Blog Content
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Late 1800s Inventions —- Some Useful-Some Not
Nov 27
People have always been inventing things to make their life easier. This is so true in the late 1800s (1880 to 1899). One example was known as the 'Tissue-Oscillator Machine'. A person wore a belt around their backside or their stomach and the belt vibrated the body's tissue to improve the person's weight and health. It could treat const...
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Juveniles of Plymouth
Nov 25
On this day before Thanksgiving one does look to the first Thanksgiving with those who traveled on the Mayflower ship for a new life and a new land. You should also remember it is the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower ship. There were 102 plus the crew on the ship to come ashore at Plymouth. Two of the passengers were Jo...
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Thanksgiving Dinner Changed Over Time
Nov 24
What kinds of food will be on your table this Thanksgiving? Your ancestors may have served slightly different dishes. Thanksgiving dinner changed over time. The Smithsonian points out that turkey was not the centerpiece of the meal in the 17th century. People were more likely to be eating goose or duck. Smaller birds were spit-roasted, an...
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Forgotten Thanksgiving Dishes
Nov 23
Some traditional favorite dishes have been at family Thanksgiving tables for decades. Here are a few not seen in many years. Pork Cake started in 1922, published in a magazine. Neither butter or eggs are needed for the recipe. It does have ground lean salt pork, raisins, spices, brown sugar and molasses. This dish is not often servi...
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RootsTech Connect
Nov 22
Between February 25-27, 2021 will be a global RootsTech Connect, sponsored by FamilySearch.org. It will truly be global and virtual. An interesting aspect for 2021 is they are accepting submissions no later than December 18 and December 31, 2020 for various types of videos from the general public that will be featured during the conference. T...
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Ordering SS Applications Online
Nov 21
One of the best original sources for information on a relative or ancestor, especially if they lived after 1900 is the U.S. Social Security Application. To get a copy of those applications, there is a new ordering form known as SS-5. From the Social Security Administration. It is now a bit easier to order those applications. There is a fe...
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Vintage School Supplies
Nov 19
Whether school in 2020 is at a school building or at home distance with online education, there were very important vintage school supplies need decades ago by our ancestors. Here are some vintage school supplies not used for years. The use of a quill pen with a metal writing tip and the feather at the top of the handle. These were ...
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Ancestry Launched Historical Marriage Index Collection
Nov 19
Ancestry announced the launch of the first phase of the Newspapers.com Marriage Index collection, powered by cutting-edge technology. They trained machine learning algorithms to comb through more than 600 million pages of digitized newspapers to extract and identify key names, relationships and other facts from marriage and engagement announce...
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Why Were Family Homes and Other Buildings White?
Nov 17
Think back to old vintage homes, medium to smaller ones, not always those considered huge mansions, most were white. Such vintage houses weren’t painted as we know it today. Instead, they were whitewashed, a process of coating a wooden (or brick) surface with a combination of water, hydrated lime, and salt mixed with various ingredients (li...
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FamilySearch Helps Identify Graves in Historic Cemetery
Nov 17
A historic cemetery located in Houston's Fifth Ward was in need of a cleanup. In 1995, a non-profit group called Project RESPECT began working on it. On October 17, 2020, several young service missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with their families and leaders, participated in an the ongoing cleanup of th...
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Using Different Aprons
Nov 15
You might not have thought of it but your female ancestors actually may have needed several different types of aprons. Different household duties meant different aprons. If she was doing laundry then fixing dinner, a different apron was needed. Those living and working on a farm would need different ones when working with livestock (chicken...
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Personal Hygiene of Your Ancestors in 1800s
Nov 13
Today you take for granted the conveniences in an indoor bathroom with its shower, tub, toilet, sink and even a few other items. In the 1800s, an outside toilet or what was called a privy was the standard. Wealthy homeowners from 1880s onward would have indoor plumbing. For toilet paper, that was not invented until 1891, so your ancestors...
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The 23andMe Ancestry Algorithm Got an Update
Nov 12
23andMe announced (in Autumn of 2020), that they are making another upgrade to their Ancestry Composition. The upgrade to the analytics will improve the accuracy, as well as reduce the amount of “unassigned” and non-specific ancestry assignments. Some 23andMe users may see some pretty big shifts in their results. For example, many sho...
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Your Parents & Birth of the Cocktail Party of the 1950s
Nov 11
It was very popular in the 1950s and into the 1960s to host cocktail parties in a home or other location. A good way to relax and socialize. Yet the concept started in America back in 1917 when Clara Walsh of St. Louis, Missouri hosted an unusual party titled 'Baby Party'. Here adults were encouraged to drink liquor from baby bottles. Ther...
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Ancestry Updated its Family History App
Nov 10
Ancestry has added exciting updates to its Family History Mobile app. Those updates features improved accessibility, mobile search, and discover tab. This announcement is the beginning of a series of mobile advances to give you the best possible family history mobile experience. Here are some of the new features: Discover Tab: The new fe...
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