News You Resource Books
At
Newsletter
41 S. Hobson, Mesa, Arizona 85204 Phone (480) 964-1200
July/August 2013 – Volume 3 Issue 7
EARLY AMERICAN COLONIAL RESEARCH
The monthly theme in the red bar above
identifies our focus for each newsletter.
Inside This Newsletter
Page 2:
News You Can Use
Early American Research
Page 3:
At The Library
Resource Books and More
Page 4:
Our Website Resources
Did You Know?
Page 5:
FamilySearch Basic Helps
Indexing Numbers
Page 6-7:
Info on Expo
Service Opportunity
Page 8:
Free Class Schedule
Marsha Atkin: Chairman/Editor
Marilyn Crandall: Assistant Editor
Gordon Mulleneaux: Presentations
Sherril Harmon: Director
Bruce Evans: Assistant Director
Adrian Kuzdas: Assistant Director
Jeanne Goodman: Website
Melba Preece: At the Library
Lina Hatch: Publicity
Darlene Nelson: email
Steven Passey: Graphic Designer
Chad Timothy: Assistant Designer
Director’s Message:
European countries saw this fertile new land as an ideal place to expand and
increase their influence on the world. By the late 16th century, England, France,
the Netherlands, and Spain in particular had launched major colonization
programs in North America. No aristocrats in particular settled here
permanently, but instead a large number of adventurers, soldiers, farmers, and
tradesmen arrived. This diversity would become synonymous with America.
With continuing wars in Europe, some colonies actually took control of other
colonies based on who won the wars “back home”. Only in Nova Scotia (now
part of Canada), did the conquerors expel the previous colonists. Generally, the
rest all felt the need to live with each other in peace.
Virginia is generally credited with being the first colony founded in 1607 after
the failed colony Roanoke disappeared without a trace in 1590. Sir Walter
Raleigh sent ships to America to search for the “lost colony”, but never was
able to find any of the original colonists.
In 1620, the Mayflower left the port of Plymouth south of London, with 102
men, women, and children bound for Virginia. Blown off course, the ship
settled in Cape Cod and became the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They named
their colony Plymouth after their home port.
On board this famous ship, 41 men signed The Mayflower Compact in which
they agreed to abide by the laws of a new government in exchange for
protection. This fundamental and unique document, established the precedent
for our founding fathers to create the US Constitution. We are forever grateful
for their vision.
Elder Adrian Kuzdas, Assistant Director
Save the Date! Mesa FamilySearch Library Expo
October 26. See flyer with details on page 6.
July closings: 4th, 15-27th
August: Closing every day at 5 p.m., except Wednesdays open until 9 p.m.
Elder Adrian Kuzdas
To subscribe send an email request to:
[email protected]
Visit Our Website http://www.mesafsl.org homepage menu
Check out our Facebook and past newsletters.
Click on the link Mesa FHC Facebook page
1
News You Can Use
Early American Colonial
Research
News you can Use:
Start by going to FamilySearch.org homepage, and then click on:
SEARCH. Go to the bottom of that page to 'Browse All Published Collections'. Click on United States,
then at the bottom left hand side, click on 'Pre 1700' to find 37 collections. Millions of records have been
added just this year. If titles have numbers in the records’ column, they have been indexed, and can be
searched by just typing in a name. If they are listed as 'Browse Images' then use the index in the
collection to find the desired page. Examples of indexed records: “North Carolina Estate Files 16631979”, with 152,201 images; “Maine Veterans Cemetery Records 1676-1918”, 51,541 images; “New
Hampshire Birth Records Early to 1900”, 480,354 images. Birth, christening, marriage, death, land, and
probate records are listed from towns, counties and colonies. New records are added daily! Return to the
'Historical Record Collections' specific topics often!
