Family-Genealogy

Begin your Family Research Today

2013-05-03T12:58:00.001-04:00

Starting your family history research is fun and exciting. What you may find out can be terrifying, unexpected, or the key to finding more family data.

Tracing your lineage across centuries and continents is a task that is never done. You can always find a new document, a new photograph, and much more that can be added to your family tree.

So where should you begin? Begin with yourself. Write down as much information as you can. Find documents and photos to back up the data. Record important events by adding dates, places, who was present and add notes about what you remembered. And what you would want other family members to know.

Then expand to your parents, and grandparents. Doing the same type of constructive research as you did for yourself. You should create a research to do list to help fill in missing information that you can not figure out. Once you have a good idea of what you want to find, then head out to your local LDS Family History Center, or genealogical society to help get you started. They have knowledge of what you can find and where you might be able to discover more about your family and how to conduct research and they have classes that can help you get started.

You can also search through websites, archives, and goverment records. This is a daunting and necessary task. You never know when they next document will produce something you are looking for, but I can tell you, it is well worth it when you do find something that can't be found on the internet.

To discover your family roots, you need to know when important documents were first recorded for any place that you are researching, is especially helpful in being able to find the data that you are missing. The link will help you with when birth, death, marriage, divorce, taxation, probate, and will s were recorded for each state.

Find your story, and don't let your family memories and stories be buried and forgotten. Start to record your history today!

Cemeteries can be vital in search for Family History

2013-05-01T14:44:00.000-04:00

Cemeteries can be vital in search for family history (via Muskogee Daily Phoenix & Times-Democrat)

Beginning genealogists often are surprised at the importance of cemetery research when the subject is introduced in classes at Muskogee Public Library. “Many of my Beginning Genealogy Class members are unaware of what information is available by simply visiting a cemetery where a family member is…

Most Common Public Records (And Where to Find Them)

2013-04-15T09:51:00.001-04:00

Whether you are conducting a genealogy search to trace your family tree or simply on the hunt for public records for personal reasons, there are plenty of options for finding these documents today. With online options available for public records searches, many documents can be found and retrieved without ever leaving home. With so much information available, it can be difficult to know where to start. Check out this list of some of the most common public records available and the best locations to look for them.

Birth Records

Birth records offer information about the birth of an individual, including the name of the person and the parents, the date of the birth and the location where it occurred. Birth records can often be found through state health departments. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers a listing of the locations where these documents are held throughout the U.S.

Death Records

Death records are the official certification documenting the death of an individual. This document is often used for settling estates or by the funeral home making the final arrangements. Death records might include the person’s date of birth and death, the location and the cause of death. These records may also be found at state health departments, and can also be traced through county coroners, obituaries and cemetery records.

Marriage Records

Marriage records document the union of two individuals. In some states, domestic partnerships and civil unions are also on records. Marriage records may also be held at state departments of health, but are found through county offices as well. Finding marriage records is often easiest initiated through an online public records search that can let you know where the document is currently filed. The CDC also offers contact information for state offices that might keep these records on file.

Divorce Records

Divorce records can be a little trickier to locate, since these documents may be held at any number of locations. Some state health departments may hold these files, while other states keep the public records at the individual county office where the divorce was finalized. The CDC also provides some contact information for locating these files, and online searches may turn up additional information that puts your public records search on the right track.

Military Records

Military records come in a wide range of options, from rolls for those who served in particular wars to general records that show all the individuals enlisted in a certain branch of the service. Since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, some of the more recent military records have restricted access. However, older military records can be found through state archives, public libraries and online searches, like ancestry.com, recordsbase.com, archives.com and more.

Obituaries

Obituaries are an excellent source for researching the death of an individual when a death record cannot be found. Obituaries are typically located through local newspapers, so it helps to know the place and approximate date of death when launching an obituary search. Another option is cemetery records, which may consist of simply a picture of a headstone, or a lengthy report that provides at least as much information as an official death certificate. These can also be found at the specific state where the cemetery is located.

Naturalization Records

Naturalizations records show when an immigrant became a U.S. citizen and can be very helpful in a genealogy search. These records are typically held at state or national archives, depending on the date when the naturalization occurred. The good news is that many of these public records are available online, making it much easier to begin your search for these documents.

Court Records

There are many different type of court records available, from divorce decrees finalized in county courts to criminal records that can be used to conduct background checks on prospective employees. Local court records are typically held at the state, district or county court where the event was filed. Federal court records may be located at the National Archives. Online tools are a good option for initiating a court records search.

