The Legacy Tree Genealogists Blog

Hand-picked, tested and trained, our professional genealogist team knows how to find your story. We search the world for answers. Find the un-findable. And we’re experts at everything from tracking down rare international records to analyzing DNA test results. Based near the world’s largest family history library in downtown Salt Lake City, we also work with researchers and archives around the globe. Contact us today if you would like help discovering your ancestors!

6 Things You Need to Know About the AncestryDNA Ethnicity Update

October 21, 2018 by Kerry - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 13 Comments

If you haven’t checked your AncestryDNA results recently, you’re in for a treat. The recent AncestryDNA update includes some big changes to its ethnicity estimates, and there’s something for everyone to explore. Here are six things you need to know to get the most out of this new tool for learning more about your ancestors.1. Everyone has access to the updated reports. Like most new Ancestry features, this one was gradually rolled out to Ancestry users. That left some of us to watch and wait as our genealogy friends were able to test drive the new ethnicity estimates. The wait is over, and your results should be in. Here’s how to access them:1. Sign in to your Ancestry account.2. Click the green 'Discover Your DNA Story' button on the left side of the screen. You may be prompted to answer some brief survey questions about how much you expect your results to change. Don’t worry, it won’t take long.3. You’ll see a screen called 'Updated Estimate'. This is where you’ll see your …

Time + Place= Records and Family!

October 15, 2018 by Jim - Legacy Tree Genealogists Editor Leave a Comment

If there’s any problem that’s bigger than not finding anything about your ancestors, it’s finding too many records with people of the same name to make sense of it all. That’s when genealogists use the concepts of time and place in genealogy like a set of cross-hairs to hone in on records that relate to their family.Time and Place in Genealogy ResearchWhat does "time and place" mean to the family historian? It means putting yourself in the time and place of the ancestor for whom you are searching, which will result in enhancing your chances of doing the most thorough search of all available documents.Navigating Family Tree HintsIf you are building a family tree online – whether it’s on MyHeritage, FamilySearch or Ancestry.com – the website is likely to serve up hints about the ancestors whose names you enter as well as suggestions for their ancestors.Learning the history of an area you are researching – as well as things such as the naming practices of a particular time …

using social columns for genealogy research

Finding Amelia Winter: Using Newspaper Social Columns to Find Female Ancestors

October 5, 2018 by Katy - Legacy Tree Genealogists Project Manager 1 Comment

Searching for a female ancestor? Check the newspaper social columns!Tracing our female ancestors and learning about their lives can be a difficult proposition in American family history research, so it is important to leave no stone unturned and utilize all the tools available to the genealogist in that endeavor. One such crucial tool in the 19th and 20th centuries is the local newspaper, and the social columns in particular.Newspaper Social Columns: 19th Century Social MediaIn the years prior to the online connectedness of Facebook, blogs, and Instagram, communities used a section of the local newspaper to report on the goings-on of the neighbors. Even in the smallest, rural communities, the daily or weekly publications were home to brief social commentary—who had a baby, who was sick in the hospital, who was in town visiting relatives, and who attended Mrs. Smith’s 75th birthday party. In most cases, these kernels can be fun bits of information, flesh on the bones of our …

Legacy Tree Onsite: Genealogy Research in Vienna, Former Center of an Empire

September 28, 2018 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 2 Comments

Legacy Tree works with researchers all over the world to access records for our clients. We asked one of our onsite researchers, located in Vienna, Austria, to share his experiences with genealogy research in Vienna archives and offices.Until 1919, Vienna was the capital of one of the largest empires in Europe, and many people passed through Vienna, or produced records that are now held in archives in Vienna. With close to two million inhabitants, Vienna is a population center likely to be involved when researching families from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.When the parish books of Vienna’s Catholic parishes for births, marriages and deaths from before 1938 (births from before 1918) were put online a few years ago, the necessity for onsite genealogy research in Vienna was significantly reduced.However, many other records are still offline and can be found in different places around town. Here is a selection of archives, offices and other places, and what they hold in …