Narratives of Newark (in New Jersey) from the days of its founding, Part 25

Author: Pierson, David Lawrence
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Newark, N.J. : Pierson Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 478


USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > Narratives of Newark (in New Jersey) from the days of its founding > Part 25


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29


Automobiles were introduced in the Fire Department in 1906. The municipal bureau of statistical information was also established. Near the end of the year, December 20, the new city hall was opened. One year later the play- grounds were placed at the disposal of the children.


The new Court House on High Street was dedicated in 1907. The municipal lighting plant established at the City Hall, and the Tuberculosis Pavilion erected at Verona and Camp Newark for tuberculosis patients were 1908 municipal improvements.


In 1909 the Municipal Employment Bureau was incor- porated, in 1910 the dental clinic established, and in 1911 the City Planning Commission appointed. The Hudson and Manhattan Terminal at Park Place was opened in 1911 and on Memorial Day, May 30, of the same year, the Lincoln Statue erected on the plaza in front of the Court House was dedicated by Theodore Roosevelt, former President of the United States. John Gutzon Borglum, sculptor, conceived an unusual and very striking likeness of the martyred Presi- dent. Hundreds of people, particularly children, daily as-


350


NARRATIVES OF NEWARK


semble at the memorial, and pay tribute to the great life there commemorated. Amos H. Van Horn, a Civil War vet- eran and a Newark merchant, provided in his will for the costs of the statue. A lasting debt of gratitude is due this good man.


The equestrian statue of Washington, also the gift of Mr. Van Horn, was dedicated in Washington Park, on No- vember 2, 1913. J. Massey Rhind was the sculptor.


Responding to the call of President Wilson, the citizen soldiers mobilized at Sea Girt during the week beginning June 18, 1916, for three months' duty on the Mexican border. Brigadier-General Edwin W. Hine was in com- mand of the brigade which consisted of the First, Fourth, and Fifth Regiments of Infantry, First Squadron of Cavalry, Batteries A and B, Field Artillery, the Signal Corps and Hospital Corps, which was assigned to duty at Douglass, Arizona. Battery C, Field Artillery, afterward proceeded to the encampment and remained there during the following winter.


The streets are now illuminated (thanks to Edison, who was an obscure inventor of Newark in 1870) in a manner which would be fairly startling to the Puritan ancestors could they walk along the highways in the evening hours of our day, and over which they stumbled, guided by the un- certain rays of the tallow candle lantern. Electric arc lamps were introduced in the city in 1882.


The value of human life is expressed in the motto, "Safety first." The Westinghouse air brake, applied to the running of railroad trains, has lessened the number of accidents. Transportation companies can now boast of carrying mil- lions of passengers without loss of life.


Malarial germs no longer penetrate into the community life. Their source of propagation in the lowlands is now under a well-regulated system of drainage. Scientific treatment in the past twenty-five years has lowered the percentage of infant mortality in a manner surprising and gratifying. The constant fight waged against the white plague has practically


.


351


A MODERN CITY


eliminated the weak-lunged individual. Consumption the disease was called, but is now known as tuberculosis.


The population in 1890 was 181,000 and in 1916 the United States census placed the number at 399,000. Conveniences for the comfort of the people have increased many fold. The linotype machine makes possible the daily publication of a magazine in place of the former four-page newspaper; the adding machine has lessened the burden in financial circles; the lawyer who in 1890 climbed up the old-fashioned stair- way to his office, now ascends to a well-lighted, well-venti- lated apartment of several rooms by an electrically propelled elevator.


The familiar phaeton of the physician, often drawn by a team of horses, has been supplanted by the automobile, thus bringing the sick chamber in closer relation with skilled medical assistance.


Never in the world's history has the Healing Art been so thoroughly understood as now. The application of antisep- . tics in surgery, the knowledge and treatment of appendicitis, the registering of blood pressure and other successful inves- tigations in the realms of surgery and materia medica, have proved of inestimable value in prolonging human life. Schools for training nurses are a modern institution in Newark.


Miss Clara Louise Maas, of the German Hospital Training School, was a martyr to her profession. She permitted herself to be bitten by a mosquito inoculated with yellow fever germs in Cuba, in August, 1901.


