CONTENTS:

• 00:30 Step 1 – Interview your relatives (Download interview questions)
• 00:52 Step 2 – Figure out what you want to discover
• 01:33 Step 3 – Starting to search online with the US census (More census tips) (Search the 1940 Census for FREE)
• 02:21 Step 4 – Once you start finding ancestors, try tracing backwards
• 03:15 Step 5 – When to keep researching and when to move on to another branch
• 04:02 Step 6 – Cite your sources – How to organize notes and document your research for less stress and more success (More info on citations)

The 1940s has more ties to video games than just names reminiscent of our favorite childhood pastime. The earliest example of a video game was seen in 1947. The “Cathode ray tube Amusement Device” was almost an early version of Angry Birds giving users the chance to control a dot on a screen and simulate a missile being fired at targets. One of the inventors Thomas Goldsmith, Jr. can also be found in the 1940 US census living in New Jersey with a listed occupation of electrical engineer.

We also discovered Mario’s royal paramour Peach living in the same county. She was 32 years older than the Mario we discovered, and probably not a real princess, but who are we to judge?

Where would Mario be without his trusty dinosaur steed, Yoshi? We found three Yoshis in the same county (we strongly doubt they’re really from Yoshi Island though).

With Mario Luigi around, we didn’t find any Bowsers or Koopas living in Yolo at the time – hardly surprising! We did find quite a few villainously-named people living outside of Yolo.

Finding historical versions of some of our favorite video characters is just one of the many fantastic surprises hiding in our records, waiting to be found. What other classic cartridge heroes would you like to find?

British women married these servicemen in huge numbers, with approximately 100,000 wedding Americans and a further 45,000 marrying Canadians. Once the war was over and peace secured the women faced a new challenge.

These women, who often had young children, had to travel with their new husbands back to America or Canada to begin their married life, away from the unreal wartime existence that they had been enduring.

The relocation of thousands of British women was a cause of controversy, not least because they were seen by some as taking the valuable places of homesick servicemen on board ships.

The first ship used for transporting the so-called ‘war brides’ was the S.S. Argentina. 452 war brides made the journey to America aboard her, and can now be seen in the exclusive 1940s Passenger Lists live on findmypast.com

In the Passenger Lists you can find an exceptional level of detail, including the U.K address of the women and the name and address of the American serviceman of whom they were a dependent. Below is an image from the S.S. Argentina List.

Conditions on board were deeply unpleasant, many of the women and children had caught a ‘camp fever’ during their stay at an assembly point before sailing. The arduous journey was only the beginning of the adventure for the new brides, and their children.

A long standing legal wrangle in Canada has recently been making headlines, as children of war brides seek to be recognized as Canadian citizens, a right denied them through a change of legislation.

· More than 200 newspaper titles for the period 1710-1950 with more added over time.

· Easy searching capabilities of the collection by keyword, surname, subject or location in a matter of seconds.

· Nearly 8,000 new pages added every day. The British library and brightsolid are digitizing nearly 40 million pages over the next 10 years.

· Added depth and color for your family tree. In seconds, the newspapers can provide a vivid window into the past: From a man who decided one day to walk round the world in an iron mask, to bullet-stopping corsets and the art of wide-sleeved shoplifting – this is a digital Aladdin’s Cave. The British have always had a voracious appetite for newspapers – never more so than in the 19th century, when almost every town in the country had its own newspaper, capturing every aspect of people’s lives.

Happy searching,

The findmypast.com team

Here is what we found:

In the findmypast.com collection there are 7,672 records of “James Bond,” but there is one particular Bond who may have a penchant for living like the famous secret agent. In Irish court petty session records, one James Bond was brought to court on several occasions for crimes in the early 1900s including unlawfully assaulting and beating the complainant.

Another James Bond took a man to court just for annoying him by “knocking on his door.”

However, perhaps the biggest conclusion is that most James Bonds throughout history have lived a life far from the thrills of the handsome, fictional spy. Various records including outbound UK passenger lists and US census records listed a wide range of jobs including orchid grower, photographer, pattern maker and clerk. Or perhaps these jobs are only an elaborate cover for more exciting work…?

The 1920 US census holds a record for an “Agent Bond,” which according to the books is the same year the spy was born.

Beloved Q, the gadget maker extraordinaire, can be found in the records too. “Q Branch,” fittingly a chemist, can be seen traveling solo to South Africa in 1927 in a manifest from outbound UK passenger lists.

It is not only the good guys who are found in records. “Golde Finger” shows up in the 1920 US census (the same census as the above Agent Bond, interestingly), but we don’t see any malevolent tendencies in her records, as a wife and mother of two.

Have you found any other interesting occurrences of James Bond in findmypast.com records? Let us know in the comments below.

It is noticeable from passenger lists from the 1890s and 1900s where the ship was sailing to, for example, Montreal via Quebec, that the “port at which passengers have contracted to land” field is being used for landlocked locations: in other words, places such as Chicago IL or Detroit MI to which a large sea-faring vessel could never have sailed!

