|
January 06, 2000
See Rhonda's Previous
Columns
First
Families of Virginia
Q:
How does one establish membership in the "First Families
of Virginia"? What is the criteria? I know my ancestors were there
before the Revolutionary War. -- Dorothy
A:
First Families of Virginia is the shortened name. The actual name is
the Order of the First Families of Virginia. Like other such societies,
it is considered a lineage society. Lineage societies, for those who
may not know, are those that require you prove descent from an acceptable
ancestor. The criteria on which an ancestor may be considered acceptable
will vary from society to society.
There are lineage societies to represent such groups as:
- Earliest settlers to a given state
- Military service or support given for certain wars
- Certain professions, such as tavern keepers
- Mayflower passengers
As I said, each lineage society will have different criteria for joining.
In the case of the First Families of Virginia, they will have a cutoff
date by which your ancestor would need to be able to prove residence
in the state. And based on publications from this society, I would say
it is 1624/25.
The introduction to the third edition of Adventurers of Purse and
Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5, which states "Incomplete records
do not permit a statement of the exact number of those who came to Virginia
from 1607 to 1624 but it is believed that a fair estimate would place
the number at one or two hundred more than 7,000. Of this number about
one-seventh survived. At least when the muster or census of January,
1624/5 was taken, the number reported to be living was 1,232...."
You will want to contact the society directly at:
Order of the First Families of Virginia
5055 Seminary Road, #439
Alexandria, VA 22311
They appear to not have a web site at the present time as I was unable
to turn up anything in regards to this.
Married
in New York
Q:
I have tried to locate my grandparents
Claus H. W. DOSCHER and Wilhelmina PAASCH on a marriage certificate
in either Brooklyn or Manhattan between 1872 and 1877. I have sent to
the New York Archives in both areas and have been told that no record
exists. All records show that they were living at either borough during
that time frame. Where do I go from here? -- Ken
A:
Unfortunately your time frame seems to fall in between two laws requiring
the recording of vital records. There was a law passed in 1847 that
required school districts to keep records of births, marriages and deaths.
To say this was an overwhelming success would be an exaggeration. And
the latest these records continued is 1852. Another law was passed in
1880, and that is the basis for the requirements today for the recording
of vital records.
You may want to see if you can get access to Historical Records Survey
volume, Guide to Public Vital Statistics Records in New York State
(Including New York City) in three volumes. It was published in
1942 in Albany, New York by the Historical Records Survey. This guide
includes information on what records existed as of the 1940s and where
the records could be found.
In addition to vital records, you will want to turn your attention
to church records and newspapers. These are very often the only alternatives
when vital records prove not to be in existence for the time period
being searched.
Finally the 1875 New York State census may be another resource that
offers you insight. At the very least it will help to determine if they
married before or after 1875. Among other information, this census also
includes an enumeration of those who married within the year.
One final approach to your research problem would be to visit the New
York City USGenWeb site. There you will find researchers concentrating
on the areas in question who may have access to some of the resources
you need.
Looking
for Naturalization Records
Q: My great great grandfather, William WINTERS, came
from England. According to the 1900 census for Yellow Creek Twp., Linn
County, Missouri, he came in 1848 and he had been in the U.S. for 52
years. I can't find out where he came from, what port he came in through
or on which boat he arrived. He died in Linn County in 1901. I don't
know if there was a letter of intent or where he applied for citizenship.
I believe he married first in 1850 in Linn County, Missouri which would
be only two years after arriving. -- Paul
A:
Since you have found William WINTERS in the 1900 census already, you
have some major information at your fingertips. In addition to the Year
of immigration and the number of years in the U.S., the 1900 census
had another column under Citizenship labeled Naturalization.
This column will tell you whether or not William had completed the naturalization
process.
