history

  • Broadsides in Old Scotland

    Mar 28

    The National Library of Scotland has made available online digital copies of Scottish broadsides. So ... what is a 'broadside'? Not just in Scotland, but in many locations (in Europe and across North America) these printed news announcements were a method to inform the general public of any events happening in a town or village. Not just social o...

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  • Avoid the Following

    Mar 26

    It is easy to make mistakes while doing your family history research, the best researchers can get a name or date wrong. The main thing is to review what you have collected, gather evidence to support your findings and make the corrections. Too often one forgets some of the common errors in genealogical research and they do need to be reminded ...

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  • Bombs Dropped on London

    Mar 22

    It may be hard to imagine such an event happening, but the city of London did face the German Blitz (also called London Blitz) for over a year, with bombs dropped from German planes all across the city. There is now a map developed for viewing online of the sights of where bombs were dropped on the city. Known as 'Bomb Sight', it maps out and pinp...

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  • The 1930s Writers’ Project

    Mar 18

    One of the many New Deal projects to help get people back to work during he 1930s Great Depression was the WPA (Works Project Administration) for writers. One was named 'Folklore Project' and the other 'Federal Writers' Project'. This paid writing assignment put over 6,500 men and women around the country to work, paying them a subsistence wage ...

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  • A Boy’s Message to His Grandmother

    Mar 14

    One of the research techniques I use in gathering information about an ancestral hometown is to review the items up for auction with the online site of eBay. There can anything suddenly up for sale or bids that you would not have imagined ever existing. Featured could be personal letters, diaries, labeled photos, business letterheads, etc., just ab...

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  • Create a Family History Website

    Mar 12

    You have spent a good deal of time gathering photos and vital records on your family tree. The compiled information is now quite extensive. It is saved on a computer, an external hard drive and copies shared with other family members, so now what? First, you never finish, there is always several relatives you never located much information on a...

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  • Privateers During the War of 1812

    Mar 2

    You may think a privateer and a pirate are one in the same. True, they both raided and plundered ships on the high seas. The big difference was that a privateer was private and operated under a letter of marque issued by a national government. Over the centuries there have been hundreds of privateers for different nations. For the United States ...

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  • Capture that Precious Memory

    Feb 28

    Today marks my 63rd birthday, but much more important it is the first time in those 63 years that my 'second mother', my godmother, my name sake, the family cousin was not here to mark the occasion since her passing this January at age 90. She was Alice Louise Walters Leffler Wallace, my mother's cousin - who were like sisters -- both take charge t...

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  • Images, Events, Products Across the Decades

    Feb 20

    Nothing assists a family historian more than images. However it does not need to be photos or drawings of just one's ancestors. Of course, that alone is super valuable, but so is their life and times. Using illustrations, drawings and photos of the places, events, activities, sports, work, social, businesses, towns, etc. that directly affected ou...

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  • Old Bailey Criminal Court in England

    Feb 16

    Coming across old records of family members is exciting, they help you better understand the life of your ancestor. One type of document which can be quite fascinating are court papers. The most intriguing of court papers are the criminal court documents. These are the trials of real people, some for some horrible crimes, some for crimes not though...

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