BOOKS. Again, start with the SEARCH button from the homepage then look for the 5 options listed
across the top: RECORDS, GENEALOGIES, CATALOG, BOOKS (meaning scanned books only) AND
WIKI. Click on BOOKS to find hidden treasures of information. Just download and read! You will see
vital statistics of towns, annual reports, and more. We typed in 'New Hampshire' and 8,059 books,
periodicals and other records were shown. One of the records we looked at was entitled, "Index to
Probate Records in New Hampshire". This online book tells where records previous to 1770 are kept and
covers all probate records from 1753 to 1770 of the state. Also included are the probate records from
Rockingham County from 1770 to 1800. 'Check out' the books!
Other sites to try:
New England Historical Genealogy Society (NEHGS) has been collecting information about families in
America for over 165 years. The collections are international in scope and contain significant materials
for Canada and Europe. This is the place to go for Early American Research! NEHGS is a paid site, but
rates are reasonable, and you can sign up to receive their free weekly newsletter that contains the latest
information about the society and the greater genealogical community.
http://www.americanancestors.org
Remember to use Google!
Type in ‘American Ancestors'. Look at the 'books' category on Google, too. Many options available!
Type in "1776 Census" and then the colony or state desired. This site came up for Maryland: Maryland
State Archives Census Indexes (1776, 1778, 1870, and 1880) "For fair use in the public
domain." http://msa.maryland.gov. New Hampshire:
http://www.censusfinder.com/new_hampshire.htm.
It is estimated that one-third of the colonists remained loyal to England and were called, United Empire
Loyalists (UEL). Some of these people moved to Canada, Bermuda and/or Jamaica. Try the National
Archives of Canada: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca or http://www.cangenealogy.com/
2
At
The
Library
Early American Colonial Research Books:
Mentioned below are just a few of the many books we have available here at our
library. Remember to put emphasis on searching the town,
as well as county, colony or state.
"Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research" A
location guide to public records with excellent maps of
the New England States, information of the creation of
states, counties and settlements. We have both the 1999
and the 1988 edition. Ref 974 D27g.
"A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New
England" showing three generations of those who came
before May 1692, on the basis of the Farmer's Register,
4 volumes. 974 D2s.
"Planters of the Commonwealth: A Study of the
Emigrants and Emigration in Colonial Times, 16201640" Lists of passengers to Boston and to the Bay
Colony, the ships which brought them, their English
homes and places of settlement in Massachusetts.
974 w2bf.
"New England Historical and Genealogical Register" This
journal began in 1847 and is published quarterly. We
have the total collection in print – volumes 1-166!
Includes bibliographic references and indexes. 974 B2ne.
The online subscription is also available at our library.
"New England Ancestors" Another quarterly journal, vol.
1-10, 974 D25nea and vol. 11-13 under their new name:
"American Ancestors", vol. 11-13, which began in 2000.
(Shown Above).
"Plymouth Colony, It's History and People, 16201691" Biographical sketches of a representative number
of people in the colony at the time of the 1634 tax list,
appendices listing land grants, passenger lists, men able
to bear arms and more. 974.4 H2s.
"The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants To New
England 1620-1633" A 3 volume set 974 W2a,
and "Immigrants To New England 1634-1635"a 7 volume
set. 974 W2aa.
At the Library in July and August:
Daughters of the American Revolution!
Find your Revolutionary War ancestor!
Membership applications available;
members may bring supplementals.
July 13, 10 a.m.—12
August 8, 10 a.m.—12
FYI: To see boundary changes to the
states and counties, go to "Animap"
under "Local Center Resources" on
our computers.
3
Our Website Resources
Visit our Website (click here)
or enter in your browser address line http://www.mesafsl.org
Summer Assignment:
No new webinars are scheduled during the
month of July, but we have many webcasts
to view. Go to our website www.mesafsl.org
for a complete list. Summer assignment:
pick one to watch each week!
