Free Genealogy Helps

Finding Female Ancestors Is a Family Affair

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:40:08 PDT

It's a wonderful thing when the family works together and it can work in our family history research as well...Read More

Why Can't I Find or Recognize My Ancestral Homes?

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:10:42 PDT

My oldest granddaughter and I recently drove past the house I moved out of three years ago. She said it didn't look right with a different paint color, missing trees, missing lilac bushes, the enclosed porch now open, and no deck in back. She visited that house often during a period of ten years and remembers it well.A few weeks ago I was invited to tour the remodeled house. They wanted to know

Great-Great-Grandma Was an Indian?

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:07:53 PDT

After my 2 July column on the 1880-1940 U.S. Indian censuses at Ancestry.com, I received many questions about tracing elusive American Indian ancestry. While I can't answer each of you personally, the basic steps and tips below should get you started.Perhaps you have a family legend that Great-great-grandma Pearl had Indian blood. Usually thestory doesn't share a clue whether that blood is from

German Immigrants to New York

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:34:43 PDT

If you can’t locate German ancestors who you think immigrated to New York City, you might just be missing their mark. It wasn’t uncommon for German immigrant boats to dock in Hoboken, New Jersey, rather than New York City. Not always realizing that they weren’t in New York, quite a few of the immigrants just remained in New Jersey...Read More

Easily Record Source Information on Copies

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:12:16 PDT

When you make a photocopy of a page from a pertinent book at a library or archive, make a note of the publication information for your source citation.Include:-- Author's name(s)-- Title-- City and state (and country if foreign) of publication-- Name of publisher-- Year of publication-- Other appropriate information (volume number, edition, etc.)-- Repository where you located the material-- The

SSDI Blues

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:10:47 PDT

I did something today that I've been dreading. I finally got the courage to search for my mother's name in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI). And yes, she's in there, although she passed away only about ten weeks ago.It still doesn't truly register. I thought it would be a few more decades before Mom would appear in this resource that I use on a daily basis without any thought--without any

Guillotine Victims of the French Revolution

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:34:52 PDT

Those condemmed to death shall lose their heads (Penal Code of 1791, Article 3)Even though the guillotine stands today as a dark symbol of capital punishment, at the time of its invention it was perceived as a progressive step towards a fair and humane implementation of the death sentence which, previously, had been administered by varying and often terrible means. The first executions by

Seeking Your Ancestor's Court Records

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:11:13 PDT

I've always wished some of my ancestors had been criminals because, if they had been, I would be able to find more records containing information about them...Read More

Can You Find Your British Ancestors?

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:09:57 PDT

Over 32 million Americans can trace their ancestry to England, butfor most of them, genealogical research is easier in America thanit is across the Atlantic...Read More

Orphans' Court Records

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:08:21 PDT

In most states, the county orphan court's responsibilities included appointing guardians for orphans, overseeing bastardy proceedings, and providing for the poor...Read More

“Cutting Through the Red Tape” of Military Records

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:43:43 PDT

I have learned from visits to the National Archives facilities in Washington, DC and in College Park, Maryland that the Archives of the United States contain far more records relating to a person’s military career than just those records that are contained in his service file and his pension file...Read More

North Carolina, 1850 Census Microfilm Records

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:24:52 PDT

This data set includes an index to the 1850 census of the actual records themselves — in the census taker's own handwriting!The index references more than 140,000 North Carolina heads-of-household counted in this especially valuable census.Search Now

You Can’t Just Take Land … Can You?

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:20:22 PDT

If the concept of squatter’s rights seems more like lore and legend than like something legal, you may want to rethink your view—squatter’s rights are very much a fact of land law today, just as they were 50, 100, and 200 years ago...Read More

Massachusetts, 1870 Census Index

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:54:02 PDT

This database contains approximately 1,380,000 Massachusetts residents who were counted in the 1870 United States census. This index is quite comprehensive, covering every county in the state of Massachusetts and listing every name, as well, not just heads of household.Listings Include:From this database you can see selected information about each listed individual, such as their name, county of

Black Holes

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:51:38 PDT

For me, my grandfather is a black hole, and I've been caught in his gravitational field. I cannot seem to escape. Do I have other ancestors? Sure. Would researching them yield amazing and fulfilling results? Probably. Can I focus my attention on...Read More

A Medium Mouth: What Will the U.S. Passport Applications Collection Reveal About Your Ancestors?

