Introduction

Genealogy has become an extremely popular pastime, as reflected in the viewership of programs like Who Do You Think You Are?, Finding Your Roots, or Genealogy Roadshow. Librarians who work in public libraries, public archives, or government document collections frequently interact with patrons who are conducting genealogical research. Therefore, it is important to familiarize yourself with the genealogical resources particular to your area. State libraries, archives, and historical societies often have experienced staff and a range of resources to handle genealogy inquiries. One of the best ways to develop skill and knowledge in genealogical research is to investigate your own family history. In addition, there are numerous books, online courses, and instructional videos that cover various aspects of genealogical research. With the increasing availability of records online, any librarian or archivist can get someone started on family history research.

Databases

Ancestry and Fold3 are subscription-based products in the Ancestry.com family. The company manages a robust program to digitize public-domain materials found in archives and libraries. Some researchers may express frustration with having to pay a subscription fee to access materials that are available for free in the archives. However, Ancestry provides value-added services such as transcription and indexing that make records vastly easier to find and use, not to mention the fact that the resources are available remotely and do not require a personal visit to the archives.

In 2013, Ancestry announced that it would collaborate with FamilySearch, a free genealogy site operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The church has long been known for its family history centers, which help people (whether they are church members or not) to research their ancestry. FamilySearch, originally the Genealogical Society of Utah, began to microfilm U.S. and international family history records. The agreement between Ancestry and FamilySearch will allow people access to some of FamilySearch’s records through Ancestry and vice-versa. FamilySearch also maintains wikis, or subject guides, that explain various types of records and where to find them.

Many libraries subscribe to Ancestry so that cardholders can use it for genealogical research. Especially useful is the ability to search for census records. Ancestry also includes indexes, vital records, passenger records, and the full text of reference books. Subscribers are also able to upload photographs and documents and connect with other researchers.

Fold3 is a database of military records that includes both free resources and resources available only to subscribers. For instance, one can find Pearl Harbor muster rolls (subscription) and photographs of Air Force crews in the Aleutians during World War II (free). Important genealogical resources in Fold3 include military yearbooks, Navy cruise books, and Army unit histories.

Some libraries subscribe to HeritageQuest, a ProQuest product that includes digitized census records, PERSI (Periodical Source Index), records from the American Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications files, the Freedman’s Bank, and memorials, petitions and private relief programs in the U. S. Congressional Serial Set.

ProQuest’s History Vault product includes selected records from 1880-1930 of the Bureau of Immigration, predecessor to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, related to Asian immigration and exclusion, Mexican immigration, and European immigration.

Types of Government Records Related to Genealogy

The U.S. Census

As we learned, decennial census records are embargoed for 72 years. Every ten years, another eagerly awaited census is released by the National Archives. The 1950 census, which was made public on April 1, 2022, was the first to employ artificial intelligence to read data on the enumeration sheets. Census enumeration sheets can be very important resources even when they do not list the names of all of the people in a  household. The earliest census enumeration sheets only had room for the name of the head of the household. Other household members were simply enumerated with tick marks. It wasn’t until 1850 that each member of the household was listed by name. It’s important to remember that the early censuses only enumerated free white males and females, enslaved people, and “all other persons.”  Enslaved persons were not listed by name in the census until 1870. Indians living in or near white settlements (known in census publications as “taxed”) were also counted beginning in 1870. Indians on reservations weren’t fully integrated into the census until 1940. More information about the questions asked on each census can be found in Chapter 7. The 1880 census asked the birthplace of the respondents’ parents, making it and subsequent censuses more useful for genealogical researchers. Sadly, the 1890 census was partially destroyed by a fire in 1921, and later the Librarian of Congress authorized the destruction of the remaining documents. Only the section dealing with Civil War veterans has survived.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has published the decennial census enumeration sheets for the 1940 and 1950 censuses on its website. Although access is free, when searching the 1940 census, one must know where a person lived in order to find the census enumeration district number required to view the desired sheet. The 1950 census can be searched by householder name or enumeration sheet. The databases listed above allow viewing and searching of all available decennial censuses. The publishers have digitized the enumeration sheets and transcribed the information on them. These enhancements allow greater precision in searching. Prior to the existence of online versions, genealogy researchers had to go to a library or archives in person to laboriously scroll through the census on microfilm.

