Mar 26
You may have heard by now that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ordered 23andMe to halt the marketing of its health-related direct-to-consumer DNA test kits. (It is still allowed to sell its DNA test kit for genealogy purposes). Many saw this as a controversial decision. The FDA had concerns about the potential health risks that a co...
Mar 25
Given names - those first and middle names given to a baby at birth or when baptized have been a source of pride and hatred, depending what the given name was and also what time period the baby lived. There has been names that were always popular during certain eras, because of a real person, such as a president or hero and other times just beca...
Mar 24
Your ancestors might have decided to stay in the town that they grew up in. They would be surrounded by the other members of their family. Today, many people end up moving far away from family. Sometimes, the reason has to do with attending college. People also move in order to take a good job offer. Fortunately, you can still keep in touch with lo...
Mar 23
The American frontier has never been only the 'wild west' as many people think. The 'frontier' - the wilderness, untamed lands of America started with the first Europeans to come to the shores of what would later be the United States. The Spaniards came to the eastern coast to create St. Augustine in what was later named Florida. The English ca...
Mar 22
Dick Eastman's recent presentation in Stuart, FL offered several interesting tidbits of information. He covered about the use of MyHeritage.com. This resources with many databases is very helpful if you have ancestors from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland, and other Eastern European nations. Other places are also covered, but it does have ...
Mar 20
Genealogy – there's an app for that! Actually, there are plenty of genealogy related apps. Some connect with specific genealogy websites, others are great for posting and sharing family photos. Find A Grave now has its own app. The iOS version was released on March 3, 2014. The Android version is “coming soon”. Ancestry.com acquired Find A...
Mar 19
Often overlook are a variety of items (jewelry, stocks, documents, cash, etc) that once belonged to a relative and for any number of reasons has been forgotten about. If those items were in a bank safe deposit box and the rent unpaid, the contains are then turned over to the state treasury where that bank is located. However, not just items in...
Mar 18
Genealogy is the study of your family. It is only natural that a genealogist will want to share the fascinating things that he or she learned about relatives and ancestors with their family members. The difficulty is in getting them to see that genealogy can be exciting. Here are some great ways to get their attention and spark an interest in ge...
Mar 17
It has been the ladies of society who have been for the most part the keepers of family artifacts, records, Bibles, silverware, crystal, etc. You may have inherited some family heirlooms and not really thought of how precious some of these items might have been to a great aunt, grandmother, or second cousin. Some items might have great value now b...
Mar 16
Some wonderful ideas and suggestions were offered during the six hour presentations done March 15th by Dick Eastman in Stuart, FL for the Martin County Genealogy Society. The following are just a few of the interesting hints and suggestions offered: In the MyHeritage.com - online databases (sign in free creating a user name and password): They h...
Mar 15
Two outstanding genealogists in the United States and internationally are Megan Smolenyak and Dick Eastman. I have worked with Megan since 1999 and have met her when she came to the Stuart, Fl area several years ago. Both Megan and Dick are fine authors, researchers and speakers. Eastman has been doing genealogy for over 30 years and is always ...
Mar 13
Only until recent decades have women really had opportunities to pursue just about any occupation. For the most part they were expected to be housewives and care for the children. Some jobs such as a teacher were acceptable. We generally don't think of our female ancestors as 'postmistresses' but rather many ladies did hold that position by off...
Mar 12
Genealogy and technology have become very intertwined. There comes a point where many genealogists will start to wonder about which websites, apps, and software they should be using. What is the best genealogy software for tracing a family tree? The answer to that question depends upon who you ask. Everybody is going to have a personal prefer...
Mar 11
Now that may be a concept you hadn't explored - what type of foods did you grandparents, great grandparents, etc have at specific time periods. It is safe to say they did not have the convenient freezer to microwave packaged foods or the take-out fast foods. So to investigate we need to pick certain decades. Starting with the 1920s in America (...
Mar 10
One of the first things that a genealogist begins researching is his or her family tree. Most people can figure out how many first cousins they have. You probably are very familiar with at least a couple of them. Ask your relatives to fill in the blanks about your cousin's names and birthdays. A.J. Jacobs wrote an opinion piece for the New Yor...