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...
Aug 1
So many things of an individual’s life can change not only over their own lifetime, but also over a couple generations. Nothing is truer than the change of terms for certain occupations. You can easily come across an occupation on a census document, social security application, pension record or journal and have no idea what that type of job enta...
Jul 16
There you are looking for a great grandfather, born about 1858 in Pennsylvania, of which you have traced to the 1860 U. S. Census, then the 1870 census, but now you can’t find him beyond that date. Did he as a young man in the 1870s move to another location, serve in the U. S. military, or even end up in jail? This is your immediate ‘Brick Wall...
Jun 22
Oh, we all will have one or more elusive, hard to locate ancestors in our genealogical journey. One where you might have a name and their relationship (aunt, uncle etc), but that is about it on information. For females it can be even more problematical with just their married name and no maiden name known. So the following are a few tips or sugge...
Jun 14
City directories have been a wonderful source of information for the family researcher. Not only the names of head of households, but many times, those who also lived in the house, as well as occupations and business locations are included. The Internet Archive has a great collection of directories covering a variety of places and time periods for ...
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...
May 26
The Memorial Day weekend would be an excellent opportunity to either jump start your family history research or spend a little extra time on those family lines or individuals that need some of the gaps of information filled in. It is amazing what can be accomplished with just a couple hours of time. A few suggestions would include to sort and labe...
Apr 23
One of the frequently used local type of maps for genealogists and historians over the years has been the Sanborn Fire Protection Maps. They were originally created back in the 1860s to assess buildings and homes before insurance companies issued fire protection policies. These carefully drawn maps have detailed information regarding the water ways...
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...
Mar 30
Yes, Google is not the only search engine on the Internet, but it is one highly used and recommended by everyone. As with any search engine, the top items high up on a search will be those people or events related to celebrities, sports events, scandals or even where the closest place to order a pizza is found. Regrettably, archival records on our ...