Steve Morse Coming to Cleveland In June

On Wednesday 6 June 2007 at 7:00 pm, Steve Morse of One-Step Web pages fame will be the featured speaker at the meeting of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland. His topic will be: "One-Step Webpages: A Potpourri of Genealogical Search Tools."

The meeting will be free and open to the public. It will be at Menorah Park, 27100 Cedar Road, Beachwood, Ohio.

The One-Step website began as an aid for finding passengers in the Ellis Island database, expanded to help with searching in the 1930 census, and has continued to evolve. It now includes over 100 web-based tools divided into twelve separate categories ranging from genealogical searches to astronomical calculations to last-minute bidding on e-bay.

This presentation will describe the range of tools available and give the highlights of each one.

This program is co-sponsored by several local genealogical societies.

Footnote.com Sponsors Eastman’s Online Genealogy News

Dick Eastman has announced that Footnote, Inc., has agreed to become the exclusive sponsor of his newsletter effective immediately.

In his announcement, he stated, “Footnote, Inc. made a big splash in the genealogy community a few days ago when the company announced an agreement with the National Archives and Records Administration to place digital images of millions of original documents online. Four and a half million images are already available at www.footnote.com, and that number is growing fast.

Footnote CEO Russell Wilding has promised, "We will continue to add millions of original documents and images monthly."

This is a great online service for genealogists, historians, re-enactors, students, teachers, and others.

I’ll have some personal views on this online resource in the coming days.

WRHS Gen Institute Schedule for 2007

The Genealogical Committee of the Western Reserve Historical Society has announced the schedule for its Genealogical Institute for 2007.

Genealogy 101 – Feb 24 – 12:00 noon – 2:00 p.m. – $ 5
Genealogy 102 – Mar 31 – 12:00 noon – 3:00 p.m. – $ 15
Internet Search Strategies – Apr 7 – 12:00 noon – 3:00 p.m. – $ 15
Genealogy 101 – Apr 21 – 12:00 noon – 2:00 p.m. – $ 5
Genealogy 102 – May 5 – 12:00 noon – 3:00 p.m. – $ 15
People Who Fell Through the Cracks – Jun 2 – 12:00 noon – 3:00 p.m. – $ 15
Have You Really Looked at the Census ? – Sep 15 – 12:00 noon – 3:00 p.m – $ 15
Genealogy 101 – Sep 29 – 12:00 noon – 2:00 p.m. – $ 15
Manuscripts & Other Overlooked Resources – Nov 3 – 12:00 noon – 3:00 p.m. – $ 15

Watch this space for details on how to register!

African-American and Southern Research Seminar coming to WRHS

Mark you calendar for Saturday, March 3, 2007.

If you are doing African American or Southern research, the Western Reserve Historical Society is the place to be. The Genealogical Committee, an auxiliary of WRHS and the African American Genealogical Society of Cleveland are co-sponsoring an all day seminar focusing on African-American and southern research.

Registration begins at 8:15 a.m.; the seminar is from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Reginald Washington of the National Archives in Washington DC, will be the featured speaker.

Topics include Federal Census, Freedman’s Bureau Records, Slave Research, Obituaries: A Tool of Black History, Black Migration Patterns, Underground Railroad Quilts, Southern Claims Commission, Creative Displays for Family History. One-on-one research assistance and a tour of the WRHS Library are also available.

Registration fee is $40. Mail your check made payable to WRHS Gen. Comm., along with your name, address, telephone number to: WRHS Genealogical Committee, P.O. Box 1832, Mentor OH 44061-1832. Bring a brown bag lunch including a beverage.

Ancestry Makes Passenger Arrival Info Available

This is not really breaking news, but I did want to post an item about it.

The Internet genealogy service Ancestry.com has put more than 100 million passenger arrival records online from that period in a searchable database on its Web site. The database was launched in December.

With this addition to Ancestry's online database offerings, you can go online to see the original document that records an immigrant ancestor's arrival so long as they sailed to America between 1820 and 1960.

‘‘This is the largest online collection of passenger lists that will ever be assembled for the United States,’’ boasted Mike Ward, a genealogist with Ancestry.com, to a reporter from the Associated Press.

More than 41 million people immigrated to America during the 140-year period, most of them during the 50 years between 1880 and 1930.

Ancestry.com estimates that approximately 85 percent of the current U.S. population has at least one relative in the database.

Some examples reported by the AP:

Hillary Clinton’s grandfather Hugh Rodham appears on a list of passengers who arrived in New York aboard the S.S. Alaska in October 1881. At the age of two, he sailed in steerage from Liverpool, England with his mother Bella and seven siblings to join his father Jonathan, who had already settled in Scranton, Pa.

