DLVGC Reporter
Delaware and Lehigh Valleys Genealogy Club News
Vol. 4, No. 4 Fall, 2007
Website: www.rootsweb.com/~njdlvgc
e-mail: dlvgc@verizon.net
With love and caring and scribing each fact
Genealogy - Why We Do It!
of their existence, because we are they and they are
the sum of who we are. So, as a scribe called, I tell
We are the chosen. In each family there is
the story of my family. It is up to that one called in
one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put
the next generation to answer the call and take my
flesh on their bones and make them live again, to
place in the long line of family storytellers. That is
tell the family story and to feel that somehow they
why I do my family genealogy, and that is what
know and approve.
calls those young and old to step up and restore the
Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of
memory or greet those whom we had never known
facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have
before.
gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. All
Unknown Author: The Heritage (Newsletter of Northeast
tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by
Pennsylvania Genealogical Society) Vol. 16, No. 3, Fall
our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to
2007
us: 'Tell our story." So, we do.
In finding them, we somehow find
The Geographic History of
ourselves. How many graves have I stood before
America
now and cried? I have lost count. How many times
historicmapworks.com
have I told the ancestors, "You have a wonderful
Historic maps covering all of North America with
family; you would be proud of us."? How many
millions of locations spanning hundreds of years
times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow
with advanced capabilities using name, address or
there was love there for me? I cannot say. It goes
GPS coordinates.
beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I
and why do I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a
cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and
DLVGC Meeting News
indifference and saying," I can't let this happen."
The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of
As the response with topics and
my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It
volunteers to lead our Roundtable
goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to
Discussions waned this past year, we
accomplish. How they contributed to what we are
today. It goes to respecting their hardships and
discontinued the early sessions.
losses, their never giving in or giving up their
We have re-instituted meeting at 6:30
resoluteness to go on and build a life for their
PM for general open discussion by any
family.
interested members, while continuing the
It goes to deep pride that the fathers fought
regular business meeting and speaker
and some died to make and keep us a Nation. It
topics at 7:00 PM.
goes to a deep and immense understanding that they
were doing it for us. It is of equal pride and love
Our schedule is on the last page. We have
that our mothers struggled to give us birth. Without
openings for any special topics members
them we could not exist, and so we love each one,
may wish to hear. Please contact Gil
as far back as we can reach. That we might be born
Greene with any suggestions.
who we are. That we might remember them. So we
do.
It’s All Relative
at the houses and listened to the way people talked."
That enabled her to write a biography that reads like
a novel.
5 Fill in the gaps with historical documents, says
Michael Boonstra, a genealogy librarian. Published
diary excerpts from the same time period, books
about the region and particular ethnic groups, and
period postcards and newspaper clippings put
family stories in social perspective.
Why you need to know your family health history
By Teri Walsh
Imagine if you could find out what illnesses
might affect your loved ones in the years to come.
That’s the kind of power you’ll gain by collecting
your family health history. To begin, sketch out
several generations of your family tree, including
only blood relatives. Try to include: first-degree
relatives (children, siblings, parents); second-degree
relatives (grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces,
nephews, grandchildren); and third-degree relatives
(cousins, great-aunts and great-uncles).
Ask about illnesses and symptoms related to
each major body system (think heart, lungs, skin,
reproductive organs, urinary tract, digestive tract,
endocrine system, nervous system, skeletal system).
You'll also want to ask about childhood illnesses,
surgeries and problems with the immune system
and senses. Share the info you gather with relatives
and your doctor. Then discuss any health problems
you and your family might be susceptible to and
what preventive steps you can take.
By Mary Forsell, USA Weekend • Aug. 17-19.2007 1
Submitted by member Judith Uhlman
CVS Pharmacy Health Extra, Second Quarterly
Provided by member Judith Ulman
Writing your family history
1 Pick a format first, says Allison Stacy, editor of
Family Tree Magazine. And it doesn't have to be
chronological. Try a compendium of family stories
and recipes, a first-person memoir or a generations
book. Use humor, suspense and flashbacks to
engage the reader. 2 Do basic research, says Sharon
DeBartolo Carmack, author of “You Can Write
Your Family History”. Find a listing of sites that
keep vital records at cdc.gov/nchs (National Center
for Health Statistics). And search Census records at
familysearch.org. Read between the lines of
documents: Who were the witnesses on your greatgrandparents' marriage certificate? Their identities
might provide new clues.