Other Censuses

Some states conducted censuses in the years between decennial censuses. South Dakota, for instance, enumerated its population every ten years beginning in 1885 through 1945. In addition, censuses may have been taken during colonial times and prior to a territory’s admission as a state. For example, the Washington Territory first conducted a census in 1857.^[1]

Many foreign countries have conducted censuses, although they may have been less frequent than every 10 years. FamilySearch maintains a wiki that describes census and other records available in foreign countries.

Immigration Records

Passenger Manifests

Passenger lists are an essential source of immigration information. Passenger manifests may record the names of arriving passengers and their accompanying family members, their professions, place of departure, and place of arrival. NARA is the primary source of these records. Prior to 1883, passenger lists were prepared by a ship’s master to be filed with the local collector of customs. Beginning in 1883, immigration officials began to record immigrant arrivals. There are few passenger lists in existence for arrivals in the United States prior to 1820. Some passenger lists have been indexed, making it easier to locate individuals by name.^[2] State archives should also be consulted, for they often hold passenger lists covering the period prior to the state’s joining the union.

Naturalization Records

Prior to 1906, “Any ‘court of record’ (municipal, county, state, or federal) could grant U.S. citizenship.”^[3] As a result, pre-1906 naturalization records vary in the amount of information they contain. Because NARA does not generally hold naturalization records created in state or local courts, a researcher should consult the relevant state archives for pre-1906 records. For instance, both the Alaska and Hawaiʻi state archives hold records related to naturalization. In 1906, the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (predecessor to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, or INS) was created, and naturalization forms became standardized. Authority for granting naturalization was granted exclusively to federal courts. The post-1906 records contain information like the applicant’s name, date and place of birth, names of spouse and children, date of arrival, and other data. Post-1906 naturalization records are retained at the NARA facility that serves the federal court where the naturalization took place.

Alien Registration

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services holds alien registration (AR) forms required by the 1940 Alien Registration Act which were used to document noncitizens residing in the United States during World War II. These forms are particularly useful if no other entry records can be found. AR forms list the names by which a person was known, the location and vessel of the most recent arrival in the U.S., membership in clubs and organizations, occupation, military service, and whether the person had ever filed for naturalization.^[4]

Visa Files

The Immigration Act of 1924 required that all noncitizens entering the United States present a visa for admission. The visa files contain applications for immigrant visas (visa records for nonimmigrants were destroyed). Genealogical information in visa files includes name, date of birth, parents’ names, addresses in the preceding five years, and photographs.^[5]

Passport Records

Passport applications are useful sources of information for U.S. citizens. They indicate the date and place of birth of the applicant, citizenship status, names of other family members who accompanied the passport holder, photographs, and sometimes the travel destination or itinerary. Passports were not required for travel prior to 1941. Passport applications from 1795 to 1925 are available on microfilm at the National Archives and are also available in Ancestry.com. The State Department issues passports to U.S. citizens and maintains records of passports issued after 1925. Note that in general, a person can only request records for himself or herself or for minor children or people for whom they serve as the legal guardian. To obtain passport records for other people, a Freedom of Information Act request is required unless the requester has the person’s authorization.^[6]

Social Security Records

Applications for social security cards can sometimes provide information that is not available through other sources. The Application for Social Security Card form, or SS-5, includes the date and place of birth, full name at birth, parents’ names, mailing address, and employer (until 1947). For a fee, a copy of a form SS-5 for a deceased person can be obtained from the Social Security Administration through its FOIA process.

The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is a name index to deaths recorded by the Social Security Administration beginning in 1962. It is available through FamilySearch, Ancestry, and other sources. SSDI often lists all of the names by which an individual may have been known as well as the date and location of death, so it can be helpful when researching people whose names have changed. 

Vital Records

Vital records include birth, death, marriage, divorce, and adoption records. These are usually handled by each state’s department of health, although copies of the records may be available elsewhere. Custody of records varies depending upon the date of issue. For instance, in Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Health has birth records beginning in the year 1900 and death records beginning in 1908. For records prior to those years, individuals must contact the county where the birth or death occurred. Bear in mind that registration of births with the government did not become mandatory until well into the 20th century in some states. Some states allowed after-the-fact birth registration, sometimes called “delayed” registration.

