*It is NOT an easy task! But it is fun 🙂
Author: NikiMarie Page 3 of 5
Most of my family research is in Michigan. So I’m going to start a new series of posts of Michigan records – online and onsite – that I have used and wish to share with others. Today, we’re starting with one of my favorite websites – SeekingMichigan.org.
Seeking Michigan is an online platform for the Michigan Historical Center and is connected with the Archives of Michigan and the Library of Michigan. The website has a lot of great information about Michigan and several items available online. Here’s what is available online and a bit about each collection:
- Death Records, 1897-1920 – These are amazing! Most counties only have the register of death for these dates, not the actual certificate. Human error can leave out important items or get something wrong, so being able to look at the official death certificate is wonderful! This is what I use the website for the most. You can search my county, city, death date, etc. I prefer to search by city and death year personally. The names don’t come up spelled the way you’d think very often so the way I search normally guarantees I’ll find the document I want.
- Civil War Items:
- Civil War Manuscripts – I haven’t yet found family in this collection but it is wonderful to look through to get an idea of what it was like to live (and serve) during that time. It contains letters and diaries from the Civil War period.
- Civil War Service Records – This isn’t searchable by name, but if you know what regiment the person you’re looking for was in, you can search for those items. There is also a finding aid available for these records, which you can find here.
- Civil War Photographs – Careful, you can get lost looking through these!
- Michigan Civil War Volunteer Registries – Here is where you can find soldier names from the Civil War. This can help you search in other collections as well once you know what you’re looking for. It is the starting point for looking for service records.
- Civil War Battle Flags – These include a description of what the flag was used for; great for history lessons!
- More Civil War Resources – These resources aren’t just for Michigan Civil War records and have a lot of great information.
- Michigan State Census Records, 1884-1894 – Not every county is included as some records have been lost. The census records are for either 1884 or 1894 so this can be great for those hoping to find a replacement for the missing 1890 census.
- GLO Plat Maps – While taking the NGS Home Study Course, I discovered I LOVE working with land records! It goes along with my love of maps, which makes this collection wonderful! This collection comes from the initial survey by the State of Michigan and it shows the layout of the township and range grid system. You can search for maps by looking for the township, the county, or even the township/range numbers if you know them. This is great if you want to see where family members lived in relation to each other (as long as you know where their land was!).
- Films – There aren’t many films here but some can be quite interesting – like some original footage of the awful race riots in Detroit in 1967.
- Early Documents – These are official state documents chronicling how Michigan became a state.
- Early Photography – I love old photos and these are fun to browse through. You can search by name but not all the people in the pictures are known.
- Rural Property Inventories or WPA Property Inventories – These are organized by township, range, and section numbers and contain inventory cards that can contain descriptions of the land and what was on it as well as more. Sometimes there are sketches of the homes and land areas too.
- Oral Histories – Recorded interviews with Michiganders. These include the transcripts and audios of the interviews. You can search for the area or subject you wish to hear about. These are great as they tell a story that you can’t get from a record.
- Music of Michigan – Music written by Michigan composers or issued by Michigan music publishers. This doesn’t have audio, just an FYI.
- Maps – You can search for these by county as well as the subject. For example, they have a map of the bases of troops activated for the Flint Sit-Down Strike in 1937 by United Auto Workers.
- Main Streets – These are a collection of images of street scenes of various cities in Michigan. You can search by city, county, or even what you want to see (clock towers, store fronts, etc.)
- Architecture – These are the architectural drawings of the Ransom Eli Olds Mansion in Lansing, Michigan.
- Lighthouses and Life-Saving Stations – Michigan is known for it’s many lighthouses and life saving stations (over 120!) and this is a collection of images of these items.
- Governors of Michigan – A picture collection of Michigan’s 47 governors, up to Jennifer Granholm.
Not everything here is going to be genealogy related, however, having a good historical background of a place can ALWAYS help with your research so nothing should be overlooked.
Also, this website has guides on vital records, county records, immigration and naturalization records, and military records. If you are planning a trip to the Michigan Archives/Library of Michigan, I highly recommend utilizing these guides first so you know what you are looking for and can plan accordingly.