Criminal Records

Criminal records may include documentation of felonies, misdemeanors or juvenile offenses. As a general rule, criminal records are available to the general public, with the exception of public records involving juveniles. These records are typically available through the court where the offense is documented. Online searches can also help locate the precise location of these documents.

There are a wide range of public records available today to assist with genealogical or academic projects. They can also be retrieved for personal or legal reason. By having a general idea what records are available and where they are found, you can make any public records search easier, faster and more accurate.

Written by Grace Mitchell, a genealogy researcher at Recordsbase.com

2013-03-22T16:24:00.001-04:00

FHISO - Family History Information Standards Organization - established for the purpose of developing genealogy and family history information standards on a modern platform has a call for papers.

Check out the organization, submit papers, and

think about becoming involved with the group!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Realising the Benefits – Community-driven Standards Development Begins

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA—Friday, March 22, 2013—Family History Information Standards Organisation, FHISO, has announced its 2013 Call for Papers Initiative (http://fhiso.org/call-for-papers/), signaling the commencement of open standards development work.

Creating a Reliable Family Tree

2013-02-01T17:16:00.001-05:00

It is so important to spend the time to do the proper research, document your findings, transcribe your documents, and extract the important facts and relationships that help build a reliable family tree. The genealogy research process in not for the faint of heart. It is a 28 step process, if done right. This is done over and over again for each person, and each fact that is recorded in a family tree.

All too often people say they have 4,000 people in their tree. The mythical story of Alice in Wonderland surely had genealogy in mind when that story was written, as millions of people follow the same rabbit hole as pointed out in the article written by "They Came Before". Too many people have little to no sources to back up the information they record in their family tree, and they don't understand evidence, sources, and proof. To top that off, the information recorded all too often comes from trees that they found on the internet and have not bothered to verify the data, or if they did, they used only one or two census records. Evidence cannot be gleaned with a single source, or a single source type.

Documenting your sources, where you received the information, how the data is related to your relatives and how you developed those conclusions is a daunting task in itself. Then keeping all the data organized is important too. It is not just about putting the data into a tree, or folders. It is also about being able to understand and decipher what facts and relationships still need to be verified and do you have enough to proof to say your ancestor belongs in your tree? Have you found enough evidence that the recorded facts are true? A good article to read is "Appraise Your family History Like an Archivist".

Developing good genealogy research habits and processes go a long way with being successful in building a reliable family tree. Don't forget about organization and documentation too. What have you done to enhance your family tree lately?

Family Heirloom's

2013-01-18T12:44:00.001-05:00

It was 10 months ago that I took a trip to visit my 2nd cousin who had lots of old family photos, heirlooms, an old family bible from the 1600's, old clothes that look to be wedding outfits, and much more. Needless to say, being the family genealogist, I was excited that they were finally willing to share it with me. It was also filled with old letters that contained invaluable family genealogy information. Once such letter was about the Titanic going down and the recounting of their own experience traveling from Scotland to Canada. The information was all tucked into this old steamer chest that they used to make that very journey. I just had it refurbished professionally and I have it sitting in my living room. I am so proud to have it my possession and can't believe it was sitting in so many garages deteriorating, now it has a proper home.

I learned a great deal about my ancestors from the information contained in the chest, as well as, research that I have done over the years. It is sad that I had to do so much hard work, when the trunk was filled with primary documents, some that I found through my diligent research, but could have been easily attained if the documents were shared. It is important to share your family tree research with others so they don't do the same digging as you and they can spend time on expanding what is already known. What family heirlooms have you found?

Migration Routes for Genealogy

2012-08-27T13:01:00.001-04:00

Families Migrate for a Better Way of Life

There are push and pull factors that influenced people to move. Pull factors, known as positive reasons included: adventure, awarded land through the government, motivation to establish new religions, churches, and wanting a better life provided by economic factors such as commerce, job, and business opportunities. Push factors, which were the negative reasons include: soil depletion due to poor farming techniques, natural disasters, trouble with the law, relatives, or neighbors; lack of jobs, and unable to participate in religious rituals were some of the main push causes.

Trace your Family Roots with Migration Paths

The revolutionary war spurted migration westward for the United States. There are several paths that can help lead you to discover your family history.

Zane's Trace

Depending on what time frame you are researching; where your family stopped along the way, what they did to earn money, and knowing approximately where they lived will influence what trails they used.

Creating a timeline of what you know can help narrow down your genealogy research and find your family roots in records that can be found from various repositories.

