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WWII Prisoners of the Japanese—Filling the Gaps
A few weeks back, I introduced the launch of a new collection, WWII U.S. Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941–1945, by sharing the story of Gene Jacobsen. Maybe it’s the dramatic circumstances behind the capture of many of these POWs that makes for the dramatic stories surrounding this database. Stories like Gene’s—or Ari Self’s. “Ari Self… Read more
Four New AJHS Collections, Thousands of Stories
Wars play out on both the epic and the personal stage and leave behind both large and small stories. The four new collections from the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) that recently went live on Ancestry.com include two sets of war records: WWI Serviceman Questionnaires, Jews and Non-Jews, 1918–1921, and Undated, and WWII Jewish Serviceman… Read more
Digging into Deaths of American Citizens Abroad
Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad is, I admit, a rather specialized database—though it was just bolstered by a major update that fills in the years 1910–1962. These are records created by American consulates overseas when a U.S. citizen (other than military personnel) died within their district. My people are pretty much homebodies, so… Read more
Vital Maine—BMDs, pre-1892–1922
If Virginia is for lovers, as the bumper stickers would have us believe, is Maine for writers? As I was doing some background research for the new Maine vital records (births, marriages, deaths) that just went live on Ancestry, it got me wondering what was up with all the poets and other literary types who… Read more
An American Century—Sears Catalogs Memories
If you want a great family history conversation starter for the Christmas holidays, mention that Ancestry.com now has almost 100 years’ worth of Sears catalogs online—and keep a pen and paper or a recorder handy. I gave the collection (and the conversation) a trial run with my family over Thanksgiving. I mentioned that we had… Read more
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
From Bar Fights to Pine Trees: Where They Rest in Early California
I’m not exactly sure what it is about these records that fascinates me – they’re simple typed cards with info about death – but the new California Mortuary and Cemetery Records (1801-1932) do just that. I don’t have any relatives in there, at least not that I know of. But I still wound up spending… 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
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