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!

Using Town Records in Colonial New England Research

octubre 12, 2021 by Kristin - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher Leave a Comment

If your ancestors came to America prior to the Revolution, unique research methods are often necessary to locate information to trace Colonial American ancestry. Legacy Tree Genealogists’ researcher Kristin Britanik shares information about using town records to overcome some of the challenges when tracing ancestors from Colonial New England.One common assumption about genealogy research is that the further we go back in time, the more difficult it can be to find records documenting our ancestors. While this may be true for some world regions, this is not always the case in Colonial New England research. A benefit of researching in this region is the number of detailed records that have survived, which can provide additional information about our lineage and a glimpse into what daily living was like back then. Town records kept in many New England colonies are a wealth of information that give exact dates and places of births, marriages, and deaths, and specific details …

Ask a Genealogist: Indigenous Peoples & Native American Research

octubre 11, 2021 by Kate - Legacy Tree Genealogists Researcher 8 Comments

In honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Legacy Tree Genealogists’ Kate Eakman discusses her interest in this area of research and some of the challenges in tracing Indigenous and native cultures in the United States and around the world.Q: Would you tell us about yourself and your view of genealogy?A: I'm Kate Eakman, Legacy Tree Genealogists' British research team manager and a former history professor.I look at genealogy as a branch of history. It's a very personal history, but it's still history. I've used genealogy to teach before, tracing the history in the United States through the families of my students.For example, I would find my students’ personal histories, their family backgrounds, and their ancestors’ connections to historical events. We would talk about battles family members fought in, where they lived, where they may have traveled, and their lifestyle during that time. Whether the ancestors actively participated in the historic event or not, most of the …

Legacy Tree Onsite: Belarus Archives and Records Collections

septiembre 30, 2021 by Legacy Tree Genealogists 4 Comments

Legacy Tree Genealogists’ Dennis Baranov has conducted research in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine for more than 15 years. His wife Mariya is his research helper and translator. In this article, they provide detailed information about Belarus archives and records to research family histories, especially in an area where many documents have been destroyed. Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, surrounded by Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. Minsk is the capital and its largest city.While Belarusians share a rich background, identity, and their own language (the official languages are equally Belarusian and Russian), political control of the country has changed throughout its history. It had been part of Lithuania, Poland, and Russia until 1918 when the country declared its independence.A few years later, Belarus was retaken by Russia and then occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. The European Jewish Congress estimates that 90% of Belarus's …

Searching for Sarah: Strategies for Researching Female Ancestors

septiembre 23, 2021 by Geneil - Editor at Legacy Tree Genealogists 6 Comments

Legacy Tree Genealogists' Geneil Breeze 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. There she was, listed as head of household on the 1850 Census for Greene County, Missouri: Sarah Singletary, age 49, my third-great-grandmother. She lived at a time when women typically were not heads of households. As a presumed single woman in the 1850s, Sarah’s presence raised multiple questions. What was her maiden name? Who were her parents? Who was her husband and what had happened to him? Was she a widow? Divorced? Or did they just happen to be living separately at the time the census was taken? And most important, how could I find the answers?The challenges of researching women in genealogy are well documented. Throughout history, women were subject to their husbands and the laws of the land, which with few exceptions rendered them …