The cat that didn't belong - could you tell these historical photos were edited?

24 March 2024, by Sherri Mastrangelo

A local historical association member has been adding a picture of their adorable cat to the historical photos they post on Facebook, as the official Palo Alto Historical Association, without any mention that the photos have been edited. Did anyone notice? And should we care?

Palo Alto, California, established 1894, is located south of San Francisco, on the bay area peninsula. It is the self-declared “birthplace of Silicon Valley”, as the founding location of many well-known tech companies, and is home to Stanford University. On their homepage, pahistory.org, the Palo Alto Historical Association says “Our mission is to collect, preserve and make available to the public information about the history of Palo Alto.” Their Facebook page has 1.4k followers.

Recently, when browsing Facebook, I noticed something odd about their images….

At first glance, would you think this cat was original to this photo?

Honestly, I didn’t think anything was strange about the above photo of the feline in the pharmacy, until I saw a few of the other “historical” photographs - like the well-dressed kitty in the below image:

This one made my six-year old laugh. A joke to be sure - but at the time of the event, or when it was posted here?

As you can see, these images are part of a Facebook post. Does the post mention anything about the cat? Well, yes and no.

1929?

In this example to the right, the Facebook post describes the images in the post. With regards to the photo shown above, the post mentions “a cat in an off-the-rack, untailored suit, 1929…”

Obviously this is meant as a bit of humor. When reached for a comment, the poster, who stated he is a board member of the Palo Alto Historical Association, replied that “Adding my cat to selected photos is a fun pastime that I hope draws viewers in to explore what the photo represents to our local (Palo Alto) history.”

He also says “I've placed my cat Kiara in photos for a year now since adopting her from a rescue.”

It’s unclear if those in the group are even aware of the adorable additions, aside from one or two comments about noticing a cat in the image. What do you think?

If historical photographs are edited in any way, should that be disclosed to the audience? Even if it’s meant to be amusing?

Furthermore, how can we as researchers trust any historical images we find online these days? And what counts as a reputable source?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. I’ve included a few more photos of Kiara the time-traveling cat below. These images can also be accessed on the Facebook page of the Palo Alto Historical Association.

Matching hats of the time.

The cat appears in the doorway in the center of the image above.

Kiara, not afraid of heights.

At first glance I didn’t see her in this one…

The sepia-toned cat going for a ride.

Share your thoughts below.

Reader Question: What does "do7" mean on this record from 1749?

27 January 2024 (updated 28 Jan), by Sherri Mastrangelo

Today’s reader question is: “What does “do7” mean on this record from 1749?”

In this book of U.S. Dutch Reformed Church Records from Albany, New York (as found on Ancestry.com, linked below) from the mid 18th century, there are pages of baptism records. There are three handwritten columns per page. The first column has the infant’s name, and a date. The second has the parent’s names, and the third has the names of the witnesses.

In place of some of the surnames is an abbreviation that appears to be “dol” with the “o” character raised superscript and the last character perhaps a number “7”, or the letter “I”, or letter “L”, as seen in the examples below:

The example above is from the “U.S. Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639 - 1989” on Ancestry. under New York, Albany, Albany Vol. II, Book 2.

It appears that this abbreviation is replacing some surnames, but not all - only the surnames that are the same as the person above has the abbreviation. I think it is safe to assume that this abbreviation, whether it is do7, doI, or doL, means some form of “ditto”, or same as above.

Can we take it further? We’ve seen “do” as an abbreviation for “ditto” in the past, but not usually with any extra letters or numbers.

We know these are based on Dutch records, and a quick google translator search tells us “ditto” in Dutch is “Idem Ditto”, meaning the same. Therefore I believe the abbreviation is of “doI” meaning “idem ditto”, or this person has the same surname as the person above.

Looking back a few years, the earliest example of the use of this abbreviation seems to be in 1725 (page 238 of Albany, Vol 1.) though the records seem to jump from 1700 to 1725. While the records of 1700 continue in Volume II, page 82, they are written after the 1740s records so it makes me question the time frame when they were actually written down. The 1700s recorded in the second volume may have been copied from an earlier record, but actually written in the book in the 1740s.

POST UPDATE Jan 28: A comment brought up a great point - this is a collection of transcribed records by “The Holland Society of America”, which you can see if scroll to the beginning of the collection with the book cover image and interior stamp. I don’t see a creation date, but a quick search for The Holland Society of America tells me they were created in 1885 and most likely added the ditto at the time of transcribing sometime after that date. We’d have to look at the original records to be sure.

Of course all this sent me down the rabbit hole on the origins of the phrase “idem ditto” as well as the use of “ditto”. It seems “idem” is a Latin word, though “ditto” is Italian (Tuscan) based on an earlier Latin word, and the phrase “idem ditto” is specifically Dutch. The latin verb “dicere” (to say) became “dire” in Italian , conjugated as “detto”, which then became “ditto” in Tuscan dialect, when referencing the same month as written before.

Early uses of “ditto” in English writing include:

In fact, I found it even earlier than 1625 - which I’ll post in a follow-up to this!

What’s the earliest written example of “ditto” or “idem ditto” you’ve found? Might these Dutch records from New York be the first example in the US?

Have you seen this use of “doI” or “idem ditto” on records elsewhere? Share with us!

Sources and Further Reading:

How to do a "Binary Search": Applying Computer Science Algorithms to Genealogy Research

6 January 2024 by Sherri Mastrangelo

Let’s take the ideas and concepts from certain computer science algorithms, break them down into simpler terms to understand them better, and learn how we can apply them to our genealogy research. No tech skills or coding required! In fact, you may already utilize some of these methods without even recognizing them.

The first algorithm we’ll discuss is called a “Binary Search”.

A binary search reduces the search to half at each step, to save time. Think of it as “divide and conquer”.

If you’ve ever tried to go to a certain page number in a book, say you are looking for page 343, you may have implemented a form of binary search by opening the book in the middle. You’re at page 201, so you know you need to go higher. Instead of turning the pages one by one, you estimate another chunk of pages and now you’re at 356, so you need to go lower. This is basically the concept behind a binary search. You would continue dividing the sections into smaller and smaller results until you find the target page.

Instead of working in a linear pattern, i.e. starting at the beginning of a list and reading the values all the way through the end, a binary search would start in the middle and either ascend or descend the list depending on if the resulting value is greater or less than the target value, repeatedly dividing each new search area, until it either finds the target or determines it is not there. Of course there is more to it when it comes to the writing the formulas to make the algorithm work, and the computer algorithm may be more precise in terms of dividing each resulting search array in half while you have roughly estimated, but I think this explains the general concept we need to implement.

It’s important to note that a binary search will only work with an ordered set of data, like an alphabetized list or a set of files organized chronologically. The list can be sorted ascending or descending, as long as its ordered. If the set of data is compiled randomly this method would not work successfully.

Image above generated with in part with AI tools.

Another example I’ve heard to describe binary search would be that of a detective watching security footage tapes (as pictured above), trying to figure out when a car was stolen overnight. This example might be a bit outdated with today’s technology but the same idea applies. Let’s say there is perfect high resolution video, aimed directly at the car, that disappeared sometime between when the owner parked it at 8 pm and when they noticed it was gone at 7 am. Instead of sitting down and watching eleven hours of video footage from start to finish, which would take all day, even sped up, the detective is going to implement a form of binary search. He will fast forward the video halfway to 1:30 am. If the car is still there, fast forward half of the remaining time to 4:45 am. If the car is no longer there, go back and divide the previous time between 1:30 am and 4:45 am, and so on until the target time is discovered. This method of searching would take significantly less time than watching hours of video footage!

So how can we apply the concept of binary search to our genealogy research?

The best case scenario for applying this method to genealogy research, would be when you have to look through records that are not indexed, or not transcribed correctly (but are still in some order - alphabetically, chronologically, or otherwise) and you need to narrow down your scope quickly.

Some examples of this and additional scenarios:

  1. A large set of record images in a database online, like FamilySearch, that is not indexed (therefore not searchable by name) where you need to find the year in order to narrow down the hunt for your record. I know it can seem overwhelming when you come across these huge image-only datasets to browse - but using the binary search method will help save a lot of time! First confirm there is an order within the collection - are the surnames alphabetical? Or is the information organized by date? Look at the first few pages to give you an idea, then skip ahead to half. Depending on what you need, either skip ahead by another half or backwards by half. Note your page numbers to remember where you have searched. Just be aware often these collections have other, smaller collections within them, and there is usually a small note on the microfilm image when a new section starts.

  2. An alphabetical City Directory where you need to find a certain surname. Maybe it’s a physical book in your hands, or a digital copy you found on Internet Archive or Google Books. You wouldn’t start with “A” and flip page by page if your surname started with an “R”, you’d skip ahead, and then back, as needed. And once you got to the “R’s” you would do the same for the full surname.

  3. You don’t have a date of death for your ancestor, but you know their address and can look them up in City Directories. You know she must have died sometime between the birth of her youngest child in 1931 and the 1940 Census, where her husband is widowed. Instead of looking at all the city directories in a linear fashion, 1932, 1933, 1934, and so on, you can start with 1936 (about halfway), and you’ve likely just cut your search time in half. If she’s alive, you only have 4 more years. If she’s not alive, you work backward - cutting each new search in half.

    Of course you could “get lucky” when searching in a linear fashion, if the information you needed was in first City Directory you checked, for example. This is just an example to illustrate the search method. And remember to check the printing date on City Directories to be precise.

Can you think of another case scenario where this might come in handy?

More computer science algorithms coming soon!

Sources & Further Reading



The Forgotten History of "Time Balls"

31 December 2023, by Sherri Mastrangelo

Before there was a celebratory ball drop in downtown New York to countdown the New Year, there were “time balls” in use by naval observatories along the coasts and in high vantage points through out many countries. These large balls on the tops of buildings and towers were visible for miles, and were created as a way for everyone to agree on the time. When the ball starting dropping, people knew it would be 1 pm (or noon in the United States - why the difference I’m not sure).

You’ve probably seen a handful of these time balls in person on historical buildings, or through your research looking at old photographs and postcards. Whatever the case, you’ll notice them all the time now!

Courtesy of Wikimedia, captioned: “The Customs House building on the Wellington [New Zealand] waterfront, built in the 1860s on reclaimed land, and showing the time ball which began operating on 8 March 1864.”

The world’s first time ball was tested in 1829 in Portsmouth, England by the British Admiralty, influenced by an officer named Robert Wauchope, who wanted a visual signal from the shore for sailors to set their chronometers by - as opposed to the then practice of keeping time by gun shot sounds (Kinns, Fuller & Bateman). A couple years later, “one of the first time balls, installed at 1833 at the Royal Greenwich Observatory outside London, England, dropped daily at 1 PM so that captains of ships passing on the River Thames could verify the time on their chronometers. Since typically only the rich owned personal clocks and watches, the rest of the population relying on local sundials, time balls provided a solution to standardizing what time it actually was.” (Matthias, Britannica). In addition, those that had watches could set them accurately by tracking these time balls.

More and more people needed to determine the accurate time, especially with the growing railways and the need to catch trains, and the growing industrial workforce with employees clocking in and out of their jobs.

”The first time ball established in the United States was dropped from the dome of the Naval Observatory at Washington in 1855…The New York time ball, established in 1877, is dropped at New York noon, by an electric signal, sent from the Naval Observatory at Washington. It was erected and is maintained by the Western Union Telegraph Company, and is dropped from their building on Broadway.” (Pritchett). Interestingly this was before the establishment of time zones in the United States, and the local time in Washington was different than New York.

By the beginning of the 20th century, there were hundreds, if not more, of these time balls, as this 1901 newspaper article shares that “…in order to keep the country well regulated so far as time is concerned the naval observatory under takes to correct the clocks of the country. When the hour of noon strikes at the observatory electrical signals go forth to all parts of the country, and over 70,000 clocks are simultaneously set exactly at the noon hour…At the same time thousands of time balls along the coast drop theirs signals to indicate to mariners and others that the hour of noon is here” (Washington Standard, 1901).

So why the traditional ball drop in New York on NYE?

It all started with a party held by the owner of The New York Times newspaper, when “in December of 1904, this newspaper celebrated the move to its new Times Square building with a New Year's Eve party, which thereafter grew year by year. When, in 1907, a ban on fireworks prompted The Times to find a new celebration finale, a time ball was brought in, and the tradition began.” (Huler, The New York Times). The tradition continued “with the exceptions of the World War II “dimouts” in 1942 and 1943, the New Year’s Eve Ball hasn’t missed a year since its 1907 debut” (Britannica).

Though the ball drop on New Year’s Eve in Times Square isn’t an authentic “time ball” in the historical sense. ”The Times Square ball isn't quite a true time ball. The eye can easily pick up motion, so precise time balls mark time by starting to move, not by stopping. The Times Square ball marks time with the end of its motion -- hard to perceive and inexact, but presumably more fun for counting backward” (Huler).

I’m willing to bet it is the only time ball covered in triangles of Waterford Crystal and lights though!

Source: Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 02 July 1905. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1905-07-02/ed-1/seq-44/)

In the image above of a 1905 advertisement for the American Waltham Watch Company, we see the crowd setting their pocket watches with a time ball at the top of a distant building.

Image Source: The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]), 23 May 1909. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1909-05-23/ed-1/seq-6/>

Above: a 1909 newspaper article of the The San Francisco Call describing the time ball on the roof of the Fairmont Hotel.

“The Boston Time Ball (1881)” courtesy of Wikipedia, public domain. Caption reads: “The Boston Time Ball on the roof of the Equitable Life Assurance Society building, at the corner of Devonshire and Milk Streets, Boston MA.” Note the pulley system for raising and lowering the ball at noon. View from the street in the top right corner of this image of 67 Milk Street.

