databases

  • WDYTYA – Celebrities Uncover The Truth About Their Ancestors

    Sep 29

    The British hit television series "Who Do You Think You Are?" (WDYTYA) started in October 2004, showcasing about six U. K. celebrities as they go on a journey to discover their family history. The show is still going strong with its Series 8 airing August through October 2011. The American version with the same name as this British show began Ma...

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  • The Other Half of Our Ancestry

    Sep 19

    It is very unfortunate that many of our female ancestors do not get the full recognition that the male lineage obtains by family history researchers.  Check your family pedigree chart and you will have numerous locations along a female line that just the first name is filled in and no maiden name.  Those lines are at a stopping point until more c...

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  • Delaware County, PA – Index of Vital Records

    Sep 17

    As you are compiling some family research, sometimes all you need is a small clue, a hint of an ancestor’s birth date or location to put you on the right track.  When different counties within a state make available their records more conveniently online, even if they are just an index (a listing), it can be a great assistance.  Once you know a...

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  • A Lesson from 9/11—Share and Help Where You Can

    Sep 11

    The following is an extra long blog for this 10th anniversary of Sept. 11th, but relates how genealogy can help heal even the deepest wounds. Above is a photo of Ralph Kershaw. Disbelief, just utter and total disbelief, was our reaction at what we were watching on the television that fateful September 11th morning.  The national news was repor...

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  • California News

    Sep 9

    There is a wonderful free collection from the CDNC - California Digital Newspaper Collection which is online. This source can be extremely useful for researchers with any ancestors from the California area. There are a variety of newspapers from several regions in the state.  Everything from the California Star & California, the Daily Alta Cal...

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  • The Benefits in U. S. City Directories

    Sep 7

    Previously unknown information on our ancestors can be discovered using city directories. These printed booklets, also known as registers or gazettes,  are like windows opening up into a certain time period featuring the industries, stores, occupations, churches, organizations and citizens of a given area. Even some of the smallest towns across th...

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  • Finding Refugees Who Fled into Switzerland

    Sep 1

    During the Second World War in Western Europe, beginning in the late 1930s, many individuals and families fled from other European nations to find safety in neutral Switzerland. Some were natives of other countries, but many who came back to Switzerland were also Swiss citizens. The Swiss Archives have put together a database of some 25,604 indi...

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  • Appreciate Our Ancestors’ Early Historical Events

    Aug 24

    So you were not paying attention during high school American history class and now you are not sure of the events during the American Revolutionary War or the Pilgrims of the New England colonies. Yet, these are the great and more important elements that directed affected not only America as a young nation, but most assuredly our ancestors. For ...

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  • Start with a Good General Search Site

    Aug 22

    If you are just beginning or have been doing family history research for awhile, it is always beneficial to check out some of the basic online genealogical sites.  A good overall general site is Access Genealogy. It has been and remains a free resource online for genealogical data. The original backbone to the site over ten years ago was inform...

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  • Marriages in Westmoreland County, PA

    Aug 18

    Being that Pennsylvania is one of the original 13 states and long has been established, many of our ancestors could have originally lived in Pennsylvania or in a neighboring state. The county of Westmoreland was founded on February 26, 1773 and was recognized as the first county in the colony of Pennsylvania which was located west of the Allegheny ...

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