Martha Stewart’s grandfather Franz Kostyra arrived from Poland in 1905. The progenitor of America’s most famous home craftswoman listed his occupation as ‘‘basketmaker.’’ The original records existed thanks to a law passed by Congress in 1819 that required all ships docking in U.S. ports to file a list of passengers on board.

The lists often include information about each passenger’s date and place of birth, profession and other personal data.

‘‘It is certainly the most emotionally powerful collection that we’ve put online,’’ said Ancestry.com CEO Tim Sullivan.

E-zine Provides Updates on 2007 OGS Conference

Stay up-to-date on news about the 2007 OGS Conference!

Subscribe to the OGS Conference E-zine. It is free to subscribe and your information will not be shared with any group or individual. It is a great way to learn about all the exciting developments with the OGS Conference.

The OGS Conference E-zine was launched in 2006 to distribute news about the 2006 Conference in Toledo, Ohio. Hundreds of genealogists throughout Ohio and beyond signed up, so the service is being provided again leading up to this year's conference on Apr 12-14 at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio. Theme for this year's conference is "Along the National Road: Your Avenue to the Past."

To sign up to receive the 2007 OGS Conference E-zine, go to the OGS Conference web page at www.ogs.org/2007conf.php and enter your email address.

Invitation to Attend the 2007 OGS Annual Conference

E. Paul Morehouse, Jr., President of the Ohio Genealogical Society, has issued the following invitation to genealogists throughout Ohio and beyond:

"On behalf of the Officers and the Board of Trustees of The Ohio Genealogical Society, I invite you to attend the 2007 Annual Conference, "Along the National Road: Your Avenue to the Past" in Columbus on April 12-14, 2007, at the Hyatt Regency Columbus.

"The 2007 program includes a broad range of presentations for all skill levels. We have scheduled over 50 programs with many nationally known speakers. In addition, the program committee has attempted to include some new faces to the OGS Conference, and we hope you will check them out. Workshops are also offered on Thursday evening for the early birds.

"The 2007 OGS Conference will offer you the opportunity to network with hundreds of other genealogists and historians. In addition, we will also have many genealogical exhibitors, OGS and Chapter displays offering the latest genealogical merchandise and publications.

"I hope you have considered applying for membership in one our three lineage societies: First Families of Ohio, Civil War Families, and Settlers and Builders of Ohio. All three societies will conduct induction ceremonies at the Conference. If you are interested in doing so, contact OGS for application forms.

"The Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Columbus is a great facility for our conference. It is not too far from the Ohio Historical Society.

"We expect this to be another great OGS Conference. We hope you will join us in a wonderful learning experience and have an opportunity to celebrate your ancestors' contribution to Ohio and American History. Come check out German Village and some of the other historic and cultural delights of Ohio's capital city!

"See you in Columbus!"

Complete program and registration details are available on the OGS website at www.ogs.org/2007conf.php

Free Guide to Genealogy Resources at the Cleveland Public Library

The Cleveland Public Library has been offering for some time a FREE 22-page genealogy guide. You can download it at the link below.

The guide provides four types of information:

First, the guide gives the location of vital records (birth, death, marriage, divorce) and other records (name changes, naturalization, wills/estates, etc.) in Cuyahoga County.

Second, the guide outlines, by department, the major resources available for genealogical research at the Cleveland Public Library.

Third, the guide includes a shelf-browsing guide for the extensive collection of genealogy materials available in the Library’s History & Geography Department.

Fourth, the guide includes a directory of other helpful Web sites and organizations.

Download: Genealogy Resources at the Cleveland Public Library& Genealogical Records & Resources in Cuyahoga County(PDF Revised August 2006)

Cuyahoga County Death Notices and Obits

I’ve finally gotten together for my own use a list of online resources for searching for death notices and obituaries for Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. The three resources have been available for some time, but I didn’t completely understand the scope of each; in other words, when to use each. Here they are:

Cleveland Necrology File (1850-1975; full text)
Searchable database of newspaper death notices for the following years: 1833, 1847-48, 1850-1975, and cemetery records, created by the Cleveland Public Library.
http://www.cpl.org/ , then click on Cleveland Necrology File under Special Focus on left.

Cleveland News Index (1976-present; index only)
Created by the Cleveland Public Library, the online Cleveland News Index lists citation information for local news stories, feature articles, and reviews from the Cleveland Plain Dealer (1983-June 1999). Obituaries from the Plain Dealer and the Cleveland Press are included from 1976 to the present.
http://www-catalog.cpl.org/CLENIX

Cleveland.com (current plus three months)
Cleveland Plain Dealer website provides two weeks of death notices and obituaries.
http://www.cleveland.com/obituaries/