We’ve compiled a list of our best genealogy research articles for the entire year of 2024 based on your interests and needs. Every week, one of our professional genealogists writes an article to help you navigate your family history research and get through any brick walls. From DNA to AI to regional archives, our genealogy articles cover every nook and cranny! Here are the most popular articles of 2024!
10. When Your Relative Does Not Appear as a DNA Match
Genealogy can be fun and rewarding, but it can also be frustrating when you encounter problems that don't seem to make sense. What do you do if your family member's DNA doesn't seem to match your own? Legacy Tree Genealogists' Adrienne Abiodun explains how you can solve this all-too-common problem.
9. How To Use Mexican Marriage Records for Genealogy Research
While researching Mexican marriage records, have you ever wondered, “why is there more than one marriage record, and why do they have different dates?” Early Mexican marriages are primarily found in Catholic church records. Civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths began in the 1860s.
Many marriages in Mexico in the 1860s and later are found in both civil and church records, but typically with different dates.Civil registration records will sometimes include more then one record for a couple. The first is usually a declaration of intention to marry followed, though not immediately, by the marriage contract.
8. How Much Does It Cost To Hire a Genealogist?
Genealogy research has its ups and downs as you work devotedly to fill out your family tree with accuracy and confidence. It is incredibly rewarding when you are able to easily locate documents and piece together DNA results on your own. However, it can be surprisingly overwhelming and isolating when you hit a brick wall or aren’t quite sure if other family members working on your tree have validated all of their results. In this article, we help you understand what costs to expect when you hire a professional genealogist.
7. Dutch Surnames and Origins
If you have any ancestral surnames linking your family to the Netherlands and the surrounding region, you may be wondering what those surnames mean, how they developed, and what they might be able to tell you about your ancestors. In this article, we’ll explore the common origins and meanings of Dutch surnames and the historical and cultural context in which they developed. Learn more about Dutch surnames here.
6. 3 Essential Websites for Exploring German Parish Records
You have just discovered where your ancestor was from in Germany and know where they attended church. Congratulations! This is an exciting discovery worth celebrating! The most common question after making such a discovery is: what do I do now? Tens of thousands of churches dot the landscape in Germany, and many can trace their histories back several hundred years. However, finding the church records for your ancestor can seem like a daunting task. Read more here.
5. Third Cousins Twice Removed and Consanguinity: Figuring Out How You’re Related to Your Relatives
How do you figure out exactly how you’re related to a specific ancestor? Explaining how those relationships are determined is relatively simple. A common ancestor is the foundation for the relationship. Your generational distance from that common ancestor (grandchild? great-great-grandchild? great x9 grandchild?) and the other person’s generational distance from that same ancestor is plotted on a chart, like the one below. Where the two lines intersect you see the term which defines your relationship. The further away you both are from the common ancestor the more distant the cousinship. Learn more here.
4. Where To Start With Your English Ancestor Research
English ancestor research can be simplified when you understand the importance of historical dates and which records will hold the information you seek. In this conversation with Legacy Tree Genealogists Kimberly Gilboy, she shares tips and tricks she has learned over her years in English ancestor research.
3. Using AI Effectively for Genealogy Research
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) for genealogy research is still in its infancy but gaining momentum as each new tool is released, including ChatGPT and Google Translate. These tools do not replace the need for a professional genealogist to analyze the data but can speed up the research process by finding information more rapidly.
We asked our research team how genealogists can apply AI to their genealogy research projects. Here are some of their key learnings and cautions. Read more here.
2. How Do I Determine Genetically Equivalent Relationships?
Correctly evaluating shared DNA within the context of genetically equivalent relationships first requires mastery of genealogical relationships. Here we review important genealogical relationships based on some of the pertinent variables. For the sake of simplicity, we limit our analysis to biological relatives and exclude in-law and step relationships.
An understanding of genealogical relationships is necessary before diving into genetically equivalent relationships in your family history. This article will provide an overview of both concepts.
1. Researching Cherokee Ancestry
As genealogists, we’re often asked to research the likelihood and details of a client’s Native American heritage. The Cherokee are currently the largest federally-recognized indigenous tribe in the United States. Although they originally lived in the Southeastern United States, they were among the people forcibly relocated by the policies of President Andrew Jackson in the 1830s via the Trail of Tears.
Today, many of their descendants are headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. They were known as one of the “Five Civilized Tribes,” and were known to be closely interacted and assimilated with the settlers of their areas. They even started becoming U.S. citizens as early as the 1810s and 1820s.
We hope you enjoyed many of our genealogy research articles throughout 2024. We can't wait to see how you like what we have lined up for 2025! You can always visit our blog to find the latest genealogy research articles to fit your every need.
Thank you for a great 2024! If you have new genealogy research goals for the upcoming year, we’d love to help you navigate every brick wall.
Learn more here about working with us.
I’m sort of confused about native american heritage i thought is was just a fictional story through some family members because the majority of white americans claim they’re part cherokee and me myself looking in rhe mirror i can see and everyone else can tell i don’t look like I have indigenous north american ancestry and I’m the type of person i don’t go around claiming I’m this or that I used to live around the tigua tribe in el paso,tx and I look at them and myself and I didn’t see no resemblance but if i did i think the great spirit passed me by i guess i wasn’t too interesting and i wouldn’t be offended at all if I didn’t inherited 0.1% the same with any percentage of an ethnicity but there is some I’m not too thrilled but I’ll keep my personal views to myself ’cause I don’t want to offend or cause harm of their feelings but I’m learning and it’s a good thing I’m really learning some things about me that I need to brush up and straighten certain areas in my life and scrutinize and uproot and weed out the things in my that hinders me of my life changing spiritual journey.
I appreciate if could laborate a bit on the subject if you don’t mind
Hello, Jack! Discovering our ancestry/heritage is quite a journey! We’d love to help you understand your heritage more clearly. This would be a great opportunity to schedule a 1:1 45-minute consultation with one of our Native American genealogy experts. You can do that here: http://www.legacytree.com/genealogy-consultation