The Boston time ball, pictured above, received it’s signal from the Harvard College Observatory, and was made “of copper and weighs about 250 pounds…The cost of the ball and machinery was about $1200. The electric signal which drops it, is given by the clock itself, the ball having a drop of fifteen feet” (Pritchett). Accounting for inflation, the cost for the ball would be just over $36,000 today.

Though largely accurate, time balls were subject to errors caused by weather or other issues. “For the year ending Nov 1st, 1880, the ball was dropped exactly at noon on 355 days; on four other days at five minutes past noon…on four other days it was not dropped, leaving only three cases of inaccuracy of dropping” (Pritchett). While some time balls would have a red flag raised when the ball was raised and dropped late, others would simply report the error in the following morning’s newspaper. In some areas, the balls were not dropped on Sundays or holidays, however.

Image courtesy of flickr user daves_archive_inactive_at_current_time, some rights reserved.

Above: note the red time ball at the top of the tower of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich - which still operates today as part of a museum.

Time Ball Tower, South Africa. Photo by Andrew Hall, wikimedia CC by SA 3.0

Have you noticed any historic time balls on buildings near you?



Sources and Further Reading

  • Huler, Scott. “A Brief History of Time Balls”. The New York Times, 30 December 2004. (https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/opinion/a-brief-history-of-time-balls.html#:~:text=The%20United%20States%20Naval%20Observatory,it%20kept%20dropping%20until%201936.)

  • Kinns, Fuller & Bateman. “Exploring the Portsmouth Time Balls” Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 19 April 2023. Vol 24, Issue 3 (https://www.sciengine.com/JAHH/doi/10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2021.03.13)

  • Pritchett, H.S. “The Kansas City Electric Time Ball” 1881 (https://archive.org/details/jstor-2900500/page/n1/mode/2up)

  • Matthias, Meg. “Why Do We Drop a Ball on New Year’s Eve?” Britannica. (https://www.britannica.com/story/why-do-we-drop-a-ball-on-new-years-eve)

  • Unknown Author. “When Noon Comes: Government Sends Exact Time to Every City”. Washington Standard (Olympia, Wash. Territory), December 6, 1901 (https://lccn.loc.gov/sn84022770)

67 Recommended Genealogy Books

22 November, 2023 by Sherri Mastrangelo

This list, submitted without additional commentary and straight from my bookshelves, is a comprehensive collection of reference material, research techniques, and general knowledge that benefits genealogists at all skill levels. Please note this post contains affiliate links that help support this site. And yes, that’s my coffee - getting pretty good at the latte art!

  1. “31 Days to Better Genealogy” by Amy Johnson Crow (2018).

  2. “500 Amazing Online Archives and Digital Collections You’ve Never Heard of: US Edition” by Thomas MacEntee (2023)

  3. “A Genealogists Guide to Discovering your African American Ancestors: How to Find and Record Your Unique Heritage” by Franklin Carter Smith and Emily Anne Croom. (2009)

  4. “A to Zax: Comprehensive Dictionary for Genealogists” Barbara Jean Evans. (1995).

  5. “Abbreviations and Acronyms: Guide for Family Historians, Second Edition” by Kip Sperry. (2003).

  6. “Advanced Genealogy Research Techniques” by George Morgan and Drew Smith (2013)

  7. “Advanced Genetic Genealogy: Techniques and Case Studies” by Debbie Parker Wayne. (2019).

  8. “Ancestral Trails: The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History, Second Edition” by Mark Herber (2009)

  9. “Black Genesis: A Resource Book for African-American Genealogy” by James R Rose and Alice Eicholz (2003)

  10. “Bringing Your Family History to Life Through Social History” by Katherine Scott Sturdevant. (2000)

  11. “Courthouse Research for Family Historians: Your Guide to Genealogical Treasures” by Christine Rose (2020).

  12. “DNA for Native American Genealogy” by Roberta Estes. (2021).

  13. “Elements of Genealogical Analysis” by Robert Charles Anderson (2014)

  14. “Essential Skills for the Occasional Genealogist: Beyond beginner Genealogy Skills for Busy Family Historians” by Jennifer Patterson Dondero (2023)

  15. “Evidence Explained: History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, 3rd Edition Revised” by Elizabeth Shown Mills. (2017).

  16. “Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian” by Elizabeth Shown Mills. (1997).

  17. “Family Photo Detective: Learn how to find Genealogy Clues in old photos and solve Family Photo Mysteries” by Maureen A Taylor (2023)

  18. “Finding Your Ancestors’ Obituaries: The Complete Genealogy Guide to Obituaries” by Kenneth R. Marks (2023)

  19. “Finding Your Italian Roots: the Complete Guide for Americans, Second Edition” by John Philip Colletta (2009)

  20. “Forensic Genealogy” by Colleen Fitzpatrick. (2005).

  21. “Genealogical Proof Standard: Building a Solid Case” by Christine Rose. (2014).

  22. “Genealogy Standards, Second Edition Revised” by Board for Certification of Genealogists. (2019).

  23. “Generation by Generation: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy” by Drew Smith (2023)

  24. “Guide to Naturalization Records of the United States” by Christina K. Schaefer (1997).

  25. “History for Genealogists: Using Chronological Time Lines to Find and Understand Your Ancestors” by Judy Jacobson (2015).

  26. “How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records: A Genealogist’s Guide: With Specific Resources for Major Christian Denominations before 1900” by Sunny Jane Morton. (2019)

  27. “In Search of Your German Roots” by Angus Baxter (2015)

  28. “International Vital Records Handbook, 7th Edition” by Thomas Jay Kemp (2017).

  29. “Land and Property Research in the United States” by E. Wade Hone (2008)

  30. “Locating Your Roots: Discovering Your Ancestors Using Land Records” by Patricia Law Hatcher (2003).

  31. “Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses 1790 - 1920” by William Thorndale and William Dollarhide (1995)

  32. “Mastering Genealogical Documentation” by Thomas W. Jones. (2017)

  33. “Mastering Genealogical Proof” by Thomas W. Jones (2013)

  34. “Organize Your Genealogy: Strategies and Solutions for Every Researcher” by Drew Smith (2016)

  35. “Our Quaker Ancestors: Finding Them in Quaker Records, Second Edition” by Ellen Thomas Berry and David Allen Berry

  36. “Pitfalls in Genealogical Research” by Milton Rubincam (1987)

  37. “Polish Roots, Second Edition” by Rosemary A. Chorzempa (2014)

  38. “Professional Genealogy: Preparation, Practice & Standards” by Elizabeth Shown Mills. (2018).

  39. “Reading Early American Handwriting” by Kip Sperry. (2008).

  40. “Red Book: American State, County & Town Sources, Third Edition” by Alice Eicholz. (2004).

  41. “Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist’s Guide” by Diana Elder, AG and Nicole Dyer (2018)

  42. “Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors” by William J. Roulston (2022)

  43. “Scottish Genealogy: The Basics and Beyond” by David Dobson (2021)

  44. “State Census Records” by Ann S. Lainhart (1992).

  45. “The American Census Handbook” by Thomas Jay Kemp. (2002)

  46. “The Everything Guide to Online Genealogy: Trace Your Roots, Share Your History, and Create Your Family Tree” by Kimberly Powell (2014)

  47. “The Family Tree Cemetery Field Guide: How to Find, Record, & Preserve Your Ancestors Graves” by Joy Neighbors (2017)

  48. “The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy” by Blaine T. Bettinger. (2019)

  49. “The Family Tree Polish, Czech and Slovak Genealogy Guide: How to Trace Your Family Tree in Eastern Europe” by Lisa A. Alzo (2016)

  50. “The Family Tree Problem Solver: Tried-and-True Tactics for Tracing Elusive Ancestors” by Marsha Hoffman Rising (2019)

  51. “The Genealogist’s Guide to Researching Tax Records” by Carol Cooke Darrow and Susan Winchester (2019)

  52. “The Genealogist’s Guide to Y-DNA Testing for Genetic Genealogy” by David Vance (2020)

  53. “The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 11th Edition” by Holly Hansen (2006)

  54. “The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, 4th Edition” by Val D. Greenwood. (2017).

  55. ”The Royal Descendants of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States, Vol 1”; “The Royal Descendants…Vol II”, and “The Royal Descendants…Vol III” by Gary Boyd Roberts (2022)

  56. “The Sleuth Book for Genealogists. Strategies for More Successful Family History Research” by Emily Anne Croom (2009).

  57. “The Source: A Guidebook for American Genealogy, Third Edition” by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking (2006)

  58. “They Became Americans: Finding Naturalization Records and Ethnic Origins” by Loretto Dennis Szucs. (1998)

  59. “They Came in Ships: A Guide to Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor’s Arrival Record” by John P. Colletta (2002)

  60. “Tips and Quips for the Family Historian” by Elizabeth Shown Mills and Ruth Brossette Lennon (2017)

  61. “Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, Fifth Edition” by John Grenham (2019).

  62. “Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors” by the National Archives and National Records of Scotland (2020)

  63. “U.S. Military Records: Guide to Federal and States Sources, Colonial America to the Present” by James C. Neagles (1994)

  64. “Unofficial Guide to Ancestry.com: How to Find Your Family History on the #1 Genealogy Website”. by Nancy Hendrickson. (2018)

  65. “Unofficial Guide to FamilySearch.org: How to Find Your Family History on the World’s Largest Free Genealogy Website” by Dana McCullough (2020)

  66. Who Do You Think You Are? The Essential Guide to Tracing Your Family History” by Megan Smolenyak (2010)

  67. “Your DNA Guide - the Book” by Diahan Southard (2020).

Some of the links above might be to used copies if a new one is unavailable. There are also a couple that are harder to find but still recommended:

Out of print / used:

Bonus Book(s):

How did you score? What books would you add to the list?

Now search by "Text-on-Maps" in the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

28 September, 2023 by Sherri Mastrangelo

I’m not sure how “new” this feature is, but I just discovered it and have been playing around with it all afternoon! This is a great new way to search historical maps.

The David Rumsey Map Collection, (davidrumsey.com) is an immensely valuable resource with over 125, 000 and counting historical maps and images digitized online for free public viewing. Someday I’ll do a post on all the amazing features of this website, but for now I’ll encourage you to visit and explore - and limit today’s post to the new “search by Text-on-Maps” tool.

This feature is utilizing a machine-learning program called mapKurator, which you can read about in detail on their blog: https://machines-reading-maps.github.io/rumsey/

Right now you can access it from the home page, front and center, or in the top right hand search box. Be sure to select “by Text on Maps” if you use the top right hand search box.

A check of one of my ancestors’ surnames, “Kavanagh”, came back with 38 map results. The results default to this view, with each name a link to the map result. You can also toggle to view by map on the top right (side note: I noticed the number of results went down when I changed the view from 38 to 32, strange).


Most of the results were not relevant to my ancestral lines, but some were! Check out this map showing the Kavanagh family house in 1803 in Maine, built for James Kavanagh. Though I’ve search maps of Maine before, and seen his house in other images, I’ve never seen this particular map.

Furthermore, you can open this or any map in the “GEOREFERENCER” and use one of my favorite features on this site, the map overlays! View your maps on other maps, including modern day or your own personal maps of ancestor’s homes, and toggle the opacity.

I’ve used another map result as an example, with the overlay toggle around 50% between the historic map and modern day:

Now with 38 results for my surname ‘Kavanagh’, it wasn’t too hard to wade through the results. But what if you get thousands of results, like I did when searching the surname of “Costa”? When searching a name that’s also a place, like Costa Rica, you definitely need someway to filter the matches.

It seems like you can’t filter the view after the search, but you can do an “advanced search” before hand to narrow down results.
You’ll find it in the top right corner, as illustrated below:

There are many different ways to filter results here, and may take a little trial and error to get what you need.

What seems to work for me is using a combination of geography filter, like “state/province”, and the keyword you want to search in the “All Text on Maps” field:

Have you seen any similar text on historical map search capabilities? Share in the comments!


As always, have fun exploring and good luck with your research!
















Passenger List Codes: These numbers in the 'Death' column don't mean they died!

17 September, 2023. By Sherri Mastrangelo

This post is a continuation of my series on passenger list markings and codes. Please also reference these posts:

Today I’ll be looking at a series of numbers in the far right column of early passenger lists from the late 19th century, specifically a New York arrival record from 1895. In a recent email, a reader asks:

“The person I am looking at has numbers written under the row of “Date and Cause of Death”, the numbers 5-3. She is listed with her children but no other adult, this leads me to believe that she may have died on the ship, and the note added later on….I would appreciate any help you can provide me with in regards to these numbers, would you happen to know if these refer to a date, place, or code for a specific cause of death? 

Above image shows numbers written that were not a part of the original form. Image excerpt of a passenger list from Ellis Island, NY, 1895, as found on FamilySearch.org.

Looking at the example passenger list above, in the column titled “Date and Cause of Death”, there is a series of numbers including “4 -2”, “2 - 1”, “1-0”, and “6-4”. it was a perfectly reasonable assumption to think they would be related to a death on the ship’s voyage, as they appear in this column.

Perhaps a “4 - 2” means the individual died the 2nd of April. However, in this instance the ship SS. La Champagne arrived at Ellis Island on December 17, 1895 - a voyage which would not have taken more than eight months to complete. There is no possibility they died on the ship in April. Following this logic the numbers “2 - 1” and “1 - 0” could not mean the passengers died in February or January, as the ship was not sailing then. If you go back a few pages, you’ll see higher sets of numbers like “17 - 8”, which would confirm the first number is not related to a month.