"I was the medical director in the United States Military Department of Cuba at the time of Miss Maas's death," says Dr. John W. Ross, U. S. N., in reporting the case. The Las Animas Hospital, Havana, where she was nursing, was under my command.


"Miss Maas was one of the very best and most faithful nurses of the hospital. She showed heroism and devotion to duty equal to that of any soldier or sailor in battle. She had not had the yellow fever, yet she unflinchingly nursed


352


NARRATIVES OF NEWARK


malignant cases of that disease, staying by those who died to the very last, trying to alleviate suffering and save life. She sacrificed herself from a high sense of duty. She thought she would be more useful as a nurse after having had yellow fever and requested to be bitten by infected mosquitoes in order to contract the disease and become im- mune. I tried to dissuade her from the step, telling her that her life was too valuable to be exposed to such great risk -- practical certainty-of taking yellow fever. Nevertheless she insisted and the fatal bite was applied to her arm.


"Three or four days later she developed a malignant hem- orrhagic case of yellow fever, from which she died about a week later.


"She was buried with military honors. The closely ob- served and widely known circumstances of Miss Maas's illness and death had great weight in convincing the leading medical men of Cuba and of the medical profession at large that the cases produced by mosquitoes were genuine yellow fever, and thereby established the incalculably valuable fact that the only way in nature for yellow fever to be contracted by man is from the mosquito."


Miss Maas died on August 24, 1901, at the age of twenty- five years. The body was exhumed, placed in a hermetically sealed casket and was reinterred in Fairmount Cemetery in February, 1902.


The city is advantageously located on the Passaic River for the handling of a vast volume of traffic. Only eight miles from New York connection is there made by a constant movement of passenger, freight and express trains. Tren- ton, the State Capitol, is distant fifty-nine miles and Wash- ington is only half a day's journey, or 216 miles, southward. Nine trunk lines of steam railroads, an electrically operated railway connecting with the metropolis and trolley cars furnish transportation day and night in every direction. Hundreds of acres of land, largely reclaimed in recent years, are available for factory purposes on the meadows.


In 1916, the assessed valuation was $420,366,342, and the


BROAD


Market and Broad Streets, 1916


353


A MODERN CITY


total bonded debt $41,390,200. There were 43,769 dwell- ings, 127 public buildings and 18,298 factories and buildings used for commercial purposes. The local park system ex- tends over an area of twenty-two acres divided into twenty- seven reservations, and is valued at $9,250,000. The Shade Tree Commission has general supervision of the care and planting of trees in the city, and in 1916 there were 66,000 in its keeping, valued at $1,400,000. The Essex County Park system, created in 1894, had its inception in the Orange Board of Trade through a suggestion offered by Frederick W. Kelsey. Headquarters of the Commission are in Newark, where Branch Brook Park, Weequahic Park, Eastside, Westside, and Riverbank Parks are maintained as a part of the chain of recreation grounds.


Justly proud is Newark of its four high schools, 52 ele- mentary schools, nine special schools and one State Normal school. The Newark Academy, now situated on High Street, is the oldest educational institution in the city. Private and parochial schools are also serving well in the instruction of the young.


Churches, missions, hospitals, private and philanthropic organizations are doing their share of caring for the ill and distressed. Systematic relief, under direction of the Bureau of Associated Charities, is a feature of Newark's broad and generous charitable spirit. Other organizations, official and unofficial, are also taking care of the distressed.


The southeast section began changing its environment about 1890. Manufacturing interests encroached upon its residential domain till now it has been absorbed in the de- mands of the industrial era. Brown-stone dwellings on Broad Street, in which were housed some of the leading families, are giving way to business requirements. Park Place, too, has in recent years lost much of its oldtime ap- , pearance. "Up to the Point" in the Roseville section, was a familiar expression thirty years ago. This indicated the junction of Warren and Orange streets, and in the days of the horse car was the limit of half fare travel to


-


354


NARRATIVES OF NEWARK


or from Orange. Woodside, in the northern part of the city, is now known as Forest Hill. Newark retains its charm as a city of homes. Travel where one will, from Forest Hill to Weequahic Park, or from Roseville to Clinton Hill, evidences are not wanting of a contented people living, in innumerable instances, where their fathers of several genera- tions, even from the period of beginning, worked out problems the solution of which had a marked effect upon Newark's prosperity of 1916.