Look for clues from previous residence and any possible recorded information – census records, deeds, etc. It might be an arduous task, but use the major points along the migration path and routes to find repositories that have information. Early books, diaries, and letters might be left a genealogical society documenting part of your heritage, adding more data to your family tree and validating their history.

If you don’t find information for your ancestor, don’t forget to also look for close family members or known relatives and friends that they might have been traveling with. This might be a clue that you are on the right track.

History

	This Day In History

	Early America Family History

	Events that Touched our Ancestors Lives

	Mine Accidents and Explosions

	History of the Dutch in America

	First Settlers of New England

	County Formation History

	Locate a USA County

	Research Guide by Place

Maps

	Historical Map Website

	Historical Maps of North America

	Digital Map Library

	County and City Information

	Historical Map Works

	Create Dynamic Maps

	Fire Insurance Maps

Land Records

	USA Land Patent Search Online

	Pennsylvania Land Warrants

	USA County Resources

	Land Record Research

	Land Records help your Family History

	Georgia Land Lotteries

Early Migration Trails

	USA Eastern Trails
	Boston Post Road

	Fall Line Road

	Federal Road

	Great Valley & Braddock's Road

	Kings Highway, Forbes & Great Conestoga Road

	Mohawk Trail

	Natchez Trace

	National Road & Zane's Trace

	Pennsylvania Road

	Carolina Road

	Great Valley & Braddock's Road

	Wilderness Road

Immigration

	US Ports of Arrival

	Scottish Immigration

	Passenger, Manifest, and Ship Lists

	Ellis Island 1892 to 1954

	Castle Garden from 1820-1913

	Canadian Immigration Records

	Ship Arrivals in San Francisco

Challenges to Researching Genealogy

2012-07-31T11:01:00.002-04:00

From our recent Ancestry poll, Question #8, “What place is hardest for you to find documents?” showed that researching the United States was the next hardest place to find family genealogy information. This can be attributed to records just not being available for a particular place in time. Too many migration routes, and not knowing which one(s) were used by your ancestor.

It is wonderful when we can find something out about our family from a record that was easily found on line. But when the low hanging fruit is dried up, you need to roll up your sleeves and do some really genealogy research. Working with others, making phone calls, looking through catalogs to find books with hints, ordering and viewing microfilms, expanding your search to other relatives and friends that lived in the same area, are all part of the quest to find something about your ancestor.

Some popular types of records that should be considered in your search include:

Gazettes
Digital Archives of the State
Bureau of Land Management
Land Grants and Warrants
Books of all kinds
WPA Documents
Military Records
Last Will and Testaments
Probate Records
Cemeteries

Click here for a larger list of potential types of genealogy documents where you may find family information.

Genealogy Research Tips:

Remember to think outside of the box and try different things to discover your family story. Remember, sometimes a family member may have changed their name, inadvertently given wrong birth information, or changed details that can throw you off your track.

Names can be spelled wrong either on purpose, or accident. Many people did not ask how a person’s name should be spelled, and recorded the information according to how it sounded to them.

Document your research. It is important to know what you have looked at, and what research you have conducted, so you don’t do the same research in the future.

Analyze your information for clues, for confirming or not validating family data. Take the time to write your conclusions based on your findings.

Irish Genealogy Research

2012-07-06T10:38:00.002-04:00

From our recent Ancestry poll, Question #8, “What place is hardest for you to find documents?” showed that researching Irish ancestry was the hardest.

Contributing Issues and Factors Making Irish Genealogy Research Difficult are:

Some records are created/stored by: Province, County, Barony, Parish, and Townland.
Many records stored at the Dublin Castle have been destroyed by several fires.
The 1821 – 1891 Irish census records were mostly destroyed.
Religious Records contain more genealogy data than Civil Records.
Death certificates are not very useful, as they lack information about parents.

What Records to Use to Beginning your Research

The 1922 Irish Civil War of Ireland destroyed many important records making genealogy research difficult, but not impossible.

It is important to know where your ancestors lived, and what religion they practiced. Finding religious documents may be the key to discovering a new fact about your ancestors.

Depending on the time period that you are researching, you can start your research with the following documents:

1901 to 1911: Start with the census returns these are the only census that survived in their entirety.

1848 to 1864: Begin with Griffith’s Valuation. It provides the only detailed guide to where people lived and the property they possessed. It is arranged by county and then by poor law union. Each Poor Law Union is divided into electoral divisions, parishes (Civil Parishes), and townlands.

