hometown
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Missed Someone in the US 1940 Census?
Sep 17
If you have a large database of ancestors, you can easily overlook a relative who might appear in the 1940 census. Since there is so much information on this newest census, you will want to check for every person. I found a second cousin I did not have on a list. It turns out he was a young man of 18 years old living with an aunt and uncle lear...
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Historical Events that Happened on Birthdays & Anniversaries
Aug 27
As you go about gathering information on birth-marriage-death dates for your ancestors, keep a running list of some of those dates. Interesting aspects to add to the family stories, once you start putting them together, are any intriguing and beguiling historical events or occurrences that happened the same day-same year. Even if you can’t lo...
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The Railroad Systems That Moved America
Aug 25
If you have never rode on any of America’s railroad systems, certainly your parents, grandparents and other ancestors more than likely did use the railroad system at least once in their life. The rail system was the lifeline across the country for passengers, food supplies, mail and freight before highway vehicles and airplanes became the domin...
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Picture Postcards
Jul 6
Postcards have been a popular means of sending greetings for decades. They have not always been just for the tourists on vacation to write back home to say “Wish You Were Here!”. They have been very artistic and many were done also as photos of the people and places at a certain time. There was a time a person could even have a personal pho...
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Learning of an Ancestor’s Civil War Regiment
Jun 20
Keeping journals and diaries besides the countless letters written by the soldiers, both Confederate and Union sides during the American Civil War, has been an excellent resource for researchers which can cover information about a soldier’s life, including the battles and camp life. If you have located such a journal written by a relative, you ...
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Where is Today’s Newspaper?
Jun 12
Researchers always think of the vintage newspapers as a wonderful resource for locating information on one’s ancestors, however, don’t overlook more contemporary newspapers. With most print newspapers also available online you can view just about any current newspaper from your own home using a computer and the Internet. What is better is th...
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A Blend of Facebook & FamilySearch Sites
May 5
Social networking using a computer, tablet, iphone, etc. is the fastest method to connect with people from around the globe. If you want to link up with people in an ancestral home country, the FamilySearch has made it very easy for you to do so. When doing family history research, you look for surnames, but you also check in depth where a relat...
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Use of a Wildcard to Search
Apr 19
Using the right search techniques can save you a good deal of time. Once you have done any amount of research you will see there are various spellings for given names and surnames. Then there can even be differences in spelling of certain hometowns. Of course trying to figure dates for births-marriages and death can be quite challenging. So by...
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Key Ideas When Researching Your Ancestors
Apr 9
You are just beginning or you have worked for awhile on putting together your family history. No matter what the situation, everyone comes across some stumbling blocks, those ancestors you don’t know where to research or you just not sure which direction to proceed with. Here are some key ideas to try when you’re stumped. First, remember y...
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What Were They Doing in 1940?
Apr 8
With all the excitement over the last couple of week with the release on April 2nd of the 1940 U. S. Federal Census, this is such a perfect time to investigate about those ancestors who lived in 1940 and were counted in that census. Of special interest would be the ones that were young adults or older. A good starting point is with photographs...