Angela Breidenbach – Page 31 – International Institute of Genealogical Studies

New Course- Research: British India Ancestors

Research: British India Ancestors is the newest course from The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. Written by genealogist, writer, and historical researcher Emma Jolly, this course gives an introduction to researching ancestors in India, during the time of British involvement and rule. The course focuses mainly on British ancestors, but includes records that are relevant to other Europeans in India, as well as Anglo-Indians. Topics covered include: Module 1: East India Company & Beginnings of British Involvement in India 1857 Indian Mutiny India Office Records & direct rule from Britain Rise of Indian nationalism 1947 Independence Life (and records) from 1948 Module 2: Maps & Place Names Changing Borders of ‘British India’ Princely States & other areas beyond direct British control Variants in spelling & place name changes Travel to & from India: changes over time Suez Canal Passenger Lists Ship Records Module 3: Vital Events, Church Records & Probate Online Indexes Digital Books Church records (Anglican & non-Anglican) Civil registration Transcription Forms Baptism Record Marriage Record Burial Record Christianity in India Schools & orphanages Cemeteries Probate in India Probate pre-1727 Probate in the UK Module 4: Armed Forces & Merchant Seaman East India Company’s Armies Cadet Papers Other Records of Officers Printed Books Hodson’s Index Soldiers and NCOs Soldiers in the British Army who served in India Indian Army Officers British Army Other Ranks Indian Navy & Royal Indian Marine/Navy East India Company Naval Service East Indiamen EIC Mercantile Marine Bengal Marine Bengal Pilot Service 1669-1948 Bombay Marine 1613-1830 Indian Navy (1830-1863) & Royal Indian Marine/Navy (1877-1948) British Merchant Seamen Officers’ Records Royal Navy Royal Indian Air Force & Royal Air Force in India Chaplains, Medical Service (and Subordinate), Veterinary Corps & Bandsmen Indian Army Nursing Services & Women’s Auxiliary Corps Nursing India & Burma Module 5 : Occupations Main occupations of the British in India (outside of the armed forces) Civil servants: covenanted & uncovenanted (EIC) Uncovenanted Civil Servants Civil Service from 1749 Entry Papers: Index of Writers’ Petitions India Office & Burma Office Civil Service records in the Raj period Trade: tea, jute, coffee and other products Merchant Travel to India Country Trade & Free Mariners Tea Trade Assam history Tea companies Coffee Planting Railways History of the Railways Life as a Railway Worker Indian Railway Companies Staff Records State Railways Railway Companies Module 6 : Miscellaneous Records Memoirs, letters & diaries online & in collections around the…

Italian Ancestors? Check Out These New Courses

Have Italian ancestors? Lucky you! The National Institute has two new courses to help you. Italian: Language and Location Understanding, or being able to decipher, the languages found with Italian genealogical documents is an essential skill needed to effectively research your Italian ancestors. While most records are in Italian, you will find other languages within the records depending on the history of the town or region you are researching. Emphasis is placed on reading the handwriting and how to translate and understand basic Italian records. Locating places within Italy can be confusing until you understand the political and ecclesiastical jurisdictions. We review these jurisdictions and look at a variety of ways that will help you narrow your search for your ancestor’s town of origin. If you already know the town of origin, this section may help as your research expands as the research often leads into nearby towns, due to the practice of marrying outside a town’s populace. To learn more about this course see our website. Italian: Civil Registration-Part 1 Civil registration is one of the largest and most important record sets in Italian genealogical research. It is certainly the most accessible, due to the efforts of FamilySearch, and now the main Italian archive, in microfilming or digitizing these records. In this course, we delve deeper into three main types of records: birth records [both regular and supplemental], marriage records [including marriage banns and marriage supplements], and death records [both regular and supplemental]. Each type of record has different challenges as well as differences in format depending on the time period and/or location of its creation within Italy. We also delve more deeply into translating and abstracting these documents so that you can understand more fully how to find every piece of genealogically useful information they contain. You will learn how to spot discrepancies and information contained that is over and above what is generally given. Understanding the documents is the heart of the course and there will be much study required of the example documents. You should have completed the Italian: Introduction to Research Outside of Italy and Italian: Language and Location courses, or have a good understanding of the content of those courses, before commencing this course. To learn more about this course see our website.