CHAPTER LVII


THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY


M AY DAY in 1916 dawned with overcast skies, but this did not abate the exuberant spirit of half a million or more residents and visitors in Newark, nor deter them from entering joyously into the carefully planned Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration, then in- augurated and which continued till every interest and each individual had opportunity to express allegiance to the glorious past, the prosperous present and the promising future.


Newark revived the Spirit of the Fathers and in the central feature of the wide-spreading panorama the genera- tions yet to be born will find a lasting source of profit and entertainment. Thus the Memorial Building, which the Common Council was authorized to contract for by popular vote at a cost of a million and a half dollars, will be ornate in its architecture and the depositary of articles historical and educational, of local and general interest. The location is at the corner of South Broad and Camp streets.


"Ye Towne by ye Pesayak River" was awake, thrilled, responsive and obedient to the inspirational program.


Salutes, music, ringing of church bells, blowing of factory whistles and a parade opened the long-heralded jubilee at 8 o'clock in the morning. The New Jersey Historical Society entertained distinguished guests at the noon hour in its building on West Park Street, and the formal order of exer- cises at Proctor's Palace Theatre, Market Street, began at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, with an address by Hon. Franklin Murphy, former Governor of New Jersey, and Chairman of the Committee of One Hundred.


The following was rendered:


355


356


NARRATIVES OF NEWARK


Overture


Selected.


Newark Musicans' Club Orchestra. Assisted by Local No. 16, American Federation of Musicians. C. Mortimer Wiske, Conductor. " America"' Newark Musicians' Club, Chorus, Orchestra and Audience. Invocation RT. REV. EDWIN S. LINES, D.D. Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark


Anthem-"Union and Liberty" Horatio Parker


Newark Musicians' Club Chorus of 16 voices. Frank C. Mindnich, director. Dedicatory Address HON. FRANKLIN MURPHY, Chairman, Committee of One Hundred. Address-THE CITY HON. THOMAS L. RAYMOND, Mayor. Address-THE STATE HON. JAMES F. FIELDER, Governor


Overture


Orchestra Weber.


Reading of Celebration Ode by the author REV. LYMAN WHITNEY ALLEN, D.D. Pastor of the South Park Presbyterian Church, Newark Historical Address HON. FRANCIS J. SWAYZE


Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey and President of the New Jersey Historical Society.


Festival March Henry Hadley. Orchestra " The Star Spangled Banner." Chorus Newark Musicians' Club Orchestra and Audience. Benediction. RT. REV. JOHN J. O'CONNOR Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Newark.


The First Academy in Newark Was Erected Near This Spot in 1774 By the Gift of Generous Citizens Dedicated to Learning, it Found in Time of War a New Mission in the Cause of Liberty, Giving Useful Service as a Barracks and Hospital for American Troops On the Night of January 25, 1780, it was Burned to the Ground by a Raiding Party of British Who Crossed From New York on the Ice and Surprised the Town This School was the Forerunner of the Present Newark Academy which Erected Its First Build- ing in 1792 at the Corner of Broad and Academy Streets.


Placed by the Trustees, Teachers, Graduates and Students of the Newark Academy June, 1916


357


358


NARRATIVES OF NEWARK


The concluding festivities were at night, when a four days' music festival which was organized in 1914 by Thorn- ton W. Allen, of Newark, who had charge of the music of the celebration, opened at the First Regiment Armory on Sussex Avenue. Addresses were delivered by Wallace M. Scudder, president of the Newark Music Festival Associa- tion, Hon. Franklin Murphy, Mayor Thomas L. Raymond, and Uzal H. McCarter. Rabbi Solomon Foster offered the invocation.


An industrial exposition was also held at the Armory, beginning on May 13, and Founders' Day was observed on May 17 with a parade, dedication of memorials and ex- ercises at the First Church.


