Kowallis Name Origins

Y-DNA haplogroup I2a map from Eupedia.

Several years ago my wife bought for me a DNA test through the National Geographic Genographic Project. She got it for me because she knew how very interested I was in family history and, I think she wanted to test to see if I was actually human, there being, on occasion, some question about that fact. It was a 12 marker Y-DNA test that by today's standards is a fairly minimal sampling of the DNA, but I found it fascinating nonetheless.

I was hoping that the DNA test would help to identify the origin of the name Kowallis. My most distant ancestor, Jacob Kowallis, was born about 1735 and lived in Berlin, Brandenburg, Prussia (now Germany). But Kowallis is not a German name. One of my Kowallis relatives, Stephan Kowallis, who still lives in Germany, communicated this about the Kowallis name to my niece, Jernae:

"The name Kowallis has a background in the east European old Slavic language. Kowall means smith (blacksmith). In different areas they extended the name with different endings. For example, Kowallow (Russia); Kowalski, Kowallek, Kowalsky (Poland); Kowallis (Latvia, Lithuania); Kowalowsky (Russia/Poland), etc."

So, what did my 12 marker Y-DNA test show? It showed that my Y-DNA haplogroup (my branch of the human tree) was I2a (I-P37.2). The map above shows where the I2a haplogroup is concentrated, mostly in the Balkans, the area of southern and eastern Europe that borders the Adriatic and Black Seas. The Kowallis family could still have migrated through one of the Baltic countries, but there is a strong possibility that prior to that they came from the Balkans.

This year in March while attending the RootsTech Conference in Salt Lake City I had my Genographic results transferred over to Family Tree DNA (the company that actually ran the tests for Genographic). They gave me some additional information about the test. From their database, my 12 markers were an exact match for 5 people: one each from Poland, Hungary, and Bosnia-Herzogovina, and two people from Greece. In addition, I matched 11 of the 12 markers with 8.0% (7 of 87) of the people in their database from Bosnia-Herzogovina, 3.3 % (7 of 213) from Croatia, 1.4% (2 of 148) from Slovenia, and much smaller percentages from 30+ other countries. All of the highest percentages for the close matches and most of the exact matches come from the Balkans area.

Now that I've got my appetite whetted with this fairly minimal information on the Kowallis family origins, I have ordered a more detailed 37 marker Y-DNA test as well as a mitochondrial DNA test. The additional markers on the Y-DNA test may help to further constrain the origins of the Kowallis family and tie me more precisely to possible relatives. The mitochondial test may help to find cousins on my maternal line, where I am also at a dead end.

There is the other possibility too. These tests may conclusively show that I am not human, as a number in the family have suspected for some time.

The Tragic Tale of John Abel Wight

Michigan State Prison (or Jackson State Prison) from Detroit Publishing Company Photograph Collection in U.S. Library of Congress

John Abel "Jack" Wight was born on the 1st of March 1889 in the Township of Alabama, Genesee County, New York, the first son and first child of Noah Wight and Ida May Ackerson. Noah was an apple farmer and worked 50 acres of land that he leased from Ida's father.

Jack's life as a young boy was probably like many other boys in the farming country of western New York. He would have needed to help his father on the farm and yet would likely have had ample opportunity to be a boy. There is no indication in any of the local papers that Jack was a troubled youth.

In 1910, Jack was living at home, but working as a fireman for the railroad and by 1915, at the age of 26 years, he had left his family farm in Alabama Townsip and was living in the big city of Buffalo. He registered there for the draft during WWI, but Buffalo couldn't hold him. We don't know for sure, maybe it was the sudden death of his father, or perhaps he could not find the kind of work he wanted there, or perhaps it was still too close for comfort to the family farm. For whatever reason, Jack moved on and found a young Scottish immigrant, named Anna with whom he fell in love. Anna was a couple of years older than Jack, born about 1887. They were married sometime before 1920 and moved to Norwalk, Huron County, Ohio where he found employment as a garage mechanic. For whatever reason children did not come to the young couple. Still, I imagine that they were mostly happy with no more than the usual problems that arise in a marriage.

But life moves on. Ohio was not the final stop on Jack's road. Sometime in the early 1920's, he and Anna moved to Flint, Genesee County, Michigan. It was here in Michigan where life began to really take its toll. First, in 1927, Jack's mother, Ida May, died on the 18th of February. He traveled back home for the funeral, but his ties to family were now weakened. Then in October of 1929 the world economy collapsed. Jobs were so hard to find. Jack was one of the millions out of work. He may have always had a drinking problem, we don't know, but during this period of his life, there is little question that he began to drink more, and drinking did not make him a happy man.

At home, Anna must have tried to hold things together. Somehow they eked by until Jack was given work with the WPA, the government's answer to the rampant unemployment of the Great Depression. But employment through the WPA, although a godsend for many, was also hard on a man. He was a second class citizen, a government supported drone who couldn't make it on his own.

Still, no matter what the problems, they did not merit the events that followed. On the 10th of January in 1939, Jack came home drunk. Anna was understandably upset and would not talk to him. Here he was spending the few dollars they had on liquor. Jack berated her and undoubtedly placed much of the blame for their troubles onto her. She still refused to talk. In his drunken state, probably not realizing exactly what he was doing, Jack proceeded to pour kerosene over Anna. He then threw a lighted match into her lap setting her on fire. It appears at this point that Jack realized what he had done and called for help to put her out. Anna, however, was severely burned and died one or two days later.

Jack was arrested and convicted of second-degree murder and then sentenced in April 1939 for a term of 25 to 40 years in the Southern Michigan State Prison in Blackman Township, Jackson County, Michigan. “Michigan State Prison or Jackson State Prison, which opened in 1839, was the first prison in Michigan. The first permanent structure was constructed there in 1842. In 1926, the prison was relocated to new building, and soon became the largest walled prison in the world with nearly 6,000 inmates. The prison was renamed the State Prison of Southern Michigan in 1935.”

Life in prison is tough. But life after prison can be even tougher. Jack was released from prison in the mid-1950s and moved to Texas where he found work as a dishwasher at a cafe. He had been in Texas for only about a year, however, when he died at his home on 2518 Seevers Street on 26 March 1956 in Dallas of asphyxiation due to an open burning stove in his apartment; the death was officially determined to be an accident, but the circumstances suggest that it was more likely suicide.

I recount this story here because John Abel Wight is my cousin, my 4th cousin 2 times removed to be exact. We both descend from the same man, David Dewers (or Duers), a ship master who lived in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. I hope that somewhere David is putting his arm around his great-great-great-great grandson and that, even for Jack, there will be redemption.

Keeping up with Family Search

Just incredible the number of new data and image collections that are becoming available on Family Search. Here is the list of new things that have appeared in just the last two weeks.

Hungary, Civil Registration, 1895-1980	51,149	*5 Feb 2013
Italy, Napoli, Sant'Angelo, Parocchia di San Michele Arcangelo, Catholic Church Records, 1905-1929	Browse Images	*5 Feb 2013
Spain, Cádiz, Civil Registration Records, 1870-1960	Browse Images	*5 Feb 2013
United States, Draper Manuscript Collection, 1740-1892	Browse Images	*5 Feb 2013
United States, Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783	Browse Images	*5 Feb 2013
Czech Republic, Land Records, 1450-1889	Browse Images	*2 Feb 2013
England and Wales Census, 1871	5,617,114	*2 Feb 2013
Korea, Collection of Genealogies, 1500-2009	Browse Images	*2 Feb 2013
United States, New England, Petitions for Naturalization, 1787-1906	Browse Images	*2 Feb 2013
Vermont, Orange County, Randolph District Probate Records, 1790-1935	Browse Images	*2 Feb 2013
BillionGraves Index	2,664,703	*1 Feb 2013
Italy, Benevento, Benevento, Civil Registration (Comune), 1861-1929	Browse Images	*1 Feb 2013
Italy, Catania, Diocesi di Caltagirone, Catholic Church Records, 1502-1942	Browse Images	*1 Feb 2013
Italy, Napoli, Barano d'Ischia, Parrocchia di San Sebastiano Martire, Catholic Church Records, 1671-1929	Browse Images	*1 Feb 2013
Italy, Napoli, Panza, Parrocchia di San Leonardo Abate, Catholic Church Records, 1670-1929	Browse Images	*1 Feb 2013
Minnesota, Itasca County Land Records, 1872-1930	Browse Images	*1 Feb 2013
New York, State Census, 1855	594,539	*1 Feb 2013
Texas, County Marriage Records, 1837-1977	187,126	*1 Feb 2013
Argentina, Santa Fe, Catholic Church Records, 1634-1975	278,080	*31 Jan 2013
Idaho, Butte County Records,1882-1970	Browse Images	*31 Jan 2013
Idaho, Twin Falls County Records, 1906-1988	Browse Images	*31 Jan 2013
Louisiana, Orleans Parish Will Books, 1805-1920	Browse Images	*31 Jan 2013
Maine, County Probate Records, 1760-1979	Browse Images	*31 Jan 2013
Manitoba, Census Indexes, 1831-1870	Browse Images	*31 Jan 2013
Montana, Sanders County Records, 1866-2010	Browse Images	*31 Jan 2013
Netherlands, Zuid-Holland Province, Church Records, 1367-1911	Browse Images	*31 Jan 2013
Oregon, Douglas County Records, 1852-1952	Browse Images	*31 Jan 2013
Australia, Tasmania, Miscellaneous Records, 1829-1961	Browse Images	*30 Jan 2013
Brazil, Mato Grosso, Civil Registration, 1889-2012	Browse Images	*30 Jan 2013
California, San Mateo County Records, 1855-1991	Browse Images	*30 Jan 2013
Montana, Sweet Grass County Records, 1885-2011	Browse Images	*30 Jan 2013
Netherlands, Utrecht Province, Church Records, 1542-1902	Browse Images	*30 Jan 2013
New York, Queens County Probate Records, 1899-1924	Browse Images	*30 Jan 2013
Quebec Notarial Records, 1800-1900	Browse Images	*30 Jan 2013
Tennessee, Putnam County Records, 1867-1955	Browse Images	*30 Jan 2013
Texas, Birth Certificates, 1903-1935	2,278,910	*30 Jan 2013
Texas, Eastland County Records, 1868-1949	Browse Images	*30 Jan 2013
Ukraine, Western Ukraine Catholic Church Book Duplicates, 1600-1937	Browse Images	*30 Jan 2013
United States, World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918	21,844,005	*30 Jan 2013
Utah, Probate Records, 1851-1961	Browse Images	*30 Jan 2013
Vermont, Franklin County Probate Records, 1796-1921	Browse Images	*30 Jan 2013
Wisconsin, Probate Estate Files, 1848-1948	Browse Images	*30 Jan 2013
Dominican Republic, Civil Registration, 1801-2010	Browse Images	*29 Jan 2013
Illinois, Probate Records, 1819-1970	Browse Images	*29 Jan 2013
Netherlands, Drenthe Province, Church Records, 1580-1911	Browse Images	*29 Jan 2013
North Carolina, Estate Files, 1663-1979	138,899	*29 Jan 2013
Washington, County Marriages, 1855-2008	48,385	*29 Jan 2013
Australia, New South Wales, Alphabetical Index to Newspaper Cuttings, 1841-1987	50,488	*26 Jan 2013
Indiana, Marriages, 1811-1959	2,184,579	*26 Jan 2013
Maryland, Naturalization Indexes, 1797-1951	85,222	*26 Jan 2013
Netherlands, Groningen Province, Church Records, 1595-1864	Browse Images	*26 Jan 2013
North Carolina, County Records, 1833-1970	Browse Images	*26 Jan 2013
South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Registers, 1660-1970	220,122	*26 Jan 2013
Canada Census Mortality Schedules, 1871	45,371	*24 Jan 2013
Estonia, Population Registers, 1918-1944	Browse Images	*24 Jan 2013

Don't You Just Love Arbitrators

Over the past few years I have enjoyed spending a few hours each week doing INDEXING and ARBITRATION for different Family Search projects. If you have not been involved in this wonderful effort to make records more accessible through digitization and indexing, you really should take the time to get involved. There is one feature of the program, however, that for me has become both a "blessing and a curse," to quote Adrian Monk. This is the ability to review the arbitration of the batches that you have indexed.

Now, I know there are a lot of terrific arbitrators out there who do a great job. They have to make tough decisions as they arbitrate and sometimes the decision does not go my way. I am perfectly fine when this happens, because I am an arbitrator too. I know that at times you just throw a coin in the air and choose heads or tails when it's impossible to decide between two very good possibilities. That's why they pay arbitrators the "big bucks" (ha ha) – they have to make difficult choices sometimes.

What I don't appreciate, however, are the few arbitrators who simply plunge into the job without reading the instructions or without using their brain. To illustrate, let me give you a few examples.

This past summer as we indexed and arbitrated the 1940 US census, one of the common problems was with the three columns labeled at the top with the question "Where did this person live on April 1, 1935?" The indexing instructions were clear on what to do:

"If 'Same house' or 'Same place' or some abbreviation of those terms, such as 'SH' or 'Same H,' was entered in any of the three residence columns for April 1, 1935, then mark this field [columns 18 & 19] as blank, even if a place-name or some other term was recorded in this column."

Those were the instructions, but several arbitrators chose to ignore this. Here is an example where 'same house' was written in column 17 and New York in column 19. The instructions were to mark column 19 as 'blank', which I did. The arbitrator, as you can see below, chose to put 'New York' in the column, however.

Another, probably more important issue, is that some arbitrators do not seem to believe in RECORD MATCHING. One of the first things I learned as an arbitrator was to scan down through both the A and B indexed records to see if they matched up. If one of the arbitrators had missed a line or two so that some of the indexed records were not aligned, then I, as the arbitrator, was supposed to fix the alignment BEFORE I started arbitration.

The worst example of an arbitrator not performing record matching happened to me this summer on one of my indexed batches of the 1855 New York State census. The batches usually came with 90 names (two pages of records). Occasionally, a batch would come up with only 45 names (one page). The form for data entry, however, was still expecting 90 names. When this happened, most indexers would simply fill in the first 45 data lines and leave the last 45 blank. Sometimes, however, an indexer would leave the first 45 blank and fill the data in the last 45 lines. The instructions from Family Search did not specify a particular way to enter these one page images.

This is not a problem for an arbitrator who does record matching. The arbitrator simply lines up the 45 lines from each indexer before beginning to arbitrate. Well, on one of my batches, the arbitrator chose to not do record matching. Therefore, when he/she did the arbitration, he/she arbitrated filled data lines from my batch with blank lines from the other indexer and then blank lines from my batch with filled data lines from the other indexer, ignoring the fact that all the data was there from both indexers. It just wasn't lined up properly. My arbitration score on the batch was, as you can imagine, not very good – less than 20%. I got credit for the header data that was about it.

I have more to say on these issues, and will continue this on additional blog entries. Hope you'll come back for more.

A Son Returns

The return of a son from a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is always a fun occasion. We missed him a lot, but the two years actually went by rather fast.

 

Elder Jeffrey D. Kowallis with his mother back home in Provo, Utah.

 Elder Kowallis at the Salt Lake Airport after arriving from the Louisville, Kentucky mission.

 The welcome home party begins.

 Dinner at the Happy Sumo in Provo, Utah. Around the table from left to right: Louise Boley Clark (Grandmother), David L. Clark (Grandfather), Leanna Kowallis (sister), Karl Kowallis (brother), Rachel Clark Robinson (cousin), Beau Stephenson (Brother-In-Law), Melanie Kowallis Stephenson (sister), Elder Jeffrey Kowallis, Julee Clark Kowallis (Mother), and me (taking picture) Bart J. Kowallis (Father).

 Jeff with welcome home sign on front lawn made by his brother Karl.

 Another sign made by his cousin Rachel.

 Elder Kowallis with his first mission president and his wife at the Salt Lake airport.

 Elder Kowallis with his sister Melanie and brother-in-law, Beau.

 Jeff's mom and brother Karl with one of the welcome home signs.

 Mom always gets the first hug. And below are a few more photos from the return of our missionary. It's great to have him home.

Samuel Bragg - Tugboat Captain

Tugboats of New York

 

This is a family that I have been researching that are related to my Duers relatives. I would be very interested in any additional information that anyone might have on this family. --Bart

Hattie Whitcomb was born in 1868, the daughter of George Melvin Whitcomb and Caroline A. Duers; she died in 1905. Hattie married Samuel W. or T. Bragg of Fort Edward, who was born in New York or Canada in 1849 perhaps to Albin and Mary Bragg; he died in 1919.  Samuel was a boatman,  teamster, and tugboat captain. Both Hattie and Samuel are buried in the Union Cemetery in Fort Edward, Washington Co., New York. They had the following children:

     1. Charles S. Bragg, b. abt. 1889 in New York. He only appears in the 1892 New York State census and may be the same child later called Alice Bragg in the 1905 New York State census.

     2. Alice Bragg, b. abt. 1888 in New York. Alice should have been with the family in the 1892 New York State census, but is not. Instead, there is a child by the name of Charles S. Bragg that is about the same age.

     3. Elizabeth Bragg, b. abt. 1893 in New York.

     4. George Albin Bragg, b. 22 January 1895 in Fort Edward, Washington Co., New York; d. of a coronary embolism while at work on 2 August 1953 on Lake Erie 30 miles from shore in what was considered part of Ashtabula, Ashtabula Co., Ohio. His residence was Ballston Spa, Saratoga Co., New York at the time of his death, where George worked as a seaman for the Great Lakes Oil Transportation Co. He was bur. 6 August 1953 in the Ballston Spa Cemetery. George md. abt. 1919, Viola ______, who was b. abt. 1896 in Massachusetts and in 1930 they were living in West New York, Hudson Co., New Jersey where George was a tugboat captain.

     5. Charlotte Bragg, b. abt. 1899 in New York. She may be the Charlotte Bragg living in the St. Michael’s Orphanage in Hopewell, Mercer Co., New Jersey in 1910. This makes some sense since her mother died in 1905 and her father was living in Jersey City, Hudson Co., N.J. in 1910 without any of the children with him. Charlotte md. abt. 1925, Francis Ara Bowen, who was b. abt. 1905 in New York. Francis was a farmer in Essex Co., N.Y. The connection between Charlotte Bowen and Charlotte Bragg was made by a descendant of Charlotte who left a message on the Ancestry.com message boards that said the following: “I have heard stories for years about my great-grandfather, Samuel Bragg. I was told he was a tugboat captain around New York City when his wife died. He then sent my grandmother, Charlotte (Lottie) to the Wakefield family in Essex, NY where they ran the Lighthouse. She had a sister, I think her name was Alice, and a brother. I am not sure where they went, but know that the sister did marry and think she was still in the NYC area. Charlotte was born in 1916 and married Francis Ara Bowen and had 4 children, James (Bud), Francis (Sam), Alice and Ronald.”

References:
1. 1870 US census, Sandy Hill, Kingsbury, Washington Co., N.Y., p. 57 (written) and 448 (stamped), dwelling 463.
2. 1880 US census, Sandy Hill, Kingsbury, Washington Co., N.Y., e.d. 138, p. 24 (written) and 171 (stamped), dwelling 238.
3. 1880 US census, Fort Edward, Washington Co., N.Y., e.d. 137, p. 12, dwelling 115.
4.  1910 US census, Jersey City, Hudson Co., N.J., e.d. 93, sheet 18A, family 316.
5. Charles B. Moore, Cemetery Records of the Town of Fort Edward, Washington County, New York, Historical Data Services, Glens Falls, New York, 1999, p. 118-119.
6. 1892 New York State census, Fort Edward, Washington Co., e.d. 2, p. 6.
7. 1905 New York State census, Fort Edward, Washington Co., e.d. 1, p. 34, Valley Street.
8. 1910 US census, Jersey City, Hudson Co., N.J., e.d. 93, sheet 18A, family 316.
9. Certificate of Death, Ohio Department of Health, State File No. 50477, Registrar’s No. 216 (image available on familysearch.com).
10. 1930 US census, West New York, Hudson Co., N.J., e.d. 422, sheet 4B, family 100.
11. 1910 US census, Hopewell, Mercer Co., N.J., e.d. 37, sheet 15A, line 35.
12. 1930 US census, Ticonderoga, Essex Co., N.Y., e.d. 16-31, sheet 11A, dwelling 237.

Newspapers - Digital and Microfilmed

This is a list of newspaper web sites that I put together for a presentation at the BYU Genealogy & Family History Conference for later this year (2012). Newspapers are a very rich source of information for both genealogical (names, dates, places) and family history (events, stories) research. In the past, researchers had to visit the library or repository where the newspapers were housed and search through hundreds of pages hoping to find mention of a particular individual. Interlibrary loan made accessing these wonderful resources more affordable, but finding the information was still difficult unless you knew approximate dates of events to look for. Today, more and more newspapers are becoming available online, many as searchable documents. You can find information in the paper that was almost impossible to find in the past.

UNITED STATES (national)

1. Accessible Archives Historical Newspapers (Online, Library or Subscription, transcribed, no original images) – A growing collection of 18^th and 19^th century newspapers, periodicals, and other published materials (http://www.accessible-archives.com/).

2. Civil War Newspapers, American (Online, Free, images) – Searchable, indexed newspapers published during the American Civil War period from July 1860 through June 1865. Site is hosted by Virginia Tech University (https://dcr.emd.vt.edu/vital/access/manager/Index).

3. GenealogyBank (Online, Subscription, images) – Collection contains over 320 years of fully-searchable historical newspapers printed in small towns and big cities throughout the U.S. This collection also includes other historic materials (http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/).

4. Library of Congress, Chronicling America (Online, Free, images) – Historic newspaper pages from across the United States from 1836 to1922 (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/).

5. Newspaper Archive (Online, Subscription or Library, images) – Large collection of newspapers from the United States and some other countries. The site claims to be the largest digital newspaper archive with over 1 billion articles (not pages) on their site (http://access.newspaperarchive.com/).

6. 19^th Century U.S. Newspapers (Online, Library subscription, images) – A collection from the Gale Group (http://www.gale.cengage.com/) available in many libraries. This collection currently has 17,943,281 articles and was last updated on Sep 22, 2010.

7. ProQuest Newspapers (Online, Subscription or Library, images) – Collection of several important newspapers (Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Hartford Courant, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal) covering the years 1764 to 1998 (http://search.proquest.com/index).

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ALABAMA – Alabama Newspapers on Microfilm Database (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – Alabama has microfilmed 7.2 million pages of more than five hundred newspapers (http://www.archives.state.al.us/).

ALASKA – Alaska Newspapers Index (Online, Free, but index only, no images) – Index of some Alaskan newspapers from 1901-1999 (http://www.eed.state.ak.us/lam/newspapers.cfm).

ARIZONA – Arizona Newspaper Project (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – This project has filmed over one million pages, encompassing newspaper titles from 57 communities throughout the state and covering in part the years 1877 to 2002 (http://www.lib.az.us/anp/).

ARKANSAS – Arkansas History Commission’s Newspaper Collection (Index of available papers, order form for copies) – The Arkansas History Commission's newspaper collection includes over 3000 titles published at around 250 different locations in Arkansas, spanning the years from 1819 to the present (http://www.ark-ives.com/documenting/newspapers.asp).

CALIFORNIA – California Digital Newspaper Collection (Online, Free, images) – A freely accessible repository of digitized California newspapers from 1846 to the present. This collection contains 55,970 issues comprising 495,175 pages and 5,658,224 articles (http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cdnc).

CALIFORNIA – California Newspaper Project – (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The most comprehensive source of information about California newspapers. It has titles and holdings from more than 1,400 libraries, museums, historical societies and publishers' offices throughout the state and contains records for over 14,400 U.S. newspaper titles (9,000 were or are published in California (http://cnp.ucr.edu/).

COLORADO – Colorado Historic Newspapers (Online, Free, images) – This collection currently includes more than 500,000 digitized pages, representing 163 individual newspaper titles published in Colorado from 1859 to 1923 (http://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/).

CONNECTICUT – Newspapers at Connecticut State Library (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The Connecticut Newspaper Project has microfilmed 1,094,446 pages and cataloged 7,161 titles of papers dating back to the 1755. Many of these are available at the state library (http://www.cslib.org/cnp/cnpfilm.htm).

DELAWARE – Delaware Newspaper Project (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The project has microfilmed 700,000 pages, including the state's first newspaper, the 1781 Delaware Gazette (http://www2.lib.udel.edu/delnews/).

FLORIDA – Florida Digital Newspaper Library (Online, Free, images) – Includes over 1,000,000 pages of historic through current Florida newspapers, which are openly and freely available with zoomable page images and full text (http://ufdcweb1.uflib.ufl.edu/ufdc/?c=fdnl1).

GEORGIA – Georgia Newspaper Project (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – To date the Georgia Newspaper Project has microfilmed at least one newspaper title from every county in Georgia in which newspapers were ever published. More than 2500 titles altogether have been filmed (http://www.libs.uga.edu/gnp/).

GEORGIA – The Atlanta Historic Newspapers Archive (Online, Free, images) – The collection spans the years 1847-1922 and includes 14 titles published in the Atlanta area; a free plug-in is required to be installed on your computer to view the images (http://atlnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/atlnewspapers/search).

GEORGIA – Digital Library of Georgia (Online, Free, images) – Links to several collections of Georgia newspapers covering the years 1808 to 1994 (http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/MediaTypes/Newspapers.html).

HAWAII – Hawaiian Language Newspaper Collection (Online, Free, images) – A collection of historic Hawaiian-language newspapers published between 1834 and 1948. The newspaper images can be retrieved by word search, title, or date (http://nupepa.org/).

HAWAII – Newspapers of Hawaiʻi (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – Microfilm of 260,000 pages and 476 titles covering the years 1834-2000 (http://www.hawaiianhistoricalsociety.org/ref/chapinmultisearch.php).

IDAHO – Idaho State Archives (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – Microfilm of Idaho newspapers dating from 1863 to the present (http://history.idaho.gov/archives-collections).

ILLINOIS – Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection (Online, Free, images) – A small, but growing collection of Illinois newspapers from 1869 to 1975. Currently has about 140,000 pages; hosted by the University of Illinois (http://www.library.illinois.edu/dnc/idnc/).

ILLINOIS – Illinois Newspaper Project (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – 480 titles microfilmed from across the state (http://www.library.illinois.edu/inp/database.php).

INDIANA – Indianapolis Newspapers Database (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – Collection contains papers from the Indianapolis Herald, Sentinel, Star, News, and Journal covering parts of the years 1848 to 1991 (http://208.119.72.68/IndyNews/1848_1991_search.asp).

INDIANA – Indiana Farmer (Online, Free, images) – The digital Indiana Farmer gives a rare view of rural Hoosier life from 1851 to 1917 (http://e-archives.lib.purdue.edu/collections/indianafarmer/index.php).

IOWA – Iowa State Historical Society (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The State Historical Society has many newspapers from across Iowa on microfilm (http://www.iowahistory.org/libraries/newspaper-search.html).

KANSAS – Kansas Historical Society (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The Kansas Newspaper Project has microfilmed 1.6 million pages and cataloged 10,330 titles (http://www.kshs.org/p/newspapers-in-kansas/11528).

KENTUCKY – Kentucky Digital Newspapers (Online, Free, images) – Hosted by the University of Kentucky and part of the National Digital Newspaper Program, they have digitized papers from all parts of the state between the years 1860-1922 and continue to add to the collection (http://kdl.kyvl.org/newspapers.html).

KENTUCKY – Northern Kentucky Newspaper Index (Online index, some images others on microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The Kenton County Public Library Newspaper Index covers the years 1835-1935 and 1982-Present with over 37,000 pages currently available in digital format. They are working to fill-in the remaining years and add more digital images (http://www.kentonlibrary.org/).

KENTUCKY – University of Kentucky Library (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – This collection has over 4,750 titles cataloged and 800,000 pages microfilmed (http://libraries.uky.edu/SiteIndex).

LOUISIANA – Louisiana Newspaper Access Program (Online, Free, images) – This site contains representative images of the earliest newspaper titles from Louisiana's 64 parishes and is a pilot project, a precursor to LSU Libraries' involvement with the National Digital Newspaper Program. This limited collection will not be added to; however, the newspapers selected for NDNP will be located on the Library of Congress' Chronicling America site (http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/LSU_LNP).

LOUISIANA – Louisiana Newspaper Project (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The 1794 New Orleans Moniteur de la Louisiane, the state's first French newspaper, is among the 4.8 million pages of microfilmed newspapers available (http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/cc/lnp.html).

MAINE – Maine Newspaper Project (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – Maine has microfilmed 356,000 pages of publications dating back to 1785 when Maine was part of Massachusetts (http://www.maine.gov/sos/arc/newspapers/mnphome.htm).

MARYLAND – Maryland State Archives, Newspapers (Online, Free, images) – Several rolls of microfilmed newspapers have been digitized and can be browsed on this site. Years covered are 1802 to 1965 (http://www.msa.md.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc4800/sc4872/html/newspapers.html).

MARYLAND – Maryland Newspaper Project (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – Since 1979, the Maryland State Archives has microfilmed nearly 300 Maryland newspapers (over two million pages) (http://speccol.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/catalog/newspapers/cfm/index.cfm).

MASSACHUSETTS – Massachusetts Newspaper Project (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The 1690 Publick Occurrences, America's first newspaper, is among 8,127 titles in this collection (http://www.bpl.org/research/microtext/news.htm).

MICHIGAN – Library of Michigan Newspapers (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The collection includes 4,446 titles and more than 900,000 pages from all 83 counties, and in many languages representing many of Michigan's ethnic communities (http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-54504_50206_18643---,00.html).

MINNESOTA – Minnesota Historical Society (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – They house the largest single collection of Minnesota newspapers with dates ranging from 1849 to the present day with over 4 million pages (http://sites.mnhs.org/library/content/newspaper-collection).

MISSISSIPPI – Mississippi Department of Archives & History (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – Includes newspapers from more than two hundred towns with over 830,000 pages microfilmed (http://zed.mdah.state.ms.us/).

MISSOURI – Missouri Digital Heritage: Newspaper Collection (Online, Free, images) – Digital images from several historic Missouri newspapers from 1835-1966. This is still a fairly incomplete collection, but if they have the year you are looking for, it may be useful (http://www.sos.mo.gov/mdh/browse.asp?id=12.6).

MISSOURI – The State Historical Society of Missouri (Online, Free, Images and Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – Beginning in 1808 and continuing to the present the society has over 41 million pages of Missouri newspapers on microfilm (http://shs.umsystem.edu/newspaper/index.shtml).

MONTANA – Montana Historical Society (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The newspaper collection includes approximately 95% of the papers ever published in Montana on about 20,000 reels of microfilm (http://montanahistoricalsociety.org/research/library/collections.asp).

NEBRASKA – Nebraska Digital Newspaper Project (Online, Free, Images) – A small but growing collection of digitized Nebraska Newspapers provided by the Univ. of Nebraska and the Nebraska State Historical Society. Currently has about a dozen titles from cities and towns across the state (http://nebnewspapers.unl.edu/).

NEBRASKA – Nebraska State Historical Society (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The society has more than 35,000 rolls of Nebraska newspapers on microfilm dating from the territorial period to the present (http://www.nebraskahistory.org/lib-arch/research/library/newspapr.htm).

NEVADA – Univ. of Nevada-Reno Library (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – Not organized as a separate collection, but the library does have microfilm of a number of historic Nevada newspapers that can be found by searching the catalog (http://knowledgecenter.unr.edu/).

NEW HAMPSHIRE – New Hampshire State Library (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The collection includes more than one million pages, encompassing more than 1,644 titles published from 1756 to 1993 (http://www.nh.gov/nhsl/nhais/newspaper_project.html).

NEW JERSEY – Atlantic County Library Digitized Newspaper Collection (Online, Free, images) – Over 5,000 newspapers in this collection. The main focus is on Atlantic County; the papers date from 1860 to 1923 (http://www.atlanticlibrary.org/collections/digitized/newspapers/index.asp).

NEW MEXICO – New Mexico Newspaper Project (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The project catalogued 1,599 titles and microfilmed 500,000 pages. A film index is provided on the site (http://econtent.unm.edu/cdm4/index_NewMexicoNewspapers.php).

NEW YORK – Brooklyn Daily Eagle Online (Online, Free, images) – Newspaper published from 1841 to 1955, then revived for a short time from 1960 to 1963. Phase I of the digitization project, which can at present be found on this site, covers the period from October 26, 1841 to December 31, 1902, and contains about 147,000 pages (http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/).

NEW YORK – Northern New York Historical Newspapers (Online, Free, images) – This online collection currently consists of more than 2,284,000 pages from fifty-two newspapers from Clinton, Franklin, Essex, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis, and Jefferson counties (http://news.nnyln.org/).

NEW YORK – Old Fulton Post Cards (Online, Free, images) – Don’t let the title of this one fool you, or be put off by the somewhat unusual front page of the web site. This site contains over 18,000,000 digitized pages of searchable New York newspapers and is one of the best for New York genealogy (http://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html).

NEW YORK – New York State Library (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – Extensive microfilmed collection of New York newspapers available through interlibrary loan (http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/nysnp/).

NORTH CAROLINA – State Library of North Carolina (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – Selected titles microfilmed from all of North Carolina’s 100 counties totaling over 3 million pages (http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/reference/newspapers.html).

NORTH DAKOTA – State Historical Society of North Dakota (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – Over 3.3. million pages of microfilmed newspapers from 1864 to present (http://history.nd.gov/archives/whatnewspapers.html).

OHIO – The Ohio Historical Society (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The OHS Archives/Library contains the largest collection of Ohio's newspapers in existence: 4,500 titles, 20,000 volumes, and almost 48,000 rolls of microfilm (http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/database/news.html).

OKLAHOMA – Oklahoma Historical Society (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – OHS has the largest collection of Oklahoma newspaper titles on microfilm with titles dating from 1819 to the present. The newspaper collection currently consists of over 4,400 titles on approximately 33,000 reels of microfilm (http://www.okhistory.org/research/newspapers).

OREGON – Oregon Newspaper Index (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – Index for the Portland Oregonian, Oregon Daily Emerald, and Register-Guard covering the years 1852 to 2004. The University of Oregon Libraries has microfilm of the three newspapers here indexed as well as microfilm for over 1,000 other titles not indexed (http://libweb.uoregon.edu/govdocs/indexing/index.html).

PENNSYLVANIA – Pennsylvania Newspaper Collections (Online, Free, images, and microfilm via interlibrary loan) – Several collections of newspapers, some digitized housed at Penn St. University, includes a great collection from the civil war era (http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/digital/newspapers.html).

PENNSYLVANIA – Pennsylvania Historic Newspaper Collection (Online, Free, images) – A searchable collection of historic newspapers ranging from 1826 to 1929 (http://www.accesspadr.org/index.php).

PENNSYLVANIA – Pennsylvania State Library (Microfilm via interlibrary loan, a few available digitally) – Extensive collection of Pennsylvania newspapers on microfilm. Some titles are now available in digital format (http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/collections/8728/newspaper_searching_instructions/524084).

RHODE ISLAND – Rhode Island Historical Society Library (Microfilm may be available through interlibrary loan) – Contains the largest collection of Rhode Island newspapers (http://www.rihs.org/libraryhome.htm).

SOUTH CAROLINA – South Carolina Digital Newspaper Project (Online, Free, images) – Part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America project, this site shows the progress of the digitization effort in South Carolina and lists the titles that have been done and those scheduled to be digitized in the next two years (http://library.sc.edu/digital/newspaper/index.html).

SOUTH CAROLINA – South Caroliniana Library (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The SCL provides access to newspapers from around the state, beginning with the South Carolina Gazette of 8 January 1732 (http://library.sc.edu/socar/books2.html#scnews).

SOUTH DAKOTA – South Dakota State Historical Society (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – An extensive collection of historic South Dakota newspapers on microfilm (http://history.sd.gov/forms/NewspaperArchive.aspx).

TENNESSEE – Tennessee Newspaper Project (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – This site provides a way to search the database of over 10,000 Tennessee Newspapers housed in libraries across the state that were published beginning in the late 1700’s (http://www.lib.utk.edu/spcoll/newspaper/tnphome.htm).

TEXAS – Texas Digital Newspaper Program (Online, Free, images) – The University of North Texas is the lead institution on this digitization project and is continuing to add to this collection that has newspapers published from 1829 to present (http://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/collections/TDNP/).

TEXAS – Briscoe Center for American History, Univ. of Texas-Austin (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The Center's newspaper collection contain more than 4,500 Texas, Southern, U.S., and non-U. S. titles and is the largest collection of its kind in Texas. (http://www.cah.utexas.edu/services/finding_items/newspapers.php).

UTAH – Deseret News Archives 1850-present (Online, Subscription or Library, images) – Digital collection of searchable images. You may also browse the collection. Not all dates are available in the collection (http://www.deseretnews.com/archives/webarchive.html).

UTAH – Utah Digital Newspapers (Online, Free, images) – A growing collection of Utah Newspapers from both small towns and large cities from 1858 to 1972 (http://digitalnewspapers.org/).

UTAH – BYU Harold B. Lee Library (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – An extensive collection of Utah newspapers on microfilm (http://lib.byu.edu/resource/newspapers/).

VIRGINIA – Virginia Newspaper Project at Library of Virginia (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) –The first Virginia Gazette, printed in 1736, and the Richmond Planet, an African American newspaper from the Reconstruction period, are among 477,000 pages microfilmed (http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/VNP/index.htm).

WASHINGTON – Washington State Library (Online, Free, images, and microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The microfilm collection consists of over 40,000 reels of newspapers dating from the 1850s to the present, plus there is a limited collection of historic newspapers that have been digitized and are available online (http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/newspapers_wsl.aspx).

WEST VIRGINIA – West Virginia University Library (Some are available on microfilm via interlibrary loan) – The West Virginia and Regional History Collection holds the largest collection of historical West Virginia newspapers in existence (http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/wvcollection/newspapers.htm).

WISCONSIN – Wisconsin Local History & Biography Articles (Online, Free, images) – Historical and biographical articles preserved in scrapbooks at the Wisconsin Historical Society in the late 19th and 20th centuries from hundreds of Wisconsin local newspapers, and a few from other states (http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/wlhba/).

WISCONSIN – Wisconsin Historical Society (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) –The Society Library owns one of the nation's largest collections of North American newspapers, with more than 11,000 bound volumes and 100,000 reels of microfilm. Particular strengths include Wisconsin newspapers, colonial and early American newspapers west of the Appalachians, and the largest collection of labor and trade union newspapers in the nation (http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/collections/news.asp).

WYOMING – Wyoming Newspaper Project (Online, Free, images) – Available through this website are all the newspapers printed in Wyoming between 1849 and 1922, in an easily searchable format. This includes more than 800,000 digitized newspaper pages (http://www.wyonewspapers.org/).

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WORLD – ICON: International Coalition on Newspapers (Online, Free, Links) – ICON develops strategies to preserve and improve access to newspapers from around the globe and provides a freely accessible database of bibliographic information for more than 25,000 newspaper titles from participating institutions. ICON also actively coordinates and supports cataloging of international newspapers in participating U.S. libraries to increase their availability (http://icon.crl.edu/digitization.htm).

WORLD – Newspaper Abstracts (Online, Free, abstracts and extracts) – This is a fairly small site currently, but it continues to grow with over 1,100 new pages of abstracts from newspapers added each month. It currently contains about 93,000 pages of abstracts and extracts from historical newspapers as of May 2012 (http://www.newspaperabstracts.com/).

WORLD ­– World Newspaper Archive (Online, Subscription) – Claims to be the largest fully searchable collection of historical newspapers from around the globe. The World Newspaper Archive was created in partnership between Readex, a division of NewsBank, and the Center for Research Libraries and includes historical newspapers published in Africa, Europe, Latin America, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other regions (http://www.readex.com/readex/).

WORLD – Paper of Record (Online, images, Subscription) – A Global pioneer of searchable newspaper image documents presented in their original published form with over 21 million pages of digitized newspapers (https://paperofrecord.hypernet.ca/default.asp).

AUSTRALIA – Trove Digitized Newspapers (Online, Free, images) – Extensive collection of Australian Newspapers. As of April 25, 2012 there were 6,926,297 pages available to search from 1802 to about 1982.

AUSTRIA – ANNO, Austrian Newspapers Online (Online, Free, images) – Newspapers from the Habsburg Monarchy and Austria dating from the 1700s to 1938. Non-searchable, click-through access is by date or by newspaper title. There are plans to make the collection searchable in the future (http://anno.onb.ac.at/).

CANADA (ALBERTA) – Early Alberta Newspapers Collection (Online, Free, images) – The collection contains both dailies and non-dailies (weeklies, etc.). Currently, the collection is organized by place and by the date of the microfilm roll, but does not have a searchable index (http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/newspapr/np_home.asp).

CANADA (BRITISH COLUMBIA) – Royal British Columbia Museum Archives (Microfilm via interlibrary loan) – Over 11,000 rolls of microfilmed newspapers that are indexed and may be searched for on this site (http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/library/newspapr/newspapr.htm).

CANADA (NOVA SCOTIA) – Nova Scotia Historic Newspapers (Online, Free, images) – The collection includes 7 titles published in four very different Nova Scotia communities over a span of 210 years — 14,377 digitized pages in all (http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/newspapers/default.asp).

FINLAND – National Library of Finland Digital Newspaper Collection (Online, Free, images) – The National Library has digitized the main part of the newspapers published in Finland between 1771 and 1900 containing approximately 1.7 million pages (http://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/).

GREAT BRITAIN – British Newspaper Archive (Online, Subscription, images) – In cooperation with BrightSolid, the British Library has been digitizing newspapers. Plans are to place up to 40 million digitized and searchable newspaper pages online. As of April 2012 about 5 million pages were available with about 8,000 pages added daily. The newspapers cover the period from 1711 to 1950 (http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/).

GREAT BRITAIN – British Library Pilot Archive (Online, Free, images) – Searchable images of issues of London’s Daily News, The News of the World and The Weekly Dispatch, and The Manchester Guardian. The site is limited in scope and not likely to add additional images (http://www.uk.olivesoftware.com/).

GREAT BRITAIN – 19^th Century British Library Newspapers (Online, Library subscription, images) – This collection from the Gale Group (http://www.gale.cengage.com/) contains full runs of 48 newspapers specially selected by the British Library to best represent nineteenth century Britain.

GREAT BRITAIN – British Newspapers 1600-1900 (Online, Library subscription, images) – This collection from the Gale Group (http://www.gale.cengage.com/) contains over 3 million pages of historic newspapers, newsbooks & ephemera.