U.S. Content Update: Selected U.S. Naturalization Records – Original Documents, 1790-1974


Over the weekend we rolled one new database and several fixes to existing databases:

New Database
Selected U.S. Naturalization Records – Original Documents, 1790-1974
w4r234r.jpgIn an effort to get these records out to you sooner rather than later, we have released the images with a light index including name, state, record type, court type, court, court location, naturalization number, roll description and archive series. To capture the remaining rich information (birth date and place, country of origin, parents, occupation, residence, etc.), these records will soon be released to the World Archives Project.

This release includes the states of New York, Pennsylvania and California.  Soon to be added to this database are the states of South Carolina, Louisiana, Colorado, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts and Maine.

Once World Archives Project indexing is complete, these records will be merged together with the other completed originals (U.S. Naturalization Records – Original Documents)

Updated Databases
U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946
Errors with the occupation and state codes have been fixed.

U.S. City Directories & U.S. School Yearbooks
Truncation of very long entries in these databases were fixed.

Stay tuned for the next U.S. Content Update.  Some really good stuff is on the way for February!

About Chris Lydiksen

Chris is the Product Manager for U.S. content at Ancestry.com. Since 2004, he's been focused on U.S. content strategy, acquisition, production, publication and promotion. Chris responds to comments relevant to the blog topic.

Information and Links

Join the conversation by commenting, tracking what others have to say, or linking to it from your blog.

Information
February 2nd, 2009
12 Responses
Feeds and Links
Comment Feed
From This Author
Categories
Content

Other Posts
More search questions from the webinar
Improved RSS on the message boards

Reader Comments

Comment Number:
1
Written by:
Jon
Posted on:
February 2, 2009 at 1:45 pm

So after all the problems at the weekend the ancestry blog has finally been updated and all we are told is, “Over the weekend we rolled one new database and a few fixes to existing databases:” There is not a word of apology and explanation about the site being down for hours on Saturday. Really you people at ancestry do need to start being a bit more considerate to us the paying users.

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Chris Lydiksen, Ancestry.com
Posted on:
February 2, 2009 at 2:20 pm

Jon,

Being over U.S. content, I do not blog on server down-time issues, but I’ll pass along your concern to the appropriate people. If you have any questions or comments about U.S. Content, please let me know.

Thanks for the feedback, Chris

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Lantrix
Posted on:
February 2, 2009 at 5:02 pm

If you don’t blog on server downtime issues (which also affected UK, and AU ancestry access in this instance) can someone “microblog” the fact that the system will be going down and up via your existing twitter account? http://twitter.com/Ancestrydotcom

Other companies do this, and that way users following their twitter statuses are in the know: http://twitter.com/Dropbox/status/940188662

That would be very reasonable and go a long way to defuse customers.

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
jesse j. wallace sr.
Posted on:
February 2, 2009 at 6:08 pm

I TRYED YOUR PAGE ON THE 14 DAY FREE AND HAD TO GIVE ONE OF MY CARD NUMBERS AND AFTER 14 DAYS I WOULD BE CHARGED IF I WONTED TO KEEP IT… AFTER 3 DAYS OF NOT FINDING ANYTHING I TOLD THEM NO AND DO NOT CHARGE ME ,,,AND NOW I GOT CHARDED ON MY CARD AND I DON’T KNOW HOW TO GET IT OFF ,,,,,,,,,,,I HEED HELP

Comment Number:
5
Written by:
Chris Lydiksen, Ancestry.com
Posted on:
February 2, 2009 at 7:44 pm

Jesse, You can subscribe or cancel any time by visiting the My Account section or by calling 1–800–ANCESTRY (M–F, 10am–6pm EST).