In 2008, a controversy arose about Barack Obama’s eligibility to be elected president. So-called “birthers” claimed that he was not born in the United States. The State of Hawai‘i Department of Health was inundated with requests to view his birth certificate, but the requests were denied because only people with a “tangible interest” in the certificate could obtain a copy. Eventually, Obama released a copy, although this did not convince doubters that he was, indeed, born in the United States. Access to vital records is usually restricted and varies by state, including the ability of adopted children to obtain records about their birth parents and vice versa. For instance, in Alaska,

Adoption records are sealed, confidential records and require written permission from a Judge or Probate Master to disclose them. Alaska marriage and death certificates are closed to the general public for 50 years; birth certificates are closed for 100 years. Marriage license applications, however, are open to the public with the exception of the results of blood tests, when included.^[7]

The Child Welfare Information Gateway maintains a State Statutes Search that allows users to search for laws concerning access to adoption records in each state.

While birth, death, and adoption records are restricted, marriage and divorce records are often public records. Civil recording of marriages did not begin in some states until the early 1900s, so there may not be any information in public archives from these older marriage records. In some states, access to marriage records may be restricted for several decades following the marriage. Divorce records may be obtained from the county court in which the divorce was granted. Some states have compiled divorce indexes, such as the Texas Divorce Index, 1968-2014.

Probate Records

Probate records cover the distribution of the property of a deceased person, a process overseen by a probate court. Originally, the term will referred to real estate while the testament covered personal property. That is why you often hear reference to a person’s “last will and testament.”

A whole series of documents make up the group of records known as probate records. These include, besides the will itself, the petition for probate of the will, the petition for letters of administration if there is no will, letters testamentary granted by the court to the executors appointed to carry out the testator’s wishes, letters of administration granted to the court-appointed administrators when no will has been executed, inventories and appraisements of the personal estates of the decedents, affidavits, sales of personal property, final accounts of the settlement, etc. Copies of wills are usually entered in record volumes in the custody of the county courthouses.^[8]

Probate records can usually be found at the county clerk’s office of the county where the deceased person resided or at the state archives.

Military Records

Libraries and archives receive many inquiries from people researching an ancestor’s military service. Patrons want to know what Grandpa did in the war, but it can be very difficult to find out! The starting point for this type of research is for the patron to request a copy of the ancestor’s service record. The NARA website has extensive guidance on this process. The form DD-214 states in which units a person served and includes the dates of service. Knowing these basic facts is a key to  searching for unit histories and other sources. However, unless the ancestor was a high-ranking officer, it may be difficult to locate detailed information about where he or she served and what the servicemember’s involvement was. Some military service records are available online through NARA. Military records cover draft registration, casualties, service in specific conflicts, deaths, courts-martial, and pensions. Draft registration records are also available in Ancestry.

Scanned copies of registers of officers and other military history resources are available in HathiTrust. Other sources of unit histories are listed in the Congressional Research Service report Military Service Records and Unit Histories: A Guide to Locating Sources.

Pension Records

Pensions for individuals who served in the U.S. Army or Navy are an important source of information about military service.  U.S. pension application files kept at NARA include the applicant’s name, rank, military unit, period of service, place of residence, and birthdate. Survivor’s pension applications by widows or children may include birth or marriage dates as well as information about the veteran. They may also include affidavits or testimony to verify a veteran’s service dates. Some of the former Confederate States of America also provided pensions to veterans who served in the Civil War in those states. These pension records can be found in the FamilySearch database and at state archives.

African Americans

Government records related to African Americans can usually be found with records pertaining to other groups. Therefore, the general information in this chapter applies to African American genealogical research to a large extent. However, there are some records that pertain specifically to African Americans.

Freedmen’s Bureau

Established in 1865, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as the Freedmen’s Bureau, helped formerly enslaved persons transition to life as free citizens. The various field offices of the bureau contain records of marriages, census returns, labor contracts, applications for relief, and other transactions. Images scanned from the microfilmed records of the Freedmen’s Bureau held at NARA are available in the FamilySearch database.

Census Records

Free African Americans were listed in federal censuses beginning in 1790. Enslaved African Americans were not listed by name in the decennial census, although they were counted by age and sex. A separate Slave Schedule was completed in 1850 that listed the number of enslaved persons and their age, sex, and color. Census enumeration sheets are available in the sources listed above.

Commissioner of Claims

Also known as the Southern Claims Commission, this body reviewed claims of Southern Loyalists after the U.S. Civil War. Records of these claims are found in several collections at NARA. The records provide details about each claimant such as his or her status as a free or enslaved person and the nature and status of the person’s claim. Digitized records are available through Ancestry, Fold3, and FamilySearch.