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:35:44 PDT

Passports became common in the 1840s, but were not required until after World War I. The U.S. Passport Applications Collection contains more than 2 million passport applications filed by residents of the U.S. Of those, around 300,000 contain photographs of the applicant. Information can include date and place of birth, residence, naturalization, and other biographical information... Read More

Russians to America, 1850-1896

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Sat, 02 May 2009 21:29:07 PDT

Americans of Russian or Jewish heritage will find this searchable collection of passenger list information invaluable. "This collection is extremely important to people whose Russian ancestors came to the U.S. in the 19th century," states Gary Mokotoff, leading expert on Jewish immigration. Search passenger list information for approximately 430,000 individuals, largely those of Jewish heritage.

I Hate Leftovers!

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Sat, 02 May 2009 21:26:43 PDT

I needed a vacation. (A professional genealogist's definition of vacation is "working on my own family.") I picked a family that I hadn't worked on in about fifteen years. I didn't expect to find new ancestors, although I hoped for leads on one of the wives. This family had been "done" decades ago. THE BOOK was typical. It had a coat of arms, twenty-eight generations of probably fanciful European

Opening up Dead Ends

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Sat, 02 May 2009 21:25:23 PDT

Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th ed.) defines a dead end as, “1. an end (as of a street) without an exit,” or “2: a position, situation, or course of action that leads to nothing further.” Dead ends are frustrating. (Yes, I am Queen of Stating the Obvious.) But, if we accept the given definition of a dead end as “leading to nothing further” or “without an exit,” we may be tempted to

Virginia Colonial Records, 1600s-1800s

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:10:18 PDT

Thousands of Virginia's early settlers arrived in the colony as a result of the headright system. Under this system, anyone who paid his way (or someone else's way) to Virginia received fifty acres of land. In order to receive a land patent under the headright system, an individual would petition the county court for a "certificate of importation." The certificates were then recorded in the

If you can’t get there...

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:09:21 PDT

I recently received somewhat similar comments from a couple of readers, and since I am sure there are other readers in the same situations, my topic today is related to homebound genealogists and those who don't live near genealogical research repositories...Continue Reading

Cold Case Genealogy

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:07:02 PDT

New Year's resolutions can be a very good thing for us. The beginning of a new year provides a milepost we can use to measure the end of one activity and the beginning of another one. I also know what you're thinking: "It's a real problem keeping those resolutions!" That can be the case but we all know that the commitment to perseverance really lies within ourselves.One of the regular listeners

Why Are They Buried There?

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:05:22 PDT

I love exploring cemeteries just about everywhere I go. As I study family burial lots, it is common to see a marker with another surname other than that of the other people interred there. There also are individuals buried adjacent to one another who are not apparently related in any way. Have you ever considered why a person is buried where he or she is buried?Continue Reading

Scotch-Irish Settlers in America, 1500s-1800s

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:56:50 PDT

If you've got ancestors of Scotch-Irish descent, you'll want to explore the 13 volumes available here. Among these significant volumes, you'll find a collection of Pennsylvania genealogies from Chester county, a location historically scarce on genealogical source material. Approximately 215,000 individuals referenced. Genealogically valuable because passenger and immigration lists can be an

Southern Women in the Civil War

noreply@blogger.com (Free Genealogy Lookups) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:55:27 PDT

Women in the South endured hardship and sacrifice almost from the start of the Civil War. Unlike in the North, where some lives remained relatively unaffected, many in the South found war knocking at their front door. For many, life would never be the same. Yet even at the height of the war, traditions were upheld by Southern gentry. Plantation mistresses attempted to carry on a social life