be of use if you have ancestors from that area.

The list at the landing page show beginning and ending dates of the paper and the publication frequency. If the paper has been digitized, a hot link is provided.

Historical Newspaper Collection - Local History Department - Plainfield Public Library:

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Importance of Genealogy

The GenealogyInTime Magazine gives us an article listing many reasons why genealogy is important. Even though you may have your own reasons, this list may add to them. It is an impressive list.

Check it out at:  Why Genealogy is Important:

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Free Access to Select British War Office Records Until 27 April 2016

FREE ACCESS! New British War Office records relating to the Easter Rising and Irish War of Independence from 1916-1921 at FindMyPast. Totaling more than 75,000 records, the collection will be free to access for ten days at Findmypast from , 17 April, in advance of the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising on  24 April 2016 –go to http://goo.gl/Ie4r3S for details.

Grove Hill Cemetery in Shelbyville, Kentucky Online Database

Grove Hill Cemetery contains the graves of around 18,000 people and has been in operation since 1854. It is still operating today.

The landing page gives you a search form asking for first and last name in whole or in part. If the criteria (for example if you only enter a common surname) results in more than 150 hits, you will have to narrow the search.

If you find a name of interest and choose to view more information, you will be transferred to a page devoted to the person, and giving exact grave location; residence; funeral home; and date of birth, death, and burial. Especially helpful is a listing of other people shown on the same deed.

If you want more information on the grave site or a picture of the grave site, you  can request it for a fee.

Search the database at:  Grove Hill Cemetery - Shelbyville, KY:

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Genealogy Search Engine Frequently Asked Questions

In previous posts to this Blog I've told you about the Genealogy In Time Magazine Genealogy Search Engine. It is a search engine that goes where the big searchers (Ancestry, FindMyPast, et.al.) usually don't go. For example it searches war heritage sites, various genealogical society sites, regional library and university collections, as well as published obituaries. In other words, it finds those myriad free sites on the Internet that you would not find on your own. It even searches the Google Newspaper Archive. At any rate, it is a good search engine to use to compliment your use of the "big hitters."

The link below takes you to the Genealogy Search Engine's frequently asked questions. There you will find all sorts of information about the search engine: how it works, how to compose searches on it, why you should consider using it, etc. A link to the search engine is in the left panel. There are a couple of other interesting links in that panel you also may want to explore...like the Family Tree Search Engine and the top 100 Genealogy website list.

Check it out at:  Genealogy Search Engine Frequently Asked Questions:

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PGS Events for the Week of 17-23 April 2016

Thursday, 21-Apr-2016     at 1:00 PM--Irish Genealogy Interest Group-a discussion of resources and techniques for researching your Irish ancestry. Padgett/Focareta, Local History Room, Largo Library.

23-Apr-2016 at 10:00 AM--RootsMagic User Group--Questions and answers and demonstrations of how to use the RootsMagic genealogy database software program. Summers, Local History Room, Largo Library.

War of 1812 Discharge Records Name and Unit Index

This collection is at the National Archives, and although the records themselves are not digitized, an index of both soldiers and units is available online. Finding a solder's name here is motivation to deal further with the National Archives for the records.

The database contains only the names of regular army soldiers, so no militiamen or volunteers are included. Over 2,200 discharges cover the period from 1812 to 1815, with some earlier records included.

The landing page describes the database and gives background on the records and the conflict. At the top of the page, four appendices are listed, and they take you to unit and soldier lists. The first two are unit oriented, which at first blush may not seem to exciting if you are name hunting. But remember that in this era, a unit was identified by its commander's name. The last two appendices are soldier lists by name and by unit affiliation.

This is an exciting site to get lost in. Check it out at:  War of 1812 Discharge Certificates:

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Onine Welsh Newspapers

This site is from the National Library of Wales and offers around 15 million articles and over one million pages of historic Welsh Newspapers. More than 120 newspaper titles are represented in the collection.

The search page allows search by key word, time-frame, and type of article. You can also browse by paper, decade, or region of the map.

