Introduction: In this blog post, Mary Harrell-Sesniak talks about how important it is to try many variations when using keywords for your genealogy searches—and explains how helpful a thesaurus is for finding those variations. Mary is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. A thesaurus is a marvelous writing tool—and an... (Read More)
Do you have old family traditions, places and/or heirlooms? Like Abe Lincoln, did your family live in a log cabin? Do you have a picture of it? If you are related to Robert Dalton of Palo Pinto County, Texas, then GenealogyBank’s newspaper collection has a photograph of their old log cabin (built in the... (Read More)
Last year I wrote about Internet Archive, spiking it out as one of the top genealogy websites online. Recently there has been a new development that I wanted to alert you to. Kalev H. Leetaru, the Yahoo! Fellow in Residence of International Values, Communications Technology, has used his position to mine the old images... (Read More)
I am always looking at Kemps, wanting to know if they are related to me or not. Since Kemp is a pretty rare surname, I like to pull recent “Kemp” obituaries and trace back their family line to see if the person is a relative of mine. If he is—terrific; I’ll add his line... (Read More)
William Walcutt was there—a stalwart throughout the American Revolutionary War. He enlisted at Valley Forge 7 May 1778 “while yet a youth.” He was only 17 years old, having turned 17 just a month and a half earlier. When he died at the age of 73, his one-paragraph obituary detailed his military service during... (Read More)
Recently, I checked in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives for a few of my Sawyer relatives in Grafton County, New Hampshire—and didn’t find them. Bummer. When I search in GenealogyBank and do not find my target relatives, I make a quick note to try again in a few weeks to see if I can find... (Read More)
Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this blog post, Gena talks about the five worst mistakes she made when she first began researching her family tree—and offers advice to help other genealogists avoid those same errors. How long have you been researching your family... (Read More)
Newspapers have been publishing obituaries for hundreds of years, making it easy for bereaved family and friends to learn the details of the life of the deceased as well as the funeral arrangements. GenealogyBank has put this information from the past 300 years online, allowing genealogists to find their relatives within a few clicks.... (Read More)
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)
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Get Helpful, Usable Tips for Your Genealogy Research.