1823 to 1838: Use the Tithe Applotment books. It was a survey of land in each parish for occupiers of agricultural holdings over one acre payabe to the Church of Ireland. Information you can find includes: name of occupier, name of townland, acreage, classification of land, and amount of tithe due.

Some Irish Genealogy Links to help with your Research:

Finding Historical Documents for your Family History

2012-06-20T09:32:00.000-04:00

Question #7 from our Ancestry poll, “What time frame is hardest for you to find documents?” showed the following results:

Each century and country has its own unique challenges in finding documents that can help build a family tree. This blog post is about using documents from the United States. Government documents for genealogy are hard to find in the 16 and 17 hundreds because record keeping was not mandatory in the early years of its formation.

Finding Genealogy Records in the 1600 and 1700’s

Starting with the 1600’s, it will be nearly impossible to find birth, marriage, or death records. You are better off looking for: taxation, church, last will and testaments, and probate records. They may be sparse and hard to find, but they do exist. Try searching the FamilySearch microfilms for the type of document that you are seeking. Go to the local historical society and library to see what records they have to use, or advice they can share.

Finding Family History Records in the 1800’s

As the country develops, states start to record genealogy information for birth, marriages, and deaths. The next resource to emerge in the 1800’s is city directories. They are a great tool for piecing together your family history. You can learn a lot about a family in the 1800 and 1900’s. Many state archives and universities hold these valuable books. You can learn when someone married, left home, moved, or died by following the family in a directory for consecutive years. You can start to look for birth, marriage, and death records, as many states started to record this information.

Finding Historical Documents in the 1900’s

By the 1900’s all states were recoding pertinent information that can help you to verify the family history information that you have and help to grow your family tree. To see a chart of when a state started to record vital information, click here.

Primary Source vs Secondary Sources for Family Tree Building

2012-06-07T11:24:00.001-04:00

Question #3, from the Ancestry Research Poll, How many primary sources do you have for people in your tree?

Having sources for every person in your tree is important because it helps prove that a person belongs in your tree, based on proven relationships. The next step is to help prove that the information you have for the person is correct for important life events: such as birth, marriage, and death.

What is a Primary Source?

It is a document that provides information about the ancestor that was written at or near the time of an event, such as a birth or death certificate. A birth certificate would have primary information about the birth. A last will and testament, is written by the person and records information that is taking place at that time. Family letters are another great source of primary information when information is being recorded about current events.

What are Mixed Sources?

They are documents that have both primary and secondary information such as a social security application that was filled out by the ancestor. Death certificates record primary information about death, but the birth information would be considered secondary information, because that event took place a long time ago (unless this is a still born or baby).

Can you prove your person belongs in your tree without Primary Sources?

Yes, you can do this with a variety of documents that lists multiple people within a family such as a census record, a birth or obituary announcement, military records, etc. All these documents can contain information about a person and someone close in relationship to them.

Can you prove the events and dates of a person are correct without Primary Sources?

This depends entirely on where the information came from and who recorded the details. A person can use a death certificate to record birth information and most likely it will be correct. The same goes for an obituary.

First Hand vs. Second Hand Knowledge

Who provided the information, someone who was at the event is considered to have firsthand knowledge. If someone who was told about the event, at a later time, is considered second hand knowledge. Distinguishing the difference is important, because someone who records the information at a later time can make errors or embellish the facts. This can also happen with a person who has firsthand knowledge.

Documents need to be Analyzed

That is why it is important to find as many documents as possible to confirm information or help solve contradicting details. While conducting family tree research, knowing what information is primary, who recorded the details, and when were they recorded are all important. Taking details and adding them to your family tree from documents that are original, versus taking data from an indexed entry should be rated for their accuracy and the details that they provide, as well as the relationships that they can confirm.

Finding your Great Grandparents

2012-05-26T11:51:00.006-04:00

Question #2 from the previous post was a poll on how much do you know about your ancestors revealed that 19% of the surveyed people did not know information about their great-grandparents. In order to find them, this requires knowledge about your parents, and your grandparents. Hopefully you know your parents. Knowing facts about them is the foundation of your family tree.

How to find your Great Grandparents

If you don’t know your grandparents, hopefully someone is living that can answer your questions of their names, birth and death dates and places, as well as other family tree information. Depending on the generation of person that you are researching, and how much you know, will contribute to the amount of effort needed to find your answers.

Start your Family Tree Research with one Question

In trying to find any ancestor, start with one person, and one question at a time to fill in the gaps.

