About:

Census Records 2

Military Records 2

Vital Records 2

Artifacts 3

City Directories 3

Immigration Records

3

Historical Newspapers

4-5

Databases and Other Resources

Resources for Family History Project

Historical Record Type

Tips:

Access databases and online resources at https://www.slcl.org/genealogy

See the About page for each record type to learn more!

For help on citing historical records see Citing Histori-cal Sources: A Manual for Family Historians by Noeline Kyle (Call No. 929.1 K99C, circulating copy)

S t . L o u i s C o u n t y L i b r a r y - H i s t o r y & G e n e a l o g y

Family History Research Project, Lesson 1/Activity No. 1

Location/Place of Residence: Census City directories Immigration: Passenger lists Naturalization records

Vital Events: (births, marriage, death) Vital records Civil registration Newspapers

Census HeritageQuest Online

Military Fold3

Immigration: (Passenger Lists & Naturalizations)

FamilySearch Ancestry-Library Edition

Vital Events FamilySearch.org Ancestry-Library Edition

Artifacts Book Recommendations– See Bibliography

Newspapers Historical New York Times Historical St. Louis Post-Dispatch NewspaperARCHIVE

Occupation: Military records Pensions

Artifacts Heirlooms Architecture

Vital records note major events in a person’s life, such as birth, mar-riage, and death.

The dates found from vital records help genealogists and family his-torians identify ancestors and determine other links on a family tree.

The availability of vital records depends on when a particular state began keeping a register.

Consult Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources for vital record availability for a specific state. Call No. Q 929.1 R312, circulating copy

16 August 1909- start of state wide vital records registration in Missouri

Types of military records are draft records, service records, pension re-cords, bounty land records, claim records, and military histories.

Fold3 is a great database for searching military records. You can search by war or time period, as well as browse the record collections.

The Fold3 database can be accessed at https://www.slcl.org/ with a library card.

Before you begin your search for military records it is helpful to find information about when and where your ancestor served and whether they were enlisted or an officer.

Sources to check for clues about your veteran ancestors are news-papers, family stories, service medals & memorabilia, and pho-tographs.

The US Federal Census is an impor-tant historical record for learning about the movement of individuals and groups of people throughout American history. Starting in 1790, the United States has taken a federal census every ten years. The 1940 census is the most recent census that the public has access to, and the 1950 census will be released to the public in 2022.

While searching through the census for your ancestors it is important to view the actual census record, in addi-tion to the indexed page. The actual census record will let you see addi-tional information and the census

taker’s handwriting so that you can verify spellings and de-termine whether you agree or disagree with the indexed infor-mation.

Be sure to check the page before and after the one on which your ancestor is listed. This may lead to clues about other family members and neighbors. These other names can be a great help with finding your ancestor in an earlier census.

Work backwards! Once you have found your ancestor in one cen-sus year, try moving back in time and find them in the previous census year. *Note the age of your ancestor in each census year (this will help you identify them in other census records).

Census Records

Vital Records

Military Records

Resources for Family History Project Page 2

Make a timeline to help keep track

of your ancestor’s service records-

this will help you determine what

other records to search for!

Helpful Online Resources for Artifact Research: Home Things Past: http://

www.homethingspast.com/ Old and Interesting: http://

www.oldandinteresting.com/sitemap.htm

Census Years with Immigration Info

1900 census column 16

1910 census column 15

1920 census column 13

1930 census column 22

Passenger Lists

New York, Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island)-FamilySearch.org

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1368704

Naturalizations

Available on FamilySearch.org

1870 census column 18—check mark for foreign born citizens-naturalized by 1870

1900 census column 18, 1910 column 16, 1920 census column 14, 1930 cen-sus column 23

Where to Access City Directories:

City Directories for St. Louis, Missouri are available on Fold3 for the years 1863-1923

City Directories for Kansas City, Missouri are available on Fold3 for the years 1865-1923

St. Louis City & County directories are also available in the History & Genealogy Department in print and on microfilm. An index is available on the department’s website.

