Getting Organized: What to Toss, What to Keep!

We kicked off the new year with an inspirational talk by Debbie Baker on organizing all of our genealogy materials and deciding what to keep and what to toss.  It was the perfect topic for January, and hopefully everyone was inspired to do a little genealogy housecleaning.

Debbie said, "A good sign of organization is when you can locate any record you have within 2 minutes." What do you think - - are you organized?

Her goal for 2018 

Digitize all of the documents and photos she has, and to back them up in several locations

The following is a brief summary of what to toss and what to keep.

What to Toss!

• Old road maps
• Random newspaper clippings
• Scanned documents with signatures
• Old bank records, tax forms, etc.
• Old photograph albums (not family photos) after you've scanned and backed them up

What to Keep!

• Maps where your ancestors lived
• Newspaper clippings of your ancestors 
• Vital records 
• Family invitations and announcements
• Military records place medals and ribbons in a shadowbox)
• Letters and correspondence
• Diaries and journals
• Phone books and directories
• Family Bible (scan title and copyright page, as well as family information. Purchase an archive quality box and tissue paper to store the Bible in to prevent deterioration)
• Photographs (Scan and upload online to Flickr, Photobucket or a similar site. You can make them private, and then store in acid free archive quality plastic sleeves)
• Personal items such as jewelry, watches, glasses, etc. Store in archive quality containers.

Additional organization tips:

• Find a filing system that fits your style (example: binders, folders, etc.).
• Place your books together on the book shelf. Keep a list of the titles on your phone so you don't end up purchasing a second copy.
• Organize your items by family surnames.
• Organize your documents online in folders so they are easy to find.
• Digitize and back up all of your documents and photos in case the original is ever damaged or lost.

Thank you Debbie for sharing your best tips and advice on getting organized!

Member Directory of Surnames and Locations of Research

Member Directory of Surnames and Locations they are Researching

(The surname (1st column) and the location of where that ancestor lived (2nd column) is listed for each group member)

Donna Barnes ~

Cunningham                Joliet, IL

Jones                           East St. Louis, IL

McCarthy                    Joliet, IL

Barnes                         Joliet, IL

Shiner                          IL, IN

Pedersen                      IL

Eartly                          IL, IN

Nancy Barnett ~

Jones                           Vermont & NY

Freeman                      Madison Cty, KY

Sheppard                     Bandera, TX & MO

Henson                        TX & OK

Janice Kausz Benson ~

Kausz                          Burlington, IO

Schwartz & Morlok    Burlington, IO

Schuette                      Manitowoc & Newton, WI

Neuhaus                      Newton, WI

           

Sandy Booth ~

Barnes                         IL, Poland, England

Marsiglio                     IL, PA, MO, Italy

Kociuba                       IL, Poland

Toigo                           IL, Italy

Sue Carpenter ~

Transue/Transou          PA, NC, Germany, France   

Beck/Reagle/Riegel     PA & Germany

Savery                         NY & England

Krymer/Kramer           NY & NJ

Perrine/Perrin              NY & NJ

Parker                          NY & Ireland

Frank Ford ~

Ford/Herring/Jones     Marion & Charleston, S.C.

Hedden/Hardesty &    Shelby, KY and Spencer, KY

Snider:

Betty Gamble ~

Doehne                        PA & Prussia

Ketner                         PA & Germany

Vaughn                       PA

Warren                        PA

Strickhowser               PA

Garner                         PA

Koenig                        Germany

John Gundlach ~

Gundlach                    NJ, PA

Edwards                      NC, VA

Race                            NY, MA

Carey                           NJ, DE

Ostrander                    NY

Darling                        NY, MA

Houck                         PA

Jim Hamilton ~

Fullshire Line             Brooklyn, NY; Baton Rouge, LA; Craven County, NC

Lowell Irminger ~

Irminger                      MO & Switzerland

Moberly                       Missouri

Love                            Missouri

Boggess                       Missouri

Frederic Laird ~

Laird                     PA, Glasgow, Scotland 

Hoover                  Somerset Cty, PA

Ray                        PA (Quakers)

Bittner                   Somerset Cty, PA

Borland                 Glasgow, Scotland

 Judy Lawrence ~

Cobb, Estes, Stamper, Farrar, Wilhoit, Holbrook, Smith, Sawson & Snelson lines:

Fayette, Owen & Woodford Counties, KY and  MA, VA, NC & SC.