Start with the place of the event. If you don’t know where the event took place, you need to piece together possible places based on what you know about the person and their immediate relatives. Look through: census records, old telephone books, residence directories, and church records to help narrow down your search for “where”.

Once you know the “where” then you can discover the “when”

Start by using an average age of when the event could have taken place and exhaust all reasonable possibilities for a match.

Types of Historical Events to Figure Out

Depending on what you are trying to figure out, you should use the following sources to help answer your question. Using more than one source is always a good idea to help build a reliable family tree that is built with sources. The following sources are always useful for genealogy research:

Death Certificate – you can find the names of the person’s parents, when and where they were born, as well as the ancestor. It will also tell you where they were buried and when.

Obituary – can have countless information about the person, depending on who wrote the announcement and how detailed it is.

Church Records – if the person was religious, you should seek out the possible records that exist for their church. Many churches have records about a family that can extend your family tree quickly.

Bible Records – See if a relative has an old family bible. Many times, they have recorded important family tree history facts with dates and places.

Newspapers – check them for birth, marriage, and death details. Often they have enough information to give you the right direction for your quest of “when” and “where”. As well as, help confirm relationships.

Social Security Records – find possible matches using the social security death index. Then order a copy of the original social security application, SS-5. This will give you insight about the person’s birth, where they were living, and, details about their parents, including the mother's maiden name.

Cemeteries – find headstones with your ancestors birth and death facts. You can also discover their spouse, as well as, other immediate relatives.

Funeral Homes – often have records that they can search to help produce death and burial details.

Create a Research Log for your Family Tree

Make sure you are recording all your finding, positive and negative. This will help you from doing the same research again in the future, if you are stuck trying to find something. Sharing your research with another family member or fellow genealogist can also help you possibly try a new approach or technique that may help to unravel your brick wall and help build another branch of your family tree.

Ancestry Poll Results Reveals the Pursuit of Family Genealogy

2012-05-07T15:48:00.001-04:00

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, and Father’s Day shortly behind, I reflect on the messages that people have shared (through the many places this poll was posted). Several people have had touching stories with great discoveries, while others have had heartache from tragic events that touched their ancestors’ lives.

All of us hobbyists are in pursuit of finding something about our family for various reasons. Some people are just beginning their journey, while some have research experience, we are all still trying to find answers.

Two things to remember: be patient with your research and document everything. You might not get too far with one ancestor, and decide to go on to another, and one day you may what to start the research process again for that elusive relative. Knowing what you have done in the past will save you from doing the same research all over again.

For those of you just popping on by, we recently conducted a short poll to get feedback from genealogy hobbyists to see where people were with their pursuit in discovering something about their family history. Based on the answers, over the next couple of postings, we will try to give some guidance to help people with finding documents and uncovering their family stories. In the meantime, below are the results.

Family Genealogy Poll Questions and Results:

What is your genealogy experience?

Do you know the names of your great grandparents? (including the maiden names of the 8 females)

How many PRIMARY sources do you have for people in your tree? (copies of original marriage, birth, or death certificates, last will and testaments, Social Security SS-5 applications, naturalization documents, or military applications)

Do you know where 10 or more of your ancestors are buried?

For your deceased ancestors do you have photographs of their tombstones?

We find it interesting that people have the same amount of tombstone photos as they do of the relatives in their tree. In our experience, people tend to have less photos of tombstones. A tree with 200 people would need 20 tombstone photos, and a tree with 1,000 people would need 100.

What percentage of the people in your tree do you have a profile or family photograph for?

What time frame is hardest for you to find family documents?

What place is hardest for you to find documents?

If you could interview a deceased relative who would it be? (answer with the relationship)

Of the people who added comments about wanting family information, people were slightly more interested in their maternal side vs. their paternal side. But are more interested in interviewing men in their family.

Of the people to be interviewed, most people would like to talk to their great grandmothers. They would have been born between 1860 - 1890. The 3rd great grandfathers would have been born between 1820 - 1850. These years fall directly in line with the question about, what is the most difficult time frame to find documents.

Finding Documents for your Ancestors

Research is time consuming and should be only attempted when you are alert, otherwise you might miss a detail that helps to uncover some family history. If you are new to research, and need a guide to when birth, death, marriage divorce, taxation, probate, and wills were recorded, click on this link to find out those answers.

How much do we really know about our families?

2012-04-04T13:28:00.000-04:00

I was recently at a genealogy seminar and the lady sitting next to me did not know her mother’s maiden name. In a recent poll, Eneclann, Ireland’s leading Irish historical researcher and publisher, revealed that while 89% of Irish people are able to name all of their first cousins and grandparents, only 31% are able to name all of their great-grandparents.

