Use Form SF 180 To Order Military Records From National Archives (World War I And Later); PDF Form SF 180 In This Post

Hi Everyone!

I thought I would make available via this blog post a PDF copy of the SF 180 Request Pertaining To Military Records Form that is needed to submit to the National Archives when seeking military records of ancestors from World I going forward.  The form provides information on how to go about asking for military record information for pre-World War I ancestors.

I had been helping a researcher recently in this area and thought why not share this form easily through this blog.  It is not difficult to find via the National Archives website, but I thought I could put it right here for readers of this blog that might need it.

Military records can provide vast amounts of information on an ancestor.  I have a few indirect ancestors for whom I plan on submitting these forms some day from my “bucket list”.

The form is a 3 page PDF for which a link follows below:

SF 180 Form , Request Pertaining To Military Records

There is a 1 page instruction form and a 1 page submission form and a 1 page Location of Military Records Information part and an address list of military records inquiries.

You will need to print the form out and fill in the printed forms the old-fashioned way and then submit them via mail.  You cannot fill the form out online.

If you have never submitted such a request you may want to print and save the form itself for future use.  There is a lot of good information contained in the form to help you properly fill it out whether you are a general genealogist seeking some ancestral information on a veteran who exited the military greater than 62 years ago or if you are a direct next of kin of a military veteran.

So if you thought about tracking down some military records of ancestors back to no further than World War I but did not have the proper form at your fingertips, then delay no longer.  Here is the form you need to start your military records submission request to the National Archives.

Look no more, your SF 180 form has arrived as a PDF above!

Tony Kierna
Genealogy Coordinator
Schaumburg Township District Library

Prepare Your Own Obituary In Advance; Get Your Life Story Correct As You Want It; Example Of Lengthy Obituary As A Linked PDF To Check Out

Hi Everyone!

I was doing some office paperwork cleaning when I came across something I must have clipped from a newspaper 4 years ago with good intentions to share with all of you.  Well, you know where good intentions go sometimes.  Nowhere!

I thought what I clipped was important to share with all of you.  Even if it is 4 years later, I think the lesson and message to share are as important now as they were then.

Over the last few years I have seen a tendency to read obituaries that are rather long in length compared to the ones we often discover in our research quests about our own ancestors.  Those obituaries from the 1950s and earlier tended to be short, sweet and to the point.  Just give me the facts, ma’m , as they relate to the wake, the church and the burial!

That poor soul that was laid to rest did not seem to give any meaningful information to be presented in the obituary about themselves or their own life.  Maybe they did and family members knew about the person’s life but the process of presenting that information in an obituary just wasn’t the place to do it back in those days.  Consequently, in our own research of these ancestors,  we are not really discovering much information that gives us insights into their life.  Who were they?  Where did they go to school?  What did they do for a living?  What organizations did they belong to?  What were their hobbies?  As a researcher, wouldn’t you like to know more than just the location of the wake, the time for visitation and the cemetery for burial?

Luckily, it seems like the opportunity is there more today than it has ever been to put together a “mini” biography to publish in a death notice.  Sometimes, the more famous get a small biography printed in the local paper when someone of note passes away.  Well, if you are not famous by newspaper standards, it looks more promising than ever that you can share a “mini” biography of yourself via your own death notice that you have put together in advance of your death.  Who better to tell the story about you than you!

The key to this “mini” biography is that you have to acknowledge that death is inevitable for all of us.  Many of us tend to think that somehow it is always the other person that will die and that somehow we are invincible.  I hate to break the news to you about this inevitability.

Accept our fate in life as being death.  That opens up a wonderful opportunity for us to construct the story of each of us by creating our own death notice now before the effort falls onto a husband, wife, child, sibling or someone who just simply does not anything about you.

I think our lives are worth more than just a published time for a wake, a published time for a religious service and a notice of the cemetery you will now reside in going forward!  (Or you may reside in that proverbial urn on a fireplace mantel!)

But you have to make that story happen now by putting your words on paper of who you have been for the time you have spent on this earth.  Get those words over to a trusted representative of yourself that can get that pre-written death notice into the timely publication process to let the world know just exactly who you were for the years that you spent on this planet when that time comes to publish.

The piece of paper I wanted to share with you was a death notice from the Chicago Sun-Times from 2008.  It was for a person I did not know.  However, this massive death notice certainly made me feel that I knew this person for my entire life after I had read the notice.  It is lengthy but you might consider using something like this as a template to construct your own death notice.

Take a look at the death notice at the following link.  It was so long on newsprint that I had to reduce it in size in order to get the full copy onto one piece of paper.  In the PDF document you can increase the per cent size of the document to make it more easily readable.  You can find it at:

Sample Lengthy Death Notice To Use As A Template For Your Own

As a researcher today, wouldn’t you like to uncover a death notice like this today about your own ancestors you are researching?  I think the answer is a definite “yes”.  You have the chance today to leave something similar to the one above for your own descendants to discover about you in 100 years.

Take the time now to put your “mini” biography together today.

Make a researcher of the future happy that he has discovered you and more importantly he has discovered your life!

Enjoy.

Tony Kierna
Genealogy Coordinator
Schaumburg Township District Library

Handout From Our January 8, 2013 Genealogy Program Has Been OK’d To Post On the Blog; “Where Did I Put Great-Grandpa? – Organizing For Genealogists”

Hi Everyone!

Our speaker for our January 8, 2013 Genealogy Program at our library has given me the OK to make available via the blog a copy of the handout that was used for the program.

I want to thank Caron Primas Brennan, our speaker, for allowing me to post the handout.  Posting the handout as a PDF will allow those that access it to have the ability to reach all of the links embedded in the handout with one click.

Take a look at the following link to the handout.  The embedded links within the handout are very good and provide other tips on organizing your genealogical “stuff”.

Make sure you look at page 2 of the handout since there are a series of links to some articles from Dear Myrtle focusing on methods of organization for the genealogist.  Most of the links you can access in the handout are on page 2 of the handout.  So don’t miss these for other ideas on organizing your genealogical materials.

January 8, 2013 Handout For “Where Did I Put Great-Grandpa? – Organizing For Genealogists” By Caron Primas Brennan

Enjoy the handout.  Use the tips and motivate yourself at this “new” time of the year to resolve to get all of your genealogical “stuff” organized and easily accessible.

Organization of your materials just makes your research more efficient and effective because you will have the time to actually do the research instead of using the time to simply find your “stuff” needed in order to continue your research.

Enjoy the handout!

Tony Kierna
Genealogy Coordinator
Schaumburg Township District Library

Illinois State Genealogical Society (ISGS) Has Schedule Of Offered Webinars For 2013 At Their Site; Great Way to Learn More About Genealogy As A New Year’s Resolution

Hi Everyone!

I just came across the 2013 schedule of Webinar classes being offered by the Illinois State Genealogical Society for 2013.

Webinars are a fantastic way to hone your genealogical research skills by hearing about a topic of interest from a well-known genealogist about the topic.

The Webinars are all being offered on the 2nd Tuesday night of the evening starting at 8 PM Central Time.  (Just a side note – The 2nd Tuesday evening of the month is our own monthly scheduled genealogy program at the Schaumburg Township District Library!  Make your choice, I know you will choose wisely!)

The topics on the schedule for 2013 look fascinating with some great presenters being offered through the year.

You do need to register in order to participate.  The Webinars are open to thepublic.  You do not need to be a member of the ISGS in order to register or participate for the live Webinar.  As a benefit for members of the ISGS, they can then go into the archive vault to take a look at past Webinars.  Non-members of the ISGS can register for the “live” presentation but cannot go in to the archives to look at the past Webinars.

Here is a link to a PDF from the ISGS where you can look at the scheduled Webinars for 2013 as well as see a list of “Frequently Asked Questions” that pertains to the Webinars.  (The January Webinar has already occurred.):

2013 Webinars Being Offered By The Illinois State Genealogical Society (ISGS)

It is really nice being able to view webinars that are in an archives.  But as you can see, you may want to become a member of ISGS just to be able to access these wonderful learning exercises to increase your genealogy research skills.

The beginning of a new year often brings the commitment to make resolutions to better yourself in the upcoming year.  What better way to do that genealogically speaking than  to make yourself a better genealogist.  These Webinars can certainly help you with that goal.

