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 8
Compared to many of the other states of the union, the State of Florida may appear to be a fairly recently settled state. Yet, the history of this peninsula goes back to the oldest city in all of the United States, that of St. Augustine in the northeast corner of the region. It has been a colony of the Spanish, English, French and a territory of ...
Feb 29
Here is that special day once every four years where an extra day is added to the calendar to keep in line with seasons and astronomical events - calendars because the earth does not orbit around the sun in precisely 365 days. Since one can not add a ¼ of a day, the four quarters will make one day, so one extra day every four years is the soluti...
Feb 13
Besides seeing the unusual aspect of the name ‘Valentine’ as a given or surname in genealogy, this February holiday is also a great opportunity to learn a little bit more about any family ancestors or relatives who were born or married on or near Valentine’s Day. If you see a couple who married around that date, it was more than likely rel...
Feb 7
One of the standards for amassing all the available genealogical resources and making it accessible to everyone for years has been Cyndi Ingle Howells with her ‘Cyndi’s List’. Her next step was to assemble the many family history / genealogical articles, stories and blogs that are created everyday. She has put them in one place online with ...
Jan 24
The largest city in England, that of London, has been a major factor in millions of English citizens lives for centuries. Even if you had an ancestor from another portion of England they were affected by what was done in London. The online site, London Lives, is so intriguing, rich in tens of thousands of manuscripts and fifteen databases to p...
Dec 24
The singing of Christmas carols began in England in the early 1400s. They were mostly ‘tall tales’ of the first Christmas in Bethlehem. During the Puritan reign in England of the 1600s the celebration of Christmas was stopped including the singing of carols. By the early 1800s the singing of carols began again with singers known as ’Waits’,...
Dec 20
OK, you have worked on your family tree and have the pedigree chart in good shape with numerous names, dates and locations. The next step is to zero in on just one ancestor. That person could be a grandmother, a great uncle, your father or a great-great-great grandmother; any one relative who intrigues you the most can be selected. Start by ke...
Dec 10
You have spent months or maybe even years researching and gathering anything and everything you can on your family ancestors. Most of the photos you have gathered are labeled; the documents are sorted and placed in organized files for easy reference. You have managed to keep an accurate and up-to-date pedigree chart with names and information on ...
Dec 7
Even if you had no ancestors stationed in Hawaii during the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, your parents, grandparents, great grandparents were deeply affected by this sudden bombing of U. S. Naval ships and facilities. In remembering on this 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, it is of benefit to examine some of the resources about the pe...