Wordless Wednesday: Portland Headlight

American Ancestors Offers Free Irish Resources

How do we keep up with all of them? There seems to be a lot of free access to databases available lately. Here is one of the latest ones that started yesterday:

First Floor of NEHGS in Boston

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FREE Access to All Irish Resources on AmericanAncestors.org from March 15 to 22

Unique Databases, Boston Catholic Records, “How-to” Irish Research Guides, a Webinar, and More Resources Available with Free Guest Registration

AmericanAncestors.org/Irish

March 14, 2017—Boston, Massachusetts—Honor your Irish heritage this St. Patrick’s Day by researching your Irish ancestry on AmericanAncestors.org, the award-winning website of New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS). Learn the essential concepts and techniques for Irish research, and find out which manuscripts, collections, and sources are used by genealogists at American Ancestors to crack the toughest research cases.

Irish resources will be free and open from Wednesday, March 15, through midnight (EDST) on Wednesday, March 22. Access requires a free, brief sign-up on AmericanAncestors.org.

The Only Online Source for Boston’s Catholic Records

Browse record images of baptisms, marriages, and more from Boston’s oldest parishes, including the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Holy Trinity. NEHGS is digitizing parish records from 1789 to 1900, a period of significant growth for both Boston’s Catholic Church and the Irish immigrant population.

Find Your Irish Ancestors in FREE Databases on AmericanAncestors.org

Search unique collections such as Irish Immigrant Advertisements, 1831-1920, and the NEHGS-exclusive database The Annals of Beara, The Session Book of Aghadowey, 1702-1725, plus many more.

Break Through Your Irish Brick Wall

With expert resources from NEHGS, found exclusively on AmericanAncestors.org, learn tips for navigating the sometimes challenging course of finding Irish ancestors. This Irish-themed promotion from American Ancestors includes an hour-long webinar on NEHGS Irish Resources, an online subject guide to locate key resources and records in Irish genealogy, and popular articles from our American Ancestors magazine with fascinating insights about Irish and Irish American genealogy. .

NEHGS offers FREE access to all of its Irish databases and resources via AmericanAncestors.org from March 15 through midnight (EDST) on March 22. Access requires registration as a FREE Guest User at AmericanAncestors.org/Irish.

NERGC Looking Back and Forward

Portland, Maine Headlight from 2015

Providence Rhode Island last year, Manchester New Hampshire 2 years before that, and Springfield Massachusetts next year. At regular intervals, my thoughts have turned to New England vacations in the spring. Yes, New England is a beautiful place to visit in the springtime. I have many ancestors that lived there. But why is there a theme about the time of year developing?

The reason is that every two years I can combine a trip to New England to research and tour an area with some education and meeting up with other great genealogists. A year ago this morning we were heading home from the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence from that year’s The New England Regional Genealogical Consortium, Inc. (NERGC). It consisted of two and a half days of over 95 lectures in total. Many of them were geared towards research in Rhode Island itself, but they covered subjects all over New England and general topics as well.

 

Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts

It wasn’t just about the lectures either. In just about every class, I sat next to somebody I had met before. Walking between classrooms and in the vendor hall I ran into people that I know. Genealogists from all over New England, New York and beyond were gathering there to learn and discuss genealogy. There is huge serge in energy at such a place. If you’ve never been to a conference, you really must go to at least one to see what it is like. I always come home from such a conference exhausted, but with renewed eagerness to dive into more genealogy.

Next year we will be headed to Springfield a little later in April. The theme for the conference is: Using the Tools of Today & Tomorrow to Understand the Past and will be held April 26-29 at the MassMutual Convention Center in Springfield, Massachusetts. Although I don’t personally have any direct ancestors that lived in the area, I am sure there will be many lectures that I will look forward to hearing. 

Old town hall or schoolhouse Exeter, Rhode Island

The call for papers has closed, and they are still working on deciding which lectures will be presented. Some of the categories included repositories across New England, and many areas of technology. Other topics on the call for papers included: genealogy research focused within social, cultural, racial, or ethnic groups; and family history writing and publishing in print and on the web. So, there will be quite a variety of topics presented no matter which people are selected to present.

The website at http://www.nergc.org/ is still mainly giving information about last year’s conference, but it should be updated before long. Many volunteers are working behind the scenes to get everything ready for Springfield in 2017. Until then, we will just sit back and dream of New England and next year’s conference. I hope I will see many friends old and new there!

A Billion Records!

Inside New England Historical Genealogical Society

I overlooked this announcement yesterday. Who would have thought it could be true? My brain probably assumed it was just a late April Fool’s Day joke. However, American Ancestors is allowing free access to all their databases for 1 week starting yesterday!

In case you’re not familiar with this website, it is the site for the New England Historical Genealogical Society (NEHGS). Yes, that society with all the records in Boston. If you don’t already have a membership and have New England ancestors, you need to get over there and take a look at this resource fast!

Studying the records

If you have New York State ancestors, you need to get there just as fast. Let’s start with the fact that they have many, many records for New York as well as the New England states. After all, we border on half of their states. Also, think about your early New York ancestors, where did they come from? Unless they were early settlers in the Hudson Valley that landed at present-day New York City and traveled up the river or were native Americans, chances are they came here from New England. That was a major immigration route traveling west out of New England to New York and then farther west as time went on.

 The announcement:

American Ancestors by NEHGS Announces an Unprecedented, Historic Event for Genealogists: A BILLION Records FREE! AmericanAncestors.org/Free-Billion

April 6, 2016—Boston, Massachusetts—America’s oldest and largest genealogical society announces a historic event for family historians around the world. From April 6 to April 13, American Ancestors by New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) is offering FREE access to all of its online records on AmericanAncestors.org. More than one billion records covering 18 countries— including the most important family history research materials for early America created by the experts and scholars at NEHGS—and all are open to anyone who registers for a free account.  Start searching now at AmericanAncestors.org/Free-Billion.

To assist family historians of all levels in locating more pieces of the family tree puzzle, NEHGS is granting this unprecedented free access to its entire collection of genealogical databases from Wednesday, April 6, 2016, at 12:00 a.m. (EDT) through Wednesday, April 13, 2016, at 11:59 p.m. (EDT). Free accounts on AmericanAncestors.org ordinarily allow visitors only a sample of the vast offerings that NEHGS provides family historians of all levels. This unprecedented free access promotion by NEHGS from April 6 through April 13 offers the Society’s entire collection of online content for eight full days to anyone who registers for a free account.

About American Ancestors and NEHGS

Holding the largest collection of original family history materials in the country, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, founded in 1845, is the nation’s oldest and largest genealogical society. Our website, AmericanAncestors.org, offers access to more than 1 billion searchable records and leading scholarly resources to help you advance your family history research. Our expert staff helps researchers of all levels explore their past and their families’ unique place in history. Located in Boston, our research center houses millions of manuscripts, books, and original items to preserve the stories of families in America and beyond.