Do you have an old family journal or diary from your ancestor? What are you doing with it? Curt Balmer transcribed his great-grandfather’s journal. The old journal is a record of John Balmer (1819-1898) and Margaret Ann (Carey) Balmer (1831-1890). The Balmers were born in Ireland and moved to Ontario, Canada. John’s journal recorded... (Read More)
Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this guest blog post, Gena searches old newspapers to investigate the murder mystery of Louise Bailey back in 1914. “If she is innocent, may God help her.” ~ Mrs. Duryea Imagine a story that involves jealousy, murder, and... (Read More)
Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this guest blog post, Gena addresses the problem that it’s often hard to find information about our ancestors when they were children. One solution? Look for their participation in fashion and coloring paper doll contests run by newspapers.... (Read More)
The other day I asked myself: what can I realistically find about my relatives in GenealogyBank? How many details about my family can I discover? So I decided to find out by searching GenealogyBank’s historical newspaper archives for a family member we know little about: Madge E. Richmond (1866-1942). Her Career as a Teacher... (Read More)
How many stories can a family remember and pass down? Some of the great family stories from the past were not recorded and have been forgotten. Time after time genealogists have found amazing stories in their ancestry research that they never knew about their family. Look at what we learn from the obituary of... (Read More)
Scott Phillips explains how he adds the “5 Ws” (Who, What, When, Where & Why) of newspaper journalism to enliven his family history research... (Read More)
We are all grateful for our mothers—but Tony Cavallo of Lawrenceville, Georgia, has been especially grateful for his mom, Mrs. Angela Cavallo. Friday 11 April 1982 was a day like any other. Tony Cavallo was in the driveway fixing his 1964 Chevy Impala. Suddenly the jack collapsed and he was knocked unconscious, pinned under... (Read More)
Chillicothe, Ohio, was the state’s first capital—from 1803-1810—and then it became Ohio’s third capital from1812-1816. GenealogyBank has that early period of “The Buckeye State’s” history covered with four Chillicothe newspapers from 1801 to 1839. Wait— Chillicothe was Ohio’s first and third capital? Why did the capital of Ohio change so much? In the 1800s... (Read More)
It was a happy day in 1914 when Clevelanders learned that a cache of old city photos had been found. A photograph, after all, is worth a thousand words—and these old Cleveland, Ohio, photographs told quite a story about the city’s development. This massive collection of more than 5,000 negatives had been taken over... (Read More)
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