Now is the time to collect your family information and learn as much as you can so it can be passed along to future generations. Building a reliable tree with documents, photos, stories, and details that can only be found through family books, interviews with relatives, and gathering those magic heirlooms that pieces everything together takes time, effort, and patience. If you are stuck and don’t know where to begin, or you could use some ideas for interviewing your relatives, read the rest of this article.

Take the Poll for Fun:

The poll is CLOSED. We will post the results on Monday, May 7th.

1940 Census – Released Monday April 2nd

2012-03-20T18:09:00.002-04:00

Step 1: Are you ready to find your relatives?

Are you waiting patiently to view the 1940 census? Do you know the questions that were asked? Print out a 1940 Census template to get the low down on what you will be able find out about your relative.

Step 2: Do you know the address of your ancestor?

In order to search the 1940 census, you need to know the address and Enumeration District (ED) # of your ancestor. If you are not sure of this information, try using these documents to get the person’s address: WWII Draft, naturalization petitions, city directories, old letters and envelopes, government documents, and 1930 census records.

Look at the left hand side and
many pages from 1930 census
did list the Street and address.

Step 3: Do you know the Enumeration District?

The enumeration district is an assigned number that signifies the county and city of a state. From the 1930 census, it can be found in the upper right hand side of a census.

Step 4: Convert the 1930 ED to 1940 ED
If you know the address and or ED # from a 1930 census, you can convert it to the 1940 ED#. In some cases it will stay the same, but it may change, so convert the 1930 to 1940 ED using Steve Morse’s tool.

Step 5: Start your search on April 2, 2012

Search the 1940 Census records for free

Steve Morse has a great tool that will help walk you through the steps to find and locate the information you need to view people in 1940 census and will direct you to the census image.
National Archives Holder of the 1940 census records

The count down is on!

Count Down – 20 days – 1940 Census

2012-03-13T11:16:00.003-04:00

April 2, 2012 is just around the corner. Are you as excited about the 1940 census release as I am? I can’t wait to look at some new documents that can help with verifying and building my family tree.

The list initially will not be searchable by name, so you need to do some homework in order to find your relatives in the 1940 census. The census will be searchable by enumeration district (ED), which can be found at the top of each census page.

Before the internet, genealogists would scan microfilms cranking the wheel to advance the film, look at the page for a relative, and then move to the next page until we found the person we were looking for. Many documents, such as birth, marriage, death, city directories, land grants, probates, last will and testaments and census records can still be viewed this way at libraries, national archives, and Family History Centers.

How to Prepare for the 1940 Census

· If you know where the person lived in 1930, and you have the ED number, and you think they still live in the same place, you can use an ED One Step Converter.

· As a good measure, you should look to see where your relative lived by using and finding them in a 1940 City Directory. To find a city directory for a particular area, try doing an internet search using the following term and replace city and state with your city and state: City+State+city directory+1940. You can then see who has a copy of the directory and it may be available online.

Example: Torrance+California+city directory+1940

· Another way to search for ED is through the National Archives Enumeration District Maps. Enter 1940 Census maps + the county + the state: 1940 Census maps Sussex Delaware. You then can zoom in to see the ED number

Use Migration Routes to Trace Genealogy Ancestry

2012-01-12T15:17:00.000-05:00

Use Migration Routes to Trace Genealogy Ancestry

Find your Genealogy Story through Research

2012-01-05T11:58:00.000-05:00

Find your Genealogy Story through Research

Is your Family Tree Fact or Fiction?

2011-10-25T12:27:00.001-04:00

As genealogists, sources are the oral and written documents that back up our family’s history. It helps to prove the facts that we have recorded in our family tree. Without valid source documentation for each fact in your file, you might as well be creating a fictitious story.

As most people begin their genealogy today, they look to see what they can find on the internet. This is a great way to get a jump start on your family history if you can find someone who has already created a family tree. You might be lucky enough to find that they have sources and documented where they found them. This will make it much easier for you to verify the facts.

When you are faced with doing genealogy research, you should keep a log of where you have researched, what you have researched, and if you found anything or not. As the sea of paper starts to build, this will help you immensely through your journey of discovering your family tree. Some things that are important for you to track are:

Where Did you find the Document?

