Genealogy Online
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• The Freedman’s Bureau Online (http://www.freedmensbureau.com) allows you to search many records. The Freedman’s Bureau took care of education, food, shelter, clothing, and medicine for refugees and freedmen. When Confederate land or property was confiscated, the Freedman’s Bureau took custody. Records include personnel records and reports from various states on programs and conditions.
• The African-American Genealogical Society of Northern California is a local group, but its website has monthly articles, online genealogy charts, discussion groups, and more. It is worth a visit. Find it at http://www.aagsnc.org.
• AAGENE-L is a moderated mailing list for African-American genealogy and history researchers. Subscribe to the list by sending a message to aagene-l@upeople.com with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Details can be found at htttp://ftp.cac.psu.edu/~saw/aagene-faq.html.
Arab Genealogy
• Linkpedium (the best-kept secret of online genealogy) has a page of Arab genealogy links at http://www.linkpendium.com/. You can also use the search box.
• GenForum has a discussion group on United Arab Emirates genealogy at http://www.genforum.genealogy.com/uae.
• Check Cyndi’s List Middle East page (http://www.cyndislist.com/middle-east) for a list of sites dedicated to history, culture, and genealogy research on the Middle East.
Australian Aborigines
• The Aboriginal Studies WWW Virtual Library (http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVL-Aboriginal.html) has links to resources and articles concerning Australian aborigines.
• The New Zealand WorldGenWebPage (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzlwgw/resources.html) has links to many resources about New Zealand genealogy.
• The National Library of Australia has a page on genealogy, located at http://www.nla.gov.au/oz/genelist.html, that includes links to many specific ethnic and family sites.
• The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) has a page just for family historians at http://www.aiatsis.gov.au.
Caribbean Genealogy
• Caribbean Genealogy Resources, located at http://www.candoo.com/genresources, lists links to archives, museums, universities, and libraries with historical and genealogical information for countries in the Caribbean. Another page from this site is http://www.candoo.com/surnames, which is a list of Caribbean surnames. The text files list surnames, places, and dates, as well as e-mail contact information for researchers looking for them.
• Caribbean WorldGenWeb (http://www.rootsweb.com/~caribgw). Search RootsWeb for mailing lists for related queries and discussions.
British Virgin Islands Genealogy
• British Virgin Islands Caribbean GenWeb (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bviwgw) has general resources, online records, query boards, and a mailing list.
• Caribbean Genealogy-Resources-Microfilm Indexes (http://www.candoo.com/genresources/microfilms.htm) is a list of surnames in the Caribbean listed by surname and researcher.
• Genforum.genealogy.com (http://www.genforum.genealogy.com) features a forum finder, and you can search by surnames. It also offers information on general genealogy topics, such as immigration, emigration, migration, religions, and wars.
• BVI Civil Registry (http://crisvi.gov.vg/netdata/db2www.pgm/c2_public.ndm/start2) provides information on the BVI records going back to 1859. This would be an offline research opportunity. If you make an appointment, you can do research there. The General Civil Registry Office holds records of births, marriages, deaths, and wills from 1859 to present. The Anglican and Methodist churches hold records of baptisms, marriages, and deaths as follows: Anglican Church: baptisms (1825–1861), marriages (1833–1946), and burials (1819–1867); Methodist Church: baptisms (1815–1895 and 1889), marriages (1877–1934), and burials (1845–1896).
• The Inland Revenue Office records ownership of houses, land, and other property.
• Tax lists containing pertinent information are published annually.
• The Land Registry holds property identifiers, including indexes and maps from 1972, public library information (newspapers from 1959 and various name indexes), BVI history books, and, from the Survey Department, ordinance 1953 maps and boundary maps from 1975. You can write to them at The Archives Unit, Deputy Governor’s Office, Burhym Building, 49 deCasro Street, Road Town, Tortola. (284) 468-2365 (phone) and (284) 468-2582 (fax).
Creole/Cajun Genealogy
The Acadians/Cajuns were the French settlers ejected from Nova Scotia by the British in the mid-eighteenth century. Some went to Quebec, and some to Louisiana.
“Creole” means different things in different places. In Latin America, a Creole is someone of pure Spanish blood. In the Caribbean, it means a descendant of Europeans; in the Guineas, it means someone descended from slaves, whether African or native to the islands. In the southern United States, the term refers to aristocratic landowners and slaveholders before the Civil War, part of the overall French/Cajun culture of the Gulf Coast. For almost all Creole research, parish records are your best bet—those and mailing list discussions!
• Acadian-Cajun Genealogy and History (http://www.acadian-cajun.com) publishes records, how-to articles, history, mailing lists, maps, genealogies, and more.
• The Encyclopedia of Cajun Culture (http://www.cajunculture.com) will give you good background information.
• Acadian Genealogy Homepage (http://www.acadian.org) has census records, books, maps, and more.
Note
Have you backed up your data this week? This month? This year?
