Monday, January 24, 2011

Naturalization Records and Indexes (USA) - New Additions

The Online Naturalization Records and Indexes Directory has been updated with the following links...

California
 - Contra Costa County Naturalization Records Index
 - Santa Barbara County Naturalizations Index
See: Online California Naturalization Records and Indexes
 
Colorado
 - Larimer County Naturalization Index 1885-1958
 - Pitkin County Naturalization Records Index 1888-1908
 
Kansas
 - Assorted Kansas U.S. District Court Naturalization Indexes
 
Illinois
 - Carroll County Naturalization Records Indexes
 - Cook County Naturalization Database: Declarations of Intention Index, 1906-1929 (not yet complete)
 - Madison County: Naturalizations and Intentions of Madison County, Illinois, an Index 1816-1900
 - St. Clair County: Index to Declarations and Naturalizations, Circuit Court 1906-c.1945
See: Online Illinois Naturalization Records and Indexes
 
Minnesota
 - Iron Range Research Center - Genealogy Records Database (indexes some naturalization records and alien registration records for some Minnesota counties)

Missouri
 - Assorted Missouri U.S. District Court Naturalization Indexes from the Kansas City National Archives Branch
 
Nebraska
 - Assorted Nebraska U.S. District Court Naturalization Indexes

New Jersey
 - Monmouth County: Naturalizations Index 1804-1906
 - Passaic County: Naturalization Records Search
 
New York
 - Cayuga County Naturalization Records Index 1799-1952 (PDF file)
See: Online New York Naturalization Records and Indexes
 
Ohio
 - Hamilton County Ohio (Cincinnati) Citizenship Records, 1837-1916 (includes transcriptions of original and restored Declarations of Intention to Naturalize and Naturalization papers filed in Hamilton County between circa 1837 and 1916. While a great number of these records were lost, "a significant number survived and others were restored.")
 
Pennsylvania
 - Cambria County Naturalization Records Index 1835-1991
See: Online Pennsylvania Naturalization Records and Indexes

Tennessee
 - Knox County Naturalization Index 1792-1907 (includes Knoxville)
 - Shelby County Naturalization Records 1856-1906 (partial) -- includes Memphis
 - Index to Naturalization Papers, Federal Court, Western District of Tennessee at Memphis 1906-1967 (partial)
 
Texas
 - Travis County Naturalization Records Index (to c. Sept. 1906)
 
See: Online Searchable Naturalization Indexes and Records

Monday, January 03, 2011

Online Military Records and Indexes Website - Latest Updates

The Online Military Records, Indexes and Databases of Soldiers Directory has been updated with the following links...

Revolutionary War
 - General Section: Daughters of the American Revolution Genealogy Databases

Civil War
 - General Section: The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (searchable multi-volume scanned Civil War book series)
 - Colorado Territory Civil War Volunteer Records
 - Connecticut Civil War Manuscripts Project (from the Connecticut Historical Society Library)
 - Michigan: Department of Michigan, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (includes databases for graves and GAR records)
 - Missouri: State Historical Society of Missouri, the Civil War in Missouri
 - Missouri: Index to the List of Union Veterans Buried in and about St. Louis
 - New Jersey Civil War Treasury Vouchers, 1861-1865
 - North Carolina: Index of Confederate Section Burials at Oakwood Cemetery, Raleigh, NC
 
World War I
 - Hawaii World War I Service Records - Army and Navy
 - Kansas WWI and Military Indexes (includes Kansas World War I Bounty Claims Index and Kansas Soldiers of the Great War)
 - Michigan: Kalamazoo County World War One Veterans
 - Missouri History Museum: Genealogy Index (includes index of Casualties, European War, July 20, 1918-September 8, 1939; and index of Persons Who Enlisted in St. Louis City and County Who Died in Service)
 - Nebraska WWI Draft Registration Cards Database 1917-1918
 - New Jersey World War I Casualties Database (includes descriptive cards and photographs)

World War II
 - World War II Draft Cards (Fourth Registration) Indexed for Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin at FamilySearch (includes digitized images)
 - Kansas WWII and Military Indexes (includes Kansas World War II Selective Service Index, Kansas World War II Army Casualties, Kansas World War II Oral Histories, Kansas Burials/Memorials at World War II Military Cemeteries Operated by the American Battle Monuments Commission)
 - Missouri: St. Louis in World War II Casualties, October 1941-March 1943, scrapbook index
 - International Section... Russia: Soviet Union WWII Prisoners of War Database
 