3 Use old photos as memory prompts at family
reunions, Stacy says. That's more effective than
asking open-ended questions. Once one person
starts reminiscing, others join in. (Get it on tape!)
Afterward, write a story about each photo.
4 Inject local flavor. Mystery writer Mary Logue
went to her grandmother's prairie town to write
Halfway Home: "I walked down the streets, looked
2
Coming To Light
named in the charts, could cast a shadow over an
otherwise heady research discovery. But he stresses
their significance for studying earlier history.
"These records have information on Germans born
long before there was a Nazi party or an Adolf
Hitler, and many of those Germans were the parents
and grandparents of people who had immigrated to
the United States," he says. Even researchers whose
ancestors aren't named in the Ahnentafeln could
benefit: Since certain surnames are unique to
particular areas of Germany, the records could point
to likely ancestral places of origin.
The original Ahnentafeln are in Berlin’s
Bundesarchiv, where privacy laws keep them
inaccessible. “Some people whose information is in
these recordsaren’t too much older than I am,”
Humphrey says. The microfilm--part of Record
Group 242, Collection of Foreign Recrods seized-is at NARA’s College Park, MD, facility (301-8372000), <archives.gov/dcmetro/college-park> For
more information on this records roup, see
<archives.gov/research/captured-german-records>
Written by James M. Beidler ad Diane Haddad
The Third Reich's genealogy directive
produced these all-but-forgotten—until now—
documents naming millions of German ancestors.
From one of history's darkest eras has
emerged a rich but controversial set of records that
represents a potential genealogical windfall for
some American re-searchers. As part of Adolf
Hitler's obsession with "purifying" the German race,
young men who joined the infamous Schutzstaffel—
the Nazi party's military arm known as the SS—had
to prove their genetic wholesomeness by submitting
applications containing ancestor charts (Ahnentafeln
in German). Similarly, starting in 1933, federal,
state and local employees had to purchase
Ahnenpasse from the Rasse und Sied-Iwigs
Hauptamt (Chief Office for Race and
Resettlement). An individual had to get records
showing his Aryan ancestry, then have a
government official fill out this "ancestor passport."
As World War II ended, American forces
seized those files, along with other Third Reich
records, and microfilmed them in Berlin. Some
were invaluable in prosecuting Nazi officials and
tracing owners of property taken from Holocaust
victims. But the Ahnentafel films languished largely
unnoticed in the National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA). Then in 2003, German
genealogy expert John T. Humphrey happened upon
them, and they've become an all-consuming
research and book-writing project.
"This totally unexplored record group has
enormous potential for Americans and Germans
looking for ancestral information, but they're not
readily accessible because they're not indexed and
all the records are in German," says Humphrey,
who encounters mostly German-speakers and
professional historians during his NARA research
sessions. "You need special skills to use them."
The files take up 7,800 microfilm rolls and
document as many as 14 million people, since many
of the charts stretch back six generations into the
mid-1700s. They include vital records, medical
information, correspondence and biographical
details, as well as charts for prospective brides of
SS members.
Humphrey realizes the history of the
German SS surrounds these records with
controversy and, for some whose ancestors are
This article originally appeared in the May 2007 Family
Tree Magazine. Reprinted (by CJGC) with permission
from Family Tree Magazine, copyright 2007 F+W
Publications Inc. For more information or to subscribe, see
www.familytreemagazine.com or call toll-free (888) 4039002.
Central Jersey Genealgical Club CJGC Newsletter, July
2007
Delaware/Lehigh Valleys Genealogy Club
Meeting Schedule
Meetings: DLVGC meets the second Monday of
each month (except July and August), 7:00 PM,
Grace Lutheran Church, Roseberry Street,
Phillipsburg, NJ or as noted.
Nov 12 - Irene Lambert - Handwriting Analysis
Dec 10 - Dr. Rob Reynolds - PA German Society
Jan 14 - To be determined
Feb 11 - John Reinhardt - Welsh Hist & Geneal
Mar 10 - To be determined
Apr 14 - To be determined
May 12 - Annual Mtg- Election of Officers
Jun 9 - Tent. John O’Brien at Greenwich Cem.
DLVGC does not meet in July or August
3
Don’t Forget Those Collateral
Lines!
intent that lists his birth place. As for alien
registration records, the Philadelphia records made
during the First World War no longer exist, and
neither immigrant was alive by the Alien
Registration Act of 1940 or the Second World War.
Draft records did not help either. Joseph, who was
born in 1873, was eligible for the WWI Draft
Registration. However, for his birth-place, he
simply indicated "Germany".
To try to determine the actual birth town,
first I tried collateral research on the immigrant
himself. From Joseph's passenger list record in 1900
as well as the 1900 census, I discovered his sister
Hillarie. Her passenger arrival record in 1893 and
her marriage record in 1896 showed either
"Germany" or "Bavaria" as her place of birth, which
was not helpful.
Next I focused on Joseph's children. My
direct ancestor, daughter Margaret, was born in
1913, but neither her baptismal nor her birth record
listed her parents' birthplace, only the country. If I
had stopped there, it would have been a dead end.
But research on Margaret's siblings, my collateral
ancestors, led to the answer. Focusing on baptismal
records first, I decided to see if the other children's
records had any additional information. The church
they attended was mostly comprised of German
immigrants, so it seemed reasonable that the record
might be more specific than just "Germany".
My grandmother was the fifth child and the
fourth bom in the US. I began to research her siblings' records — brothers Julius, Max and Joseph.
The younger brothers' records identified the parents'
birthplace as "Germany" as well, but the oldest
brother's record had the coveted information:
"Pfaffenhoven, Germany". The spelling was
incorrect, and there are a dozen towns with a similar
name in Bavaria. Taking a clue from their passenger
arrival records, I started with the town closest to
Munich, Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm. There I found
Joseph and Maria's marriage record, the oldest
child's birth record and literally centuries of
information on their ancestors. If I had not looked at
the collateral line, there would be many more blank
spaces on the ancestral chart.
Sisters to the Rescue
Another ancestor, Waclawa Slesinska
Zawodna, was equally elusive in leaving evidence
of her place of birth. No record indicated anything
other than "Poland". It wasn't until I researched her
four younger sisters that I found the answer. All
Donna J. Pointkouski, Family Chronicle, July August,
2007 - 43
The basic concept of genealogy is to find
direct ancestors -- parents, grandparents, greatgrandparents and so on. In their quest, most people
do not pay much attention to their collateral
ancestors, or those relatives that are from the same
ancestry but are not in the direct line. In other
words, your grandmother is your direct ancestor,
but her brother is your collateral ancestor. This
usually prompts the question: "If my grandmother's
brother isn't in my direct line, why waste time
researching him?"
That line of thought is one of the most
common — and damaging — mistakes in
genealogical research. The key to under-standing
the value in collateral research is understanding that
the person shares a common ancestry with your
direct ancestor. The parents of your grandmother's
brother are your great-grand-parents, so researching
him is just as valuable as researching your
grandmother. Because of the common ancestry,
collateral relatives can provide important clues for
researching your direct lines. While it may seem
obvious that siblings share the same parents,
collateral research is often over-looked. What are
perceived as brickwalls to research can possibly be
overcome by shifting your focus to collateral lines.
It's a Big Country
Collateral research has been beneficial many
times in my own family history research. For
example, my great-grandparents, Joseph and Maria
Bergmeister, emigrated from Bavaria to the US in
1900. But information on exactly what town in
Bavaria was non-existent. At least I thought it was
non-existent, because it was certainly not evident
from any of the records. Without that key piece of
information, further research on their lines would
be impossible.
First, all the usual research sources were
checked for clues. Their passenger list records to
New York — Joseph in 1900 and Maria in 1901 —
both indicated Munich as the place of origin. I knew
that it was unlikely that they came from the city
itself, and if they did, it would be difficult to find
more information.
Census records told me that Joseph was
never naturalized, so there was no declaration of
4
four sisters were married in the US, unlike my
great-grandmother. From these records I was able to
get the names of their parents, my great-greatgrandparents. However, their marriage records did
not have any town names listed for the birth place,
only "Poland".
