Easter Sunrise Services: A Brief History

Easter sunrise services have been held for centuries. According to Wikipedia, the earliest recorded sunrise service was held in 1732 in Germany. Easter sunrise services – often coupled with an early morning breakfast – have also been an American tradition since the 1700s. The Moravian Church Easter sunrise service, held annually since 1772 in... (Read More)

Are You Sure That Is How to Spell Your Ancestor’s Name?

Portraits of my Starbird ancestors hang on our wall on the landing at the top of the staircase. Over the years I have chained the family back from Martha Jane (Starbird) Richmond (1836-1905) to Robert Starbird (1782- ) to Moses Starbird (1743-1815) to John Starbird (1701-1753) to Thomas Starbird (1660-1723). All of them lived... (Read More)

New Family Story Find: My 18th Century Uncle Jonathan Dore

Last year I wrote about my relative Elizabeth (Meader) Hanson (1684-1737) who, along with her children, was kidnapped by Abenaki Indians on 7 September 1724 and taken to the Indians’ village along the St. Francis River in Canada. They were held there for over two years. (See: Find & Preserve Your Family’s Stories.) Powerful.... (Read More)

Tarbell Sisters’ Civil War Feud Finally Ended—in 1922!

While many genealogical records can provide names and dates for your family tree, newspapers give you something more: actual stories about your ancestors’ lives, so that you can get to know them as real people and learn about the times in which they lived. Here’s an example of a newspaper preserving a remarkable family... (Read More)

Tell us your success story.

We hear from GenealogyBank researchers all the time about their success in finding their family in historical newspapers and documents. Do you have an interesting story to tell?Would you be willing to be interviewed about it?If so, please contact me directly at: TKemp@NewsBank.com We want to hear from you. Here is what others have... (Read More)

Genealogy Boot Camp: Getting Started

OK Team – it’s time to get down to basics and make sure we haven’t missed clues and information that would help us to accurately document our family tree. Welcome to Genealogy Boot Camp: Core training Day 1. Home SourcesOK recruits – you will need the basic equipment. First – get that old laundry... (Read More)

GenealogyBank – Where Everybody Knows Your Name

I had a basic question yesterday that reminded me of one of the core values of GenealogyBank – it’s flexible search engine. A woman wrote asking for the obituary notice of her father – who had died in December 2008 – but she had not included her father’s name. So I wrote back asking... (Read More)

I am not finding my great-grandfather, what do I do now?

The steady flow of newspapers, records and documents going online on GenealogyBank gives family historians a lot to search and comb through. These newspapers and documents were published over the past 3 centuries – so sometimes it takes a little detective work to find our ancestors. Here are a few tips:1. First search for... (Read More)

I can’t find my ancestor – what am I doing wrong?

For most searches on GenealogyBank it is easy to find your ancestor. You type in their name and in an instant you spot them in the search results list. So – what do you do when your ancestor’s name doesn’t come right up in the search hits?Just like any other genealogical resource you need... (Read More)