Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this guest blog post, Gena writes about the value of a resource in newspapers that is often overlooked by genealogists: the classified ads. “Be sure to drink your Ovaltine. Ovaltine? A crummy commercial.”—Ralphie Parker from the movie A... (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)
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)
While many genealogical records can provide names and dates for your family tree, newspapers give you something more: actual stories about your ancestors’ lives, so that you can get to know them as real people and learn about the times in which they lived. Here’s an example of a newspaper preserving a remarkable family... (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)
When using newspapers to find family history information, look at the entire paper—don’t stop with just the obvious articles such as obituaries and marriage notices. Look at all of the articles. Genealogy is everywhere in a newspaper: even in the social columns, as in the following example. Briefs, Locals, Chatter—social columns have different headings... (Read More)
Here are three quick tips to help you research and document your family history. These handy genealogy research tips will help you become more efficient using GenealogyBank. Genealogy Research Tip 1: How to Print Newspaper Articles GenealogyBank makes it easy to print out any of its newspaper articles using the site’s printing tools. Read... (Read More)
So few family stories are passed down and preserved by folks today. People are busy earning a living and dealing with the demands of 21st century lives. In addition, many families now find themselves spread across the country. It can be difficult for the rising generation to hear the old family stories from their... (Read More)
We’ve all heard that saying before. Conventional wisdom tells us: “you can’t take it with you when you go.” But Nelson A. Brucker of Deadwood, South Dakota, did. He made arrangements before he died to have his money buried with him in an unmarked grave “in a secluded spot in the hills near his... (Read More)