Genealogy Reviews Online

Book Review - Dances with Luigi: A Grandson's Search for His Italian Roots by Paul Paolicelli

Dances with Luigi by Paul Paolicelli, (Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Griffin, New York, 2000) is a very good read, and I had to share it with you.  This is old news for the hard core Italian genealogy types who discovered Paolicelli a long time ago, but as usual, I discovered him later then most.  I was taken with this book because, at least on the surface, it mirrors my own search for my grandfather's family in Southern Italy.  I say on the surface, because Paolicelli did what most people only dream of doing - the only way I can categorize it is "extreme" genealogy.  Paolicelli was a successful television journalist who had heard family stories about his Italian heritage all of his life.  However, as all genealogy buffs experience, gaps in the family story got his curiosity going.

Being Thankful for Good Genes

A few weeks ago Randy Seaver, who writes the Gena-Musings blog, did a piece on family health history.  The Department of Health and Human Services has a site where you can create a family health portrait online.  This allows you to look for types of health issues that may run in your family.   As I was loading my family members into the website, I discovered an interesting thing - a lot of people in my family who died within the last 10 years lived into their 80s and 90s.  I decided to do a little (non-scientific) experiment.  I wanted to look at both my paternal and maternal lines and record my ancestor's age at death as far back as I could go.  I then wanted to analyze these numbers and see if I could draw any conclusion from them.

Roots Television - This Could Be Good

As I write this, I'm watching Roots Television for the first time.  When I first heard of this effort, I was skeptical - I just didn't think a genealogy video site on the Internet would work.  After spending about an hour and a half watching some of the productions, I think they may be on to something.  It's not perfect...I got sick of seeing the Sheraton International commercial after every three videos, or when I switched to another topic.  I also wish they would not start the same Sheraton commercial, followed by the feature video, as soon as you navigate to the site.  It would be nice if you could browse their video offerings before the commercials start, but as soon as you start watching the videos you'll see why I think they may be on to something.

Bureau of Land Management Records

I think I have a different way of researching my family history then most people.  From surfing the web, it looks like a lot of people are mainly trying to build a family chart that goes back as far as possible.  I started out doing the same thing, but I kept finding very interesting facts about the lives of some of my ancestors.  I would always stop and try to dig up as much info as I could about one person.  The tool I use is a simple time-line.  I draw a line from birth to death and try to plug in as many facts as I can throughout the persons life.  One of the sites I've used is the Bureau of Land Management Land Office Records. 

Archives of Canada - Immigration Passenger Lists 1865-1922

I saw an article the other day (I think it was in Dick Eastman's Newsletter) about an immigration passenger list offered by the Canadian Archives.  Since my Italian grandfather initially immigrated to Canada before he came to the US, I decided to check it out to see if I would get lucky - I was having a lot of luck lately and felt confident.   I guess I've been spoiled by the explosion of online indexes that we have today on both free and subscription sites, because I was a little disappointed  at this Canadian Archives database - It is not indexed by name.

Ancestry.com - 1851 Canadian Census

I know it seems like my blog is all Ancestry.com all the time, but they are in the middle of a big new content push and I feel I should explore it.  I'm excited about the 1851 Canadian census because its the first Canadian offering where I have actually had success.  It turns out, much to my surprise, that I have a Canadian connection through each set of grandparents...including my Italian immigrant grandparents.  Even though I have a deep Canadian history, I have been unable to locate any of my family in the few online venues - until now.

Colorado and West Virginia State Archives

There are many sources for genealogy research on the Internet, but two of my favorites are the Colorado and West Virginia State Archives. I will highlight below what I like best about them.

Colorado State Archives

I was born and raised in Colorado, and parts of my family have been there for around 150 years, so I've spent a lot of time exploring their online offerings.

Ancestry.com – New Immigration Records

By now everyone has heard that Ancestry.com's major new content addition was revealed the other day. It’s billed as the “worlds largest collection of passenger lists.” When I read about this I thought “so what”…I can already get this from the Ellis Island site.  Then I tried searching for my grandfather's sister and was completely suprised by what I found.  there was a record for her, but not the same one that I found on Ellis Island.org.  What I found was the record of her detention because she was waiting for her future husband to pick her up.  It showed that she waited for two days after she arrived and had two breakfasts, two lunches, and two dinners.  This is wonderful stuff because I never saw this record before. 

The Comunes of Italy Magazine

I was stumbling around the internet today looking for interesting locations focused on Italian genealogy/history and found a wonderful website. It’s kind of buried inside something called ItalianAncestry.com. While browsing, I found a magazine called the Communes of Italy linked to the site. This is a little magazine is published bi-monthly (unfortunately there’s no online edition) and goes on to say:

“Each issue features a province in  Italy. Meaning that issue will contain every ounce of information you need to research in that province, (postal codes, Roman Catholic church addresses in the province, Archivio di Stato address, tourist office address, newspaper addresses, census info, etc.) with some provincial recipes and history included for good measure.  Copies of original Italian documents are displayed in the pages to give the researcher a better understanding of what they are, the information they contain, and the significance and importance of each.”

It looks like this periodical has been published since 1998 and the cost is $25 for one year (6 issues).  There are links that give a topical outline of the provinces covered for each year published.  While this journal looks interesting, and I will probably subscribe, the really wonderful part of this site links you to the Comune di Tito Civil Records.   

Subscription Service Pet Peeve

I know this isn’t a review, but it’s an issue that gets my blood boiling. Why is it that you can’t cancel an online subscription…online? A few years back I was subscribed to both Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com. At first I didn’t understand that they were a part of the same company. When I finally figured that out, and realized that much of the content was the same, I decided to cancel one of those very expensive subscriptions. After comparing both services, I figured I’d keep Genealogy.com because I like the way census pages were displayed, and because my Ancestry subscription was almost over.