Month: September 2011

Friday Finds: Free Online Census Images

1820 US Census, Lancaster County microfilmThe United States Federal Census is one of the most widely used resources for genealogists. Online access to the census indices and images is available through a variety of subscription services like Ancestry.com, Archives.com, and HeritageQuest and free sites like FamilySearch.org. But did you know that the census microfilm images are also available online for free through the Internet Archive?

You can browse the census microfilm online from the comfort of your home. You can even download a reel and view it as a PDF on your computer. You can’t search the schedules for your ancestor—there is no index. But if you’re short on cash, here’s a free and convenient alternative to visiting the nearest NARA office or genealogy library.

I was finally able to learn the census schedules from Conestoga, Lampeter, Strasburg and Sadsbury townships from 1820 are missing by viewing the microfilm roll online—something Ancestry’s customer service department apparently did not know.

Friday Finds: Trinity Lutheran Birth and Baptismal Records Online

I’ve been trying to get the Trinity Lutheran Church Records, volumes 1-4, through ILL for some time now with mixed results. So, imagine how pleased I was to find some of the records online in the Internet Archive. The Pennsylvania-German Society published their Proceedings and Addresses in the 1890s. Several volumes included records from Trinity Lutheran Church.

  1. The Pennsylvania-German Society, Proceedings and Addresses at Lebanon, October 12, 1892, Volume III
  2. The Pennsylvania-German Society, Proceedings and Addresses at York, October 11, 1893, Volume IV
  3. The Pennsylvania-German Society, Proceedings and Addresses at Reading, October 3, 1894, Volume V
  4. The Pennsylvania-German Society, Proceedings and Addresses at Bethlehem, October 16, 1785, Volume VI

These are just the volumes containing the Trinity Lutheran records. Other volumes that have been put online include records from St. Michael’s in Philadelphia and New Goshenhoppen in Upper Hanover, Montgomery County. View more examples of publications from the Pennsylvania-German Society to see if they might have records you’ve been looking for.