Him Mark Lai – 麥禮謙 (1925-2009)

Him Mark Lai – 麥禮謙 (1925-2009), noted Chinese-American genealogist and local historian has passed away. Edition: 5 star Page: B5(c) San Francisco Chronicle 2009. Reprinted here with permission. by Carl Nolte. Him Mark Lai, a noted historian of the Chinese American experience, died at his San Francisco home on May 21 after suffering from... (Read More)

Passenger Lists to America

Newspapers routinely published the list of passengers on board ships bound to and from America. Here are just a few examples of the thousands of passenger lists published in newspapers that can be found in GenealogyBank. Newspapers published not just lists of immigrants coming to America but also regularly published passenger lists of American’s... (Read More)

Genealogist Obituaries – genealogists in 11 states pass away

Genealogists in 11 states pass away. CT, MA, MI, MN, NH, OK, PA, TN, UT, WA, WV Bell, Frederick R. (1945-2009) Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA) – May 6, 2009 Brown, Robert Arthur. (1927-2009) Knoxville News Sentinel (TN) – May 6, 2009 Carrington, Hiram D., Jr. (1930-2009) Republican-American (Waterbury, CT) – May 5, 2009 Church, James.... (Read More)

Genealogist, Mary Sue Green Smith (1933-2009)

Prominent Nashville, TN genealogist, Mary Sue Green Smith (1933-2009) has passed away. She was President of the Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society. She published eight books between 1994 and 2006; mostly reference works to be used in tracing one’s roots in Nashville. She indexed tens of thousands of pre-Civil War civil court records, which added... (Read More)

‘Great American Success Story’ – William & James Ledford

We receive “fan mail” every day – this letter was so good I wanted to share it. _____________________________________________ Tom, I’ve been working, several months, on an ‘Great American Success Story’. William L. Ledford and his brother James E. Ledford were born in the mid 1840’s in Cherokee County, NC. by the time they were... (Read More)

GenealogyBank celebrates 2nd Anniversary

GenealogyBank is celebrating its second year of service to genealogists! Join with us and celebrate! We’ll be “Two” on October 18th. How time flies. It has been a wonderful two years! We have loved receiving your fan mail and sharing in your success stories. We’re happy for your amazing finds and knowing the special... (Read More)

A Good Woman Can be Hard to Find…

It can be very difficult to find women in the early 19th Century – finding sources that actually give their names and genealogical details. It was common in the 19th century for genealogical sources to be brief and give only the basic information about a household in the census – or an entry in... (Read More)