"HIDDEN SOURCES: FAMILY HISTORY IN UNLIKELY PLACES," by Laura Szucs Pfeiffer In "Hidden Sources," first-time, part-time, and even full-time family history researchers will find many little-known sources that may contain information about their ancestors’ lives. Readers will discover short explanations for each entry that help them determine immediately whether or not a given record contains the information they need. Readers get an overview of more than a hundred sources, including: --- Admiralty Court Records --- Adoption Records --- Alien Registration Records --- Almshouse Records --- American Medical Association Records --- Apprenticeship Records --- Coroner’s Inquests --- Draper Manuscripts --- Holocaust Records --- Homestead Records --- Licenses --- Midwife Records --- Necrologies --- Orphan Asylum Records --- Orphan Train Records, 1853-1929 --- Patent Records --- Prison Records --- Slavery Records --- Territorial Records --- U.S. Serial Set --- Voter’s Registration Records Author Laura Szucs Pfeiffer provides clues to the location of these little-used records and a list of books with further information about the records. And for those who enjoy using the Internet in their research, the author has also included URLs that will take them to sites with further information about these hidden sources. Below is a sample entry from the book: MARRIAGE DISPENSATIONS, p. 138, In some religions, a dispensation was necessary, under certain circumstances, for a couple to be married in a religious ceremony. Dispensations were requested for various reasons, such as not wanting banns read or posted, a marriage between cousins, or, most commonly, a marriage between a couple of different religious backgrounds. In the Catholic Church, for example, a dispensation is necessary for a Catholic to marry someone of another denomination. In those cases, dispensation records reveal a good deal of biographical information: names of prospective bride and groom, their birthplaces (sometimes including exact towns, which can be especially helpful in learning a foreign origin), residence at the time of filing for the dispensation, and the names of both parents, often including the mother's maiden name. In order to locate this kind of record, the religious backgrounds of the couple of interest must be determined as well as where and when the marriage took place. If the records have been saved for the time period in question, an inquiry to the religious headquarters, diocese, or archive may be the best starting point. If nothing else, this may narrow the search to a particular congregation or parish. An example of a published collection of Catholic dispensations is "Bishop Loughlin's Dispensations-Diocese of Brooklyn 1859-1866," Volume 1 by Joseph M. Silinonte. The value of this particular book of 5,200 dispensations lies not only in its content, but in its coverage-the Diocese of Brooklyn included all of Long Island (then Kings, Queens, and Suffolk counties) and present-day Nassau County, a total of thirty-five churches. Furthermore, this region was the initial stopping-off place for many immigrants, who would later move elsewhere. Selected Readings: J. Gordon Melton, III, ed. "The Directory of Religious Organizations in the United States." Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1993. Dougherty, Richard W. "Published Church Records" in "Printed Sources: A Guide to Published Genealogical Records," edited by Kory L Meyerink. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1988, 269-298. ____. "Research in Church Records" in "The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy," edited by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1988, 149-170. Silinonte, Joseph M. "Bishop Loughlin's Dispensations-Diocese of Brooklyn 1859-1866," Volume 1. Brooklyn, N.Y: Joseph Silinonte (7901 4th Avenue, #D, Brooklyn, NY 11209), 1996. Laura Szucs Pfeiffer