Making Research Progress at the FHL in Salt Lake City

What a great day.  Paola gave a really nice presentation about marriage records in Italy.  Little tidbits of information that I had known, but needed gentle reminders.  Introducing our group to some wonderful ways to discover the location of little known places in Italy.

Here are just a few of the on-line resources to help with locating Italian communi :

http://www.comuni-italiani.it/

http:// digilander.libero.it/sussidi.didattici/regioni.rete/allenamento1.html

http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Comune italiano

digitized books for geographical dictionaries can be found at www.books.google.com
   just type in the subject search for the region you are looking for, ie.Dizionario geographico de Toscana, or fill in with other regions...Napoli, Sicilia, etc

You can also search for "searchable" formats online.

There are also records called AGP (Ave Grazia Plena).  These are institutes for the care of abandoned children.  Using Google search (or other search engines) may help to locate those.

On a personal note, I was able to locate a client's Irish ancestor in the 1820, 1830, 1840, and 1850 census records in Washington, D.C.  He never appeared again.  His wife is noted as a widow in 1860.  Now I have a good idea of when he passed away, and the recorded burial listings from one of the oldest cemeteries in the city have records of many with the same surname.  I just may have gotten a step closer to solve a research problem.

I took a long walk during the evening to visit the prettiest outdoor shopping mall I have ever seen.  Salt Lake City's City Creek is just lovely.  Fountains, flowers and live music.  A very restful place to take a stroll and buy a sandwich for dinner.

Tomorrow will be my last full day of research, plus a pre-planned dinner with the group of POINT members who traveled here for the conference.  Can't wait.

Day 2 POINT conference

Tuesday proved to be a good day for research.  First,  Ruth Merriman gave a great seminar and review for deciphering parish records.  She reminded everyone that most Roman Catholic church records, and yet many Protestant records, also, are written in Latin.  And, the clergy did not always have the best of handwriting.  That is understandable, I guess.

So the review of basic Latin words and phrases was very helpful.  And, for added help, you can always refer to the FamilySearch website :  Familysearch.org  There are lots of learning guides, including a fabulous one for basic Latin words to help with translating the old documents.

After a few hours of research on the third floor of the library, my eyes were red and sore.  The third floor is full of US and Canada books.  Finding texts full of cemetery transcriptions completed by the various DAR societies across the nation felt like living in a "candy land".  Lots of texts were full of obituaries, county histories, biographies, census abstracts and so much more.  If you plan to browse this area, be sure to plan ahead for exactly what you'd like to research.  Check out the library's catalog of books on their website.  Wow.

I was reviewing the notes that I had taken when we were treated to the guest speaker, Stan Lindaas.  He gave us an overview of what he considers to be the most important pit stop in the library.  On the second floor, there are many films covering the US and Canada.  In addition, Stan pointed out the four valuable reference tables that should never be missed.  Each one holds such great stuff.

Table One : County Court references, Township atlases, and general organization of counties in census years.
Table Two : Dictionaries dating from 1838, Black's Law dictionary, US Research Outlines, Gazetteers, The Source, Passenger Manifests helps, etc. References for Naturalization (Philadelphia, New York, Chicago and Cook County Courts) etc.
Table Three : Land and Property references, Military Service records references, etc.
Table Four : Native America references, Biblio and History of Newspapers 1831-1936.

Stan and his wife, Rachel, are partners in their research business, Heritage Consulting, locating in Salt Lake City.  They are not affiliated with the Family History Library.  They include pedigree charts, family group sheets and copies of supporting documents.  Stan said they have specialized in US, England, Canada, Western Europe, Russia and Latin America research for probate, heirship, adoption resources, family genetics research, document transcriptions and can provide general research assistance.  Stan and Rachel have a website : www.heritageconsulting.com  Should you need help at any time with your research, I would not hesitate to contact Stan and Rachel.

And my taste buds still remember how we ended our day at Caputo's Deli and Restaurant.  They have the best Italian "grub" I've ever had.  And the hotel was kind enough to shuttle us back and forth during the evening.  When in Salt Lake City, I'd be sure to check out Caputo's for a nice snack or meal. Caputos is located at 314 west South, Salt Lake City, 801-531-TONY.  You can even call ahead for your order.

We had a research lecture about reading and indexing the Italian Records for FamilySearch.  We will also met with others in the group who are researching their families in the same provincial areas.  Time to compare notes, and discovered someone that I just might be related to!  oh boy, more cousins!

FHL Day One POINT conference

Day one was wonderful. I had a nourishing breakfast, then, off to the library just around the corner.  The Library has many, many computers for patrons to use.  You can bring your own laptop, Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, Nook, whatever...or just use their systems already set up for you.

I did a quick search of the published family histories that they have on hand.  I did not count them all, but I would venture to say that they number in the MILLIONS.  No kidding.  I saw many possibilities for my research for clients and myself, so I jotted down those call numbers to refer to later in the week.

We had a fantastic speaker, Paola, who gave us a lesson in the early laws of Italy regarding marriage.  Very interesting.  Apparently, Mom and Pop, had to give their approval of their child's choice for their mate, unless the union had already been arranged by the parents.  Very stiff rules were in place.

