Pride in one’s hometown state is just as strong now as it was decades ago. Since most of our ancestors generally remained in the same state their whole life, it is very important to learn as much as possible about that state and go over all available resources.
Begin with a super overview of each of the 50 states from FamilyTree.com. If you had never lived or visited an ancestral home state, you need the information to begin your research.
Next step to to view the Pinterest site on states from FamilyTree.com. Here will be some images for several of the states and some additional information.
Ancestry.com the just have established a free state guide of resources. There are a dozen listings presently but more to come. Each give a brief overview of its history, the censuses available, plus links to vital records, immigration, directories, state genealogical sites and much more.
A fun item is to look up about the nicknames of states, such as ‘Sunshine State’ is Florida, ‘Ocean State’ is Rhode Island and ‘Treasure State’ is Montana. Many states have several different nicknames, some that date back years and another that is an official state nickname. An example would be Louisiana – the official nickname is ‘Pelican State’ but it is also been known as Creole State, Bayou State, Sugar State and Holland of America.
The more states your relatives lived in the greater the collection of interesting information on each state you can collect and add to your family tree.
Print: An 1884 advertising map – source US Library of Congress
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