tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214Thu, 24 May 2012 06:53:38 +0000heir researchcourt recordsDave BrubeckHinduPersoffReba McEntirePrussiaChinaSacramento Genealogical SocietyimmigrationMayflowerNPRCGeorge WashingtonSwedishU.S. Holocaust Memorial MuseumAbraham Lincolnblack genealogyKobrinspreadsheetsSelf Publishing PressIrish researchAmerican Jewish CommitteeFamily History Daygenetic testingCyrillicSellersVancouverAntiques RoadshowArmstrongMcLaughlinpostcardsSmithsonianSundermeierMecklerCalifornia State Archivesvoter registrationsveteransGesher GaliciaManatee Countywar brideweddingsSteve BuscemiUSCNorth CarolinacemeteriesDNALippincottVeterans DayVirginiaSan Leandro Public LibraryNBCChristmasCornwallmug shotsClara BartonVanessa WilliamsStradlingBritish EmpireSteve LuxenbergChinese JewsGenealogical Society of Santa Cruz CountyarchivesFloridaorphan heirloomHelen HuntBraininNorwegianAncestry DaySFGenealogyoral historyMartin SheenSchneidermanSpainColmaslaveryCivil War1000Memories.comliving relativesSFBAJGSU.S. NavyNowickibloggingJamaicaWelikowskyMegan SmolenyakArmistice DayStoryCorpsEnglandcookingpassportWorks Progress AdministrationRuhlebenEdie FalcoNapa ValleyKorean WarRita WilsonMooreMcKenneyWilkersonFold3.comstate censusesThanksgivingdocumentaryadvertisingfamily namesmilitaryGauntLoving DayFamily History Centercohabitation registerPurple HeartCalifornia Genealogical SocietyCubaCairo genizahbirthdaysnewspaper researchWikipediaEastmanPeggy BaldwinAshley JuddEckmanWorld War IIManhattanWilliam BrewsterSarasotaSutro LibraryKamyanets PodilskyyWisconsinYad VashemTriangle FireFInlandCouncil for the Advancement of Forensic GenealogyInternational Jewish Genealogy MonthIndiaLincoln BrigadeInternet ArchiveOwenadoptionpensionsCameroonMargery BellConcord FHCSCCHGSOrange OrderGer Mandolin OrchestraNew York Citywomen's suffrageNARAThe GalitzianerMcGoggySVCGGCSGADepartment of DefenseLAFDMagnes CollectionFarrierSubmarine ForceJFCSZichronNoteAppletonHistory DetectivesAlien FilesMarisa Tomeibar mitzvahJaffeMaimonidesFinding Your RootsBurlington CountyIrelandMother's DayDutchcalendarIIJGWDYTYAconsent to marryphotographsJRI-PolandRosie O'Donnelloral interviewspartisansFrancefellowshipCaldwellKardishGaunttSandhupreservationAustraliaYiddish Book CenterJerome BettisNapoleonLeesongenealogy happy dancegenealogy educationKatzDays of RemembrancefamilyParisRestingSpotHolocaustSan Francisco History ExpoAfricaBene IsraelMark GlickmanBlog Action Daysperm donorsHolzmindenMuseum of Jewish HeritageSinghKim Cattrallland recordsDunstanItaly1920'sMilesTim McGrawORFHCArmenianSusan SarandonBulgariaMiamiNew JerseyConcordeJewishobituariesRussiaDead Sea ScrollsUSCISEasterLoreAngel IslandBowencity directoriesSaxSmallTownPapers.comCraig SiulinskiAlaskaAAGSNCLovelandLincolnArchivesSteve MorseBrodyhaggadahHong Konggenealogisttax listsGordonmemorialprisoners of warTitanicGreece1940 CensusAPGCatholicyoung genealogistsPerlmanJohn MuirinternshipIAJGSTemple SinaiYelskyFamilySearchmurderGermanSikhblogiversaryNewspaperCatCharlestonGwyneth PaltrowPassoverUniversity of the Pacificlocation-based genealogywomenmah jonggchildrenWilliam of OrangePBSresearchonline researchBelgiumrecordsGorodetskyCaliforniaJTAFamily History ExpoSan Joaquin Genealogical SocietyWordless Wednesdayfive generationsGreat MigrationJewish Community LibraryManchesterGermanygay parentsValentine's DayTom LantostranscriptionEisenhowerfoodDanishSan FranciscodateshistoryCHPLionel RichieBlair UnderwoodmapsgatheringsRAOGKvolunteersGenealogy is like a jigsaw puzzle, but you don't have the box top, so you don't know what the picture is supposed to look like. As you start putting the puzzle together, you realize some pieces are missing, and eventually you figure out that some of the pieces you started with don't actually belong to this puzzle. I'll help you discover the right pieces for your puzzle and assemble them into a picture of your family.http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)Blogger241125AncestralDiscoverieshttp://feedburner.google.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-4287070613420032033Thu, 24 May 2012 06:53:00 +00002012-05-23T23:53:38.944-07:00Cairo genizahJewishDead Sea ScrollsMark GlickmanJewish Community LibraryMaimonides Ben Ezra Synagogue The 1896 discovery of almost 300,000 documents in the genizah (repository for damaged and destroyed Jewish texts) of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo, Egypt revealed information about Jewish history, Islamic history, and more.  The find included Dead Sea Scrolls, writings from Maimonides, and early manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible.  The collection is still being studied todayhttp://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/05/cairo-genizah-may-31.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-6673910274778955358Wed, 23 May 2012 14:41:00 +00002012-05-23T07:41:10.010-07:00SellersNew JerseyWordless Wednesday http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/05/wordless-wednesday_23.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-6557509472356896899Wed, 23 May 2012 07:07:00 +00002012-05-23T00:07:03.748-07:00NARAAlien FilesSFBAJGSUSCISTom Lantos Tom Lantos Tuesday a group of about 100 people gathered at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) regional branch in San Bruno, California, to celebrate the release to the public of A- (Alien) Files.  In addition, the research area of the building was dedicated to and named for the late U.S. Representative Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor to have served in the U.S.http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/05/tom-lantos-research-center-named-alien.