Blog Content
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Picture Postcards
Jul 6
Postcards have been a popular means of sending greetings for decades. They have not always been just for the tourists on vacation to write back home to say “Wish You Were Here!”. They have been very artistic and many were done also as photos of the people and places at a certain time. There was a time a person could even have a personal pho...
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Historical Celebrations & Events on the 4th of July
Jul 4
The country marks the 4th of July every year to celebrate America’s independence. What types of celebrations and significant events on July 4th might our ancestors experienced over the decades? First, not until the independence was won could the new country really rejoice. So the first country-wide party marking the independence was July 4, ...
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Events that Affected Ancestors on July 2nd
Jul 2
It was 236 years ago that things in the colonial America changed forever. Those events in turn changed the lives of so many of our ancestors. Not just those who lived the times of 1776, but the thousands who were born afterwards in a new country, the United States. Even greater were those ancestors living in another country who would themsel...
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Read a Queen’s Journal
Jun 30
Such a treasury is finding and reading an ancestor’s journal or diary. It is like getting the opportunity to speak to them directly. With a journal they have confined in their writings their deepest thoughts and feelings. One of most well-known historical figures was Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom who ruled from June 1837 until her de...
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Teach Your Children About Independence Day
Jun 29
The Fourth of July is a holiday that most children love. It is full of fireworks, parades, outdoor BBQ's, warm weather, and plenty of family time. But, does your child know what the 4th of July is REALLY for? Do they know that it is part of their American heritage? Do they understand that it is part of their history? Probably not. At least, I know ...
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Crossing the Border Into Canada
Jun 29
It might be surprising, but you just may have several ancestors who originally lived in Canada, our neighbor to the north, during sometime in their lives. This could have happened in the 18th, 19th or 20th centuries. To assist in learning more about any Canadian ancestors the Ancestry.ca database is making available from now until Monday, July ...
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Got a Few Memories?
Jun 28
You have tried in vein to get the whole family history from your great aunt. You may have attempted to interview her or just have her write out the family story, but to no avail. Well, that could just be too massive a project, at least to begin with. Another approach would be to have that special relative talk about just one memory. Just one shar...
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Collect Ancestral Signatures
Jun 26
A really interesting collection to have with your family history are the signatures of your ancestors. Not all of your relatives will have available signatures because mostly they did not know how to read or write. Those are the ones who simply had to sign their name with an ‘X’, known as making their mark, were then witnessed by someone who di...
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Transcribe Old Documents
Jun 24
As you gather the vital records, letters, diaries and journals there are a couple things you should do. If you have the scanning equipment, do a scan of the complete document and label the image. Keep those in a computer folder for the family lineage it belongs to. You will find you want to refer back to information on that document several times...
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Tips When Searching for an Elusive Ancestor
Jun 22
Oh, we all will have one or more elusive, hard to locate ancestors in our genealogical journey. One where you might have a name and their relationship (aunt, uncle etc), but that is about it on information. For females it can be even more problematical with just their married name and no maiden name known. So the following are a few tips or sugge...
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Learning of an Ancestor’s Civil War Regiment
Jun 20
Keeping journals and diaries besides the countless letters written by the soldiers, both Confederate and Union sides during the American Civil War, has been an excellent resource for researchers which can cover information about a soldier’s life, including the battles and camp life. If you have located such a journal written by a relative, you ...
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Available Free Charts and Forms
Jun 18
Being organized is the real key being successful and pleased with your family history research. If you feel you are getting no where or ‘spinning your wheels’ without much success, it just may be that you need some orderliness in your pursue of your family lineage. Anyone who done genealogy for any length of time will confirm that you have...
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Father’s Day
Jun 16
No, you didn’t forget dear old Dad. Father’s Day in the United States is a day to appreciate and let your Dad know you care about him and all the things he does for the family. He might not be a biological father, in modern families today he could be a step-father, an adoptive father or even a grandfather taking on the father figure, which ...
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Directories for North Carolina and Others
Jun 14
City directories have been a wonderful source of information for the family researcher. Not only the names of head of households, but many times, those who also lived in the house, as well as occupations and business locations are included. The Internet Archive has a great collection of directories covering a variety of places and time periods for ...
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Where is Today’s Newspaper?
Jun 12
Researchers always think of the vintage newspapers as a wonderful resource for locating information on one’s ancestors, however, don’t overlook more contemporary newspapers. With most print newspapers also available online you can view just about any current newspaper from your own home using a computer and the Internet. What is better is th...
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