Mayflower Genealogy: Finding Your Cousins Using Newspapers

Searching through GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives recently, I found this old newspaper announcement for Margaret (Rogers) Smith’s 81st birthday. Margaret Anne (Rogers) Smith (1857-1943) didn’t come to America on the Mayflower ship – but according to this newspaper article her ancestor Thomas Rogers (c. 1572-Winter 1620/21) did. Ding! Hey – I am also descended... (Read More)

William Mercer Married Five Sisters!

This has to be a record. It’s not uncommon for a young man to marry the girl next door – but in William Mercer’s case he married five of them, all sisters! He married the first of five of the Moffitt sisters, Jennie, when he was 19. After her death, he married in succession... (Read More)

Searching the Archives for Rufus, I Found Little Eugenie

Eugenie Caroline Kemp (1842-1845) was only three years old when she died – and until recently, I didn’t even know she had existed. I discovered her when I was doing a search in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives about one of my ancestors. I was searching for information about Rufus Crosby Kemp (1813-1856). My research... (Read More)

Civil War Nurse Mary Maxwell Featured in OGSQ

I received the latest copy of the Ohio Genealogical Society Quarterly (OGSQ) in the mail this week and was interested in the cover story about “Mary Francis (Stokes) Huddleston Maxwell, Civil War Nurse.” The article was written by Laurel Sheppard, the Assistant Editor of the OGSQ – who was assisted by Barbara Hart, Susan... (Read More)

A Special Family History Gift Fit for a Queen

What gift do you give to a nine-year-old queen? Why, a copy of your just-published book of family history, of course! We remember Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (1888-1962) as a kindly, matronly woman – but at age nine she received a special gift. What young lady wouldn’t be thrilled to receive her own... (Read More)

A Guide to Using Social Media for Genealogy

Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this blog article, Gena examines the various social media channels that exist for genealogy and shows how they can help your family history research. I remember the more recent “good old days” of genealogy. In those days, connecting... (Read More)

What’s a Third Cousin Anyway? Genealogy Tutorial Video

The Anaconda Standard reported this interesting case in 1901 of one of George Washington’s “third cousins” who had fallen on hard times. Per the news report, Miss Agnes Washington Fairchild, who was born in Fairfax, Virginia, had no means of support and had called on the “Supervisor of the Outdoor Poor” (now, that’s a... (Read More)