Some News from Family Search

Tonight I had a great time at the Bloggers' Dinner hosted by FamilySearch at Jim 'n Nick's BBQ. I'll report more on this later, but for now wanted to include some news from FamilySearch on new online resources that will directly impact my own research; the first concerns South Carolina records:

"FamilySearch's newest South Carolina collections are South Carolina Probate Records, Files and Loose Papers, 1732-1964, and South Carolina Probate Records, Bound Volumes, 1671-1977."

FamilySearch has also introduced a South Carolina section to its free online research wiki. Using the information from the wiki, patrons can quickly find out what other historical records exist by county and where."

The second announcement concerned Civil War records:

"FamilySearch announced the release today of hundreds of millions of online records at the National Genealogical Society conference in Charleston, South Carolina. The collections include service records for both the Confederate and Union armies, pension records, and more. Some of these records have been available for some time but are now being added to familysearch.org/civilwar as part of this project. Here is a sampling of what is available:

* Arizona, Service Records of Confederate Soldiers of the Civil War, 1861-1863
* Arkansas Confederate Pensions, 1901-1929
* Civil War Pension Index
* Louisiana Confederate Pensions 1898-1950
* Missouri Confederate Pension Applications and Soldiers' Home Admission Applications
* South Carolina Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers (NARA M267)
* South Carolina Probate 1671-1977
* South Carolina Probate Records, Files, and Loose Papers, 1732-1964
* United States, 1890 Census of Union Veterans and Widows
* United States, Index to General Correspondence of the Pension Office, 1889-1904
* United States, Union Provost Marshall Files of Papers Relating to Two or More Civilians, 1861-1866
* United States, Union Provost Marshall's File of Papers Relating to Individual Civilians, 1861-1866
* U.S. Civil War Soldiers Index 1855-1865
* U.S. Navy Widows' Certificates, 1861-1910 (NARA M1279)
* U.S., Registers of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798-1914
* U.S., Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards, 1907-1933
* Vermont Enrolled Militia, 1861-1867"

FamilySearch is also calling for volunteers to take part in a multi-year project to index even more Civil War-era records.