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Clayton Town Crier -- October 2012

Your source for all the news from Clayton Library
Volume 6                                                                                                                                Issue 1
Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research
5300 Caroline, Houston, TX 77004
832-393-2600

Manager's corner...

Emigration, Immigration, and Migration – leaving from there to get to a destination, getting to a destination from a place, and moving from a place to a destination – all of us have family members that have done it.  The variance is the time period, geographic locations, and mode of transportation.  In all instances, it was an adventure -in one way or another. 

The records created by the act of geographic transportation also vary from time period to time period and place to place.  Many people think that most people who immigrated to the United States came through Ellis Island.  Ellis Island was not established as the gateway for millions of immigrants until 1892.  Prior to that, those arriving were greeted at Castle Garden.  Castle Garden is a circular sandstone fort now located in Battery Park, on the southern tip of Manhattan Island.  This immigration station that pre-dated Ellis Island took in more than 11 million people while in operation between 1820 and 1892, though New York is not the only port immigrants used to enter the United states.  There are ports all along the eastern and western seaboards, minor ports, ports in the Gulf Coast, along the Great Lakes, along the Canadian/US border, and border crossing locations along the Mexican/US border.

In doing genealogical research, the passenger list is a sought after document, as are naturalization records.  Over time forms that were filled out upon arrival in the United States changed and became more complete.  However, it is important to understand what documents were created at what time and what information can be gleaned from them.

In this issue of the Clayton Town Crier, some of the available passenger list indexes and lists you can find at Clayton through our books, databases and microfilm will be presented.  In addition to the resources listed throughout this issue, FamilySearch.org is a mother lode of information for emigration and immigration researchers.  Visit  http://www.familysearch.org/ , scroll down to see available digital images for your country of interest.  Click on the word *catalog* at the top of the page and search by your geographic area looking for ship passenger lists, emigration lists, outbound ship lists and other materials related to the voyages of our ancestors.

Many of the passenger lists into this country are available through Ancestry.coma subscription website. You can access Ancestry's databases through the Houston Public Library website while in a HPL location on the link Ancestry Library Edition.  FamilySearch.org is a free website that you can access from home.  FamilySearch is one of the leaders in community indexing projects. You might have helped index the 1940 census, a project that was accomplished in 5 months!  The newest community indexing project is the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Community Project sponsored by FamilySearch.  FamilySearch invites those 1940 indexers and new indexers to make passenger lists, naturalization records and other immigration related records freely searchable online.  This project, like the 1940 census indexing project will enable records you index to be searchable for free FOREVER.  The indexing software is available as a download at www.familysearch.org/immigration , and you index from home.  As a 1940 census indexer, I invite you to continue to be part of a global community of more than 400,000 indexers who are becoming a part of history and helping our ancestors be found and remembered. 

We hope you glean some insightful information from this immigration issue of the Clayton Town Crier, and that it helps you find your personal past.
 
Sue Kaufman
Clayton Library Manager
Spotlight on...
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
 
The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps are extremely detailed maps of many cities and towns in the United States from the late-1800s through the mid-1900s.  These maps provide a genealogist the opportunity to see where and how an ancestor lived.

The purpose of fire insurance maps was to help insurance underwriters determine their level of risk when asked to insure buildings against fire.  Most building materials were not fire-resistant, construction techniques were basic, and fire-fighting techniques were primitive.  Buildings were close together and fires spread easily.  A large fire could bankrupt an insurance company.

Fire insurance underwriters had little way to determine the nature of the buildings they were asked to insure.  What were the building materials?  What did the building house (or had housed in the past)?  What was the composition of the neighborhood?  The farther away the buildings were from the office of the insurer, the less detail was available.  All these factors made it very difficult to determine the amount of risk and what the premiums should be, or if the buildings should be insured at all.   Underwriters started hiring surveyors to map cities and towns.  These maps were to contain sufficient detail to access the risk of each building if it caught fire.  Information on these maps included such things as building construction materials, building use, location of chemical, oil and gas tanks, street widths, water sources, etc.

In 1867, Daniel Alfred Sanborn founded the D.A. Sanborn National Insurance Diagram Bureau.   His maps contained scrupulously accurate cartography and used a standardized system of map symbols.  The firm eventually became known as the Sanborn Company and became the dominant provider of fire insurance maps in this country.  The standardized processes and the nationwide coverage are some of the reasons why the maps are still recognized today as authoritative sources for understanding historical property use.

