Celebrating pioneer heritage is more than just Mormon's trekking across The United States to settle in Utah. What pioneers are in your family history? Last week in Utah we celebrated our annual State Holiday – Pioneer Day. Though the celebration began in honor of the first Mormon pioneers who arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 24 July 1847, it is now in honor of everyone (regardless of faith or nationality) who came to the Salt Lake Valley between 1847 and about 1869, when the … [Read more...]
Small-Town Newspapers: Windows to the Past
Using local newspapers in your genealogy research can provide important glimpses into the lives of your ancestors. Here's how we used a small-town newspaper to uncover details about a client's ancestor not found anywhere else. Turn-of-the-century small-town newspapers are treasure troves of genealogical information. Offering so much more than just cold, hard facts, these small-town papers reported on the social lives of their citizens, retold the drama at city council meetings, or … [Read more...]
Free World War I Records Through the End of July and Beyond
One of the best things to hear as a genealogist is, "Free records!" World War I records have been offered free from MyHeritage through the end of July. Enjoy! 100 years ago, Serbia was invaded by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The date was July 28, 1914. This act marked the beginning of World War I, one of history's deadliest conflicts and the impetus of many political changes worldwide. In memory of this event, MyHeritage is offering free access to its World War I records through the end … [Read more...]
Spotlight: The FamilySearch Learning Center – Onsite U.S. Courthouse Research
If you're looking to expand your access to free resources and records, look no further than the FamilySearch Learning Center! This is a great interactive tool to help you learn more about onsite courthouse research. FamilySearch boasts an impressive collection of free tools to help anyone learn more about doing family history research. Today we thought we'd highlight a fun interactive video about onsite courthouse research, found HERE. As a professional and published genealogist, Christine … [Read more...]
Maps and Family History: Early United States Maps We Love
Linking maps with family history research can help us better understand the lives of our ancestors. Here are our top resources for finding early U.S. maps! As genealogists, we love maps. They're such a helpful way to show a client where an ancestor was living, especially if the ancestor lived near the border of another town or county, which can affect what records need to be searched. Here are some great resources for early United States maps: We love http://mapofus.org. When you click on … [Read more...]
Ancestry’s Cyber Attack and a Look at Perseverance
Ancestry's Cyber Attack, putting an outage to online records for a few days, really put things into perspective for how far genealogy records have come over the years. Last week, a new genealogy research project came across my desk and it was thrilling to delve into a 19th Century Mid-Atlantic States project and have instant access to a vast amount of records online through various online genealogy record websites. Within a few short hours of working on a census survey, I felt a great … [Read more...]
State Land Grants or Patents for Genealogy
Using state land grants or patents to obtain vital genealogy documents is one way to help tear down your family history brick walls. We've recently been helping a client discover more about an ancestor who lived in North Carolina in the mid- to late-1700s. Southern U.S. research that's this early requires a careful look at existing documents, especially since often there aren't nearly as many documents available as there are for the mid- to late-1800s. We were happy to find that this … [Read more...]
Write a Captivating Family History with the 1900 Census
As you write your family history, don't neglect the wealth of information that can be found in the 1900 census! What were you doing at the turn of the century? Watching the Times Square Ball drop as Dick Clark prattled on? Were you hiding in a closet, worried about how Y2K would wreak havoc on your life? Were you partying like it was 1999? Author Ian Frazier masterfully wove together the happenings of the previous turn of the century with his own genealogical findings in the opening of … [Read more...]