19th century

  • Australian Newspapers – Trove

    Jan 13

    Using newspapers is very valuable resource in doing family history. Using Trove (National Library of Australia), will assist those who had ancestors living, visiting or working in Australia. However, just like all newspapers, they also carried news events / happenings in other countries. So any unusual or special events in the United States or Engl...

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  • Delaware Vital Records

    Jan 9

      Just placed on FamilySearch.org are the birth-marriage and death records for those born, married or died anywhere in the state of Delaware. The records from the Delaware Public Archives covers from 1650-1974. True, that is quite a bit of records for many decades. Not every record, especially earliest years are available. Many of the earlie...

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  • Christmas Tree Lights – 1880 – 1882 – 1917

    Dec 22

    Something we take for granted in our decorating is the traditional brightly colored or clear lights on the Christmas Tree. Of course, you know originally the tree was decorated with candles - quite a fire hazard. Plus because of the use of candles, a tree would be lit only just before Christmas and for a short time. It was Thomas Edison, the inve...

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  • English Christmas Cards

    Dec 17

    The very first Christmas card was commissioned by a United Kingdom government worker, Sir Henry Cole (1808-1882), in 1843 when he was too busy to write to his friends himself. Printed in black and white, they were originally colored by hand. The art design was done by John C. Horsley. These became the first commercial Christmas cards. Only a ha...

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  • Old New York City in Photos

    Dec 13

    This is a very unusual map done by 'Old NYC' site for the NY Public Library. Here is a map, laying out the city streets and locations. All over are red dots, indicating where there are vintage photos of that exact location. Actually there are some 80,000 photos, covering between 1870s-1970s. Use your mouse to move about on the map to find a spec...

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  • Vintage Occupations & Slang Phrases

    Nov 5

    In the 19th century, there were some unusual names to jobs / occupations that have a different name in the 21st century. Some were the standard name for a job but others were more of a slang term or phrase. You should become familiar with some of these names, so when you see mention of one in reference to an ancestor, you will have a better idea ...

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  • English Voter Registrations 1832-1932

    Oct 27

    [caption id="attachment_13348" align="alignleft" width="300"] SUFFRAGETTES[/caption] If you had ancestors living in England and Wales between 1832 and 1932, you will need to examine the Findmypast collection of about 220 million names of registered English voters as well as those in Wales. The records are part of the British Library and now on...

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  • Some OLD Words, New Again

    Oct 21

    In the 21st century especially with emails and texting, you might think only in the last few years have certain phrases or words and initials been used frequently. Well, here are few that easily go back to your grandparents, that they may have used. There is OMG (O.M.G.) -- yes, the expression used back in the 1910s, written out with initials to m...

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  • Germans Recruited to Come to Michigan

    Oct 11

    If you have found that you had family ancestors, especially of German heritage living in Michigan during the 19th century (1800s), they may have been actually recruited to come to that region from Germany. In the early 1800s, Michigan was a territory of the United States. However, it appeared that there not many new settlers were coming to the M...

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  • United Kingdom Censuses

    Sep 27

    The United Kingdom started their census taking in 1841 and it was done every ten years. Available online with the site 'FreeCen.org' are the censuses records in the U.K. for all its counties covering 1841 to 1891. By searching using either a full name or just a surname and especially in a specific county, you should be able to view the informati...

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