Inevitably, you will need to get another copy of a page you are missing, or the copy you have is too hard to read, or you discovered you should have copied more pages. There is a variety of reasons that you need to write down the when, where and source information. Include everything about the repository (the place you found the document). This will make it easier to direct someone to get the document you need without having to go back. This can be very important when it is far away and you can’t just jump in your car to get what you need. Include the place it was found, when it was found, and the source information.

Write Down the Source Information

Sources are written documents or orally spoken. When you reference a source, you need to include the author and publishing information. Again, this is will be helpful to easily find the source again. Only knowing where you found the document or only knowing the source information will make it hard to get another copy. You need to know, who provided the facts (the author), what the tile of the book is, where it was published and when it was published, what pages you copied, etc. This is important in case something happens to the repository of where you found the source so you can locate it somewhere else.

Let Us Know - Your Opinion Counts

Since there are hundreds of types of sources, what do you find most challenging about recording sources? If you have an opinion about source templates as being useful or more of a challenge because they are not unified with field input let us know and we will include comments with our next posting which will include: Analyzing, Summarizing, and Extract the Facts from sources; Rating Documents; and Source Citation will be discussed in the next family history posting.

Record your Family Medical History Today

2011-09-14T15:22:00.000-04:00

People around the world are interested in creating a family tree. How many actually have tracked the health of their ancestors? Knowing what illnesses run in the family is important to know. Diseases are known to be passed down through the family tree. Have you ever wondered why a family member was singled out and diagnosed with a terrible illness and wished you knew what other ancestors had the same ailment?

Start Tracking your Family Medical History
Costly high-tech gene-screening tests are nice to have, but knowing your families medical history can be more telling about your risk of various diseases. When researchers at the Cleveland Clinic compared risks based on family history with those from personal genome screens that test for common DNA variations, the simple history flagged far more people who could benefit from stepped-up monitoring or tests for specific mutations related to breast, colon, or prostate cancer. "Most alarmingly, the genome screening missed all of the people at high risk for colon cancer," says Charis Eng,M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Clinic's Genome Medicine Institute.

Medical Problems Should be Tracked and Shared

Recording cause of death and physical attributes for your ancestors can be done with genealogy programs. GEDCOM standard events are useful for tracking your family's important facts. We encourage you to use a genealogy program to track your family's medical history, especially cancer and major illnesses. By recoding your families known health issues, you can pass along this information to future generations.

Below we have a few tips on how to record your medical history:
1. Find and record the cause of death for your ancestors from death certificates.

2. You can discover physical attributes for your ancestors from military personnel records.

3. A key to discovering your medical history is by asking your living relatives about their health and what they know about other family members.

4. Remember to record everything that you can find for your relatives, even if it is not a genetic illness.

5. Gather information from your mother's and father's side of the family, as Breast and ovarian cancers can come from either side.

If you have already created a family tree or thinking about it, leave your future generations armed with a good medical history by starting to collect your family’s medical information today.

How to Validate your Genealogy Sources

2011-08-25T09:33:00.004-04:00

Have you ever wondered how to rate a genealogy source? It can be confusing as you may not understand the intricacies of the document and what you should be looking for. Some of the details are impossible to really know especially if you were not present, such as who was the informant.

The three main parts to rating a genealogy source are reliability, quality, and information:

Reliability -

How reliable are the details in the document? This depends on who provided the information – is it someone who has firsthand knowledge because they were there when the event happened, or was it someone who has been told about the event after it happened?

Quality –

Is the document a copy of the original, or is it indexed information that has been transcribed by someone, where mistakes can happen in the “re-recording” of the data, which has only partial details of the original genealogy source.

Information –

The data that is contained in the genealogy source, is it being recorded at the time of the event, or sometime later? Most documents contain a mixture of primary and secondary information. Primary is current information, such as where do you currently live. Secondary information is, where have you lived.

A Social Security Application, has two questions, when were you born, which is a past event and where do you live now, which is a current event. However, since the application was filled out by person who has first-hand knowledge, usually it is accepted as primary data.

Typically a census is considered second hand knowledge because we don’t know who provided the facts. The 1940 census is supposed to contain who the informant was, so we will be able to upgrade the reliability to primary when a mother or father provided the data.

Be sure to search your family history and build proof for the data that you have in your family tree so you can share your information with confidence.

Requesting 20th Century Military Service Records

2011-07-15T16:03:00.001-04:00

Military files can be helpful in discovering genealogy information for your ancestors that can be added to your family tree. The majority of us have had several of our family members enlist due to drafts for WWI or WWII. Both drafts have provided invaluable data such as: where and when they were born; current residence; where they worked; their spouses and children names; physical attributes; and more.

