U.S. Passport Application Tip
The addition of pre-1925 U.S. passport applications is a great resource available to Ancestry subscribers. I knew that my great-grandfather had traveled back to Germany for his second marriage in the early 1920s but was unable to find his passport application using the Ancestry search engine. I was even more perplexed when I finally found his name on a 1923 ship manifest that made reference to his 1923 passport. If he truly did have a U.S. passport issued in 1923, why did it not turn up in my search?
 
Using the U.S. passport number and date of issue listed on the ship manifest I bypassed the search engine and went directly to the roll that should contain his application. In the place of his application was a document transfer sheet indicating that my great-grandfather had applied for another passport in 1929 and the 1923 application had been filed with this later document. It seems that such records were not transcribed for inclusion in the U.S. Passport Application search engine explaining why it never turned up in my search results. Briefly viewing additional images on the roll turned up two additional document transfer sheets whose corresponding passport applications were not found in subsequent search engine results. Thus failure to find your ancestor’s passport application via the search engine does not necessarily mean one was never filed.

Jeremy Haag

Hebrew Dates
Several years ago, while looking at my late mother’s gravestone, I noticed that, while the English date of death was correct, the Hebrew date, which is also carved into the stone, was off by one day. After viewing my mother’s death certificate, I realized that the hour of her passing had been just after sundown, and that the person who supplied the pertinent information to the monument company, hadn’t taken that into consideration. Hebrew dates always begin at sundown of the previous evening. So if you wish to be accurate in your genealogical data for Jewish records, be sure to locate the time of death for the individual in question.
   
Neilan Stern

Save Address Books
I read with interest, the article “Diary on the Family Calendar” in the 7 Sep 2008 edition of Ancestry Weekly Journal. Another important reference source found in the home is the handwritten personal telephone/address book kept near the telephone.
 
While looking for a family member’s address in our telephone/address book, I was pleasantly surprised to find in the back of the book, an area for birthdays, anniversaries, births, etc. We had gotten this little book as a gift early in our marriage, and it contained names and dates with 40 years worth of entries. My wife had been keeping this information in order to send cards, etc. and I didn’t even know it.
 
So, when a loved one passes away, and it’s your responsibility to dispose of their belongings, check for a personal telephone / address book. It could contain priceless information about family and friends.
 
Bob Allen
Crystal River, Florida

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