King, McKinley, Lake, Lawrence, Myers, Bucher & Smith lines:

Harrison Cty, KY, Stafford Cty, VA & Adams Cty, PA

Berwager, Utz, Matthias, Feeser & Born lines: Carroll Cty, MD

Gale Harvey ~

Harvey                        Mass., England

Poulin                          Maine, Quebec

Goodwin                     Missouri, Prussia

Cheryl Lehman ~

Hitchens                      Macon, IL

Hoff                            Sangamon, IL

Peck                            Platt, IL

Carr                             Dewitt, IL

Lehman                       Macon, IL

Cronk                          Fayette, IL

Florey                          Moultrie, IL

Bill Lowery ~

Chapman                     MA, Milwaukee

Chapin                         MA, Chicago, Milw.

Lowery (Lowry)         Antrim Cty, Ireland

Kunera/Kubera            Chicago, Poland

Wheeler                       Western N.Y.

Chuck Linn ~

Linn (Lynn)                 Monongalia Cty, WV

Seaman                        Bulmer, Essex, Engl.

Marie Givens McGregor ~

Givens, Newman & Anderson lines in:   Henry Cty, Dothan, AL

Susan Myers ~

Grunewald, Mandel, Schmittner &

Hillermeier Lines:      Bavaria, Germany   

Tanguay                      MI & Quebec,Canada, France

Walter & Phillips        MI & Ontario,Canada & Alsace, France

Nan Rosenthal ~

Sternberg                     Eastern Europe

Eskin                           Russia/Moscow

Friedman                     Czech Republic

Levicof(f)                    Romania

Robbie Smith ~

Schneider (Snider)      Indian Territory, OK & Germany

Foster                          Tennessee

Ridgway                     Prussia & England

Strategies for Finding the Women in your Family Tree

3 Strategies for Finding the Women in your Family Tree

To find the elusive female ancestors you will need to broaden your search to include direct and collateral lines. It will involve additional work on your part but you’ll learn a lot more about your family in the process.

Strategy #1 – Research Her Husbands (all of them)

Research her husband(s) thoroughly - If your ancestor was married more than once, it’s an absolute necessity to thoroughly search for records on all of her husbands and marriages. Each of her husbands would have created records that contain information about her.

#1 – Land records: Look for land deeds that indicate a gift, sale or inheritance. These records would contain her father’s name and most likely her married name, along with her husband’s name making it easier to connect them. 

#2 – Probate records: Wills are another great source that would mention her (and possibly her spouse) along with her father’s surname.

#3 – Court records: There may be court records that a spouse, or the death of a spouse would generate.

#4 – Marriage records: There are many types of records created prior to a marriage. Some to look for are: license and announcements, banns and bonds, civil registrations, divorce.

Census Records:

# 1 – Locate every census record (federal and state) that her husband(s) would be included on.

#2 - Look at the actual image of the census record. See who is living with them in each census. Often times, an elderly parent would move in when their spouse died. Other times, a niece or nephew might be living with them. If this niece or nephew is the child of one of her brothers it would lead you to her possible surname. Another relative to look for in their home would be a sister or sister-in-law.

The Husband’s Siblings

#1 – Fully research all of her husband(s) siblings and who they married. Often times, brothers and sisters would marry the brothers and sisters of a neighboring family. If you notice common surnames, you will want to search for the parents of those individuals to see if they have a daughter with the same first name as your ancestor.

Cemetery Records

#1 – Search for the headstone(s) of both her and her husband. Her maiden name might be included. 

#2 – If they are buried in a family cemetery that is not the surname of her married name, it might be her line.

#3 – Check burial records for adjacent plots to see who is buried nearby.

