Blog Content
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Early Family Histories
Oct 16
Some of the best research sources you can ever find are the published pages of family histories done by individuals many years ago. When someone wanted to gather the family lineage and tales, they had to go to the courthouses, churches, cemeteries, other family members, write letters, etc. to gather information. With many written in the last half o...
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1906–Photos of Everyday People
Oct 14
How things can change and others events remain the same after one hundred years. Viewing photos can really help put us back in another time and place, providing us today with a sense of how our ancestors lived. Generally we only see photos from the turn of the 20th century as formal portraits, staged images in a conventional studio. However, ther...
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Check Out That Household Boarder
Oct 12
Often overlooked while researching the U. S. Census or State Census records is the fact that other people, not related can lived in a family home. It was very common practice for a family to take in boarders, an individual who rented a room in the house on a weekly or monthly basis. Besides the lodging many times a meal or two were also part of th...
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Ethnic Societies
Oct 10
You have worked for awhile on your family tree and started to get a better understanding of your family background. Since most of us have ancestors who were immigrants to America within the last 200 years, there can be quite an awakening to our ethnic heritage. Some people could have been under the impression their family name and lineage was that...
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Milwaukee County Marriages–Digital Collection
Oct 8
Wisconsin has along history, especially with many immigrants settling in the region going back to the early 1800s. By the 1850s there were some 31,000 people, many of German descent, living there and it increased steady over the years. Milwaukee County along Lake Michigan today has nearly 1 million people. The city of Milwaukee was known in th...
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In Their Own Words
Oct 6
Today with modern communications methods of phone call, videos, photos, texting, emails, and television, it is so simply to have a record of what is said, done or created. However, for our ancestors their main instrument was the written word. It meant using ink, a quill pen, pencil and some form of paper (which varied over the years). Luckily many...
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Pittsburgh-Steel City and More
Oct 4
In the western portion of Pennsylvania is the city of Pittsburgh with a long history. When some of the earliest pioneers settled in that area in the mid-1700s, it was truly the frontier of America. If you have any ancestor who once lived and worked in Pittsburgh, you will want to investigate the online site on 'Historic Pittsburgh' which draws fr...
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October – Family History Month
Oct 2
What a perfect opportunity to start, refresh, expand, publish, share or investigate your family tree during the month of October, which is recognized as Family History Month. If you have been coming up with excuses for not starting or further pursuing the family search, now is a great opportunity to rekindle the 'fire'. One way is to buddy up wi...
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Japanese Immigration
Sep 30
Many immigrates from countless nations have come to the American shores to start a new life over the centuries. Usually people think of the immigrants coming from Europe, but Asian nations have many of their former citizens coming to the United States for a fresh start. One such group are the Japanese who starting arriving to America in the 1880s....
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Marking a Major Ancestral Anniversary
Sep 29
I'm remembering and marking the 100th anniversary of when by paternal great grandparents came to the shores of America. In spite of being married they actually came at two different dates. My gr grandfather, George William Kershaw, arrived to the Port of Boston on August 14, 1912. He had lived his whole life, born in Hulme, Chorlton, Manchester, L...
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Have You Checked Your IGI Lately?
Sep 28
It is always important to revisit certain databases as you progress in your family research. For several reasons, first of all, you are more experienced and possibly better at looking for the right key names or places. Second, most databases are continually being added to over the years. So if you have not searched on a certain family branch or in...
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Sending for Birth-Marriage-Divorce-Death Records
Sep 26
It helps to have one location for information on getting vital records. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a full listing online of all fifty states plus the US Territories of Guam, Samoa, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Canal Zone, Mariana Islands, including the District of Columbia. Here clearly and neatly listed for each location is...
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Railroad Records
Sep 24
America's railroad systems have crisscrossed the country for decades. Yet the most important element have been the people who built the railroads, maintained them, the engineers, the conductors and many more who saw the everyday operations kept on schedule. In your family research you just might come across an ancestor who work with the railroad sy...
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Life in 1901 England
Sep 22
That date was some 111 years ago which seems quite a long time ago, but very possibility you have close relatives on the family tree who lived during that time. My father was born in England in 1905, so certainly his parents would have been a part of that year. The online site, 'Living At The Time of the Census' refers to the United Kingdom officia...
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Mexico’s 1930 Census
Sep 20
With all the attention about the 1940 U. S. Census returns that are now available, another census that many people will be interesting in checking is that of the nation of Mexico for 1930. The United States and Mexico are neighbors and many individuals will have ancestors who came from Mexico after 1930 or relatives from Canada or U. S. living in...
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