Tuesday's Tip: Military Headstones

Where can you find help understanding the abbreviations on a military headstone?  For example, what does "Regt." mean?

Military Headstone

The National Cemetery Administration has made it easy. Its website (part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) includes a list of abbreviations commonly used on government-furnished headstones and markers. The abbreviations include branch of service, war service, awards, and rank. 

Find this helpful list at http://www.cem.va.gov/cem/hmm/abbreviations.asp. 

 

 

Tuesday's Tip: Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database

So you've checked the Godfrey Scholar and still haven't located a history of your ancestor's Civil War regiment. Where else can you go to find out where he served?

Veteran's Tombstone

Go to https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-database.htm.  Scroll down and then click on "Regiments."

Fill in as much information as you know, and click search.  Your results should include the unit in question.

Here's information on Col. Kingsbury's 11th Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry.

Military History on Godfrey Scholar

Military histories are amazing resources. They can tell you if your ancestor served, where, and for how long.

Even better, a number of military histories have been digitized and are available online for members through Godfrey Scholar.

Wondering how to access them? Check out our video.

click on button

Another Major Milestone Reached!

We did it!  We now have 1000 digitized books on Godfrey Scholar⁺!

Over the last year we've added:

• 293 Biographies

• 132 volumes of original Funeral Home Records from 1882 to 1980 including records from the Hallahan Funeral Home featured in the movie A Haunting in Connecticut

• 234 Genealogies

• 146 volumes pertaining to the Revolutionary, Civil and Spanish American Wars including regimental histories and biographies of officers and soldiers 

• 86 State and Local Histories for 11 states and New England

• 68 volumes of original Church Records in 9 different Connecticut towns, Indiana, NY and Italy from 1668 to 1908

• 20 published volumes of Vital Records for Connecticut and Massachusetts and 42 volumes of original records including a record book kept by a midwife from Melilli Italy of babies born in Middletown, an account book of deaths in Wallingford from 1827 to 1900, Wolcott CT vital records (1783-1849) found among land records and not included in Barbour's, and multiple volumes of transcriptions from church and vital records by Lillian Kruger Brooks of Haddam Neck and surrounding towns for her own research

• 13 volumes of New Jersey Archives Newspaper Extracts, 1704-1782

• 11 volumes of original Cemetery Records (sexton returns, gravestone inscriptions and burial returns) from 7 different Connecticut towns

Keep following us on Facebook and our blog "Genealogy from the Godfrey" for weekly updates on new Scholar content.  

Last Week on the Scholar

We apologize for the delay in posting this previous week: computer issues caused an unfortunate, but thankfully temporary, roadblock.  So, last week we added a selection of exciting new genealogies and biographies to the Scholar+ Digital Library, including the autobiography of businessman and entertainer extraordinaire P.T. Barnum!  We've gotten through the backlogged Bs and are now well into the Cs!

Keep watching the blog for more updates and be sure to check out the Scholar's ever growing collection.

Biographies
Spencer Fullerton Baird: A Biography*
Struggles and Triumphs: Autobiography of P.T. Barnum*
The Life of John Brainerd*
Prof. Henry Bronson, M.D.*
Samuel Gilman Brown*
Life and Letters of Charles Bulfinch: Architect*
American Men of Letters: William Cullen Bryant*
A Brief Account of the Life of John Casse*

Genealogies
The Baldwin Genealogy*
The Ballous in America*
The Banks Family*
The Barker Genealogy*
Bartholomew Family Records*
The Beckwiths*
The Beville Family of VA, GA, and FL*
The Bingham Genealogy*
Binney Family Genealogy*
Genealogy of Thomas Bird*
The Boone Family*
Descendants of Charles Bowler*
The Brigham Family History*
Genealogy of the Buford Family in America*
The Bull Family*
The Burke and Alvord Memorial: A Genealogical Account of the Descendants of Richard Burke of Sudbury, MA*
Burley or Burleigh Family*

Military- Civil War
The Cannoneer: Recollection of Service in the Army of the Potomac*

Not a Scholar?  Visit our website to subscribe today or call the library at (860) 346-4375 to join today.

*Searchable

This Week in the Scholar

These past six months Godfrey staff and volunteers have been busy bringing all sorts of new content to the Godfrey Scholar.  Updates have gotten so frequent that we've decided the best way to let people know is through weekly posts on Genealogy from the Godfrey and the Godfrey Facebook page!

Welcome to the first installment of "This Week in the Scholar"!  This week will cover notable content added to the Scholar from the past six months.

Cemeteries
The Ed Laput Cemetery Project has reached their goal of completing 900 cemeteries!*
 
Church Records
Records from the First Congregational Church of Cromwell, CT (1715-1875)*
Records from the Second Congregational Church of Groton, CT (1727-1839)
Records from the Church of the Holy Trinity in Middletown, CT, Six Volumes (1750-1868)*
Records from the First Congregational Church of North Stonington (1727-1832)*
Records from the Presbyterian Church of East Palmira, NY (1817-1897)

Funeral Home Records
Burial Returns from the Doolittle Funeral Home in Middletown, CT, Fifty-two Volumes, (1882-1950)*
Burial Records from the Hallahan Funeral Home in Southington, CT*

Foreign
A Significant Emigration From the Balingen Area of Der Aollernalbkreis, Germany to Franklin County, MA, Eleven Volumes*

Genealogies
The Atwater History and Genealogy*
The Boardman Genealogy (1525-1895)*
The Barlow Family Records*
The Ouellette Genealogy and Photo Album*
A Sutherland-Stephenson Family History*
A Genealogical and Family History of the State of CT*
And many more!

Military
Many of books regarding the Revolutionary War, including records and histories of regiments from:
Connecticut*
Maine*
New York*
Rhode Island*
and Vermont*

Newspapers
Newspaper abstracts from the New Jersey Archives, Thirteen Volumes (1704-1782)*

Vital Records 
Abstracts from Haddam Neck, CT area vital records
Freedom by Deed, Manumission, Freedom and emancipation Abstracts from VA (1752-1862)*
Death Records from Wallingford, CT (1827-1900)*
Vital Records from Wolcott, CT (1783-1849)*

*Searchable record

Not a Scholar?  Visit our website to subscribe today or call the library at (860) 346-4375.