When I checked Social Security card
applications, I found that only one sister, Sophia,
applied. Fortunately, when she applied in 1968 at
the age of 67, she showed some Polish pride in
filling out the SS-5 application. Not only did she list
the town name, but the province as well:
Dobroslowo, Konin, Poland. Again, the spelling of
the town was slightly incorrect, but it was not
difficult to find since I knew the province as well.
If the Name Fits
Researching Elizabeth Miller was an
exercise in frustration. The name can belong to
multiple nationalities, and I found Elizabeth Millers
from England, Ireland, Scotland, Poland, Germany,
Russia and Hungary. I believed mine to be Polish,
but I could not prove that any of the passenger list
records I found were definitively hers. Too many
had similar ages and immigration years, and none
had a traveling companion that might offer a clue.
On Elizabeth's marriage record to Louis
Pater, the best man was listed as Emil Miller.
Assuming he might be Elizabeth's brother, I refocused my search on him. It was still difficult to
identify their exact birthplace in Poland, but I
continued searching. I found a record from the
Russian Consulate in Philadelphia for Emil and his
family. He had requested a visa to allow them to
travel back to Poland, and the town name was
given. Only then was I able to sift through the
various passenger list records for many Millers to
finally know, without a doubt, which one was my
Elizabeth. This naturally gave me the opportunity to
trace their family in Poland as well.
New Branches of the Family Tree
Always look up ancestors' siblings, aunts,
uncles or cousins in census records — you never
know who might be living with them. With each
release of an additional year of US federal census
records, I like to look up family members, even if I
have already traced their ancestry back several
generations. Occasionally, you'll find surprise
relatives.
A look at the 1920 census for my greatgrandfather's sister Hillarie, mentioned here,
showed a Julius Goetz listed as a brother-in-law to
her husband. Was he, in fact, Hillarie's brother
despite a different last name? After further research,
including his US marriage and naturalization, the
answer was yes — he was a half-brother to the
Bergmeisters. This finally explained the inability to
find Joseph and Hillarie's mother's death record in
Germany — she had remarried after her first
husband's death and died with the surname of
"Goetz".
Hopefully, these few examples have shown
the importance of researching not only your direct
ancestors, but your collateral ones as well.
Family Chronicle, July/August 2007, Vol. 11, No. 6;
Subscription Line: 1-800-326-2476; e-mail:
publisher@moorshead.com; Subsc: $30, published bimonthly.
New Jersey State Archives
http://www. njarchives. org/links/archives, html
Index to Marriage Records. 1848-1867 As of
April 2007, data entry from the 1848-1867
hardcopy indexes for all of the counties has been
completed and verified against the original returns.
The index may be searched by the name of the
groom and/or bride, county of registration, and/or
the year of marriage.
1880 U.S. Federal census "Defective. Dependent
and Delinquent Classes" A recent microfilming
project has been completed involving the 1880 U.S.
Federal census holdings. Beyond the standard
population schedule, census takers were required to
complete an agricultural, industrial, manufacturing,
and mortality schedule. However in 1880, a very
different schedule was created and added to the list
of duties, a supplemental schedule for the
Defective, Dependent and Delinquent Classes
(DDD). This supplemental schedule relates to
answers provided on the population enumeration
schedule columns #16-20. If you are to find a tick
mark in any of these columns, you will find
additional information relating to their illness on the
"DDD" schedule.
The arrangement corresponds to the
population schedules, where it is necessary to know
the Supervisor's and Enumeration (SD/ED) district
numbers to locate individuals. Currently, the
microfilm is only available for in-person research,
however an indexing project will be organized later
this year.
5
10 Social Networking Websites for
Genealogists
who haven't. Once you have been added as a friend
(all family members, coworkers and friends are
listed as "friends") to someone's profile, you can list
the details of how you know one another.
According to a search done at the time of
publication, there are 257 genealogy-based groups
(grown from 192 in May) and 380 people in the
largest general genealogy group, simply titled
"Genealogy" (grown from 310 in May). An
additional 547 groups list "families" as their
common interest description (although many more
may be listed under other interest categories) and
these lists will only continue to grow. It is only a
matter of time before genealogists and family
historians begin using this website to further their
research and share their findings.
MySpace (Free) http://www.myspace.com
MySpace holds the largest net-work of users
on the Internet, but is used mainly by teenagers as a
way to keep track of their social lives through the
blogging feature. The search functions of this website are impressive, making it pos-sible to narrow
down your search for relatives by country and
proximity to a postal or zip code.
