FInding out if a ship sailed in a certain year

Marie asked this question:

Did the SS Elbe have a 1881 passenger list to the United States from Bremer. My Grandfather and Grandmother came to America, supposedly on the Elbe, for their Honeymoon in 1881. The only passengers list I can find start in 1882 - 1885.

Olive Tree Answer: Hello Marie. This is where I wish you had given me the names of your grandparents. I could have had a bit of a search for them. You also don't say what your source is for their arrival in 1881. If it is family lore or a census record, be cautious in taking it as a correct year. The year of immigration is one of the most MISremembered years of all! So always add a year or two on either side and in this case, search 1880-1882.

As for your question re the Elbe sailing in 1881, you can check this by going to Ancestry.com and browsing through their list of ship arrivals that year. Since you didn't tell me what the port of arrival was, I can't check this for you.

However I did go into New York Arrivals and have a quick look for the Elbe in 1881 and it is there with many sailings that year from Bremen, Germany and Southampton, England. I'm not sure where you were looking but it may be time to go back to your search.

Finding out what newspapers exist in different locations

Gini asked

I would like to find out how you find out the name of newspapers in a certain city or state. I would like to search newspapers but do not know the names of them. My Ancestors were from Owensboro and Breckinridge and many other different parts of Kentucky. Many of those newspapers of course are no longer in circulation and I live in California and have just recently learned of Kentucky relatives. One of the cities was a very small city, Patesville. I have put off looking because I am not sure where to start.

Olive Tree Answer: Hi Gini, there are different ways to find out if Patesville or other Kentucky areas had a newspaper which has accessible records. One is to go to the various online newspaper sites and check their list of Kentucky newspapers.

You can try NewspaperARCHIVE.com, GenealogyBank.com and Ancestry.com first.

You can also go to the Kentucky GenWeb site to see if there is a list (by county) of available newspapers. Also try FamilySearch Catalogue to see what they have on microfilm. The University of Kentucky also has a list of newspapers they hold.

Finding Answers in Naturalization Records

Olav asked

Still currently researching my grand uncle, Berger Andrew Martinsen (Social Security No. 451-22-6033), Searching for information regarding a wife or possible descendants of Berger Andrew Martinsen. He was borned in Norway October 29, 1893, was a seaman all his life. He became an US citizent aprox 1942, and he lived on Fulton st,Brooklym and leter on Church Street, Massapequa, Nassau County, New York and died 0ctober 1. 1979. He was the son of Harald and Petra Martinussen of Bergen, Norway. Searching for ANY information regarding his grave and maybe who was mentioned around his funeral We have been looking for descendents and /or caretakers for a long time.

Olive Tree Answer: Hi Olav, I know how frustrating it can be to hunt for an ancestor or a relative without much luck. So I'm pleased to tell you there is good news! Both Ancestry.com and
Footnote.com have Berger's Naturalization Petition online. These are the full petition so you will find information on his family - wife and children, when he sailed to USA, what ship he was on, where he sailed from and so on. He petitioned for Naturalization in 1928.

Ancestry has him indexed as Martinson and the image is in their World Archives Project. Footnote has him indexed as Martinsen so be aware of the differences if you use one of their links. You can also check microfilm (details are below) if you prefer.

Name: Berger Andreas Martinson
Age: 34
Naturalization Date: 9 Aug 1928
Former Nationality: Norway
Record Type: Petition for Naturalization
Court Type: District Court
Court: (Rolls 0579-0612) Petition No. 134215 - Petition No. 142460
Court Location: Southern District, New York
Naturalization Record Number: 139457
Roll Description: (Roll 0274) Petition No. 54368 - Petition No. 54646
Archive Series: M1972
State: New York

You will also find Berger in the U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards for 1942 and sailing as a crew member on many ships lists on Ancestry.com

You may want to check newspapers for an obituary for Berger, as it may give the location of his burial site. You can search Obituaries on GenealogyBank.com or use NewspaperARCHIVE.com to hunt for an obituary.

How to Find War of 1812 Records for an Ancestor

Carol asked

My problem is the origins in Ireland of my 2nd great-grandfather, Richard FERGUSON. Various census records and his land grant for Broken Front 19 on the Grand River in Waterloo County give a birth of 1784-1787 in Ireland. The land grant petition in January 1816 says he was a member of the Flank Company 2d Regiment of the York Militia and fought at the Battle of Queenston. It also says he had been in the country 6 years when he applied for the grant and that he was a native of Ireland.

I would like to find his militia enlistment papers, if possible, to see if they can give me any clue as to where in Ireland he was born. He was C of E on all the census records which is a small help, I am really stupid when it comes to negotiating the Archives of Canada catalog and search engine. I just cannot seem to fathom all those "bundles" and other numbers

Hi Carol, Don't feel stupid about not understanding the Archives system. It can be very confusing! Try to clear your head and remember that their use of such terms as "bundles" is a label. It is simply their way of organizing and labelling the original bits of paper and documents. So even if you don't understand how they have organized or labelled the records, you can just write down exactly what it is you want, then ask an Archivist how to find it.