In fact, these numbers have nothing to do with any date, nor do they have anything to do with the column about the cause of death!

I reached out to another genealogist during my research on this, and they discovered a relevant discussion on a forum of JewishGen. On this comment thread from a few years ago in 2020, expert Marian Smith shares that “Those numbers in the Cause of Death column on Customs Lists have long been a source of confusion. They are annotations made later by gov’t statistical clerks when “coding” the documents for official US immigration statistics. Clerks used that column for this data because it was usually the largest block of available empty space on the page…”

Great! But what do they mean?

Commenter David Rosen says “these numbers in the last column are a count of the males - females on the passenger list….At the bottom of the last column there should be a total, e.g., 16 - 11 - 27” and another, Stephan Parnes, agrees. Parnes expands on that it is a “tally of the passengers by nationality. Thus, on this page, for example, there are 2 males and 0 females from England, 1 male and 0 females from Bohemia, 2 males and 1 female from Holland, 9 males and 5 females from Germany, and so forth.”

Why did they feel the need to calculate the number of males and females of each nationality that arrived in the US?

Well, the immigration ship’s captain was required to track and report such information since the Steerage Act of 1819:

"Statistics relative to immigration to the United States date from 1819, when the first United States law regulating the carriage of steerage passengers at sea was enacted In addition to the requirements respecting the carriage of steerage passengers, the act of 1819 provided that the captain or master of any ship or vessel arriving in the United  States from any foreign place should - deliver and report to the collector of the district in which such ship or vessel should arrive, a list or manifest of all the passengers taken on board of the said ship or vessel at any foreign port or place; in which list or manifest it shall be the duty of the said master to designate, particularly, the age, sex, and occupation of said passengers, respectively, the country to which they severally belong, and that of which it is their intention to become inhabitants….."

- United States, from the “Statistical Review of Immigration to the United States, 1820 to 1910," pg. 55.

Copies of these manifests were given to the Secretary of State, who would report on this statistical data to Congress. Various government departments tallied the data over the years, as “statistics of immigration were collected by the Department of state from 1820 to 1874 and by the Bureau of Statistics from 1867 to 1895. Since 1895 they have been gathered exclusively by the Commissioner-General of Immigration, whose bureau began the collection of these statistics several years prior to that date" (United States, “Statistical Review..”)

So in our example of an 1895 passenger arrival list from Ellis Island in New York, the tally marks we noticed in the ‘death’ column were either made by government clerks from the Bureau of Statistics or the department of the Commissioner-General of Immigration (as there was some overlap) for the purpose of a government report. To my knowledge there were no immigration regulations or quotas at this time, but they later may have been based on some of this information.

Now that we know who made the tally marks and why, can we find the reports they created from this data?

In the government abstract, “Statistical Review of Immigration, 1820 to 1910” we see several charts displaying the information collected over the years. I found one with a male / female breakdown by country of origin, pictured partially below:

An excerpt from “Table 9 - Immigration to the United States, 1820 to 1910; Part 2: By Country of Origin and by Sex, for Years Ending June 30, 1869 to 1910, Inclusive” highlighting years 1895, 1896, and 1897, from the abstract “Statistical Review of Immigration, 1820 to 1910”, published by the United States.

This one should include the year 1895, but for some reason they only have the total and not the sex breakdown. A note at the bottom of the chart says “sex not reported” for that year, though we know it was reported on some manifests. Other tables within the same abstract display similar data, such as Table 4, which shows the amount of male and female immigrants per year, but not by country.

In summary, another great example of “codes” left on forms by government clerks that confuse genealogists many decades (or in this case, more than a century) later.



Sources and Further Reading:

Smith, Marian L., David Rosen, Stephen Parnes, and others. Groups.JewishGen.org, May 2020 (https://groups.jewishgen.org/g/main/topic/74486548?p=,,,20,0,0,0::recentpostdate/sticky,,,20,2,0,74486548) Accessed 17 September 2023.

“New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892 - 1924,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-91D4-DY3?i) Roll 652, 6 Dec 1895 - 31 Dec 1895; (NARA Series M237). Accessed 17 September 2023.

United States. “Abstracts of reports of the Immigration Commission: with conclusions and recommendations, and views of the minority (in two volumes)”. Washington, 1911. Vol 1, ABSTRACT OF THE STATISTICAL REVIEW OF IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES, 1820 TO 1910. (https://nrs.lib.harvard.edu/urn-3:fhcl:949022) Collection Development Department, Widener Library, HCL; Harvard University. Accessed 17 September 2023.


Reader Question: "What does 'Polish Soe' mean on this detained aliens list?"

26 August, 2023 by Sherri Mastrangelo

One of the interesting questions I received this week was from someone looking at a “Record of Detained Aliens” form from the 10th of July, 1907 found in a collection of New York passenger arrival records on Ancestry.com.

Under the “Disposition” column, several of the immigrants had a phrase that appears to be “Polish Soe” - what could that mean?

Excerpt from the “New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820 - 1957”, July 10th, 1907; page 160. As found on Ancestry.com.

The cursive is a bit hard to read. First word is definitely ‘Polish”, but the second word could start with an “L” or “S”, have an “A” or “O” in the middle, and end with an “E”, “C”, or “S”.

Before I share my findings, let’s go over the meaning of this column and the form. This particular “Record of Detained Aliens” was for immigrants to the U.S. who arrived to New York on the U.S.S. Batavia and were held at the port for various reasons. They may have been waiting for a relative or spouse to pick them up, or they telegraphed someone to send them money if they arrived with not enough - so they could afford a railroad ticket or other transportation. You’ll also notice some on this record were discharged to immigrant care homes, like the United Hebrew Charities. I’m pretty sure that’s what we’re dealing with here in our example, a care home for Polish immigrants. Perhaps “Loc” for location or “Soc” for society?

I browsed all the pages of this record with the same handwriting, and found an example with an address:

Though a quick Google Maps search of “117 Broad, New York, New York” only turned up modern skyscrapers, I found a hit in Google Books, shown below:

An excerpt from “The Official Catholic Directory and Clergy List, Volume 20”, The M.H. Wiltzius Company; 1906. As found on Google Books.

In this directory we find the “St. Joseph’s Home for Polish and Lithuanian Immigrants” at 117 Broad St, run by the Felician Sisters. I’d say that’s a match, and I’d wager our phrase stands for “Polish Society”.

My next steps would involve researching the name of this aid group, as well as the Felician Sisters and the specific names mentioned, in local records and especially newspapers of the time. What else would you do?

If you have any questions during your research, feel free to reach out anytime!





Index and Excerpts of Vol. 1. of "America's Centenarians" [Part 1]

11 May 2023, by Sherri Mastrangelo

From 1963 through 1971, the Social Security Administration published several volumes of “America’s Centenarians: Reports of Interviews with Social Security Beneficiaries Who Have Lived to 100”. Interviews were conducted across the country, over a few years, by the staff of various social security district offices whom followed a series of 22 prompts. Questions such as “What is the earliest thing you remember?”, “What was the most exciting event in your own life?”, and “Do you have any ambition you have not yet realized?” can give great context to your ancestor’s life. Others were more based on the SSA, including “What kind of work did you do to earn your social security credits?” and “What do your social security checks mean in your life today?”. And then there are questions of great genealogical importance, such as “Where were you born?”, “Did you have any children? How many? Where are they now?”, and “How many grandchildren and great grandchildren do you have? Any great great grandchildren?”

An excerpt quoted from Volume 1 of “America’s Centenarians” by the Social Security Administration

If you’re ancestor was included within these volumes, consider yourself lucky! Even if you don’t have ancestors within the volumes, I suggest reading the series to learn about our shared history.

Mr. William C. Beckett, born the 10th of September 1861, recalled “viewing Abraham Lincoln’s funeral entourage pass by railroad through Pittsburgh. The casket was on view in the baggage car and was guarded on either side by an attendant…He also added, “there wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd so I cried too.”

Mr. Henry Allen, born the 4th of October, 1862, recalled that “in those days we only went to school two months of the year, January and February — the rest of the year we had to work and so did all the other children…” He also lamented that “I think $1.75 is too high for a haircut, because I used to be able to get both a shave and a haircut for 25 cents.”

Mr. Henry Bean was born about 1855, into slavery. They shared of his wedding ceremony where he was “joining hands with each [girl] and jumping over a broom held outright about a foot off the ground by his white master. This act constituted marriage for the slaves…They usually married a girl picked out by their owner. He couldn’t remember how many times he had been married but insisted that it was quite a few…and claims to have fathered more than 40 children”.

The earliest thing Mr. David C. Austin (born the 18th of August, 1861) remembered was “watching the parades when the soldiers came home from the Civil War. This was the most exciting. I saved uniform buttons. In fact, all the young boys did this. We made a game of it to see who could collect the most buttons.”

Mrs Annie V. Cunningham, born the 27th of September 1861, “was active in the fight for female suffrage and participated in the first Presidential campaign she could - when Woodrow Wilson was elected. She marched in a suffragette parade in Washington, D.C. at that time (much to her husband’s disgust).”

View the entire collection online in the: SSA Library Digital Documents Collection. Find an index of the names of those interviewed in Volume 1 below.



America’s Centenarians, Vol. 1

Access here: online link at the SSA or alternate link at FamilySearch

Names of those Interviewed (in the order they appear in the Volume)

  • Isaac Abrahamian (b. 18 December 1863)

  • Will Adams (b. 20 August 1850)

  • Ernesto Aguiar (b. 26 February, 1862)

  • Yer Sun Ahn (b. 15 October 1860)

  • Albert R. Alexander (b. 8 November, 1859)

  • Esteban Nieves Alicea (b. 1 July 1863)

  • Anna B. Allen (b. 19 November 1860)

  • Henry Allen. (b. 4 October, 1862. d. 17 August, 1962)

  • John Arentsen (b. 11 July, 1862)

  • Joseph A. Augustaukis (b. abt 1856, d. about 1957 o5 1958)

  • David C. Austin (b. 18 August 1861, d. 5 August 1962)

  • Gregorio Duran Baez (b. 28 November 1858, d. 29 April 1960) *With picture!

  • Edward Bailey (b. 5 September 1862) *With picture!

  • Katharine Bainbridge (b. 30 June 1863)

  • Charles Seymour Ball (b. April 1857, d. April 1961)

  • Albert Barker (b. 16 May 1860, deceased)

  • Elizabeth J. Barton (b. 27 April, 1857) *With picture!

  • Florence Bashen (b. 4 October 1863)

  • John W. Beaird (b. 15 April 1854, d. June 1959)

  • Henry Bean (b. February 1855, d. November 1960)

  • William C. Beckett (b. 10 September, 1861, deceased).

  • Icik Benkowitz (b. 1855, d. 1963) With picture!

  • Lida Bercaw (b. 11 September, 1863)

  • Victor Bergwall (b. October 1858, d. 5 May 1960)

  • Mollie Black (b. 4 July 1862)

  • Ernest Blackmer (b. 5 October, 1863)

  • William C. Blackwell (b. 11 April 1957)

  • A.O. Blix (b. 23 March 1858, d. 1960) *With picture!

  • Lina E. Blood (b. 23 July 1860)

  • Charlotte Bonner (b. 26 April 1850, d. 8 September 1959) *With picture!

  • Nick Bonner (b. August 1854, deceased)

  • Joseph Borrin (b. 22 March, 1862, d. 26 March 1963)

  • Jackson D. Brandenburg (b. 27 January 1863)

  • Bishop Brantley (b. 11 May, 1860)

  • Alexander Brown (b. July 1859)

  • Andrew Brown (b. 10 May 1855, d. 18 April 1961)

  • Erastus A. Brown (b. 12 August 1856, d. 16 September 1956)

  • William Brown (b. 10 August 1861, d. 28 November 1962)

  • Everett B. Burlingame (b. 6 June 1862)

  • Isaac C. Burrell (b. 25 December 1869, d. 14 December 1962) *With picture!

  • Sarah A. Bute (b. 5 May 1861)

  • Benjamin Cain (b. 3 October, 1863)

  • Lawrence Carlbon (b. 20 May, 1863)

  • John Wesley Carr (b. 13 December 1859, d. 18 February 1960)

  • Julia G. Cash (b. June, 1856)

  • Ellen Caveney (b. 25 June, 1863) *With picture!

  • Placido Cepeda (b. July, 1853)

  • Archer Chadwick (b. 25 January, 1861)

  • John B. Chaney (b. 12 October, 1859)

  • Waldo Chase (b. 12 February, 1862) *With picture!

  • Caroline Clayton (b. 31 March 1860, d. 26 March 1962)

  • Prescott F. Cogswell (b. October 1859, d. 15 January 1961)

  • Richard Crouthers (b. 19 August 1861)

  • Mary E. Crowell (b. February 1858, d. November 1960) *With picture!

  • Annie V. Cunningham (b. 27 September 1861, d. 25 January 1961)

  • Leonard J. Curtis (b. 28 October 1862)

  • Jim Daniels (b. March 1856, d. 27 February 1960)

  • Albert P. Davis (b. February 1859, d. 6 March 1963)

  • Alice Davis (b. 27 September 1858)

  • William E. Davis (b. 24 December 1838, d. 23 December 1960) *With picture!

  • Mattia Decimato (b. 25 February 1862)

  • Martha E. Dees (b. 17 January 1863)

  • John DeKok (b. 11 July 1863)

  • Irene DeMoss (b. 10 January 1863)

  • David DePuy (b. 28 August 1862, d. April 1963)

  • Frank Dewitz (b. 26 May 1856, d. 1957)

  • Charles Grant Dobie (b. 19 June 1862)

  • William Dorn (b. 1 January 1858)

  • Joseph Drendel (b. 1 August 1861)

  • Henrietta S. Dull (b. 7 December 1863) *With picture!

