Showing posts with label Heritage Quest Online. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heritage Quest Online. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

HeritageQuest Online

In an earlier blog,  I mentioned one of the databases available to CLEVNET (i.e. Medina) library members is HeritageQuest Online.

This database was once a separate entity and a competitor for the ever popular Ancestry.com subscription database. A few years ago, Ancestry bought Heritage Quest and now it is under their corporate wing. The biggest advantage of HeritageQuest Online is that it is available from home if you have a valid CLEVNET library card number.

REMINDER: This database is  found on the library's website (mcdl.info) under the "Online Resources" link and the "History and Genealogy" tab.

The current home page for HeritageQuest Online
HeritageQuest has greatly expanded the types of records accessible since its merge with Ancestry.com. Here are some of the new records:
  • Birth, Baptism, Marriage, Death and Census Records from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Mexico, Central and South America, Caribbean, Africa and Asia
  • Cemetery Indexes for the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Mexico, Germany, Italy, Brazil and Global Burials at Sea
  • Military Records
    • U.S. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files 1800-1900 (NARA M804), 
    • U.S. Records of Confederate Prisoners of War 1861-1865
    • U.S. Remarried Widows Index to Pension Applications 1887-1942
    • Colombia Military Records 1809-1958 
    • Traunstein Bavaria Military Records, 1830-1918
    • Louisiana War of 1812 Pension Lists
    • Netherlands Army Service Records 1807-1929
    • U.S. Naval Enlistment Rendezvous 1855-1891
  • Immigration and Naturalization Records from selected U.S. states, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Dominican Republic, Indonesia
  • Social Security Death Index (SSDI) 
  • U.S. Public Records Volumes 1-2, contains a compilation of  all 50 U.S. states from 1950-1993
  • Map and Photo Collection with over 600,000 images from the Library of Congress Photo Collection 1840-2000
A draw back to HeritageQuest Online is that it doesn't have a general search box. You must choose your record category before you search.

ProQuest, who provides access to the database for libraries, had a very complete online tutorial for the database online. You can access it here:

The opening page for the ProQuest tutorial on Heritage Quest

Enjoy exploring this database and use the tutorial to maximize your results!


Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Genealogy Databases at Your Library

Medina County District Library, as part of the CLEVNET consortia, provides access to a number of genealogical databases: Ancestry Library Edition (ALE), Heritage Quest Online and the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps are the major ones.

  1. Ancestry Library Edition (ALE) is the library subscription version of the popular commercial Ancestry.com database whose TV ads you have probably seen. Lisa blogged a great tutorial on it here

  2. Heritage Quest Online - now owned by the folks at Ancestry.com, Heritage Quest feels a lot like Ancestry's little brother. It concentrates on U.S. Census information, The Freedman's Bank Records, PERSI (index to genealogy magazines) and Revolutionary War Pension records. (Subject of a future blog post.)
  3. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps - Sanborn was a publisher of historical maps of Ohio cities and towns. Originally created to estimate fire insurance risks, the  maps are frequently used for historical and genealogical research, and for preservation and restoration efforts. As nearly all my ancestors have been farmers, I have not used Sanborn.


These databases are found on the library's website (mcdl.info) under the "Online Resources" link and the "History and Genealogy" tab.

Recently, I discovered another genealogical resource that is available through the Medina County District Library's purchase of a separate database: Gale Courses. 


Also found on the "Online Resources" link, Gale Courses offers free online courses on hundreds of topics, including.... GENEALOGY!

The instructor led course does get good reviews from its students, but the only way to really tell... is to take the course myself!  It is free with my library card number and should be fairly easy. The course lasts for six weeks and has 2 classes each week. I'll let you know. Or better yet,take the class with me!