Branching Out

These new discs are chock-full of family history data waiting to be tapped.

As genealogy’s popularity increases, so does the ease of access to records. Instead of schlepping to faraway archives or even the neighborhood Family History Center, you can tap more family history information than ever by slipping a disc into your computer. Whether your ancestors were Scandinavian, Iroquois Indians, Revolutionary War veterans or just plain old American residents in 1910, a raft of new CD-ROMs can help you find them without leaving home:

• Millions of vital records from Scandinavian countries are now indexed on CD-ROM by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The new CD set includes about 3.6 million birth and christening records, as well as 1 million marriage records, from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Sources are included so you can find the original records on microfilm. You’ll also find the names of the principal individual, parents and, often for christenings, the grandparents. This seven-CD set costs $16.50 and can be ordered at <www.familysearch.org> under Order/Download Products or by phone at (800) 537-5971.

• The year 1910 has posed a problem for genealogists for 20 years. Since that year’s US census records were released, no one has taken up the task of indexing them. Now, Heritage Quest is making researching relatives in 1910 a whole lot easier — at least in some states. Census records from Washington, DC, New York and New York City, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah have all been indexed on CD-ROM, putting millions of ancestors at your fingertips. The index lists each resident’s name, age, sex, county, race, birthplace and locality, plus microfilm number and page reference to locate the original record. Heads of household and others with a different surname are included. The CDs offer a variety of search functions; they run only on Windows operating systems. Prices on the CD-ROMs vary; for more information, see the Heritage Quest Web site <www.heritagequest.com> or call (800) 760-2455 to order.

• Descendants of New York Iroquois Indians have a new resource to research their family trees. Native Press recently came out with a three-CD set of census records, maps and more covering the Iroquois tribes of New York. The CDs include images of all census records from the federal Indian Office (now known as the Bureau of Indian Affairs) from 1886 to 1924. They also have a map of New York Iroquois Confederation reservations and of the largest tribe living on each reservation. Other features include: an Iroquois chronology (1534 to 1885); an explanation of Iroquois tribal names; and New York agency records of the Iroquois Confederation (Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, St. Regis or Mohawk, Seneca and Tuscarora) at the turn of the 20th century. The CDs cover 1886 to 1899, 1900 to 1912 and 1913 to 1924, respectively. You can order the whole set for $59.95 or a single CD for $22 online at <www.nativepress.com> or by phone at (888) 832-0791.

• Daughters and sons of the American Revolution, you may uncover your forebears on a new CD-ROM and index set of Revolutionary War pension and bounty land warrant application files. These records, stored on microfilm by the National Archives, have been digitized and indexed by Heritage Quest so that you can search for a name and instantly go to a scanned image of the original record. Nearly 900 CDs ($19.95 each) cover 80,000 individuals who served in the American military. To use these CDs, you must have Windows 95 or higher, 16MB RAM and 88MB of free hard drive space. See <www.heritagequest.com> or call (800) 760-2455 to order.

(For a guide to 65 of the best CD-ROMs for your family history, watch for the April 2002 issue of Family Tree Magazine, on sale Feb. 26.)

From the February 2002 issue of Family Tree Magazine