  • Flora M. Dunham (b. January 1859, d. 1959-1960)

  • Elizabeth P. Dunn (b. 25 November 1860, d. 30 December 1962) *With picture!

  • Tatzumbie DuPea (b. 20 July 1849) *With picture!



For some of these interviews, such as Judge Albert R. Alexander and Henrietta Dull, notes say “a tape-recorded interview is available upon request”. Perhaps they are still available.









Understanding the "Hachette v Internet Archive" Case

25 March 2023, by Sherri Mastrangelo

The Internet Archive, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco, has been an immensely valuable resource for genealogy researchers, including myself, for decades. I refer to it for finding local town histories, city directories, and biographies - most of which are out of print and not available elsewhere. I also utilize their Wayback Machine to reference broken links to older internet pages that no longer exist, but have been preserved by the Archive.  All of these sources are a beacon of truth in a world where it’s getting harder and harder to distinguish fact from fiction, especially online.

For the past three years the Internet Archive battled against several book publishers, over licensing fees and copyright issues with their lending library programs, including one launched during the pandemic called the “National Emergency Library”. The case is called Hachette Book Group, Inc. v. Internet Archive, and though litigation started back in 2020, the lawyers were able to argue their cases in front of a New York federal judge a few days ago. A judgement came back on the 24th - which I’ll get to shortly.

(The above graphic was created with Canva’s new text to image AI generator - so fun!)

For almost 27 years, the Internet Archive (“IA”), founded by Brewster Kahle, has had the mission to “provide Universal Access to All Knowledge” by creating a digital history of our society through archiving the internet, literary works, and many forms of multimedia. There’s over 735 billion web pages, 41 million books and texts, 14.7 million audio recordings, 8.4 million videos, 4.4 million images, and 890k software programs (archive.org). The Archive works with the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, and many other libraries and universities in the world to maintain unique digital collections. Their website states they currently “scan 4,300 books per day in 18 locations around the world”, working hard to provide everyone - including those with print disabilities - free access to their digital library. 

While books published before 1924 and those in the public domain can be downloaded, newer books can be borrowed. In 2011, the Archive started a lending program through its “Open Library” that allows a single user to digitally check out a scanned book. This “Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) initiative allows one person to check out the digital copy of each scanned book. The idea is that the purchased physical book is being lent in digital form but no extra copies are being lent” (Claburn). In other words, the Internet Archive has in its possession a physical copy of a book, which it has scanned, and allows one person at a time to access it digitally, for free. I believe users can currently have up to 10 checked-out books at a time.

Many libraries today operate in a similar manner with their digital lending and e-book programs, though your local library has licensing restrictions that may limit things like how often the book can be checked out, or how long they can have the e-book in circulation. Your local library (unless they worked with the IA), paid publishers for the right to distribute e-books to their patrons.  

During the pandemic lockdown, when libraries across the country closed for health reasons, the Archive removed the one person at a time restriction in the CDL by declaring a temporary “National Emergency Library” and providing digital copies for anyone to borrow from their homes. In addition to the millions of public domain books offered, the Emergency Library program also allowed authors to opt-in by donating their books for readers, or opt-out if they requested it. This National Emergency Library program ended in June of 2020 - but it was enough to ruffle the feathers of publishers whom seemed to have looked the other way since 2011.

The same summer in 2020, four book publishers: Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House, filed a lawsuit over this digital lending, claiming copyright infringement and financial harm.  Oral arguments in this case, Hachette v. Internet Archive, were heard this past Monday, the 20th of March, three years later.

The Archive did not pay licensing fees to the book publishers for this National Emergency Library program, which allowed multiple people to check out a book at the same time, or their Open Library lending program. The court complaint states “without any license or any payment to authors or publishers, IA scans print books, uploads these illegally scanned books to its servers, and distributes verbatim digital copies of the books in whole via public-facing websites” (see link below for full text). These were books that the Archive had at least one physical copy in their possession, and had scanned into their digital library. “The central question in the case, as summarized during oral arguments by Judge John Koeltl, is: does a library have the right to make a copy of a book that it otherwise owns and then lend the ebook it has made without a license from the publisher to patrons of the library?” (Claburn)



View a transcript of the whole complaint, filed in 2020: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900.1.0_1.pdf



Defendant’s answer:  https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900.33.0_1.pdf


Publishers claimed a financial loss from the Archive’s lending programs, but the lawyer for the Internet Archive, “Joseph Gratz, argued that the Open Library’s digitization of physical books is fair use, and publishers have yet to show they’ve been harmed by IA’s digital lending” (Belanger). Additionally, a recent Ars Technica article points out that “during this same time, however, the book publishing industry experienced so much demand that revenues rose by 12 percent, amounting to a $3 billion spike in sales by 2021…” (Belanger).

The pandemic was no doubt a profitable time for book publishers - yet they argue they could have made more. The book publisher’s lawyer, Elizabeth McNamara, “seemed to suggest that publishers would have been further enriched if not for IA providing unprecedented free, unlimited e-books access. She also told Koeltl that publishers suing - Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Wiley - are concerned that there are already some libraries avoiding paying e-book licensing fees by partnering with IA and making their own copies. If the court sanctioned IA’s digitization practices and thousands of libraries started digitizing the books in their collections, the entire e-book licensing market would collapse” (Belanger).

To be fair, I might side with the book publishers views on the licensing fee issue - but I’m very worried what the outcome of this case might mean for the future of the Internet Archive and similar digital libraries. It’s easy to see the book publishers as a bit greedy here, but should they allow libraries to make and distribute copies of their books? Does current copyright law protect digital libraries? What about in the case of a national emergency, like a pandemic?

The Internet Archive feared the worst, as founder Brewster Kahle wrote: “It’s not fair to assume that other libraries will take on the IA’s role or repository if there is a judgment against them, as “the publishers are now demanding that those millions of digitized books, not only be made inaccessible, but be destroyed. This is horrendous. Let me say it again - the publishers are demanding that millions of digitized books be destroyed…And if they success in destroying our books or even making many of them inaccessible, there will be a chilling effect on the hundreds of other libraries that lend digitized books as we do.” (Claburn, quoting Kahle).

The court case does state that “the Internet Archive provides a number of services not at issue in this action, including its Wayback Machine and digitization of public domain materials” so we don’t have to worry about that at the moment.

According to the Internet Archives defendant response, they mention “all of the works at issue in this case have been removed from the Internet Archive’s websites” back in 2020. I assume this means they have retained the physical copies, and digital scans, but have removed them for public display and from the lending program.

It’s not the first such case where digital libraries have come under fire. Past related litagtions include: Authors Guild v. Google; McGraw-Hill v. Google; and Authors Guild v. HathiTrust. If you’re interested in reading more, I found the following article by Argyri Panezi found in the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy does a good job summarizing these past cases and details of the copyright issues: https://community.lawschool.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Panezi-final-1.pdf


The Judgement

With a loss for the Archive, “after three years of litigation Koeltl easily found for the publishers, holding that the Internet Archive’s scanning and lending clearly constituted a prima facie case of copyright infringement and that the Internet Archive’s fair use defense failed on the facts and the law” (Anderson). This detailed Publishers Weekly article explains Judge Koeltl’s reasoning.

Furthermore, the Judgement says “IA’s wholesale copying and unauthorized lending of digital copies of the publishers’ print books does not transform the use of the books, and IA profits from exploiting the copyrighted material without paying the customary price” (Anderson).

View the full Judge’s opinion and Order, as of 24 March 2023:

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900.188.0.pdf

So what does all this mean for the future of the Internet Archive?

Within the order, it states that “IA remains entitled to scan and distribute the many public domain books in its collection...It also may use its scans of the Works in Suit, or other works in its collection, in a manner consistent with the uses deemed to be fair in Google Books and HathiTrust” (pg 45, link above). While this means the digital scans stored at Internet Archive likely won’t be destroyed, some of your search results for books not in the public domain may soon be limited to “preview” only sections, or even less: indexed titles.

A statement from the Internet Archive founder, Brewster Kahle, reads:

“Libraries are more than the customer service departments for corporate database products. For democracy to thrive at global scale, libraries must be able to sustain their historic role in society - owning, preserving, and lending books.

This ruling is a blow for libraries, readers, and authors and we plan to appeal it” (blog.archive.org).


While it is too late to make a difference in this case, there are still some things you can do:


Sources and Further Reading:

Does Bing AI work any better than ChatGPT for genealogy research?

11 March, 2023 by Sherri Mastrangelo

After a short time on a waitlist, I gained access to Microsoft’s Bing AI last night, which refers to itself simply as “Bing”. This Bing AI uses a newer version of GPT-3. It has access to web results from the Bing search engine, whereas ChatGPT is limited. Bing can also get up-to-date information, whereas ChatGPT has access up to 2021.

(See my previous blog post: “Can you use ChatGPT for genealogy research”, 20 January, 2023)

Furthermore, ChatGPT only supports English while Bing can support other languages including Japanese, Spanish, French, German (to switch, sandwich hashtags like #japanase#). Bing has three optional conversational models you can choose from: “more creative”, “more balanced”, and “more precise” - though I didn’t notice much of a difference by playing around with these.

Instead of almost instantaneous text results like with ChatGPT, I felt the Bing AI to be slower as it took a minute to search results and formulate answers. I was also limited to a series of ten questions at a time, after which it forced me to push a “New Topic” button and start over.

More importantly, ChatGPT can handle follow-up questions and “remember” what you were talking about in the conversation, using previous information to inform its response. It becomes a much more conversational flow, and I prefer the ChatGPT style better as it seems more “human-like” and friendlier.

Let’s get into some examples. I started by asking some of the same questions I had posed to ChatGPT, as discussed in my previous blog post. The first question to compare: “What can you find out about the Libby family, early settlers of Maine?”

Hey wait, that’s my website!

I was surprised to see Bing used my other blog post as a reference, effectively copying part of ChatGPT’s answer to the same question - at least in the first two sentences! Bing is more straightforward with documenting the sources it used to form its response, and offers direct links to these sources. It also has text prompts after each response. With ChatGPT there is no revelation of sources, and it is not readily apparent where it learned the information.

However, I found the ChatGPT information to be more reliable and trustworthy. The way Bing presents the information seems very “matter of fact” and even though it has sources, it does not take into account the accuracy of the source or how relevant it is to your ancestor. I’m worried people may take this information as fact as some blindly take the tiny green leaf hints on a certain website as fact, without proper research.

Take into account this next example:

Those seem like a lot of “facts” to me, though none of this information is relevant to my ancestor, who was born in January to other parents, married Ann Hodges, had seven children (all different names), and died in 1864 in Gorham.

While Bing offers results from sites like FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com, and Geni.com, it cannot perform database queries to pull records - though it gives that illusion. In the above example, the “ancestry.com” source cited is the same person search result for Ancestry that comes up in Bing, when you’re not signed in to Ancestry.com nor a paying user.

I much prefer the generic answers that ChatGPT offers, as it stays away from the pretense of offering facts about individuals. Perhaps if Bing worded its response differently it might help. I also noticed Bing seems more likely to change it’s response when asked the same question later.

All that said, I’m still very excited about the future of AI with regards to genealogy research. I think I’ll continue to use ChatGPT to help formulate some research strategies and research historical context, among other things. I love that Bing is connected to the web, but the quality of results is just not there yet.

I’ll leave you with a quick poem, courtesy of Bing:

What are your thoughts?

What do these codes on death certificates mean?

7 February 2023, by Sherri Mastrangelo

What do the handwritten numbers on death certificates mean, and why would we need them?

Cause of Death / ICD Code Meaning

We usually see these codes in the “cause of death” section. Sometimes there are two numbers, related to the primary and secondary causes.

These alpha-numerical codes from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), now published by the World Health Organization (WHO), are used by the government agencies when calculating mortality and morbidity statistics, and to maintain a standard of medical terminology throughout the world. The WHO also takes this information to compare mortality rates and causes of death from all countries. In the United States, these codes are maintained as the ICD-CM (CM standing for Clinical Modification) by the CDC, CMS, and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

It’s important to note that ICD was originally the International List of the Causes of Death (ILCD) for versions 1 - 5 in the US, before it was centralized by the World Health Organization and standardized as the International Classification of Diseases, or ICD.

Version Dates In Effect Links to Online Resources
1 (1900 Conference in Paris)

In the US, the "Manual of International Classification..." was published in 1902		 "Manual of International Classification of Causes of Death" on the Internet Archive

Wolfbane 1 (1900 Revision)
2 (1909 Conference in Paris)

"International Classification..." by the US Dept of Commerce and Labor, was for use in the US on January 1st 1910 to December 31, 1919.

