Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this guest blog post, Gena searches old newspapers to investigate the murder mystery of Louise Bailey back in 1914. “If she is innocent, may God help her.” ~ Mrs. Duryea Imagine a story that involves jealousy, murder, and... (Read More)
Genealogists know the frustration of tracking down your Irish immigrant ancestor’s birth, marriage or death certificate, hoping that it will be the document that finally tells you where in Ireland your family came from—only to be disappointed once again. So many census registrars simply wrote “Ireland” on the form, giving no additional clues about... (Read More)
Finding the town or county where your family came from in the “Old Country” can be difficult. That’s where Irish American newspapers can really help you locate your ancestor’s place of birth when researching your ancestry from Ireland. For example, look at this 1859 obituary from an old Irish American newspaper: This typical historical... (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)
Do you have a genealogy question? Have you hit a brick wall in your genealogy research? Need help? Write our free “Ask the Genealogist” service and let’s see what we can find out for you about your family history. And, hey—would you help us out and “Like” us on Facebook, and ask your friends... (Read More)
With Mother’s Day just past and Father’s Day approaching, genealogists would love to have a complete family history—to find and document all the members of their family. And—as the following family story illustrates–so would the police! Richard Dugdale (1841-1883) was studying prisoners for the Prison Association of New York. In reviewing the prison inmates... (Read More)
Genealogy Research Tip: Don’t judge a book by its cover. Carefully read every genealogy record of your ancestor’s life—you never know what you will find. I recently made some surprising discoveries about the Morse family after digging deep into genealogy records online. I found the obituary of Daniel Morse, published in the Cherry Valley... (Read More)
Last week I spotted the unusual story of a man saved from dying in a shipwreck in the middle of the night when he spotted a floating box—it turned out to be his wife’s coffin that he was bringing home for burial! The newspaper article containing this incredible survival story was printed by the... (Read More)
From the earliest days of the nation our presidents and governors have proclaimed annual days of “publick Thanksgiving and Prayer” in gratitude for their families, lives and success in the New World.Then as now we pause as families gather to give thanks. Lucky for us many of these holiday family gatherings were recorded in... (Read More)
Get Helpful, Usable Tips for Your Genealogy Research.
Get Helpful, Usable Tips for Your Genealogy Research.