When researching your ancestors, U.S. passport applications can be a goldmine for genealogical information! We have a wide variety of documents to search for information about our ancestors: birth, marriage, and death certificates come to mind, as well as baptismal records, census forms, obituaries, and naturalization documents. But another source is one that we don’t often consider: passport applications. If you have any ancestors or relatives who may have left the country at any point – even … [Read more...]
8 Ways to Celebrate Family History Month!
October is such a great month. The first autumn chill, the beauty of the changing leaves, college football, the excitement of Halloween, and the prelude to the holidays are just a few reasons to love this time of year. For genealogists, however, there's one more reason: October is also National Family History Month in the United States! Many of our readers have used the research services of Legacy Tree Genealogists and/or have spent countless hours themselves uncovering their family’s history. … [Read more...]
Hidden in Plain Sight: A Guide to Image-Only Record Collections
For the countless hours spent looking for records to prove or provide a family relationship, Image-Only Records collections that have not yet been indexed may hold the hidden answer to century-old questions. Here is how to use these records, and tips on maximizing your time. If you’ve plugged your family names into the search databases of the major genealogical websites and didn’t find the answer you needed, consider that your search is not done! Did you know that there are millions of pages … [Read more...]
Jewish Family History Research Tips, Part 3: Conclusion
This post concludes our three-part series on Jewish family research for genealogy. Click here for part one and part two in the series. Record Types Jewish families appeared in a variety of records throughout their time in Eastern Europe. When conducting ancestral research for Jewish families, the following resources for their town, district, and region should be considered: Civil Registration: government-kept records of births, marriages and deaths. Synagogue Records: Jewish-specific … [Read more...]
MyHeritage.com and Legacy Tree Genealogists – Working Together
Legacy Tree Genealogists have the privilege of being the recommended research partner of MyHeritage! Learn what makes Legacy Tree the leader in professional genealogy work. Legacy Tree Genealogists has been a research firm for over a decade now, celebrating our 11th year as a business in 2015. Our experience and positive client ratings naturally make us a trusted source for genealogical research, and we are excited to announce that industry giant MyHeritage.com agrees, naming us their … [Read more...]
How Are We Related? Navigating the Terminology
Relationship terminology can be confusing, but we've compiled a guide to explain how you are related to that cousin three times removed. How are we related? That’s a question that we have been asked quite a bit lately, and sometimes determining that exact familial connection with someone else can be confusing. What is the difference between a second cousin and a first cousin, once removed? What does the “removed” mean, anyway? If my mom has a cousin, how is he related to me? … [Read more...]
Using History to Tell Your Family Story
Everybody loves a good story. Here is one experience where genealogy was brought to life by developing and understanding local history and culture of the time. Everybody in my family - at least on my dad’s side - is a storyteller. Every event in their lives was and is a story. You never simply got up and went to school. Every day was a potential epic adventure. To hear my dad tell it, his life as a boy on the farm was one narrow escape after another, followed by record-breaking … [Read more...]
Jewish Research Part 2: Tips and Resources
Learning about your immigrant Jewish ancestry can be rewarding. Here are a few tips and tricks that can help you overcome common obstacles in Jewish genealogy research. In a previous post, we covered an introduction to Jewish immigrant research, focusing on historical context, migration patterns, and determining the European hometown. Once you've made the connection across the pond, however, there is still work to be done. Maps and Gazetteers Once you have found a record that names your … [Read more...]