A Good Woman Can be Hard to Find…

It can be very difficult to find women in the early 19th Century – finding sources that actually give their names and genealogical details. It was common in the 19th century for genealogical sources to be brief and give only the basic information about a household in the census – or an entry in... (Read More)

Thank you GenealogyBank!

We get letters all the time from ecstatic genealogists who broke through their brick walls in GenealogyBank. Grateful letters that say – “Wow – I finally found him” in GenealogyBank … thank you, thank you. Tonight I received a “Wow – I finally found him” note from Jane Giavelli Lauhon. She wrote: Thank you... (Read More)

It’s a great day for genealogy!

It’s a great day for genealogy! And, it’s a particularly good day for me too!Today marks exactly 43 years since I started working in genealogy. Wow, it’s been fun. It was 26 July 1965 – in Stamford, CT – George B. Everton, Sr. (1904-1996) and his wife Ellen (Nielsen) Everton (1902-1987) were conducting a... (Read More)

This just in – Viewer Mail

Hi Tom, I really do need to share with you GenealogyBank‘s latest contribution to my family history research! I really do love GenealogyBank. Without it, I would not know about the accident that caused the death of my grandmother’s youngest brother. Nor would I have known when it occurred. Nor would I have found... (Read More)

Halvor Moorshead Retires

For more than two decades Halvor Moorshead has been in the forefront of genealogy. Consistently on target his four publications Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy, History Magazine and his newest title Discovering Family History are the best in the field. Readable and useful, you save each issue, mark them up and act on the suggestions,... (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)

James L. Sorenson – DNA Pioneer Dies at 86

James L. Sorenson, a pioneer in DNA research has died. A self-made billionaire, he used his wealth in many causes. Genealogists in particular are aware of his efforts with DNA and genealogy. In 1999 he started the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation. The group has collected more than 70,000 DNA samples, together with four-generation pedigree... (Read More)