After the 1920s, fire-resistant building materials were increasingly used, and fire-fighting methods improved.  Other methods of determining risk in underwriting fire insurance were developed and these maps fell out of use.  Some maps were destroyed; some were donated to local libraries.   Many ended up in the Library of Congress.

In 1996, the company was acquired by Environmental Data Resource Inc.  At this time, the maps are primarily used for environmental assessments, architectural renovations and reconstructions, and historical research.  
In total, the surviving maps cover approximately 12,000 towns and cities from 1867 to 2007.  They represent a picture of a growing America.  The scale of the maps was 500 feet to 1 inch.  They were printed in color on 21 inch by 25 inch sheets of paper and were bound in volumes by city.  To preserve accuracy, when updates occurred, the updates were sent out to be pasted on the top of the old maps until new volumes could be created.  When a new volume was created, the old volumes were to be destroyed.
 
 
 
Fire insurance maps : their history and applications - Diane L. Oswald
Publisher: Lacewing Press
 Pub Date: 1997
Call Number: 368.11 O86 USA
This book traces the history of fire insurance and fire insurance maps from the London Fire of 1666 until the mid twentieth century in the United States.  It details the making of the maps and contains many personal reminiscences of employees of Sanborn Company.  It discusses the decline of fire insurance map use by insurance companies and their subsequent rebirth for use in other industries.
 
 
Insurance maps of Houston, Texas, and some larger suburban areas. - Sanborn Map Company
Publisher: Sanborn Map
 Pub Date: 1925-
Call Number: 917.641 S198
The Houston Metropolitan Research Center/Texas Room (HMRC/TXRM) has actual Sanborn maps for Houston for 1907, 1924, 1925, 1929, 1934, 1946, and 1950.  These maps show all streets and block lines, principal business structures, churches, schools, and housing projects.  City limits and railroads are marked.  Each year is made up of multiple volumes.  Not all volumes are present for all years listed.
 
 
In 1973, the firm Chadwyck-Healey, Inc. was formed and quickly became a world leader in electronic publishing in the humanities and social sciences.  When the founder discovered the Sanborn maps at the Library of Congress, he approached the Sanborn Company about microfilming the entire collection.  At that time, it had grown to more than 700,000 map sheets.  This collection included original and corrected maps from the 1800s to 1970.   Because of the cost, these maps were filmed in black and white.  This makes it difficult to tell if the structures are wooden, stone, or steel.  Clarity of the images also depended upon the quality of the original image.  If the map was bound in a book, sometimes the areas closest to the binding are distorted.
 
 
Fire insurance maps from the Sanborn Map Company Archives, late 19th century to 1990, Texas [microform] - edited by Bruce M. Stave
Publisher: University Publications of America
 Pub Date: 1992
Call Number: FILM 368.11 F523
The Houston Metropolitan Research Center/Texas Room (HMRC/TXRM) has 18 rolls for Texas from the late nineteenth century to 1990.  The collection is alphabetical by town, starting with Abilene on roll 1and ending with Ysleta on roll 18.
 
Fire insurance maps in the Library of Congress : plans of North American cities and towns produced by the Sanborn Map Company : a checklist - Library of Congress. Geography and Map Division. Reference and Bibliography Section.
Publisher: Library of Congress
 Pub Date: 1981
Call Number: LC 5.2 : F 51
This checklist in the HPL Government Documents Collection was produced in 1981 and details the holdings of Sanborn maps at the Library of Congress.
 
 
The Library of Congress also has a searchable database of maps based upon the above 1981 publication, www.loc.gov/rr/geogmap/sanborn/.  The Library of Congress will update the checklist as new acquisitions are acquired.

The website also contains links to existing digital images from the collection and will be updated as new images are added.  Over 6,000 sheets are online in the following states: AK, AL, AZ, CA, CT, DC, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NV, OH, PA, TX, VA, VT, WY as well as Canada, Mexico, Cuba sugar warehouses, and U.S. whiskey warehouses.

To use this website, just select a state and a city.  If the city name has an asterisk to the right, at least one map can be viewed online.  These maps are in color.  Navigation directions are at the top of the maps.  At this time, few of the maps are available to view online.

At the bottom of the home page, there are links to view keys and colors, symbols, abbreviations and many other items.
 
