My goodness it has been awhile! I promise you all I haven’t forgotten about my genealogy community, I’ve just been busy with two things: parenting a teen (argh), and tackling my goal to write up almost 30 years of research. I have tons of topics to blog about, but only so many hours in the […]
You are browsing archives for
Category: Records, Resources and Tools
The Value of Court Records
Court records can expand our family research in unexpected ways. We often spend decades of our lives researching our roots and only pension records come close to the amazing finds I’ve had in the many records of the court. Here’s a great example of how doing reasonably exhaustive research (which includes relevant court records at […]
Good Work at the Post Office
Almost every family has an ancestor or relative who worked for the U.S. Post Office. Shown above is a nice photo of my cousin Eugene Prather in his postal uniform with one of his co-workers. Lately, I’ve been revisiting the post office records I got from the National Archives in Washington, DC about 20 years […]
Using Ledgers and Account Books
Recently, I got re-acquainted with the joys of a little utilized genealogical source: the store ledger. A wonderful local historian in Somerset County, Maryland shared ledger pages of a store in the community where my Eastern Shore ancestors lived for over 150 years. Here is a ledger page showing the 1859 purchases of “John Waters […]
WWI Soldier Pictures and More
Soldier William Dumas of Wilcox Co., Alabama, died between 8 March and 15 November 1918 while at Camp McClennan, AL. His family sent in the picture above and filled out a biographical questionnaire about his life. But that wasn’t the only picture they sent. They also submitted this: The letter enclosed with the photo describes […]
The Tough Stuff of History for Genealogi...
The 13 volumes of the Ku-Klux Congressional Testimony (part of the Serial Set) illustrate well the continuing divide in our country. I blogged about these records in 2016. These records are an incredible source of information for all genealogists trying to understand the issues at stake during Reconstruction, issues that extend into today. Hundreds of […]
Enslaved Ancestor Found Using 1914 Ad
It was while recently writing about Mike Fendricks’ family that I made one of the biggest discoveries in 25 years. I recovered the identity of my 2nd great-grandmother, an enslaved woman named Salina Sherrod. It was my favorite gift this year! This discovery illustrated two concepts I often recommend. First, everyone should write up their […]
Those Doggone Nicknames
My collateral ancestor Mintie was called by her middle name Lucinda in almost every record during her lifetime *except* the bible record above and one census: Nicknames, middle names and initials will get you every time in genealogical research. They still get me every now and then and it kinda drives me just a little […]
Why You Must Use JSTOR In Your Genealogy
If you aren’t using JSTOR already for your genealogical research, you will be once you finish reading this post. I absolutely love this resource. JSTOR is a database of academic journals, books, and primary sources. As such, it contains thousands of articles on subjects directly relevant to genealogical research. Articles might be 4 pages or […]
Finding That Maiden Name
Finding the maiden names of wives is a problem all researchers will face sooner or later. When marriage records are missing there are several strategies we can use to uncover these names. Death Certificates We can use the records of a couple’s children to uncover information about that couple. I have used this in every […]