Strategy #2 – Research Her Children

Research all of your female ancestor’s children – not just the child you descend from. In the past, there were a large number of children in a family, and this creates more opportunities for you to find at least one record that contains her maiden name.

The records that children create that may contain their mother’s maiden name are:

#1 – Baptismal record

#2 – Marriage record (there may be more than one if they married several times)

#3 – Death record

Don’t skip over the children who died young. Your ancestor’s marriage or death record may not have listed her maiden name, but one of their sibling’s records might. You might also locate the town and country from which the parents immigrated from in your search, which would be an added bonus.

Strategy #3 – Research Newspapers

Newspapers contain the daily social activities of your ancestors. Often times the female ancestors were listed as Mrs. (insert her husband’s name), but this doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to find her maiden name. Look for the following items in newspapers:

#1 – Wedding announcements

#2 – Obituaries: She would most likely be listed with her married and maiden name in her parent’s obituary. Her family might also include her maiden name in her obituary.

#3 – Social activities: You might find a mention in the paper that her mother (listed by name) is visiting her.

Some ancestors are easy to trace, while others can be a challenge. The latter are the ones that will require a strategy in order to uncover the mystery. There are many types of documents, such as the ones listed above that will provide an opportunity for you to glean the maiden names of your female ancestors. Take the challenge and dig deep in search of the women in your family tree. They are the other half of your tree and their lines are equally as important in your genealogical quest.

In closing, stay organized, be persistent and search for every possible record that might lead you to the answers you’re searching for.

Basic Paleography - Deciphering Old Historical Documents

In our November meeting, we watched a brief video with tips on deciphering old documents.  Following the video we practiced what we learned, and by the end of the document we were starting to get pretty good at it. A few individuals offered up a document for the group to try and translate, while others shared tips that have helped them read the contents of historical documents. The following is this month's handout:

Basic Paleography

Deciphering Old Handwriting on Historical Documents

If you’ve ever tried to read old land records or wills, in your genealogy research, you will have noticed that handwriting from the 1600’s, 1700’s and 1800’s is quite different from today. There are words that were used in the past that are no longer used today.  Prior to the 1800’s there was no standard way of spelling until the advent of the Webster’s Dictionary. People would spell words and names phonetically, which is why you will find your ancestor’s surnames spelled in many different variations.

Some words used back then that are no longer in use are “ye” which can either mean ‘you’ or ‘the’. If you see a double cursive ‘ff’ in a word, that is actually an old fashioned lower case ‘s’. The letters “U” and “V,” were used interchangeably. You will find that the most difficult letters to read in 17^th century documents are: c, e, h, r, s and t. The script of the past contained a lot of flourishes and embellishments which can make it difficult to decipher the spelling or the sound. Numerals can be a challenge, as well.

Some past abbreviations that were used commonly are:

Yt - means ‘that.’

b.l.w. – bounty land warrant

o.s.p.  – died without issue

Als – stands for Alias

d.s.p. – died without issue

do – is short for ditto

The following are some common words and phrases contained in old wills and land grants:

 “grantor,” “grantee,” and “appurtenance.”

“Know all men by these presents…”

“This indenture made this date” usually is the beginning of a land deed.

“signed sealed and delivered”

“In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this “date”

Tips for reading historical documents

#1 – Read through the entire document to get a feel for the rhythm and cadence. You will recognize some words which may help you in determining the more difficult words.

#2 – Refer to the attached historical alphabet sheet when you come upon a difficult word to help you decipher specific letters.

#3 – Write or type the document as you’re reading through it. When you come upon a word that you cannot determine, try to sound it out or refer to the historical alphabet sheet.

#4 – Look for common words or phrases, especially when deciphering European documents which in many cases are written in Latin. Similar words will be used such as: “daughter,” “son,” “widow,” “legitimate marriage.” The month, day and year of birth or death will be written out as a word. You can search online for the Latin spelling for the months and numbers. Knowing these Latin words will make deciphering the document easier.

