Online Genealogy Records Directories - Moving

Some of my online directories of genealogy indexes and records are moving to new URLs. Here is a list of some of the most popular, along with their new URLs. Please update any links you may have to these webpages. Thank you! -Joe

Online Birth and Marriage Records Indexes for the USA
was at: http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/vitalrecords.html

is now at:
http://www.germanroots.com/vitalrecords.html

What Passenger Lists Are Online?
Internet Sources for Transcribed Passenger Records and Indexes
was at: http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/onlinelists.html

is now at:
http://www.germanroots.com/onlinelists.html

Online Searchable Naturalization Indexes and Records (USA)
was at: http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/naturalization.html

is now at:
http://www.germanroots.com/naturalization.html

Finding U.S. Naturalization Records - a Genealogy Guide
was at: http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/naturalizationrecords.html

is now at:
http://www.germanroots.com/naturalizationrecords.html

Online Military Indexes and Databases - USA
was at: http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/military.html

was expanded into a separate website (in 2004):
http://www.militaryindexes.com/

Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records
was at: http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/deathrecords.html

was expanded into a separate website (in 2003):
http://www.deathindexes.com/

Thank you!

The German Roots (wee-monster) Website is Moving

If you have any links to my German Roots website, please update them - the old website will be going away soon. It was located at:

German Roots: German Genealogy Resources
http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/

It has moved to:

http://www.germanroots.com/

If you are linking to an interior webpage such as:

What Passenger Lists Are Online?
http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/onlinelists.html

Please change the URL to:

http://www.germanroots.com/onlinelists.html

Please change any other links to the old "wee-monster" website you may have.

Thank you kindly! :)

-Joe Beine

How I Found Some Genealogy Records for My German Ancestors

Last year I obtained a marriage record from a church in Germany that was not available at the Family History Library. I thought this might be a helpful example of how you can sometimes find genealogy records by writing to churches or archives in Germany.

My immigrant ancestors, August and Christine (Walter) Beine came to the US in 1880 with 7 of their children. August Beine was originally from a small German village called Grosseneder and Christine Walter came from another village called Siddinghausen. I have already researched their family lines in each of the villages, but I was not able to find their marriage record in either place. But I have a photocopy of a family document that gives the birth and baptismal dates of their German born children from the St. Nikolaus Catholic Parish in Stoppenberg, Germany. Stoppenberg was then a suburb and is now a neighborhood of the city of Essen. I always assumed the couple was married in Stoppenberg and recently I decided to pursue obtaining a copy of their marriage record.

The LDS Family History Library does not have microfilmed records for the St. Nikolaus Parish. So I needed to determine where the church's records, if available, were located. Essen is a Catholic diocese ("Bistum" in German), and using Google, I found the Essen diocese has a website: http://www.bistum-essen.de. From the website's contact link I sent an email asking where the St. Nikolaus parish records were today. I received a response saying the records were still at the St. Nikolaus church and was given an email address for the parish priest.

St. Nikolaus Catholic Church in Essen-Stoppenberg

I emailed the parish priest, asking if I could obtain the marriage record of August Beine and Christine Walter, and the baptismal record of their son, also named August, who is my great grandfather. Three weeks later I received a response saying he had found the records I wanted and was sending copies. A few days later the photocopies arrived in the mail.

I had inquired about a fee in my email to the church, and the response was: "We don't get a fee for this service, but it would be nice if you can give a donation to a project of the Roman-Catholic parish in your town." So I made a donation to a local parish.

I have a family document that gave me the name of the town and parish in Germany. But you may not have something like this. Here's a list of other places where you might find the name of your ancestral village in Germany:

Tips for Finding Your German Immigrant Ancestor's Hometown in Germany

This article may help if you already know the name of the village or town:
Tips for Finding German Genealogy Records for your German-American Ancestor

The above photograph of the St. Nikolaus Catholic Church in Essen-Stoppenberg by Joe Beine, February, 2018

This article was updated on 8 March 2018

Online Death Records and Indexes - New Additions and Updates

The Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records Directory has been updated with links to the following items...

Alabama
- Madison County: City of Huntsville Cemetery Burials Search

Arkansas
- Carroll County Historical and Genealogical Society - Cemetery Grave Marker Index
- Yell County Cemetery Records

Connecticut
- Fairfield County Cemeteries

Florida
- Broward County: Jewish Cemeteries (ongoing project) presently has Jewish burials in Evergreen Cemetery, Fort Lauderdale (Excel file)

Georgia
- Georgia Non-Indexed Death Certificates, 1928-1930

Idaho
- Canyon County: City of Nampa Cemetery Interment Database

Indiana
- Clark County Cemeteries

Kansas
- Cherokee County Obituary Index 2000-2007

Massachusetts
- Essex County: Spring Grove Cemetery Burials (Andover, MA)