The viewer is rather unique in that next to the page image is an OCR version of the articles on the page. It can be a challenge to use because of reading errors and lack of formatting, but I have not seen this combination offered very often in a side-by-side arrangement.

Read the papers at:  Welsh Newspapers Online - Home:

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PGS Events (and more) for the Week 10-16 April 2016

Friday, 15-Apr-2016 at 10:30 AM--German Genealogy Interest Group, Dietz, Local History Room, Largo Library

Saturday, 16-Apr-2016 at 10:00 AM--Computers in Genealogy--Question and answer session on the use of computers in genealogy research and record keeping. Summers, Jenkins B, Largo Library

Saturday, 16-Apr-2016 at 11:00 AM--Seeking your Scots-Irish Ancestors, Moughty, Jenkins B, Largo Library

Saturday, 16-Apr-2016 at 12:30 PM--Workshop tour of the Genealogy Center showing the many genealogical research resources there. Summers, Genealogy Center, Largo Library.

Other news of interest:

Free access to Fold3 Civil War Collection April 1-15. Go tohttps://goo.gl/KkDQKJ to begin.

The Family History Guide is a very good free resource for how to do genealogy, basics on how to use computers and much more. Well worth the time spent here especially for beginners. Check it out at http://goo.gl/R05Ee3.

American Ancestors by New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) is offering FREE access to all from April 6 to April 13 More than one billion records covering 18 countries— including the most important family history research materials for early America created by the experts and scholars at NEHGS—and all are open to anyone who registers for a free account. Start searching now at http://www.americanancestors.org/Free-Billion

Genealogy on Facebook—go tohttp://socialmediagenealogy.com/genealogy-on-facebook-list/ for a list of over 7000 genealogy-related facebook groups.

Index of Hillcrest Cemetery at Smiths Falls, Ontario, Canada is Online

About 8,600 records from 1830 to the present have been digitized, and an index to those records is available online. The earliest burials date back to the 1830's and total about 10,000 individuals.

After reading the history of the cemetery and the digitization project, scroll to the bottom of the landing page for a link to the searchable index.

Check it out at:  Town of Smiths Falls, Ontario, Canada - Hillcrest Cemetery:

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Trails of Hope: Accounts of Western Migration

The "Trails of Hope" website offers a collection of the writings of 49 people who traveled the Mormon, California, Oregon, and Montana trails. Even if none of these writers is your ancestor, they chronicle events and experiences that are probably representative of those your ancestors also faced.

Maps and photographs, sketches and more are also included in the site.

Check it out at:  Trails of Hope: Overland Diaries and Letters, 1846–1869 | Digital Collections | HBLL:

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PGS Events for the Week of 3-9 April 2016

Monday, 4-Apr-2016 at 6:00 PM--Introduction To Genealogy (Beginner) -- Basics of how to get started in researching your family history—what to do first, where to look & how to do it. Bryan, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Tuesday, 5-Apr-2016 at 6:00 PM--Eastern European Research -for ancestors who came from Galicia/Halychyna, Bukovina, Poland, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Germans from Russia, Rusyns, Boykos. Help on how to start - with information obtained in the New World. van Heerden, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Thursday, 7-Apr-2016 at 10:00 AM--Familysearch.org—the class will demonstrate how to search the vast databases available on this rapidly-expanding site made available from the LDS (Mormon) genealogy collection. Bryan, Local History Room, Largo Library.

Saturday, 9-Apr-2016 at 12:00 PM--Family History Assistance Day.  This semi-annual event co-sponsored by the Largo Library offers personal, one-on-one family research assistance to help you trace your ancestry. This is especially helpful if you are just getting started. Bring your research notes and we will search the internet to extend your family history. This begins at 12:00 in the Local History Room and adjacent reading room on the second floor and will continue until 4:00 pm. Assistance will be on a first-come, first-served basis. A volunteer will also be in the adjacent Genealogy Center to introduce you to the print collection and other resources available in the library. Invite your interested friends to come along with you.

Saturday, 9-Apr-2016 at 1:00 PM--Fold 3, Summers, Imperial Polk Gen Soc., Lakeland, FL