relatives
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Help to Identify Family Photos
Apr 11
Everyone has a collection of vintage family photos with no name, date or location on them. Some of the people pictured may have lived decades before anyone living today was even born. However, to help with some identification here are a couple of ideas. Number one is to check with some of your older living relatives. That includes all branches of ...
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Ancestry.com School Yearbooks
Mar 19
Locating by whatever method a school yearbook on an ancestor can be such a treasure. No matter which it was middle grade, high school or college, it could reveal little known facts about your relative. Using the Ancestry.com collection of 324,000 yearbooks and more than 52 million pages you have a good shot of locating one or more ancestors. To he...
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Recent ‘Black Sheep’
Jan 21
Some people are afraid when they do their family history they will come across a 3rd great grandfather who was a horse thief or a deserter from the Army. Yes, you never know what may have happened during your ancestors' lives on the family tree. But is nothing to be scared of, it was that relative for whatever reason had the problem ... not you. Wh...
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Knowledge of Grandparents’ Names
Jan 15
Even if a person were not a family history researcher, you might guess that everyone could provide the first and last name for their grandparents. From a recent survey conducted by Ancestry.com, it appears approximately 1/3 of Americans can not name their grandparents. In America's total 2018 population of 326,766,748 that is approximately 100,000 ...
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The Third Eye Kiss
Dec 19
You have all had that experience, a nice kiss on your forehead by a family member, either as a greeting, act of kindness or goodbye. But did you know about its history? It is referred to as 'the third eye kiss' placed just above a person's eyebrows in the center of the forehead. It can be much more intimate because you are reaching out to the very...
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Finding Other Family Members
Nov 25
One of the greatest assets for adding to your family history is locating any previously unknown family members – such as distant cousins. They just might be able to provide some information, documents, or photos previously unknown to you. It was common practice decades ago to communicate with all of one's family branches – share photos, send p...
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Remembering Events of November 22nd
Nov 22
Doing a recollection of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, is important, not because one's experience was in any way special, but because that life experience was in many ways typical, and because most Americans alive today have no memory of that terrible event. Many people do remember the terrorist attacks of Sep...
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How Much Do You Look Like an Ancestor ?
Nov 21
If you have studied some of the family photos from any time frame notice a striking similarity with a living relative. Your niece, a sister, uncle etc living today could very well look like a great-grandmother, a great uncle, or 2nd cousin. After all, it is in the genes one's characteristics. Some of the similar appears could be their physical fe...
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Coaxing Memories
Nov 17
With Thanksgiving and family gatherings over one to 5 days – it is a perfect occasion to start or continue gathering information from family members. Be prepared – have notes, collected dates, names and even photos that need identification. Include a camera, a recorder or video recorder to help get the information down. Before the holiday, sen...
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Researching Beyond the Direct Family Lineage
Oct 15
You might be the family historian but have only concentrated on your direct family lineage –parents-grandparents-great grandparents, etc. That is very important to gather the direct lineage, however, one area that could assist that search is to look at the collateral family lines (the aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts-uncles, etc. They are your...