Family Heritage
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Three M’s – Massachusetts, Michigan, & Missouri
Dec 1
Having some great databases with collections in digital format of photos, maps, posters, vital records, state censuses and military records can be invaluable to the family researcher. If your ancestors remained for a number of years in a specific state, more than likely the state itself has held records and images relating to your family ancestors....
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1917 – Hotel Red Book and Directory
Nov 19
Did your family own or manage a hotel, even a small one in a small town? Many people stayed in a hotel, when visiting another town for business or visiting family, this was before motels became popular. The Pullman Company published what was titled "The Hotel Red Book and Directory" especially in the early 20th century. Here were advertisements an...
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Funeral Traditions of Your Ancestors
Nov 17
When trying to better understand your ancestors' lives and events that affected them, one aspect that needs to be covered are the times when an ancestor attended a friend's or family member's funeral. These were once common practice and many have been dropped over the decades. Here are a few of the traditional funeral practices: Putting flowers ...
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Stories of Coincidences
Nov 15
As you are gathering some of the stories of your ancestors, one aspect many times overlooked or not investigated by asking relatives are the stories of coincidences. Those chance happenings that proved to be major life changes. It could about a job opportunity, a move to a new location, life-saving incident or meeting one's true love. Everyone has...
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Veterans’ Records – National Archives
Nov 11
The National Archives in Washington, D. C. and its other branches across the nation are closed Friday, Nov. 11th for Veterans Day. However, when it is open, if you have not investigated what records they have you need to start. What you can find there (especially online) include statistics and data relating to the Vietnam War, the Korean War, Worl...
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Ledger Books-Journals and Diaries
Nov 9
A special collection of ledger books, journals and diaries are being scanned and published as a downloadable PDF file on AncestorsAtRest website. These are original ledger books, journals and diaries from stores, schools, and individuals that have been found and saved. They can cover from 1772 to 1925. The ledger books from merchants can contain a...
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Slogans to Fight During the Civil War
Nov 3
It was April 1861 in the United States and both the Union and Confederates armies needed recruits, and they needed them in a hurry. Not surprisingly, as seen in newspaper advertisements during 1861 to 1865, different groups and branches of the service had competing ads with unusual and even funny slogans. There was need for different types of recr...
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Favorite Heirlooms
Oct 17
Heirlooms represent family wealth, history and memories and we feel fortunate if some exist in a family. These are treasured artifacts once used by an ancestor. We covet them, but often for different reasons. Some individuals like specific items such as a complete silver service because of its monetary value. That goes for gold jewelry, always a fa...
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Need Ideas of Where to Look Next??
Sep 1
Here are some ideas of places to search further to locate your ancestors. Some of these you may have already tried, others never occurred to you as a source of information. So look over the following suggestions and see where you should search next. Re-look at the various Federal Census records, but this time besides seeing your ancestors' househo...
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Bravery of Our Ancestors
Aug 25
Over the centuries, countless events, people, diseases could create fear for our ancestors. Yet, they continued on to meet that challenge head on. So what type of fearful events could our ancestors face? Number one was disease and illness. Only in very recent decades was medical advancements help do away with many fears of sickness due to major pl...