Samplings of topics are listed below:










US Military History – Norm Pratt
What’s New in “Find A Grave” – Shirley
Nance
Using the Internet to Get Help From
Others – Gary Foster
Using the Mesa FamilySearch Website
– Jean Wharton
FamilySearch Family Tree/Photos –
James Tanner
Introduction to Online Genealogical
Resources – James Tanner
Using Maps in Family Research –
James Taylor
Mexican Research – Pilar Felix
Southwest Native American Research –
Emerson Mose
Eight Important Online Resources for
Your U.S. Research – Denise Crawford
Webcast Stats:
In the month of May there were 918 viewings of
our webcasts. This number does not include the
people who attended the webinar in person. The
2013 year total is 3796 viewings (first of June
numbers) on individual computers, and we do
not know how many were viewing that particular
computer screen. Watching a webcast is a great
way to select a topic and watch that presentation
at a more convenient time.
Early American Colonial Resources on
the Mesa FamilySearch Library
Website
The best way to find Early Colonial American
research helps on the Mesa FamilySearch.org
website is to use the "Search This Site" option in
the home page header and type "Early Colonial
America" in the search box. As you scroll down
past the first few links that Google automatically
pulls up, you will find such subjects as the
following which are unique to the website:
1) Immigration before 1820
2) Early land and probate records
3) U.S. church and civil vital records
4) Colonial Germans
5) Online books regarding American Colonies
6) Early colonial wars (from early 1600s)
Several research options will also come up if you
type "DAR" (Daughters of the American
Revolution) in the "Search This Site" search box.
Looking for ancestors that may have connections
to the Revolutionary War? From our home page
click on "Research Helps", then scroll down on
the right-hand side of the page to the
Revolutionary War Quick Start.
Visits to our Website:
Hits to our website are far-reaching! Thousands of 'hits'
from around the world! Countries like Spain, Brazil,
Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Arab Emirates and the Ukraine,
including 32,524 hits from China and 62,029 from Russia.
We have had 9,164,172 hits from the United States. The
most active states are: Arizona, Washington, California,
Texas, New York, Illinois, Utah, Florida, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania.
Word to the Wise: Move Now to Family Tree!
After June 30, programs that currently write data to new.familysearch.org will
no longer be able to do so, AND new.familysearch will effectively be cut off
from changing the data that ends up in FamilySearch.org's Family Tree. By
the end of the year, the link between these 2 data bases will be severed.
4
Family Search/Family Tree
Basic Helps
FamilySearch.org has made and continues to make, many changes to their website. Some of us get
lost. Things just aren’t where they used to be. We are asking questions like:
Where’s the WIKI?
'The Wiki' is a good place to get research advice or learn where to find record collections from 73,653
articles. So, where’s the "Wiki"?
Go to FamilySearch.org. There is a 'Search' button and a ‘Search’ icon on the homepage. Clicking
either will bring up the same page with the Wiki in the top bar. Another way is to click on the ’Get
Started’ icon on the far right side. The Wiki button will be in the top bar on the right. At least 3 ways to
find the Wiki now!
LEARNING CENTER: From the homepage, click on the ‘Get Started’ button and the Learning Center
link will be in the top bar. Go here for courses about places, from America to Russia, and topics like
beginning genealogy courses, immigration, geographic aids and MORE. There is even a topic heading,
"Subject Language", teaching in various languages (including Chinese) and tips (in English) in reading
various languages’ handwriting. Lots to learn in the Learning Center!
SEARCH: Click on either Search button on the home page. Type in a name to start your search. For
more exact searching, go to the specific locations at the bottom of the page, or go to the Catalog…
CATALOG: From the homepage, click on either 'Search' button, and then CATALOG in the in top
bar. Type in the country, county, town, in that order (largest to smallest). Search the Catalog by ‘Place
Name’, ‘Last Name’, ‘Titles’ or ‘Authors’. Many records are listed here that are NOT on line, but available
by ordering the film. NOTE: check the Mesa FS Library film catalog FIRST before ordering. We have
over 80,000 microfilm and 50,000 microfiche here. The previous version of the Salt Lake Catalog link is
still available as well. Check the old site as well as the new.
