Most of my genealogy research on my husband’s side of the family is the USA.  

He has AUMACKS in Michigan and NJ and his MILLERS are into Maine and south.  His ancestors include Empire Loyalists and Salem witches.  His family also has Civil War and Revolutionary War Vets.  Needless to say I’ve had to find genealogy sources in the US of A.

There are several paid online resources that I use on a regular bases to find US records. These include  US Federal Census Records and Birth, Marriage and Death  records at Ancestry and I tend to use Footnote more for Civil War records and other historical documents.

This doesn’t replace legwork to the archives, libraries,  LDS Family history centers, perusing familysearch.org and writing away for records etc but it sure is convenient having access to the databases at home, even if they do cost. 

Some features overlap between databases, including access to census records and other material….but I still maintain my subscriptions.  The database that works for researching one family may not have much material on another. 

What is the Social Security Death Index?

Another great database is the Social Security Death Indexes (SSDI).   This is a database of death records created from the United States Social Security Administration’s Death Master File Extract.

GenealogyBank has a comprehensive database for searching the Free Social Security Death Index
You can find some of this info at RootsWeb SSDI but I happen to like how GenealogyBank does the search.   Their interface is cleaner and gives the user more search options.

There are millions of US social security numbers in the database and it is updated on a regular basis, as often as weekly.  You can search for free.

 What can you find?

• name
• birth date
• death date
• last known residence
• Searches from 1937 to today. 
• Free SSDI search can lead to obituary.

This gives recent research material not often available elsewhere and another valuable resource for us USA genealogy and family history researchers.  It also gives the option to find the actual obituary (this is where you start paying if you so choose).  It can save a lot of leg work.

To access the database go to the Free Social Security Death Index.

William Joseph CULLAIN was born about 1857 in the USA. Parents: Garret CULLAIN and Mary CULLEN. Both parents are deceased at the time of his marriage.

Married to Cathrine CLEARY on Aug 28, 1888 in Montreal, Quebec (St Mary of Good Counsel Parish).

Witnesses at the wedding are: Patrick KENNEDY (occupation “Chauffeur” which could be a stoker) and Catherine MADIGAN (married to each other). Both belong to the same parish as William CULLAIN.
Montreal Star newspaper announcement of the wedding states that the paper should inform Louisville, Kentucky and Chicago papers.

Children:
1.Leona May, born May 16, 1889. Godparents: Henry MCKEOWN and Bridget Agnes STAPLES (married to each other). Henry was born in the USA. His occupation was glassblower.

2. James William Andrew, born Dec 3, 1890. Godparents: William CASSIDY and Mary GREENE. William CASSIDY is a glassblower. Mary’s two brothers are glassblowers. I have no evidence that they were married to each other.

William Joseph Cullain’s Occupation: Glassblower

Major event: Abandoned his wife and two young children sometime between 1891 and 1901 and apparently returned to Louisville, Kentucky where he was from.

Family ties: Catherine CLEARY’s sister Mary Ellen was married to William REIDY from Steubenville, Ohio. It is quite possible that she, too was abandoned by her husband. His occupation is unknown.

—

[Editor: If anyone has connections or more information for Carole about her mysterious glassblower, William Joseph Cullain, please contact  her at baldwin2 [AT] telus.net or leave a comment below]

Submitted by Terri O’Connell, we have our second entry in the contest to win two free tickets to the Arizona Family History Expo!

Hurt Family Cemetery, Raleigh County, WV
Photo taken October 2009

Photo credit:  Terri O’Connell

“This cemetery is on the side of a mountain and it is said to go all the way up the mountain,
the weeds were so high you could barely see the head stones in-front of you.”

—
[Editor: For your chance to win two free tickets to the Arizona Family History Expo, please go here. Entries will be accepted up to and including January 10, 2010.]

Best Publication, County or Local Category

Xenia Stanford, Professional Genealogist,  Author,  and Editor of the “Chinook”, the Alberta Family Histories Society’s (AFHS) newsletter was recently honoured with one of the genealogy world’s most coveted prizes – The U.S. National Genealogy Society Award for best publication, county or local category.

Winning the award meant Xenia and her colleague Rosemary Kry, chair to the Periodical Committee, made the trip to Raleigh, North Carolina to accept their certificate at the opening ceremonies of the American organization’s national conference.

The award winning newsletter ‘Chinook’ is published 4 times a year and is is free as part of the membership in the Alberta Family Histories Society. Annual membership costs $35 and includes access to AFHS’s library of resources of books and subscriptions to online databases to help you research your genealogy.

AFHS Membership

712 – 16 Avenue NW
Calgary, AB T2M 0J8
(403) 214-1447 (voice mail)

http://www.afhs.ab.ca/society/memship.html

The AFHS was founded in 1980 as a non-profit organization with the purpose of encouraging and promoting an interest in family history research in Calgary and district.

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex counties of colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693. Over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned, with even more accused but not formally pursued by the authorities. The two courts convicted twenty-nine people of the capital felony of witchcraft. Nineteen of the accused, fourteen women and five men, were hanged.*

One of those women, Mary EASTEY was my husband’s 7th Great Grandmother.

Mary Towne Eastey (also spelled Esty, Easty, Estey, or Estye) (August 24, 1634—September 22, 1692) was a victim of the Salem witch trials of 1692. Mary’s sisters, Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Cloyce, were also accused of witchcraft; Rebecca was executed, but Sarah was not.**

Mary gave an impassioned appeal to the judge that brought tears to the eyes of the spectators but to no avail.  She was tried and condemned to death on September 9, 1642.  She was hanged, along with 7 others on September 22, 1642.  To read more check out the references at the end of this post.

Our connection, partially shown on the left, leads to New Brunswick  to our Ira MILLER who married Salome Estey HARTLEY.

Are you related to any of the Salem witches?  Are you related to our Salem Witch Mary Eastey?

Comments are welcomed.

References: 

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials

**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Eastey

A Family Tree is an ongoing process…but you can only go back so far until you reach a dead end (no pun intended!. )  You may be searching for your ancestors by looking up vital records like birth, marriage, divorce, and death records. It might also be helpful to know where your relatives are buried.

Verification is very important and with common surname misspellings,  often the only way to verify the right person is through the dates on vital records.  Tombstones can provide useful information such as the birth and death date….but be wary of errors.  Our KERR grave markers in Quebec say “Keer”!

There are great online resources if you know where to look. Instead of guessing, start with the obvious.  Check out the genealogy sites on line and look for cemetery records. You should be able to search by name to see what comes up along with whatever information was found on each tombstone.   To verify further I suggest purchasing a comprehensive online service that gives access to vital records…and not just for death records.  One can find birth, marriage, passenger records and a wealth of other information.  It can save a person a lot of time.

I’ve found two such services.  One is Genealogy Archives and the other is Government Records.  Both are primarily USA based.  Genealogy Archives has a search window you can try before signing up.

To Search Death Records on line click here.

Theunis Van Amach came to North America in 1673 as part of the Dutch fleet sent to save New Amsterdam (NY) from the British.  He married Jannetie Brouwer in 1677 and was the progenitor of this line, of which the name variations are many.  They include Aumack, Aumick, Omick, Amak, and Aumock among others.  Theunis and Jannetje had 9 children.  The children eventually married and had equally large families. We have many Aumack cousins all over the USA. The Aumack family tree has been extensively researched by Trevor Kirkpatrick of New Jersey.

A fourth generation Canadian Aumack named Liam was born in the Saskatchewan the summer of 2008.  The name is alive and well.

Aumack Connections?  Please use the contact page to send me a note or comment below.  Thanks.

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