Have you ever been curious about the history and genealogy associated with a house? Here are 10 ideas help you trace the lineage of a home. Several years ago my family and I had the opportunity to spend one year at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania while my husband attended the U.S. Army War College. Carlisle Barracks is one of the oldest Army posts in the United States – second only to West Point – having originally been a British outpost before the Revolution. We were thrilled when we were … [Read more...]
A Horrific Headstone on Halloween
As the Halloween tradition highlights the eerie scares of death, this is a story of a broken headstone, and how a family rallied together to bring dignity to a fascinating life. Halloween in the U.S. means stories of ghouls and ghosts and terrifying nightly jaunts through haunted cemeteries filled with shadowy grave markers rising above black grass. It evokes a picture of the cold night air filled with howling wolves and screeching bats flying under an icy blue moon. Speaking of scary … [Read more...]
U.S. Passport Applications: A Genealogy Gold Mine
When researching your ancestors, U.S. passport applications can be a goldmine for genealogical information! We have a wide variety of documents to search for information about our ancestors: birth, marriage, and death certificates come to mind, as well as baptismal records, census forms, obituaries, and naturalization documents. But another source is one that we don’t often consider: passport applications. If you have any ancestors or relatives who may have left the country at any point – even … [Read more...]
Learn to Read Old Handwriting – in Seven Languages!
If you have ancestors from a country in which English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, or Dutch was spoken, you should not miss this incredible – and totally free – tool. Learn how to read old handwriting and extend your family history. As professional genealogists, we love it when any new tool comes along that makes our job simpler. In the larger scheme of things, we’re also appreciative of any development that makes genealogy more accessible and raises the quality of work … [Read more...]
8 Ways to Celebrate Family History Month!
October is such a great month. The first autumn chill, the beauty of the changing leaves, college football, the excitement of Halloween, and the prelude to the holidays are just a few reasons to love this time of year. For genealogists, however, there's one more reason: October is also National Family History Month in the United States! Many of our readers have used the research services of Legacy Tree Genealogists and/or have spent countless hours themselves uncovering their family’s history. … [Read more...]
Immigration: An American Heritage
Immigration has once again become a hot topic in the United States lately, but this isn’t the first time. In fact, it has been a common part of the historical and political discourse since the founding of the nation, largely because immigrants make up such an enormous part of our history and heritage as Americans. Many of the research requests we receive at Legacy Tree involve helping a client identify his or her pre-American origins and immigration story. Some of them are more recent – … [Read more...]
7 Things To Understand About Professional Genealogists
Most people don't have a lot of experience working with professional genealogists. These seven tips will help you make the most out of your genealogy research experience. One of our most popular blog posts to date has been 7 Reasons to Hire a Professional Genealogist. As a refresher, here are those seven very good reasons to let us at Legacy Tree investigate your family history: You don’t have the time or the skills to do it yourself. You need a fresh perspective on your “brick … [Read more...]
Bringing Danish Ancestry To Life
This personal experience from a genealogist at Legacy Tree shares how finding records from her family history brought her Danish ancestry to life. In a town close to where I live is a humble little 14’x18’ log cabin built in 1855. It was one of the first permanent structures in its community, and, as it happens, was the home of my great-great-great-grandparents, Wilhelm and Laura Amelia Knudsen. Laura gave birth to six of her thirteen children in that house. While over the years the log … [Read more...]