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)

How to deal with heirloom, oversize portraits

This weekend’s Wall Street Journal (February 14-15, 2009 pp. R6) has a terrific article by Kathleen A. Hughes – “The Person over the Mantle”.   Hughes tells the experiences of families in preserving and displaying their old family portraits and her own change of heart in displaying the image of her 3rd Great Grandmother,... (Read More)

Congratulations to my cousin Sarah Heath Palin!

Genealogists will love the fact that the new Republican choice for Vice President – Sarah Heath Palin is a descendant of multiple Mayflower passengers: John Tilley, John Howland, Stephen Hopkins, Elder William Brewster, Richard Warren and other well known New England families.   I am also descended from those Mayflower passengers …. so we’re... (Read More)

Wild Bill Obama

May 27th was Wild Bill Hickok’s day – I wrote about how easy it is to find newspaper articles about him in GenealogyBank. Wild Bill Hickok is in the news again – when Barack Obama mentioned his family tradition that he was a distant cousin to Wild Bill – James Butler Hickok (1837-1876).  ... (Read More)

Newspapers are terrific!

Newspapers are terrific! They give us the real details of our ancestor’s lives. This week I found an article about the estate sale for my first cousin, Thomas Huse (1742/43-1816). It was published in the Newburyport (MA) Herald, 16 July 1816. Everything was being sold – his household effects; a covered sleigh; ox cart,... (Read More)