Books, Burials and Places

The anniversary of the involvement of the United States in World War II will soon be upon us. Most of us have parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and other family members who served in the military during that war and other wars and military actions. Almost all of them qualified to be buried in military cemeteries. Have you searched for information about them in the related cemetery records?

It is easy to do. Just look at the Department of Veteran Affairs, National Gravesite Locator site and create a search for them. I've found many records for my own extended family on the site. The records often provide information that I haven't found elsewhere. Additionally, the site is updated within a month or two of a burial, so if you've lost an extended family member and know they or their spouse was buried in a veterans cemetery, search for them today.

If you haven't looked at the Northeast and Southeast genealogy sites in your quest yet, take a look. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the number of relevant research links you'll find on the sites. Just click on the state of interest and then click on the county(ies) you want to search to see the related links.

The 1914-1927 Georgia Death Certificates were added as yet another free resource to the LDS FamilySearch Labs site today. To login, simply enter your e-mail address and you'll be taken to the full list of free resources.

I have ancestors who migrated to Australia from England. You may also have family members who live there or passed through on their way to New Zealand and other points in the southern hemisphere. If so, go to the Mariners and Ships in Australian Waters site and see if you can find their passenger records. My family members were listed. How did you do in your search?

A few months ago, FamilyLink.com was launched as a free site that allows uses to post their ancestry and hopefully find others who have common ancestry. I haven't used the site other than to look at its design. It may be yet another tool in your research quiver.

Are you constantly searching for U.S. locations? If so, you'll want to visit and bookmark the Place Names site. Here's how the site describes itself, "A gazetteer to find countries, cities, towns, villages, mountains, hills, rivers, lakes, islands and other geographic and administrative place names with their location, latitude, longitude and elevation."
And finally, if you are interested in the family history related publications that are released daily, be sure to visit the Genealogy Librarian News blog. It is constantly updated with new release information and who knows ... the new release may be the exact record you have been seeking for years.

Does that sound too good to be true? Well, it isn't a false statement. Several years ago, I visited the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and found a new book containing the burial records of the Burnt Church Cemetery in Walworth, Wisconsin that had been put on the shelves for the first time that morning. When I opened the book, there they were.... the burial records for my 3rd and 4th great grandmothers and a great-grand uncle.

I had looked for them for 25 years and never thought I'd ever find any clues to help break down that particular ancestral brick wall. The wall came down, at least for one generation and I now hove clues to help me in my quest to find the rest of the family 'across the pond'. Miracles happen in family history research if you work hard enough. Expect them to happen in your own hard won ancestral quest.