Index of Patents (1842+)
The Index of Patents provides a list of patents registered in a particular year, arranged by subject of invention and name of patentee. From 1842-1871, claims descriptions, and illustrations are also included.
Information is available at UCF in microfilm (1842-1973), paper (1927-1996) and electronic (1976+).
See also the U.S. Congressional Serial Set for the Annual Reports from the Commissioner of Patents which usually included a list of patents and patentees. The College of Wooster provides a finding list to identify which volumes of the Serial Set contain the Annual Reports, Commissioner of Patents.
Federal Land Records
- Official Federal Land Records Site (U.S. Department of the Interior) This link opens in a new window"We provide live access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States. We also provide image access to more than three million Federal land title records for Eastern Public Land States, issued between 1820 and 1908."
National Archives
American Memory (Library of Congress)
- Library of Congress Digital Collections This link opens in a new window"American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience."
U.S. Congressional Serial Set (1789+)
- U.S. Congressional Serial Set (NewsBank/Readex) (1817-1980) This link opens in a new window
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Reports, Documents, and Journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, constituting a rich source of primary material on all aspects of American history. - U.S. Congressional Serial Set (ProQuest) (1789-2003) This link opens in a new window
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Reports, Documents, and Journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, constituting a rich source of primary material on all aspects of American history.
- provides the names of recipients of private relief and related Congressional actions, such as petitions for remission of duties, pensions to widows, granting of relief, etc.
- Another important source for names, where many thousands appear that have not been indexed individually, are lists of land claimants, soldiers, impressed sailors, pensioners, voters or signers of petitions, indexed in the print version under the term "list".
Social Security Administration Death Master File
Does SSA make its Death Master File available online for the purposes of genealogical research? -- "Although the Death Master File is not available online from SSA, the United States Department of Commerce's National Technical Information Service (NTIS) offers a subscription service for online queries of the Death Master File through their website....Please note that other parties have purchased SSA's Death Master File Extract through NTIS and then posted it on their own websites. Although these private parties call/refer to their own websites as SSA's "death index" or SSA's Death Master File, these are not endorsed by SSA, nor can SSA confirm that these private websites are kept up-to-date or accurate with SSA's death data in any way."
RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees: Social Security Death Index provides guidance on research using social security numbers.
- Social Security Death Index (SSDI) from Ancestry.comThe full record requires subscription access -- see the Orlando Public Library tab regarding the Ancestry Library Edition database.
Civil War Soldiers & Sailors
- Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (National Park Service)To access data on U.S. Colored Troops, go to “Regiments” then use the drop down menu for “states or origin” and select U.S. Colored Troops.
Military Personnel Records
- Military Personnel Records"The National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records (NPRC-MPR) is the repository of millions of military personnel, health, and medical records of discharged and deceased veterans of all services during the 20th century. (Records prior to WWI are in Washington, DC.) "