Until recently, Irish family history research was considered problematic. But in recent years, individuals can do the bulk of their research online with many digitized records available from private and public entities. Getting Started with Irish Family History Online The first step to Irish research is to document all the information you know about your ancestors and check with older family members who are still living to get as much detail as possible from them. Finding the maiden … [Read more...]
Guest Blog: My Genealogy Travels and Research
A family tree has many branches and researching ancestors can be an ongoing process. In fact, nearly half of our clients order additional genealogy research projects to answer more questions about their family history. One client, Norman E. “Ned” Donoghue, II, embarked on a quest to trace his ancestry half a century ago and has enjoyed learning more about his family’s past. When he wanted to extend his ancestry beyond his own available resources, he reached out to Legacy Tree Genealogists and … [Read more...]
French-Canadian Research Roadblocks
Researching French-Canadian ancestry can be incredibly rewarding, thanks to excellent records, preservation, and digitization. Our post, Top 3 Online Resources for Researching Your French-Canadian Ancestry, describes useful online resources that may help you trace your ancestors as far back as the 17th century. As promising as French-Canadian research can be, there are unique challenges with this particular population that may hinder progress. Everything from naming conventions to … [Read more...]
Tips to Identify Women in Historical Records
Legacy Tree Genealogists' Jessica Howe specializes in finding unknown ancestors. In this article, we discover some tips for identifying women in historical records by learning how cultural differences worldwide affect names and naming practices. Suppose you have searched for female relatives in online databases. In that case, there is a good chance you've come across an alternate spelling of their name or found that they went by a completely different name throughout different records. Here … [Read more...]
Stories Worth Telling: The Saibara Story in Texas
What untold immigration stories are waiting to be discovered in your family history? We share the story of Japanese immigrant, Seito Saibara. The history of America is an interlacing web of immigration stories from all over the world, many still untold. Every pioneer, either celebrated in life or silent to the grave, has a story worth telling—you just need to know how to go about telling it! Such is the case with Japanese immigrant, Seito Saibara, a name largely unknown outside of the … [Read more...]
Passenger Lists: A Gateway to Foreign Lands and a Former Life
How do you trace your immigrant ancestors from one country to another? Their travels were likely documented on passenger lists. Learn more! In the United States, I’ve heard it said that “unless your family is Native American your ancestors immigrated from somewhere.” How do you trace them if your family immigrated from one country to another, particularly crossing an ocean or two in the process? Their travels were likely documented, specifically on a passenger manifest for the ship they sailed … [Read more...]
Tracing 20th Century Immigrant Ancestors
Do you have 20th century immigrant ancestors who came to the United States? If so, you’re in luck, as there are a variety of resources available to help you learn about their journey to the United States and where they came from. The biggest challenge in tracing the ancestry of immigrants is that you must first identify their exact hometown (not just country or region) before you can locate records in their home country. Luckily, there were a variety of records created when an immigrant came to … [Read more...]
Angel Island and Chinese Immigration to the United States
Archaeological evidence indicates that more than a thousand years ago American Indians known as the Coast Miwok used Angel Island as a hunting and fishing site. Europeans first encountered the island in August 1775 when Juan Manuel de Ayala (1745–1797), a Spanish naval officer, was appointed commander of the packet boat San Carlos and ordered to explore what came to be called San Francisco Bay. After cautiously sailing through the strait between the Marin and San Francisco Peninsulas (the Golden … [Read more...]
The Wrights in America: Tracing Immigrant Ancestors
*This story of tracing immigrant ancestors is shared with client permission. Names have been changed to protect privacy. At Legacy Tree Genealogists we enjoy working with clients from all over the world, especially as they trace their immigrant ancestors through multiple countries. We were especially intrigued when a recent Brazilian client explained that in the process of immigrating from Yugoslavia to Brazil, her great-grandparents, Joseph Wright and Emily Horvay, had spent several years in … [Read more...]
Holiday Traditions from Ancestors Around the World
Holiday traditions can be simple or intricate, but when passed down through generations they become sweeter and help shed light on the way our ancestors lived and celebrated. It is the stories and traditions of our ancestors that turn our hearts to them and help us feel we are part of something greater than our individual selves. For many families the most enduring traditions have been made and kept around the holiday season -- especially Christmas. Out of my eight great-grandparents, … [Read more...]