It seems unlikely that the shipping line would have bothered to collect information of no significance to it. It therefore seems probable that in these cases the passengers had bought an inclusive through ticket, covering both their transatlantic voyage and their subsequent overland journey by rail, or possibly road, to their final destination.

The snippet from an 1890 Montreal-bound passenger list shows a passenger going on to Spokane WA and another heading to Calgary AB on the CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway).

Search our immigration and travel records on findmypast.com

 New records alert! 200,000 names in Byrne’s Irish Times Abstracts 1859-1901, covering Dublin City and it’s Southern suburbs, including births, marriages, deaths, legal cases and property sales.

These records cover the City of Dublin and its southern suburbs from 1859 to 1901 and are based solely on data extracted from the Irish Times. This newspaper was chosen by the data provider because of is exemplary coverage of daily events, from births, marriages and deaths to employment details and legal cases.

More than in many other long developed countries, newspapers in Ireland are of great value to historians and those tracing their Irish ancestors. The depth of coverage, concern for the laws of defamation and the self-interest of advertisers, all help to ensure the veracity of the entries. However the material is relatively inaccessible, being contained in reels of microfilm.

What has been indexed?

There are entries for virtually every building in every street in Dublin and its Southern suburbs.

People

• Births
• Marriages
• Deaths
• Accidents
• Employment
• Suicides
• Social activities
• Criminal and civil law cases

Property

• Sales
• Lettings
• Households
• Lodgings
• Prices
• Sanitary conditions
• Names of occupants (both current and previous, historical facts)

What has not been indexed?

• Records of the police
• the army
• various churches and sports

(the records of these organizations are reasonably intact)

Why is it valuable for research?

The destruction of the Public Records Office in Dublin in 1922 with its circa 25 miles of shelved records created an almost unbridgeable gap. However old newspapers of the time remain almost intact but it is only with dedication or luck that particular items can be found in the many reels of microfilm.

Particular attention has been paid to the poor as few records were left by them. Also the deterioration of once fashionable streets with single family homes into densely crowded tenements has been given particular attention. If it was recorded in the Irish Times, it is here.

About the data-provider

Peter F. Byrne is a member of the English Bar and is licensed to practice law in the United States (California). He was educated in Dublin and at London University. He is an enthusiastic genealogist and historian with a particular interest in the history of Dublin.

 Search the Irish Times Index 1859 – 1901 on findmypast.com.

Ask questions and receive expert advice from some of the nation’s leading genealogists.  No appointment necessary! Visit one on one with the Expert of the Day for free at our booth at the National Genealogical Society.

Wednesday: Debra Mieszala, CG
Thursday: Paula Stuart-Warren, CG, FUGA
Friday: D. Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS
Saturday: Debra Mieszala, CG

About the Experts:

 Debra Mieszala specializes in forensic genealogy, 20th century research, and the Midwest. She does genealogical research for the military to help locate family members of service members missing in past wars. A national-level lecturer and author, she has taught at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research, and other events. Debbie also holds a certificate in paralegal studies.

Paula Stuart-Warren has been conducting research since the early 1980s and works full time in the areas of genealogical and historical research, lecturing, consulting, and writing. A board-certified genealogist since 1988, Paula is a firm believer in continuing education in genealogy and frequently participates in national and local conferences. Among her many activities, she is a member of the Board of Directors for the Federation of Genealogical Societies.

D. Joshua Taylor is the Business Development Manager – North America for brightsolid online publishing,  the creators of findmypast.com, and a nationally known and recognized genealogical author, lecturer, and researcher. Active in the genealogical community, Joshua is the current Vice President of Administration for the Federation of Genealogical Societies and has been a featured genealogist on NBC’s Who Do You Think You Are?

See you at NGS in Cincinnati…

Before June’s convention the nominee had not been decided (an interesting comparison to this year’s current 2012 Republican primary field). Willkie would go on to win the nomination but lose the general election against Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was running for a unprecedented third term in office.

Here is Mr. Willkie in the 1940 U.S. Census living at 1010 5th Avenue in New York City. You will note that he is listed as an executive in the election business.

Wendell Willkie in the 1940 US Census

Brian Speckart, findmypast’s marketing manager located his mother, living in Richfield, Sevier County, Utah. Luckily enough she was asked the supplemental questions (though being only a few weeks old, she wasn’t able to provide much information. In searching for Brian’s father, he located three generations on a single page.

• The Verl Ogden family in the 1940 census (mother and grandparents).
• The Speckart families in the 1940 census (father, grandparents, and great-grandparents)

Joshua Taylor, findmypast’s business development manager and resident genealogist had several finds including both his grandfathers and three great-grandparents (despite some in-depth searching, both his grandmothers have still not been located – perhaps the 1940 Census community indexing project will find them first).

• The Reed Taylor family in the 1940 census (grandfather and great-grandparents).
• The Leo J. Jensen family in the 1940 census (grandfather and great-grandparents)
• The King Brown family in the 1940 census (great-great-grandparents)
• Cora L. Allison in the 1940 census (great-great-grandmother)

In addition, each of us have signed up to index the census. More states are being added each day and there are plenty of pages of index. If you haven’t yet signed up, visit the1940census.com to get started (maybe you will even discover one of your own relatives – or one of ours).