Michigan
- Ogemaw County Death Records Index
- Saint Clair County: Lakeside Cemetery Records Search (Port Huron, Michigan)

Minnesota
- Hennepin County: Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery - Burial Search
- Mower County Cemeteries
- Pennington County: Historic St. Pauli Church, Thief River Falls, Minnesota (includes baptisms, funerals and other listings)

Mississippi
- Adams County: Natchez Jewish Cemetery List

Missouri
- Gentry and Worth Counties: Cemetery Transcriptions (PDF files)
- Saint Louis County: Cold Water Cemetery Burials (DAR Cemetery in Florissant, MO); See: Online St. Louis, Missouri Death Records, Indexes & Obituaries

Nebraska
- Adams County: Hastings Regional Center Cemetery Records, 1889-1959

New Hampshire
- Hillsborough County: Cemeteries of Bedford, NH
- Hillsborough County: Pelham Historical Society Genealogy On-Line Library (includes early town clerk vital records, cemetery inscriptions and more)

New Mexico
- Bernalillo County Cemeteries
- Chaves County Cemeteries
- Dona Ana County Cemeteries and Funeral Home Records
- Lincoln County Cemeteries and Deaths 1913-1919
- Lincoln County: Catholic Funeral Records from St. Rita Parish, Carrizozo, Nov 1897-April 1956
- Socorro County Cemeteries

New York
- Erie County Lodge Cemetery Records (Jewish Cemetery in Buffalo, NY)
- Rockland County Cemetery Records Search

Ohio
- Ohio Obituaries Index 1810s-present from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center; for selected counties (update: 300,000 more entries added; now has 1.5 million entries)
- Hamilton County Ohio Wills Index, 1791-1901 (PDF files)
- Hamilton County Probate Court: Probate Case and Archived Records Search (includes births, marriages, wills, naturalizations and more; some unindexed)
- For the above two see: Online Cincinnati & Hamilton County, Ohio Death Records & Indexes

South Carolina
- South Carolina Death Index 1915-1958 (update: year 1958 added)

Tennessee
- Tennessee Death Index 1914-1930 (update: years 1929 and 1930 added)
- Knox County Death Records and Obituaries Indexes (includes: Index of Obituaries Published in The Hickory Daily Record, 1915-1989; Funeral Records from Shuford Funeral Home, 1908-1957; Knox County, TN Death Records, 1914-1925)

Texas
- Franklin County News Archive 1870-Sept 1875 (includes some obituaries)
- Lamar County Death and Cemetery Records Database

Utah
- Utah Death Certificates Index 1904-1958 (update: more years added)

West Virginia
- Cabell County: Huntington, West Virginia Newspapers Obituary Indexes (PDF files)
- Mercer County: Walnut Grove Cemetery Burials (in Bluefield, West Virginia)

Wisconsin
- Douglas County Cemeteries
- Shawano County Genealogy Indexes (includes cemetery burials, obituaries and more)

See: Online Searchable Death Records Indexes and Obituaries

Recently Added Online Birth and Marriage Records Indexes

Links to the items listed below were recently added to: Online Birth and Marriage Records Indexes or its supplementary state webpages.

Alabama
- Madison County Marriage License Index 1809-Feb 1973 (update: more years added)

Delaware
- Delaware State Birth Records, 1861-1908 from FamilySearch Labs (not yet complete)

Hawaii
- Hawaii State Archives Genealogy Indexes (includes some marriage indexes)

Indiana
- Indiana Marriage Records Index 1811-1959 from FamilySearch Labs; presently includes Adams, Blackford, Decatur, Franklin, Henry, Huntington, Owen, Rush, and Sullivan counties (coverage may vary by county)
- Montgomery County Marriage Records Index (includes PDF images of the records)
- Shelby County Birth and Marriage Indexes
See: Online Indiana Vital Records Indexes for Birth, Marriage & Death Records

Kansas
- Kansas Marriage Index, 1854-1861 (not complete)

Louisiana
- Orleans Parish Birth Records Index -- for births over 100 years ago
- Orleans Parish Marriage Records Index -- for marriages over 50 years ago

Maryland
- Washington County Marriages Index 1861-1949, 1950-2007

Michigan
- Michigan Birth Records 1867-1902 and Michigan Marriages 1868-1925 at FamilySearch Labs
- Clinton County Genealogy Records Indexes -- includes newspaper indexes for births to 1900, marriages 1863-1940

Nebraska
- Sarpy County Marriage License Search 1987-present

New Jersey
- Monmouth County Marriage Index 1790-1890

New York
- New York City Birth Records Index 1901-1907
- Nassau County Marriage Index 1908-1936
See: New York Vital Records Indexes & Genealogy Records on the Internet

Pennsylvania
- Philadelphia Marriage Indexes 1885-1951 from FamilySearch Labs
- Westmoreland County Marriage License Search 1885-present

South Carolina
- Greenville County Marriage License Index

Tennessee
- Hamilton County Marriage License Index Search (includes Chattanooga) presently covers 1857-1919 and 1985-2008

Texas
- Colorado County Marriage Records Index 1837-1886
- El Paso County Marriage Records Search 1963-current (also has birth & death records searches)
- Liberty County Birth, Marriage and Death Index
See: Online Texas Vital Records Indexes

See: Online Birth and Marriage Records Indexes

Online Indexes for Obituaries and Death Records - Latest Additions

The Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records Directory has been updated with links to the following items...

