Genealogical Databases at the Rio Rancho Library

The Rio Rancho Library website has links to a number of databases that can be accessed online. Many of them, such as FamilySearch and Rootsweb, can already be accessed without using the library website; while Ancestry.com Library edition can only be be accessed by visiting the library and using their computers. However, there is one database that patrons can access for free through the library website. If you have a Rio Rancho Library card - or even a Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library card - you can get on to Heritage Quest Online for free.

Although Heritage Quest is not quite as good as Ancestry.com, it does have some good databases. For instance:

* U.S. Census records. You may search certain censuses: 1790 - 1820; 1860-1920; and part of 1930. You may browse any census from 1790-1930.

* Over 22,000 family and local history books.

* Abstracts for over 2,000,000 genealogy and local history articles (you have to pay a fee to get the actual articles.)

* Selected records from the Revolutionary War.

* Freedman's Bank records.

* U.S. Serials Set - memorials, petitions and private relief actions of the U.S. Congress.

Check it out!

U.S. Postal Employee Collection

As you may know, my 2nd great grandfather Philip Bourguingnon was the postmaster of the Lemitar, New Mexico post office in the late 1800s. Also, my grandfather Robert B. Baca, Philip's grandson, was an assistant postmaster of Socorro, New Mexico. Therefore, I was excited when I found the site History Kat.

The site includes a U.S. Postal Employee Collection. Below are a list of the databases currently on the site:

Index to Names, Aliases, and Histories of Postal Offenders
A list of the names and aliases of postal-law violaters of record in the Post Office Department on January 31, 1926. [BROWSEABLE]

Record Cards of Letter Carriers Separated from the Postal Service, 1863-1899
These records consist of 3- by 5-inch cards arranged alphabetically by name of post office and then alphabetically by name of letter carrier. Each card indicates the post office name, letter carrier's name, date of appointment, and date and cause of separation from employment. If the carrier was removed, the cause of removal is occasionally noted. The date of separation is noted for those separated after 1873. [BROWSEABLE][INDEXED]

Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1814-1824
This source consists of ledgers listing the names of postmasters, date of appointment, and rate of pay. The ledgers are arranged alphabetically by town. [BROWSEABLE]

Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1824-1828
This source consists of ledgers listing the names of postmasters, date of appointment, and rate of pay. The ledgers are arranged alphabetically by town. [BROWSEABLE]

Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1828-1832
This source consists of ledgers listing the names of postmasters, date of appointment, and rate of pay. The ledgers are arranged alphabetically by town. [BROWSEABLE]

Record of Appointment of Substitute Clerks in First- and Second-Class Post Offices, 1899-1905
This series contains the names of substitute clerks appointed from 1899-1905. Information included on the registers include name and date appointed. [BROWSEABLE][INDEXED]

Record of Appointment of Substitute Mail Carriers in First- and Second-Class Post Offices, 1885-1903
Records include name of the carrier, city where the appointment was held, and the date of appointment. [BROWSEABLE]

Record of First Returns Received from Postmasters, October 1789-July 1818
This source consists of ledgers listing the names of postmasters and the date of appointment. The ledgers are arranged by state and then alphabetically by town. [BROWSEABLE] [INDEXED]

A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the 30th of September, 1829. Together with the Names, Force, and Condition of All the Ships and Vessels Belonging to the United States, and When and Where Built.
This source is a portion of the register dealing with military personnel and vessels, including a list of officers in the Army, Navy, and Marines. [BROWSEABLE]

A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the 30th of September, 1831. Together with the Names, Force, and Condition of All the Ships and Vessels Belonging to the United States, and When and Where Built.
This source is a portion of the register dealing with military personnel and vessels, including a list of officers in the Army, Navy, and Marines. [BROWSEABLE]

The site also includes military, state census, and government employee databases. You must subscribe to the site in order to view the databases. The cost is $24.95 a year.

I found this site on Dear Myrtle.

Belen, New Mexico Genealogy Records Database

Many of my ancestors came from Belen, New Mexico. The Belen, New Mexico Genealogy Records Database includes censuses, pre-nuptial investigations, and tax lists. Although these records can be found in certain published works, this database can be useful for those people who do not have access to those books.

Abner Hanks - American Revolutionary War soldier

My wife's paternal grandmother was a woman by the name of Ethel Marie (Hanks) Douglas. According to "The Hanks Family of Viriginia and Westward", Ethel's great-grandfather was a man by the name of Abner Hanks, who was married to an Elizabeth Goodwin (she was one of his wives, as he apparently was married 6 times.) Today, I searched RootsWeb and found a genealogy for Abner Hanks on the McCord Family Online database. The author of the database quotes from a National Archives record indicating that Abner Hanks was a soldier drafted in the American army in April 1780. You may read a transcription of that document by going to the following link.

Reference:

Barber, Adin,The Hanks Family of Virginia and Westward. (Kansas, Illinois: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1965.)

Received record from 1872 Probate Journal - Bourguignon

Photo: Philip Bourguignon

A couple of years ago, I discovered an abstract in the New Mexico Genealogist about a suit from my 2nd great grandfather Felipe Bourguignon requesting for a separation from his wife Tomasita Gonzales de Bourguignon and guardianship of his six children Margarita, Felipe, Andrea, Eduardo, Maria de Jesus and Louis. The suit was made on 21 February 1872 in Socorro County.

This was intriguing because I had never heard that Felipe tried to separate from my 2nd great grandmother Tomasita. It is especially interesting since I know that they did not actually divorce at this time since they would later have another couple of children a decade later: my great grandmother Carolina (3 July 1882) and her brother Francisco (28 December 1884.) I wanted to know why they separated. The abstract did not give any details.

A few weeks ago I requested the actual document from the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives. According to the abstract the document could be found in the Probate Journal of Socorro County, New Mexico, Book M: Wills Testements and Inventories, pages 143-146. I received the document from the state archives today. There is only one problem: it is written in Spanish.

I understand a little Spanish, enough to understand that this is indeed the document I was looking for. However, I can't figure out the details. Therefore, the next step if for me to find someone to translate this. Once I get it translated, I will post the translation on this blog.

References:

Greene, Priscilla Innerbilcher, abstractor, "Probate Journal 1870-1874, Socorro County, New Mexico, Book M: Wills, Testements and Inventories Part 2" in The New Mexico Genealogist, Volume 39, No.4 (December 2000) p. 187.

Personal tombstone research (for Carolina Bourguignon's birthdate.)

Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Roll # 16994 (for Francisco Bourguignon's birtdate.)