Happy Monday everyone!
This photo was taken on Thanksgiving 16 November 1954 (the day the family celebrated, not the actual day). This is Ada (Raifsnider) and Ollie Hummel holding my dad, who was a bit over a month old. My Aunt Roxanne is the little girl; she was almost three.
This picture surprised me because of how much smaller Ada looks compared to other pictures I have of her. However, this was taken a month before Ada died, and she had been quite sick by this point so it makes sense. My dad had said that his grandma got the chance to hold him at least once before she died and I’m sure that was a comfort to his mom, my grandma, afterwards. I know losing her mother was very hard on her from how she used to tell me stories of her parents when I was younger.
You can find the previous posts for this discussion here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
Today is my last installment of this series and it’s about becoming a certified/accredited genealogist. I am sticking to the two certification boards that exist in the United States (which are also international). I am not familiar with any outside of the United States but feel free to note any in the comment section!
Board for Certification of Genealogists
The BCG was founded in 1964 by the fellows of the American Society of Genealogists who wanted an organization that would set scholarship standards for professional genealogy to help treat the profession as a serious research discipline.
To become certified through the BCG (earning the nominal CG), you send in an application and then you have one year (called “on the clock”) to submit your finalized portfolio. Any and all of the research done in the portfolio can NOT have been previously published or reviewed (that includes through courses you have taken). Everything needs to be fresh work so the judges can see how well you do on your own. In the portfolio are several items:
- Genealogist’s Code – the pledge is found here and each applicant must sign and adhere to it once certified (it’s a good idea for anyone though)
- Background Resume -this is not evaluated- this includes a general education background, genealogical education, genealogy-related activities. research experience, reasons for seeking certification, and accessibility to records.
- Document Work (BCG supplied document)
- Document Work (your work) – for both document work pieces, you are to transcribe, abstract, create a research focus, supply a brief commentary on evidence value, and create a research plan to show your skills in each area.
- Research Report – this is written for a client that is not related to you or your spouse. It shows how you respond to a client’s goal, and shows how in-depth you get into records and your skill in analyzing them.
- Case Study: conflicting or indirect evidence – this section shows how well you work with the Genealogical Proof Standard to solve an identity problem that doesn’t have any direct evidence to prove an item.
- Kinship-determination project – this is a narrative genealogy, a narrative lineage, or a narrative pedigree (choose one!) for one family. These are three couples in successive generations (minimum) but the most recent generation cannot include you or your siblings, but it could include your parents. Be sure there are a wide range of sources! From what I’ve read, heard, and seen, this is the biggest portion of the portfolio.
Three or four judges will review the portfolio and they all have to agree to certify the genealogist as a CG.
To see some examples, the BCG website supplies some work samples but you can also check out portfolios at major conferences, like NGS, as well.
The certification lasts for five years and then you’ll need to recertify but it’s not as big of a project as the first time!
I hope to get certified through the Board for Certification of Genealogists!
The International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists ICAPgen
ICAPgen is a professional credentialing organization that was established in 1964 by the Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church later transferred ownership to what the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists in 2000 and is now an affiliate of ICAPgen. ICAPgen gives successful genealogists the AG (Accredited Genealogist) nominal.
ICAPgen recommends having over 1000 hours of research and educational experience in your chosen area before applying. The following are the accreditation requirements:
- A quality four generation research report
- An 8 hour written exam
- An oral review
ICAPgen uses a level program to help genealogists prepare for each part of the process. Level 1 involves the four-generation project; Level 2 involves four written sections that focus on record content; and Level 3 involves two written sections that focus on data analysis, research planning, methodology, report writing, and an oral exam.
These tests do focus on a certain geographical area as well so you want to be sure to pick the area you have worked in the most (the 1000 hours of research I mentioned should be in this one part of the country). Here is where you can find their current areas of testing.
I will admit that I don’t know as much about ICAPgen as I do the BCG because I am going the BCG route. So if anyone has more knowledge or experience or even just a comment about any of them, please let me know! If I made a mistake, then definitely let me know so I can quickly fix it! I will say that all the information I gathered came from their respective websites.