Apr 1
The first of April is April Fool’s Day, that special 24 hours for those individuals who love to trick or get the best of someone with a special hoax or ruse. You may have already discovered an ancestor; usually it seems to be a great uncle, who loved practical jokes or fooling people. By all means do include stories of some of their mischievous ...
Mar 26
With the rapid advancements in communication methods, the fee-based subscription database of Ancestry.com is keeping up in the latest technical devices that people are using today. It now has available a mobile app (application) for use with the iPad, iPhone and Android tablets and phones. The new enhanced version has the universal support for...
Mar 22
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. will be hosting another season of ‘Finding Your Roots’ beginning on Sunday evening, March 25, 2012 on the Public Broadcasting Stations. There are ten parts to the series which run until May 20, 2012 at 8 pm Eastern standard time. Similar to the ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ series, family genealogies research several...
Mar 20
It is approaching quickly, the April 2, 2012 release date for the 1940 Federal United States Census. For each census in the United States that has been taken since 1790 there has been a mandatory 72-year waiting period before it was released to the general public. This waiting period was to provide privacy, especially for the adults listed in e...
Mar 16
Many people will find at least some trace of Irish ancestry and it especially shows with the annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration set for March 17th. The wearing of green (an American tradition), drinking beer, watching parades, carrying shamrocks, enjoying Irish folk music and eating corned beef cabbage are traditional. The month of March was ...
Mar 14
Sometimes a researcher can get so wrapped up in looking for names and dates of ancestors they forget to include some photos, ephemeral, keepsakes and even historical images that came give a better sense of the time that ancestor lived in. I just received an extending family historical story booklet, bound with some 100 pages of very fascinating ...
Mar 10
Here is an interesting aspect about our ancestors and even present-day, that is the use of certain phrases, catch words or clichés. We can say them all the time and not know where they originated from or why. For the most part there was a reason and a basis for every saying used in the past and today. Think back, your grandmother may have had...
Mar 2
Go north of Chicago, Illinois, close to the shores of Lake Michigan and in Lake County is the town of Millburn. There the Historic Milburn Community Association has developed a collection of databases relating to numerous aspects of the people, occupations, land, churches and homes of Millburn. Their Online Historical Archives is filled with all ...
Feb 11
There are surnames such as Valentine, Love, Heart and Cupid. The family name of Valentine is English and comes from the Latin term ‘valens’ which means something very strong and healthy. Additional spellings for Valentine include Vallentine and Vallantine. Some notable individuals with the surname include Robert John Valentine who was a profess...
Feb 5
After the massive destruction the city of New Orleans, Louisiana (the Big Easy) suffered in 2005 due to a hurricane, it is encouraging to see the New Orleans Public Library has an excellent biography and obituary index available on their web site. It has death notices and obituaries from various newspapers covering from 1804 to 1972. It alphabetica...