"What does the symbol on my ancestors' gravestone mean?" Our guide to gravestone symbols may just contain the answer you're looking for! This time of year, cemeteries hold a certain appeal due to their association with the macabre, but for the dutiful family historian, the tombstones of our ancestors can provide leads to untapped records. If you have yet to go and search for the physical gravestone of an ancestor and know where they might be buried, the effort spent locating them could be … [Read more...]
A Horrific Headstone on Halloween
As the Halloween tradition highlights the eerie scares of death, this is a story of a broken headstone, and how a family rallied together to bring dignity to a fascinating life. 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 … [Read more...]
Tracking Your Irish Ancestor Across the Ocean
Researching your immigrant genealogy can be daunting, especially when you're tracking your Irish ancestor across the ocean. Here's some advice! Finding an Irish immigrant’s area of origin can be challenging, but there are several Irish, U.S., and Canadian records that may give you this information. This article will discuss civil registration, immigration, church, vital, and cemetery records and how these records can assist you in finding your ancestor’s place of origin. Civil … [Read more...]