TIP #249 - OTHER SOURCES FOR YOUR FAMILY TREE Are you running out of places to look for your family history? Does you visit to the library end hours later with total frustration because there's just NOTHING there? Well, if your eyes are not too bleary, here are some other ideas you might not have thought of yet! This is not an original thought, I was motivated after reading an article by Julianna Smith in a recent Ancestry post and said to myself, "hey, you haven't looked there yet! How about trailing your ancestor's occupations? There is a wealth of information to be found out there if you're lucky. The 1820 census did a count of those found to be involved in agriculture, manufacture or commercial enterprises. By the 1840 census, they also included mining, trades, navigations of the waterways, engineers, etc. The 1850 census however, that wonderful first census with NAMES, was the first one to list their exact occupation. So, if you can find what the ancestor did for a living, you have a shot at finding information on them from other sources. Where you may ask? Well - how about: 1) City Directories. I have discovered these in the larger cities and they are wonderful. A city directory is done each year and lists the name, occupation, names of those residing in the household and their places of employment. You are able to trace them from year to year - and when those entries stop, aha! They have moved or died! If you are fortunate enough to find an employer that is still in existence, a 33 cent stamp is worth the effort! Old records are normally microfilmed or fisched and they just MIGHT be able to find the employee file. http://www.ancestry.com/ancestry/search.asp, if you are a member, has a list of many businesses. 2) Was your ancestor a member of a labor union? It's worth a check at the Walter P. Reuther Libary, Wayne State University, 5401 Cass Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202 (313) 577-4024 or check out http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/) (home page of the Archives of Labor and Union Affairs. 3) I'm sure you've checked out the Social Security records on line. ~ they can contain information such as full name, birth date, and place, parents' names, and the employer's address. If you find a "hit", (try the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) at: http://www.ancestry.com/ssdi/advanced.htm, Ancestory allows you to "create letter" and a letter to the Social Security Administration will automatically be generated requesting these records. 4) The Allen County Public Library's "PERiodical Source Index" (PERSI) is another wonderful source. It has occupational information. You can find them on a search for the library or, as a member of Ancestry, by clicking on http://www.ancestry.com/ancestry/search/persiadvsearch.asp. I am not "plugging" Ancestry as such, but they do have a lot of information available. Some of the larger libraries also have this in printed form. 5) Was your ancestor a railroadin' man? Workers after 1936 may have received pensions from the Railroad Retirement Board and these papers can often contain valuable information. There is a website with information at: http://www.rrb.gov/geneal.html. 6) There is a National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections - known as the NUCMC which includes information involving the archival collections of quite a few businesses. You can search this at: http://lcweb.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/nucmc.html According to Ancestry, this also contains references to collections of insurance records. 7) Was your ancestor a Mason, Knight of Columbus, a member of a historical society, civic organization? Many directors of associations and organizations have directories and can be found listed at: "Directories in Print" (Detroit: Gale Research Co.) and the "Encyclopedia of Associations" (Detroit: Gale Research Co.) . 8) Other possible sources: (courtesy of Ancesty). a) Center for Archival Collections, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, Tel: 419-372-2411, http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/cac/collhome.html b) Records of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, and Ornamental Ironworkers. http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/cac/ms0077.html c) Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri/State Historical Society of Missouri, 23 Ellis Library, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65201-5149 USA, Tel: 573-882-6028, Fax: 573-884-0345, Email: mailto:whmc@umsystem.edu http://www.system.missouri.edu/whmc/welcome.htm. Labor Collections: http://www.system.missouri.edu/whmc/labor.htm With many thanks to Ancestry for a few more clues! (c) Copyright 24 June 1999, All Rights Reserved. Sandra K. Gorin. Sgorin@glagow-ky.com Colonel Sandi Gorin 205 Clements,Glasgow, KY 42141 (270) 651-9114 or E-fax (707)222-1210 Gorin Genealogical Publishing: http://members.delphi.com/gorin1/index.html TIPS: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Tips KYBIOS: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Bios ARCHIVES: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl