GenealogyBlog

This Carte-de-Visite photo is from a 19th century Sanders / Fryher photo album from New Britain, Connecticut. If you can help date and/or identify this individual, please let me know.

The state of Alabama has a great free resource which everyone can use on-line. It is the Alabama Digital Archives . The archives are organized in eleven different collections.

• Photograph and Pictures Collection
• Textual Materials Collection
• Audial Visual Collections
• State Agencies, Political Blogs and Historical Websites Collection
• State Publications Collection
• Frank W. Boykin Collection
• Governors George C. and Lureen B. Wallace Collection
• Historical Quarterly Collection
• Official and Statistical Collection
• History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography
• WPA Alabama’s Writer Project

The collections which appear to be most relevent for genealogical studies are the Textual Materials Collection and the Photographs and Pictures collection.

In the Textual Materials Collection you can find many letters written during the time of the civil war, letters pertaining to the Creek War (1813 – 1814), some poll tax and voter registration information and much much more.

In the Photo and Pictures Collection you can browse by subjects including Civil War, World War I & II, Education, Religion and a whole lot more. You can also browse by time periods 1800 – 1809, 1810 – 1819 … 1990 – 1999. Obviously, the eras which pre-date the advance of the photograph are taken from pictures.

If you have relatives in Alabama, check out the Alabama Digital Archives.

This photo is from a 19th century Sanders / Fryher photo album from New Britain, Connecticut. They original size of the tin type photo is 1.5” * 2”. If you can help date and/or identify this individual, please let me know.

Genealogy Resources at the Derby Connecticut Public LIbrary

As with many of the larger local libraries, the Derby Connecticut Public Library has amassed a very good collection of books for use in genealogy. The local history and genealogy room has a large table and comfortable chairs.

Many New England families pre-date the revoluntionary war. If you think that your ancestor may have fought in the Revolutionary War, you should consult the DAR lineage books. The DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) is a lineage society. If a descendant of your revolutionary war veteran applied to the DAR society a record most likely exists within the DAR. The Derby Public Library has a almost a complete set of DAR lineage books from 1 – 166.

There are also quite a number of books which contain vital record information. These books include;

• Barbour Collection – (Danbury, Darien, Derby)
• Barbour Collection – (Milford, New Canaan, New Hartford)
• Connecticut Vital Records – (Woodstock)
• Connecticut Vital Records – (Bolton)
• Connecticut Vital Records – (Norwich [part 1 & part 2])
• Connecticut Vital Records – (New Haven [part 1 & part 2])
• Saybrook

There’s a few books which contain family vital statistic information which is not quite a vital record compilation. Derby library contains a few of these books including;

• A Genealogical Register of the Inhabitants of the Town of Litchfield, CT
  by George C. Woodruff, 1845
• East Haven Register, containing an account of names, marriages, births…
  by Rev. Stephen Dodd, 1910

A family lineage book typically traces one or more founding fathers and or mothers and traces all of their know descendents forward. The Derby library contains quite a number of these family lineage books. Most of the founding fathers have roots in Colonial New England. A large collection of more than 100 books with families with ties to Derby, Connecticut can be found in the library.

In addition to the many family lineage books, you can find a great deal more including

• The Early CT Probate books
• Many local histories
• New Haven and Connecticut Colonial records
• Derby City Directories – hard cover and on microfilm

If you have family members who are from the Derby Connecticut or surrounding towns, the Derby Library is a good resource for you to perform your research.