It is unlikely that you will find older
members of your family through this website, but a
search for younger generations may introduce you
to family you have never met. The "extended network" that is built as you add people to your list of
friends can only grow as families and friends are
linked.
Family Link (Free) http://www.familylink.com
This social networking site is a service of
World Vital Records, which allows genealogists
and family historians to find others who may be
able to help with their research. Users list their
genealogical backgrounds, any languages they may
be fluent in and research they are currently working
on. Profiles list whether a researcher is willing to do
free Internet searches or local record lookups for a
struggling researcher. Other profile information
includes a list of online data-bases the user has
access to and a list of locations they have
researched in the past.
Finding fellow genealogists is the whole
point of this website, and the search functions make
it quite easy. All the details listed in your profile
are searchable, which can narrow down your
results. You can even choose to only search people
who are currently online, making instant access to
your new-found genealogist friend possible. Your
Amanda Judd
INTERNET Genealogy, August/September 2007
In recent months, social networking
websites have become one of most popular interests
on the Internet. People from all over the world are
connecting with each other based on their shared
interests, schools, mutual friends and, now,
genealogy. Here is a list of various social
networking web-sites with the most potential for
family historians and genealogists.
Search Sites
If you have lost contact with family
members, or are just interested in finding people
you may be related to, these websites can help you
start your search.
Facebook (Free) http://www.facebook.com
Quickly becoming one of the largest social
networking websites on the Internet, Facebook has
recently placed its active user count at 24 million
people, with an average growth rate of three percent
per week. This website began in February 2004 as a
place for students to connect within the Harvard
campus, but in September 2006 opened its doors to
anyone with a valid e-mail account. Networks are
based on regional location (set by the user) or
around a company or educational institution.
Finding people through this website can be
frustrating. Searching for a common name, such as
Smith, yields not only every person with Smith as a
first or last name, but also every person and group
that has "smith" listed anywhere in their profile.
Groups can be started by any member and
can narrow your search results to a manageable
amount. I was fortunate enough to find a "Judds of
the World" group to help me in my genealogical
research. The advanced search tool isn't as
advanced as you might hope. The search parameters
are clearly defined, but it only allows you to look
within your own net-works, eliminating records
from other parts of Facebook. The best way to find
relatives through this site is to work through your
relatives' "friends list" to find people who are
related to them.
Of vital interest to family researchers will be
the "Find Friends" feature. This incredibly easy tool
searches your Internet e-mail address books (such
as Hotmail and Yahoo) for people who have already
joined Facebook and sends an invitation to those
6
profile con-tains a mailbox, so you won't have to
give a stranger your personal information, making
contacting others easy and safe.
Reunion ($) http://www.reunion.com
This website allows you to create active
searches for friends and family, as well as find
people who could be actively searching for you.
The basic profile options are free, but you'll have to
pay for Premium membership ($36us for one year
or $72us for three years) if you want to find out
who is searching for your name.
Searching for family members who may be
using this service can be difficult if you don't know
their age. The age requirement narrows the search
field, but if there are no records for that particular
age you will be provided with a list of all records
for that name. Reunion has the advantage over other
websites that are strictly set up for US users only
because it lists information from Canada, US
Territories and Armed Forces locations. Once you
have your account created, the quick input option
for profile information on the home page makes
updating your profile page painless.
SharedTree (Free) http://www.sharedtree.com
This website has a bit of everything that a
genealogist would look for in a social networking
site. Built on a foundation of GEDCOM files
uploaded by users, SharedTree allows you to
contact other researchers looking for the same
family, allows you to print PDF versions of all your
pedigree and descendant charts, can merge
duplicate files, and will export all the information
you've added on to another GEDCOM file.
SharedTree uses a basic search function that
is accessible to anyone, even if you don't have an
account. You can upload family photo albums and
invite family members to add to your family tree.
Discussion threads for each profile page allow
researchers to collaborate, and a much larger
forum can provide that much needed social
interaction aspect of a social networking website.
images and then connect to the collections uploaded
by other family members. The site builds an
interactive family tree based on the photos and
relationships that users define.
