Are you a probate attorney, paralegal, estate administrator, fiduciary, or investor? Probate courts are beginning to open. Be prepared and beat the rush! Our team of forensic genealogists’ shares tips to ensure you’re ready to notify.As probate courts begin to reopen, the courts will be inundated with new cases. It will be more important than ever to be ready and to achieve as much progress as possible in each hearing and avoid unnecessary continuances.Each state has very specific laws … [Read more...]
The Basics of Australian Genealogy Research
Do you have Australian ancestry? Our researchers have compiled an overview of helpful resources to assist with Australian genealogy research.Australia is one of the world’s largest immigrant-based countries, meaning that the majority of the people living there have family trees that originate from somewhere else. Thus, unless someone is a descendant solely of Australian aboriginal peoples, most research will ultimately end up working back to European origins.Because of this, Australian … [Read more...]
How a 200-Year-Old Family Feud Solved a Brick Wall Problem
In a recent case we worked on, a dispute over land led to identifying the parents of an individual and solving a family brick wall problem. We share this story with permission to illustrate the importance of thorough searches - not just in vital records, newspapers, and censuses - but in land, probate, and court records.Our client asked us to trace the ancestry of his Boykin family, and research had stalled with a direct-line ancestor named William T. Boykin of Southampton County, Virginia, … [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 TypesJewish 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...]
Family Tree Research and Jewish History
Understanding your family tree research and Jewish history is essential for writing your family history and bringing your ancestors to life. Here are some of our tips on finding your ancestor's hometown and helping to navigate your research. In the last several hundred years, there were three major influxes of Jews into the United States (and countries like England and Canada).[1] The Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal were the first to arrive, coming during the Colonial years of American … [Read more...]
2 Guidelines for Resolving Conflicting Information in Sources
The conflicting information in sources can be a brick wall in your genealogy search. If or when you run into this unfortunate situation, here's some tips to help resolve those conflicts!We’ve all been there – tracking down an ancestor and finding an answer we've been looking for on a document, only to find another record that says something different!The death certificate has a different date of death than the headstone, a census gives a different place of birth than a marriage record, … [Read more...]
10 Ways to Tell That…You Might Be a Genealogist!
Genealogy may not appeal to everyone, but those who catch the "bug" tend to get it bad! Do any of these 10 things sound familiar?* If you carry a “relationship calculator” card around in your wallet, you might be a genealogist. (Second cousin twice-removed, great-grandniece...)* If your Google home page displays the home pages to MyHeritage.com, FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com, or FindaGrave.com, you might be a genealogist.* If every time someone mentions a major U.S. city, you … [Read more...]
Research Pitfalls of Beginning Genealogists
Avoid these common research pitfalls that many beginning genealogists fall into!If you’re looking for ways to improve your research skills, it’s always best to take a personal inventory of your research practices and habits. Following are some errors that many beginners and hobbyists make which, if eliminated, could save time and increase accuracy immensely.Collecting AncestorsThis is one of the most common mistakes. Simply copying down someone else’s tree or taking their … [Read more...]
Denied Access to a Vital Record? Try the Newspaper!
When privacy laws prevent researchers from finding genealogy records, newspaper records may provide the information you're searching for! Strict privacy laws, designed to protect both the living and the dead from having their identities stolen, can create some serious problems for a genealogist. Some states permit the acquisition of birth, marriage, or death records when the individuals named in those records have been dead for 50 years, or 100 years after the event was recorded. Other … [Read more...]
What’s in a Name? 4 Tips for Finding An Elusive Ancestor
Are you continuing to hit a genealogical brick wall searching for an elusive ancestor? Here are 4 unique tips that may help!One of the things I love about genealogy is the fascinating variety of names and the many forms that one particular name can take. One memorable name that I encountered recently was Cadwallader Slaughter, often shortened to Cad Slaughter. What a name! It’s a delicate science using names to determine the identity of one person, or distinguishing between many … [Read more...]
