research

  • 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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  • That’s an Occupation?

    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...

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  • Check Out the Siblings

    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...

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  • Tips When Searching for an Elusive Ancestor

    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...

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  • Directories for North Carolina and Others

    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 ...

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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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  • Memorial Day Research

    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...

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  • Sanborn Fire Protection Maps

    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...

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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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  • Using Google Efficiently to Find Ancestors

    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 ...

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