documents
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Witnesses that could be Relatives
Mar 15
It is great to have copies of documents such as marriage certificates, Wills, deeds, etc but one aspect you might overlook is for the names of witnesses on these documents. You might be surprised to learn some of those people who signed as witnesses could be relatives then or even later. Many executors of estates are relatives even if the names do ...
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Can’t Miss These Hints
Feb 13
Even the most seasoned family researcher can overlook certain clues that can prove to be of great assistance. Here are a few of such often overlooked bits of information that lead to greater details about your family. 1. You have a death certificate on an ancestor, but note at the bottom the person's name on the document who provided the info...
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Never Assume the Following
Nov 19
The following are 10 concepts that can be a mistake when doing your family tree. 1. Your family tree will not be totally online as part of someone's tree and there could be some major mistakes. 2. Never depend solely on free databases; you will need some of the subscription databases and sending letters to courthouses. 3. Not all vital recor...
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ArchiveGrid
Sep 23
You have worked many hours researching relatives on your family tree. Yet, you wonder, are you missing something, have you overlooked a source. Using 'ArchiveGrid' from WorldCat.org, you can have a list for a specific hometown. It resources number over 5 million records from over 1,000 archival institutions. On the homepage for ArchiveGrid, you ca...
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Digital Access in the Future
Sep 7
Scanning your treasure family photos and documents is very necessary. However, make sure you also have all those scanned images on several different storage devices -- including flash drives, discs, external and portable storage devices. Plus make sure other members of the family have copies or copies are kept in a safe deposit box. Now that takes ...
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State of New York Archives
Aug 29
Some of the best resources are the state archives and this is true for the state of New York. This former British colony and then one of the original 13 states, it has a very long history with a variety of people calling New York home. A large part of the archives collection is in digital format and can be viewed online for free. The is a search b...
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Irish Catholic Church Parishes
Aug 27
Everyone has at least a little Irish in their lineage, so you will want to review on free online site that covers all of Ireland (including Northern Ireland) with information from Catholic church parishes, especially of the 1700s into the 1800s. The source is the National Library of Ireland. It has registers containing records of baptisms and marr...
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Missing Documents and Vital Records?
Aug 25
Oh yes, it can happen, there can be one or more ancestors of your direct lineage of your family tree where you can not locate any document or vital records (a paper trail) to support or learn more about that ancestor. Very frustrating for sure!! Here are some ideas of how to gather some information on that ancestor. First check and do the researc...
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Saving Documents
Aug 1
You do not want to loose family records, documents, letters, photos, records, journals, etc that have been handed down over the decades. So what is the best method to preserve them? Of course keeping them in a fire-proof, water-proof location is a start. Never expose them to heat, sunshine, cold weather, etc. Keep insects and mold away from your ...
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Digital State Archives
Mar 25
A good resource to investigate is what is available in the ancestral home state archives. The longer an ancestor lived in a specific state the more likely there can be quite a few records to search. Even if the relative lived but a few years in a certain state, do check that state's archives to see if anything is present. The variety of items in a...