FEEDBACK: From the homepage, click on a 'Search' button. Feedback is located at the very bottom of
that page. Don't be afraid to send your suggestions and your frustrations! FamilySearch is run by
reasonable, real people that will honestly look at helpful insights and problems. Problems are solved by
honest communication. Try it, it works.
Note: At the time of the printing of this newsletter, these directions were correct.
FamilySearch Indexing Statistics – Keep up the good work!
1,005,836,821 Total Records Completed. 203 Current Projects.
47,465,225 Total Records Completed in 2013.
159,153 Contributors in 2013.
Information taken from the FamilySearch Indexing Newsletter
5
6
7
MESA FAMILYSEARCH LIBRARY CLASS SCHEDULE
(Remember: We will be closed July 14 - 27)
July 2013
ALL CLASSES ARE FREE No Sign up Required
41 S. Hobson
CATEGORY
DESCRIPTION
CLASS TITLE
BASIC RESEARCH STEP 1-3 - How to Begin
STEP 4 -Finding Records
CYCLE
Family Search Website
Family Search.org
FAMILYSEARCH/ Family Search with emphasis on using
Family Tree
FAMILYTREE
Gathering information, organizing it, forms to use, beginning research
Finding Records to search. Recording results & Sources
Family Search is an amazing website. Learn all about it.
Family Search has many features. Come learn to use them.
Family tree will soon be the only way to clear Temple ordinances.
Also learn to add photos, stories, sources, and more
480-964-1200
TIME INSTRUCTOR
1 PM
B Whitfield
DAY
THU
DATES
WED
FRI
THU
3, 10
1 PM
5, 12
11
THU
11
Location
Upstairs
Upstairs
10 AM
10 AM
N. Thomas
L. Melville
J. Tanner
11
11 AM
J. Tanner
Upstairs
Upstairs
Upstairs
Jean Morgan
Room
Jean Morgan
Room
FS/FT - HANDS ON
FS/Family Tree overview and hands on practice.
FRI
12
3 PM
L Atkins
FS/FT - HANDS ON
FS/Family Tree overview and hands on practice.
THU
11
7 PM
D.Brady
How to do an in-depth search on Google to find your ancestors
MON
1, 8
10 AM
J.Tanner
Upstairs
Additional helpful Google resources
MON
1, 8
11 AM
J.Tanner
Upstairs
Military Records
TUES
2, 9
10 AM
N Pratt
Google
ROTATING
RESEARCH & OTHER Google Plus
HELPFUL CLASSES
Military
Personal Database ANCESTRAL QUEST
Progams
LEGACY
Spanish Leadership
SPANISH SPEAKING
& Other Help
Upstairs
Ancestral Quest overview.
THUR
11
3 PM
L. Pearce
Learn all about using Legacy as your Personal Database program
WED
3, 10
3 PM
D. Brady
Jean Morgan
Room
Jean Morgan
Room
THU
11
6 PM
C. Rodriquez
Downstairs
Computers
Priesthood Leaders and consultants and others needing Hispanic help.
Classes at the Training Center (464 E. 1st Avenue)
FamilySearch.org
10 Week Basic
Research Series FamilySearch/FamilyTree
Many changes to this progam. Come learn about them
MON
1
10 AM
This program is now mandatory to use for clearing Temple
Names
MON
8
10 AM
Especially for Indexing
Youth
Write Your Personal History
(and any others
Learn how to index a variety of records
TUES
2, 9
1 PM
C'est Moi! Two FUN classes - writing your Personal History
(Computers available, bring your own flash drive or journal)
WED
3, 10
Get Organized, Get Started, Get Going
THURS
who would like
to attend)
Intro to Family History
G. & J.
Foster
P Badger
L. Pearce
1 pm
11
1 PM
D. Brady
WATCH ALL OUR SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS ON OUR WEBSITE: mesafsl.org
8
Training
Center
Training
Center