Introduction: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary talks about how valuable state archives can be for your family history research, and describes how to access them. If you’re looking for an exciting resource to help with your genealogical research, I recommend... (Read More)
Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this guest blog post, Gena writes about an unusual—but a personal favorite—source of family history information: ephemera. As I research my family history I look forward to finding unusual sources that reveal different aspects of my ancestor’s life... (Read More)
With Thanksgiving just six days away, I thought I would search for any articles in GenealogyBank’s archives that mentioned Dr. Samuel Fuller—who was one of my Mayflower ancestors. I searched putting the terms “Mayflower Samuel Fuller” in the “Include Keywords” search box. Bang—GenealogyBank returned over 1,800 records. That’s great; I can spend a long... (Read More)
Introduction: In this article, Mary Harrell-Sesniak shows how to determine the date of undated, Civil War-era family photographs using revenue stamps affixed to the back of the picture. Mary is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. Do you have Civil War-era photographs of your ancestors that are undated? As this... (Read More)
State laws required that a legal notice of a probate action be posted in local newspapers. This was the state’s method to get the word out to all interested parties that an estate was going to be disbursed to the heirs and creditors. These legal requirements varied across the country, but we can reasonably... (Read More)
Keep your research simple. Knowing the first step to take when doing your family history searches can save you time and effort. Here’s one good genealogy search tip to keep in mind: target your relatives using GenealogyBank’s online Social Security Death Index. What if you know that your family has lived in a certain... (Read More)
Want to search the local newspapers from only one state, city or town? It is easy to do that in GenealogyBank. In the middle of GenealogyBank’s homepage is a list of all 50 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia. Simply pick the state you want to focus your genealogy research on. In this... (Read More)
Beginning genealogists sometimes write us and say: “I put in the correct information for my search—full name including middle name, birth date, last known place of residence, etc.—everything I know about my ancestor, and yet I found no matching records. I did this search for a few other ancestors after I was told that... (Read More)
Finding an old photograph or illustration of your ancestors, their house, or something else associated with their lives and times can be a highlight of your genealogy research. It is exciting to see the faces and places that are a part of your family’s history. Have you noticed that many historical newspaper articles are... (Read More)
Get Helpful, Usable Tips for Your Genealogy Research.
Get Helpful, Usable Tips for Your Genealogy Research.