California
- San Diego Public Library's Digital Library - Includes Obituaries Indexes (indexes obituaries and death notices in the San Diego Union, 1868-1915; and the San Diego Herald, 1851-1860)

Colorado
- Denver Death Index 1870-1909 (update: years 1906-1909 added)
- Larimer County Genealogical Society - Online Databases (includes indexed scanned obituaries 1980s-1990s)
- Mesa County Cemetery Records
- Weld County: City of Evans Cemetery Burials

Georgia
- Clarke County: Oconee Hill Cemetery Tombstone Inscriptions (Athens)
- Richmond County: African American Funeral Programs from the East Central Georgia Regional Library (mostly from the Augusta, Georgia area)

Illinois
- Cook County: The Roll of Honor, Containing the Names of Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines of All the Wars of Our Country Who Are Buried in the Cemeteries of Cook County (scanned searchable book from 1922)
- See: Online Chicago & Cook County, Illinois Death Records & Indexes

- La Salle County Genealogy Guild Record Search (includes indexes for some obituaries, probate records and others)

Indiana
- Shelby County Genealogy Indexes - Cemeteries, Obituaries & More

Louisiana
- Louisiana Death Index 1850-1875, 1894-1954 from FamilySearch Labs
- Orleans Parish: New Orleans Obituary Index 1804-1972

Massachusetts
- Massachusetts Death Records 1906-1915 (update: covers 1841-1915 and 1921-1924) from FamilySearch; includes scanned images of the death registers and certificates)

Michigan
- Michigan Death Records Collection 1897-1920 (update: now 99% complete)
- Arenac County Historical Society Obituaries Indexes (also includes other genealogy indexes)
- Arenac County Cemetery Inscriptions Index
- Jackson County Death Indexes 1886-1899 and 1900-1901 (list of names only, no dates)
- Monroe County: Monroe Commercial Obituary Index 1870-1873 and 1877-1879
- Van Buren County GenWeb Site (includes a death index 1935-1945 and some cemetery burials)

Minnesota
- Hubbard County Cemeteries (includes Greenwood Cemetery, largest cemetery in Park Rapids, MN)

Missouri (St. Louis)
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch Obituary Index (update: more years added; includes 1880-1930, 1942-1945, 1960-1964, and 1992-2008)
- Westliche Post Obituaries Index 1880-1887 - St. Louis German Language Newspaper (update: more years added)
- See: Online St. Louis, Missouri Death Records, Indexes & Obituaries

North Carolina
- Onslow County Death Index 1982-2008 (also has indexes for births 1976-recent, marriages 1962-recent, and more)

North Dakota
- Fargo Forum Obituaries Database, 1892-1909 & Nov. 1982-1995 (update: more years added)

Ohio
- Erie County: Oakland Cemetery Burials (Sandusky, Ohio)
- Lucas County: Mt. Carmel Cemetery Index (in Toledo, OH) surnames only
- Summit County: Akron Beacon Journal Obituaries Index 1937-2008 (update: several years added)
- Wood County Sentinel Obituaries Index 1867-1876 (newspaper from Bowling Green, Ohio)

Oregon
- Benton County Genealogical Society Newspaper Project - names published in Benton County newspapers 1865-1925 (work in progress) includes some deaths
- Multnomah County: Historic Pioneer Cemeteries - Burial Search

Pennsylvania
- Dauphin County: Harrisburg Newspaper Index - Marriages & Deaths from 4 Newspapers, 1799-1827

Tennessee
- Blount County Death Records Database (includes more than 42,000 entries from Blount County newspapers and funeral home records)
- Davidson County: Death Notices in Nashville Newspapers 1855-1907 (not complete)

Texas
- Gillespie County: Fredericksburg Genealogical Society Indexes (includes cemetery burials index and obituaries index 1980-2004)

Virginia
- African American Cemeteries in Albemarle and Amherst Counties - Burial Search

Washington
- Benton County: Tri-City Herald Obituaries Index 2000-March 2009
- Thurston County: Masonic Memorial Park Cemetery Burials (in Tumwater, Washington)

General Obituaries
Added to the general obituaries webpage...
- Necrology Index of Obituary Listings for Congregational Clergy and Missionaries
- Evangelical Messenger Obituary Index 1900-1912

See: Online Searchable Death Records Indexes and Obituaries