#5 – Read words phonetically. It wasn’t until 1806 that spelling began to become more uniform following the publishing of A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster. Prior to that time words were spelled by the individual the way they sounded. Accents from immigrants could dramatically affect the way someone interpreted the word and spelled it. Many times clerks would abbreviate names and words, and names were not always capitalized.

Deciphering Other Languages:

When trying to decipher documents written in different languages, refer to the historical alphabet sheets that can be found online such as:

German – https://www.familytreemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/germanic-alpha-chart.pdf

Italian – https://script.byu.edu/Pages/Italian/en/alphabet.aspx

French – https://script.byu.edu/Pages/French/en/alphabet.aspx

Spanish – https://script.byu.edu/Pages/Spanish/en/alphabet.aspx

Polish - https://www.omniglot.com/writing/polish.htm

Russian - https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/russian.pdf

Additional Sources:

How to Read Old Handwriting: A Primer – www.ancestralfindings.com/how-to-read-old-handwriting-a-primer/

Deciphering Old Handwriting in Genealogy – www.genealogyandfamilyhistory.com/deciphering-old-handwriting-in-genealogy/

Deciphering Old Handwriting – www.legacytree.com/blog/five-tips-deciphering-old-handwriting

Practical DNA for Genealogy

We were very fortunate that the Mount Dora Library Association and W.T. Bland Public Library sponsored Jim Lannin, who spoke at our October meeting. His presentation on 'Practical DNA for Genealogy" was excellent. He provided a good overview of how to utilize DNA results to build your family tree.

His talk began with an explanation of the various types of DNA tests and the results they produce. He suggested that an individual's DNA results be uploaded to FamilyTree DNA, as well as DNA Gedcom to enhance the amount of DNA matches. The closest DNA matches will provide the best opportunities for building an individual's family tree.

He provided copies of charts which will help an individual determine the relationship between themselves and their DNA matches. Jim also provided a list of resources that provide additional information on DNA testing and how to use it in your genealogy research.

The copies of his handouts (including the resources and charts) are available by clicking here.

Jim's presentation was very informative and enjoyed by all. We extend our thanks to the Mount Dora Library Association and the W.T. Bland Public Library for sponsoring this event.

Searching for Unindexed Records on FamilySearch.org

At our September meeting we watched a Legacy Family Tree webinar entitled 'Another Way to Look at FamilySearch.org' by Mary Roddy - genealogist, writer and lecturer. It was difficult to fully grasp the methods of delving deeper into the unindexed records at Family Search in this quick paced video. More importantly though, there was a lot of great information to be gleaned from Mary's presentation.

She stressed the importance of reading the instructions and the index guide located at the beginning of each microfilm. We learned, and I think we'll all agree, that understanding the index guide is one of the most difficult tasks in this whole process, as each guide is a bit different and can be quite confusing. Mary, also stressed the time-saving lesson of looking over the unindexed records to determine how they are organized (i.e. alphabetically, chronologically, etc.) before beginning to search for a family record.

One of the most important aspects of this video is that it has given all of us the hope and possibility of finding that (so far) elusive family record. With a little patience and practice, I do believe that we can all master the skills we need to search through and benefit from these unindexed records.

I would like to thank Geoff Rasmussen at Legacy Family Tree website for granting us permission to show this video to our genealogy group, and to Debbie Baker for suggesting it and allowing us to benefit from her personal subscription.

From now until October 15th you can watch the video again at the Legacy Family Tree Website where you'll find it along with 14 others you can view. Take advantage of this special offer to watch and learn as much as you can on genealogy research and organization topics.

A condensed written explanation on how to find these unindexed records can also be found on Family Tree Magazine. 

Coming up in October we will have a new workshop entitled 'Tips and Tricks to Genealogy Research'. This workshop will be held on Wednesday, October 11th from 10:30 to 12:00.

In addition, we will have our Genealogy Basics workshop on Saturday, October 7th from 10:30 to 12:00. This is the first time we've held this workshop on a Saturday, so if you know of anyone who works that might be interested in attending, please let them know.