Napoleon had a lot to do with the proper recording of vital records.  That guy knew what he was doing.  His intent was to make sure that all records within his conquered lands, which included most of old Italy, were noted in the same form and fashion.  Names of persons, places of births, dates, parental information, etc., including witnesses had to be included.  This makes it nice for those of us who want to search these records hundreds of years later.  Hooray for Napoleon, huh?

In addition, Paola gave some great tips on how to determine where one would find the records that they are looking for.  Are they in the local town hall, the Province tribunal, the Courthouse...?  All depends on the age of the document.  After 70 years, most have moved onto the larger archives of the "state", aka province and larger court archives.  But not always.  Isn't that always the case?

After a brief lunch, and back to the library, I started to look into a client's research problem.  Finding the birth place and record of the birth of a certain great grandfather.  Turns out after I had exhausted the archive indexes, that particular part of Italy did not start to record their civil vital records until 1866.  The date that I was looking for was 1865.  Darn.

I searched for the approximate area of another client's ancestral hometown.  Pinpointing it to just east of Salerno, and finding that not very many records were available for the timeline that I was interested in, I turned my attention to the recorded family histories of the surname.  Bingo.  I took down the call numbers of those books, just before the overhead speaker announced, "the library will be closing in 15 minutes".  So tomorrow, I'll pick up where I left off.

A nice genealogist met with us at the Plaza hotel and gave a very informative presentation on where the most valuable books for research are held.....2nd floor, please.  What a nice guy with tips to expedite the research we all had in our "to do" notes.  I rapidly took notes and now I know where I'll head before doing any other research.

A nice evening was had by all as we were transported to Caputo's deli/restaurant where we had our choice of Sicilian delicacies.  Yum.  Along with a glass of red wine.  Back to the hotel to plan the next day's research.

A Week in Salt Lake City

Thanks for letting me take off some time since the last post.  Family health issues came into play for a while, but all seems better now.  So, it's back to researching family history and having some fun.

I am spending a whole week in Salt Lake City, attending the POINT 2012 conference (Pursuing Our Italian Names Together).  A great organization to join, for those of us who have Italian heritage.  We'll talk about that a little more later.

Meanwhile, here in Salt Lake City, the local "play-land" for historians and family history buffs is the Family History Library.  It is owned by the Mormon Church, aka LDS ( Church of the Latter Day Saints ).  Part of their beliefs is that they should identify and honor their ancestors, and allow them to be "baptized" in the afterlife, so that they will be saved from the original sin that we are born with (according to most Christian religions, due to the sin of Adam and Eve).  In order to accomplish this task, the LDS has sent liaisons with photographers all over the world to photograph the many civil and church records from every town and village where they were welcome.  Imagine a large mountain vault chocked full of microfilms.

But wait, there's more....The LDS has recently begun to digitize the microfilmed records and have posted those on their website.  This information is absolutely FREE.  Can you keep your excitement down to a low roar, please.

This week I will be attending a daily seminar regarding Italian research topics.  Then, my afternoons and evenings will be full of researching data from historical records in the Family History Library.  Here is the link to the website for Family Search:  http://www.familysearch.org
Family History Search
Visit it and enjoy it.  Click on every available tab.  Take a minute to explore, and listen to the flicks on various topics regarding family history research.

Tomorrow evening I'll post the fantastic findings that I know I'll find.  Sit tight!

More about death records

In the "days of old" death certificates may have been produced by local police, coroners, doctors, or whoever was appointed that task.  When living in rural areas, I have found that the local carpenter became the person who measured the corpse and hand made the coffin.  Visitation was quick when they did not have mortician.  Usually the parlor of the deceased person became the location of the wake for family, friends and neighbors.  Then burial often happened the day after the death.

Death Records

Records about a deceased person are the most unreliable vital records.  Why?  The person who can verify the reported information is no longer living.  Persons that volunteer information for death certificates, obituaries, burial, etc, can often be upset, which can hinder their ability to give correct information.  In addition, the person(s) who offer information may not know very much about the deceased person.  Many death certificates contain incorrect information such as the date and place of birth and names of parents.  The death certificate only certifies the date of the death of the deceased. The other data can only be considered clues, and must be verified by a family history researcher.  Let's look at a death certificate:

This is my grandmother's death certificate.  She was living with my parents at the time of her passing, as she was suffering from cancer and needed someone to take care of her everyday needs. This is a very inclusive certificate.  It has information about her date and time of death, where she was born, parent names, spouse name and address, cause of death, physician name and address, place of burial, etc. Fortunately, most of the information in this certificate is correct. The surname of her father is not spelled correctly....it should be "Haselbacher".    Information could have been more precise with the exact place of birth, but as an example of a death certificate with adequate information, this is considered to be a good source to use for family history researcher.

More Recent Marriages

Now that I have shown a few of the older marriage documents, I'll show you some that are more recent, or at least not in the 1800s.

This is a page from the Ohio County Marriages, found at Familysearch.org, from 1921.

These are not the marriage licenses themselves, however, it is an index book chocked full of wonderful information that was necessary to have recorded when the couple applied for their license.  Names of the spouses and where they lived, place of birth, parents' names, number of marriage of each spouse, who officiated the ceremony and date.  What great information.  Be sure to make good use of Family Search.  They are digitizing their filmed images with great speed.