Christian W. Feigenspan contributed a bronze replica of the famous General Bartolomeo Colleoni statue to the anni- versary memorials. It stands in Clinton Park, the triangle at Lincoln Park, and is a notable addition to the city's statuary.


The historical pageant, enacted at Weequahic Park on May 30 and 31 and June 1 and 2, by over 4,000 actors, was the most ambitious undertaking of the celebration. The more important scenes of the 250 years were portrayed in most realistic manner. The athletic games in September attracted large numbers of lovers of outdoor sports.


Crowning the entire observance was the heart interest displayed by the people, from the child participant to th. "aged among us." The newly arrived citizen, the one claiming descent from the founders and others demonstrated their belief in the city and its institutions. The parades of the school children and the various organizations will remain indelibly impressed upon the memory of all who viewed them. It was worth while.


Hon. Franklin Murphy, former Governor of New Jersey, was chairman of the Committee of One Hundred; James H. Smith, Jr., vice chairman; D. H. Merritt, treasurer; Matthias Stratton, secretary; Alexander Archibald, honorary secretary; James R. Nugent, counsel; Henry Wellington Wack, executive adviser:


359


THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY


Uzal H. McCarter, chairman of the executive committee, Mayor Thomas S. Raymond and former Mayor Jacob Haussling, honorary member. The others were:


Alexander Archibald George B. Astley


Albert H. Biertuempfel Charles Bradley Joseph B. Bloom


Philip C. Bamberger Gen. R. Heber Breintnall Angelo R. Bianchi Edward T. Burke Stanislaus Bulsiewicz


James F. Connelly John L. Carroll Rt. Rev. Mgr. Patrick Cody William H. Camfield Joseph A. Carroll Frank W. Cann William I. Cooper


Dr. William Dimond John H. Donnelly


Richard Denbigh Alfred L. De Voe Patrick J. Duggan Henry M. Doremus Forrest F. Dryden Daniel H. Dunham Laban W. Dennis J. Victor D'Aloia Mrs. Henry H. Dawson


Frederick L. Eberhardt Charles Eytel John Erb


Christian W. Feigenspan Rev. Joseph F. Folsom Albert C. Fletcher Rabbi Solomon Foster John R. Flavell William H. F. Fiedler Louis A. Fast


Henry A. Guenther Albert T. Guenther John F. Glutting Edward E. Gnichtel George J. Gates


Augustus V. Hamburg


Herman C. H. Herold


William T. Hunt


C. William Heilmann Richard A. Hensler Henry Hebeler Mrs. Henry A. Haussling Miss Frances Hays


Richard C. Jenkinson Mrs. Fred. C. Jacobson Leopold Jay


Nathaniel King Gottfried Krueger William B. Kinney


Dr. Joseph Kussy


J. Wilmer Kennedy William O. Kuebler


Rt. Rev. Edwin S. Lines, D.D. Charles W. Littlefield Carl Lentz


Franklin Murphy D. H. Merritt


Rev. T. Aird Moffat


William J. McConnell Uzal H. McCarter Anton F. Muller


John F. Monahan


John H. McLean John Metzger


John Nieder James R. Nugent


William P. O'Rourke Peter J. O'Toole


360


NARRATIVES OF NEWARK


John L. O'Toole Edward J. O'Brien Patrick C. O'Brien


Louis Pfeifer Benedict Prieth


Michael J. Quigley


Thos. L. Raymond John F. Reilly Dr. Samuel F. Robertson George F. Reeve Fred. H. Roever


Morris R. Sherrerd Edward Schickhaus James Smith, Jr. George D. Smith Julius Sachs Ernest C. Strempel A. A. Sippell J. George Schwarzkopf


Bernard W. Terlinde Charles P. Taylor


Frank J. Urquhart


Dr. A. G. Vogt


Christian Wolters, Jr.


