Feb 13, 2012--Pennsylvania Vital Records Become More Accessible

Many residents of Northeastern Ohio--like me--have ancestors who were born and/or died in Pennsylvania. Compared to Ohio, accessing birth and death records for ancestors in Pennsylvania has been something of a problem.

There's light at the end of the tunnel in this situation. When Pennsylvania Vital Records Bill SB-361 (Act 110 of 2011) goes into effect law on February 13th, 2012 it will make death certificates over 50 years old and birth certificates over 105 years old OPEN records. It will also transfer certificates to the Pennsylvania State Archives once they become open records.

This means that researchers will have access to these records at one place: the Pennsylvania State Archives. No longer will it be necessary to traipse across Pennsylvania to county records offices to obtain these records.

If you want to study up on this developing situation, go to the website for People for Better Pennsylvania Historical Records Access or PaHR-Access.

You might also want to go to the FAQs page where more detail is provided.

Learning Opportunity: Finding Your Czech/Slovak Roots Coming on March 31.

An all-day seminar for family history researchers with Czech and Slovak ancestry is being sponsored on Saturday, Mar 31, 2012 by the Genealogical Committee, an auxiliary of the Western Reserve Historical Society. It will be held in the Norton Gallery of the Society's History Center at 10825 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 4410.

Seminar leader will be John T. Sabol, who will discuss research methods he has used to find his roots, which are both Czech and Slovak. A Cleveland native, writer, and historian, Sobol has written three books plus several church histories and genealogical articles. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International.

The morning session will consist of two presentations stressing the ultimate goal of finding the locations in the Czech and Slovak Republics where your ancestors came from. Since research in these countries is village-based it is of central importance to know your ancestral village. Once this is known, it opens doors to a number of research avenues.

The afternoon session consists of roundtable discussions about finding your ancestral village. Participants will be able to share their successes and failures in hopes of learning from each other.  Roundtable participants are urged to bring documentation or clues regarding their ancestral origins in the Czech and Slovak Republics. Each discussion group will be moderated by a volunteer from the  Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International (CGSI).

For more information, access the detailed flyer with a registration form by clicking here. 

Free Research Day at Western Reserve Historical Society

Hi Northeast Ohio Gen Researchers!

I’m volunteering tomorrow at the Western Reserve Historical Society Research Center (the Library and Genealogy Center renamed) when there will be free admission from 10 am to 5 pm. (All-day parking only $5.)

The occasion is Martin Luther King Day, but anyone is welcome to come on down.

In preparation, you might want to access the Society’s revamped website, go to Research and Collections, then click on Family History, and finally on Databases. NEW: A number of funeral home databases are now available for searching online. Also the largest online database of Cuyahoga County Cemetery Inscriptions. When you find records of interest, print out and bring along the particulars so you can look at the actual records during your visit to the Library, oops Research Center.

I know I am going to look up some records in between assisting Research Center visitors.

By the way, the History Center (Museum) will be open for free as well! Check out all that’s new at WRHS at www.wrhs.org.

Complete Program for 2009 Tri-C GO Genealogy Conference

I'm proud to announce that I am a presenter at the upcoming Tri-C GO Seminar. Here is the news release:

On Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009, the Cuyahoga County Council of Genealogical Organizations (Tri-C GO) will hold its 2009 all-day Genealogy Seminar at the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio, with the theme of “Finding Your Ancestors Using New and Time-Tested Resources.” A registration form with program details is available at www.wrhs.org (click on Library/Archives and Genealogy Center, then Genealogy).

There will be two presentation tracks in this all-day event with handout materials provided for all lectures.

Track l: Using lime-Tested Research Resources
'Tapping into Archived Courthouse Records"–Dr. Judith Cetina , manager & archivist, Cuyahoga County Archives.
"Get 'Em Talking-Interviewing Relatives for Ancestral Information"–Sunny Morton, writer and lecturer.
"Discovering Archival Collections & Resources"–Ann Sindelar, reference supervisor, WRHS Library.
"Researching in German & Other Ethnic Newspapers"–Jean Hoffrnan, Gertified Genealogist.

Track 2: Using New Research Resources
"Finding Family on Footnote.com"–Wally Huskonen, Certified Genealogist.
"New Approaches to Researching Passenger Lists for Ellis Island and Other Ports of Entry"–Robert Jerin, lecturer, author, travel guide.
"New Resources for Internet Research”–Jann Pflieger, former director, Sandusky Family History Center.
"Googling for Great Grandpa & Other Ancestors"–Wally Huskonen, Certified Genealogist.

The Tri-C GO seminar is organized each year by a committee representing genealogical organizations throughout Cuyahoga County, hence the name Cuyahoga County Council of Genealogical Organizations. The WRHS Genealogical Committee has the lead responsibility for developing and hosting the 2009 program.

The WRHS website provides driving directions to the University Circle location. The registration fee includes parking in the WRHS parking lot. For information, call Stacy Murry at 216-851-7768.