Nov 5
In the 19th century, there were some unusual names to jobs / occupations that have a different name in the 21st century. Some were the standard name for a job but others were more of a slang term or phrase. You should become familiar with some of these names, so when you see mention of one in reference to an ancestor, you will have a better idea ...
Nov 3
For 2015, one of the top genealogical free sites to use is WikiTree. Its rank (done by Genealogy in Time Magazine) in 2014 compared to all the other free and paid genealogical sites was 21st. In 2015, it rose in rank to 15th. There are some 10.9 million individuals in the listings contributed by over 275,000 family history researchers. WikiTree f...
Nov 1
During this new month of November might be a good time to make time to write down your own memories of your life experiences and / or those of a spouse, a sibling, or a parent, especially those still living. My husband's mother recently passed away at age 96. Only the other day he came across several pages of personal life stories his mothe...
Oct 31
Our ancestors enjoyed Halloween - All Hallows' Eve, especially the dressing up in costumes, this included adults even more than children. There were no special store purchased costumes, instead one used what they had around the house to create the most scariest outfit they could. For sure they covered their face or whole head with just barely a s...
Oct 29
With Thanksgiving in about one month, if you have any ancestors part of the original group of pilgrims to leave England and come to a New World it might be interesting to see some noted dates of events in those early months. That is especially true for finding when specific individuals died early. There was William Butten who died on the voyage o...
Oct 27
[caption id="attachment_13348" align="alignleft" width="300"] SUFFRAGETTES[/caption] If you had ancestors living in England and Wales between 1832 and 1932, you will need to examine the Findmypast collection of about 220 million names of registered English voters as well as those in Wales. The records are part of the British Library and now on...
Oct 26
There are many ways to discover more about your family history. Genealogists utilize online genealogy resources, search through family photos, and even visit places where their ancestors lived. In addition, genealogists and family historians should consider their own thumb. It turns out your thumb can tell you something about your family history. ...
Oct 25
Eighty years ago, 1935, America was still in the Great Depression era. Ten years later, 1945, the country was just coming out the second World War. Such tragedies for many of your ancestors to suffer through. Yale University along with the Library of Congress have put together over 170,000 photos and made them digital producing the site Photogr...
Oct 21
In the 21st century especially with emails and texting, you might think only in the last few years have certain phrases or words and initials been used frequently. Well, here are few that easily go back to your grandparents, that they may have used. There is OMG (O.M.G.) -- yes, the expression used back in the 1910s, written out with initials to m...
Oct 17
Any ancestors from Norway and especially if any relatives lived in Norway in 1891 -- you are in luck. The official census for Norway in 1891 is now available online with the National Archives of Norway. With over 2.5 million entries, covering 559 towns, villages and cities, it is a very complete digital collection. There are two different ways ...