Introduction: In this article, Scott Phillips turns to old newspapers to research the history of St. Valentine’s Day—and shares a personal Valentine’s Day story. Scott is a genealogical historian and owner of Onward To Our Past® genealogy services. Nothing much beats holidays as a way to get everyone talking about family, memories, stories, and... (Read More)
Introduction: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary explains some of the unusual or archaic terms often found in historical newspapers, and provides examples from period newspapers. When I first started searching historical newspapers to help with my family history research, certain... (Read More)
The War of 1812 had been over for more than a year, and Catharine Logan had heard nothing from her husband or son since they marched off to fight the British in the summer of 1812. For four years she’d been waiting and hoping for news about her missing family…so she wrote a letter... (Read More)
Fort Johnson in South Carolina was no different from Army bases across the country. From time to time soldiers deserted, as these men did on 3 January 1810. Captain A.B. Armistead wanted them back—and so he ran a newspaper ad offering “ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD for six Deserters, who deserted from this post on... (Read More)
Introduction: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary writes about two discoveries she made relating to Robert “Believe It or Not!” Ripley, and invites readers to join her in breaking through a brick wall in Ripley’s family history. There is a wealth... (Read More)
In this article, Scott Phillips writes about how old newspapers helped to connect two of his favorite passions: food and family... (Read More)
Scott Phillips shows the method he uses at the end of each year to evaluate the genealogy tools and resources he used, to help prepare for the new year... (Read More)
Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this guest blog post, Gena describes how old newspaper articles about your ancestor’s divorce can provide valuable family history information to help with your genealogical searches. I am always surprised when people assume life was so much better... (Read More)
This decisive battle of the Civil War was fought in and around Nashville, Tennessee, 148 years ago, on 15-16 December 1864. Union General George H. Thomas, the “Rock of Chickamauga,” commanded the Federal troops who soundly defeated the Confederate army under the command of General John Bell Hood. The Battle of Nashville was the... (Read More)
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