American Indian and Alaska Native Records

NARA provides extensive information about locating genealogical information for Native Americans. Researchers can search for records by tribe or band, state, type, or federal government agency. Guidance is available for the following types of records:

• Treaties
• Bureau of Indian Affairs schools
• Bureau of Indian Affairs applications and case files for leases, education, benefits, tribal enrollment, and other transactions
• Indian census rolls
• Tribal rolls
• Claims
• Allotments or property
• Correspondence

Reports on Private Bills

Thousands of bills for private laws (discussed in chapter 2) have been introduced in Congress over the past two centuries. These bills, and the supporting documentation, provide important information about individuals and property. Private bills cover all kinds of claims, from pension benefits to property damage caused during the Civil War. Large numbers of private bills were introduced before, during, and after World War II to resolve immigration and citizenship problems due to racial exclusion laws and immigrant quotas. The records related to private legislation include letters, narrative statements, and even the transcripts of hearings held on the bills. House and Senate reports on these private bills often include personal information about the claimants, such as their places of employment, names and ages of children, and other biographical details. State private bills are also a source of information about individuals who filed claims against state governments.

Alien Property Custodian

Another source of genealogical information for some individuals is the records and proceedings of the Office of the Alien Property Custodian (APC). The APC managed property seized from enemy aliens in World War I and World War II under the Trading with the Enemy Act. Seized property could include real property, cash, insurance policies, patents, and other assets. Seizures during WWI usually involved German individuals and corporations. Seizures in World War II involved people and companies from many enemy countries, including Germany, Austria, Italy, and Japan.

One Hawaiʻi-related case serves to illustrate. Shoichi Asami was the editor of the Hawaii Times newspaper. As a prominent Japanese person, he was sent to a concentration camp in Texas after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II. Later, he and his entire family went to Japan as part of a program to exchange Japanese and Japanese-Americans for Americans who were being held in Japan or its territories. The Asamis’ property in Honolulu, their bank account, and an insurance policy were seized and the assets were held by the APC. A vesting order [text version] was published in the Federal Register detailing the seized property.^[9] In most cases, the individuals and companies did not get their property back once hostilities had ceased, because seized property was considered to be compensation for damage inflicted on the United States by its enemies.

Geospatial Information

Maps and aerial photographs are important sources of genealogical information. A patron may be looking for the village in China from which his ancestors came or seeking maps or photographs that show individual houses or buildings. It’s important to bear in mind that most map collections are only partially cataloged, and digital map collections represent only a tiny fraction of the holdings of map libraries. Bibliographic records do not really capture the content of maps or aerial photographs in the way that tagging or metadata can. As in archival collections, contact with the map librarian or archivist is critical to ensure that all of the possible sources of information are consulted.

Land records, as mentioned in Chapter 14, are another essential source of information about people who owned real property. General Land Office records include township survey plats, land district maps, private land claims, land patents, land descriptions, tractbooks, homestead files, and many other types of records. Counties and state archives are additional sources of land records.

Government Authors and Employees

Occasionally, a patron wishes to obtain a copy of a government report written by a relative. It can be difficult to identify publications by a particular government employee because not all government reports state the names of personal authors. Similarly, many people worked as illustrators for the federal government, but their works may not have been attributed. Most federal and state agencies produced telephone directories listing people in managerial or supervisory positions. Many of these can be found in HathiTrust. Agency newsletters can be another source of information about federal or state/local employees. The Official Register of the United States was published from 1816 to 1959. It listed the administrative and supervisory employees in all branches of government and was formerly known as the “Blue Book.” In addition to listing employees, their titles, and their places of employment, it also listed their residences and compensation.

The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri, part of NARA, holds the archival Official Personnel Folders (OPF) of former federal civil service employees whose employment took place between 1850 and 1951. The OPFs of employees whose employment ended after 1951 are records that reside at NPRC but are still in the custody of the Office of Personnel Management and access to those records is restricted as specified in the Privacy Act.^[10]

Case Study

Question: I am researching Dr. John Morgan, who was director of the U.S. Bureau of Mines in the 1980s. I want to know the length of his tenure with the Bureau and the positions he held.

