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Celebrate Independence Day with millions of new US family records

4-5 minute read

By Liam Kelly

3 July 2020
New US marriage records

Find your American ancestors this July 4 with brand new US marriage and military collections.

We've added over 17 million records to our United States collection this week along with English baptism records from Yorkshire. Here are the details on what’s new.

Over 16 million new records join this collection, essential for the American branches of any family tree. Covering the States of Indiana, Massachusetts, and Oregon, the records can reveal excellent details on your relatives' pasts, including;

  • Their names
  • Their ages and birth years
  • When, where and who they married
  • Where they lived
  • The newlyweds' parents' names

Where available, digitised images of the original records will often include even more detail.

When complete, our US marriage collection will be the largest single collection of its kind online. It already includes over 240 million marriage records covering 450 years of US history and many of the entries are exclusive to Findmypast.

This new collection of military records includes the names of over 432,000 Civil War veterans from Pennsylvania. The records include transcripts and digitized copies of the original documents. Together, they can reveal fascinating details on your Pennsylvania relatives' time in the military including:

  • Their names and where they lived
  • The dates they signed up and left service
  • The companies and regiments they served in
  • Amazing details on their heights, hair and eye colors and complexions

This record collection was initially prepared to serve as an index to Samuel Penniman Bates' History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865. The Office of the Adjutant General later expanded the scope of the cards by adding information included in the original Civil War Muster Rolls and other related records.

Over 192,000 records covering the American Revolutionary War, Civil War, and the First World War are available in this collection. Within the record set, you'll find;

Revolutionary War Damage Claims, 1776-1782

These records list New Jersey citizens who filed damage claims from the American War of Revolution. The claims describe losses incurred during the war at the hands of British forces, the Continental Army, New Jersey militia, and the militias of neighboring states.

Civil War Service Records 1861-1865

A comprehensive collection of records with details on the New Jersey men who served during the United States Civil War.

Civil War Payment Vouchers, 1861-1865

This collection includes payment vouchers for military expenditures and wartime purchases made by the State of New Jersey from 1861 to 1866. Personal and corporate name entries are included. The documents cover;

  • Discharge certificates for soldiers' final pay
  • Affidavits of family members for pay due to deceased soldiers
  • Quarterly returns from counties and cities for subsistence allowances paid to the soldiers' families and dependants during their service
  • Payment vouchers for services and goods such as carting services, recruiting services, printing, communications, guns, flags, uniforms, fodder, and munitions

World War 1 Deaths, Descriptive Cards, Photographs and Correspondence Index

These records detail the New Jersey men who were killed in action or otherwise died while in United States service during World War 1, 1917-1918.

New Jersey military records

A photo of 23-year-old Nicholas Eugene Kelly from Summit, New Jersey, found in this collection. His record also includes a card listing his service details and correspondence informing his family that he was killed in action. View the full record.

In late 1919, the U.S. War Department issued, to the adjutant generals of each state, sample cards for the recording of service information for deceased soldiers and sailors. The cards provide the following information:

  • Names
  • Service numbers
  • Races
  • Residences
  • Places and dates of enlistment
  • Places and dates of birth
  • Organizations the men served in
  • Dates of assignment/transfer
  • Dates of death and, if not killed in action, causes of death
  • Wounds or injuries received
  • Names and addresses of those notified of the deaths

Our new United States record releases are rounded-off with over 14,000 records from the Revolutionary War. These records may reveal your freedom-fighting ancestors' ranks, the regiments they served in, and information relating to their service. The collection features several historical publications relating to the War of Independence including;

  • Colonel Joseph Badger's regiment muster rolls 
  • Rolls of the soldiers in the Revolutionary War, 1775 to 1783 
  • Hartland in the Revolutionary War
  • Massachusetts soldiers and sailors of the Revolutionary War
  • Revolutionary documents of New Hampshire
  • Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution, battalions and line, 1775-1783
  • Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution, battalions, and line, 1775-1783, Part 2
  • Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution, The Connecticut Settlement
  • Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution, battalions and line, 1775-1783, Second Series
  • Vermont, Rolls of the Soldiers in the Revolutionary War, 1775 to 1783
  • New Hampshire, Soldiers in the Revolutionary War, embracing some of the Indian and French War rolls
  • New Hampshire, Soldiers in the Revolutionary War, 1775-1777
  • New Hampshire, Soldiers in the Revolutionary War, 1629-1725
  • New Hampshire, Soldiers in the Revolutionary War, 1777-1780

Published as searchable PDF documents, using keywords and wildcard searches can help you pinpoint the record you're looking for.

We’ve added over 59,000 brand new records from 13 parishes to our exclusive collection of baptism records from Yorkshire. Baptism records can reveal excellent details for your family tree including:

  • Your ancestors' names
  • Their birth and baptism dates
  • Their parents’ names
  • Their parents’ occupations
  • Where they were baptized
  • Their religious denominations

The records consist of transcriptions of the original baptism certificate and cover the following Yorkshire parishes:

  • Kirkheaton, St John the Baptist from 1822-1878
  • Lindley, St Stephen from 1830-1902
  • Lindley, Thorncliffe Street from 1828-1918
  • Lindley, Zion (Methodist New Connection) from 1887-1919
  • Lindley, Zion (United Methodist) from 1793-1858
  • Linthwaite, Christ Church from 1828-1913
  • Liversedge, Christ Church from 1816-1919
  • Liversedge, St Barnabas from 1847-1919
  • Lockwood, Emmanuel from 1830-1906
  • Longwood, St Mark from 1797-1882
  • Marsden, St Bartholomew from 1734-1812
  • Meltham, St Bartholomew from 1669-1919
  • Sheffield, St Matthias, Summerfield Street from 1877-1920

These new church records join what is already the largest collection of UK parish records online.

This week, we've added five brand new titles to our ever-growing newspaper collection along with updates to five existing titles. Brand new to the site are:

While our updated titles this week are:

Findmypast Fridays live

Fridays Live 3 July 2020

Join Ellie for a chat about this week’s latest records, and how your ancestors may have been affected by the American War of Independence. QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Was one of your ancestors connected to a great event like the American Revolutionary War? What’s their story?

Posted by Findmypast on Friday, July 3, 2020

If any of our latest record or newspaper releases have helped to shape your family's amazing story, we'd love to hear about it. Reach out to us on social media using #FindmypastFeatured for a chance to have your discoveries shared with our thriving community.