NARA proposes a huge increase for Civil War pension files

The National Archives are proposing increasing the Full pension file more than 75 years old (Civil War period) - NATF Form 85 from $37 to 125.00.

You can make comments until April 27, 2007.

ADDRESSES: NARA invites interested persons to submit comments on this proposed rule. Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:

Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov/.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

Fax: Submit comments by facsimile transmission to 301-837-0319.

Mail: Send comments to Regulations Comments Desk (NPOL), Room 4100, Policy and Planning Staff, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Davis Heaps at 301-837-1850 or fax at 301-837-0319. Requests for copies of the proposed information collection and supporting statement should be directed to Tamee Fechhelm at 301-837-1694 or fax at 301-837-3213.

It is probably futile to complain about such a large increase. So if you have been thinking about ordering a Civil War pension file from the National Archives, now is the time to do it

Order Civil War Pension & Service Records

Pennsylvania Civil War Genealogy

The Pennsylvania Civil War site has recently undergone an update. All information is now organized by county or by regiment making it easier to find information. You will find

• Regimental Rosters
  
• Soldier Biographies


• Newspaper Transciptions about the soldiers


• Soldier Civil War Diaries and Journals


• Prisoners of War


• Medal of Honor Recipients


• POWs


• Pension Index


• Deaths and Burials

You will also helpful hints, both on-line and off-line, to locate your Pennsylvania Civil War ancestor with a guide to ordering service and pension records from NARA, a great source for genealogy info.

Erie County, Pennsylvania Biographies

Erie County Pennsylvania Biographies
Biographical Sketches and Genealogies have been extracted from the book History of Erie County Biography, published by Warner, Beers & Co.; 1884.

PA Biographical Sketches include:

John Abell; F.F. Adams; Dr. Charles Aichner; George A. Allen; William P. Atkinson; F. A. Austin; Elijah Babbitt; Francis Bailey; Isaac Baker; Peter Barker; H.R. Barnhurst; William Bates; F. Bauschard; George Baxter; John Baxter; Philip Becker; C. R. Beechling; E. Sherlock Belknap; E.C. Bennett; Rev. A. L. Benze; Ludwig Bier; John H. Bliss; Jacob Bootz; Maximilian Bosch; Jonas Bowers; Joseph Boyd; John Boyle; C. Brandes; Gustav F. Brevillier; C.M. Briggs; Conard Brown; R.B Brown; S.H. Brown; William A. Brown; G. W. Brubaker; J. M. Bryant; J. Bryce; A. P. Burton; George Burton; Lewis Bush; James Campbell; C. M. Carlson; John Carter; James Casey; Thomas Casey; A. H. Caughey; E. F. Christian; David Clark; William Clark; H. V. Claus; F. A. Clemens; John Clemens; Frank Cleveland; Washington Cleveland; John Coates; J. R. Cochran; Robert Cochran.

This is an ongoing project, so watch for more biographies to be posted at a later date

Surname Origins and Last Name Meanings

Have you ever wondered the meaning of your name and its origin?

Your surname may tell a story of your ancestors from hundreds of years ago - where your family lived, what they did for a trade, their personality, or how they looked. You can look up your surname origin in this FREE online Surname Dictionary.

Surname Origins and Last Name Meanings.

My surname Reid is a Scottish name meaning red hair or ruddy complexion. I don't know how many Reids today have red hair or a ruddy complexion, because none in our family do. But it is fun to imagine a red-headed Scotsman of the Middle Ages as the progenitor of our family line.

Schuylkill County, PA, Hero Dead of World War II

Schuylkill County Genealogy Ties announces the addition of Schuylkill County's Hero Dead of World War II, a list of the almost 1000 World War II military personnel casualties from all of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.

Included are photos of the men of Schuylkill Haven who gave their lives during World War II. Service Records for these men are available from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO to the next of kin.

For more information, go to
Ordering Pension and Service Records.

Schuylkill County Genealogy Ties
Schuylkill County's Hero Dead of World War II

Looking for a Pennsylvania Ancestor? Part I

Want to research your family in Pennsylvania? Here are some great transcriptions of original source material and other resources to help find your Pennsylvania ancestors.

PA Biographies Biographies of Pennsylvania residents written in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Family History Centers in Pennsylvania Locations of Family History Centers, branches of the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Genealogy Search Engines for Pennsylvania Search Pennsylvania databases

Passenger Lists
German Passenger Lists to PA 1734-1808

PA Civil War (1861-1865)

• Rosters
• Pa Civil War soldiers by county
• 1883 Pension Lists
• Biographies of Pa Civil War soldiers
• Medal of Honor Recipients
• Find your Civil War Ancestor
  

Pa Spanish American War (1898-1899)

• Rosters
• Medal of Honor Winners
• Find a PA Spanish American Ancestor
  

1895 Atlas of Pennsylvania
ARIAS - Pennsylvania Digital Archives


Passenger Lists to Pennsylvania
Ship Passenger Lists to Philadelphia 1727-1808.

Looking for a Pennsylvania Ancestor? Part II

Want to research your family in Pennsylvania? Here are more great transcriptions of original source material and other resources to help find your Pennsylvania ancestors.

Passenger Lists to Pennsylvania Ship Passenger Lists to Philadelphia 1727-1808.

Pennsylvania GenWeb State & county resources on include census, vital records, queries, surname listings, publications, associations and libraries, lookup volunteers.

