Category Archives: Alternative Records
Test Driving Footnote.com
I had a free trial subscription to footnote.com this week, so I thought I’d take it for a spin. The website claims to have 50,288, 635 images for the genealogist to wow over. I started out by using the general search form. I put in the surname Algrava, which is fairly unusual. My Azorean ancestors …
Religious Newspaper Comes to the Rescue
I knew that the city of San Francisco did not have a copy of the marriage record for my Great Great Grandparents, Thomas A. Jones and Margaret Kelly because the records were destroyed in 1906. I also knew that the state of California did not begin recording vital records until after 1905. I didn’t know …
Newspapers Provide Proof When Disasters Destroy Records
MARRIED JONES–KELLY–In this city, February 7, by the Rev. Father Scanlon, Thomas A. Jones to Miss Margaret Kelly, both of this city. [San Francisco Call, San Francisco, CA, 9 Feb 1869, page 3] It doesn’t look like much, does it? A groom, a bride, a priest, and a date. To the untrained eye, it’s just …