Blog Content
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Making of America – 19th Century
Sep 12
You may have a long line of ancestors who were born, marriage and lived during some part of the 19th century (1800s). There is a web site, "Making of America" that concentrates on just that time frame. With some 10,000 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints, all in a digital format. Much of the material is from the University ...
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Newspapers Researched
Sep 10
Newspapers are one of the most valuable resources for family historians. The online site titled; Elephind allows you to search over 50 million items from 1,145 newspaper titles. The researcher can search across many newspaper collections simultaneously rather than having to visit each collection separately. Many of the smaller newspaper collection...
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Germany, D-Day & Other Photos
Sep 8
So many of our ancestors were involved directly in the war effort during the 1940s with World War II and even more on the homefront, in the factories and guarding the coastlines. Photos can speak volumes of what life was like some 70 plus years ago. LIFE Magazine has a nice online collection of photos divided into different topics relating to th...
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Census Day – April 1, 1950
Sep 6
Family researchers have loved going through the recently released 1940 US Federal Census and now look forward to the 1950 US Census. That census will be of special interest to many family researchers because they more than likely will be on that census record. If you or another family member or friends were born by Saturday, April 1, 1950, they wi...
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Immigrates to England: 1801 – 1871 & 1918 – 1957
Sep 4
We always tend to think of people resettling in the United States or Canada, however, many people resettled in the 19th and 20th century in England, coming from other European, African or Asian nations. The National Archives for the United Kingdom has a collection of those individuals seeking to be admitted to England between 1801 and 1871. The ...
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Confederate Listings – FamilySearch
Sep 2
With the 150th anniversary of the United States Civil War, researchers may have uncovered some names of ancestors who fought in the war. Even within families sides were taken, some members joining the Union side and others the Confederacy. It can be difficult locating information about Confederate soldiers. The free FamilySearch database, done b...
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California Birth Indexes 1905-1995
Aug 31
Having online databases has made some aspect of family history research much easier. It is still good to have the actual copy of vital records by requesting from the state or county for a birth, marriage or death records. The California Birth Index has made it easy for a research to even know if a birth record exists for a relative. The Califor...
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Cajuns/Acadians – Louisiana
Aug 29
In Louisiana the Cajun / Acadian cultural lifestyle has existed for many years. It actually began in New France (Canada) in the 1600s when immigrates came from the nation of France to settle in the area now known as Canada, mainly the eastern coastline. During the time of 1755-1763 (the Great Expulsion) under Great Britain's rule of Acadie in New ...
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30th Anniversary
Aug 27
Today marks our 30th wedding anniversary, Greg & Alice. I wanted to make sure we reached that anniversary because in having done the family genealogy, most of our ancestors did not make their 30th anniversary. It is a bit surprising to see a certain pattern while examining your family tree. Beginning with our parents; neither reached their ...
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Public Domain Photos
Aug 25
Need some images of a hometown, a historic region, a view of a homeland, of a farm, or city? Using the following public domain photo sites will help located and allow you to download needed images to make your family history complete. For example, you found that your parents came down to the Ft. Lauderdale / Miami area in 1940 or 1941 on vacatio...
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Female Ancestors Mistreated
Aug 23
To truly get an idea of how life was for some of our ancestors you have to know what life was like and what was done and expected of people, the accepted culture of a certain time. This is especially true for the treatment and expectation of females. Ladies owning property and voting in elections is a fairly newer concept. Our female ancestors wer...
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Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
Aug 21
These maps known as Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps are of small, medium and large sized towns and cities date back to the 19th century and well into the 20th century. They can be very important in locating where a family business, shop and neighborhood would have been at a specific time frame. The Sanborn Company (started by Daniel A. Sanborn), an Am...
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Events in PA
Aug 19
In digital format and online from the Penn State University libraries is a nice collection of events and people relating to the history of the state of Pennsylvania, a history that dates back to colonial times. There is information on the Civil War era, the geography, industry and labor, political events, maps, agriculture, biographies, and numero...
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Why You Should Go Over Ancestral Newspapers. 9 Items to look for:
Aug 17
Newspapers from an ancestors hometown are such a wealth of information. You might first think just locating obituaries in the newspaper, but really there is so much more you might find. Even checking neighboring communities' newspapers can carry news and advertisements of families, events and businesses in a certain hometown. With so many newspaper...
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Physical Characteristics of an Ancestor. 6 Steps to Discovery:
Aug 15
Oh, how you wish sometimes you had some photo of an ancestor. You have gathered information about their life, but have no idea what they look like. Did they have a round face, were they tall, have blue eyes and is it possible you look like them? There are a few sources to turn to that might help provide some general physical cha...
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