My Time at FGS2015

By Lynn Funk, Student Salt Lake City, Utah is considered by many to be the “Mecca for Genealogical Research” and it was never more so than this February 11-14 when the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) combined their conference with the annual RootsTech Conference. Over 22,000 people crowded into the Salt Palace to learn, share and enjoy speakers, workshops and exhibits about their shared passion—family history! My conference experience opened Wednesday night with a social featuring sandwiches and desserts and a panel discussion about Family History and Television. Participants included FGS president and Genealogy Roadshow host Joshua Taylor; Genealogy Roadshow host, genealogist and lawyer, Kenyatta Berry; George Ott from ProGenealogists; genetic genealogist CeCe Moore and Jennifer Utley from “Who Do You Think You Are?” The panel discussed the impact shows such as Genealogy Roadshow, Finding Your Roots and Who Do You Think You Are? have had on the growing interest in family history and genealogy. The next three days I attended sessions presented by both FGS and Rootstech, however most were FGS classes as they seemed to focus more on research methodology. In these classes I learned about cluster genealogy, resources for tracing U.S. ancestors between 1780-1840, using tax records to solve genealogical problems, and finding ancestors in between the censuses. One of my favorite classes was taught by Michael Lacopo and was entitled: She Came From Nowhere: A Case Study Approach to Solving a Difficult Genealogical Problem. Since I have several “difficult genealogical problems,” I found this class very helpful. It was fun to see how, step by step, he took down this brick wall and it reinforced what I have been learning in my courses at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. In between classes, I roamed the exhibit hall with my husband (who shares my love of family history). We wanted to buy lots of things but limited ourselves to a book about genealogical writing from NEHGS and a DNA test kit from Ancestry.com (for my husband—I got a free one last year for participating in a focus group). We also attended a few short presentations by FindMyPast and FamilySearch about upcoming innovations the two are planning. We checked out the Family Discovery Center and learned that my husband is distantly related to several celebrities, LDS church leaders and even some famous inventors and Mayflower arrivals. All in all, it was a great conference. Bonuses included free-for-life membership to a new family online tree called Family.me for being one of the first 10,000…

RootsTech 2015 Recap

By Lynn Funk, Student I always look forward to February. You may be asking yourself “why February?” Well, the holidays are over, the promise of spring is in the air and, at least here in Salt Lake City, it means the opening of the annual RootsTech Conference. This year’s conference was held February 11-14 and was combined with the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference which made it an even bigger and better conference than ever for family history enthusiasts. This was my third year attending the conference and as always it was an enjoyable experience. The theme this year was Celebrating Families Across Generations. Keynote speakers included Dennis Brimhall CEO of FamilySearch International; Mike Mallin, CPO MyHeritage; Tan Le, found of Emotiv; former First Lady, Laura Bush and her daughter Jenna Bush Hager; D. Joshua Taylor, Director of Family History at FindMyPast; author A. J. Jacobs, and singer/entertainer Donny Osmond. All had fascinating stories to tell about their ancestors and what family and family history means to them. You can watch many of these addresses as well as some of the workshop presentations online at rootstech.org/video. RootsTech has something for everyone from workshops by top-notch genealogical lecturers to the latest innovations in technology that aid in researching, organizing and preserving your family history. There were several hundred classes to attend and an expo hall filled with everything from books to software to genealogical education and online storage. The International Institute for Genealogical Studies even had a booth there. I stopped by and had a wonderful conversation with managing director. While many of the classes at RootsTech were geared to beginning genealogists, I did find some gems that would definitely be of interest to the more seasoned genealogist, such as Judy Russell’s lecture entitled How Old Did He Have to Be? This lecture focused on the importance of knowing the law at the time and in the place where your ancestor lived. There were other intermediate and advanced classes that dealt with genetic genealogy, creating online research plans, deciphering old handwriting, and self-publishing tips for genealogists. I took a couple of fun (and helpful) classes taught by Thomas MacEntee. One was Pinning Your Family History which gave suggestions for how to use the popular social media sites Pinterest, History Pin, and even Google Maps to share family history photos and also to connect with others who may be researching your line—”cousin bait” as Thomas called it! The other class…

New Course: Italian: Civil Registration-Part 1

Have Italian roots? Then you’ll want to check out our newest course, Italian: Civil Registration-Part 1. Written by professional genealogist and Italian research expert Melanie D. Holtz, CG this course looks at civil registration, one of the largest and most important record sets in Italian genealogical research. In this course, you will delve deeper into three main types of records: birth records [both regular and supplemental], marriage records [including marriage banns and marriage supplements], and death records [both regular and supplemental]. Each type of record has different challenges as well as differences in format depending on the time period and/or location of its creation within Italy. You will also delve more deeply into translating and abstracting these documents so that you can understand more fully how to find every piece of genealogically useful information they contain. You will learn how to spot discrepancies and information contained that is over and above what is generally given. Understanding the documents is the heart of the course and there will be much study required of the example documents. For those interested in registering for this course, you should have previously completed the courses, Italian: Introduction to Research Outside of Italy and Italian: Language and Location, or have a good understanding of the content of those courses, before commencing this course. Italian: Civil Registration-Part 1 begins in March. Register for it today!