Jen's Genealogical Research

Tulsa City-County Library Genealogy Center

Good genealogical research doesn’t always require lots of traveling, sometimes a great research location is right around the corner.  This is the case with many libraries and all you need in most cases is a public library card.

Many libraries have special genealogy centers that offer computer access to exclusive genealogy databases like Footnote, which offers scans of government documents, as well as files on site to browse through.  They will typically have a decent amount of information that users cannot access simply through Google searches and I have found things in genealogical centers that subscription sites like Ancestry.com did not have, as well.

Recently I took a trip to my local library’s genealogy center, the Tulsa City-County Library Genealogy Center, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that I could access databases like Footnote simply by having a library card.  So check out your local library and see if they have a genealogical research center – you may be pleasantly surprised, too!

Tags: genealogy libraries, libraries, library, Library Genealogical Center, public library, Tulsa City-County Library, Tulsa City-County Library Genealogical Center

I’ve been researching the Brey line (which appears under many spellings including Brey, Bray, Brei, Bry, and Brye) in Pennsylvania and came across a wonderful resource for births and baptisms in the Lehigh area, History of Jerusalem Lutheran and Reformed Church of Western Salisbury, and I am listing all of the Brey’s and variant spellings of Brey here (don’t blame me if certain things don’t make sense like that “Adam” is listed as a daughter – I’m only transcribing!):

Brei

• Brei – Johan, son of Conrath Brei and wife Magdelena, born July 29, 1775; baptized August 10, 1775.  Sponsors, John C. Brei and Marg. Millerin.  [p 125]
• Brei – Adam, daughter of Conrath Brei and wife Magdelena; born May 1, 1777; baptized May 11, 1777.  Sponsors, Adam Blanck and wife.  [p 126]
• Brei – Maria C., daughter of Conrath Brei and wife Maria; born February 18, 1780; baptized March 1, 1780.  Sponsors, Peter Miller and wife Maria [p 127]
• Brei – Maria C., daughter of Conrath Brei and wife Magdelena; bord December 20, 1782; baptized January 12, 1783.  Sponsors, Johannes Torni and Magdelena [p 129]
• Ott – Daniel, son of George Ott and wife Catharine; born December 27, 1784; baptized February 6, 1785.  Conrath Brei and wife Magdelena.  [p 130]
• Steinberger – Johanna, son of Adam Steinberger and wife Anna Mar.; born December 16, 1783; baptized February 16, 1785.  Sponsors, Conrath Brei and wife Magdelena.  [p131]

Brey

• Brey – Lydia, daughter of Thomas Brey and wife Susannah; baptized May 13, 1808.  Sponsors, Johan Weber and Susan Schwartz.  [p 146]
• Brey – Samuel Brey, son of Michael Brey and wife Polly; born August 7, 1797; baptized September 24, 1797.  Sponsors, Conrad Brey and Magdelena.  [p 139]
• Brey – Apelona, daughter of Michael Brey and wife Maria Elizabeth; born November 10th, 1805; baptized April 4, 1806. Sponsors, Heinrich Taubert and wife Maria.  [p 145]
• Bry – Maria, daughter of Michael Bry and wife Maria; born February 6, 1801. Sponsors, Conrath Brey and wife Eva.  [p 141]

Bray

• Bray – Wilhelmina, daughter of Michael Bray. Sponsors, John Weber and Catherine Bray.  [1904 records p 143]

Bry

• ——- Joel, son of Johannes ——- and wife Elizabeth; born June 20, 1814; baptized August 7, 1814.  Sponsors, Michael Bry and wife.  [p 150]

You can find the digitized version of this entire book at Google Books here.

Tags: Bray, Brei, Brey, Bry, Brye, History of Jerusalem Lutheran and Reformed Church of Western Salisbury, Lehigh, Lutheran, PA, Pennsylvania baptism records, Pennsylvania birth records, Pennsylvania church records, Salisbury

I spend much of last night searching for a connection between Michael Brey and Conrad Brey in my family tree and was coming to no conclusions.  I had hints that they were related from census records I had gotten from Ancestry.com, but nothing definite.  I noticed that a few people were making this father-son connection on Ancestry but none of them had listed sources for this.

Finally, I emailed the owner of one of the trees and he told me how he had hired a professional genealogist who had found baptism records that solidified the theories that they were indeed father & son!  It was so easy to shoot off a short email and it paid off so well.

So my tip for today is, don’t just assume that the sources aren’t there just because they haven’t been posted, make some contacts, you may be surprised what you find!

Tags: genealogical research tips

I have been working on my family tre for two years now and have come to a place where I neede to gather data that doesn’t quite fit into my tree, but that I want to hold on to in case it might come into play in the future, and also so I can get a big picture of the places and times that I’m researching.

I also wanted a place where I could note the best and most useful resources and research methods.

These items wouldn’t really fit into my family tree nor my personal blog so this is that place.  Hopefully you, my fellow genealogists, can gather some data that might help you along the way and feel free to offer your own information and tips via the comments section.

Happy researching!

Tags: genealogical research blog