 Click here to register for either of these workshops 

Using Newspaper Clippings in your Genealogy Research

Newspapers are an intricate piece of the puzzle in discovering your ancestors and the details of their lives. Information that can be found in newspapers such as birth, marriage and death notices can provide a connection of family lines and find missing family members. They may also prove helpful in finding the maiden names of female ancestors.

As you build your tree, you will begin to realize that there’s more to genealogy than accumulating the names and dates of birth/death of your ancestors. Newspapers will help you fill in the details of your ancestors’ daily lives.

Some of the information available in newspapers that will help you recreate your ancestors’ lives are: social events, local organizations they were involved in, accidents (fire, car, disputes) and accidental deaths (weather events, car, train, etc), political office they may have run for or held, legal notices (divorce, law suits, bankruptices, etc.), real estate transactions, businesses they may have owned or worked for, trade associations they may have belonged to or held office in, religious affiliations (social events & history celebrations), school activities they participated in, missing person reports, local disasters, epidemics and the simple day to day events that were included in many small town newspapers.

As you accumulate the newspaper clippings that tell the story of your ancestors, be sure to include these as sources on your family tree (online or software program) for future generations to discover.

Following is a list of websites that provide newspaper clippings. You will most likely discover that you’ll need to search on multiple websites depending on where your ancestors lived. Start with the free sites to see what is available before purchasing a subscription.  NOTE: Keep in mind that more newspapers are being digitized daily, so if you don’t find anything on the free sites now – keep checking back for newly added newspapers.

FREE SITES:

Library of Congress  - Chronicling America has a comprehensive collection of historic newspapers from all over the U.S. - http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

Elephind has 3,450 newspaper titles - http://elephind.com

Free Newspaper Archives -http://www.freenewspaperarchives.us/

Google News Archive - https://news.google.com/newspapers

The Ancestor Hunt links to libraries in every state that contain digitized newspaper clippings. -   http://www.theancestorhunt.com/blog/search-40-million-historic-us-newspaper-pages-for-free#.WZMG7VGGOUn

Digital Historical Newspaper Wiki includes foreign newspapers, too - https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Digital_Historical_Newspapers

  

SUBSCRIPTION SITES:

Newspapers.com is available through Ancestry.com at a reduced rate if you are an Ancestry subscriber - http://newspapers.com.

Ancestry.com also provides some newspaper clippings in their basic subscription service. Check the ‘catalog section’ for availability – http://www.ancestry.com

Genealogy Bank contains historical newspapers & articles for all 50 states. 7,000 newspaper titles as far back as 1690 - https://www.genealogybank.com/explore/newspapers/all

Newspaper Archive has 8,136 newspaper titles - https://newspaperarchive.com/us/

DIRECTORIES:

The Online Historical Newspaper website is a directory by state that lets you see which websites contain newspapers for the area you’re searching in. Some of the websites will be free and some will require a subscription. Note: It was selected as one of the “Family Tree Magazine 101 Best Websites 2017” - https://sites.google.com/site/onlinenewspapersite/Home

United States Newspaper Wiki by Family Search – The Family Search Wikis are always an excellent place to start when learning how to research a specific place or method of genealogy research. This wiki is no exception. A good explanation and list of links is a good starting point - https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States_Newspapers

OTHER BENEFICIAL SITES:

The following two sites contain a tremendous amount of information which will aid in searching for more information related to your ancestors. Make a note of these two sites because they will become invaluable as time goes on and more records are digitized and placed online.

Digital Public Library of America is in its beginning stages but it already contains 16,847,543 items from libraries, archives and museums across the United States. The beauty of this site is that it is bringing information from thousands of sources together and providing a link to it on their website. For instance, you can find a number of documents on the Mennonites in Pennsylvania which is contained in the University of Virginia holdings. You might only  think of searching in Pennsylvania museums, archives, etc., but other information might be available in other states archives.  This website gives you access to all of the documents (that have been digitized) wherever they might be located. As time goes on, this will become a fabulous website for locating information -  http://dp.la

Digital State Archives are rapidly digitizing their holdings such as documents, photographs, videos, oral  histories, music, deed, artifacts, court records, slave emancipation records, newspapers, reports, military records and more. They are a great resource for information and this website provides a directory to the archives in each state - http://www.digitalstatearchives.com/

Because It's NOT all Online!