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-4816573243613458807Tue, 22 May 2012 14:06:00 +00002012-05-22T07:06:28.912-07:00San FranciscocemeteriesColmaAPG On Sunday, May 20, several members of the Northern California chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists met at the Colma Historical Association for a tour of several of the cemeteries.  The tour leader was Pat Hatfield of the historical association.  She and two more volunteers from the association took us on a whirlwind cross-city jaunt that lasted more than three hours. Colma http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/05/day-in-land-of-dead.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-4010283072232303380Wed, 16 May 2012 15:08:00 +00002012-05-16T08:08:11.110-07:00BowenLovelandSellersThanksgivingNew JerseyWordless Wednesday http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/05/wordless-wednesday_16.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-5556059739679510292Tue, 15 May 2012 14:24:00 +00002012-05-15T07:24:33.628-07:00 It's always especially fun for me when I start research on a new family, because I tend to find a lot of records fairly quickly and the discoveries come fast and furious.  And when the research is in areas that are new to me, I learn interesting new things. In this family, the paternal grandfather was from East Friesland, an area of Germany considered to be somewhat backward and populated withhttp://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/05/so-where-did-you-say-east-friesland-was.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-6633673625873354836Mon, 14 May 2012 05:37:00 +00002012-05-13T22:38:14.216-07:00JewishSarasotaManatee CountyFlorida Temple Beth Sholom, Sarasota Do you have any family connection with Sarasota or Manatee County, Florida?  Resident Kimberly Sheintal is currently compiling a photographic history of Jewish Sarasota-Manatee and is looking for your help! Do you have old photographs or vintage postcards?  Do you have relatives who lived there?  Are you knowledgeable about the area's history? Kimberly is http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/05/search-for-photographs-and-stories-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-4874426414705730223Sun, 13 May 2012 17:17:00 +00002012-05-13T10:17:21.483-07:00Mother's DayJewishMecklerAppletonGaunttCatholic Last year I shared some of the stories my mother had told me.  She liked to talk about her family, and I heard lots of stories.  But some of the stories about her I only heard after she had passed away. I didn't learn how my parents had met until several years after my mother had died.  My grandmother told me that one evening my mother and her best friend had gone out to party.  Before they http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/05/stories-about-my-mother.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-8130440697727657616Fri, 11 May 2012 19:21:00 +00002012-05-11T12:21:52.162-07:00Gesher GaliciaBrodyThe Galitzianer A tombstone in Brody Cemetery The March 2012 (!) issue of The Galitzianer is at the printer (yes, it's one of those things I have been behind on) and will be mailed next week.  Articles in this issue include a list of vital records registers that have been transferred to Warsaw and which we hope will be available soon; a summary of an article about autosomal DNA matches that looks at http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/05/new-issue-of-galitzianer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-4251187747132285520Wed, 09 May 2012 07:36:00 +00002012-05-09T00:36:05.349-07:00Burlington CountyNew JerseyWordless WednesdayLippincott http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/05/wordless-wednesday_09.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-2309967930782697105Tue, 08 May 2012 01:44:00 +00002012-05-07T18:44:22.340-07:00WDYTYASikhIndiaFinding Your RootsHindu Yes, I know I'm behind on posts for Who Do You Think You Are (and I really do intend to catch up, but I've been in training since February 27, which has played hell with my schedule).  And I know that this was the eighth episode of Finding Your Roots, and I haven't commented on any of the earlier ones.  So why am I jumping into the middle like this? This episode of Finding Your Roots touched http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/05/finding-your-roots-margaret-cho-sanjay.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-9127435532179869931Wed, 02 May 2012 07:21:00 +00002012-05-02T00:21:41.050-07:00SellersNew JerseyWordless Wednesday http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/05/wordless-wednesday.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-4643170659481282944Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:29:00 +00002012-04-26T16:29:06.569-07:00Megan Smolenyakliving relatives On Wednesday, Legacy Family Tree hosted a Webinar by Megan Smolenyak (one of the few genealogists who might qualify as a household name) on how to find living people.  Genealogists usually focus on finding dead ancestors, but sometimes -- whether it's to contact living relatives for health information or DNA studies, put together a family reunion, or look for people you grew up with -- the http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/04/wow-i-was-mentioned-in-megan-smolenyak.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-4122331935849885106Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:37:00 +00002012-04-25T13:37:23.065-07:00Nowickiweddings1920'sWordless Wednesday http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/04/wordless-wednesday_25.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-3075853491275824218Tue, 24 Apr 2012 22:02:00 +00002012-04-24T15:04:23.031-07:00Works Progress AdministrationphotographsNew York City The New York City Department of Records has announced a free online photo database of more than 870,000 images of New York City municipal operations.  