 
Digital Sanborn maps, 1867-1970. Texas [electronic resource] - Bell & Howell Information and Learning
Publisher: ProQuest
 Pub Date: 2001
Call Number: DATABASE
The Sanborn maps have also been digitized by ProQuest Information and Learning and are available to libraries as a subscription database.  Texas State Library’s TEXSHARE program has made available the maps that cover the state of Texas.  This database can be used in any Houston Public library building or through your home computer using your Houston Public Library PowerCard.  To access the maps, either use the catalog to find the item or click on “Texas Digital Sanborn Maps” on the “ Genealogy Research ” page.  Once in the database click first on “Browse Maps”.  Then select the state of Texas, a city and a map date from the dropdown boxes.  The sheets of the map will appear.  The first page will normally have an index of streets and a key.  Select the sheet to view and then select the size of window for the map by clicking on one of five sizing boxes.  Clicking on “Zoom in” and a section of the map will magnify that section.  Clicking on “Re-center” and a section of the map will make the section smaller.  Clicking on the blue arrows at the top, bottom and sides of the map will reposition the map up, down, left or right.
 
Library systems outside of Texas may have a subscription to the ProQuest Digital Sanborn Maps database and offer access to fire insurance maps for their state.
 
 
The Sanborn Fire Insurance maps are snapshots of America during a period of incredible growth and transformation from a largely agrarian society through the changes caused by the industrial revolution.  They enable us to trace the growth/decline of industries, business and cities, or to trace individual homes from empty lots, through building, renovation, and destruction.
 
 
Source Limitations...
Passenger and Immigration Lists Index
 
The Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, popularly known as Filby’s, is a main starting point when looking for the arrival of your ancestor on the shores of the New World.  The Filby indexes list millions of arrival records of passengers from the sixteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries.
Starting in 1820 Captains of ships coming to America had to give a list of their passengers to the United States Customs official at the first port that they docked at on our shores.  Prior to 1820, most ships coming to America did not keep documentation of who was on board. Many of these ships carried only five to thirty passengers across the ocean. Because of this, pinpointing documentation of your ancestors' journey to pre-1820 America can be almost impossible. Simply put, very little information was created at the time of the passage, so little exists today that could help.  That's why the Passenger and Immigration Lists Indexes are such a valuable research tool. Thousands of different published records have been brought together to compile this master index.  The publishers provide yearly supplements as their research uncovers new immigration data. Each yearly supplement adds hundreds of thousands of new names to research.

The original books and the yearly supplements are created by looking at hundreds of books and magazine articles each year and abstracting out the passenger list or immigration/naturalization information that has been published in these items.  The information is then alphabetized by the individual names and published as a new supplement to the “Filby indexes.”  
For each individual listed, you should find the following information:
•  Name and age
•  Year and place of arrival/naturalization or other record of immigration
•  Source of the record
•  Page number in the source of the record

The sources used in each supplement volume are listed at the front of the volume.  After finding your possible ancestor in a supplement, you then need to look at the source that the Filby publishers found that name in to see where the source leads you to next.  The sources can be published abstracts of passenger lists, indexes from naturalization records for a county, books about indentured servants, colonial criminal transport abstracts, or in other words anything that someone writes about the movement of people from their home to the New World.

As this is a “Source Limitation” article we need to now look at the limitations of The Passenger and Immigration Lists Index.  The original volumes and their supplements are individual lists, which means you need to look at each volume to determine if your person is listed, no master index has been published.  Each supplement indexes a whole new set of published material, so your ancestor may have been written about in more than one book, so he/she may be indexed in more than one volume of “Filby’s.”  The Passenger and Immigration Lists Index does not index the actual National Archives microfilm of passenger lists.  This microfilm is not technically published material, so does not fit the criteria for inclusion in “Filby’s.”  Some sets of passenger index books like “Germans to America,” “Italians to America,” and “Dutch immigrants in U.S. ship passenger manifests, 1820-1880” were compiled as ship passenger lists only, so are not abstracted in the supplements.  The Ancestry.com database does include a database called “The Passenger and Immigration List Index” which includes the original books, but only includes the supplements published up through 2008.  This database is only available on the subscription version of Ancestry that you can purchase at home, not on the Ancestry Library Edition that is available at Clayton Library or other genealogical libraries.

Keeping the limitations in mind “The Passenger and Immigration Lists Index” is a wonderful potential source to find your immigrant ancestor.  So come on in to Clayton and search “Filby’s” and its supplements.  You just may find your ancestor crossing the wide blue sea.
 
Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records... - edited by P. William Filby
Publisher: Gale Research Co. or Thomson Gale
 Pub Date: 1980-
Call Number: 325.1 P287 USA
Clayton Library has all volume from the first edition through the latest 2012 supplement.
Some additional sets of passenger list books available at Clayton Library are:
Germans to America : lists of passengers arriving at U.S. ports - Ira A. Glazier and P. William (Percy William) Filby
Publisher: Scholarly Resources
 Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/01/1997
Share Germans to America %3a lists of passengers arriving at U.S. ports ISBN-13: 9780842022798
 ISBN-10: 0842022791
 Call Number: 325.243 G373 USA
Italians to America : lists of passengers arriving at U.S. ports, 1880-1899 - Ira A. Glazier and P. William (Percy William) Filby
Publisher: Scholarly Resources
 Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/30/2006
Share Italians to America %3a lists of passengers arriving at U.S. ports, 1880-1899 ISBN-13: 9780842024655
 ISBN-10: 0842024654
 Call Number: 325.245 I88 USA
Dutch Immigrants in U. S. Ship Passenger Manifests, 1820-1880 : An Alphabetical Listing by Household Heads and Independent Persons - Robert P. Swierenga
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc
 Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/01/1983
Share Dutch Immigrants in U. S. Ship Passenger Manifests, 1820-1880 %3a An Alphabetical Listing by Household Heads and Independent Persons ISBN-13: 9780842022064
 ISBN-10: 0842022066
 Call Number: 325.249 S976 USA
Family History Month classes (or) October is Family History Month!

Family History Book Sale
October 1-30 2012
The Clayton Library will be holding its Family History Book Sale in October.  All Clayton's duplicate family history books will be available for sale.  These are donated books that we already own; the copies offered for sale have never been part of our collection.  

 
City Directories
Wednesday, October 17, 2012 6:00PM-7:30PM
Have you ever wondered why people use city directories in genealogy? Learn how they can be useful in your research, how to use them effectively and where they may be found today.  Reservations required, please call 832-393-2600.  Adults/Teens.


Library Orientation
Saturday, October 20, 2012 10:30AM-11:45AM
Learn about the vast resources and how to efficiently utilize genealogical research materials housed at the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research.  No reservations needed, meet at the Information Desk in the library. Adult/Teens.


Lineage Day
Saturday, October 20, 2012 10:30AM-4:00PM
Visit with representatives from many genealogical and historical lineage societies to discuss their organizations.  Get some hints that can help you identify those ancestors for entry into those societies.  Representatives include, but are not limited to, the Daughters of the American Revolution, Sons of the Republic of Texas, and Cherokee Nation.  No reservations needed.  Adult/Teens.


Unusual Resources
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 6:00PM-7:30PM
Learn about some very unusual record groups for genealogical research, sources not often thought of.  Reservations required, please call 832-393-2600.  Adults/Teens.


Beginning English Research
Saturday, October 27, 2012 10:30AM-12:00PM
An overview of some of the records you might find most useful when looking for your ancestor from England, such as census and civil registration records, parish registers and much more. Reservations required, please call 832-393-2600.  Adults/Teens.


Lineage Help –
Most Wednesday nights, 5:30-7:30PM
Need help with your genealogical lineage society application to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT), the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), or At-Large Membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)?  Visit the experts on lineage research each Wednesday night in the Clayton Library for a FREE consultation or for help in filling out your lineage application papers.  This is available MOST Wednesday nights, but call 832-393-2600 to confirm the team will be here.  Sign up when you get to the library.  Adults/Teens.

Special Family History Month Event...
1st Annual Genealogy Lock-In – Discover History for Yourself
Friday, October 19, 2012 2:00PM-5:15PM  - three pre-event virtual presentations
 
Friday, October 19, 2012 6:00PM-12:00AM - Lock-in and optional presentations.  Two are virtual; the last one will be an in-house speaker.
 
In celebration of Family History Month in October, the Houston Public Library's Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research will be sponsoring its 1st Annual Genealogy Lock-in at the library.  This event is free and open to anyone interested in genealogy.

This event will showcase the library’s genealogy collection.  It's a great opportunity for both the novice and the experienced researcher to learn more about genealogy and to pursue their individual family’s history.  The Lock-in will include genealogical advice, instruction, and light snacks.

We are pleased to announce that this year’s Lock-in will be held in conjunction with the same type of event being held at four other libraries across Texas. These libraries include: The Texas State Library and Archives Commission; Special Collection Department of the Denton Public Library; Genealogy, Local History, Texana, and Archives of the Plano Public Library; and the West Waco Library and Genealogy Center.


ALL PRESENTATIONS WILL BE HELD IN THE CARRIAGE HOUSE. 
Registration for the pre-event sessions and for the lock-in MUST be made in advance.
 
Pre-event Programming
The pre-event programming during the day is open to everyone, even those not planning on attending the extended hours Lock-in.  All three sessions will be virtual.  You may sign up for any or all of these sessions.  Registration is limited to 50.
 
Resources of the Southwest Regional Archives (NARA)
2:00PM-2:50PM
Aaron Holt, Archives Technician
He will discuss the resources of this great national institution. Learn about Indian records, national records, business and other records of genealogical value.
 
Using the Treasures in FamilySearch
3:00PM-3:50PM
Lynell Moss of the Plano Family History Center
Learn about all the tools currently available on FamilySearch.org and seven tips for getting better results when searching the more than 1250 collections in Historical Records.
 
Ancestry Library Edition: What’s New
4:00PM-5:15PM
Edward Loera, ProQuest Database trainer
Listen to Mr. Loera highlight what’s new in content and features and provide us his insight on how to best use this premier resource for genealogical research.

Lock-in Programming
There will be three optional presentations during the Lock-in.  The first two sessions will be virtual presentations, but the third “Unusual Resources” will be held live at Clayton by Susan Kaufman and sent out virtually to the other participating Texas libraries.  You may sign up for any/all or none of the sessions.   You must be signed up for the Lock-in to attend any of these three classes.   Registration is limited to 100.

 
Genealogy 101: How to Get Started in Genealogy
6:30PM-8:00PM
Cheryl Smith, Genealogy Librarian (Plano)
She will speak on filling out a pedigree chart, where to find information, software suggestions, Internet sites, and more.

Resources of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission
8:15PM-9:15PM
Sara Hayes, Reference Librarian, Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Learn about genealogy resources available on-site and online from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin.

Unusual Genealogy Resources
9:30PM-10:30PM
Susan Kaufman, Manager, Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, Houston Public Library
Susan will provide an overview of unusual resources and not often used sources that can give a deep insight into your family history.

Lock-in attendees do not have to stay until midnight.  You can come to the lock-in (if you are registered) any time between 6:00PM and 10:30PM.

This event is for adults/teens.

Security will be provided, and reservations will be checked.

For more information, contact Susan Kaufman, Clayton Manager, at 832-393-2602 or susan.kaufman@houstontx.gov .  Please use LOCK-IN for the subject line.

Monthly class/mini-session schedule
Classes are approximately 1 hour, unless otherwise noted.
 
Because the Clayton Town Crier is published quarterly, please remember to consult Clayton’s Events webpage (http://www.houstonlibrary.org/clayton) or the Clayton Extra for items not submitted in time to be published in the current Crier.

Library Orientation
Saturday, October 20, 2012 10:30AM-11:45AM
Saturday, November 17, 2012 10:30AM-11:45AM
Saturday, December 15, 2012 10:30AM-11:45AM
Learn about the vast resources and how to efficiently utilize genealogical research materials housed at the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research.  No reservations needed, meet at the Information Desk in the library. Adult/Teens.

Gifts that Give: Card making and Scrapbooking
Saturday, November 3, 2010 10:30AM-12:00PM
Interested in scrapbooking your family history but don’t know how? Come learn some of the basics of scrapbooking, plus learn some tips and tricks. Use some of the tools of the trade to make a greeting card and a gift tag.  Reservations required, please call 832-393-2600.  Adults and teens (accompanied by an adult only).

Clayton Library Friends Annual Meeting
Saturday, November 10, 2012 10:15AM-12:00PM
The group will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of their organization.  New officers will be elected for 2013.  Registration starts at 10:15AM in the Carriage House meeting room at Clayton Library and the meeting will begin at 10:30AM.

Lineage Help –
Most Wednesday nights, 5:30-7:30PM
Need help with your genealogical lineage society application to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT), the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), or At-Large Membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)?  Visit our experts on lineage research each Wednesday night in the Clayton Library Main Building for a FREE consultation for help in filling out your lineage application papers.  This is available MOST Wednesday nights, but call 832-393-2600 to confirm the team will be here.  Sign up when you get to the library.  Adults/Teens.
Additional information about Clayton Library
Hours of operation:

Monday: Closed
Tuesday: 10am - 6pm
Wednesday: 10am - 8pm
Thursday: 10am - 6pm
Friday and Saturday: 10am - 5pm
We are closed on City of Houston holidays. Click here for the holiday schedule. http://www.houstonlibrary.org/library-holidays

To see a listing of the latest genealogical materials at Houston Public Library, choose the "New Genealogy for Clayton" list here. http://catalog.houstonlibrary.org/ftlist

If you need driving directions to Clayton from Houston's major freeways, click here.

For more information, visit the Clayton Library webpage. http://www.houstonlibrary.org/clayton

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