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Genealogy Research Tips and
Sahyun Library Updates

Welcome to the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society’s official blog – a digital space where we embark on a journey to unravel the fascinating tapestry of our shared ancestry. We are thrilled to introduce not only our society but also a treasure trove of knowledge – the Sahyun Genealogical Library.

Newspapers.com Adds 400+ Papers

Newspapers.com has just expanded its collection with an impressive 482 new papers! This exciting addition includes publications from 32 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Canada, England, and Scotland. You can browse the complete list of new additions here. We invite you to visit the Sahyun Genealogical Library in Santa Barbara to take advantage of

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Webtember – A Month of Free Genealogy Webinars

Webtember 2025 is Legacy Family Tree Webinar’s annual online conference dedicated to family history and genealogy. For four Wednesdays in September, they will feature a new lineup of expert-led webinars, each with a unique theme. The best part? It’s completely free to attend live! A Family Tree Webinar subscription is required to watch the recordings

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Do You Remember Elephind?

Elephind was a specialized search engine that made exploring historical newspapers effortless. Rather than having to visit individual archive websites, it provided free access to digitized newspaper collections from around the world in one convenient location. The platform was powered and hosted by Veridian Software. Veridian operates an extensive network of newspaper archives, including numerous

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Confederate Slave Payrolls at NARA

Courtesy of Brian Rhinehart’s CivilWarRecords.com monthly newsletter dated 22-Aug-2025. During the U.S. Civil War, the Confederate Army compelled enslavers to lease enslaved people to the military. Across the Confederacy, these individuals were forced into roles such as cooks, laundresses, nitrate miners for gunpowder, ordnance factory workers, and laborers digging defensive trenches around cities like Petersburg,

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Finding and Not Finding Negative Evidence

Courtesy of Michael John Neill’s Genealogy Tip of the Day post “Finding and Not Finding Negative Evidence” dated 9-Aug-2025. There’s confusion about negative evidence and negative findings. I see it in various postings and writings trying to differentiate the two. It can be easy to confuse them and frankly they are easy to confuse. I searched for

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Naming the Dead

“Across the United States, more than 50,000 bodies remain unidentified—un-mourned and unnamed, but not forgotten. NAMING THE DEAD, a riveting new six-part investigative series from National Geographic, brings these untold stories to light. The series follows the groundbreaking work of the DNA Doe Project, a trailblazing nonprofit that uses genetic genealogy to help law enforcement

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Transcribed Civil War Diaries and Letters Available Online

 Do you have an ancestor who served in the Civil War? Or, are you wanting some context about the war from someone who was there? Transcribed letters and diaries on Spared & Shared may have what you are looking for. These documents have been purchased on eBay or were user-submitted and transcribed by Will Griffing.

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Full-Text Search Added to Catalog and All-Collections

While it is still undergoing further improvements in FamilySearch Labs, full-text search is now also available in the all-collections search on the signed-in FamilySearch home page and in the FamilySearch Catalog.  Read how to find and use full-text search in each of these areas in this recent FamilySearch blog post. Submitted by Robin McCarthy

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Beyond 1890: The Other Federal Census Records That Vanished Into Thin Air

Most genealogists know the tragic story of the 1890 census, which was destroyed by fire and water damage in its Commerce Department storage facility. But here’s what many don’t realize: other federal censuses have significant gaps too, with entire states missing from various years. The following information is excerpted from this Family History Daily blog

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The Revolutionary City: A Portal to the Nation’s Founding

“A group of Philadelphia-area historical organizations are pooling their archives into ‘The Revolutionary City: A Portal to the Nation’s Founding,’ a growing collection of original documents that has been digitized, catalogued and made searchable by the public. “More than 6,000 documents with more than 57,000 pages have already been uploaded into the publicly accessible website.

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Free Webinar on Civil War Pension Records

The Santa Clara County Historical and Genealogical Society is presenting the free webinar Dissecting a Civil War Pension Record: Union and Confederate by Jill Morelli. The webinar is on July 15th at 6:30 p.m. (PDT). A brief membership meeting precedes the presentation. Register here to receive a confirmation email with the Zoom link. Pension packets

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175,000 New Irish Historical Records Released

Launched three years ago, the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland is now home to over 350,000 records and 250 million words of searchable Irish history. Led by Trinity College Dublin and supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, the project brings together historians, computer scientists, archivists, and librarians working to digitally recreate Ireland’s destroyed

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Free Access to OldNews by MyHeritage

This Independence Day, MyHeritage is opening up a treasure trove of history. From July 3–5, 2025, enjoy free access to 151 million pages of historical U.S. newspapers on OldNews.com! OldNews.com is MyHeritage’s historical newspaper site: a treasure trove of digitized pages from local and national papers around the world. It’s an amazing resource for anyone

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The Six-Folder Genealogy Organizing System

Lost in a sea of digital files, family photos, and paper records? Can’t find the records you know you have? Scanning photos and records more than once? This archives-based system helps you organize ALL of your genealogy research and records in just six folders. No need for color codes, numbering systems, or other complicated schemes

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Italian Ancestry Tips

I came across some old copies of the out-of-print publication Communes of Italy. Here’s a tip I picked up: Looking for photos of your ancestral commune? Try Flickr I found some great shots of Sciacca, Vizzini, and Carini, Sicily. Give it a try. No Italian Ancestry, try searching for your country, state or city, I’ll

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Adjacent in Census or Tax Lists May Not Mean Next Door

Courtesy of Michael John Neill’s Tip of the Day post “Adjacent in Census or Tax Lists May Not Mean Next Door” dated 8-June-2025. Those names that were immediately before and after your ancestor on a census or a tax list probably lived relatively near your ancestor, but do not assume that they shared a property

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The Summer Issue of Ancestors West is Available Online

The Summer edition of Ancestors West has been published and is available for your enjoyment on the Society Publications page of our website. Read stories shared by our members of their ancestors’ remarkable achievements in this issue. Don’t forget that every issue of Ancestors West includes an index of surnames referenced within the publication. You

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Using Reddit for Genealogy

Courtesy of Natalie Webb’s Family Tree Tech Tuesday Tech Tips newsletter dated 10-June-2025. Have you heard of Reddit? Maybe in passing, or perhaps you use it for some of your non-genealogy interests. Reddit is the technological descendant of message boards and forums that were popular in the past. Reddit is a massive online community divided

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