Locate your ancestors in a particu-lar city and specific year with city directories.

City directories are arranged al-phabetically and give lists of names and addresses and are a great supplement to census records.

Directories also can offer clues about an ancestor’s occupation.

Artifacts

Immigration Records

City Directories

Page 3 Family History Research Project, Lesson 1/Activity No. 1

You can also find St. Louis

Directories, Gazetteers, Rosters, and

Guides at Missouri Digital Heritage-

http://www.sos.mo.gov/mdh/

Book Recommendations: Kyvig, David E. Nearby History: Exploring the Past Around You. Nashville: American Association for State and Local History, 1982. Call no.: 973 K99N Sturdevant, Katherine Scott. Bringing Your Family History to Life Through Social History. Cincinnati: Betterway Books, 2000. Call no.: R 929.1 S935B

Searchable full text and full image articles from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1874-2003.

Full coverage of the New York Times from its inception on September 18, 1851 as the New York Daily Times.

Current up to three years behind the current year of publication.

This database along with the New York Times available through ProQuest Newsstand provides coverage of the entire run of the New York Times newspaper up to the present!

Several clues about family an-cestors are found through re-search with historical newspa-pers. By searching newspapers you can find information that can help fill in the missing sto-ries about your ancestor’s life.

In addition to the Newspaper microfilm that is held in the History & Genealogy Depart-ment at the Headquarters Branch of the St. Louis County Library, the library also has several newspaper data-bases that allow researchers to search, download, and print newspaper articles.

The following are possible topics to research with Newspapers!

Military service

Letters from loved ones

The latest fashions

Sporting events

Organization and society meetings

Weather reports

Land sales

Military pensions– Civil War

Social History

Historical Newspapers

Historical St. Louis Post-Dispatch [ProQuest]

Historical New York Times [ProQuest]

Resources for Family History Project Page 4

Searchable full text, full

page, and article-level

images from the Historical

Search Tips!

Use quotation marks to search for exact phrases

Separate terms with OR to find any of the words en-tered

St. Louis Post-Dispatch [Newsbank]

Full Text, comprehensive da-tabase with total access from 1988 to present, and partial access from 1981-1987.

A database containing tens of millions of news-paper pages from 1759 to present, many from small towns.

Primary source material providing insight into life, culture, and history during the first half of the 1800s through articles written by African-Americans for African-Americans. Includes biographies of people often overlooked in standard references.

Primary source 19th-century newspaper content from urban and rural regional newspapers throughout the U.S.

NewspaperARCHIVE

African-American Newspapers: 19th Century Pt’s 1,2, & 3

Nineteenth-Century U.S. Newspapers

Page 5 Family History Research Project, Lesson 1/Activity No. 1

Log on to the History & Genealogy

Department home page at

https://www.slcl.org/research.

Select History & Genealogy

On the History & Genealogy page

click “Online Research” on the right

side of the page.

Proceed through the alphabetical list

of online resources to find the data-

bases by title

How to Access Newspaper Databases at SLCL

History & Genealogy Department

Tours of the History & Genealogy Department

Scheduled tours

Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m.

Saturdays, 10:30 a.m.

Group tours

Groups of 10 or more are welcome and can be accommo-

dated with advance notice. To schedule a group tour,

please contact the History & Genealogy Department at

314-994-3300, ext. 2070 or by email at geneal-

ogy@slcl.org

Explore Tier 4 on the second Saturday and Sunday of each month Explore Tier 4 provides an opportunity to browse more than 13,000 family histories and other materials shelved in an area not normally open to the public.

1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63131-3598

Email: genealogy@slcl.org Phone: 314-994-3300, ext. 2070

S t . L o u i s C o u n t y L i b r a r y -H i s t o r y & G e n e a l o g y

Founded in 1998, the History and Genealogy Department is a major research destination offering access to a growing collection of 100,000 print items, 850 periodical titles, 40,000 microfilms, and a variety of electronic databases.

History & Genealogy Department St. Louis County Library 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63131 genealogy@slcl.org 314-994-3300, ext. 2070