Check out the topics on the above schedule.  There may be some that are just perfect for you.

Tony Kierna
Genealogy Coordinator
Schaumburg Township District Library

Use Geneabloggers To Search For Your Surnames Of Interest Among Over 3,000 Blogs; Comprehensive Search Engine For The Site

Hi Everyone!

If you are reading this then you are very aware that my thoughts are contained in a blog post that I author.  Geneabloggers has noted my blog and also has it in its list of what it considers genealogy blogs of note within the Archives and Libraries Category.  There are over 3,000 blogs of note you can look through to find a favorite writer about genealogy issues that you may want to follow.

Thank you Geneabloggers for the recognition!

Geneabloggers is even better than the recognition it provides for this variety of genealogy bloggers.  If you visit the Geneabloggers website at www.geneabloggers.com, you will find a very nice tool that will allow you to enter in a surname of interest to you and be able to search that surname among the over 3,000 blogs in the Geneabloggers system with the click of just one “Search” command.

Look for this “tool” on the home page of Geneabloggers at the very top in the right sidebar area.  Look for “Search Your Surnames In Over 3,000 Genealogy Blogs”.  Look right there for the search box.  Enter in your name of interest and see what results you receive.

There may be a blogger out there that you are not aware of or have yet to discover.  Perhaps that blogger is writing about his own research that might overlap with your own.  Perhaps the blogger is writing about a geographic area that matches with your own geographic area of interest.  The point is that this powerful search engine that spans the 3,000 + blogs might actually help you uncover a lead to your own research by discovering a surname in a blog that actually is one you are researching.

It will even discover hits of interest to you that are contained in PDF links within an individual blog post!

This search capability may be of more value to you if the surnames of interest to are more unique than a “Smith” or “Jones”.

You can combine your surname of interest with another search term such as “Kierna and Poland” to narrow down your results even more.  You can use a search term that is not necessarily a Surname.

The key in research is to “discover” as well as “to be discovered”.  Give this nice tool a try if you were not aware of it reaching across over 3,000 genealogy blogs.

Without a doubt, the best place to find something that can help your own research is to tap into information of genealogical interest.  What better place to tap into than 3,000 + blogs all written by someone who certainly has a burning interest in genealogy just as you do!

Now start searching the genealogy blogs at Geneabloggers!

I hope you find your connection within a Geneablogger’s blog!

Tony Kierna
Genealogy Coordinator
Schaumburg Township District Library

Casa Italia Chicago Creates New Genealogy Department

Hi Everyone!

For those of you that are doing Italian Genealogy research in the Chicago area, I think you will want to take notice of the following piece of information that I received from Jennifer Holik (our guest speaker for our February 12, 2013 genealogy program).

Casa Italia Chicago is a non-profit organization in Stone Park, Illinois, where people meet to pursue common goals, preserve our past, celebrate our heritage and ensure passage of values to future generations. Casa Italia offers a children’s summer camp, Italian language classes, and cultural programs throughout the year.

Take a look at the full press release provided to me by Jennifer that notes the creation of the new Genealogy Department within Casa Italia Chicago.  You can look at the release here:

Casa Italia Chicago Creates New Genealogy Department

It sure sounds like the Italian genealogical research community in our area is really ramping up the resources available to help the Italian Genealogical researcher.

Take a look at the above detailed press release as it may give you some good insight into new things that are taking shape with the formation of this new Genealogy Department.

It also sounds like this new department will be presenting programs of interest to the Italian genealogical researcher in the near future.

Jennifer Holik will be the new Genealogy Department Manager for Casa Italia Chicago.

Check it out.

Tony Kierna
Genealogy Coordinator
Schaumburg Township District Library

Our November 13, 2012 Genealogy Program Is Now Available On DVD To Check Out And View At Home

Hi Everyone,

Our November 13, 2012 Genealogy Program is now available as a DVD to check out and view at home if you missed the program or would like to see an “encore” presentation.

The program was titled “The “New” FamilySearch”.  It was presented by Maureen Brady.

These DVD recordings would not be available without the kind graciousness of our speakers that have given me permission to record the program and add it to our collection.  Again, a big “Thank You” to our speakers!

The call number of this newly added DVD Genealogy Program recording is DVD 929.10285 NEW.  It was recorded by me on November 13, 2012.  It is 1 hour and 34 minutes in length.  You will find this and our other recordings on the 1st floor of our library in our DVD collection.  Feel free to ask our AV Staff on the 1st floor for any help you may need to find this material for you to check out and view it at home.  They will be more than glad to assist you.

This DVD now makes 6 that we have in our collection that represents the video recording of our monthly Genealogy Programs when we have a guest speaker.

The other 5 DVDs I noted from a previous posting are:

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Here is a summary of what is in our library to check out in case you missed the program and would like to see it:

• “Using Railroad Records in Your Family History Research” by Craig Pfannkuche.  Recorded on February 14, 2012.  1 Hour 13 Mins.  Call number is DVD 929.1072 USI.

• “Making Sense of the English Census” by Paul Milner.  Recorded on April 10, 2012.  1 Hour 12 Mins.  Call number is DVD 929.3 MIL.

• “Military Records” by Kathryn Barrett.  Recorded on May 8, 2012.  1 Hour 22 Mins.  Call number is DVD 929.3 MIL.

• “Hiring A Professional Genealogist” by Jeanne Larzalere Bloom.  Recorded on July 10, 2012.  1 Hour 44 Mins.  Call number is DVD 929.1072 HIR.

• “Organize and Share Your Family History” by Steve Szabados.  Recorded on October 9, 2012.  1 Hour 20 Mins.  Call number is DVD 929.20973 ORG.

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Enjoy all of our recordings, especially the one we have just added from Maureen Brady’s presentation on November 13, 2012.

Tony Kierna
Genealogy Coordinator
Schaumburg Township District Library

Take Advantage of Holiday Family Gatherings as the Family Historian (Originally Posted in November 2009)

Hi Everyone!

Now that the holidays are upon us again, I wanted to re-post a blog entry I made in November 2009 (actually one of my first posts to the new blog at that time) because the holiday times and family gatherings provide the perfect opportunity to the family historian to share previously researched information and also to gather new information to compile into the family history.

What follows in Bold and Italics is the post I published back in 2009.  The message to family historians is as important today as it was then.  Take a look at the message and take advantage of your time with family during the holidays of 2012-2013.

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The Holiday Season is one of the best times of the year to move your genealogy research forward!  You are circled by family members who may be very interested to know of your research.  Not only can you share what you have discovered but you may have willing family members that can’t help but share more with you during this season of sharing!

Now is the time that family members will really see how serious you take your family research.  They may not open up to you as a willing participant at this time.  But you may have planted the seed in their mind that will come to grow at a future date when their assistance will become invaluable.

Bring some copies of research documents you may have uncovered to date as well as copies of pictures to share with the family members present at the gathering.  Keep the originals at home for safety and security!  If you have digitized your discoveries as .JPG images then bring your laptop with the data or your netbook if you have one that contains the images.  Even having the images on a flash drive will help because you can plug that into a computer that may exist in the house.  Even new HDTV sets often have a USB connection to the HDTV that you can plug into.  You can then look at the images on the TV screen!

What a great time to share family information as well as to gather more if you can.  Bring a digital recorder or a camcorder with to document the new information family members will be willing to share.  Don’t leave all of the stories to your memories.  Get the stories in the voice of the original provider for further analysis down the road.  Ask their permission to audio or videotape what they have to say.  Respect their wishes if they choose not to be recorded.  Then take notes.

Always remember to be a good guest if you are visiting.  It is the Holiday Season after all and not necessarily a genealogical convention!  Don’t make yourself a genealogical nuisance at this time but see if you can arrange a time in the future to revisit with key family members to obtain further information in a non-holiday pressured setting.

Share your family history stories and research.

Keep an ear open for other family history stories.

Plant those seeds among family members for future help.

But most importantly, enjoy your family during this Holiday Season!