Personal profiles contain your biography,
family photos, photos of family pets, and any
favorite things you would like to share, including
songs, recipes or stories. The Family Pacebook
section brings together all the family collections, as
well as those of any family friends you may list. A
calendar makes scheduling family gatherings easy,
and the mapping tool (courtesy of Google Maps)
makes finding directions to those gatherings a
breeze.
Geni (Free for now) http://www.geni.com
Geni is a private social networking site for
families. Only people in your family tree can see
your information, which makes it ideal for anyone
who would like to share in-depth information
without letting the whole world see it.
INTERNET Genealogy, August/September 2007
Online Help
Karen Brannigan Walizer
Gengateway http://www.gengatewav.com/ is a site
that offers the beginner, intermediate, and advanced
genealogist a valuable source of information. On the
left site of the site is a listing of gateways, guides,
and links. These gateways offer a mired of
information and thousands of genealogy links.
Starting with the beginner gateway there are
113 records to explore. These include forums,
message boards, a link to 10,000 genealogy links.
There is a beginner guide, a link to the Library of
Congress, also one to a soundex converter and to
the US Genweb. It even has a link to the USPS zip
code lookup.
The census gateway will give you 76 more
records, this is a alphabetical listing of state records
put on the internet by various sources. Not all
census records are listed, but take a look, you might
just find something you are looking for.
Moving on to the ethnic gateway, I cannot
tell you how voluble these 399 links are. They are
also listed in alphabetical order. There is even a link
to the Godfrey Memorial Library and a link to
Quaker roots. There are all ethnic categories and a
link to Roots-L homepage. This is the original
internet mailing list, a worthwhile tool for all
genealogists. Continue though the entire list,
FAMILY WEBSITES
Once you've found your family members,
it's time to start talking with them. These websites
can help you keep in touch with family and friends,
and will allow you to gather the bits and pieces of
your family history that you have uncovered.
Amiglia.com (Free) http://www.amiglia.com
Amiglia is a beta operation that focuses on
sharing family photos. Users upload their own
7
because even though there are 9 links under I for
Irish sites the Tiara- The Irish Ancestral Research
Association link is listed under T.
The vital records gateway gives you 53
records, these include links to all states plus a few
others like Vital Tree. This is a search by name site.
The societies gateway is also useful in
giving you contact information for the various state
and local historical and genealogy societies. For
example, our society site is listed under N Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society,
clicking this link will take you directly to our (their)
web site. All of the gateways, links and guides have
so much to offer I am sure you will be coming back
to this site time after time. It is like a genealogy
course all on one site.
include newspapers, city and business directories,
vital records, printed census records, state, county,
and local histories, as well as numerous family
histories, family bible records, and service and
pension records.
Heritage Quest/ProQuest
http://www. heritagequestonline.com
Heritage Quest online includes the complete set of
U.S. Federal Census images from 1790 to 1930
including names and indexes for many of the sets.
Users will be able to find people and places located
in over 20,000 published family and local histories
and PERSI, an index of over 1.9 million genealogy
and local history articles. Other online databases
include Revolutionary War Pension, Bounty-Land
Warrant Application files, and the Freedman Bank
Records. Access to this service will be limited to
1,400 family history centers in North America.
Patrons should contact their local Family History
Center to see if this service is available.
Kindred Konnections http://www.
kindredkonnections.com
Kindred Konnections has over 230 million pedigree
linked names with submitter information. The
online pedigrees are not merged, but maintained by
individual patrons. There are additional databases
of birth, marriage, death, and census records that are
automatically searched along with the pedigree
linked data. Segments of pedigrees can be
downloaded.
World Vital Records http://www.
worldvitalrecords.com
World Vital Records provides access to research
helps and has a wide variety of international
records, including more than 60 parish registers,
Scottish death records, UK marriages, and Irish
prisoner records. There are more than 300
newspapers with 100,000 pages added a month, and
over 500 online databases, including vital, military,
land, pension records, reference materials, family
histories, maps, gazetteers, and international co-ops.
With the recent Quintin Publications partnership,
World Vital Records will soon have more than
10,000 databases online. At least one new database
is added every business day.