• The Cajun and Zydeco Radio Guide also has a list of family histories that have been posted to the Web at http://www.cajunradio.org/genealogy.html.
• Canadian GenWeb is at http://acadian-genweb.acadian-home.org/Links.html. Here you will find links to surname forums, several personal websites, some census records and DNA studies.
• The Louisiana Creole Heritage Center is located on the campus of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and on the Web at http://creole.nsula.edu. The Facebook page is http://facebook.com/creoleheritagecenter.
• The Confederation of Associations of Families Acadian (http://www.cafa.org) promotes the culture and genealogy of Acadian families in America.
• Search the RootsWeb mailing lists; there are several for Acadian/Cajun research and data in Louisiana and Canada.
Cuban Genealogy
• The Cuban GenWeb (http://www.cubagenweb.org) has good pointers, tips, and exchanges on Cuban genealogy.
• The Cuban Digital Library page (in Spanish—remember, the Chrome browser will translate for you) is at http://www.bibliotecadigitalcubana.blogspot.com/. This page has some digitized scholarly manuscripts much like Google Books. See Figure 16-2.
FIGURE 16-2. The Cuban Digital Library has digital books you can search.
• Search Google Books for “Cuba” and “genealogy” or “history” for some good hits.
• The Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami has a good website at http://www.cubangenclub.org/. Begun in 2001, the club works for the preservation of shared memories and experiences. The club also fosters an interest in the preservation of records and testimonies that document Cuban family history.
• Florida International University, University of Florida, and other Florida colleges have good special collections with Cuban and Caribbean heritage items. For example, at FIU, check out the article “FIU Library Holds Unexpected Treasures” http://news.fiu.edu/2013/05/fiu-library-holds-unexpected-treasures/62827.
Doukhobors Genealogy
The history of this small sect of Russian pacifist dissenters is outlined in an article at http://rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cansk/Saskatchewan/ethnic/doukhobor-saskatchewan.html. The RootsWeb message boards at Ancestry.com have several topics on this group as well.
Gypsy, Romani, Romany, and Travellers Genealogy
• The Gypsy Lore Society maintains a list of links on Gypsy history, genealogy, and images at http://www.gypsyloresociety.org
/.
• Romani culture and history are covered at http://www.romanygenes.com.
• Learn about the Irish Travellers at these sites:
• Irish Traveller (http://irishtraveller.org.uk/find-out-about-irish-travellers/history-and-culture/)
• Romani & Traveller Family History Society (http://rtfhs.org.uk)
• From the Surrey County Council site page at http://new.surreycc.gov.uk, click Heritage, Culture, And Recreation; then Archive And History; and then Diverse Cultures.
Hmong Genealogy
• The Hmong people came to the United States from Laos at the end of the Vietnam War. The Hmong home page (http://www.hmongnet.org) has culture, news, events, and general information.
• The Hmong Genealogy page (http://www.hmonggenealogy.com) has information as well.
Quaker and Huguenot Genealogy
• My Quaker Roots (http://robt.shepherd.tripod.com/quaker1.html) is a site covering New England families of Maris, Palmerton, Jenkins, Smith, Nichols, Newlin, Rogers, Kinsey, Sherman, Palmer, Pugh, Fawkes, Mendenhall, and other Quakers.
• The Quaker Collection (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jrichmon/qkrcoll/qkrcoll.htm) offers a collection of Family Group Sheets on the founders of certain larger Quaker families.
• The Quaker Corner (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~quakers/) has many resources for Quaker genealogical research.
• The Huguenot Society of America has a website and an e-mail newsletter at http://www.huguenotsocietyofamerica.org/.
• The Genealogy Forum: Huguenot Genealogy Resources: Huguenot Timeline (http://www.genealogyforum.com/gfaol/resource/Huguenot/hug0006.htm) is a good overview of the movement.
• Huguenot Ancestry by Noel Currer-Briggs and Royston Gambier (Phillimore & Co., Ltd., 1985) is available on Google Books.
• A very good roundup of information is at http://www.familytreemaker.com/glc/links/c/c-people,ethnic-religious-groups.html.
• The National Huguenot Association (http://www.huguenot.netnation.com). Here they have background information, links to records and databases, and more.
Jewish Genealogy
• The first site to visit for Jewish genealogy is JewishGen.org (http://www.jewishgen.org). Mailing lists, transcribed records, GEDCOMs, and more are at the site. You can also find links to special-interest groups, such as geographic emphasis or genetics.
• Your next stop should be The Israel GenWeb Project website (http://www.israelgenealogy.com), which serves as a resource for those researching their family history in Israel.
• Sephardic Genealogy (http://www.sephardicgen.com) has links to articles and historical documents, as does Sephardim.com (http://www.sephardim.com), which has an article on Jamaican-Jewish history.
• Canadian-Jewish genealogists should begin at the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal (http://www.jgs-montreal.org), which contains a history of the first Jewish settlers there.