There are three possible abbreviations that will appear in this column:
- Al - abbreviation for Alien (means that he never began the
naturalization process
- Pa - abbreviation for Papers (means that he was somewhere
in the naturalization process, but had not completed it)
- Na - abbreviation for Naturalized (means that he had completed
the naturalization process)
If he did in fact complete the naturalization process then you will
indeed want to look for those records. They may be the only ones that
will contain where in England he was born. They will also tell you what
ship he traveled on and what port he came through. However, the passenger
lists for the mid 1800s are not going to offer you any more information
than his name, gender, age, occupation, and the country he is emigrating
from.
Prior to 1906 the naturalization process could be carried out at any
county courthouse. As a result, the records may not be all in one repository,
especially if William migrated from the eastern states to get to Missouri.
So, it is important to be able to accurately display his migration from
his arrival in the United States (or as close to then as possible) on
up to 1900. Because any time in that period of time is when he could
have been naturalized.
Naturalization laws have varied over the years as have the jurisdictions.
A valuable resource for determining what court may have been in charge
of naturalization records at the time he could have been going through
the process is A Directory of Courts Having Jurisdiction in Naturalization
Proceedings which was originally published by the U.S. Dept. of
Justice in 1963. It has since been microfilmed by the Family History
Library on FHL #1730286.
Ideally you will be looking for his second papers. They are the ones
that are most likely to have information about his place of birth. To
find out more about naturalization records, you will want to see Donna
Przecha's article Notes
on Naturalization.
Going Home to Ireland
Q:
I will be taking my children to Ireland this summer and wanted to see
if I could find any info about where my father's parents came from.
They immigrated by ship some time in 1890?-1896 and came through Ellis
Island. My father's sister was born in Philadelphia in 1897 and my father
was born in 1903. Both of my grandparents died in Philadelphia sometime
in the late 1930s or early 1940s. We have no idea where in Ireland they
originated from or what family they left behind. I'm looking for any
record which might have listed a point of origin - ship passenger list,
1900 census (don't know what was asked), etc. -- Don
A:
Unfortunately your grandparents' arrival falls in what are known
as the unindexed years as far as ships arriving in Ellis Island are
concerned. From 1847 through 1896 there is no index to the passenger
ships that arrived at New York City, which does include Ellis Island
for a small period of time. Prior to 1892 passengers disembarking at
New York City would have done so at Castle Gardens.
So, your first step is going to be to try to narrow down when your
grandparents arrived in the country. This is done by first locating
them in the 1900 census. You will want to start with the soundex for
the 1900 census for Philadelphia. Once you have located the family in
the soundex, you will have the necessary information to locate them
in the census. And as was mentioned above, the 1900 census included
three columns of information about citizenship:
- Year of immigration to United States
- Number of years in U.S.
- Naturalization
This will give you needed information about the family. You will learn
when exactly they arrived in the United States. However, because it
is possible that they had only been in the United States for a couple
of years, it is likely that your grandfather had not yet begun the naturalization
process. You may need to locate the grandparents in the 1910 and 1920
census as well to determine just when your grandfather was naturalized.
Armed with the date of naturalization, you will then want to turn your
attention to naturalization records. If your grandfather was naturalized
after 1906, then you will need to contact the Immigration and Naturalization
Services in Washington, DC. If he was naturalized prior to 1906, then
you may need to look at the records in Philadelphia. It will be these
naturalization records that will tell you when your ancestor arrived,
what port, and what ship. You are also likely to find his place of birth
in the naturalization records.
Some additional information may be found in Myra Vanderpool Gormley's
Locating Ship
Passenger Lists and Genealogy.com's All
About Immigration and Migration.
Rhonda R. McClure is a professional genealogist specializing in celebrity trees
and computerized genealogy. She has been involved in online genealogy for fifteen
years. She is the author of the award-winning The
Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy, now in its second edition.
She is the author of four how-to guides on Family
Tree Maker. In late 2001, she wrote The
Genealogist's Computer Companion. She is a contributing editor to Biography
Magazine with her "Celebrity Roots" column and a contributing writer
to The History Channel Magazine. Her latest book is Finding
Your Famous and Infamous Ancestors. She may be contacted at rhondagen@thegenealogist.com.
Back to Top of Article
|