See: Military Indexes and Records

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Online Death Records, Indexes and Obituaries - Latest Additions and Updates

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

Alabama
 - Jefferson County: Birmingham Area Newspapers Obituaries Index, 1929-1996 (update: more years added)
 - Jefferson County: Oak Hill Memorial Cemetery Interments (Birmingham)

Arizona
 - Maricopa County: City of Mesa Cemetery Burials

Arkansas
 - Lawrence County Cemeteries

California
 - Los Angeles County (and nearby): Forest Lawn Cemetery Burials Database... search is available for the Glendale, Hollywood Hills, Cypress (Orange County), Covina Hills and Cathedral City (Riverside County) locations; See: Online Los Angeles, California Death Records & Indexes

Colorado
 - Weld County: Linn Grove Cemetery Burials (Greeley)

Florida
 - Hillsborough County Cemeteries

Georgia
 - Gordon County Obituaries

Idaho
 - Canyon County, Idaho, Headstone Photos and Obituaries Project

Illinois
 - Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths 1916-1947 from FamilySearch Beta
 - Ogle County (and nearby): Polo Area Cemetery Records of Ogle, Lee, Carroll and Whiteside Counties
 - Peoria County Cemeteries
 - St. Clair County: O'Fallon Progress Obituary and Marriage Index, Feb 1898-Dec 2007
 - Sangamon County: Village of Chatham Cemetery Search

Indiana
 - Pre-1882 Indiana Deaths (partial; indexes various sources) from the Allen County Public Library
 - Vanderburgh County: Evansville Newspaper Index 1821 to 1860 (includes death notices)
 - Wabash County: Wabash Plain Dealer Obituary Index 2000-2008

Kansas
 - Washington County: City of Washington Cemetery Burials

Kentucky
 - Carter County Cemeteries, Transcribed Records and Images (includes some death certificates and obituaries)

Maine
 - Maine Death Index 1960-2009 at the Maine State Archives (update: more years added)
 - York County: Biddeford Area Biographical Resource (includes some references to obituaries and death notices)
 - York County: South Berwick Cemetery Databases

Massachusetts
 - Essex County: City of Gloucester Vital Records and Cemetery Indexes
 - Middlesex County: Wakefield Death Record Search 1873-1875 and 1913-2009
 - Middlesex County: Deaths in Waltham from City Directories 1912-1960

Michigan
 - Muskegon County Genealogical Society Databases (includes cemeteries, obituaries and more)
 - Wayne County: Livonia Public Library Obituary Index

Missouri
 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch Death Index (Obituaries, etc.), 1975-June 1977; See: Online St. Louis, Missouri Death Records, Indexes & Obituaries

New York
 - Essex County: Willsboro Heritage Society Cemetery Burial Lists
 - Monroe County: Mt. Hope & Riverside Cemetery Records Search (Rochester)

Ohio
 - Cleveland: Jewish News Obituary Index; See: Online Cleveland & Cuyahoga County, Ohio Death Records & Indexes

Oregon
 - Early Oregonians Database 1800-1860 (includes death information for some entries)

Pennsylvania
 - McKean County: Bradford Era Obituary Index 1935-1995

Tennessee
 - Tennessee Death Records Index 1914-1955 from FamilySearch Beta

Vermont
 - Addison County: Starksboro Cemeteries

Virginia
 - Petersburg: City of Petersburg Virginia - Blandford Cemetery Records
 
For links to the above items see: Online Searchable Death Records Indexes and Obituaries

If you want to follow the Death Indexes website on Facebook go to: Online Searchable Death Indexes on Facebook

Monday, July 12, 2010

130 Years of the Beine Family in America

July 12, 1880 - July 12, 2010

Binn? Beim? Beine? Just how do you spell my last name? (If you want to know how to pronounce it, see Megan Smolenyak's book, Who Do You Think You Are, page 47). When I was looking for the ship passenger list for my immigrant Beine family, this is what I encountered:

Germans to America (Vol. 36, page 26) lists the family with the surname Binn. The Philadelphia passenger lists index (National Archives microfilm roll M360-7) lists the family members with the surname Beim. Well, they almost got it right. It was the Philadelphia index that actually led me to the passenger list, which I found at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City in 2002. Here are the details...