FamilySearch (historically the Genealogical Society
of Utah) is a nonprofit organization sponsored by
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
FamilySearch maintains the world's largest
repository of genealogical resources accessed
through FamilySearch.org, the Family History
The Heritage (Newsletter of Northeast Pennsylvania
Genealogical Society) Vol. 16, No. 3, Fall 2007
Library and Repository Notes
Originally published in the GSNJ Newsletter, Volume 16,
Number 02, April/May/June 2007, a quarterly publication
of Genealogical Society of New Jersey http://www.gsnj.org/.
http://www.gsnj.org
FamilySearch has announced the addition of
more popular online genealogy services available
for free through worldwide Family History Centers.
The expanded services are in keeping with
FamilySearch's goal to provide increased access to
records that will assist individuals in family history
pursuits. New resources include:
Footnote http://www. footnote.com
Footnote is a subscription-based website that
features searchable, original documents that provide
users a view of the events, places and people that
shaped the American nation and the world. The site
will have over 25 million digital images by the end
of 2007. Footnote is currently working with
FamilySearch to index the American Revolutionary
War Pension files. Additional projects with
FamilySearch are under development. Individuals
with Footnote subscriptions will be able to sign in
with the same Footnote username and password
they use at home in order to save, annotate, and
upload content.
Godfrey Memorial Library http://www. godfrey.
org
Godfrey Memorial Library has an extensive
collection of essential resources to assist
genealogical and historical research. Resources
8
Library in Salt Lake City, and over 4,500 family
history centers in 70 countries.
while similar to CDVs, are larger, usually 4-1/4" x
6-1/2". Cabinet Cards remained popular, especially
in North America, right up until the early 1900s.
The descriptions here have barely scratched
the surface and your best bet would be to pick up a
book or two on dating old photographs. Family
Chronicle has published two successful books on
the subject: Dating Old Photographs and More
Dating Old Photographs, and the information here
was taken directly from these two books. The July/
August 2006 issue of Family Chronicle was a
special issue on dating and preserving old photos
and there are even articles on how to preserve and
organize your images.
If we can pass along one final word of
advice: To save future generations from having to
go through the same frustrating process of dating
photographs, make a point of dating and identifying
all your family photos from the last few decades.
The future genealogists in your family will thank
you!
Identify and Organize Photos
Question: I want to organize and date my
old family photos... but…some of the photos
appear to be on glass, while others are on metal
plates? Some are on stiff, cardboard-like paper,
many with ornate frames.
Answer: Luckily the "science" of dating old
photographs is a fairly popular subject, so there are
lots of books and websites out there dedicated to it.
I'll start by identifying the three types of
images described.
The glass photgraph sounds very much like
an ambrotype, a glass negative with a lack
background that makes the image appear positive.
The ambrotype was invented by Frederick Scott
Archer, and by the early 1860s had been replaced
by the cheaper and easier-to-produce tintypes (more
on this in a bit).
As a result, it's one of the rarer types of early
photography. Due to their fragility, ambrotypes
were usually displayed in mounts or cases.
The metal images are most likely tintypes, an
incredibly popular type of photograph invented by
Hamilton Smith in 1856. Tintypes were popular up
until the early 1900s and number into the millions,
making them one of the most common types of
early photographs, especially in North America.
The tintype gets its name from the fact that the
image is produced on a thin metal plate. Because
tintypes were displayed similarly to ambrotypes, it
is often difficult to differentiate between the two,
especially if the image is cased behind glass. The
most common size of tintypes was 2-1/2" X 3-1/2"',
which made them extremely popular with
traveling photographers. Of course, the metal
images you speak of could also be
Daguerreotypes, which used a polished, silver
plated sheet of metal. Daguerreotypes fell out of
favor in the early 1860s, replaced by other less
costly methods.
The paper prints are most likely either
Cartes-de-Vistes (CDVs) or Cabinet Cards. CDVs
are a type of card mounted photograph introduced
in the early 1850s, which remained common right
up until the late 1890s. CDVs are easily identified
by their size, typically 2-1/2” x 4". Cabinet Cards,
Family Chronicle, July/August 2007, Vol. 11, No. 6, “You
Wanted to Know”
Subscription Line: 1-800-326-2476; e-mail:
publisher@moorshead.com; Subsc: $30, published bimonthly.
Delaware and Lehigh Valleys Genealogy
Club
P. O. Box 221, Easton, PA 18044
www.rootsweb.com/~njdlvgc
Dues Are Due!
In case you have not paid your Fiscal 2008 Dues,
this is a reminder to do so as soon as you can.
