history
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VMI – Databases With Possible Ancestors
Dec 6
The most fascinating aspect of looking for information on your ancestors is that you never know where the next great resource will come from. One very nice online site; VMI - Virginia Military Institute, has a great archive about the VMI alumni. It is very possible you may have never considered the possibility that an ancestor attended the Virg...
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Your Ancestor’s Daily Paper
Dec 2
Today with so many current print items (newspapers and magazines) no longer actually printed, but rather in digital format, it can be a great advantage that our ancestors did have the traditional print newspaper, that they were saved and now can be in a digital form to be viewed anywhere, anytime. The newspapers of yesteryear were filled with eve...
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Understanding the Julian to Gregorian Calendar
Nov 30
Numerous times you will see where an ancestor’s birth, marriage or death date are written May 11, 1712/1713 and you are not sure which year the event actually occurred. This is due to a change in the type of calendars used and when they were adopted. First, an explanation of each calendar. The Julian calendar was created by Julius Caesar bac...
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Scenes of Old New York City
Nov 26
Finding any old photographs is of great assistance to historians and those researching their family background. With so many people having lived at one time or another in the many boroughs of New York, the online collection of vintage photos offers a wonderful treasure chest to explore. The site, Photographic Views of New York City, 1870s - 1970...
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A ‘Blacksheep’ Pilgrim or the First American Individualist?
Nov 24
People generally have the notion that the Pilgrims of the Plymouth Colony in the 1620s were a very docile, proper group of people, just seeking a new homeland to worship as they saw fit. Yet, that original group of 102 passengers on the tiny Mayflower ship of 1620 was quite diverse. The following is about one family who stood out from the rest at...
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How to Search for Pilgrim Ancestors
Nov 22
You would think the place to start researching for any ancestral Pilgrims would be with each of the surviving Pilgrims and work toward the present time. Only that is the very hard way since there can be so many descendants. If a Pilgrim couple had nine children and each of those children had five or more children the numbers very quickly add up. ...
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You Might Be a Descendant of the Original Pilgrims
Nov 20
This time of year near Thanksgiving one reflects on those brave souls on the Mayflower ship who came to a new land on November 11, 1620. Generally, everyone refers to all those individuals as ‘Pilgrims’ but in truth only 41 were Pilgrims. Many others were indentured servants, paid servants and hired workers to assist the Pilgrims set and run ...
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History and Your Ancestors from Tennessee
Nov 14
An amazing online site titled; ‘Tennessee Virtual Archive’ has a superb series of collections which span the 19th and 20th century history, people, events and culture of Tennessee. This region dates back to the 18th century when it was part of North Carolina and even the short-lived State of Franklin which would ultimately become part of th...
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An Archive of Historic Photos of California
Nov 6
If you have any ancestors who lived along the central California coast from the mid-1800s to the end of the 20th century, you will want to check out a massive collection of photos placed online by California Views. Most of the images in their archives are from the central coastal region, especially in the Monterey district. However, they have a...
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Additional Civil War Records from FamilySearch
Oct 31
So many family researchers have ancestors who were part of the American Civil War (1861-1865) that we are always looking for new and additional resources to help confirm or provide new information about those soldiers who served. The FamilySearch web site had just added recently many new records, free to the public. There are now millions of new ...