MEMORIAL BUILDING COMMITTEE


Franklin Murphy Uzal H. McCarter C. W. Feigenspan James R. Nugent Alexander Archibald Forrest F. Dryden Rabbi Solomon Foster


THE COMMITTEE OF FIFTY


Mrs. George Barker, Chairman Mrs. Galen J. Perrett, Vice- Chairman


Miss J. Isabelle Sims, Secre- tary Mrs. Henry Young, Jr., Treas- urer Mrs. John L. Contrell, Chair- ยท man Hospitality Committee Mrs. Frederick S. Crum, Chair- man Schools Committee Mrs. Solomon Foster, Chair- man Philanthropy Commit- tee


Mrs. John W. Howell, Chair- man Religion Committee Miss Alice Kirkpatrick, Chair- man Pageant Committee Mrs. Franklin Murphy, Jr., Chairman Entertainment


Committee


Mrs. L. H. Robbins, Chairman Publicity Committee Mrs. Frank H. Sommer, Chair- man Women's Clubs Com- mittee


Mrs. Henry G. Atha Mrs. Louis V. Aronson


Mrs. Joseph M. Byrne Mrs. Fr'k C. Breidenbach Mrs. Jos. B. Bloom Mrs. John L. Carroll Mrs. A. N. Dalrymple Mrs. Henry Darcy Mrs. R. Dieffenbach Mrs. Spaulding Frazer Mrs. Chr. Feigenspan Mrs. H. R. Garis Mrs. R. Arthur Heller Mrs. Charles F. Herr Mrs. R. C. Jenkinson Mrs. Nathan Kussy Mrs. William B. Kinney Mrs. Jennie B. Kingsland Mrs. Albert Lynch Mrs. Robert M. Laird Miss Margaret McVety Mrs. E. Erle Moody Mrs. Fred'k H. Mooney Mrs. Uzal H. McCarter


+


Barringer High School on Ridge Street


+


361


THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY


Mrs. William P. Martin Mrs. James R. Nugent Mrs. Benedict Prieth Mrs. Chauncey G. Parker Mrs. Charles J. Praizner Mrs. A. Rothschild


Mrs. Edward S. Rankin Mrs. E. J. Stevens Dr. Sara D. Smalley


Mrs. Francis J. Swayze


Mrs. T. Mancusi Ungaro Mrs. A. Van Blarcom


EVENTS OF THE WORLD IN THE COLONIAL ERA


Compiled from the New Geographical, Commercial, and His- torical Grammar, published at Edinburgh, 1790.


1620-New England planted by the Pilgrims.


1625-King James died and was succeeded by his son Charles I. The Island of Barbadoes, the first British settlement in the West Indies, planted.


1629-Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, entered Germany as . head of the Protestant League.


1633-The Battle of Lutzen, in which he was killed.


1640-King Charles disobliged his Scotch subjects, upon which their army, under General Leslie, entered England, and took Newcastle, being encouraged by England malcon- tents. Independency of Portugal recovered by the Duke of Braganza.


1641-The massacre in Ireland, when 40,000 English Protestants were killed.


-


1642-King Charles impeached five members who opposed his arbitrary measures, which began civil war in England.


1643-Excise on beer, ale, etc., imposed by Parliament. Barom- eters invented by Torricelli.


1646-Episcopacy abolished in England.


1647-Charles I delivered up by the Scots commissioners to the English January 30.


1649-He was beheaded at Whitehall, January 30, aged 49. Galileo first applied the pendulum to clocks.


1650-Marquis of Montrose executed at Edinburgh, aged 37 years. 1651-The Quakers first appeared.


1652-Dutch colony at Cape Good Hope established.


1654-Cromwell assumed the protectorship. The air pump in- vented by Otto Guericke, of Magdeburg.


1655-The British under Admiral Penn took Jamaica from the Spaniards.


1658-Cromwell died and was succeeded in the protectorship by his son Richard.


362


363


EVENTS IN THE COLONIAL ERA


1660-King Charles II restored by Monk, commander of the army, after an exile of twelve years in France and Holland. 1660-Episcopacy restored in England and Scotland. The people of Denmark being oppressed by the nobles surren- dered their privileges to Frederick III, who became absolute. 1662-The Royal Society established in London by Charles II.


1663-Prussia declared independent of Poland. Carolina planted; divided into separate governments in 1728.


1664-The New Netherlands in North America conquered from the Swedes and Dutch by the British.


1665-The plague raged in London, and carried off 68,000 persons. The Magic Lanthorn invented by Kircher.


