Author Archive
Thank you to everyone who participated in our very first Transcription Challenge last week. We had over 55 responses, giving us many helpful suggestions for the 8 names we needed to transcribe. This week we have 8 more mystery names to decipher and we would love your help! Visit our Transcription Challenge page to offer a suggestion.
Here are the chosen transcriptions from last week’s challenge:
- Feely
- Philip McDermott
- Mary McDermott
- Timothy Hannifier, Hennifin
- Johanna Gallagher
- Edna Furber
- Divver
- Keat, Kate
Image Credit: TrunkJunk (author) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Explore the new sketches, listed below:
Asaph Butler (Windsor, Weathersfield, Waterbury)
William Chamberlain (Strafford)
We’re offering a new challenge as part of Database News! As we work on Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1798-1900, we occasionally run into some words or names that are very hard to decipher. Our volunteers and proofreaders do their very best to turn these scribbles into viable names, but occasionally we all get stumped. Sometimes if you stare at the name for a long enough time, you can figure out what name it’s supposed to be, so we’re enlisting your help.
Each week we will post some transcription challenges, with the problem names circled. Each problem name will be numbered. You can comment on the page with your idea of what the problem name should be, referencing the number of the problem name.
The Transcription Challenge page is accessible from Database News Home—you can find it on the right in the navigation bar (see the screenshot above).
Names: #1 (child and father’s last name), #2 (mother’s maiden name)
Here’s an example image with 2 names labelled #1 and #2 (the first name appears twice, hence the 3 circles). I can click on the image to enlarge the page. I’ve looked at it for a while and I’ve come to think the circled names are McCarty and White. I would comment the following, “#1: McCarty, #2: White.”
Thanks for any help, and happy puzzling!
Image Credit: Tichnor Bros. Inc., Boston, Mass. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Make sure you watch our video, How to Search Massachusetts Probate File papers to learn how to search these collections. Don’t get frustrated when the first page you find is just the upper portion of a file folder–this is the first page of every case. Use the blue arrows on the upper right to move to the next pages in the case. You can visit the transcript page to know how many pages are in a given file folder. You can find more tips and resources on searching probate records on our Probate Records Resource Page.
We have just added 6 new sketches to Early Vermont Settlers to 1784. This database focuses on families that lived in Vermont prior to the end of the Revolutionary War, as identified in Donald Alan Smith’s thesis “Legacy of Dissent: Religion and Politics in Revolutionary Vermont 1749 to 1784” (Clark U., Ph.D., 1980).
Most of the men in this update were from Chester, VT. Chester was initially formed as part of New Hampshire. As New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont’s boundaries conflicted and coalesced, it also was known as Flamstead and New Flamstead. The History of Windsor County, Vermont edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich and Frank R. Holmes has a helpful summary of the early history of the town.
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership .
Database Tip: On the transcript page, click the plus sign next to any person’s name. You can download a PDF of the entire sketch rather than having to download each page image separately. You can also download the PDF from the search results page (see image below).
Today we are launching Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, 1789-1900! Thanks to the wonderful work of our volunteers, this database will make searchable the sacramental records we are digitizing in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Boston.
Upon launching, this database includes
14,347 Records
32,185 Names
and the following volumes:
Immaculate Conception (Boston) Baptisms, 1865-1898 and Marriages, 1870-1900
Immaculate Conception (Boston) Baptisms, 1898-1900
Immaculate Conception (Boston) Confirmations, 1860-1900
Immaculate Conception (Boston) Marriages, 1870-1900
Providence, RI, 1828-1830 (Mission)
St. Cecilia (Boston) Baptisms, 1889-1900
St. Cecilia (Boston) Marriages, 1888-1900
St. John, New Brunswick, 1816-1819 (Mission)
To search this database, on our advanced search page, choose Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, 1789-1900 in the drop-down database menu. Make sure you do not choose Massachusetts: (Image Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, 1789-1900, the free unindexed companion to this new collection.
First names, last names, confirmation names, parents’ names, spouse’s names, witnesses’ names, record type, location, and date are all indexed for this collection. Latin names have been anglicized where possible.
We are continuing to add to this collection; keep watching Database News for updates!
To learn more about this project, consult catholicrecords.americanancestors.org.
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership .
This week we thought we’d highlight The Boston Evening Transcript Genealogy Columns, 1911-1941. The Boston Evening Transcript ran a genealogy column about twice a week during this time period. Readers would submit and respond to genealogical queries, provide corrections to published genealogies, and give background and theories on longstanding genealogical puzzles. Correspondents were not just from Boston, but hailed from around the country.
Our current collection is image-only, which means it is not searchable by name. We’ll cover things to know to avoid frustration while navigating through this database.
The American Genealogical-Biographical Index to American Genealogical, Biographical, and Local History Materials is a compiled index which includes the Boston Evening Transcript genealogy columns. It is available in print from our library, and online from Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org or the Godfrey Memorial Library Online. We’ll go through an example of how to connect this index to our database.
William Holman lived in Cambridge, MA in the 1600s and had a wife named Winifred who was persecuted for witchcraft. William can be found in Volume 82, page 262 of the AGBI, which directs one to the genealogy column from April 1, 1931 (among other columns).
- Start on our A-Z Database List page and type Boston Evening Transcript in the search box.
- Click on the camera icon next to the database title. This should bring you to the first page of the first column (in this case, an image of the file folder in which the fragile original materials are kept).
- Use the Volume drop-down menu to choose the 1931 volume. Again, this will bring you to the first page of this volume.
Image names in this database are a compilation of an abbreviation for the month and a number that references the number of columns that were published in that month. The first page of every volume is Month:Title, while the others take the form Month:ColumnNumber. You can know how many columns were published in a certain month by visiting the transcript page, which will say something like, “Apr 1931 – page 1 of 10,” meaning 10 genealogy columns were published in April 1931.
4. Since we’re looking for a column from April 1st, it should be pretty easy to guess that we should type Apr:1 into the page number box on the upper right. I mentioned above that Mr. Holman can also be found in other BET columns–if I were looking for the reference to him on Oct., 27, 1932, I’d probably look at the transcript page for Oct:Title to figure out how many columns were published in October 1932, then I would guess one of the later ones (Oct:9, for example). If I guessed wrong, I could use the blue arrows on the upper right to page forwards or backwards within the volume.
5. Here on page Apr:1, I’ve found William Holman in the upper right corner.
Good luck with your search!
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership .
Image Credit: By Hazen, J. C. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
This update consists of the following volumes:
St. James the Greater (Boston) Index to Baptisms, 1854-1873
St. James the Greater (Boston) Baptisms, 1854-1864
St. James the Greater (Boston) Baptisms, 1865-1874
St. James the Greater (Boston) Baptisms, 1874-1875
St. James the Greater (Boston) Baptisms, 1875-1879
St. James the Greater (Boston) Baptisms, 1879-1883
St. James the Greater (Boston) Baptisms,1883-1888
St. James the Greater (Boston) Baptisms, 1888-1900
St. James the Greater (Boston) Confirmations, 1858-1900
St. James the Greater (Boston) Marriages, 1855-1873
St. James the Greater (Boston) Marriages, 1874-1884
St. James the Greater (Boston) Marriages, 1884-1894
St. James the Greater (Boston) Marriages, 1895-1900
Image Credit: By Tichnor Bros. Inc., Boston, Mass. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership .
Database Tip: On the transcript page, click the plus sign next to any person’s name. You can download a PDF of the entire sketch rather than having to download each page image separately.
A map from a probate record in Suffolk County which shows the division of Robert Billings’s property after his death.
This week our probate databases are available for free to everyone. We have 32 databases which fall under the Court, Land, and Probate Records category. We’ve pulled together some material to better help you understand these collections on americanancestors.org/features/probate.
Get a clear definition of what a probate record is, and how they can help be helpful in genealogical research.
Explore probate records which feature famous people including poet Emily Dickinson, author Nathaniel Hawthorne, education advocate Mary Lyons, and inventor Elias Howe.
Learn how best to search the probate record databases offered by americanancestors.org by watching these videos:
How to Search Massachusetts Probate File Papers (A quick note to emphasize from this video: Many people become confused when they are first presented with the first page of a case file, which has only a little information on it. Please continue to browse through a case by clicking the blue arrows on the top right of the screen!)
Searching New England Probate Databases on AmericanAncestors.org (An overview of databases ranging from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, and Rhode Island)
How to Search New York Probate Databases on AmericanAncestors.org (An overview of our databases which focus on probate records from New York)
If these short videos leave you wanting to know more, immerse yourself in the study of probate records by watching David Allen Lambert’s webinar on the topic.
Finally, learn about other sources both online and offline where you can find information about probate records.