Our July meeting contained a lot of useful information. We were lucky to have Tom Wilcox, who is an Adult Services Librarian at the City of Leesburg Public Library as our speaker. He is in the genealogy department (2nd floor) of the Leesburg library and is available (especially via appointment) to provide assistance.

Tom's presentation was about the genealogical resources available in the genealogy department at the City of Leesburg Public Library. To recap his presentation, the most popular resources available are:

* Regional genealogies and history books  for many cities and states.

* CD-Rom's that contain articles for the National Genealogical Society Quarterly Magazine.

* Unusual books such as: Hookers, Crooks & Kooks - information on your wayward ancestors.

* Books published after 1923 that can't be found online because of copyright laws.

* Pioneers of Wiregrass, Georgia (books for other states are available also).

* Specific help guides for regional, state, or civil and revolutionary war information.

* Current day selection of a variety of Genealogy magazines.

* A 37 year obituary collection for Lake and Sumter counties.

* NewsBank Database which contains obituaries and death notices throughout the country from 1985 to the present.

Additional information can also be found at the library such as books containing passenger ship lists and more.

We are happy to see that we have a number of local people who are pursuing their family genealogy. Don't forget, we have volunteers manning the genealogy help desk every Wednesdays from 10 to 2 if you need some help.  

Preparing for a Research Trip

We had a very informative July meeting with around 28 people in attendance. One of our group members, Debbie Baker, gave her presentation on "Preparing for a Research Trip." She has taken many such trips in search of records on her ancestors, and provided us with some excellent ideas and helpful hints.

The following is a brief recap of all the insightful information she has learned through personal experience. She shared her knowledge on how to prepare and organize before the trip in order to maximize your time at each location on the road. Her four main steps are:

#1 - Determine where you want to go

Track your route on a map to find the most efficient route. Gather all the addresses of each location you will be visiting and enter them into a GPS tracking system, if you plan to use one.

Research the state, county and town where your ancestor(s) lived (www.familysearch.org/wiki) to determine the libraries, repositories and archives available and what records can be found at each one. This step will help you determine your route and know exactly where you need to go.

#2 - What is your research goal

Determine which ancestors you want to find records on. Debbie prepares her list by creating a spreadsheet. She begins listing her research goals beginning with the first stop on the map and continuing until the last one. Prior to creating this list she makes contact with each library, repository or archive to see how their records are organized (example: by county, event, etc.), so that she can set her research goals in accordance with the method each one uses.

She also suggested  a couple of organization tools that have been beneficial for organization and note keeping when she visits each location. Instead of hauling in a large notebook of records, these apps allow her to organize the information, access it anywhere and sync it with her cell phone, ipad and laptop computer.

Two organization apps:  EverNote and OneNote. 
Two storage solutions: Drop Box and Google Drive

(To learn more about each, click on the name above)

Hint ~ One of Debbie's hints when visiting cemeteries is to create a spreadsheet listing every ancestor buried in a specific cemetery. The spreadsheet includes the address of the cemetery, as well as GPS coordinates or grave location for each ancestor that she can find the information on. This reduces the amount of time spent in the cemetery office or walking around the cemetery searching for headstones. 

#3 - Prioritize your research

Indicate on your spreadsheet which ancestors information is the most important to you in the event you don't have enough time to cover them all. She will "bold" the names of the ancestors or records that are most important.

Hint ~ Another excellent hint suggested by Debbie is to include the call numbers for any books that you want to look at. You'll save time by not having to look them up in the library. 

#4 - Contact the library, repository or archive before leaving on your trip

Prior to leaving on your trip send an email or call each library, repository or archive to verify their address, times of operation, the documents available, if appointments are required, what parking is available (garage, lot, metered, etc.), what kind of electronic devices are allowed, if wifi is available, what the cost of copies are, and if thumb drives (for scanning) or sd cards are allowed.

In closing, three main themes came across in Debbie's presentation:

* The importance of establishing your research goals prior to your trip.

