Obituaries often celebrate lives well lived—but rarely with the enthusiasm this recent obituary does. His obituary states: “Sal measured out at 73 1/2 inches, and a bouncing 232 pounds, 9 ounces.” After reading a few lines from Salvatore’s obituary, you quickly realize that he was someone very special to many people. His newspaper obituary... (Read More)
I was born in New Hampshire and my family has lived there for the past 350+ years. I probably have a cousin in every town in the state. This is especially true in Sanbornton, New Hampshire—I don’t think I could throw a rock there in any direction and not hit a relative. So—I use... (Read More)
There is more than one way to find your relatives in GenealogyBank’s massive archive of Recent Obituaries. I’ve noticed that genealogists often go to the Recent Obituaries collection when they are researching a specific relative that died in the past 40 years. They search, find them and go. But wait—there’s more. There is another... (Read More)
FamilySearch International (FamilySearch.org) and GenealogyBank (GenealogyBank.com) today announced an agreement to make over a billion records from historical obituaries searchable online. It will be the largest—and perhaps most significant—online U.S. historical records access initiative yet. Find out more at: https://www.genealogybank.com/family-search/ The tremendous undertaking will make a billion records from over 100 million U.S. newspaper... (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)
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)
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)
Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this guest blog post, Gena takes a close look at obituaries and funeral notices and shows how the other names mentioned—survivors of the deceased, pall bearers, those sending flowers, etc., provide important clues that can steer your family... (Read More)
Genealogists love their ancestors—as well as the fact that important family history connections are often mentioned in recent obituaries. Have you ever noticed how common it is for these recent obituaries to describe the name of their ancestor who came over on the Mayflower ship or fought in the American Revolutionary War? Use those... (Read More)
Get Helpful, Usable Tips for Your Genealogy Research.
Get Helpful, Usable Tips for Your Genealogy Research.