Michael W. McCormick, Accredited Genealogist

Jump to 5:24-9:28 in this WGNS Radio podcast to hear a discussion about my MTSU doctoral work with Reclaim the Records. Thanks to my advisor Dr. Kolar for the shout-out. https://www.wgnsradio.com/article/85833/todays-topics-impressive-historic-works-womens-history-and-the-power-in-positive-aging

Exploring MTSU's Public History Ph.D. Program In the first segment, host Scott Walker welcomed Dr. Kelly A. Kolar, an associate professor in the MTSU Department of History, to discuss the university's esteemed Public History Ph.D. program. MTSU has been at the forefront of offering this unique program, which focuses on melding scholarship and theory with practical experience in public history. Key highlights of the program include personalized mentoring from renowned faculty and professionals, opportunities for research and professional development with various campus and community partners, and flexible teaching or professional practice residencies. Dr. Kolar highlighted the success stories of students like Michael McCormick, who utilized his passion for genealogy to make significant contributions to the field, and Laura Headlee and Stasa Bakliza, who are engaged in impactful projects related to civil rights and archival work, respectively.

MTSU News: https://mtsunews.com/wgns-action-line-feb2024/
WGNS: https://www.wgnsradio.com/article/85833/todays-topics-impressive-historic-works-womens-history-and-the-power-in-positive-aging

Good to go for 5 more years. Credentialing is a challenge and a privilege.

Major Irish collections being transcribed and put online are always big news. Here’s some news from March 8th, 2024. Even if your family isn’t mentioned imagine the context you can discover from people who emigrated during the same period and perhaps from the same areas as your Irish ancestors. I keep a prayer in my heart for such work to continue and more announcements of such projects to come. I’m thankful.

Online archive showcases 400 years of emigrant letters A digital repository of emigrant letters is being made available to view online as a result of a major initiative by the University of Galway.

Come find us at . In addition to the Association of Genealogy Educators and Schools, I’m representing the Association of Professional Genealogists, BYU-Idaho Family History Students & Alumni, and Reclaim the Records at booths or around the expo hall. I also post selected highlights on my Twitter.com/EnduringLegacy

Dougherty (my uncle), 12, & King, 18, drowned yesterday.. Both boys were the sons of widows.. on a picnic.. the boys got on a boat to catch crabs.. when Dougherty fell in.. King jumped after him to save him - but could not reach him, and both drowned in front of their mothers & friends.

An emotional discovery. ❤️

A story in reasonably exhaustive research
Despite conflicting birth date & name of father in a 1907 death certificate, attention to detail & reasonably exhaustive search revealed two tree persons needed merged. I wrote my reasoning to the new step cousin. That can be nerve-racking as you wonder how suggesting a change that’s not even an easy one to understand might be received by the other researcher. He understood & genuinely thanked me for extending his research. 😁 His ancestor John was technically a step sibling of my ancestor. Because John’s mom died when he was only 5 in 1854, and his dad remarried in 1855, John was raised alongside my ancestor until she married in 1869. I told the other researcher that pretty much makes us cousins in my book even if we aren’t blood. ❤️ After we agreed we discussed why John’s obituary (which died in Baltimore, MD where the whole family in question lived) said Rochester, NY papers please copy. Usually this means a close relative lives there. He didn’t know of a Rochester connection. I identified 3 full, half, or step siblings of John that we didn’t have deaths for yet and couldn’t be sure where they ended up. One of these three was blood to me, and it turned out that’s the one who moved to Rochester, was there during the 1905 NY census and died there in 1908 just a year after John. It confirmed my prior research that this was the same John. This reasonably exhaustive search about the step brother had led me to finally determine what happened to this aunt, that she had moved to Rochester from Baltimore, and died there. Meeting a new cousin online and helping his research was more than reward enough for me. Filling in this gap of what happened to my aunt was a bonus.

Michael McCormick, a candidate in Middle Tennessee State University’s Public History Ph.D. program, was highlighted in the MTSU news for his residency work that helped release over 100 years of vital records in Maryland. Read more: https://mtsunews.com/public-history-mccormick-maryland-records/

Those who know about my work with Reclaim the Records to bring more Maryland vitals online that the archives has opted to keep offline for years after their digitization work was done, might think I don’t like the archives very much or I don’t recognize their work. I love the MSA. They’re a great state archive. They work hard to preserve records and make them accessible. I love that they’re doing this project, for example. I went there in person many times and am so thankful for the staff. ❤️ It is possible to feel that way and still identify something that you feel should be more accessible even if that conflicts with archives policy. People aren’t perfect. Policies can change. I took the initiative and got some records online that they didn’t put online. Rather than seeing us as opposing forces I hope people will see me and the MSA as cooperative. I wish the MSA would publicly thank me for my project to put records online, but we haven’t been that lucky yet. When the Washington Post interviewed them they only tried to justify not putting them online themselves by saying online access is a complicated issue. Even if they hesitate to thank me for my project—because it makes it look like an independent person or organization did something in under a year to improve access (putting many more vital records online) they chose not to do over the last decades—I love them.

A newly digitized War of 1812 pension file caught our eye recently. The applicant is known only as "Captain Jack." He was born in the Congo, forcibly enslaved at age 25, and later brought to America. He fought in the War of 1812 and was severely wounded. In his 1857 pension application, his stated age was 114 or 115. https://f3.social/6y01

Our project to release Maryland vital records got picked up at Washington Post and my family’s genealogy hobby was highlighted as well. The Maryland State Archives was also interviewed. The debate of whether people have a right to comprehensive online access remains unanswered in the article. MSA neither acknowledges my project as a good thing nor outright rejects the work as inappropriate. I know where I stand. While I couldn’t have done it alone, and I thank the MSA for their preservation work as well as cooperation, it is thanks to my work that the records are now online.🎄

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/12/25/maryland-genealogical-records/

Thanks mom, Reclaim the Records, MSA, and everyone who has supported broader records access whether directly or indirectly, enthusiastically, or haltingly. This includes everyone who has left comments in support too. Keep sharing those family discoveries with us.

We’ve all gotten this comment from someone: How far have you gotten? Or perhaps, someone will say that their tree is all done. Nope.

I’m honored to have been selected to serve on the board of the Association of Genealogy Educators and Schools. AGES is leading important work to promote and support university curriculum, training, and scholarly research in genealogy—an exciting and growing field. My personal interests in promoting the field align closely with the mission of the organization.

Thanks for crediting my work on this important project. It’s really great to see the news getting shared so more people will benefit from the records.

Nonprofit puts 'motherlode' of Maryland historical documents online for all History buffs can now peruse over 100 years of Maryland birth, marriage, death and other records online at the Internet Archive.

Maryland vital records are now online. See https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/records-request/31/

After being announced just Saturday night, 11/25/23, there are already success stories on social media where people found grandparents, great grandparents, great grand uncles and aunts, and cousins. Keep them coming. I love that with just these few stories shared there are probably hundreds more of research successes happening, and in coming years there will be millions of research success stories using these records.

Reclaim the Records

I am honored to have been instrumental in this major release of Maryland vital records, many online for the first time. As people who like genealogy, we can all make a difference for records access. I have been volunteering since at least 2009 in genealogy records access advocacy. I remember thinking for several years that this record set had no excuse for not being online, but feeling mostly powerless to change that. Now I have been a big part of making it happen. Wow! I hope many more people will have such experiences helping improve our access to records. You can get involved.

The Maryland Motherlode: Births, Marriages, Deaths, and Naturalizations - Reclaim The Records More than five million records from the state of Maryland are now online.These records include both the name/date indices as well as full vital records certificates, covering more than a century of Maryland history. They are now freely viewable in the ‘Maryland State Archives’ collection, at the...

Here’s more great preservation and partnership work being carried out by one of the genealogical societies of which I’m a member. What projects are genealogical societies doing that interest you?

Many historical societies, churches, and town hall offices as well as researchers hold at-risk documents that they are unable to digitize. The NYG&B can help! We’re partnering with organizations across New York State to preserve their at-risk historical documents and make them more accessible. Learn more and apply. https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/digitize-new-york

As a new board member for the Association of Professional Genealogists I’m honored to have been elected and feel a sense of responsibility to make a positive contribution during my tenure. Thanks for your votes of support.

Delighted to see MSA filling gaps in their digital collections and working with the community to do so. This is an example of what can be accomplished when we work together.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘆𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗱𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲.

Volunteers will work on collections like birth records from 1884 and marriage records from 1914 among others.

Volunteers will be required to take a records handling class given by the MSA Conservation department and take digitization training on basic capture methods.

If you are interested in helping with this project check out the post on the MSA website (https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/homepage/html/whats-new.html) or contact James Watson ([email protected]) or Corey Lewis ([email protected]).

So this is part of what I’ve been up to: I’ve remained busy behind the scenes with Reclaim the Records only recently getting toward the close of a major project. They’ve hinted at it on their social media or newsletters before, but you’ll have to wait until later this year for an announcement.

I’ve researched family history like crazy for over 2 decades. The joy of discoveries has slowed down with less ‘close’ family to find, but I’ve just found two of my great grand aunt’s marriage records and ordered a divorce file. A little win.

Genealogists do far more than research family trees. We are behind the scenes advocating for records access and preservation along with the associated budgeting. Today is the day.

US Members - Support Funding for the National Archives! Rep. John Larson (D-CT) is circulating a "Dear Colleague" letter in the House of Representatives in support of President Biden's funding request of $443.2 million for the National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) and National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) operating expenses budget.

Call your Representative today to ask them to sign on to Rep. Larson's “Dear Colleague” letter in support of this budget request for NARA and NHPRC. Members of Congress can be reached at (202) 224-3121 or https://bit.ly/42teYTy.

The deadline for Members of Congress to sign on is March 21, so contact your representative today!

Awesome news. Indexing AI has been around for years, but is just beginning to result in large scale coverage of handwritten historic documents at the world’s largest genealogy nonprofit, and the tech is poised to spread more rapidly than ever before. ChatGPT? Bing AI? Who cares?

How FamilySearch is using the future to discover the past with AI Hear from senior product manager, John Alexander, about how FamilySearch is training AI to read and transcribe information from billions of historical documents at an uncanny rate

Join me at BYU-Idaho online. Bachelors degree and enthusiasm for teaching up and coming genealogists required.

Teach Family History Online instructors are employees of OLL Services LLC. The LLC provides online support for educational institutions affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including Brigham Young University-Idaho, BYU Pathway Worldwide, BYU Hawaii, and Ensign College.Online Environment OLL S...

We've been keeping a secret...we are thrilled to announce that we are partnering with Ancestry to digitize our parish records!! Soon birth/baptism, confirmation, marriage, and death records from hundreds of congregations will then be made fully searchable online via Ancestry.com. We are also seeking Lutheran congregations in the Region 7 area who are interested in having their records scanned. Please contact us at [email protected] for more information!

❤️ progress in Irish church register digitization.

Minister commends digitization work during RCB Library visit Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin TD visited the RCB Library in Churchtown on Friday October 7 to view the ongoing digitisation work supported by her department.

This month I celebrate 3 years working for ARB. It hasn’t always been easy with the high levels of skepticism natural to our industry. We often face this skepticism upon contacting family members after having already invested substantial effort in locating potential heirs. Many times those we worked so hard to find do not respond favorably and we are forced to close our file moving on to research another. The many thank you letters we receive remind me of the rewards of all our work. While much of my research time feels wasted, when we do connect heirs with their inheritance it is often life changing.

Lisa E., New South Wales, Australia
June 13, 2022

Dear David,

I am so thrilled to receive the family chart.
It’s so fascinating to me. I’ve done some digging after the initial contact from the ARB to make sure it was all legit and found out a little more about our heritage.

I’m grateful to the ARB for reaching out.
I’ve encouraged my sisters and nephews to partake and all of them were so skeptical that they said they wanted no part in it.
And here we all are, with extra money in our bank accounts.

I would be so happy to provide information and give a testimony on behalf of the ARB if that helps skeptical people become enlightened to your establishment.
The tree is a bonus.

Many thanks,
Lisa E

Read more testimonials like this on our website: https://www.arb.com/testimonials/client-testimonials/

A few families are included from before the church books for this parish started in about 1650. On this page in 1666 are listed multiple kids of Johann Schwarzman including my ancestor Martin born about 20 years prior.

What amazing work done by volunteers, to create the first ever index for additional years of marriages.

Baltimore City Online Marriage Index - Expanded!

We're pleased to announce the addition of five more years of data - from 1915-1919 - to the MGS Baltimore City Marriage Licenses Index! Previously, the online index was an electronic version of two Maryland State Archives card indexes with information on marriages from 1851-1914. The index now also includes additional information for marriage records from 1915-1919. The index cards for 1851-1914 are alphabetized by the name of the groom, so the MGS online index provides the first searchable index to the names of the brides. This index is also the first ever created for the marriage records from 1915-1919. The index database includes 284,643 marriage records.

To access the data go to https://mdgensoc.org/ and click on Members Only, then sign in and look for “Baltimore Marriage Index” on the left side of the page. If you're not a member, please consider joining.

MGS would like to thank the dedicated volunteers who've spent several thousand hours completing this project. Many thanks also to Board Members John Siemon and Dave Powell for coordinating the creation of the index.

The Bamberg Catholic archives covers many of my ancestral parishes. It is newly online for free use. I’m excited to spend time with these records. Perhaps your German Catholic ancestors are on this site too. Their coverage of Germany is growing.

Historische Matrikelbücher der Pfarreien des Erzbistums Bamberg online | Matricula Online Ab sofort können die Digitalisate der historischen Kirchenbücher der Pfarreien und Kuratien des Erzbistums Bamberg online auf Matricula eingesehen werden.