Jim Thorpe – Born May 28, 1888

We all heard the stories of Jim Thorpe – the world’s greatest athlete – while we were growing up.   The newspapers & movies regularly carried stories about him and he was even featured on a box of Wheaties. (photo – NC Museum of History).   He loved to compete. He enjoyed the battle... (Read More)

Birth Announcements – newspapers are packed with them

Newspapers have been announcing births since the 1700s. It is common to see birth notices in newspapers all across the country, like this one for triplets born to “Mrs. Rust of Wolfeboro, NH” in 1796. It appeared in the Massachusetts Mercury 14 Oct 1796. You’ll find millions of births recorded in newspapers on GenealogyBank... (Read More)

1st genealogy published in America – 7 May 1724

The first genealogy published in America appeared in a newspaper 284 years ago – today – May 7, 1724.   It appeared in the American Weekly Mercury. It was a genealogy of King Philip V of Spain. Genealogy articles routinely appeared in colonial newspapers. The first genealogy published in book form was in 1771... (Read More)

Jacquelyn Ladd Ricker – 1935-2008

Long time office manager of the Connecticut Society of Genealogists has passed away. A prolific genealogist and writer – she was a long time presence in Connecticut genealogical circles. She is best known for her republication of the Barbour Index to Connecticut Vital Records which was issued as a CD-ROM under the title: The... (Read More)

War of 1812 POW List

The War of 1812 ended 193 years ago with the US ratification of the Treaty of Ghent on 12 Feb 1815. But even before the war was over the two sides were exchanging prisoners of war. One of the problems and underlying causes of the war was British impressments of former British subjects who... (Read More)

A soldier’s last letter ….

“What have I done I asked myself, to deserve to be remembered by strangers in a town in which I had never been…”   You can almost hear him ask that now, over 100 years later as we remember him.   Corporal Wilson Mcpherson Osbon (1877-1899) wrote the letter on 28 Dec 1898, in... (Read More)

It’s February and Valentine’s Day is almost here.

GenealogyBank is off to a great start this month. It added 2.9 Million new records and documents – bringing the collection to well over 216 Million documents – that’s an estimated 1.5 Billion names. GenealogyBank added content for 41 newspapers from 20 States including titles like: Springfield (MA) Republican 1861-1909 Boston Journal (1870-1899)Philadelphia North... (Read More)

Finding People with Common Names

Finding people with unusual names can be very difficult but it is easy to find them on GenealogyBank. Today I was looking for Henry B. Platter and his good wife, Rachel (Bittinger) Platter. The Bittingers are my cousins and many of them are from Garrett County, Maryland. Now, Platter is an unusual name. It... (Read More)