Ship: SS Pennsylvania
Arrived: July 12, 1880 in Philadelphia from Liverpool
Ship's Captain: Harris
335 total passengers

The Beine family are on pages 1 and 2:

Augt. Beine, 40, male, labourer, Germany (August)
Mrs. Beine, 39, female, wife, Germany (Christina)
Augt., 11, male, child, Germany (August)
Elisabeth, 9, female, child, Germany
Anna, 7, female, child, Germany
Johannis, 5, male, child, Germany
Augt., 4, female, child, Germany (Augusta)
Anton, 2, male, child, Germany
Helen, -, female, infant, Germany

From: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at the Port of Philadelphia; FHL Microfilm Roll #419674 (National Archives Microfilm Roll #M425-100)

August and Mrs. (Christina) Beine are my great great grandparents. Their son, August, is my great grandfather. They left their oldest daughter, Christine, behind in Germany. You can read her story here: Christina Beine, the Girl They Left Behind. I only have three records that mention the youngest child, Helena - her German baptismal record, the family's German emigration record and the Philadelphia passenger list (above). After that she disappears. There's no indication she died on the voyage. I'm assuming she died while still an infant after the family settled in Missouri. But I've never been able to find a death or burial record for her.

August and Christine had one more child, William, after arriving in the United States. William's World War II draft registration card gives his place of birth as Silica, Missouri. That ended up being an important clue that showed the family first settled in Jefferson County, Missouri before moving to St. Louis.

My great great grandfather, August Beine, was a coal miner in Germany and became one in the U.S. as well. Once settled in St. Louis, he worked in coal mines across the Mississippi River in Illinois, where he eventually lived. The 1910 census shows August, Christine, William, and a grandson, Fred, living in Looking Glass Township/New Baden Village, Illinois. August died in 1913, Christine in 1925. They are buried in Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery in St. Louis.

August Beine was born in 1839 in a small German village called Grosseneder. His wife, Christina Walter (born 1840), is from another small German village called Siddinghausen. I visited both villages in 1995. The couple was married in Stoppenberg, which was then a suburb and is now a part of, the German city of Essen. Their children (except William) were baptized at the St. Nikolaus Catholic Parish there.

So July 12, 2010 is the 130th anniversary of this Beine family's arrival in the United States. I propose a celebration involving German beer. Prost!

For more information on my Beine immigrant family see:
How I Found Some Genealogy Records for My German Ancestors

Sources used for this article - 130 Years of the Beine Family in America

This article was updated on 8 March 2018.

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

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...

Arizona
- Arizona Death Records Index 1844-1959 & Birth Index 1855-1934 (update: year 1959 added for deaths; 1934 added for births)

Arkansas
- Garland County: Hot Springs Sentinel-Record Obituaries Index (ongoing project) also has some cemetery transcriptions and links to obituary indexes for nearby counties

California
- San Mateo County: Cypress Lawn Cemetery Burials (Colma, CA)
- Santa Clara County Archives (includes indexes for some probate cases, wills and coroner inquests)

Connecticut
- Connecticut Archives 1629-1820 - Indexes (includes Estates of Deceased Persons 1640-1820, and other genealogy indexes)

Delaware
- Sussex County: Lewes & Rehoboth Hundred Cemetery Survey

Florida
- Pinellas County Probate Records Search (c.1980s to present)

Idaho
- Ada County: City of Boise Cemetery Burials (for Fort Boise Military Cemetery, Morris Hill Cemetery and Pioneer Cemetery)

Illinois
- Christian County: Oak Hill Cemetery Burials (Taylorville)
- Cook County: Glenview Public Library Obituary Index; See: Online Chicago and Cook County Death Records and Indexes
- Sangamon County: Oak Ridge Cemetery Interment Records, March 1858-1940 in Springfield, IL (update: more years added)

Indiana
- Clark County: Obituary and Death Notices Index 1872-1900
- Clinton County: Genealogy Obituary Records (from the Frankfort Community Public Library)
- Floyd County: New Albany-Floyd County Public Library Newspaper Index (includes obituaries)
- Hendricks County: Brownsburg Public Library Obituary Finder
- Hendricks County Probate Records Indexes (works in progress)

Iowa
- Cherokee County: Oak Hill Cemetery Burials (Cherokee, Iowa)

Kansas
- Franklin County Genealogy Indexes
- Harvey County: Bethel College Mennonite Library and Archives Obituaries Indexes
- Rush County: Obituary Index for Rush County Newspapers 1874-1939

Maine
- Jewish Burials: State-wide Index for Some Jewish Cemeteries in Maine
- Cumberland County: Westbrook Historical Society Genealogy Indexes (includes cemetery transcriptions and more)
- Oxford County GenWeb Archives - Includes Some Cemeteries
- Oxford County: Andover Maine Genealogy Indexes (includes cemeteries and death indexes)

