Jun 27
Just like many household and general items, such as the freestanding public telephone booths, are disappearing because there is now something newer and better (personal cell phones and smart phones), so too are some skills our ancestors possessed that are no longer needed or practiced. The housewives of yesteryear used some form of an hot iron t...
Jun 26
Where were your parents when you were conceived? Some families will share what city or country they were in when they became pregnant. An ad by IKEA, done in the style of a family tree, answers that question in an amusing way. The ad shows the type of IKEA bed that a couple was in when they conceived a child. It may be an “overshare” but it...
Jun 25
The state of New York has a long history, being one of the original 13 colonies of the 1770s. So it is very possible you have ancestors who may have lived in some part of New York. Newspapers are one of the best sources for information on our ancestors, especially the local hometown papers. Available at the Fulton History web site are some 639 d...
Jun 24
There are many genealogists who wish they could spend the summer traveling on a genealogy road trip. Unfortunately, not everyone can drop everything to do it. Travel expenses might not be in your budget this year. Or, perhaps your employment situation is not allowing for a long vacation. Instead, try some of these alternatives to a genealogy ro...
Jun 23
You have been putting off scanning those treasured family photos and documents. Now FamilySearch.org has made it very easy for everyone to achieve this very needed preservation. At the over 2,800 Family History Centers across North America, FamilySearch has placed the new Lexmark MFPS scanners. They are very simple to operate and now make it ve...
Jun 21
The authorities at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D. C. had stated that “it only takes three generations to lose a piece of oral family history.” Our ancestors, especially because they many times did not read or write, had only oral history as a method to hand down family events, names and stories. So it was co...
Jun 19
Generally you think of everyone speaking English in the United States, in the past and today. If you had ancestors coming from Italy at the beginning of the 20th Century, they may have never learned English and only their children or grandchildren were the first to speak English and also know and understand Italian. This same situation happened ...
Jun 18
Genealogy involves a lot of research. Time is spent tracking down birth certificates, military records, marriage certificates, and other official documents that contain hard facts about your ancestors. Don't forget the softer side of genealogy! There are so many important reasons to learn about your family history. A website called A Place For M...
Jun 17
'An Era When Women Could Not Vote, Hold Bank Accounts Or Take A Direct Role In Business' Fashions mark the decades and era throughout history. Hard work and dressing the correct socially accepted way was the life for women in America or other locations. It is interesting during this 150th anniversary of the American Civil War that you reflec...
Jun 16
They say that “opposites attract”. However, researchers have found that a different piece of wisdom is more accurate. “Birds of a feather flock together”. It turns out that people are unconsciously selecting romantic partners whom they share some genetic similarity with. The report was published in the journal Proceedings of the Nati...
Jun 15
What better method to remember all the Dads (grandfathers, great grandfathers, gr gr grandfathers etc.) on Father's Day than to preserve those treasured photos, many of which they may have taken over the decades. A recent online site titled "Forgotten Photographs Project" tries to help preserve and share long lost photos. You know at antique shows...
Jun 13
Scribbling -- who hasn't done that?? That is where you quickly write out a phrase, name, term, or short sentence so that will not be forgotten. You may have placed them on scraps of paper and now those are in numerous places and in no order. Using your computer, there is a British firm which has developed an easier method to keep track of your...
Jun 12
Old photos tell stories that cannot be shared in any other way. Genealogists often find that looking at photographs from the time that their ancestor was alive sheds light on what his or her life was like. Those of you who are looking for photos from WWI have a new resource to check out. It isn't on a genealogy website, either! The Atlantic h...
Jun 11
As you do your research you may come across a specific web site that you find filled with information or photos, one that will take many return visits. So you save the link to that site on your 'favorites' or bookmarks. Good, it is there, but in three weeks when you want to return to it, do you remember the name of the site, can you find it quickly...
Jun 10
People walking around on the Earth today are taller than their ancestors were. Why is this so? A recent study was done that revealed several reasons you are taller than your ancestors were. Some remarkable things happened in the past 100 years that improved a lot of people's lives. Nowadays, it is common for children to become adults who are...