"The Manual of the International List of the Causes of Death" seems to be an update to the International Classification, and was published in 1911 by the Us Dept of Commerce and Labor		 "International Classification of Causes of Sickness and Death" (US) on the Internet Archive

Manual of ILCD 2 on Internet Archive

Wolfbane 2 (1909 Revision)
3 (1920 Conference in Paris)

"The Manual of the International List.." was published in 1924 by the US Department of Commerce 		Manual of ILCD 3 on Internet Archive

Wolfbane 3 (1920 Revision)
4 (1929 Conference in Paris)

"The Manual of the International List..." was published in the US in 1931		 Manual of ILCD 4 on Google Books

Wolfbane 4 (1929 Revision)
5 (1938 Conference in Paris)

"Manual of the List of International Causes of Death; As adopted for use in the United States; based on the Fifth Decennial Revision by the International Commission, Paris, October 3 - 7, 1938" was published in 1940		 "Manual of the List of International Causes of Death" (US) 5 on Google Books

Wolfbane 5 (1938 Revision)
6 (1948 Conference in Geneva)

The WHO adopted the 6th revision in 1948. Note link on right for Alphabetical Index Vol. 2, was unable to find Vol. 1 online. A supplementary edition was published in 1953.		 Manual of ICD 6 (WHO version) Vol. 2

Wolfbane 6 (1948 Revision - 3 Digit Codes)

Wolfbane 6 (1948 Revision - 4 Digit Codes)
7 (1955 Conference in Paris under WHO)

"Manual of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries, and Causes of Death. Based on Recommendations of the Seventh Revision Conference, 1955, and adopted by the ninth World Health Assembly" was published in 1957.

It was in use in the US from 1958 - 1967(1)		 Manual of ICD 7 (WHO) Vol. 2

Wolfbane 7 (1955 Revision - 3 Digit Codes)

Wolfbane 7 (1955 Revision - 4 Digit Codes)
8 (1965 Conference in Geneva)

The "Manual of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries, and Causes of Death. Based on the Recommendations of the eight revision conference, and adopted by the Nineteenth World Health Assembly" was published in 1967.

It was in use in the United States from 1968 - 1978(1)		 Manual of ICD 8 (WHO Version)

Wolfbane 8 (1965 Revision) - 3 Digit Codes)

Wolfbane 8 (1965 Revision - 4 Digit Codes)
9 (1975 Conference in Geneva)

"Manual of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries, and Causes of Death; Based on the Recommendations of the Ninth Revision Conference, 1975, and adopted by the Twenty-ninth World Health Assembly" was published in 1977

The US version went into effect in 1979 for death certificates.(2)		 ICD 9 (US Version) on CDC.gov

Manual of ICD 9 (WHO Version)

Wolfbane 9 (Revision 1975 - 3 Digit Codes)

Wolfbane 9 (Revision 1975 - 5 Digit Codes)
10 (1990 Conference)

The ICD 10 was implemented in January 1999 in the US for coding death certificates (2).

This is not to be confused with the ICD-10-CM, or Clinical Modification, which is used to code data from patient records and doctors offices (not death certificates). The ICD-10-CM went into effect in the US on October 1, 2015.		 CDC.gov file (ICD 10 1999 - 2009)

CDC.gov file (ICD 10 1999-2011)

ICD 10 (WHO Version)

Wolfbane 10 (1990 Revision - 3 Digit Codes)

Wolfbane 10 (1990 Revision - 5 Digit Codes)
11 (2019 Conference)

The 11th revision was endorsed by WHO in 2019, officially in effect on January 1, 2022. It is unclear if it is widely in use in the US currently.		 ICD 11 (WHO Version)

(1) See the chart on the CDC's "ICD-9" page, linked in sources.

(2) "Beginning with deaths occurring in January 1999, the United States began using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) to classify causes of death reported on death certificates. This is the first change in twenty years; ICD-9 codes have been in effect from 1979-1998" (Center for Health Statistics, Washington State Department of Health).

Version 11 was put into effect by WHO as of January 1, 2022.

Note there are also separate lists for oncology / cancer (the ICD - 0), as well as other diseases and fields of medicine.

Which ICD Version / Revision year to use?

The ILCD or ICD was updated about once a decade after each revision conference, starting in 1900, and was based on the Bertillon Classification of Causes of Death (BCCD) written by French statistician Jacques Bertillon in 1893 and adapted by America, Canada, and Mexico in 1898.

Though some years have greater changes than others, it is still important to use the codes for the correct year. Different countries implemented the ICD updates in their country at different times, however. Different countries may also have additional updates and variations.

Knowing which ICD to use to decipher death certificate codes can be a little tricky, as the date of the conference / revision may have been a year or two before the resource list was published (per the chart above). For example, if you have a death certificate in the United States from 1966, your instinct might be to use the 8th revision, as the conference was in 1966 - but WHO didn’t publish this information until 1967.

Furthermore, especially with the later revisions, the US did not always immediately implement the update. For example, though the ICD-10 conference was in 1990, the US didn’t start using ICD-10 for death certificates until 1999.

What is “Wolfbane”?

Many genealogists utilize the free website for Wolfbane Cybernetics, as it seems to be one of the few online resources that list earlier versions of the IDC.

It is not entirely clear to me where Wolfbane has pulled this information from, especially from the older versions. As it a website based in the UK, my best guess is that they used books like “The Manual of the International List of Causes of Death, as adapted for use in England and Wales: Based on the second decennial revision by the commission, Paris, 1909” (View on the Internet Archive) published in 1912 in London by His Majesty’s Stationery Office.

The lists seem closely aligned with historical translated publications in the US, to the best of my knowledge, so I would feel comfortable to continue using Wolfbane as a source to quickly lookup a code or two, as browsing through the books on Internet Archive can be tedious.

Note there is also a very helpful, and underutilized decoder on Wolfbane for versions ICD 6, ICD 7, ICD 8, ICD 9, and ICD 10 in which you can enter the code and it offers the cause of death, but I hesitate to link it directly as it runs as an exe program. Find the “ICD Decoder” as the third item on this page of Wolfbane.

If Wolfbane is down, remember you can always reference the Wayback Machine on the Internet Archive to view past instances of the website.

As for the name, I believe “wolfbane” is a synonym of wolfsbane, the poisonous purple flower also known as aconite. I’m not entirely sure who is behind Wolfbane Cybernetics, why they named the site Wolfbane, or why the site looks circa the turn of the millennium - but it is a helpful website!


Why bother to look up these numbers?
It’s not something you need to do for every death certificate, but it can be helpful in some circumstances:

  • Doctors handwriting can be hard to read!

  • We want to know more about the cause of death

  • Only a number is shown, not a cause of death

  • Use when compiling family medical history to standardize causes of death


What do other numbers on the death certificate mean?

They most likely have to do with coding the data for statistical purposes. For examples, states may be numbered 1 - 51, Canada as 55, Mexico as 57, and the rest of the world 59. Items not able to be classified were generally 9 or 99. Occupations were also classified as statistical data on some forms.

They would also number the certificates, usually in the top right corner, in the order they received them.


What do different colored death certificates mean?

I get this question a lot. While the exact answer depends on the state and time period, generally a different color was used for each different form. For example, in this FamilySearch collection of Massachusetts death certificates, “Deaths 1924 Abington to Amesbury Vol. 1” you can see they used the yellow form R-301 Standard Certificate of Death; pink form R-302 for Standard Certificate of Death (slightly different, I think there is an added signature); the blue form R-303 Medical Examiner’s Certificate of Death; green form R-307 Additional Information for Death Certificate; and so on.

Have you come across different colored forms in your research?

Can we see an example of the ICD numbers?

Of course. Below is an excerpt of a death certificate from 1914 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

In the Cause of Death section, we see slightly illegible handwriting, along with a circled code of “120”. With the death in 1914, we know we should be looking at the 2nd revision, based on the 1909 conference.

We look it up in the Manual of the International List of the Causes of Death, published in 1911 in the US (linked in the chart above). And while the handwriting on the certificate does not look like Bright’s disease to me, it does look like Chronic Nephritis.

Looking at the second page of the classification under the number 120, I notice the word “Uraemia” and feel that’s a good fit for the first part of the handwriting, making the cause of death “Uraemia - Chronic Nephritis”. Would you agree?

What are your thoughts? Do you think using Wolfbane, or the American publications, will be helpful in your research?

Sources & Further Research:


Can you use ChatGPT for genealogy research?

20 January, 2023, by Sherri Mastrangelo

ChatGPT is a dialogue and search tool launched by OpenAI this past November, 2022, that is currently free for everyone to try. It is an AI program, or Artificial Intelligence model, that they have trained to understand humans. It’s like having a conversation with a search engine like Google, but instead of a list of websites returned after your query that you then have to browse, you get an immediate response with the information you needed. You can even follow up on your original question, because this AI will remember what you were talking about. 

On social media, I’ve seen people use ChatGPT to help write essays, diagnose patients, write poetry, and answer challenging questions. With such amazing access to instant and relevant information at your fingertips, what would you want to know? 

Of course my first thought was “Can this AI help me with my genealogy research?” 

And the answer is - yes! There are definite benefits, though it can’t pull up individual records (yet). I’ll explain, and share some of the questions I asked ChatGPT, along with it’s responses.

If you have tried MyHeritiage’s apps like Deep Nostalgia that brought still photos to life, or their more recent AI Time Machine that transforms your selfie into multiple versions of yourself throughout time, then you have already played around with AI.

If you have used Google Translate to discover what your foreign language record says, you’ve used AI.

What’s more, if you have ever used Ancestry.com, you’ve likely used some of their AI features like handwriting recognition technology. Ancestry also uses machine learning algorithms to provide relevant search results and to match family trees, as well as with computer text recognition to pull and display information from records.

AI can definitely be a useful tool to help us with our research, so let’s see what this ChatGPT can do!

Question 1

ME: Can you do genealogy research?

ChatGPT: As a computer program, I am not capable of doing genealogy research myself. However, I can assist you with information and guidance on how to conduct genealogy research and where to find various types of records to aid you in your search.

I can help you learn what resources are available, both online and offline, and help you understand how to use them effectively to research your family history. This can include online genealogy databases, archives and libraries, historical societies, and government offices. I can also provide tips and advice for analyzing and organizing your findings, as well as for communicating with relatives or other researchers who may be able to provide additional information about your ancestors.

Additionally I can answer specific questions you might have about the different types of records, how to read them and interpret the information, as well as the best practices for genealogy research.

Question 2

ME: What can you find out about the Libby family, early settlers of Maine?

ChatGPT: The Libby family is an early settler of Maine and there’s a lot of historical information that can be found about them.

Genealogy: According to the genealogy records, The Libby Family was among the first settlers of Maine. They were farmers and fishermen, and some of them were also involved in shipbuilding and trade. Many Libby families were among the early settlers of various towns along the Maine Coast, such as Brunswick, Bath, Damariscotta, and Belfast.

Historical Records: According to the historical records, there were also Libby’s involved in the revolutionary war and were soldiers, there are records of their involvement in the war, and some of them received land grants for their service.

Libby Island: Libby Island, located in the Penobscot Bay, Maine, was named after the Libby family who were among the first settlers of the island. The island was settled by the Libbys in the 1700s, and the family still owns much of the island to this day. The island has a long history of farming and fishing, and also has a lighthouse that is still operational.

Libby Family papers and papers of the Libby Island Company: The Libby Family Papers and the Papers of the Libby Island Company are held at the Maine Historical Society and contain letters, diaries, photographs, ledgers, and other documents that provide a glimpse into the daily lives, business activities, and social history of the Libby family and their descendants, as well as the history of the island and the company that controlled it.

Libby House: Libby House is a historic house located in Portland, Maine, that was built by a member of the Libby family in 1856. The house is an example of the Italianate style of architecture and is now a private residence.

It’s worth noting that much of the records of this family as with many early setters, were informal and not necessarily recorded in the same way that we do now. Additionally, not all records have been digitized or made available online. But, with some persistence and creativity, you may be able to uncover valuable information about the Libby family, early settlers of Maine.

Wow! This was a lot of information - some of it new. Of course we don’t know if any of this is related to MY Libby relatives, but it’s a lot of great new research opportunities, or “clues” for me to look into!

Question 3

Me: What Catholic churches existed in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1909?

ChatGPT: In 1909, Lawrence, Massachusetts had a number of Catholic churches that would have existed at that time. Here are a few examples:

1. Holy Rosary Church: This church was established in 1884, it is located on Hampshire Street, and served the Catholic community of the city.

2. Immaculate Conception Church: This church as established in 1868 and is located on Haverhill Street. It was the first Catholic church in Lawrence, and it served the city’s large Irish and French Canadian population.

3. St. Patrick Church: This church was established in 1873, it is located on Lawrence Street and it served the Irish Catholic community of the city.

4. St. Mary’s Church: This church was established in 1887, and it is located on Union Street and it served the Polish Catholic community of the city.

5. St. Anne’s Church: This church was established in 1910, after the death of your ancestor, is is located on Bradford Street, it served the French Canadian Catholic community of the city.

It’s worth noting that this list is not exhaustive as there may have been other Catholic churches in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1909 as well. It’s also possible that churches that existed in 1909 may have closed, merged or changed since that time and new churches have been created. Additionally, some churches may have been established to cater to a specific community. So to confirm the existence of a specific church in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1909 and to know more about their history, it’s recommended to consult local historical societies, church archives, and local newspapers from the time.

I’m actually very impressed by this response, and I think these kind of question / answer sets could be very helpful to our genealogy research! Not only did it save me time from browsing websites online, but it provided more information than I requested with the date it was established, where it was, and which community it served.

I also want to point out in #5 for St. Anne’s Church, ChatGPT says “this church was established in 1910, after the death of your ancestor” in response to my query about churches existing in 1909. No where in my question did I say this was for genealogy research, or that my ancestor died in 1909, I just gave it a date. The AI simply remembered we had been discussing genealogy! And it also assummed that since I was looking for records in 1909, a church established in 1910 would be worth mentioning with that caveat - which is helpful, but could also lead to mistakes in my research. Nobody died in 1909!

Obviously, be careful when using this program and find the records or primary sources for any information gained.

Question 4

Me: What ethnicity is the surname Duncan?