I first consulted the book History of the the Bureau of Mines, which was published when the agency was abolished in 1996. It includes a list of employees as of 1995, but John Morgan was not listed. I also checked to see whether any telephone directories for the Bureau were available, but found none.

Next, I turned to the Official Congressional Directory (OCD), which lists the administrators of each federal agency. I found that Dr. Morgan served in the following positions in the Bureau of Mines:

1995: Acting Associate Director, Information and Analysis

1981-1995: Chief Staff Officer, Bureau of Mines

1975-1979: Associate Director, Minerals and Materials Supply/Demand Analysis

1974: Assistant Director, Mineral Position Analysis

 

 

There were no listings for him prior to 1973 (he may have been in lower-level positions that were not covered in the OCD).

I next searched in the ProQuest Congressional database and found that Dr. Morgan testified at many congressional hearings, including appropriations hearings. The witness listings include affiliations as follows:

1977-1978: Acting Director, Bureau of Mines

1975-1976: Associate Director of the Bureau of Mines

1974: Asst Dir, Mineral Position Analysis

1973: Act Dir, Energy R&D

1971: Listed as consultant, Daytona Beach, Fla.

1951: Dir, Materials Policy Div, Defense Production Admin

Finally, I searched in Newspapers.com and found the following articles:

1995: Article about the helium program being eliminated by President Clinton mentions Morgan as one of the long-serving employees

1973: Acting Director of Bureau of Mines following director’s resignation

1962: John D. Morgan, Jr. fired as a consultant by Office of Emergency Planning after being implicated in a scandal

1955: Materials chief of the Office of Defense Mobilization

I tried to find an obituary for Dr. Morgan, but I was not successful. I referred the patron to the Department of the Interior Library in case it had additional sources that could confirm his tenure in the department.

Other Resources

Historical Records Survey

During the Great Depression and into World War II, the Work Projects Administration (later Works Progress Administration or WPA) initiated an employment program called the Historical Records Survey. Its purpose was to locate and describe records at the county level across the United States. The bibliographies resulting from the surveys conducted by the WPA are listed in Bibliography Research Projects Report, Check List of Historical Records Survey Publications.^[11] In it, one can find entries such as Historical Sites and Landmarks of Alameda County, California and Cemetery Readings in West Virginia. Each entry includes a complete bibliographic citation but no annotations.

Community Resources

Librarians should maintain awareness of community resources for genealogy research. Which libraries or archives have the best collections? Are there individuals, organizations, or community groups that have expertise in researching genealogy in a particular ethnic group? For instance, the Okinawan Genealogical Society of Hawaii published Beginner’s Guide to Geneaology Research Okinawa.^[12]

Although newspapers are not government information, newspapers publish articles about government activities and are an important source of information about government employees and individuals who served in the military. In the past, local newspapers often ran columns discussing social events and sporting activities at area military bases. Society columns often mentioned local government officials.

Insider’s Library

Eales, A. B. & Kvasnicka, R. M. (Eds.). (2000). Genealogical research in the National Archives of the United States. (3rd ed.). National Archives and Records Administration.

A wealth of information has been collected in this volume. Sections cover population, land records, and immigration and military records. Additional chapters cover special groups like Native Americans, African Americans, civilians during wartime, and government employees. It helpfully lists many additional indexes and guides for specific sets of records.

Pennavaria, K. (2015). Genealogy: A practical guide for librarians. Rowman & Littlefield.

While there are a variety of online guides to genealogical research, many of them simply list resources. Pennavaria, a librarian at Western Kentucky University, explains how to find and use various government and non-government records and publications used in genealogical research. In addition, she discusses problems with records such as missing, incomplete, or erroneous information.

Mulcahy, B. L. (2011). Works Progress Administration (WPA) Historical Records Survey. Fort Myers-Lee County Library. http://sites.rootsweb.com/~flmgs/articles/Works_Projects_AdministrationMarch2011_BM.pdf

This article provides a history of the Historical Records Survey and a detailed analysis of its coverage for each state.

U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. (2014). A guide to tracing American Indian & Alaska Native ancestry. U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Public Affairs. https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo145507

This Bureau of Indian Affairs guide lists resources for researching American Indian and Alaska Native ancestry. It includes a special section about Cherokee ancestry.

U.S. Geological Survey. (2002). Using maps in genealogy. https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2002/0099/report.pdf 

This publication discusses the importance of knowing place names when doing genealogical research. It lists a number of resources that can be used to research place names and find historical maps.