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Cambridge Massachusetts Directories 1848-1972

This collection comprises a total of 65 directories which cover the years of 1848-1972 (incomplete). This collection contains materials from the Cambridge Room, the Cambridge Public Library’s Archives and Special Collections. We have linked to the main page for each directory, enabling you to either browse the directory like a book, or download the whole manuscript to your computer, free of charge.

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Sacramento California Police Mug Books 1864-1949

Mug Books of the past have been replaced by computer databases now, but back before the days of computers and databases, they served as an effective method for Police Departments to keep track of past criminals and wanted people. The Sacramento Police Department has generously provided these scanned images to archive.org for free access to everyone. If you are not aware if one of your ancestors may have been arrested for a crime, then I suggest you first search the newspaper records available online for free of Sacramento California, so that you have a year span to choose from. Unless you’re like me and just like perusing the old mug shots…

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Angola High School Yearbooks 1906-1917, 1925-1975

Angola High School yearbooks were named the Spectator up to about the year 1917, by 1925 they had taken the name The Key, and continued with that name through 1975. First published in 1905, by its senior class, the student yearbook format varies year by year. The 1906 class yearbook contains a list of past principals, teachers, and alumni (with current 1906 town.)

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New Jersey Marriage Index 1901-2016

Alec Ferretti, a budding genealogist, took upon himself the task of filing an OPRA request with the New Jersey Department of Health, seeking the marriage indices that legally should have been made available to the public (based on the law) but had not been. After being denied his request, he sought the help of genealogist’s newest friends, Reclaim the Records. They with their legal team helped Alec successfully challenge the denial, and to make this story short, though it wasn’t, they were able to get the indices available opened to the public and published on Archive.org. The setup at archive, not being conducive to a quick search, I have provided the links straight to the data, along with explanation text as provided by Reclaim the Records.

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Small Town Newspapers

Small Town Papers gives you free access to the people, places and events recorded in real time over the decades or even centuries! Browse and search the scanned newspaper archive from 1846 up to the current edition! Their archives contain millions of names of ancestors not found anywhere else. Enhance your Ancestry research with their high resolution scanned newspaper archive. Find distant relatives and discover your ethnic heritage by reading the articles about family and friends written back in the day.

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Boone County Indiana Genealogy

A guide and directory to Boone County Indiana genealogy, containing both online and offline resources for genealogy and historical research. This article contains sources of genealogical data about Boone County such as biographies, cemetery records, census records, church records, court records, family records, land records, military records, naturalization records, and vital records.

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Lowell Massachusetts Genealogy

Tracing ancestors in Lowell, Massachusetts online and for free has been greatly enhanced by the University of Massachusetts in Lowell which provided digitized version of a large quantity of the Lowell public records. Combined with the cemetery and census records available freely online, you should be able to easily trace your ancestors from the founding of Lowell in 1826 through 1940, the last year of available census records. To add color to the otherwise basic facts of your ancestors existence we provide free access to a wide range of manuscripts on the history of Lowell, it’s manufactures and residents.

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The Clayhill Church Register 1887-1939

Clayhill Church is off County Road 5511 in Brundidge, Pike County, Alabama. These images are digital representations of their complete church register covering the years of 1887-1939. This is a valuable source of genealogical information for those who comprised the membership of this church. It’s also a great complement to any transcription of it’s cemetery as it may include information on the unreadable headstones, and those who have no headstones. Included within this register are birth, baptism, death, burial and membership information. Unfortunately there was no marriage information recorded.

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Free Massachusetts Vital Records

This is a collection of 197 free vital records books, otherwise known as “Tan Books” for Massachusetts towns. Generally these records go up to 1849/1850 at which, the genealogist can use the census records to assist in identifying the family connections further. Included with this article is an account of why and how these manuscripts were published along with links to all 197 books which can be freely read or downloaded.

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Memoirs of a French Village: a chronicle of old Prairie du Rocher, 1722-1972

In summarizing or evaluating the history of Prairie du Rocher, one must note the impact that historical events and influences have made on present day, Prairie du Rocher. The community is today, as it was in the 1700′ s, basically an agricultural community. The farmers no longer live in the village, but they remain the basic economic factor in the village. The farm lands which surround Prairie du Rocher, are among the most fertile and bountiful soils in the world. The limestone bluffs, from which the French obtained stone for the construction of Fort Chartres, today provide livelihood for many of the villagers. The cemetery in which the inhabitants bury their dead in 1972 is the same one in which their ancestors buried their loved ones as early as 1722. The rock bluffs and the wide Mississippi River isolate the community from the outside world today, as they did in the early years. The mosquitoes remain as numerous and voracious as they were in 1839; and the damp, wet, unbearable, and unhealthy conditions return during the wet months. The population today is approximately 750, a gain of only 250 since 1859, over a hundred years ago. The old, distinctly French names such as Barbeau, Bievenue, Langlois, Louviere, De Rousse, and Duclos, still appear on the village registers, but the influence of the French is not limited to the inheritance of names. Over 90% of the residents today, belong to the Roman Catholic Church. The Church remains the center of the community. The majority of the villagers today, are complacent, contented, unambitious, good-natured, and happy – traits directly traceable to their ancestors. Most of the villagers remain to an amazing degree, as Montague described it, “free from that strife, contention, and turmoil, which attends the pursuit of wealth and political preferment.” In order to observe this living historical heritage, one need only attend the annual church picnic, rendezvous, or witness the group of villagers dressed in 18th century costumes, on New Year’s Eve, who move from house to house proclaiming the end of another year, in the old familiar words of the La Gui-annee.

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Seneca County New York Genealogy

A guide and directory to Seneca County New York genealogy, containing both online and offline resources for genealogy and historical research. This article contains sources of genealogical data about Seneca County such as biographies, cemetery records, census records, church records, court records, family records, land records, military records, naturalization records, and vital records.

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Indian Captivity Narratives

This collection contains entire narratives of Indian captivity; that is to say, we have provided the reader the originals without the slightest abridgement. Some of these captivities provide little in way of customs and manners, except to display examples of the clandestine warfare Native Americans used to accomplish their means. In almost every case, there was a tug of war going on between principle government powers, French, American, British, and Spanish, and these powers used the natural prowess of the Indians to assist them in causing warfare upon American and Canadian settlers. There were definitely thousands of captivities, likely tens of thousands, as the active period of these Indian captivity narratives covers 150 years. Unfortunately, few have ever been put under a pen by the original captive, and as such, we have little first-hand details on their captivity. These you will find here, are only those with which were written by the captive or narrated to another who could write for them; you shall find in a later collection, a database of known captives, by name, location, and dates, and a narrative about their captivity along with factual sources. But that is for another time.

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History of the Indian Wars

Our relations with the aboriginal inhabitants of this continent form a distinct and very important, and interesting portion of the history of this Republic. It is unfortunately, for the most part, a history of bloody wars, in which the border settlers have suffered all the horrors of savage aggression, and, in which portions of our colonial settlements have sometimes been completely cut off and destroyed. Other portions of this thrilling history, evince the courage, daring, and patience of the settlers, in a very favorable point of view, and exhibit them as triumphing over every difficulty, and finally obtaining a firm foothold on the soil. In all its parts, this history will always possess numerous points of peculiar interest for the American reader.

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