ChatGPT: The surname Duncan is of Scottish origin, and it is derived from the Gaelic personal name “Donnchadh”, which means “brown warrior” or “dark-haired warrior”. The name was borne by a 8th century king of Scotland and since then, it became a popular surname along Scottish families. It was adopted as a first name among the Normans after the Norman conquest of England, and it is now common in Scotland and also in England, Ireland, and in other places were people of Scottish descent have settled. The Duncans were primarily concentrated in the Lowlands of Scotland, but they also have a strong presence in the Northern and Western regions of Scotland.

This one was cool. I could see myself using that kind of question to get some basic starting points on my research, or to help if I have a brick wall or basic knowledge of an ancestor. As the Duncan family I’m currently researching lived in Nova Scotia, I’ll look more into Scottish communities in that area as well as look for waves of Scottish, English, and Irish settlers.


Question 5

Me: How do I find marriage records in New Hampshire before 1850?

ChatGPT: Finding marriage records in New Hampshire before 1850 can be challenging, as record keeping was not as standardized as it is today. Here are some suggestions for finding marriage records from that time period in New Hampshire:

1. Check the New Hampshire State Archives: The New Hampshire State Archives holds many historical records for the state, including marriage records. You can search their collection online or visit the archives in person to view original records.

2. Check county records: Many county records from before 1850 have been preserved and may be held at the county clerk office or historical society.

3. Search church records: Many churches in New Hampshire have records that date back to the 1700s or earlier. These records can include baptism, marriage, and burial records. Contact the church or the diocese to inquire about the availability of records.

4. Search online databases such as FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com, which have a large collection of historical records, including marriage records for New Hampshire.

5. Check local newspapers from the time period, as marriage announcements were often printed in them.

6. Reach out to historical or genealogical societies in New Hampshire to inquire about marriage records, they may have records not found elsewhere or have additional information.

It’s important to keep in mind that many records from this time period may be incomplete or have been lost over time. The process can be challenging.

This is a great research strategy, and a good refresher if you’re stuck. If you are faced with a brick wall ancestor it might be worth asking ChatGPT to see if it comes up with any research avenues you may have overlooked.

I asked many other questions, but the results were pretty similar.

To summarize, this particular AI model, ChatGPT, cannot research genealogy databases or pull individual records, but it can definitely help you come up with a research strategy and give you more context for your research.

Finally, how would you cite ChatGPT as your source? When I asked, ChatGPT offered this:

ChatGPT: As an AI language model, I am not a published source in the traditional sense, so there is no proper way to cite me. However, if you need to reference information that I’ve provided in a research paper or other written work, you could include the information as a personal communication in your works cited page.

Here’s an example of how you could cite me:

“Information provided by OpenAI’s Assistant.” Personal communication. Date.

Personally I would also include the website link, which I’ll share below.

If you would like to try ChatGPT, sign up for a free account here: https://chat.openai.com/

Feel free to come back and share your results, I’d love to know your thoughts and experience!

Descendants of Pocahontas: Are You One of Them?

8 January 2023, by Sherri Mastrangelo

In a recent episode of Finding Your Roots on PBS, actor Edward Norton (Glass Onion, Fight Club) discovered his family lore was true: his 12th great-grandmother was in fact Pocahontas.

Inspired by this episode, I’m sharing what you need to know, along with the sources you’ll need, to discover your possible connection to the Native American icon. Though she only had one confirmed child, it’s estimated that more than 100,000 people are descended from her - are you one of them?

Born about 1596, Pocahontas, whose given name was “Matoaka”, is known today through the lens of novels, movies, and Americana folklore, as the Native American girl that saved the life of English Captain John Smith. Her father, the Chief Powhatan, spared him after she reportedly came between him and the executioners when she was just a young girl, at about 10 or 11 years old in 1607. Stories say she placed her head on his as he lay on the stones, ready for death (though some wonder if this whole event was more of a ceremony or planned event by her father to be able to welcome his friend into the tribal community).

Matoaka, also nicknamed “Amonute”, was called “Pocahontas” as a term of endearment meaning “playful one”, but also as a way to protect her true name from the English to keep her from harm.

About a year or two later stories say she saved John Smith’s life again, risking her own safety to warn him of an impending attack following failed trade negotiations.

Pocahontas married a Native American warrior named Kocoum about 1610. Some believe they had a child, a daughter Ka-Okee, though this lineage is not widely known or published.

When she was older, Pocahontas was lured by the English (Sir Samuel Argall and his wife) and taken captive, held ransom for the return of English prisoners and weapons. After her release she was renamed “Rebecca” after a Christian baptism. Around age 17 she married John Rolfe (not Captain John Smith) in Virginia, on the 5th of April 1614 (though an unofficial divorce with her first husband was implied, the English may have had him killed). With her help, Rolfe and other planters were able to successfully grow tobacco crops. They had only one child, a son named Thomas Rolfe, born in 1615. 

At the request and expense of the Virginia Company, the Rolfe family of Rebecca (Pocohontas), John, and their toddler son Thomas set sail for England in 1616, along with Sir Thomas Dale, then governor of the Virginia Colony and several Native Americans. They were paraded around England to gain public support and investors. 

They stayed for about 10 months, though she became ill, perhaps with pneumonia or smallpox (though Native American oral histories suggest a poisoning death!). As they attempted to leave London to return to Virginia, Rebecca died along the voyage in March of 1617, around 20 years old. Rebecca, or Pocahontas, is said to be buried at St. George’s Church in Gravesend, England. 

Their son Thomas was left behind in England, perhaps with a brother of John’s, and did not return to Virginia until about 1640. Thomas married Jane Poythress and they had a daughter named Jane (the last who would carry their Rolfe surname in this line until she married), who would wed Col. Robert Thomas Bolling. Jane and Robert had a son, Col. John Fairfax Bolling, who married Mary Elizabeth Kennon.

In 1887, more than 270 years after her death, a definitive biography was published by Wyndham Robertson titled “Pocahontas, alias Matoaka, and Her Descendents Through Her Marriage at Jamestown, Virginia, in April, 1614 with John Rolfe, Gentleman….With Biographical Sketches by Wyndham Robertson, and Illustrative Historical Notes by R.A. Brock”.  The full title includes a list of surnames.

Before we get into the history of the other lines, a quick note about Col. Robert Bolling, the husband of Pocahontas granddaughter, Jane Rolfe. After Jane’s death, Col. Robert Bolling married second Ann Stith. The descendants of Col. Robert Bolling and Ann Stith are known as the “White Bollings”, simply because their ancestors were white. They do not share direct DNA from Pocahontas. Former presidents George H.W. Bush and George Bush are said to be of this White Bollings line.

The descendants of Col. John Fairfax Bolling, great-grandson of Pocahontas, and his wife Mary Elizabeth Kennon, are known as the “Red Bollings”, as they are the blood descendants of Pocahontas. Note the color red may also refer to the derogatory connotation of “red man” for Indian.

Back to the above mentioned book. It wasn’t until 1985, a century later, that “Pocahontas’ Descendants. A Revision, Enlargement and Extension of the List as Set Out by Wyndham Robertson in His Book Pocahontas and Her Descendants” was published, written by Stuart E. Brown Jr. and others. A newer version, published in 1997, contains both the 1992 and 1994 corrections and additions. Stuart would also write a short biography titled Pocahontas in 1989.

There is also the supplemental volumes Third Corrections and Additions to Pocahontas’ Descendants (1997) and the small booklet Fourth (2001) and Fifth Corrections (2004) both available for purchase from Genealogical Press.

There is also a group of people known as the “Blue Bollings”, though their legitimacy as bloodline descendants of Pocahontas is rejected by the Pocahontas Foundation. They are a group of individuals that claim Maj. John Bolling (son of Col. John Bolling and Mary Kennon) and his wife Elizabeth Blair had an additional 12 children. This couple of John Bolling Jr and Elizabeth Blair had 18 confirmed children, of which seven survived to adulthood so it is highly unlikely they had another dozen. David Morenus, whom himself is a Pocahontas descendant, explains “the "blue" Bollings are so called because they appeared "out of the blue" in 1963, in the book Of Whom I Came, From Whence I Came, by Judge Zelma Wells Price” (Morenus).


Sources & Further Research

  • Brown, Stuart E; Myers, Lorraine F; Chappel, Eileen M. Pocahontas’ Descendants.  The Pocahontas Foundation, 1987.

  • Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. “The Full Story of Pocahontas is Rarely Told. Here’s What We’re Missing” Time. 12 March 2019. (https://time.com/5548379/pocahontas-real-meaning/)

  • Morenus, David. “Pocahontas Descendants” As retrieved 6 January 2023. (https://pocahontas.morenus.org)

  • NPS. “Pocahontas: Her Life and Legend” National Park Service. (https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn'/historyculture/pocahontas-her-life-and-legend.htm)

  • “Pocahontas Lives!” - https://www.pocahontaslives.com/

  • Robertson, Wyndham. ““Pocahontas, alias Matoaka, and Her Descendents Through Her Marriage at Jamestown, Virginia, in April, 1614 with John Rolfe, Gentleman….With Biographical Sketches by Wyndham Robertson, and Illustrative Historical Notes by R.A. Brock”. 1887.

  • “St. George’s Gravesend” - https://stgeorgesgravesend.org/history/pocahontas/

  • “The Pocahontas Archive” - https://history-on-trial.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/pocahontas/index.php

  • “The Pocahontas Project” - https://www.pocahontasproject.org/about


Runaway Brides: Finding Historical "Gretna Greens" in the U.S.

2 January 2023, by Sherri Mastrangelo

When looking for marriage records, you’ll assume the marriage took place in your ancestor’s place of residence, or the hometown of the bride. But what happens when you’ve exhausted your search and still can’t find any records? Where did your ancestors go to get married, and why? How do you know where to look?

The answer might have something to do with “Gretna Greens”, the term for a well-known place for out-of-town wedding destinations.

The phrase came into use after the Scottish village Gretna Green became a popular wedding sanctuary for England’s youth in the 18th century. “Located on the old coaching route between London and Edinburgh, Gretna Green was the first village reached once you entered Scotland. After Lord Hardwick's marriage act in 1754 outlawed marriage in England without paternal consent before the age of 21, young couples started to elope 'over the border' to Gretna Green, where they could be married at 16 years of age.” (- The Gretna Wedding Bureau).

Furthermore the GWB shares “many an infamous 'chase' has taken place along that old coaching route to Gretna Green, and there are many legendary tales of furious fathers in pursuit throughout the night, always reaching Gretna Green just a little too late. The residents of the small village of Gretna Green were well know for helping run-away couples and many an inn and watering station along the route could be counted on to, 'accidentally' delay any pursuers, allowing the couples to safely reach Gretna Green.” (- The Gretna Wedding Bureau)

In the 18th through 20th centuries, certain locations in the United States became known as “Gretna Greens”, if not in name then in spirit, as these popular wedding destinations usually offered less marriage restrictions to those hoping to tie the knot. Not all who traveled to these places where under age (though it was often the case). Perhaps they were looking to avoid parental consent requirements, for less of a waiting period, for lower fees for a license, or to avoid health test requirements and medical examinations. Perhaps they came from a dry town and wanted to serve alcohol at the reception. Or perhaps they just wanted a popular and romantic wedding destination.

Whatever the case may be for their travels, discovering where the popular “marriage mills” were near your ancestors’ homes might help you narrow down your search. When determining your research plan, consider the ages of your bride and groom and the marriage laws within the state, as well as nearby states. Did they need a quick marriage for any reason? Was there a birth shortly after the wedding, or at a young age? Also look if they had family in neighboring states, or reasons to travel.

Once you have some idea where to look, check the free (with registration) records at FamilySearch.org, searching the catalog by county for marriage records during your time frame.

Gretna Greens across the US may lie just over the state border, or just over the Canadian or Mexican border. They might be military posts, or towns along the rivers, or along the railroad stops. They may have been near popular honeymoon locations, like Niagara Falls.

In the below list of known marriage mill locations within the US, keep in mind each may have been popular at different times, depending on state laws. Also be aware of county borders and changes over time.

Arizona:

  • Yuma (Yuma County)

  • Salome (La Paz)


Arkansas

  • Texarkana (Miller County)

  • Marion (Crittenden County)


Connecticut

  • Groton (New London)

  • Thompson (Windham)


Delaware

  • Wilmington (Delaware County)


Georgia

  • Rome (Floyd)

  • Rossville (Walker County)


Idaho

  • Bear Lake County

  • Coeur d’Alene (Kootenai County)

  • Payette (Payette)

  • Weiser (Washington)


Illinois

  • Chicago (Cook County)


Indiana

  • Angola (Steuben County)

  • Crown Point (Lake County)

  • Evansville (Vanderburgh County)

  • Floyd County

  • Jeffersonville (Clark County)

  • Lawrenceburg (Dearborn County)

  • Valparaiso (Porter County)


Iowa

  • Keokuk (Lee County)

  • Nashua (Chickasaw County)


Kansas

  • Bellevue (Johnson County)


Kentucky

  • Ashtabula County

  • Greenup County

  • Maysville (Mason)

  • Pike County


Louisiana

  • Gretna (Jefferson Parish)


Maryland

  • Elkton (Cecil County)

  • Chestertown (Kent County)

  • Garrett County

  • Hartford County

  • Howard County

  • Rockville (Montgomery County)

  • Westminister (Carroll County)


Massachusetts

  • Lowell (Middlesex)


Michigan

  • Port Huron (St. Clair County)

  • St. Joseph (Berrien County)


Minnesota

  • Moorhead (Clay County)

  • Waukegan (Lake County)

  • Winona County


Mississippi

  • Alcorn County

  • DeSoto County

  • Tishomingo County


Missouri

  • Liberty (Clay County)


Nebraska

  • Omaha (Douglas County)


Nevada

  • Las Vegas (Clark)

  • Reno (Washoe)

  • Wendover (Elko)

  • West Wendover (Elko)

  • Winnemucca (Humboldt)


New Hampshire

  • Seabrook (Rockingham County)


New Mexico

  • Curry County

  • Raton (Colfax)


New York

  • Buffalo (Eirie County)

  • Crown Point (Essex County)

  • Kings County

  • New York City

  • Niagara Falls (Niagara County)

  • Ogdensburg (St. Lawrence)


North Carolina

  • Mount Airy (Surry)


Ohio

  • Aberdeen (Brown)

  • Bowling Green (Wood County)

  • Cincinnati (Hamilton)


Oklahoma

  • Love County

  • Bryan County


Pennsylvania

  • Media (Delaware County)

  • Pittsburgh (Allegheny)

  • Reading (Berks)

  • Washington County


Tennessee

  • Gatlinburg (Sevier County)

  • Roane County


Texas

  • Liberty County

  • Orange County

  • Fort Bend County


Utah

  • Farmington (Davis)


Virginia

  • Alexandria (Fairfax)

  • Frederiksburg

  • Manassas (Prince William)

  • Warrenton (Fauquier County)

  • Winchester (Frederick County)


Washington

  • Port Orchard (Kitsap)

  • Clark County

  • Skamania County


West Virginia

  • Point Pleasant (Mason)

  • Wellsburg (Brooke County)

  • West Alexander (Washington)

  • Wheeling (Ohio County)


Wyoming

  • Evanstan (Uinta County)


Have any more to add to the list? Please share via comments or email.