As specified in the Standing Rules of the
Delaware and Lehigh Valleys Genealogy
Club annual dues are due and payable no later
than September 1.
Individual Membership:
$ 20.00
Family Membership (living in same house):
$ 30.00
Please makes checks payable to: DLVGC
Mail checks to: P.O. Box 221, Easton, PA 18044
9
Volunteer Projects
Phillipsburg Library
There is a surprising volume of various
papers, articles, notes, maps and other material
in the Phillipsburg Library vertical files for
“New Jersey and Local Information”. This
information is just placed in file drawers
without proper sorting, indexing or cataloging.
A volunteer or volunteers would be
most helpful to spend time at their own
schedule sorting and cataloging NJ, Warren
County, Phillipsburg historical materials in
vertical files.
To help out, contact: Ann DeRenzis,
908/454-3712 or aderenzi@pburglib.org
Easton Library
The Marx History Room currently has
well over 150 print church and cemetery
records for Northampton County. Most are
indexed or arranged alphabetically, but
researchers have to plod through each volume
separately when searching for records about an
individual.
We want to provide a Master Index, but
we need help on this indexing project and are
looking for volunteers. Requirements are
willingness to help and the ability to do data
entry accurately. If you have a home computer,
you can do this project at home. Volunteers
would copy completed files onto librarysupplied media and return them for adding to
the master file. Volunteers who do not have a
computer may use the library's computers.
The library also has an index to
selected Easton newspaper articles from 1799
to the present. Most of this index is currently
on index cards. Using this resource, patrons
can find articles about local buildings, events,
local government, crimes, organizations, etc.,
in microfilmed Easton newspapers.
Volunteers are needed convert this to a
computer database and placed on our web site.
Conversion will be a massive project, so we
are seeking data entry volunteers for this
project, which is being done in the library.
To volunteer for either of these projects,
contact Barbara Wiemann at 610-258-2917 or
ext. 381 or barbaraw@eastonpl .org.
10
Delaware/Lehigh Valleys Genealogy Club
DelawareDLVGC
and Lehigh
Valleys
Reporter
Genealogy Club
is published by the
Lehigh Valleys Genealogy Club,
P. Delaware
O. Boxand
221
P. O. Box 221, Easton, Pa 18044-0221
Easton,
PA 18044
Website:
www.rootsweb.com/~njdlvgc
Meeting Schedule
Meetings: DLVGC meets the second
Monday of each month (except July and August), 7:00
PM, Grace Lutheran Church, Roseberry Street,
Phillipsburg, NJ or as noted.
Editor: Gil Greene
Meetings: DLVGC meets the second Monday of
Nov 12 - Irene Lambert - Handwriting Analysis
each month (except July and August), 7:00 PM,
Dec 10 - Dr. Rob Reynolds - PA German Society
Grace Lutheran Church, Roseberry Street,
Jan 14 - To be determined
Phillipsburg, NJ (except as noted)
Feb 11 - John Reinhardt - Welsh Hist. & Geneal.
Dues: $20.00
year Individual;
per genealogy and history in the eastern
THE
bestperroute
to your$ 30.00
family
Mar 10 - To be determined
Family living at one address (after January 31 dues
Apr 14 - To be determined
Pennsylvania/
one-half )
May 12 - Annual Mtg- Election of Officers
Directions: From West:
take Rte.
22 eastarea
across toll
Northwestern
New
Jersey
Jun 9 - Tent. John O’Brien at Greenwich Cem.
bridge to intersection of Roseberry Street (Exxon
sta. on rt./Wendy’s far rt.); jug-handle to RoseberryDLVGC does not meet in July or August
North; Go through light to next light (200 yds.); turn
Left into Grace Lutheran Church parking.
From East:2006
take Issue
Rte. 22 into Phillipsburg;
exit
Summer
Vol. 3, No.
4 at
Hillcrest/Roseberry St.; Turn rt. And immediate left
into Grace parking lot.
DLVGC
Delaware and Lehigh Valleys
Genealogy Club
P. O. Box 221
Easton, PA 18044
DLVGC
THE best route to your family genealogy and history in the eastern
Pennsylvania/
Northwestern New Jersey area
Summer 2007 Issue
Vol. 4, No. 3
11