They were the shouts heard ‘round the world--or at least around my neighborhood. The first shout rang out when I found out that Ancestry.com had posted a database of images of the New York Emigrant Savings Bank records online as part of its immigration collection. That shout was followed by a series of frenetic clicks as I began plugging in family names.

The next shout was as I called to tell my mother that this new database had taken our research halfway ‘round the world! (The doctors expect the ringing in her ears to stop soon.)

Lest you think I'm being overly dramatic, let me share with you what I found. Here is one of the records I found for my fourth great-grandfather James Kelly:

• Nov. 19, 1857
• Account #15751
• James Kelly
• Occupation: none, infirm
• Address: 34 John St.
• Remarks:
  Native of Glackmore, Coy. Donegal & arrived at Halifax 30 yrs ago
  Wife dead Bridget McLoghlin & ch. James, Mary, Jane & Elizth.

With the exception of the names of his children and the first name of his wife, this was all new information!

A Closer Look
So now you know what all the shouting was about. Let's go back and take a closer look at these records.

Opened in 1850, the Emigrant Savings Bank was established by members of the Irish Emigrant Society following the huge wave of Irish immigration that resulted from the Irish Potato Famine. While most of the depositors were of Irish descent, the Savings Bank was not restricted to those from Ireland. I also noted several English and German entries in my browsing, and I'm sure there are other nationalities included as well.

Four kinds of records are currently available in this database:

• Index Book: The bank kept an index of all individuals recorded in their volumes, and the index books include the name and account number.
• Test Books: These books cover the years 1850-68 and information that may be found in this set of records includes the date of the record, the name of the depositor, his account number, occupation, residence, and other remarks, which could include names of other family members, immigration information, or birth or residence information in Ireland.
• Transfer, Signature, and Test Books: These books existed from 1850-83 and were used primarily for recording changes made to an individual's account information. Examples of such a change could be a new signature, a change in address, or a change in the account holder. Information that may be found in this set of records includes the signature of the account holder, the date of the record, the account number, the individual's residence, occupation, year born, birthplace, and family relations.
• Deposit-Account Ledger: These records are arranged by account number and contain an account history for each individual, recording typical transactions such as deposits and withdrawals.

Tips for Searching
This database includes fields for first and last name, account number, record type (as described above), birth year, birth country, other birth location and transaction date. Of these fields, first and last name (with Soundex searches available), account number, birth year, and record type can be specified in your search.

Despite James Kelly's common name, I went with just the first and last name. The above entry was the ninth of 155 hits (all of which I have now checked!). Looking at the first page of hits, it was important to note that only 16 of the 40 hits included a birth year, so unless you're looking at a really huge number of hits, you might want to leave the birth year search option blank. Here are some other tips for searching this database:

• When you click on the name of the individual in your search results, you'll be taken to a page with that individual's index details. On that page is a link that says, “View other records associated with this account number.” This is something you definitely want to do. Displaying the results by account number can turn up entries that were indexed with different spellings. As I searched for another relative, John Pyburn, I found only an index book entry. However, when I clicked on the link to search by account number, I found a test book entry, which due to poor handwriting, had been indexed in the database as John Pylman. The test book gave his address, occupation, and year of birth and stated that he was born in Co. Cork and that he had arrived in this country in 1851 on the ship “Margaret Evans.” It also listed his wife's name as Mary Ryan.
  Another reason to search by account number once you've located an entry is that I've seen a number of instances where the Transfer, Signature, and Test Books don't list a name in the “signature” field. An example of this can be found by searching for account 70346. Despite the lack of a name, this entry still lists the street address, occupation, year of birth, county of origin, immigration year, ship name, and both parents' names.
• Don't stop your search if you find one entry for an ancestor. I found multiple accounts for several of my Kelly ancestors.
• Search for everyone in the family. Because of the varying degrees of information in the accounts, details not found in your direct ancestor's account may show up in a sibling's account. (Ex: Parents' names, mother's maiden name, year of arrival, ship name, town of origin as opposed to only a county, etc.) In addition, for the siblings who were born in Ireland, I'd like to see if their birthplaces are the same as that of their father. It's possible that they moved within Ireland before emigrating to the United States.
• For extremely common names, try a search from the main immigration page, specifying the county name in the keyword field. The database will return a maximum of 2,000 hits. When I searched for all the Kelly's, there are over 3,000 hits. Since I now have a county of origin, I can look for collateral relatives by including “Donegal” in the keyword field. Not all the indexed entries will list it as a birth location (even in some cases where it is listed in the account entry), but it was in enough for me to take a chance and see if I'd get lucky.
• As with any index, particularly those that depend on deciphering what can be pretty bad handwriting, check for variant spellings. I found several “look-alike” mis-indexed entries, such as Helly and Relly, instead of Kelly.
• Also search using initials and abbreviations. I saw quite a few abbreviated names including Chas for Charles, Cathe for Catherine, Margt or Mgt for Margaret, Jas for James, Jno for John, etc. In some of these cases, a wild card search (which only requires the first three letters) would locate alternate entries, but in cases like James or John, several searches will need to be done.
• This database is a good place to look up sponsors, neighbors, and other suspicious characters that keep reappearing in records with or near your ancestors. Because of the relationship information and the fairly consistent inclusion of mother's maiden names, you may find that information in this database will finally link these folks to your family tree.
• I was surprised that although I've found accounts for several Kelly family members, I still haven't been able to locate one for James Kelly (son of the James Kelly I mentioned earlier). I've printed out the index listing of all the James Kellys in the database, and included variant spellings (like Kelley) as well. On this index print, I'm making notes about the entries as I go through them. I have quite a collection of Kellys from city directories that I compiled over several trips to the Family History Library. (More on this is found in this article) Using the addresses found in this database, I can now rule out many of the directory entries and this may help me to zero in on related families. Knowing their exact location year to year can help me to locate church records and may help me to tie in other Kelly family members that I'm unaware of at this time.

In Summary
If you're still with me, I admire your perseverance. I've been hard pressed to get anything else done this past week and have spent most of my free time exploring the various books. It's really easy to get caught up and what you find really gives some interesting insights into the times. I found it fascinating to see how much money my ancestors had in their accounts at various times and how this immigrant family grew their fortune in their new home.

In browsing I noted many who signed with his or her “mark,” while others signed their full names. In the entries during Civil War years, you'll see a lot of soldiers' accounts. In the Test Books for 1865, image 77 includes the accounts of four soldiers, with their regiment and company listed as their residence. The relations field for three of these entries gives instructions for payment "in case of death."

There is a wealth of information waiting to be uncovered, some of it spelled out and some not as obvious. For family historians with ancestors included in this database, this is one of the richest banks in the world. Best of luck with your searches!

Juliana Smith is the editor of the Ancestry Daily News and author of The Ancestry Family Historian's Address Book. She has written for Ancestry Magazine and Genealogical Computing. Juliana can be reached by e-mail at ADNeditor@ancestry.com, but she regrets that she is unable to assist with personal research.

Copyright 2005, MyFamily.com.