Ancestors that served in the military have left files of genealogy related data with the branch of service that they served in. These records can be obtained by filing out the proper application with the necessary information. Most files for veterans’ of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Cost guard, Marine Corps, and Navy are available through the National Archives, with the earliest records dating from the Revolutionary War.

Some military service records have been destroyed by the 1973 fire that may hinder your genealogy research. If you can’t obtain the files you are looking for through the national archives, there are other research methods that you can use to find genealogy information about your ancestors.

What is the Purpose of Genealogy?

2011-07-05T11:03:00.001-04:00

For many hobbyists, it can tell a story about their ancestors. It is the history of where they came from and gives a sense of purpose. Learning about what they did, where they lived, what their hobbies were, defining relationships, linking family members with proof, finding and recording what their life was like by adding personal stories, photos, and finding important sources that confirms the data added to the family tree – that is genealogy! True genealogists know how to be cautious and where to look for “useful” information. Much of this data is not found on the internet today, but maybe one day it will be. Genealogy research is a process that requires many steps and is not accomplished overnight.

How do I get Started?

Start building your family tree with a program that offers genealogy features that are useful. It is a lot easier to add sources, stories, notes, and more manageable to manipulate data from a program, than it is with a paper and pencil. If you are new to genealogy, you will want to pick a program that allows you to add your own events, sources that helps confirm the data you are recording. Other features that may be of importance, is the ability to record multiple parents for children that have been adopted by a mother or father of a second marriage. Other features that might be important: ability to add various types of documents, organization of data and documents, ability to view and print reports, and file import and export may be of importance to you as well. Compare family tree builder features of several programs by clicking on this link.

How to Launch your Search

2011-05-24T09:25:00.004-04:00

You're ready to start researching your ancestors, but don't know where to start. Here are some tips from seasoned researchers:

ASK living relatives where and when they were born, their occupations and marriage dates. Then ask for the same information about deceased parents and grandparents, including where they're buried.

SEND FOR copies of birth and death certificates for your relatives; these will show names of their parents and other information.

CHECK newspaper archives for birth and death announcements.

LOOK FOR a family Bible that records births, deaths, and marriages.

CHECK OUT local cemeteries for names on tombstones.

LOOK FOR Census records online and in libraries and family history centers.

CHECK FOR data at a local historical society.

GO TO the courthouse and search for deeds, wills, court records and other data.

JOIN a local genealogy or historical society.

CHART everything you find. A timeline can prove or disprove information you've found.

FIND more helpful tips and genealogy articles.

Tracing Female Ancestors

2011-03-17T09:27:00.003-04:00

Tracing female ancestors can be a bit of a task because in most cultures when a female gets married, she takes on the male’s last name and when ever documents are found as married couples, the females given last name is usually not listed, so tracing the female to her parents can be a challenge.

Depending on when the female was living, and the availability of government records, you might find your female ancestors maiden name in birth, marriage, and death certificates, or social security applications. An obituary may link to a male sibling and list his last name. Sometimes you can find the maiden name is one of the children's middle or first names. In a census record, you may find the parents living next door.

Different ethnic groups do have different traditions and you may be able to find an early ancestor knowing this information:
• French women often used their maiden names on official records and legal documents.
• Married women from Scandinavian countries customarily kept their maiden names, but should also be looked for under their husband’s surname.
• In the American colonial period, Dutch marriage contracts allowed women to preserve their maiden names and their individual legal status. But, after 1690, the Dutch colonists began adopting the English tradition of using the husband’s surname.
• In Europe, German and Polish Catholic women’s deaths were recorded using only their maiden names, not their married names.
• Spanish surnames are often dual names taken from the paternal name combined with the maternal name. Married Hispanic women always used their maiden names on legal documents. In other records, they should be searched for under both their maiden name and their husband’s legal name. The word “de” (for “spouse of”) may precede their husband’s surname when added to their own.
• Italian women used their maiden names on legal documents and in official records.
• Jewish family names ending with -s or -es are matronymic-derived from the name of a mother or wife.
• Quaker women often used their maiden name as a middle name after marriage.
• Scottish widows went back to using their maiden names after the death of their husbands.
• In parts of Wales, up to present times, it was a custom for some women to retain their maiden names after marriage.

Our ancestors are important to most of us regardless of their gender. They all have stories to tell both as children and as adults. Good luck in finding your female ancestors.

If you have any suggestions for finding your female ancestors, feel free to share your ideas.


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