 08 April 1999 In this issue:
Have you started your MyFamily.com web site yet? Great! Now start another
one! That's right! You can have more than one. We make it easy and fun.
Start a site for your side of the family; then another one for your spouse's
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can start one for your kids' homeroom, your grandparent's apartment complex,
and your neighborhood block party. There are countless reasons to keep in
touch with the special people in your life. With Multi-Site Access,
MyFamily.com makes it easy to manage, fun to use, and it's all for FREE. DATABASES OF THE DAY(Free for 10 Days!) Minnesota County History Name Index Throughout the state's storied history, the majority of Minnesota's residents have lived in the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul area. This database is a name index of eleven county histories and plat books for the area immediately south of St. Paul. These books were published between 1877 and 1910. Researchers will find the name of county resident, the book in which the person's name appears, and the page number. Where information is available, town of residence is also given. Compiled by John Dalby and listing almost 62,000 persons, this is a valuable addition to the Ancestry.com online library. Bibliography: Dalby, John. "Name Index of County Histories." Orem, UT: Ancestry, Inc., 1999.
Minnesota Resources in the Online Store: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Wisconsin), Obituaries, 1998-1999 (Update) Located in the largest city in the state of Wisconsin, the "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel" serves the nearly a million people of the county. This database is a collection of some obituaries from the newspaper in the 1998 and early 1999. Information provided often includes birth date and location, occupation, military service, surviving family members, and other biographical facts. Compiled by the UMI Company in connection with the newspaper, it contains nearly 4400 records and over 15,000 names. For questions regarding a particular obituary, inquiries can be directed to the newspaper, 333 W State St, Milwaukee, WI, 53203, (414) 224-2000. This database contains new material provided by the UMI Company and previously posted material under the title Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Wisconsin), Obituaries, 1998. Bibliography: UMI Company. "Obituaries from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 1998-1999." Orem, UT: Ancestry Inc., 1999.
Wisconsin Resources in the Online Store:
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"The WPA: 60-Year-Old Investment Still Yields High Dividends" By Loretto D. Szucs When Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office in 1933, more than 13 million Americans were out of work. Widespread unemployment caused by the Depression exceeded the resources of state, local, and private agencies. Discouragement and despair hung like a dark cloud over the nation. In the first hundred days of his administration, Roosevelt pushed through legislation for much of his New Deal, including the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which was responsible for the nation's relief program. Following a series of less-effective programs, the WPA was established as the Work Projects Administration by executive order on 6 May 1935. In 1939 the agency's name was changed to Works Progress Administration. Before the agency was liquidated in 1942, it became the biggest relief program in U.S. history, providing employment for millions of people. It was a controversial investment; the U.S. Government poured several billion dollars into the WPA. Today, however, most family historians and genealogists will tell you that the money was well spent! The Historical Records Survey Program represents only a portion of the WPA's output. Massive bibliographies, inventories, indexes, and other historical materials were prepared by out-of-work historians, lawyers, teachers, researchers, and clerical workers. The intent of the program was to organize historical materials, particularly the unpublished government documents and records which are basic in the administration of local government and which provide invaluable data for students of political, economic, and social history. Archival guides were designed to meet the requirements of day-to-day administration by federal and local government officials, and also the needs of lawyers, businessmen, and other citizens who require facts from public records to conduct their affairs. Inventories produced by the Historical Records Survey Program attempted to do more than merely provide lists of records - the program attempted to sketch the historical background of the county or other unit of government, and to describe precisely, and in detail, the organization and function of the governmental agencies whose records were listed. Family historians continue to reap the benefits of these works, which survive in original, microfilm, and published forms in libraries and archives all over the United States. Listed below are but a few of the WPA sources that I have used in various research projects. The Soundex Index to the U.S. population census is probably the most-used WPA work. While not an error-free finding tool, Soundex indexes to the 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 censuses, microfilmed by the National Archives, have launched research projects for millions of family historians. Other heavily used indexes created by the WPA and available through the WPA and available through the National Archives (custodian of the original documents) and through the Family History Library operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City are naturalization indexes. The "Soundex Index to Naturalization Petitions for the United States District and Circuit Courts, Northern District of Illinois and Immigration