19th century

  • TONI – The Ontario Name Index

    Sep 17

    If you have had ancestors from Ontario, Canada, this TONIĀ database name index will be very helpful. In the search box, with over 3.1 millions names indexed can prove to be quite a resource. Place a family name in the box. You may need to try different spellings. The placement of the surname 'Rue' produced 12 results with five of those 'La Rue'....

    More

  • Interesting ‘Back’ Photos

    Sep 13

    As you have gone through family vintage photos, you may have found but didn't stop to realize an unusual and interesting type of photos. It became very popular, as photography methods improved, to have a portrait or other general photo taken with one or more of those in the shot with their back the primarily focus in the photograph. It may have...

    More

  • 19th Century Slang Forgotten

    Sep 5

    Every era has its own way of expressing emotions or events. Some of those regional or national expressions or slang words remain in present-day vocabulary, but most are dropped over the decades. The following are from newspapers during the 1800s (19th century). A few are a bit strange, but were considered accepted at the time. Here are some for...

    More

  • Wills on Ancestry

    Sep 4

      Available on Ancestry.comĀ is the massive collection of Wills across the nation now made digital. It is a scanned digital copy of the actual (mostly handwritten) Wills of original people. These documents cover well over 100 million people, including the deceased (names, dates) as well as their family, friends and others involved in the prob...

    More

  • Ancestral Weddings in the 19th Century

    Aug 27

    This being my 32nd wedding anniversary, I'll provide some information on what a wedding for our ancestors in the 1800s might have been. Most weddings were held in a private home - the bride's family or groom's family or even a friend's home. About the 1820's church weddings started becoming more popular, but home weddings continued to remain pop...

    More

  • Flirtation Cards

    Aug 25

    Yes, these really existed in the late 1800s (1870s to 1900). It was a method for either a young lady or young man to make known to the other their interest in each other. It was a very early form of texting someone today. It was a way to introduce yourself rather than using the formal calling call. On the flirtation card you let if be known that...

    More

  • British Slave Owners

    Aug 11

      You might think only Southerners in America had slaves on plantations in the 1800s, but human slavery did go back to colonial times (1700s) in the British Colonies and in other British territories such as the Caribbean Islands. The British slave trade was ended in 1807 and the British government abolished slavery in its territories and colo...

    More

  • Ancestors – Most Were Farmers

    Aug 5

      When looking about ancestors 2 to 3 generations back (pre-1930s) and further, more than likely they would have been farmers, somewhere in the country. There are many journals and newspapers produced over the decades for farmers and ranchers. On the site titled 'The Ancestor Hunter' is a section about the many farmer related newspapers that...

    More

  • Mixing in History

    Aug 3

    You are gathering the names, dates and hometowns of members on your family tree. You might also want to step your research up to learn more on each individual or family, their occupations, skills, religious beliefs, etc. However, to really better understand the life in whatever time frame you are examining you have to view your ancestors in a hi...

    More

  • Insurance Companies & Your Ancestors

    Jul 23

    Now that may be an area of research you have not checked yet in reference to your ancestors. You may have just passed over any insurance papers when sorting through documents held by a relative. Plus they might have held policies that actually belonged to a distant ancestor. I found such a document, an fire insurance policy for a distant cousin'...

    More