Are You Sure That Is How to Spell Your Ancestor’s Name?

Portraits of my Starbird ancestors hang on our wall on the landing at the top of the staircase. Over the years I have chained the family back from Martha Jane (Starbird) Richmond (1836-1905) to Robert Starbird (1782- ) to Moses Starbird (1743-1815) to John Starbird (1701-1753) to Thomas Starbird (1660-1723). All of them lived... (Read More)

New Family Story Find: My 18th Century Uncle Jonathan Dore

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)

Tarbell Sisters’ Civil War Feud Finally Ended—in 1922!

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)

How Did You Get Started as a Genealogist? Share Your Story with Us!

A Louisiana newspaper in 1853 said of family historians that “their memory is a forest planted with genealogical trees.” How true that is!Daily Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), 25 October 1853, page 5. After years of family history research many genealogists have had all types of “Eureka!” moments and breakthroughs, when they found a particular... (Read More)

Family History Expos – Georgia 2011

Georgia Family History Expo – Duluth, Georgia 2011 Over 400 genealogists gathered in Duluth, Georgia, for the annual Family History Expo held at the Gwinnett Center on Nov. 11-12, 2011. Now in its second year, this conference has the size and feel of a national conference. There were over 60 informative family history sessions... (Read More)

Genealogy Boot Camp – Quick Tips

Genealogy Boot Camp Here are a few tips that every genealogist should know.Using an online index Researchers using an online index sometimes try to tell the computer everything they know about their deceased ancestor.Assuming that the computer will sort through all of the facts and narrow down the hits to just their ancestor –... (Read More)

Marriage Announcements –

Get the most out of GenealogyBank! (J. Stewart wedding – 1903, Nekoma, ND. LOC.gov) Whether you’re looking for a wedding announcement published on July 22, 1802, July 22, 1862 or July 22,1962 – GenealogyBank is your comprehensive source. I didn’t know that was in GenealogyBank! (Dallas (TX) Morning News – 22 July 1962)(Maine Eagle... (Read More)

A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y

I am often asked: Do you have Canadian newspapers in GenealogyBank?Well, no we don’t – but that’s not the question you want to ask. GenealogyBank has over 3,800 newspapers – all of them published in the United States – but it has several million articles, records and documents on Canadians. Tip: I have been... (Read More)

Wow – I love GenealogyBank.

We routinely hear from genealogists telling about their success – “Wow, look what I found!” We really love to hear those stories and today it is my turn. Last week I was stunned to find that one of my cousins had posted early photographs of our family online. There they were – the actual... (Read More)