Sources & More Information:

Exploring the new AncestryDNA® Parental Matches Feature

8 October 2022, by Sherri Mastrangelo

Even if your parents have not taken a DNA test, Ancestry DNA®’s new feature, Parental Matches, will now automatically group most of your matches to a maternal side and paternal side. This will help you confirm matches you already know, and possibly learn new matches and relationships. And what’s more - let’s say you have your mom take an AncestryDNA® test, and she allows you to see her test results - you will now be able to see all of her DNA matches sorted by parent too! Amazing!

Their announcement reads “AncestryDNA® is now the only DNA test that will automatically show which of your parents connects you to a DNA match, with or without a DNA test from one of your parents” with the disclaimer that “not all matches will be assigned to a parent”.  This is based on their new SideView™ technology, announced last April. This new Parent Match feature launched October 5th

In my results, I still had 1,311 unassigned matches - a relatively small amount compared to my 7,492 maternal matches, and 19,758 paternal matches. At first glance, everything appears matched correctly. I should also note that I know only my father has taken a DNA test, and my mother has not - though other relatives on both sides have.

There is now an option to view DNA Matches by parent (marked “Beta”), in addition to all matches, or by location. On the first screen you’ll see a summary breakdown, with a short list of common last names, common communities, and ethnicity inheritance for both maternal matches and paternal matches. There is the option to view more in each section, but both the last names and common communities sections only give you slightly more information than the preview box.

Note - I blurred out the profile pics of some of my matches in the screenshot above, for their privacy. Click on “View matches” to see a list of your DNA matches assigned to either your maternal side or paternal side.

Below Maternal and Paternal, there most likely will be a section for Unassigned matches, that are not linked to either parent yet.

Also note that for some users it might be “Parent 1” and “Parent 2” instead of Maternal and Paternal, until you assign each parent a side by clicking the “edit parent” link. Hopefully you are able to quickly identify maternal vs paternal based on your family names and matches. 

You may also have a section for “Both sides” for people that share DNA from both your parents, like your siblings, your children, nieces and nephews, or grandchildren.


View Matches

What you really want to do, though, is click “View matches” under each section. In the resulting list, you’ll see your DNA matches (sorted from highest to lowest match), each estimated relationship and amount of shared DNA, with links to their public tree (if available) and common ancestor (if there is one). Ancestry® also asks you to confirm the match and relationship level for each person.  

Above: a screenshot of my DNA Matches on my maternal side (slightly edited to remove profile names and pictures).

You can also add each match to custom groups, which is an awesome feature. I also really like the ability to add notes for each person, so I can view their real name in this list (helpful when people on Ancestry® decide to use initials or randomness as their username).  Any notes you add will show on this screen.

Keep checking back frequently, as the algorithms behind the AncestryDNA® feature improve and regularly update.

What do you think about this feature? Have you found it helpful in breaking down any brick walls, or making new matches?

(Source: Ancestry® email announcement from 7 October 2022)







Origins of African American Secret Societies & Fraternal Orders

3 October 2022, by Sherri Mastrangelo

Fraternal orders like the Freemasons, the Elks, and the Odd Fellows reached the height of their popularity in the 19th century, and many of our ancestors were members. These social clubs are well-known by outsiders for their secretive nature, as well as their use of symbols and mysterious rituals. They are also known for the benefits they bring through community service or charity work. Yet, like many groups of the time, these social clubs were originally for white people only - excluding African Americans (1).

These excluded people understood the value of these social groups for them, especially during and immediately post legal slavery in America, and found ingenious ways to create their own fraternal orders (which I’ll share below).

Modern researchers should understand these groups were often left out of city and social directories of the time (2), making it more difficult to find membership histories, but knowing which groups were popular and where will help you find specific lodges, which may keep their own records. Newspaper records, as well as African American created newspapers and directories, may also be helpful in your search.

Prince Hall Masons
The origin story of first African American fraternal order in the states, the Prince Hall Masons, should be taught more in history classes. Though many articles refer to him as a “West Indian immigrant”, Prince Hall himself was a former slave living in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1775, he and 14 other freed Black men were “made masons in Lodge #441 of the Irish Registry attached to the 38th British Foot Infantry…it marked the first time that Black men were made masons in America” (princehall.org). Shortly after the American Revolutionary War started, and when his infantry lodge went off to fight, Hall created African Lodge #1 under a special permit with limited privileges.

In 1784, having been rejected by other masonic leaders in America, Prince Hall petitioned the Grand Lodge of England for a charter to create a full masonic lodge. Surprisingly, so shortly after the American and British conflict, “the Grand Lodge of England issued a charter on September 29, 1784 to African Lodge #459, the first lodge of Blacks in America” (princehall.org).

Hall became Provincial Grand Master by 1791, soon after created another lodge in Philadelphia then Rhode Island, and African Lodge #459 became independent from the Grand Lodge of England by 1827. The success of the Prince Hall Masons grew, and “by 1865, there were more than 2,700 Prince Hall Masons meeting under the jurisdiction of 23 grand lodges in 22 states plus Canada and the District of Columbia…By the early 1900s, there were more than 66,000 Master Prince Hall Masons and another 51,000 apprentices…” then “from 1900 to 1930 the fraternity’s membership exploded” (Skocpol and Oser). Now there “are some 5,000 lodges and 47 grand lodges who trace their lineage to the Prince Hall Grand Lodge, Jurisdiction of Massachusetts” (princehall.org).

Further Research of the PHM:

“Group of Grand Lodge Masons No. 2” c1897, Library of Congress. No known copyright restrictions.

Grand United Order of Odd Fellows

Like the Prince Hall Masons, a group of African Americans faced rejection from existing Odd Fellow groups in America. And “again, African Americans used a tie to England to do an end run around their racially exclusionary white countrymen. In the early 1840s, members of an African American literary club in New York City applied to affiliate with the white Independent Order of Odd Fellows (an offshoot of the English Manchester Unity Odd Fellows)” and with the help of Peter Ogden, member of a lodge called the Grand United Order, they were able to apply for a British charter from his order. (Skocpol and Oser). Hence this group, the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows (G.U.O.O.F.), is not a part of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in America (I.O.O.F.) at the time, but a separate parallel group with a charter from England.

By 1886, “they had already become the largest African American order, with 52,814 members meeting in more than 1,000 lodges spread across 29 states” (Skocpol and Oser). In addition, “the black Odd Fellows provided social insurance benefits; built social-welfare institutions as well as halls that served as meeting places for many black groups; engaged in impressive parades and ritual displays; and attracted the leading men as well as more humble members in countless African American communities” (Skocpol and Oser).

Note that the “Household of Ruth” is the female auxiliary branch.

Further Research of the GUOOF:

“African American man, member of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, wearing fraternal order collar and apron”. Library of Congress. No known copyright restrictions.

Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa*

Not to be confused with the Knights of Pythias, this African American fraternal order with a longer name (sometimes referred to as “the Colored Knights of Pythias” in earlier texts) was another parallel group created out of necessity. The group was created in 1880, by Dr. Thomas W. Stringer, “a black Mason, African Methodist Episcopal minister, and Reconstruction-era Mississippi state senator” (Skocpol and Oser) and his associates in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

This time they did not resort to England’s help, but instead “a handful of black men who could “pass” racially gained admittance to a white lodge and appropriated its secrets “on the grounds that since the exclusion of colored men violated the purpose of the order, which was to extend friendship, charity, and benevolence among men, Divine Providence had made it possible for [them] to acquire the ritual” (Skocpol and Oser). In 1880, Lightfoot Lodge #1 was created in Mississippi.

*Note the group name would later include Australia. Sometimes referenced as “The Supreme Lodge of Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.”

Further Research of the KPNSAEAA:

  • “Knights of Pythias Files, 1903 - 1974” The New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts. (In Person Research) (https://archives.nypl.org/scm/21064)

  • Peebles, Marilyn T. “The Alabama Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia: A Brief History” 2012.

Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World

The IBPOE of W was established in 1898 by a former slave, Arthur James Riggs, with attorney Benjamin Franklin Howard, who had faced rejection from their local Elks when they tried to join. They “managed to procure a copy of the white Elks ritual” in Cincinnati, Ohio and form their own group based on the same principals and rituals (Skocpol and Oser). The new group added the “Improved” part of the name.  

What’s more, they discovered the original Elks (the BPOE) had never bothered to copyright their name or rituals or anything, and so they were able to obtain a copyright themselves from the Library of Congress.

Members of the BPOE were not happy about this, and Riggs was threatened with lynching and forced to go into hiding. BF Howard was able to continue the group, and today the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is one of the largest Black fraternal orders.

The women’s group is called the Daughters of the IBPOEW.

Further Research of the IBPOEW:

  • History of the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World (https://www.ibpoew.org/history)

  • Laxton, Ymelda Rivera. “The Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World” December 3, 2020. Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library Blog. (https://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/improved-benevolent-and-protective-order-of-elks-of-the-world/)

  • Wesley, Charles H. “History of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World, 1898 - 1954” Association for the Study of African American Life, 2010.


United Brothers of Friendship and Sisters of the Mysterious Ten

“The United Brothers of Friendship (UBF) grew from an originally male-only local beneficial society launched by a youthful group of free men and slaves in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1861” (Skocpol and Oser), and adapted through the Civil War as some members became freed. The Sisters of the Mysterious Ten (SMT) was formalized in 1878, though women had been participating earlier as well. As for size, “in the 1890’s, there were reportedly some 100,000 members in 19 states and 2 territories” (Skocpol and Oser).

Further Research of the UBF:

The St Luke Penny Savings Bank, opened by the Independent Order of St. Luke. NPS.gov.

Independent Order of St. Luke

The Independent Order of St. Luke (IOSL) “first appeared in Baltimore in 1867 as a women’s beneficial society connected to the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church” (Skocpol and Oser), founded by a formerly enslaved woman named Mary Prout under the name the United Order of St. Luke. It later admitted men as well.

The IOSL was organized under Maggie Lena Walker, who took over in 1899, and “under her thirty-five year tenure, the IOSL expanded nationwide to twenty-six states and at its peak boasted 100,000 members. She was, at the time, the only woman known to be leading a major Black fraternal order” (NPS). The IOSL, with her leadership, established several local businesses tied to the order, including the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank.

Further Research of the IOSL:

The Grand United Order of True Reformers

The Grand United Order of True Reformers (GUOTR or U.O. of T.R.) was an “insurance-oriented fraternal group open to both men and women” (Skocpol and Oser) that was “founded in Richmond in 1881 by the Reverend William Washington Browne, a former slave and Union soldier who became a teacher, temperance organizer, Colored Methodist minister, and then African Methodist Episcopal minister” (Skocpol and Oser). The GUOTR also established local businesses, including the True Reformers Bank, the first Black-owned bank in the nation.

They called each of their lodges “Fountains”, with the main branch the Grand Fountain.

Further Research of the GUOTR:


International Order of the Knights and Daughters of Tabor

The International Order of Twelve Knights, was founded by Reverend Moses Dickson in 1872, in Independence, Missouri. Dickson “was born a free man in Cincinnati in 1824, was a Union soldier during the Civil War, and afterwards became a prominent clergyman in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.” (Croteau). He was also “the second Grand Master of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Missouri” (Croteau).

Dickson claims his International Order of Twelve Knights was founded by members of the Order of Twelve, a secret anti-slavery group in the South prior to the Civil War. Modern researchers question if his stories were attempts to rile up membership.

The International Order of the Knights and Daughters of Tabor may be best known for opening the Taborian Hospital in 1942, in Mississippi, with an all-Black staff of doctors and nurses, and serving Black patients.

This fraternal order no longer exists.

Further Research of the IOKDT:



Additional African American fraternal orders and social groups included the Mosiac Templars of America (MTA); the Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles Mystic Shrine of North and South America; the Ancient United Order Knights and Daughters of Africa; the American Woodmen; Knights of the Invisible Colored Kingdom, and more. For a comprehensive list of groups, see the Skocpol and Oser article referenced.

