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 cemetery stories...I spent many months gathering documentation regarding a great-great-great-grandfather. Alfred Great Barker – what a fabulous middle name – was born in the late 1700s. … [Read more...]
Legacy Tree Onsite: A Look at the National Archives of South Africa
Legacy Tree Genealogists works with researchers all over the world to access records. We asked Heather of Clanwilliam, South Africa, to talk about the National Archives in Cape Town. When the Dutch East India Company arrived at the Cape in 1652, they left a legacy of fine record keeping. From the moment Jan Van Riebeeck left Holland, he began his diary recording every event of his journey. These diaries continued for some years and this is where the history of South Africa immigrants began. … [Read more...]
Legacy Tree Onsite: A Look at the Archive of Potenza, Italy
Legacy Tree works with researchers all over the world to access records. We asked Valerie, of Italy's Basilicata region, to talk about her experience at the Province of Potenza Archives. Hidden in a nondescript building on a steep side street in Potenza, you could walk past the archives building without even realizing it was there. In fact, on the first visit I had to look hard and ask three people on the street where it was!Each Italian region is broken into provinces, and each … [Read more...]