Aug 5
At the Penn State University Library they have placed online a massive American Civil War (1860-1865) collection of documents, photos, recollections, veteran pensions, diaries, list of deserters, biographies of residents of PA involved with the Civil War, maps, info relating to neighboring states, newspapers of the era, soldier database, letters, ...
Jul 28
The DAR Genealogical Research System (GRS) is a free resource provided by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). This organization dates back to the 1890s and has a strong membership over the decades. The GRS is a collection of databases from the massed family history of its members over the years. There are two forms ...
Apr 19
Within the National Library of Scotland it offers online a nice collection of photographic images from the World War I time period (1914 to 1919). They were originally taken by various British photographers out on the Western Front during the war. There are nine categories with numerous images within each. Some of the more interesting images a...
Oct 18
Retirement locations for many of America's military veterans were either with family members in private residences or in a public facility known as the Old Soldiers' Home. The earliest such federal government sponsored veterans; home was the U. S. Naval Home in Philadelphia, PA, which opened in 1834. It was in 1851 that one for U. S. Army veterans...
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 ...
Jun 6
The term ‘D-Day’ was a military code for the date when the Allied invasion, known as ’Operation Overlord’, against Nazi Germany’s hold on Europe would begin on the beaches of the France. The date was June 6, 1944, when approximately 156,000 Allied troops representing British, Canadian, American and French soldiers and parachutists would...
Apr 7
You will at least once in doing family history research come across an ancestor belonging to a fraternal or civic organization. Long before television and computers occupied most of a person’s free-time, being a member of several organizations and clubs in a town or city was a very popular activity. It offered a social meeting place, a sense of...
Apr 5
Two of the greatest military conflicts during the 20th century were the ‘Great War’ - later known as World War I and then less than 20 years later the second great war, this one being World War II. No one can say they did not have a relative or ancestor involved somehow in either of those conflicts and in some cases served in both. Now it ...
Jan 8
There can be numerous unknown events our ancestors were part of that can only be learned with a little additional research. One fact is that many Americans wanted to fight in Europe beginning in 1914 during the Great War (World War One) because that was their native homeland. Only problem was that the United States did not enter the war until Apr...
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...