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American Battlefields of Our Ancestors
Jul 17
With the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, many researchers are learning more about their relatives who served either for the Confederacy or the Union during this war on home territory. Because the fighting spread from Pennsylvania, to Florida, to Kentucky and out west to Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas; there are numerous locations of small...
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Create a Family Newsletter
Jul 15
A fun way to share family history is by creating a family newsletter. This need not be a complicated and elaborate undertaking. A newsletter is simply a way to keep family members up-to-date with genealogical research that has been done and what is still being searched. It also provides a platform to keep family members knowledgeable of current f...
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‘Peopling of America Center’ on Ellis Island
Jul 13
Since 2008, the National Park Service and the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation has been working on a state-of-the-art $20 million project to honor those millions of immigrants to America. Since all Americans are either an immigrant or descended from one, this touches everyone. This special project is named Peopling of America Center. ...
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Posting Questions on A Social Message Board
Jul 11
With so many online messages boards available: Rootsweb, GenForum, WikiTree, Facebook, Twitter, Surname Societies, local genealogical societies or historical societies; you have some excellent opportunities to locate new information, photos, charts, documents, records, journals or artifacts you had no idea existed. However, you have to make any req...
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Searching for Immigrant Ancestors at the Boston Port
Jul 9
Researchers too often just think of their immigrant ancestors landing in Ellis Island in New York. Yet, this major port for new arrivals did not open until January 1, 1892. From that point until 1954, millions of immigrants were handled at Ellis Island, the first Federal government processing center. Before 1892, millions of earlier immigran...
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The Symbols on Headstones
Jul 7
Once you have viewed, photographed and made a rubbing of an ancestor’s headstone, you need to study very carefully the symbols and designs placed by the family to represent that person’s life. Dates and words tell the family researcher a good deal, but those symbols can open new prospects of understanding one’s ancestor. The engraving of...
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Copying the Details Found on Headstones
Jul 5
All family history researchers check for vital records, but one source many times overlooked is the headstone of an ancestor. Locating the cemetery and then the headstone of an ancestor just might produce some answers to a few long sought questions. A popular practice when visiting a family plot at a cemetery is to make some rubbings of the head...
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Any Ancestors during the American Revolution?
Jul 3
This is the time of the year many family history researchers reflect on the possibly that they may have some ancestors who lived during or even served during the War for American Independence. Before beginning, one must have verified that they had ancestors who lived between 1776 and 1783, the war years. Many people immediately figure if they ...
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Searching for Living Relatives
Jul 1
A family researcher spends a great deal of time looking for primary vital documents to learn about those relatives who have passed away. However, one of the aspects of looking for those who have died, are also finding living relatives. By learning of a cousin or an aunt, previously unknown to the researcher and who could still be alive is just as...
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LowCountry Africana
Jun 29
The key period of time for many African Americans searching for their Southern ancestors is with the 1870 U. S. federal Census. This census was the first to name individual blacks by name. Anything before then was by a listing of the enslaved people with Wills, estate sales or slave schedules. One region of the South known as the Low Country c...
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Finding Birth-Marriage-Death Records in Cook Co., Illinois
Jun 27
Locating vital records (birth, marriage and death) are essential for all family researchers. These are the primary sources to determine who, what and where an ancestor’s life existed. With more local and state governmental agencies realizing the importance of making these records available on the Internet, the Cook County Clerk’s Bureau of Vi...
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Using CyndisList to Search for Anything
Jun 25
Since 1996, Cyndi Howells has single handily amassed a mammoth collection of genealogical links and is available online for use by anyone, anywhere, with no fee or subscription. It is called CyndisList with nearly 300,000 categorized links to every conceivable topic any researcher would be interested in, the site continues to provide an essenti...
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Finding Death Records for Ancestors from San Francisco, California
Jun 23
During the 19th century thousands of people were attracted to the growing city of San Francisco on the west coast of California. Many came from the eastern half of the United States, from European or Asian countries. The area became a true melting pot of individuals. Even after the great earthquake of April 1906, there were vast numbers of people...
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Search and Learn about the Louisiana Slave Trade
Jun 21
Those having African-American ties in Louisiana would want to review an online site titled Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy 1718 - 1820. Not only those who had slaves as ancestors, but also those who held slaves in Louisiana and surrounding regions would be interested in this database. Though the efforts of Dr. Gwendolyn Hall, a New Orleans w...
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Maps — More Than Just for Locations
Jun 19
You need maps for many purposes besides finding your way from point A to point B. They provide information of the land and water sources of a given area. The population centers and concentration of communities can be featured on a map. Areas for vegetation, cattle, forests, hills, lakes, etc. can be illustrated using a map. With these and oth...
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