* Organizing the information you're searching for on each ancestor by creating spreadsheets or lists with the pertinent information.

* Being considerate and appreciative with the employees and/or volunteers at each location you visit.

Thank you Debbie for sharing your extensive knowledge of genealogy with us! 

Genealogy Tip of the Month

In Search of  Immigration Records

There were two points of entry into New York City where many of our ancestors arrived by passenger ship. It depends on their year of arrival as to which site to search for records.

Castle Garden - Arrivals from 1820 - 1892

Ellis Island - Arrivals from 1892 - 1924

There were also many other ports of entry into the U.S. Stephen P. Morse One-Step webpage is a great source when searching for your ancestors on passenger lists.

Cuban Roots

One of the ladies who recently attended our "Introduction to Genealogy & Ancestry.com" workshop is tracing her Cuban heritage. She emailed me recently asking for some assistance on where to find records. It doesn't appear as though many records for Cuba are on Ancestry.com, which really isn't that surprising since they have been a very closed society.

So I did a little research to see if I could provide some guidance on where to look, and surprisingly enough there appears to be a variety of websites with information available, so I'm creating this resource page for anyone who will be tracing their Cuban roots.

Aside from Ancestry and Family Search, one of the first places we all should be going to is a GenWeb page. The USGenWeb.org project created a page for every county and state in the U.S., but there is also a WorldGenWeb.org page for every country. This is a great resource for all of us since we will eventually being looking for records in a foreign country. 

#1 - The CubanGenWeb page contains lots of information with links to Cuban genealogy clubs, archives, databases and more.

#2 - The University of Miami has a Cuban Heritage Collection which might be beneficial. It's possible that genealogy volunteers might be available to look up information for those who do not live in the area.

#3 - The Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami looks to be well organized with a lot of resources available. This would be a great resource to go to for guidance.

#4 - Florida International Universities Libraries has an online resource that they claim is the "Cuban equivalent" of Ancestry.com. It is a resource that has been created to help families of the Cuban diaspora research their roots. It contains an extensive set of family trees, civil records and sacramental documents.

#5 - Genealogy Stack Exchange is a site that provides genealogy resources for every country. It's also a place to post a question and receive help. This particular link goes to the Cuban resource page.

#6 - Geneanet provides a resource page for Cuba where you can click on one of the regions of Cuba to search for records.

#7 - A blog entitled Hispanic Genealogy has included links to two sources he has found valuable in searching for records. He's been sharing his search on his blog since 2007 which can be found by clicking here. Blogs can be very helpful in learning how to research a particular location.

#8 - Tobias History Research provides some advice and links to search, as well as information on church and military records.

#9 - The Cuban page on Genealogy Today contains links to many resources.

#10 - Find My Cuban Family includes information on Cuban genealogy communities, databases, digital collections, immigration, books, maps and more.

#11 - The Guide to Cuban Genealogical Research - Records & Sources by Peter E. Carr is another good resource for understanding how to search for Cuban roots.

#12 The Cuban DNA Project by Family Tree is a good starting point for understanding your DNA results.

#13 - The Genealogy Forum's Research in Cuba contains links and is a place to ask questions and receive responses from others who are researching in Cuba, too.

#14 - Kindred Trails page for Cuba contains links to various records.

#15 - Cyndi's List has a page of links to Caribbean & West Indies resources (in which Cuba is included).

#16 - Genealogy Wise is a forum where you can post questions and receive help from others.

#17 - The Cuban Club of Miami group and The Cuban Genealogy group on Facebook will be an invaluable resource. So whether you like Facebook or not, create an account just to take advantage of these groups. Every state and country has groups, and I'm telling you these groups are invaluable with their help and suggestions.

#18 - Books available at Amazon on Cuban history & genealogy research.

A quick Google search is all you need to formulate a list of available resources. This applies to all of us, no matter what state or country we're researching in. All of the records we need are not contained on one site. When we run into a dead end on Ancestry (our first choice), our list of resources will become invaluable to us, and may very well be the difference in whether we meet with success or not.