and Naturalization Service District #9, 1840-1950," includes more than 1.5 million index cards for naturalizations that took place in Chicago and northern Illinois, as well as in parts of Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Other large and important WPA naturalization compilations are the "Soundex Name Index to New England Naturalization Petitions, 1790-1906," and the "Index to Naturalization Petitions of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1865-1957." The WPA operated at four organizational levels - the central administration at Washington, D.C., regional offices, state administrations, and district offices. There are three WPA National Archives microfilm publications (Record Group 60): T935 "Index to Reference Cards for Work Project Administration Project Files, 1935-1937 (79 rolls); T936 "Index to Reference Cards for Work Project Administration Project Files 1938" (15 rolls); and T937, "Index to Reference Cards for Work Project Administration Project Administration Project Files, 1939-1942" (19 rolls). Except for certain federally sponsored projects, state and local governments helped finance and supervise WPA work projects. For family researchers in Indiana, there are WPA indexes to vital records in sixty-five of that state's ninety-two counties. Indiana county histories were indexed by the WPA, alphabetically by county name, up to and including the letter J. Since that time, others have taken up where the WPA left off and have completed the indexing of various other counties. While investigating an old New Mexico family, I located an invaluable source at the Newberry Library in Chicago. "An Inventory of the County Archives of Dona Ana County, New Mexico," sponsored by the University of New Mexico and published under the auspices of the New Mexico Historical Records Survey, alerted me to historical and geographical quirks of that particular county. "The establishment of seven counties by the Kearny code in 1846 was based on the former seven Mexican administrative division known as "partidos." Present Dona Ana County was included in the "partido" of Valencia. After the American occupation, it was included in the county of the same name. The first official of the county is found in a statute dated 10 July 1851, on which date the Territorial Legislature divided New Mexico into three judicial districts, one of which was to include Dona Ana County, which, according to existing records, had not been created as if that date. On 6 January 1852, however, the Territorial Legislature passed an act officially creating Dona Ana County from the southern portion of Socorro County. The southern boundary of the new county was the border between the United States and Mexico. The northwest boundary of Texas also formed the southeast boundary of the county. Lying on both sides of the Rio Grande, its east and west boundaries were restricted only by the boundaries of the territory, the western border of Texas and the eastern boundary of California. The Gadsden Purchase in 1853 enlarged the county by including the land purchased from Mexico at the time." The family I was researching lived in the area affected by the Gadsden Purchase. No wonder I had not found them in censuses, territorial records, or any other U.S. records. This WPA history sent me to records of the state of Chihuahua, Mexico (microfilmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah), where I was successful in finding family records created up until the 1853 Gadsden Purchase, when the land on which they lived was taken over by the United States. I also found at the Newberry Library "Historical Records Survey - WPA - Vital Statistics of New York City." The importance of this work is evident from the following sample entries:
406. St. John the Evangelist, 1840-; 55th and 1st Ave: Baptisms 1840-79, 2 vols. Baptisms 1868-, card system. Marriages 1840-79, 2 vols. Loc. St. Patrick's Cathedral, 5th Ave. and 51st St., New York Deaths 1868-, cards. Marriages 1880-, 3 vols. Deaths 1912-, 2 vols. 408. St. Andrew's, 1842-; Duane St. and Cardinal Pl.: Baptisms 1842-, 5 vols. Marriages 1842-, 5 vols. Marriages (City Prison Chapel), 1908-, 1 vol. Deaths (City Prison Chapel) 1911-, 1 vol. WPA LINKS
American Life Histories, Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project,
1936-1940 (American Memory Project, Library of Congress)
African American Mosiac - WPA, Library of Congress
American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology
Illinois Historical Records Survey of the Works Projects Administration
Record Group 954.00
WPA Index of Names of Persons and Firms (Indiana)
WPA in Indiana: Virtual Exhibit
Cass County, Indiana USGenWeb page
Works Progress Administration Collection,
Work Progress Administration (WPA) projects in Georgia
WPA Print Collection
ARE YOU RELATED TO THE QUEEN? The British Monarchy Website now has a link to their Family Tree online showing the relationships between The Queen and other European Sovereigns. There is also an expanded profile of Henry VIII, as well as a History of the Scottish Crown, which includes information on the Early Scottish Monarchs, the Descendants of Malcolm III, the Bruces, the Stewarts, and the Jacobite Claimants. "Royal-watchers" may also be interested in Prince Andrew's newest addition to the site, "Royal Insight: A monthly guide to the life and work of Britain's Royal Family." All pages are accessible from: http://www.royal.gov.uk/ http://shop.ancestry.com/ancestry/oxguidtoher1.html and other titles in the International section of the Online Store: http://shop.ancestry.com/ancestry/inandet.html
IN THE NEWS ONLINE
"A Family Tree that Spans the Net,"
Best Genealogy Links on the Web (MSNBC)
THOUGHT FOR TODAY
"I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1882-1945
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Best Wishes,
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