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...]
Deeds and Other Land Records
If you're stuck in your genealogy journey, access to deeds and other land records may help break through your genealogy "brick wall"! Deeds, and land records in general, can provide helpful pieces to the puzzle you are trying to solve about your United States ancestor. They are especially helpful in areas or time periods where few records of other types are available, like the southern United States before 1850.Most counties and some towns in the United States kept deed books, … [Read more...]
Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor’s Origin
Discovering your immigrant ancestor's origin can be exactly what you need to break through your genealogical brick walls! It can be deeply satisfying to discover where your international roots lie and trace your immigrant ancestor's origin. We've helpd many clients do this, and offer the following tips to help your trace your own lineage.Getting StartedOften family stories will provide clues about where your ancestors came from “way back when.” With or without that as a start, there … [Read more...]
Does Our Family Have a Coat of Arms?
Are you curious if your family has a coat of arms that you may be entitled to use?A coat of arms can be a neat thing to display on a wall or at a family reunion, and many people wonder if their family has one. Although selling coats of arms by surname has become a popular business, coats of arms in most countries were originally granted to individuals and were not inherited exactly as they were granted. They could be transmitted from father to son (and also to wives and daughters in some … [Read more...]
Writing Family Histories
Writing family histories is an exciting and fulfilling role! Here are our 5 tips for getting started, and making the most of this meaningful experience. Perhaps you’ve spent years gathering materials and information about your ancestors. You might have boxes of old photos, file folders of records, and a computer database bursting with names. Or maybe you are just getting interested in genealogy and would like to get to know your ancestors better. Writing a family history is a wonderful way to … [Read more...]
Genealogy by the Numbers
In a world where genealogy is increasing in popularity, we thought you'd be interested in a breakdown of genealogy by the numbers!Genealogy by the NumbersYou have two parents, four grandparents, and eight great-grandparents. If you count just the direct line ancestors, by the time you go back ten generations, you have 1,024 ancestors. Assuming that a generation is about 25 years, ten generations means going back 250 years to 1761. Then, if you figure that each family had an average of two … [Read more...]
Sweepstakes
October is Family History Month and we're excited to be celebrating it with you. Because we have such a passion and love for genealogy, we're happy to be giving away 20 hours of professional genealogy research to the winner. No purchase necessary. To enter simply fill out the form found here. … [Read more...]
Per What?! Making Sense of Beneficiary Designations
“Per Stirpes,” “Per Capita to Children,” and “Per Capita to Heirs”- in this article we explain beneficiary designations, with examples of each.“Per Stirpes,” “Per Capita to Children,” and “Per Capita to Heirs” – Small words with big meanings. Probate is often a challenging and confusing process. Sometimes, beneficiaries designated in a will can “pre-decease,” or die before, the person who wrote the will. What happens to the portion of the estate that would have gone to the pre-deceased person, … [Read more...]