Give that Old History a Facelift

One of the first places to look for information on a specific pioneer ancestor, whether male or female, is in the Historical Department of the International Daughters of Utah Pioneers. They are located at 300 North Main Street in Salt Lake City, Utah. Their collection has over 100,000 histories and around 25,000 photos. Luckily, they have index lists online.

The histories have come from members since the organization began in 1901. Current members today are required to write histories and turn them in. There are many "Utah Pioneers" that have not been written about. Click on the Utah Pioneers link to find out exactly who was considered to be a "Utah Pioneer" and how large the territory was - you just might be surprised. Be sure to scroll all the way down on that page.

One question many members have is this, "All my ancestors already have a history, what do I do now?" Here is an idea for a fresh history:

Most, if not all, of these histories don't have sources. When they were written that wasn't important. Now it is. Everything needs a source to be considered credible. Gathering census, church, land, vital, and cemetery records are easier to collect than ever with websites like FamilySearch and Ancestry.com. Find My Past used to be just for the British Isles but recently has delved into American records. MyHeritage has absorbed the World Vital Records collection. Libraries, courthouses, historical societies, genealogical societies have many indexes and even records online.

Two of my favorite sources are FindAGrave and Libraries:

FindAGrave is an online database. My favorite feature of this site is "request a photo." There are volunteers around the nation that will go and take photos of specific headstones. Sometimes they have been posted the same day I requested them. 

Public libraries in the town your ancestor lived keep old newspapers. This is important because they are the first place to turn for obituaries. If they don't have a collection they know who does. Some even have the papers online. There are regional libraries that carry massive collections like the Lincoln Public Library in Springfield, Illinois. State libraries usually have collections too. In fact, Washington has a central repository and will do several look-ups per month for free. There are databases like AccessNewspapers.com & GenealogyBank.com - beware that their collections are usually not complete.

Searcher Beware

For example, many Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune issues don't have obituaries online. If you can't find the one you want then check the microfilms at the Family History Library in Salt Lake, public libraries or university libraries that have complete microfilm collections of the newspaper you want and look for the obituary. There are many in the microfilms that aren't online. Another example, Hayner Public Library in Alton, Illinois has a great genealogy library. They have the complete newspapers for Alton that NewspaperArchive.com doesn't have. For a small fee they will check their indexes and send a copy of the obituary. Score.

Tip:  Always learn about the database/subscription  you use to find out the limitations.

Top 4 places to search for Utah Newspapers:

• For more recent Deseret News articles http://news.google.com/newspapers  Look for Deseret News under the D section,  - it goes from mid 1800 to 2003. This is free. They have many many newspapers
• For Salt Lake Tribune and Daily Herald archives search NewspaperArchive.com. You can get it for free at the Family History centers in Alpine Tabernacle, Mt. Timpanogos FHC right across the street from the temple, and probably the Highland FHC in the South Stake Bldg. Also FHL at BYU and SLC FHL has this.
• Utah Digital Newspapers goes up to 1910 and further in most instances.
• Local Public Libraries (In some instances Universities, Historical Societies, Genealogical Societies might have microfilm as well)

Membership benefits 

Godfrey Memorial Library has a gold subscription membership that is only $80 a year and you get newspaperarchive.com, 19th century newspapers, early american newspapers, and London Times Digital. It is a great deal and very handy to get at home.

Genealogical Societies often offer newspaperarchive.com with a membership. For instance, Southern California Genealogical Society has this subscription along with many webinars on genealogical subjects.

Easy Sourcing

 
So, what to do with all these histories. Use these documents to add to and source the information in the history you have. Documentation doesn't have to be painful. Use online helps like citationmachine.net.

There is a wonderful book called, "Evidence Explained Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, 2nd edition" by Elizabeth Shown Mills that cites specific genealogical sources. It is an extension of the sourcing done in the Chicago Manual of Style. I keep my copy right by my computer and refer to it frequently.

Happy Researching!