Saturday, March 10, 2012

New Jersey Birth Index Online

I copied some birth certificates at the New Jersey State Archives in Trenton last week.  Indexes for births, marriages, and deaths are available through FamilySearch and Ancestry.  I compared actual birth certificates to their corresponding entries in these indexes to confirm that the year may be off by one, just as in the indexes for marriages and deaths.

Here is a page from the index for births in New Jersey from July 1, 1890 through December 31, 1900 available through the Archives.  The baby's name, or "male" or "female" if unnamed, is listed first, and the father's initial is listed next.  The dates have been accurate for all certificates that I have viewed.  Using the birth of Robert Bosset, for example, we can see in the index that his father's first name begins with R, the date of birth was January 10, 1898, and that the certificate was filed in Newark, which is place number 36.



The birth certificate for Robert Bosset matches the information in the index and also provides the full names of both parents.  You also get to see the address of the birth (likely the family's home), as well as his birth order and how many children are still living.  This is very helpful information and why you should always seek out the original record.




FamilySearch and Ancestry have a record of this birth in their indexes.  Their indexes provide additional information not contained in the older indexes from the Archives, such as full names of parents and their ages.  BUT:  the year can be off by one.  The year of Robert's birth is incorrectly listed as 1897, not 1898.  This is because the volume held births from July of 1897 through June of 1898.  It is unfortunate that while creating these indexes, greater care was not taken to record the year of birth.  The indexer needed to have viewed the actual certificate to generate the parents' names and ages for the index and, in hindsight, should have also entered the year of the event.

FamilySearch.org

Ancestry.com
Remember that the names on the birth certificate are handwritten and had to be deciphered by the indexer.  The example birth certificate here is actually a very good copy and the handwriting is not too bad.  The mother's name is fully written on the birth certificate, but only the middle initial is used for the index.  Her last name begins with an M in other records, but you can see how the indexer read W.  This is another reason why you need to view the actual record yourself to compare the information to other records.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Genealogy Presentation: Dennis Piccirillo

Tonight I attended a presentation by Dennis Piccirillo about online newspaper sites.  The lecture was held at the Morris County Library through the Morris Area Genealogical Society.

My current research is primarily based in New Jersey and New York.  I have had good success with GenealogyBank, which is a pay site, though many major New Jersey and New York papers are not in its collection.  Old Fulton Post Cards is another great site for New York newspapers and is free.  I have had better success with Fulton ever since I thoroughly read and practiced the site's instructions for searching.

Newspapers can supply you not only with facts and life events of your ancestors, but also tell you stories behind the events.  Official records were not routinely kept for all of our ancestors' milestones; those that were kept may have been destroyed, lost, or simply not available.  Newspapers help bridge these gaps as you jump from birth to marriage and then death.

Mr. Piccirillo recommended initially subscribing to a pay site for only a month instead of a year because the site may send you incentives or coupons for extending your subscription.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Morris County Cemeteries: Cook

Last week I visited a few cemeteries in Morris County with Dave Peck.  He has documented many cemeteries in the area and was kind enough to show me the final resting places of some of my ancestors.

We visited the Cook Family Cemetery, which is now located on the golf course of the Rockaway River Country Club in Denville, Morris County, New Jersey.  The cemetery was not always part of a golf course.  The burial grounds were part of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Rockaway Valley, on land donated by John P. Cook.  The church relocated but the cemetery continued burials until around 1907.  The main surnames on the stones are Peer, Spear, Husk, and Cook.

Cook Cemetery in Denville, Morris County, New Jersey.
About 30 stones remain.
My great great great great grandparents, Stephen Cook and Elizabeth Vandroof.
Steven and John P. Cook were first cousins, once removed.
Picture by Dave Peck.
The rotting tree was taken care of . . .

. . . but blackened a nearby stone in the process.
We next visited two cemeteries on private property in Boonton/Powerville.  The land originally belonged to the Cook and Scott families.  A small portion was set aside for burial grounds.  The Cook stones are worn and there is no fencing.

Cook Family Cemetery in Boonton, next to the Scott Family Cemetery.
The taller stone is likely for Michael Cook, who died in 1803 and was an owner of the land.

The neighboring Scott Family Cemetery is surrounded by beautiful stones.

I think this was the first time I have seen such raised markers.
Dave explained that they are common in the Philadelphia area.



Although on private property, this cemetery is not immune to vandalism.


Dave explained that these small stones with only a first name are believed to mark
the final resting place of slaves of the Scott Family.
Thank you to Dave Peck for an informative tour!