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Tony Kierna
Genealogy Coordinator
Schaumburg Township District Library

Reminder Re-Post: Check This Blog During the Winter Months In Case Bad Weather Forces Us To Cancel A Genealogy Program; I Would Post That Cancellation Notice Here

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to remind readers of this blog, especially those of you that often attend our monthly Genealogy Program at the Schaumburg Township District Library (STDL), that I would post a notice here if a Genealogy Program on the 2nd Tuesday evening of the month would have to be cancelled due to bad, wintry weather.

A few cancellations have happened in the recent past and I believe posting the cancellation of that program in this blog proved helpful and beneficial to those who thought of coming out on a bad wintry night.  I believe that our most recent cancellation of our genealogy program was in February 2010 just a few months after I started this blog.

It does not happen often but this blog can easily get the word out that a genealogy program is being cancelled due to inclement weather.

So far the December 2012 program was completed with flying colors weather-speaking.  The 2012-2013 winter season has been unbelievably mild so far as of this writing.  Perhaps the January and February programs will occur in routine manner should our winter continue along its mild course.

But I also believe in Karma and realize we have had an exceptionally good November and December for weather and the “weather gods” have their way of “pay back”.  Whatever the “weather gods” do for our program nights, I can get the word out via the blog that we may be a “no go”.

So keep checking back here especially on the 2nd Tuesday evening of the month if you may be planning on attending our genealogy program.  If the weather is dicey and we cancel the program, you will hear it here!

Let’s hope I have not jinxed anything weather-wise for our upcoming January 8, 2013 by talking about problematic weather in this post!

See you on January 8, 2013 at 7:30 PM at the main library building for our next program.

Tony Kierna
Genealogy Coordinator
Schaumburg Township District Library

FamilySearch Continental Europe Databases By Country Listing How Many Databases Available For That Country

Hi Everyone,

I was just browsing through some of the databases at FamilySearch located in their category of what they call “Continental Europe”.  I was personally looking to see what new additions might have occurred specifically for Poland.

No luck!  The same 2 databases now as when I last looked.

However, I did want to make note to you of some of the countries that are being shown by FamilySearch as well as the number of databases they have for each of the identified countries.

While I was disappointed with the small number for Poland, I was amazed to see that Italy led the way with 89 databases online for that country.  2nd most was for Germany with 40.  3rd most was for Spain with 38.  Portugal and Sweden each had 27.

If any of you have ancestral connections to these countries it really helps to become familiar with what the databases are for these countries.  Perhaps there is something among the databases that zeroes in right on your geographic area of research interest.  You will not know unless you keep revisiting and seeing what is available to use.

What follows after the separator line in Italics is the list of the Continental European countries having databases for you to access at FamilySearch:

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Continental Europe ₍₃₂₁₎

• Armenia ₍₁₎
• Austria ₍₁₀₎
• Belgium ₍₆₎
• Croatia ₍₁₎
• Czech Republic ₍₈₎
• Denmark ₍₄₎
• Estonia ₍₃₎
• Finland ₍₃₎
• Germany ₍₄₀₎
• Gibraltar ₍₂₎
• Hungary ₍₅₎
• Iceland ₍₂₎
• Italy ₍₈₉₎
• Liechtenstein ₍₁₎
• Luxembourg ₍₅₎
• Moldova ₍₂₎
• Netherlands ₍₁₆₎
• Norway ₍₄₎
• Poland ₍₂₎
• Portugal ₍₂₇₎
• Russia ₍₉₎
• Slovakia ₍₂₎
• Slovenia ₍₂₎
• Spain ₍₃₈₎
• Sweden ₍₂₇₎
• Switzerland ₍₉₎
• Ukraine ₍₃₎

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Like Murphy’s Law, the country of interest to you will probably have the least number of databases, while the country you did not even know exists has a large number!!  Good old Murphy strikes again!

Remember, some of the databases of interest to you may be 100% indexed with images.  Some may be 100% indexed without indexes.  Some may not be indexed at all but may have indexes for you to browse through.

Clicking on the links to the country will take you to the databases in FamilySearch for more detailed information that may be of interest to you.

Oh well, I sure know what my Christmas wish would be.  More databases for Poland!

Maybe next time I revisit.

Tony Kierna
Genealogy Coordinator
Schaumburg Township District Library