SNIPPET: USA newspaper death notices are an excellent source of new information, often will name surviving relatives and where they reside. If you have a death date you can send away for microfilmed copies of USA newspapers (with the help of your reference librarian) for the two days following a death. The librarian has reference books that tell what newspapers were in business in particular locations in particular time periods and where to obtain microfilmed copies of same for you to view. This often can be done through the free interlibrary loan program. If you don't have a definite date of death, but an idea of where and when it occurred, there are microfilmed state death indices divided by approximately 10-year increments in archival libraries and at your local LDS (Mormon) FHC that give name of deceased, age at death, spouse's name, date of death, location of death (you may have to rewind to location code at beginning of film). Best of all, they give the exact number of the death certificate. Names are alphabetical and soundexed. Contact the county historical society in the USA county in which your family resided. Offer them a donation in exchange for searching for documents on YOUR particular family. For $60, I received a treasure-trove of b/m/d extracts, wills, circa 1900 marriage applications (not to be confused with certificates) some with info.on the PARENTS of the bride and groom, newspaper accounts, land purchase records, old maps with names of landowners, cemetery records, a court case involving land partition, photocopied pages from old county history books and their county periodicals with my surnames highlighted. Consider subscribing to the periodical they publish. Not only will you enjoy receiving copies containing the history of the county, but the volunteers are even more likely to go all out for you to help you find documents regarding your families. Their periodicals have an everyname index in their winter issues. Bottom line - US county historical society volunteers are VERY familiar with every aspect of "their" county --- its history, records, published family histories and area-specific materials. They are in the best position to ferret out any and all documents. Their periodicals contain transcriptions of old county deed books, church records, diaries, membership lists of fraternal organizations, school records, etc. The county historical society volunteer went through years of back issues of their periodical looking for my surnames, photocopied same and sent to me. She also checked old maps with the names of settlers and sent me a copy of a circa 1870 map showing several of my families living as neighbors in Delaware Co. IN. I was amazed to discover some of my humble IN farming families were written up in an old county history book at my local genealogy library. Not only were they early settlers, but they belonged to particular agricultural, fraternal, religious and occupational organizations. One held office, and two were volunteers in the American Civil War. I also also found out that my librarian could send away for additional books not found at my local library via the free interlibrary loan program.. While at your local genealogy library, check also for any issues of periodicals historical societies have published. You just can't beat the microfilmed USA Federal censuses for data. The latest one to be released to the public is 1930. The 1920 one seems to give more exact information on place of birth of self, each parent. The later censuses give date of immigration, whether alien or naturalized, date of naturalization, or years in USA. May indicate "pa" for papers, indicating they have initiating citizenship. Some censuses indicate years married, whether married previously, number of children born, number of children still living, all great clues for genealogists. Note -- Some states also took local censuses in the years between the federal censuses. One of my favorite record sets is the microfilmed USA/Canada border-crossing St. Albans (VT) records. Cards of data were generated each time an alien crossed the border and have been microfilmed front and back. The Soundex film is for the 1895-circa 1924 time period, but I did find 1925 data on my father. Although the records were stored in Vermont they pertain to aliens crossing the border back and/or forth at ANY point along the ENTIRE border. Persons with the same surname (and variations) for that entire time period are grouped together on one or two films depending on how common the surname is. They are most often listed by their first name, middle name (or initial) and surname, but look also for other combinations. They might be listed by the initials of their given names and then their surname, or perhaps they gave their middle name. In any case, there should be enough information for you to be able to quickly spot "your" relatives. Data includes name of any ship, port, date connected with travel, which can lead you to a second microfilm of ship manifests! Given also is their last address, the date when last in the USA, name and address of a relative or friend in the "old" country, same at "intended destination." Age, date of birth, where born is given, personal description (color of hair, eyes, > height, scars, health), names and ages of travelling companions, reason for travel (visit/permanent), etc. I don't believe parents' names are given, but the name of the person paying for the trip is, and in the case of a young person it may be the father or another relative. These films can be found in archival libraries (M1461) and at your local LDS (Mormon) FHC. If you have trouble locating the St. Albans record set at your local LDS FHC on their Library Holdings CD try entering film number 1472801, that will bring up information on these and similar records. Even if you don't know of a family connection to Canada (as I did not) take a chance on these records. I would especially encourage anyone whose families settled in the northern USA states, in particular, to explore these border-crossing films For a film rental fee of less than four dollars (LDS FHC), I was able to spot several of my FORD relatives as they traveled from England by steamer, got off in Quebec City, Canada, boarded a Canadian Pacific Railway train and entered the USA at different places along the border. Some went back up into Canada to work, to honeymoon, were briefly there on their way back to visit relatives in England. Two of my uncles, crossed the Atlantic from Liverpool as children just a few months before the "Titanic" sank. I found their record on the St. Albans film and because it gave me the name of the ship, port, date, I was able to find their ship's manifest on another microfilm. The St. Albans microfilms are also located in branches of the National Library (USA) and likely Canada has something similar. I also found some relatives at the Ellis Island (NY) website as they traveled back and forth. Remember, they may have made a trip back "to the old country" after emigrating! Jean