Articles by Paul Rawlins
Old Soldiers Live in New Military Collections
I never met Gene S. Jacobsen (who is listed as Jacobson in the World War II Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941–1945, database, a misspelling I’m sure happened often). But Jacobsen was the man who made the Bataan Death March real to me, as well as the horrific conditions that waited for the men who survived… Read more
Make Crime Pay with New Federal Prison Records
What’s a Mexican anarchist and revolutionary doing in a prison in Puget Sound? Twice? We’ve just added two new federal prison records databases to our collections: Leavenworth, Kansas, U.S. Penitentiary, Name Index to Inmate Case Files, 1895–1931, and Alcatraz, California, U.S. Penitentiary, Prisoner Index, 1934–1963. We’ve also updated the McNeil Island, Washington, U.S. Penitentiary, Photos… Read more
1910 Census Update (part 1)—I’d Like to Buy a Vowel
To the anonymous person who took the time to note that in the 1910 U.S. Federal Census, the “S. W. Staddard” living in Edmunds, Idaho, should actually be “S. W. Stoddard,” thank you. We just launched an update to the 1910 U.S. census that includes new images and an improved index. The updated index combines… Read more
Selected Canadian Service Records—Lest We Forget
This week, two databases—and 200 lives—went online as part of a special partnership between Ancestry.com and Library and Archives Canada to support the popular “Lest We Forget” educational initiative. This program helps students explore the lives of Canada’s soldiers and their sacrifices through selections from the service files of 200 veterans of the First or… Read more
California State Census, 1852—The Gold in Them Thar’ Records
Have you checked out the California State Census, 1852, that just went live on Ancestry.com yet? The California gold rush, somewhat inadvertently started by James W. Marshall at Sutter’s Mill, would bring about 300,000 people to the state between 1848 and 1854. The 1850 U.S. Federal Census tallied California’s population at 92,597. By 1852, when… Read more
Millions of Midwesterners—Ohio and Michigan Vital Records
This post is just a quick heads-up to let you know about a few million Midwestern records that have gone live on Ancestry.com over the last week. Ohio Online Ohio is the big winner, with indexes to more than 10 million vital records. Ohio Deaths, 1908–1932, 1938–1944, and 1958–2007, has been updated with an additional… Read more
Military Retirement—Revolutionary War Pension Files
Rejected. I knew that’s what the R in the top-right corner stood for when I found Captain James Frost’s file in the new Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files database on Ancestry.com. An S meant a petition had been filed by a veteran (a “survivor”); a W indicated a veteran’s widow. An R… Read more
A New Road Home? Canadian City and Area Directories, 1819–1906
I have a number for you: 780%. That’s the increase in data available with the latest update to the Canadian City and Area Directories, 1819–1906, database that went live this week. My own Canadian ancestry was rather short-lived. My Stoddard line passed through Bastard Township in Ontario in the early 1800s, but the township hasn’t… Read more
County Land Ownership Atlases—Now with Names
I’ll bet you wish you had an uncle like mine. I’m talking about my great-great-great-great-uncle actually, James Rawlins Sr., who had some very definitive opinions regarding his final resting place. I quote from his 1843 will: “I desire my body to be decently buried in a piece of ground now used as a burying ground… Read more
New Search Fields in Old Censuses—Will the Real John Brown Please Stand Up?
Increased search functionality is the latest improvement to the 1820, 1830, and 1840 U.S. Federal Census databases, each of which has several new search fields. And when I thought of how I might use the new options, I remembered a project I was working on last fall. I was researching abolitionist John Brown and learned… Read more
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