1666-Great London fire; began September 2, continued three days; 13,000 houses destroyed. Tea first used in England. 1667-The peace of Breda, confirming to English the New Nether- lands.


1669-The Island of Crete taken by the Turks.


1670-The Hudson Bay Company incorporated.


1672-Louis XIV overran part of Holland; Dutch opened the sluices. African Slave Company established.


1677-The Micrometer invented by Kircher.


1678-The peace of Nimegen. The habeas corpus act passed in England. Strange darkness at noon on January 12.


1680-A comet appeared, and from its nearness to the earth alarmed the inhabitants. It continued visible from Novem- ber 3 to March 9.


1685-Charles II died, aged 55 years; succeeded by his brother James II. Duke of Monmouth, son of Charles, raised rebellion, defeated at Battleof Sedgemoor, and was beheaded. The Edict of Nantes revoked by Louis XIV and the Prot- estants cruelly prosecuted.


1686-The Newtonian philosophy published.


1687-The palace of Versailles, near Paris, finished by Louis XIV.


1688-The revolution in Great Britain began Nov. 5. King James abdicated and retired to France, December 3. Smyrna destroyed by earthquake.


1689-King William and Queen Mary, son-in-law and daughter to James, were proclaimed February 16. Viscount Dundee stood out for James in Scotland, but was killed at the


-


364


NARRATIVES OF NEWARK


Battle of Killycrankie, upon which the Highlanders, wearied with repeated misfortunes, dispersed. The land tax passed in England. The toleration act passed in England. Sev- eral bishops were deprived for not taking the oath to King William. Faulkland Islands discovered.


1690-The Battle of the Boyne, gained by William against James, in Ireland.


1691-The war in Ireland ended by the surrender of Limerick to William.


1692-The English and Dutch fleets, commanded by Admiral Ruffel, defeated the French fleet off La Hogue. Dreadful earthquakes in Sicily, Jamaica and other parts.


1693-The Bank of England established by King William. The duchy of Hanover made the ninth electorate. The first public lottery was drawn this year. Massacre of High- landers at Glencoe by King William's troops.


1694-Queen Mary died at the age of 33 and William alone reigned. Stamp duties instituted in England.


1696-The peace of Ryswick.


1697-The national debt of Great Britain first funded, being five millions; in 1714 it was 46 millions; 1747, 64 millions; 1757, 74 millions; 1762, 110 millions; 1772, 127 millions, and at the end of the Revolutionary War, in 1784, was 274 millions.


1699-The Scots settled a colony at the Isthmus of Darien, and named it Caledonia; ruined by King William's opposition.


1700-The Spanish monarchy transferred to the house of Bourbon. Charles XII began his reign. King James died at St. Germains in the 68th year of his age.


1701-Prussia erected into a kingdom. Academy of sciences founded in Berlin.


1702-King William died at the age of 52 and was succeeded by Queen Anne, daughter of James II, who with the emperor and States General renewed the war against France and Spain.


1703-The foundation of Petersburg laid. England visited by a dreadful tempest on November 27.


1704-Gibraltar taken from the Spaniards by Admiral Rooke, of England. The French defeated at Blenheim. The Court of Exchequer instituted in England.


365


EVENTS IN THE COLONIAL ERA


1706-The treaty of union between England and Scotland signed July 22. The French defeated at Ramillies.


1707-The first British Parliament. The allies defeated at Al- manza in Spain.


1708-Minorca taken from the Spaniards by General Stanhope, of England. Sardinia erected into a kingdom and given to the duke of Savoy.


1709-Peter the Great, Czar of Muscovy, defeated Charles II at Pultowa, who fled to Turkey. King of Prussia declared sovereign of Neufchatel.


1710-Queen Anne changed the Whig ministry for others more favorable to the interests of her supposed brother, the late Pretender.


1712-The Duke of Hamilton and Lord Mohun killed each other in a duel in Hyde Park.


1713-The peace of Utrecht, whereby Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Britain and Hudson's Bay, in North America, were yielded to Great Britain; Gibraltar and Minorca were also confirmed to the English Crown by this treaty.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.