Eleanor Roosevelt, Norman Rockwell & Steve McQueen Obituaries

During this November week in American history a famous First Lady, a painter, and an actor died: Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, American First Lady, died at 78 on 7 November 1962 Norman Perceval Rockwell, American painter, died at 84 on 8 November 1978 Terence Steven “Steve” McQueen, American actor, died at 50 on 7 November... (Read More)

How to Scan, Save & Share Your Family Photographs Online

The digital age is a new world for genealogists. We need to have not only research skills but the ability to scan and digitally preserve the many documents and photographs that we use daily. This gives us the 21st century opportunity to add the actual genealogical documents and even photographs of our deceased relatives... (Read More)

Photo: a replica of the North River Steamboat, invented by Robert Fulton in 1807. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Who Really Invented the Steamboat? Fitch, Rumsey or Fulton?

Introduction: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary uses old newspapers to research the invention of the steamboat—and describes how much steamboats changed our ancestors’ world. The invention of the steamboat radically changed our ancestors’ world. While researching your ancestors’ lives in... (Read More)

October 1880 Snowstorm Began ‘The Snow Winter’

This photograph was taken in March 1881 of a train passing through snow-covered Minnesota in the worst snow season ever recorded there. The snow season started with a storm in October 1880 and it just kept on snowing until March of 1881. It was one of the Midwest’s worst-ever snow seasons, with multiple blizzards... (Read More)