The photographs were selected from the Municipal Archives collection of more than 2.2 million images dating back to the mid-1800's.   Some images have appeared in publications but most were viewable only by visiting the archive offices in http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/04/new-york-city-department-of-records-has.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-6963216231670445937Sun, 22 Apr 2012 07:59:00 +00002012-04-22T01:00:21.355-07:00RAOGKvolunteers Bridgette Schneider (1946-2011) Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK) was a Web site where people volunteered to help others with genealogy questions, look up records local to them, take photos of tombstones, etc.  Bridgette Schneider, the woman who created RAOGK, passed away and the site stopped working.  The new RAOGK is at http://raogk.wikia.com/wiki/http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/04/random-acts-of-genealogical-kindness.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-1481969235828116599Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:12:00 +00002012-04-18T13:12:58.549-07:00Nowicki1920'sWordless Wednesdayhttp://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/04/wordless-wednesday_18.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-1373563923678908655Mon, 16 Apr 2012 19:02:00 +00002012-04-16T12:02:12.633-07:00family namesChinaScienceDaily has an interesting short article about a study of the evolution of family names across China.  The study, which was published in American Journal of Physical Anthropology, was conducted by Chinese researchers.  One statistic mentioned is that 100 family names account for 85% of the population.  A key assumption that seems to have been made, or at least that is not accounted for in http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/04/evolution-of-family-names-in-china.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-725355537881395353Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:25:00 +00002012-04-22T22:43:32.250-07:00birthdaysTitanic I just hit one of those milestone birthdays -- I turned 50 a week ago.  I'm proud of every gray hair and all the crow's feet that tell the tales of my journey.  I had told a friend that I wanted a fuss for my birthday.  After all, it isn't every day that you turn half a century.  Said friend and her S.O. took me out to dinner for sushi, which was enjoyable and quite tasty, but no fuss.  So I http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/04/be-careful-what-you-ask-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-8488189101591992575Sat, 14 Apr 2012 11:43:00 +00002012-04-14T04:43:48.142-07:00WDYTYAWisconsinEnglandEdie FalcoCornwallApparently we were on a very short roll last week on Who Do You Think You Are? when Rita Wilson was so honest about the fact that she wasn't doing any of the research.  With Edie Falco we're back to pretending the celebrity is doing the research and it isn't all done ahead of time.  And of course the buildings are all empty of other patrons and the celebrity meets with the head of the archive.  http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/04/who-do-you-think-you-are-edie-falco.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-4069348057769777919Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:43:00 +00002012-04-11T15:51:29.006-07:00ManchesterDunstanEnglandMcGoggyWordless Wednesdayhttp://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/04/wordless-wednesday_11.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-2823808540420321410Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:47:00 +00002012-04-09T10:47:42.820-07:00WDYTYABulgariaRita WilsonGreeceWell, I thought I was going to get caught up this week, but then I realized it was Passover and I was hosting my annual seder, and then I had to recover from hosting the seder, and there went my schedule again.  Maybe next week .... I very much enjoyed the Rita Wilson episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?"  Not only was Wilson totally honest about the fact that she was not doing any of the http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/04/who-do-you-think-you-are-rita-wilson.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-5824418538207308106Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:11:00 +00002012-04-09T03:11:51.122-07:00sperm donorsI have noted previously a New York Times article about some of the ethical questions being raised regarding sperm donors and genetically transmitted diseases and numerous half-siblings.  Now Time has an article about how sperm sales are big business and the U.S. is in the forefront due to the fact that donors can maintain anonymity.  While addressing the same issues the New York Times raised, thehttp://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/04/americas-most-renewable-resource.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-3680806422630774843Wed, 04 Apr 2012 07:53:00 +00002012-04-04T00:53:49.585-07:00NowickiweddingsWordless Wednesdayhttp://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/04/wordless-wednesday.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350318808703965214.post-1569930275907710462Wed, 04 Apr 2012 06:43:00 +00002012-04-03T23:45:10.516-07:001940 CensusSteve MorseLike many people, I was waiting anxiously Monday at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time (which was 6:00 a.m. for me in California) to make my first search in the 1940 census.  I had prepared ahead of time -- I had looked for my person in a 1940 San Francisco city directory and then used Steve Morse's One-Step site to determine the enumeration district ahead of time.  And like many, many people, I was http://ancestraldiscoveries.blogspot.com/2012/04/my-first-foray-into-1940-census.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Janice Sellers)2