19th century
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A Moment in Time – 1850
Apr 11
Look at the year 1850 in the United States, a young nation; no American Civil War yet, the Gold Rush just began, many of our ancestors were starting to move further west to the Great Plains in the covered wagons, the Industrial Revolution was just getting started, travel on the rivers was by steamboats and there was approximately 23.2 million peopl...
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Those Strange Abbreviations
Apr 7
You will at least once in doing family history research come across an ancestor belonging to a fraternal or civic organization. Long before television and computers occupied most of a person’s free-time, being a member of several organizations and clubs in a town or city was a very popular activity. It offered a social meeting place, a sense of...
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Nicknames of Our Ancestors
Apr 4
How frustrating when checking databases looking for a certain ancestor and you have a surname but can not locate that individual because no known given name matches. You look over vital records and might see a couple different given names for the same person, some of which are each totally different. You wonder if you have the right person or e...
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Using Google Efficiently to Find Ancestors
Mar 30
Yes, Google is not the only search engine on the Internet, but it is one highly used and recommended by everyone. As with any search engine, the top items high up on a search will be those people or events related to celebrities, sports events, scandals or even where the closest place to order a pizza is found. Regrettably, archival records on our ...
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Some Interesting Free Databases Online
Mar 28
There are all types of family lineage information available, you just have to be willing to look and review different sites to see if they can be of any assistance. The easiest ones to try in your own home or at a public library are those listed as ‘Free’ on the Internet. The following are just a few to get you started. To begin there is 'Bo...
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Chicago – What a Town!
Mar 24
Along Lake Michigan is the great mid-west city of Chicago, Illinois. It has served as a magnet for thousands of people to settle in and around this city for decades. You may well have ancestors who at some time lived in Chicago. There is an online site titled Chicago Ancestors, sponsored by the Newberry Library in Chicago which offers a variet...
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‘Finding Your Roots’ – airs PBS – March 25th
Mar 22
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. will be hosting another season of ‘Finding Your Roots’ beginning on Sunday evening, March 25, 2012 on the Public Broadcasting Stations. There are ten parts to the series which run until May 20, 2012 at 8 pm Eastern standard time. Similar to the ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ series, family genealogies research several...
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New Additions to FamilySearch.org
Mar 18
FamilySearch.org is always free to the public. This non-profit Church of Jesus Christ of Latter–day Saints web site offers to millions of people around the globe the use FamilySearch records, resources and services to learn more about their family history. For decades it has been made possible due to the volunteers who transcribe and index th...
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Got That Irish Feeling?
Mar 16
Many people will find at least some trace of Irish ancestry and it especially shows with the annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration set for March 17th. The wearing of green (an American tradition), drinking beer, watching parades, carrying shamrocks, enjoying Irish folk music and eating corned beef cabbage are traditional. The month of March was ...
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Include Photos and Historical Images in Your Family History
Mar 14
Sometimes a researcher can get so wrapped up in looking for names and dates of ancestors they forget to include some photos, ephemeral, keepsakes and even historical images that came give a better sense of the time that ancestor lived in. I just received an extending family historical story booklet, bound with some 100 pages of very fascinating ...