Maryland
- Maryland Portal to Court Records: Estate Search
- Frederick County: Reformed Cemetery Burials (Knoxville, Maryland)

Massachusetts
- Middlesex County: Cemeteries of Littleton, Massachusetts

Michigan
- Kalamazoo Valley Genealogical Society: Historical Records (inlcudes Foreign Deaths 1931–2002, and other items; also has PDF files for two large cemeteries)
- Oakland County: Clover Hill Park Cemetery Burials (Jewish Cemetery in Birmingham, MI)

Minnesota
- Carver County Newspaper Index Search (includes death notices)

Mississippi
- Hancock County Historical Society Genealogy Indexes (includes indexes for some obituaries, cemetery burials and other items)
- Itawamba County Book of the Dead - Cemetery Burials
- Lee County Cemeteries
- Lincoln-Lawrence-Franklin Regional Library - Genealogy Indexes

Missouri
- Missouri Death Certificates Index and Images 1910-1959 (update: year 1959 added)
- Adair County: Obituaries & Death Notices Index for the Kirksville Daily Express, March 1979-2009 (update: more years added)
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch Obituary Index (update - more years added: 1965, 1966, 2009); See: Online St. Louis, Missouri Death Records, Indexes & Obituaries

New Hampshire
- Cheshire County: Vital Records of Keene, New Hampshire

New York
- Madison County Cemeteries
- Onondaga County: Skaneateles Historical Society Archives - Genealogy Indexes (includes newspaper death indexes and some cemetery burials)
- Rockland County Cemetery Records and Funeral Homes (update: funeral homes index added)

North Carolina
- Union County Public Library Obituary Indexes (for Monroe and Marshville Newspapers)

Ohio
- Mahoning County: Goshen Township Cemetery Burials

Oregon
- Lane County: Eugene Pioneer Cemetery Burials

Pennsylvania
- Clearfield County Death Registrations 1893-1905 (not yet complete - more being added)
- Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society Obituaries Index (most are from the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal)

South Carolina
- Chesterfield County: Cheraw Chronicle & Chesterfield Advertiser Obituary Archive 2003-recent (not complete)

Tennessee
- Tennessee Death Index 1914-1931 (update: year 1931 added)

Vermont
- Windsor County: Cemeteries, Obituaries and Death Notices Indexes (from the Hartford Historical Society)

Virginia
- Prince William Public Library System's Digital Library - Genealogy Indexes (includes births, marriage, deaths, probate records and more)
- Prince William County Indexes (includes cemeteries and obituaries)

Wisconsin
- Dane County: Forest Hill Cemetery Burials (Madison, WI)
- Forest County: Crandon Public Library - Local History Obituary Index 1909-1923, 2001-2003 and 2005-recent (ongoing project)
- Marathon County Cemeteries
- Pierce County Cemeteries

See: Online Searchable Death Records Indexes and Obituaries

Monday, May 03, 2010

Death and Burial Indexes at FamilySearch Record Search

As part of their recent update adding 300 million names, FamilySearch Record Search has added several databases that index some death and burial records for various states. See the list below. The update also includes many indexes for Births, Christenings and Marriages for various states. You can access these indexes and many more genealogy indexes at: FamilySearch Historical Records Search

While these death and burial indexes are not necessarily complete, they do contain numerous listings that may be helpful for genealogy research.

Recently Added Death and Burial Indexes at FamilySearch:

Arizona Deaths and Burials, 1910-1911; 1993-1994
Arkansas Deaths and Burials, 1882-1929; 1945-1963
Delaware Deaths and Burials, 1815-1955
District of Columbia Deaths and Burials, 1840-1964
Florida Deaths and Burials, 1900-1921
Hawaii Deaths and Burials, 1862-1919
Idaho Deaths and Burials, 1907-1965
Kansas Deaths and Burials, 1885-1930
Kentucky Deaths and Burials, 1843-1970
Maine Deaths and Burials, 1841-1910
Maryland Deaths and Burials, 1877-1992
New Mexico Deaths and Burials, 1788-1798; 1838-1955
New York Deaths and Burials, 1795-1952
North Carolina Deaths and Burials, 1898-1994
Ohio Deaths and Burials, 1854-1997
Oregon Deaths and Burials, 1903-1947
Utah Deaths and Burials, 1888-1946
Vermont Deaths and Burials, 1871-1965
Virginia Deaths and Burials, 1853-1912
West Virginia Deaths and Burials, 1854-1932

For more online death indexes see: Online Death Indexes and Records