Pennsylvania GenWeb Archives Transcriptions of original source material from the state of Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Mailing Lists Genealogy mailing lists for Pennsylvania and its counties.

GenForum Pennsylvania Add or post Pennsylvania queries.

Ancestry Message Boards Pennsylvania Add or post Pennsylvania queries

Pennsylvania Research Guides The Mormon Church offers these free genealogy research guides to help you locate genealogy records. Includes an individualized search strategy by event and date.

Pennsylvania State Archives
Box 1026 Attn: ERA Harrisburg, PA 17108-1026
Tel: 717-783-3281

Archives Research Service
Division of Vital Records
State Department of Health Central Building 101 South Mercer Street
P.O. Box 1528 New Castle, PA 16103

(724) 656-3100
Birth (since 1906) $4.00;
Death (since 1906) $3.00
Marriage: Marriage License Clerks, County Court House, in county where license was issued. Cost varies
Divorce: Prothonotary, Court House, in county seat of county where divorce was granted.
Cost varies.
Access to birth and death certificates is limited to next of kin. Submit a readable copy of applicant's driver's license or other picture ID with your request. Make check or money order payable to Division of Vital Records.

Cousin Relationships

Are you confused by the term "removed" in cousin relationships? Have you wondered how to determine who is your second cousin once-removed or first cousin three-times removed?

The word "Cousin" is usually good enough when we are meeting someone casually, but genealogists like to know precise relationships.

When the word "removed" is used to describe a relationship, it indicates that the two people are from different generations. You are in the same generation if you have an equal amount of generations from the common ancestor, whether grandparent, great-grandparent or even further back.

"First cousins once removed" describes two individuals with one cousin's grandparents as the common ancestor but who themselves are one generation different from each other.

Generation when defining a cousin relationship has nothing to do with age. You can be 50 years difference in age, yet still be in the same generation as cousins.

Confused?

Try the Cousin Relation Calculator.

Play with the cousin calculator, display a relationship chart, and read the relationship definitions.

Soundex Search

What does it mean when a database offers a soundex search?

Soundex sorts together surnames that sound similar but have different spellings. A soundex code begins with the first letter of the surname followed by a three-digit code that represents the first three remaining consonants. Zeros will be added to names that do not have enough letters to be coded.

Soundex Calculator
Calculate the soundex codes for your surname.

Searching a genealogy database using a soundex search option is a way of doing a phonetic search. Searching for Johnson in a database with a soundex search will bring results that include Johnson, Johnsson, Johnsen, Johanson and any other surname that has the soundex code of J525.

Even if you think your surname has always been spelled the same, the name may have been mis-transcribed into the database.

It's not a good idea to begin a database search with a soundex search as you will receive many more results than from a non-soundex search. A soundex search is best after being unsuccessful in a first search OR if you are unsure how to spell a name.

Some genealogy databases offer soundex searches. Take a look at the little pull-down tab on the search box. If it offers a soundex search in addtion to an exact search, take advantage!

Easy Google Genealogy Searcher

Can't remember all the Google tricks you've heard for genealogy searching? Want to learn some things you probably had no idea Google could do? The Easy Genealogy Google Genealogy Searcher puts advanced Google features on one page with suggested keywords and advice about how each feature is useful for genealogy searches. Learn the many possibilities Google offers for genealogy research and become a genealogy Google expert with the

Easy Google Genealogy Searcher.

For each specialized genealogy search, there are 'help' options, suggested keywords & tips to make the most of the search.

Have a common surname that is difficult to search for because the surname also has other meanings such as Brown, Church, or Powers? Or a surname that is also a first name such as Thomas or James? The Easy Google Genealogy Searcher offers several search options to make finding these surnames easier including searching in surname websites, searching the Google directory, and searching by family tree.

Use Google as a dictionary to look up meanings for:

• Antiquated disease names, such as apoplexy, dropsy, phthisis, or quinsy.
• Acronyms found on old documents or obituaries such as IOOF or AOH.
• Names for old-fashioned occupations such as cordwainer or wheelwright.
• Latin terms such as ab nepos.
• Terms found in old documents such as perch or rod.

And when you find that a great-grandfather owned land, but the deed gives the land size in unfamiliar terms such as rods and perches, the search engine page includes a calculator that will convert into modern dimensions.

Another option of the Easy Google Genealogy Searcher is "Search by Location". Unlike most map programs, this engine will search by keyword & location, even if you don't have the proper name. For instance, a search for 'cemetery' & 'Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,' , the Easy Google Genealogy Searcher finds all the cemeteries in Philadelphia and surrounding area.

The Easy Google Genealogy Searcher offers options to search for surnames in specific countries & to search for sites in a specific language, and offers the option to translate. A word or series of words can be pasted into the translation box & Google will translate. Or, type in the address & Google will translate an entire web page.

After searching for text about your ancestor on the web, try searching for his photograph by using Google's image search.

Try searching for:

• Photos of ancestors.
• Photos of tombstones or churches.
• Photographs of your ancestral hometown or its landmarks.
• Images of original documents concerning your ancestor; i.e. wills, military papers.
• Images of the type of ship on which your ancestor immigrated; i.e. brigantine or brig
• Images of your ancestor's tools of trade, such as blacksmith tools.

Try the Easy Google Genealogy Searcher to help make your genealogy searching more effective. It's FREE.

Easy Google Genealogy Searcher.