For the War of 1812, it's a bit tricky. The records are not in one place, and not complete. But there are many assorted records and you will just have to search out each one in hopes of finding something for your ancestor. It is unlikely you will find his enlistment papers but you never know exactly what will turn up!

I think your best bet is to start at War of 1812 pages on my site. Scroll down the page (it's quite far down!) to the chart titled War of 1812 with columns labelled Type of Record - Location of Record - Ordering Information - Comments

Als, Collections Canada website is invaluable! You want War of 1812 - a reader's guide. Have fun and I hope you find more on your War of 1812 ancestor

How to Obtain Complete Details from an index-only database

M. R. asked

I am trying to figure out if the birth record that I found on ancestry.com and listed below could be my great uncle's (Morris Yudin/Judin) or one of his brother's (Sam/Shamer, Abraham/Abram, Israel/Yrael) because the year is approximately right. (according to Morris's marriage certificate he was born in 1877) I believe the family was originally from Sharkovshchina (the American pronunciation of the family's original home was "Sharkoytzin" according to my uncle), part of the former Empire of Russia in the late 19th C., but present day in Belarus. I just found out that the father's name for the above men was Yehuda Leib Judin/Yudin (Lewis/Louis in English) and the mother's maiden name was Malka (Mollie) Shapiro (I don't know the Russian equivalent of Shapiro).

I would like to know:

1. Would a child born in one location have a birth registered in a location about 115 miles away at that time?

2. more information about that particular index entry, ie child's first name, parents name's, etc.

3. What is "Yehuda"?? the first name, the patronym or something else? On naturalization records/marriage records the father's name was only listed as Leib, but family just told me about the "yehuda" part, although there was an illegible word on a ship manifest before the word, Leib (you commented on this in a June 3 response, Tips on reading handwriting in old documents)

Thank you again for your help.
Jewish Gem

Belarus: Mogilev Male Birth Index, 1862-1893
about Yudin
Last Name: Yudin
Father: Leiba
Birth Year: 1879
Index: 248

Olive Tree Answer: Hello again! As always you have written a very concise and easy to follow query, so I thank you! I have left your query intact but am only going to answer questions #1 & #2 today.

Re #1 - The short answer is "yes". Anything is possible. The couple may have taken their newborn child to visit family and then decided to register the birth. There could be any number of reasons why a child's birth might be registered some distance from its home.

Re #2 - Whenever you find a database, whether it is online or in a book or on microfilm, always read the Source Information. Sometimes this is in the preface or at the end of the database. You have to look around for it but somewhere there should be an explanation of what the database contains, and how you can obtain full details if it is an index.

In this case if you go to Ancestry.com and use their Card Catalogue to get to the specific search page for Belarus: Mogilev Male Birth Index, 1862-1893 you will find your answer. Under the search box, there is a paragraph titled Source Information, then a paragraph titled About Belarus: Mogilev Male Birth Index, 1862-1893 and lastly this statement

Where to go from here:
For more information about this database, please visit the JewishGen website:
Mogilev Birth Index for Boys, 1864-1894

There is a clickable link to the website and a very complete explanation of how to obtain the full birth record. Please keep us informed as to how your search is progressing!

A reader responds to question about Australian Ships Passenger Lists

Followup to Naomi's question about Australian Ships Passenger Lists, kindly sent by Mike. Thank you Mike!

From the National Archives of Australia:

Title
Free passage from England to the Commonwealth - Fiancee of Ex/Lieut W R B Edgar, 13th Battalion Miss Florence Thomas, Miss Marie Cittermann, Mrs H Hawker, Mary Devon and to Sydney Miss Catherine Oliver Heatherleigh, Miss Dallas Katheline Wort, Miss Avice Allyss, Miss Doris Crockett, Miss C M Cooper

There's no more information on line but a copy can be requested of the record - my experience this takes 3 to 4 weeks.

Cheers
Mike

Mike Murray and Lesley Silvester
TimeTrackers
East Fremantle
Western Australia

Tel 08 9339 8078
Fax 08 9339 0519

British and Australian genealogical and historical research,education, publishing and film-making

www.timetrackers.com.au

A Reader Asks where the Canadian census images on Ancestry come from

David asked about Ancestry Canadian Census Images

I wonder if I might ask whether the noted images are on Ancestry's site or on that of the Government of Canada?

Hi David - That's a good question. If you go to
Ancestry.com and click on each census year (1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911 and 1916) you will find information about each set of records. It is under the specific census search box and is titled "Source Information"

For example under the 1871 Census Canada, the information is given as "Images reproduced by courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Canada"

1851 and 1861 census says "Data imaged from Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Canada" That sounds to me like the images are pulled directly from LAC (Library & Archives Canada) website.

1881 census says "Images reproduced by courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Canada."

So it appears from the statements above that some census years may be housed on Ancestry's serve with permission of LAC and that others are pulled directly from LAC's server. However -- a visit to Ancestry.ca and their information on the Canadian Census database states "Original images of the Canadian censuses are held at LAC." This statement seems to indicate that all the images are on LAC's server and displayed on Ancestry with LAC's permission.

It's an intriguing question but I think the only way to get a defiinitive answer is to write to Ancestry.com and ask them