Notes:

(1) An article titled “Organization despite Adversity: The Origins and Development of African American Fraternal Organizations” by Theda Skocpol and Jennifer Lynn Oser, shares that “prior to the 1970s, only a handful of major U.S. white associations were willing to accept African Americans as members” and that “the vast majority of U.S. white-led groups - above all, major white male fraternal groups, such as the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and the Elks - had explicit racial exclusion clauses in their constitutions or regularly practiced racial exclusion” (Skocpol and Oser).

(2) “National and local directories giving rich details about white voluntary associations between the 1870s and the 1920s often omitted most African American associations other than churches” (Skocpol and Oser)


Sources:

  • Croteau, Jeff. “Moses Dickson and the Order of Twelve”. 26 May 2008. (https://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/international-order-of-twelve-of-knights-and-daughters-of-tabor/)

  • PrinceHall.org. “A Brief History of Prince Hall Freemasonry in Massachusetts” The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of Massachusetts. (https://www.princehall.org/prince-hall-freemasonry/)

  • Skocpol, Theda and Oser, Jennifer Lynn. “Organization despite Adversity: The Origins and Development of African American Fraternal Associations” Vol. 28, No. 3, Special Issue: African American Fraternal Associations and the History of Civil Society in the United States (Fall, 2004), pp. 367-437 (71 pages) Cambridge University Press, (https://www.jstor.org/stable/40267851)

  • Stevens, Albert C. “The Cyclopedia of Fraternities…” 1899. (https://archive.org/details/cyclopdiaoffra00stevrich/mode/2up)


More Recommended Reading:





Announcing Two New Genealogy-Themed Games!

3 August 2022, by Sherri Mastrangelo

I’m so excited to launch my new shop, starting with two new printable games for you to play: “Genealogy Bingo: Ice Breaker Edition” and a “Genealogy Crossword Puzzle.” Both are available now in my new Etsy shop (etsy.com/shop/StartResearching). Favorite and follow the shop, because I’ll be adding more products soon!

Genealogy Bingo: Ice Breaker Edition

If you’re looking for a “get to know your neighbor” type game for your next genealogy society meeting, this is it! Once you download and extract the zip file, you’ll see 10 unique Bingo Cards (PDF format), a word list, and game instructions. These files are yours to print at home, as many as you need - so if you’re expecting thirty people at your next meeting, you can print thirty copies!

There are two ways to play this game, 1) as classic bingo, where you can call out the clues from the included word list until someone shouts “Bingo!”, or 2), as an ice breaker, where you find a new friend that matches each clue. Have them sign their name or initials in the matching square, and then offer to sign one of theirs. Play to get five in a row, or as many squares as you can in the given time.

Can you find someone that "has a wish list of genealogy books" or whose "birthday is in July"? Or maybe someone that "has used a microfilm reader", or whose "ancestor founded a town"? Or will you admit to a new friend that your "research is not all that organized"?

If you’re hosting the game, you may want to give out a couple small prizes to the winners, at your own discretion. Maybe some candy bars?

This game can also be played together at virtual meetings, just email a bingo sheet to each guest ahead of time and then give them time to chat.

Get Genealogy Bingo: Ice Breaker Edition at etsy.com/shop/StartResearching

Genealogy Crossword Puzzle

This game would be good to challenge yourself, or play together as a group. Maybe offer a prize (more chocolate perhaps) for the first to finish!

Once you download the zip file and extract, you’ll find a single Genealogy Crossword PDF file you can print from home, along with a separate answer key. Again, print as many copies as you want. I think it’s a good mix of easy and hard clues, like “a brother or sister”, and “when the absence of records helps form the proof argument”. What do you think?

Get the Genealogy Crossword now on etsy.com/shop/StartResearching

Or visit the shop page, and please share with your friends!

This is my first experience using Etsy, so please forward me any and all feedback about the purchase process. Crossing my fingers it works well!

Hope you all have fun! And if you play either of these games at your next genealogy meetup, send me a picture and I’ll share it on a FB post :)

-Sherri

Revealing Codes in the 1950 Census, Pt. 3: Occupation Codes in Leave Blank C

9 June, 2022. By Sherri Mastrangelo.

Thank you to the kind reader who reminded me I had yet to post “Part 3” of this series on 1950 census codes. Time seems to get away from me at the end of the school year, but the kids are out for the summer now and I have a minute to post - so here we go!

Census image excerpt adapted from 1950 Census of Augusta, Georgia, ED 161-1, page 4, from 1950census.archives.gov

Today we’re talking about the set of numbers in the column titled “LEAVE BLANK C” found on the far right of the 1950 US Census pages, under the heading “FOR PERSONS 14 YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER” and subheading “Class of worker”.

You’ll notice these numbers are three digits, three digits, then one digit, or XXX: XXX: X. Each group of these numbers is translated as “occupation code: industry code: class code” which you’ll recognize as the same as the preceding three columns, Occupation (20c), Industry (20b), and Class of Worker (20c).

Like the other leave blank columns, these numbers are not likely to tell us anything new. They are codes written after the census enumerator handed in their work and the editors began preparing them for the punch cards to be read by the tabulating machines. It can be helpful to us if the information in the preceding columns is hard to read or missing.

The 1955 Census Bureau document, The 1950 Censuses - How They Were Taken tells us “the occupation and industry coders used the manual, “Alphabetic Index of Occupations and Industries,” to determine the codes for the schedule entries. Occupations and industries not listed in the “Index” were coded by experienced persons until the regular coders became skilled in interpreting the entries. The verification procedure was the same as that for general coders except that 10 percent of the work of the qualified occupation and industry coders was verified.” (Chapter 6, page 3).

We’ll use this same document to decipher our sets of numbers, and see if we can learn anything new. I was able to find a copy through a quick online search, with a public file on the IPUMS USA website: “Alphabetical Index of Occupations and Industries: 1950”. Note link opens PDF.

So let’s take a closer look at our example selection of six individuals from an Augusta, Georgia census (ED 161-1; page 4). Starting from the top, we have:

Frank McGhee - Labor - cottonseed oil co - P - 970:469:1

Odesa McGhee - Maid - Private Employ - P - 720:826:1

Joe L. Byrd - Labor - Private Employ - P - 970:826:1

Robert Golplin - Brickhacker - Brickyard - P - 970:318:1

Dasey B. Holmiez - Nurse - City Hospital - G - 058:869:2

Robert B. Parker - Porter - 5 & 10 (illegible word) - P - 780:647:1

(I may have butchered a name or two, but we’re going with “Dasey” here for now).


Class Code

Let’s start with the last number of our set as it the easiest of the three sets to understand. This is the single digit at the end that most often appears as a “1” or “2” which is the class code, and is also shown in column 20c as either a letter “P” or letter “G”. In the chart below, we learn “P” is for private employer, while “G” is for government. And if it was a “P” in column 20c, then the editor or tabulator would mark a “1” as the last digit of our code (or “2” for government, and so on). We also see other options for “O” and “NP” (translated as “3” and “4” respectively).

Excerpt from “Alphabetical Index of Occupations and Industries”, 1950, US Census Bureau.

There is also a special classification, “5”, for those in armed forces.

Using this information to review our example cases above, we have the majority “1” and “P” for private employers, except for our Dasey that has a “2” as her final digit and a “G” for government. Her job is listed as a Nurse for the City Hospital - and knowing that she is a government employee may actually be new information (though it could also be a misclassification - take it as a lead on your investigation, not a fact). It also may change where you’ll find remaining hospital records.

Occupation

The first set of three numbers, if you remember, is the occupation code. You can look up these occupational codes and more starting on page 12 of our favorite document, the “Alphabetical Index of Occupations and Industries: 1950” (link opens PDF). It’s too long to post a copy of this section here - about five and a half pages.

Industry

The industry codes, or the middle three digits, start on page 18 of the document. There are 269 different occupation categories, summarized into 11 groups, as in the chart below.

Excerpt from “Alphabetical Index of Occupations and Industries”, 1950, US Census Bureau.

Again, there’s too many to share here - but you can look up the individual codes in the index.

Census image excerpt adapted from 1950 Census of Augusta, Georgia, ED 161-1, page 4, from 1950census.archives.gov

So let’s take one last summary look at our six example individuals, and what their codes in “Leave Blank C” mean.

Starting with the first line we have Frank McGhee, in “labor” at the Cottonseed Oil Co. His code is “P” and “970:469:1”. We learned that “P” stands for worker for a private employer, and is coded as a “1” class code as the final digit. For occupation code we have “970”, which simply means “labor, not otherwise classified”. For the middle three digits, or industry code, we have “469”, which is listed as “manufacturing: non durable goods: miscellaneous chemicals and allied products, petroleum and coal products”.

Next we have his wife Odessa McGhee, a maid for a private employer. Her code (720:826:1) is also marked “P”, with an associated “1” class code. Her occupation code of “720” means “private household workers, not elsewhere classified”. Her industry code of “826” stands for “personal services: private households”.

Then we have Joe L. Byrd, a lodger, shown as “labor” for a private employer. Again we have “P” and “1” class code, for private employer. Then a “970” occupation code for “labor, not elsewhere classified” and like Odessa he has an “826” industry code, for “personal services: private households”. This all seems like a very vague description.

Next up we have another lodger, Robert Golpin, a “brickhacker” for a “brickyard”. The code in 20c is a bit illegible, but since his class code is “1” we know it should be a “P” for private employer. He also has a “970” occupation code for “labor, not elsewhere classified”, while his industry code of “318” means “manufacturing: structural clay products”.

Dasey B. Holmiez (a rough estimate of the name), is shown as a “nurse” for “city hospital”. She is also marked with a “G” and class code of “2” for government employee. She has an “058” occupation code for “nurses, professional” and an “869” industry code for “professional and related services: hospitals”.

And finally we have Robert B. Parker, shown as a “porter” for a “5 + 10 cent store”. His class code is “1” and shown with a “P” for private employer. His occupation code is “780” meaning “porters” and his industry code is “647” meaning “retail trade: five and ten cent stores” - so pretty straightforward.

So does all of this information tell us anything new? Not really, no - though I would not have considered that the nurse would technically be a government worker. And again, knowing how to look up these codes would help greatly if the occupations were hard to read or missing!

As I mentioned in one of the earlier posts on codes in the 1950 census, there is a great tool for looking up these codes quickly on SteveMorse.org if you prefer not to scour the pages of the Alphabetical Index.


The Sources:


Also see:







Revealing Codes in the 1950 Census, Pt. 2: Leave Blank B

15 April, 2022. By Sherri Mastrangelo

A follow-up to last week’s post, where I discussed “Leave Blank A”, codes that referenced relationships to the head of household in the 1950 U.S. Federal Census. Today’s post will show you the meaning of the codes in “Leave Blank B”, found between “Column 13: What State (or foreign country) was he born in?” and “Column 14: If foreign born - Is he naturalized?”.

Excerpt taken from 1950 Census of Barnstable, Massachusetts, ED 1-1, page 23, found on 1950census.archive.gov

As mentioned in the previous post, these codes were added later, after the enumerator had handed in their work, as part of the editing process. After the census data was collected it needed to be translated into codes on punch cards that the machines could read, and then tabulate into statistical information.

You’ll remember in the first leave blank column the codes were 1 for head of household, 2 for wife, 3 for children, and so on up to number 9 for lodger - then a few letters, like X for the head of an institution, and V for patient or inmate. In the government publication The 1950 Censuses - How They Were Taken, written by the U.S. Bureau of the Census in 1955, it explains how they were limited to these codes because of the technology at the time, sharing that “only the numerals, 0 to 9, and the letters, X and V, can be punched on that card…Consequently, all data to be punched on the cards and run through the tabulating machines must be converted to those symbols.” - (U.S. Bureau of the Census)

Within that same helpful resource they give us the following tables, showing first the state codes, and then the foreign country codes, used respectively in “Leave Blank B” depending on the location of birth of the individual listed in the census. If the individual was born in the same state that the census was taken, this column was left blank as it could be quickly coded.

Above tables excerpted from The 1950 Censuses - How They Were Taken written by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C., 1955.

In the following table, we see the coding methodology for this column. You’ll notice that a “0” is entered before a number code for a state, so is someone was born in Maine it would read “011”, and that a “1” pre-empts the code for a foreign country ONLY if that person has citizenship, and so on.

Above table excerpt from The 1950 Censuses - How They Were Taken written by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C., 1955.

Excerpt from the 1950 Census of Burrego, San Diego, California, ED 37-1, page 5 as found on 1950census.nara.gov

In the census excerpt above we can see the codes in Leave Blank B for individuals born in the Philippine Islands (53) and below that, Mexico (62), each pre-empted by a “1” if a citizen and “2” if not, which matches up to the naturalization information (yes / no) in the column to the right.

Excerpt from the 1950 Census of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, California, ED 74-2, page 14, as found on 1950census.nara.gov

In the example above you’ll note a “V” pre-empting the country code for Germany (22). If you look back at the methodology chart above, you’ll see a “V” just means citizenship information was blank or left unknown.

To summarize, these codes written in Leave Blank B tell us the same information as columns 13 and 14, where this individual was born and their citizenship. Deciphering these codes can help us if the items in column 13 and 14 are missing or illegible, but otherwise not so useful. However, I feel it is important as researchers to understand the meaning behind all the codes and information written on the census, as with other records, to get the whole picture. Would you agree?

Stay tuned for part 3, “Leave Blank C”.

The Source:

U.S. Bureau of the Census, The 1950 Censuses - How They Were Taken, Washington, D.C., 1955.

*Note this file was found on “1950 Overview” (https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/overview/1950.html) in a downloadable zip file.



Related post: “Revealing Codes in the 1950 Census: Leave Blank A”