Family History
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Digital / Paperless and Keeping Originals
May 29
With nearly everything done as digital, you might wonder if there will be no need to keep paper copies of vital records, letters, documents, etc. The answer clearly is YES. Go back a hundred years, the U. S. Federal Census records beginning with the 20th century had available a new technology - that of microfilming. Wonderful idea to microfilm tho...
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The ‘Other’ Search Engines
May 27
In any type of research and especially when working on your family history, you are very dependent on the use of search engines on the Internet to attempt to locate a document, database, photos, a record, a journal, letters, or book that could provide that little key bit of information missing about your ancestors. Google is always number one when...
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How to Write a Family History People Will Want to Read
May 20
It is important to write down your family history. Writing is one of the best ways to send the family history stories that you've heard thousands of times to your future descendants. Ideally, you will want to write a family history that people will want to read. Don't Start Chronologically Some of the most interesting novels start with the main...
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Writing an Interesting Family History
May 9
You have spent months or years on researching your family story ... now it really needs to be put in a written history format. Not so hard if you get yourself organized and have a plan of action. Do the following steps to accomplish a written and interesting family history that everyone will want to read. If you have location many branches of th...
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California’s Old Series Trademarks
May 4
You can find some interesting and unexpected things on official Secretary of State's websites. For example, the California Secretary of State website has information about California's Old Series Trademarks. The things a family historian learns about the history of a state could provide insight into what the lives of his or her ancestors were like....
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Speech to Text. Useful to Genealogy and Family History Research!
Apr 27
How many times do you wish there was another method to transcribe to text a recording you had of a relative or be able to dictate some documents so they were in digital text form? Using the online software 'Speechlogger' you can now do that very easily. It works with Chrome Browsers. This is a speech recognition (which goes from spoken word to dig...
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Interview Questions
Apr 21
You know one of the best methods of research, other than to gather names, hometowns and dates, is to interview a relative. Not just one, but as many as you can and from different family branches. So the following are suggestions to get you started. Start with a blank notebook filled with paper. You might, if the person is being interview...
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What to do with Old Family Letters
Apr 18
There are certain things that a genealogist or family historian will immediately recognize as heirlooms. Old photos, an ancestor's wedding dress, and bronzed baby shoes are obvious “keepers”. What about the old family letters that you come across? There is some debate about what should be done with those. The controversy started in a Marc...
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Genealogical Standard of Proof.
Mar 31
When doing your family history research you look for primary vital records. Those are the birth certificates, marriage licenses, divorce papers and death certificates official filled out at the time of each event by a government agency. These are also known as primary sources, the best for getting accurate information of names, places and dates. K...
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Record Your Relatives With MyHeritage App
Mar 28
MyHeritage is a well known genealogy website that can be used for free. (Those who want access to additional things can pay a subscription). Like many other websites, MyHeritage has its own mobile app, which they update with new features from time to time. Now, you can record your relatives with the MyHeritage App. In January of 2016, MyHeritage...