You probably know that Ancestry.com is a great place to look for genealogy information. Whether you are a beginner or an expert, there are record collections, discussions, helpful how – to’s, and many other resources available on the site. One of the best things about Ancestry.com is that they are continually expending their collections of searchable genealogy records.
The variety of record types that you can find on Ancestry.com is quite mind boggling. There are, of course, standard records like census data and ship passenger registers, but new and unique collections are being added regularly. Today, I noticed that three new record collections were recently added to the Ancestry.com archives.
The new additions include pictures and information from the graves in Punchbowl National Cemetery, a unique military cemetery on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. Forty thousand American military personnel are buried in the cemetery, and now their families can search for that information through Ancestry.com. Another new collection, the Seamen’s Protection Certificates collection includes certificates that were issued by the United States to American seamen in an effort to protect them from being removed from American ships by the British. I know, it sounds odd, but the British had a regular practice of removing British seamen from American ships during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century and they often removed Americans in the process. The third new collection consists of poorhouse records from New York for the period from 1830 to 1920. If one of your ancestors from that area is not able to be found in regular town or city records, this may be just the place to find them. As unsettling as it may be to learn that an ancestor lived a life of poverty, it can be reassuring to find a record of them.
As is the case any time I mention a specific product or service, I must let you know that Ancestry.com has given me nothing of value in exchange for mentioning their web site here. In fact, I am not even a member of Ancestry.com.
Photo by robb on morguefile.com.