Military Links

The following websites give access to military records, which may be beneficial as you search for your veteran ancestors: http://www.searchforancestors.com/military.html http://www.all-genealogysites.com/Military/ http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/military/ http://olivetreegenealogy.com/mil/index.shtml http://www.militaryarchiveresearch.com/Genealogy.htm http://www.kindredtrails.com/military.html http://geneasearch.com/military.htm http://dmoz.org/Society/Genealogy/Military http://www.archives.gov/veterans/research/genealogy.html

County Resources

Idaho's county resources can be found in the county seat. Land records are filed at the county recorder's office, probate records with the probate clerk, and court records with the district clerk of the court. A survey of the counties indicates that some hold vital records before the date of mandatory recording, and land records and court records, including judgments, minutes, and miscellaneous records, are available previous to county formation. Naturalizations generally begin at the year of formation of the county and are held by the clerk of the district court. The website "Access Idaho" at www.accessidaho.org/aboutidaho/county/index.html provides links to Idaho's county websites. The Idaho State Historical Society library also holds microfilms of most of these records. Other large collections on microfilm are at the Family History Library.

Cyndi's List

Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet (www.Cyndislist.com) is a free, categorized and cross-referenced index to genealogical resources on the Internet. The site is 14 years old and contains more than 280,000 links to genealogical sites. Be sure and visit this site and you will be amazed at the resources that are available to us as family historians. Cyndi also keeps a blog of random thoughts, advice and tips at www.cyndislist.blogspot.com.

FamilySearch News

Twenty-nine new collections were updated or added last week at FamilySearch.org -- with 26 million names and 1.5 million digital images! The international collections continue to expand, with exciting new additions for Costa Rica, France, Hungary, Mexico and Spain. In addition, nine indexes were added to the U.S. 1910 Federal Census collection -- that means it is 37 percent complete. This project is moving along quickly. There are now 428 collections from original source records available online. Search all of these great collections at http://pilot.familysearch.org/.

Get In Sync

Family Insight is a third-party program certified to synchronize information with FamilySearch. It is a tool created to help reconcile and consolidate multiple records for the same ancestors. With Family Insight, you can compare your database with the records in the new FamilySearch family tree.

• You can add information to your file from FamilySearch. You can: Choose to replace information in your file with better information; add additional information that enhances your record; add additional relatives to your file, such as children, spouses or parents; mark your records with the FamilySearch ID for future reference.
• You can add new information and people from your file directly into FamilySearch. There is no need to type each person into FamilySearch. Family Insight will do it for you. Relationships will be linked as you add these people. To prevent duplication, Family Insight will search for your person before you add them.

To learn more about Family Insight, and to take video tutorials, go to www.ohanasoftware.com. There is a one-time fee for the download.

The DAR Collection

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Collection is a small manuscript collection consisting of Bible records, cemetery records, church records, marriages, deaths, obituaries and wills. It was microfilmed in 1971 at the DAR Library, Washington, D.C., and is at the Family History Library (FHL films 849914; 869290; and 907987).

Obituaries can help to round out the story...

Obituaries are one of the best -- and at times only -- resources for uncovering the identity of ancestors. According to David Rencher, chief genealogical officer for FamilySearch, "obituaries fill that unique niche of being able to tell you where people went, as well as tell you how people are related. Names and places make obituaries especially valuable. " The "survived by" listings are usually a reservoir of family names. They often identify key locations, such as the cemetery where the deceased is buried, areas where he or she lived and places children have relocated to." Obituaries can provide precious details about occupations, marriages, military service, religious affiliation, and family lore. "It may provide information that no living person could give you about the person's life", says Paul Smart, a certified genealogist and popular lecturer. However, they are written from memory and may be subject to error and bias. Therefore, they must be scrutinized and verified with other documents whenever possible. While the undertaking of putting old newspapers online is tremendous, it is well under way. GenealogyBank.com has 4,300 US newspapers in its database covering all 50 states and ranging from 1690 to the present. It is a commercial subscription site, but you can try it out for 30 days for a nominal fee. The National Digital Newspaper Program has made newspapers from 15 states and the District of Columbia between 1880 and 1922 available online. As more become available, "there will be a lot of mysteries solved through obituaries."