Comment Number:
6
Written by:
Robert
Posted on:
February 3, 2009 at 2:12 am

Chris were did Ancestry get the index for the US naturalization records original documents? why is it difference from the one footnote.com has?and why can you NOT put in a correction on the name in this database?and why one can NOT attach the record to a person in one’s tree?
You being over U.S. content why in the South Carolina Death Records, 1821-1955
is JACK MATTHEW LEDFORD born 1 June 1930 index as
Name: Jack M Ledford
Death Date: 30 Jul 1947
Age at Death: 17 years
Born: 1930
Gender: Male
Color: White
County of Death: Greenville
Certificate Number: 008739
if you were looking for him as MATTHEW you would not find him. Looking at the image his name is JACK MATTHEW LEDFORD, born 1 JUNE 1930 why is it Not indexed as so?and why are the mother and father not listed in the index like the NORTH CAROLINA DEATH RECORDS. so why is so much info left out of the index when it is there in the image. the search engine is only as good as the index being searched this is why it is hard to find anything on Ancestry.com.

Comment Number:
7
Written by:
Rhonda
Posted on:
February 3, 2009 at 7:22 am

Chris, Please tell me there is going to be more U. S. State information coming. Over the past 4 months or more,anything having to do with vital information or other for states has been slim pickins. Up until a couple of years ago it was equal for World information and state information and spread out over the year, now it is just bits and pieces for one and more content for the other in concentrated form over several months.

Comment Number:
8
Written by:
Chris Lydiksen, Ancestry.com
Posted on:
February 3, 2009 at 10:15 am

Response to #7:
Hi Rhonda. It is actually a misperception that less U.S. content is being released because of the multiple Canadian books being released daily.

In Q4 of 2008, Ancestry released more U.S. names than for all other countries combined.

That said, the recent releases list can be a bit confusing in that it displays all new releases, including individual digitized books along with full-blown databases with very large record counts (vital records, military, immigration, census, etc.). As mentioned, we have been releasing several Canadian books each day, which, on the recent releases list, stack up and visually overwhelm the larger databases.

So far this year (January), we’ve released several U.S. databases, including (some you’ve already mentioned):
- South Carolina Non-Population Schedules
- South Carolina Marriage Records
- Selected U.S. Naturalizations Indexes
- Chinese Arrivals at Philadelphia
- Chinese Immigration Case Files
- Chinese Surname Index for Jiapu Collection
- New York Chinese Exclusion Index (updated)
- Selected U.S. Naturalization Original Documents (NY, CA, PA)

U.S. content coming soon (really, it is):
- Several State Censuses
- Enhanced and Improved Civil War Service Records
- More new Civil War collections
- Slave Records
- More Land Ownership Maps
- Thousands more City Directories
- Vital Records from more states
- and lots more, stay tuned

Overall, I know some of you are anxious for more and more U.S. content to be released. I am too. Let me assure you that this is going to be a very good year for U.S. Content.

Thanks, Chris

Comment Number:
9
Written by:
Chris Lydiksen, Ancestry.com
Posted on:
February 3, 2009 at 10:40 am

Response to #6:
Robert, we (Ancestry) created the “light” index for the U.S. Naturalization Records – Original Documents, 1790-1974. The answer to why name corrections and record attaching are currently disabled is somewhat technical, but it has to do with the full index not being complete yet (will be completed through the World Archives Project). Again, we want to get records to you sooner rather than later, which is a good thing, but it also means that such databases will not have full functionality until the full index is complete.

Comment Number:
10
Written by:
Joan Kaighn
Posted on:
February 3, 2009 at 2:05 pm

How can I merge my data from Family Tree Maker and the data from Ancestry.com?
Also, how do I separate trees after they have become “connected?”

Comment Number:
11
Written by:
Scott
Posted on:
February 3, 2009 at 2:53 pm

“Soon to be added to this database are the states of South Carolina, Louisiana, Colorado, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts and Maine.”

Will all 50 states eventually be included in the Nationalization Records database?

Also..

“U.S. content coming soon:
- Several State Censuses
- More Land Ownership Maps”

Is there any word on which states will be included in these collections? Thanks.

Comment Number:
12
Written by:
Chris Lydiksen, Ancestry.com
Posted on:
February 6, 2009 at 1:54 pm

Response to #11:
We will add all naturalization records that are available as soon as we can secure them. Not all 50 states have available records at this time.

As far as which State Censuses are coming, we’re always working on the list. While there are several in the works, Alabama is next.

The maps update which went out today includes new maps and atlas pages from the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.