Gleanings from Some Interesting Websites

First, this week, a clarification, as we didn't mean to be misleading in the last blog. It is only the hotel registration that is currently open for the 2019 National Genealogical Society conference in St. Charles, Missouri. If you are thinking about attending from out of town, we urge you to book your room as soon as possible. Two of the conference hotels are already sold out! Please check the new conference page on our website https://stlgs.org/2019-ngs-conference-journey-of-discovery for a link to the NGS site for more information and/or to register.

Now, we want to highlight a few interesting tidbits we've come across online.

• Do you have Michigan ancestors? The State Archives of Michigan and the Michigan Historical Center are working with seventy of the eighty-three Michigan county courts and FamilySearch to index and place online an index to naturalizations from 1812 to 1985. In fact, they already have quite a bit available online at their site, Seeking Michigan. Click here to learn more about the project and then explore the entire website to see what is happening with Michigan records.
• Looking for some help with early counties? How about an interactive map of the changing county boundaries throughout the country over time? Thank the Newberry Library in Chicago for this wonderful gift! The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries may grab hours of your time, since it includes all the territories and states over centuries. Click here to access it and then have fun!
• Are you a fan of Google Books? Are you occasionally stymied over the fact that there is no easily discoverable set of tools for narrowing your searches? Many thanks to genealogist Judy Russell for sharing this tip. To find the advanced search options on Google Books, look at the top right of the screen and find the "Tools" button. When you click on it, you will get more search options, which may make your searching a lot easier. See below:

 

Notice the whole new line of search options. Now, you can click on each of those tiny down arrows and explore the options under all of the four topics.