Native American Genealogy
• Indians/Native Americans on NARA is a reference page with links to various government records resources. It can be found at http://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/native-americans.html.
• A good source on culture/heritage is a search engine called Native Languages of America, located at http://www.native-languages.org/.
• The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples is a site that presents categorized links to Canadian aboriginal, Native American, and international indigenous sites on the Web. The genealogy page is at http://www.abo-peoples.org.
• The African-Native American History & Genealogy webpage, located at http://www.african-nativeamerican.com/, is mostly concerned with the history of Oklahoma and surrounding areas.
• Access Genealogy’s Native American Genealogy page, located at http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native, has transcribed records and a state-by-state list of online sites.
• The All Things Cherokee genealogy page is at http://www.allthingscherokee.com/genealogy.html.
• The Potowami has a site at http://www.potawatomi.org, with a history of the tribe.
• Many other tribes also have sites. Simply use any search engine for the tribe name, plus the word “genealogy,” and you’ll likely get a hit.
Metis Genealogy
Metis is a name for those of Native American heritage, but mixed tribes. A good place to start researching this is at http://metisnationdatabase.ualberta.ca/MNC/ which is the link for The Metis Nation Database.
Melungeon Genealogy
The origins of the people, and even the name, are controversial, but the Appalachian ethnic group called Melungeon seems to be of European, African, Mediterranean, and Native American descent. One legend is that Sir Francis Drake marooned Portuguese, Turkish, and Moorish prisoners on the North Carolina shore in the 1560s, who then married the Native Americans.
Melungeons are documented as far back as the eighteenth century in the Appalachian wilderness. They are found in the Cumberland Plateau area of Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee, and, some argue, North Alabama. Melungeon genealogy took on new and exciting relevance with the publication of The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People by Dr. N. Brent Kennedy (Mercer University Press, 1997). One interesting theory in the book is that Abraham Lincoln bears the Melugeon characteristics of his mother, Nancy Hanks.
• Melungeons and Other Mestee Groups (http://www.melungeonmestee.webs.com) by Mike Nassau is an online book on the subject that you can download.
• One of the best places to start besides those listed here is the Melungeon Heritage Association, at http://www.melungeon.org.
• An informational page called “Avoiding Pitfalls in Melungeon Research” is at http://www.melungeonstudies.blogspot.com/2009/08/avoiding-pitfalls-in-melungeon-research.html. This is the text of a talk presented by Pat Spurlock Elder at “Second Union, a Melungeon Gathering” held in Wise, Virginia, in July 1998.
• The Melungeon Resource page includes a FAQ file, located at http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mtnties/melungeon.html.
• The Appalachian Mountain Families page includes information on Melungeons and is found at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~appalachian.
• Some rare diseases are characteristic of Melungeons. The Melungeon Health Education and Support Network, at http://www.melungeonhealth.org, describes some of these diseases and has links to resources about them.
Wrapping Up
• Many ethnic groups have started mailing lists, newsgroups, and history sites.
• Once a month, use your favorite search engine to find new sites by searching for the ethnic term and “genealogy.”
• Stay on mailing lists to discuss your ethnic “brick walls” and share your breakthroughs.
Chapter 17
The National Genealogical Society
The National Genealogical Society (NGS) is one of the most important genealogical societies in the United States. This service organization, which is over 100 years old, leads and educates the national genealogical community and assists members in tracing family histories.
On its website (www.ngsgenealogy.org), you’ll find announcements of NGS seminars, workshops, and programs; information on its home-study course; youth resources; and other NGS activities. This is an excellent site for learning genealogy standards and methods.
NGS was organized in Washington, D.C., in 1903. The preliminary first meeting was held on April 24, and then it formally organized that year on November 11. Now, the NGS has over 17,000 members, including individuals, families, genealogical societies, family associations, libraries, and other related institutions.
About the NGS
The NGS is one of the best broad-based organizations for family history. Its workshops, meetings, and publications are invaluable. You can see its home page in Figure 17-1.
FIGURE 17-1. The National Genealogical Society website has searchable data as well as information about the organization.
On the
home page, you’ll find links to the newest and most relevant items on the site, including upcoming meetings, trips, courses, and competitions. On every page of the site, you’ll find a navigation bar at the top that leads to the following sections.
Note
It seems intuitive to use www.ngs.org as the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for this organization, but the National Geographic Society got there first.
Educational Courses
Free to NGS members, the online, self-paced, self-graded Family History Skills course is good for beginners or for those who need a refresher course. Other online courses cover population census records, special agricultural or mortality census schedules, deeds, and more, and range in price from free for members to $50 per course for nonmembers.
The famous NGS American Genealogy: Home Study Course is now on CD-ROM. Members and nonmembers can opt for the course to be either self-graded or graded by a professional genealogist. You can buy the three-CD course one at a time for $85 apiece or in bundles for as much as $565 (graded course, nonmember price).
Some Reasons to Join
Some of the benefits of membership are: