Recently someone mentioned to me that she wanted to digitize slides. Although there are places that provide this service, many companies expect you to accept the idea that the slides might get lost or damaged in the process. She wondered if there was any way for her to digitize them herself. I had never tried doing this myself, but since I had a box of slides home, I decided to experiment.

   The first method I tried was to scan slides using a flatbed scanner. I found directions and tips on the Internet for doing this. I even made an origami-like box out of white paper, that was recommended to use as a light diffuser, and I tried three different scanners (although none had any special scanning features), but I was unhappy with all my results. I even attempted to adjust the resulting scanned images with computer software, but the results were unsatisfactory, and I decided it was better to look for a different method.

   Someone suggested I project the slides and then photograph them. This seemed like a good idea; unfortunately I had thrown out my slide projector years ago. The idea though led to the concept of just illuminating the slide from behind and taking a photograph of it. How could I do that? Well, I thought why not try just shining a light behind a slide (maybe with a piece of white paper behind the slide as a light diffuser) and then taking a picture of it. I tried what I will call my flashlight method of slide digitization, and though the results may not be perfect, I was pretty content with this technique. It produced a decent image, cost me nothing, and was easy and fast to do. Of course, I could probably get even better results if I built or purchased a light box, but at some point I need to stop myself from getting too carried away. Attached were the steps I took in digitizing some of my slides Flashlight Method: A Simple Way to Digitize Slides

   There are a few online databases that our library subscribes to that have records that might confirm whether or not your ancestor served in the American Revolutionary War.  Below are the three databases I would recommend checking.

Heritage Quest                                                                                                    

Available records:

Revolutionary War Era Pensions

Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files              

Ancestry.com

    To limit your search in Ancestry to just Revolutionary War records, try doing a keyword search for Revolutionary War in the Ancestry catalog.  Here are some of the records they have that might be of interest:

U.S. Revolutionary War Rolls

U.S. Sons of the American Revolution Membership Application, 1889-1970.

American Revolutionary War Rejected Pensions

 Fold 3

   In this database I recommend narrowing your search by going to their American Revolutionary War Archives.  Some of the pertinent records included in the collection are the following:

Revolutionary War pensions

Service records

You can get free access to Heritage Quest and Fold 3 by going through our database links and typing in your library card barcode number when prompted.  The library edition of Ancestry.com can be used for free, but only when accessed within our library building.

   A relative informed me that Mary Shea married John Bowler in 1874 in New York City, but I could not find a civil marriage certificate. It is fairly common not to be able to find a civil record for New York City Catholic marriages that occurred during the 19^thcentury outside of national (ethnic) churches.  For that reason, I contacted the church directly (luckily my mother knew which one it was), and they gave me the complete information from the registry book.  Because church registries will sometimes include the county or town an immigrant was born, you should ask for this information when communicating with the church.  Unfortunately, the registry for Transfiguration Church did not include that information.

   My next step was to look at Mary Shea’s headstone, as it was a fairly common custom for Irish immigrants to have stated on their tombstones where in Ireland they were born.  The death certificate of Mary Shea Bowler said that she was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens, so I looked in Rosemary Muscarella  Ardolina’s books Old Calvary Cemetery: New Yorkers Carved in Stone and Second Calvary Cemetery: New Yorkers Carved in Stone (R 929.5 Ardolina) to see if it listed my ancestor.  Unfortunately, it did not.  Therefore, I went to Calvary Cemetery to double check for if a headstone existed, but there was none, again not an uncommon occurrence for the old grave of an immigrant.

   I then searched for a death notice in New York City newspapers.  Death notices for Irish immigrants sometimes include the county of origin. I visited the New York Public Library and searched through New York City newspapers, including the ethnic newspaper Irish- American, for a notice, but did not find one.  It is quite possible, that she did not have one in any paper.  Other resources I looked at with no success were the New York Emigrant Savings Bank Records and the Search for Missing Friends: Irish Immigrant Advertisements.

   At this point, seemingly running out of leads and resources, I gave up on Mary Shea and decided to turn my attention towards a sibling of hers who also immigrated to New York City. Her sister’s name was Ellen and I knew that she had never married.  Being unmarried with no children and having worked all her life, Ellen probably left money to relatives when she died. My hope was that she had a will that listed relatives in Ireland.  I found Ellen’s death certificate at the Municipal Archives in New York City, and armed with her date of death, I went upstairs to the Surrogate’s Court.  I requested to see her will, and finally I hit paydirt!  It did indeed list her nephews and nieces in Kenmare, County Ireland. I was able to confirm I had the right person, because my great-grandmother Charlotte O’Donnell was listed as having received a dollar from her aunt, a fact that gave me something else to think about and to research, but that’s another story.

   My first successful attempt at this research was for a great-grandfather who was born in Ireland in 1864.  It was a bit of good fortune for me that Patrick Fitzpatrick was born in Ireland during a time period when Irish civil records existed.  If my great-grandfather had been born before 1864, there would have been no civil birth records, and pursuing the research further would have been more complicated.  Although I had little knowledge of my great-grandfather, relatives I interviewed gave me important clues for tracking down his birth record.  One told me that Patrick died in 1934 in Port Jervis, New York, so I requested and received his death certificate through the Port Jervis City Clerk.  The death certificate gave his date of birth and his parent’s names.  Although the year of birth on his death certificate would later prove to be incorrect (a common occurrence because this information is given by some other than the person it is about), the month, day, and parents’ names were correct and served to be invaluable for finding the birth record.  I also obtained Patrick’s marriage record, which confirmed his parents’ names and gave me the correct year of birth.  Twenty six years ago, when I did this work to track down Patrick Fitzpatrick’s birth certificate, the research was more complicated and time consuming than today, because the website Familysearch.org did not exist.  Back then I had to go through microfilmed indexes at my local Family History Center (LDS).  Now, all I would need to do is go to www. Familysearch.org and type in my great-grandfather’s name and birth date along with his parents’ names, and I would instantly find out that he was born in Ferns, County Wexford, Ireland.  For those who are looking for an Irish ancestor born from 1864 onward, I suggest beginning your search on the website www.familysearch.org (a free website run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints).  In my next couple of blog entries, I will discuss my more complicated Irish family research cases.