LibGuides: HIST 3870: Gender & Migration, a Global Perspective: Genealogical Research

Using Ancestry Library Edition

About Ancestry Library Edition

AncestryLibrary.com
Ancestry Library Edition provides access to census records, vital records, military records and immigration records from around the world. The largest portion of its collections describe populations in the United States and United Kingdom. It is important to note that not all types of records are available for all locations. This can be caused by a number of factors including interruptions in government activities, fires and other disasters, the biases of a particular government or municipality, and/or the ability of local organizations and governments to produce, preserve, and maintain their records. In addition, Ancestry, while the largest genealogical database of its kind, is continually adding new collections. The collections they include are impacted by the interests of the Mormon Church, who owns the majority share of Ancestry.com.

Searching Ancestry

By Individual

Ancestry's is primarily geared toward searching for individuals. Is generally advised when building a tree to begin with relatives closest to your own generation and work further into the past. However, you can begin at any point in a tree so long as you have some key pieces of information about an individual. Birth and death dates, where a person lived at a particular period in time, the names of others in their household, or the names of parents, are all details that can help you narrow down your search.

Some things to know:

Individual names may appear misspelled or may be transcribed incorrectly. Try searching without selecting "exact" first.
Clicking on "exact" brings a menu of other ways to search names; including "sounds like," "similar" and "initials."
You can use an asterisk "*" to truncate a spelling, or create a wildcard for letters you are unsure about. Example: Sm*th could be Smith or Smyth. Gold* could be Goldberg or Goldman, etc.
Life dates (birth and death dates) are not always accurate either.

By US Enumeration District

In order to find the pages of the census that correspond to a given area in the United States, you need to find the area’s enumeration district (ED). An enumeration district does not correspond to neighborhood boundaries. Rather, it is an area covered by a single census taker in one census period. Enumeration districts vary in size from several city blocks in densely populated urban areas to an entire county in sparsely populated rural areas.

To find a US enumeration district use Steve P. Morse’s Unified Census ED Finder.

Select the census year in the dropdown menu at the top of the page
Search by address
Add the cross street boundaries
Click on the ED link at the bottom (ex: “New York- 180”)
Click “Free Display”
Census pages are arranged by street and building address

By Collection

Ancestry also allows you the option of browsing collections using their map feature as well as through the "Card Catalog" link in the search menu. Click "Begin Searching" to access the map feature. You can also select "Card Catalog" from the dropdown menu under "Search."

Card Catalog: Allows you to browse collections using various filters on the left navigation including Collection Type, Location, Date and Language.
Map Feature: Allows you to zoom into location on the world map. The further you zoom in the more local the collections become.

Genealogical Research Databases

Resources for Genealogical Research

AncestryLibrary.com
Ancestry Library is a searchable database that includes digitized images of the United States Federal Census from 1790 forward, as well as records of births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and military service. It also includes court, land, and probate records; prison records; voter lists; obituaries; passenger lists and other immigration data; U.S. telephone directories; United Kingdom and United States Directories (1680-1830); as well as digitized yearbooks, photos, maps, and more.

CEMLA
(Spanish) This database was created by the Center for Latin American studies offers individual-level primary sources based out of Buenos Aires. The database is in Spanish.
more...less...
A useful blog on using CEMLA: https://www.rootsfinder.com/blog/unknown-immigrant-database-completes-family-story-of-escape-from-wwii/
Cindi's List
A comprehensive, categorized & cross-referenced list of genealogical links that point you to genealogical research sites online.
Early New York Synagogue Archive
Over the years, three significant Manhattan Jewish communities—Shearith Israel, B’nai Jeshrun, and Ansche Chesed—moved from the Lower East Side to Harlem, midtown, and the Upper West Side. The Kane St. Synagogue remained in its original neighborhood in Brooklyn and the Eldridge Street Synagogue stayed at its original location; the latter has been designated a National Historic Site. Each of the five communities was comprised of immigrant populations that arrived from Europe and settled in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The combined collections of these synagogues, from 1730 until the beginning of the 20th century, document the lives of people and communities that are all still vibrant today.
Ellis Island Passenger Lists
The Port of New York Passenger Records 1820 - 1957 contains the passenger lists of almost 65 million immigrants, passengers, and crew members who came through Ellis Island and the Port of New York from 1820 to 1957. The period from 1892 to 1924 at Ellis Island was the largest human migration in modern history.
Family Search
Family Search is a free database that offers access to millions of records from around the world. First Search has an extensive catalog of international records, including birth, marriage and death records, passenger lists, etc.
Find A Grave
World’s largest gravesite collection. Over 180 million memorials created by the community since 1995.
JewishGen
The JewishGen Unified Database Search includes more than 26 million records; 8 million records from the Family Tree of the Jewish People; 5 million records from Jewish Records Indexing - Poland; and 13 million historical records from 750+ datasets created by JewishGen.
RootsWeb
The supporting organization for thousands of surname discussion lists. Features many primary documents that have been transcribed or scanned by volunteers and made searchable such as obituaries, county histories, tax lists, etc.
Synagogues of New York City
Separate lists exist for former synagogues of Manhattan, Brooklyn (Kings County), Queens and Staten Island (Richmond), and the Bronx. Most all of them are no longer active; either the building in which the congregants once worshipped and held meetings is no longer extant or has been converted into some other use. Many of those listed under "Synagogue Name" are actually landsmanshaft (mutual aid) societies.
U.S. Enumeration District Finder (Steve Morse)
This resources is useful for searching buildings and neighborhoods. ED Finder allows you to search by state/city/neighborhood across U.S. Census years.

HIST 3870: Gender & Migration, a Global Perspective

Research Librarian

What is a census record?