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How to Use Family Lore to Discover the Real Stories |
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Every family has old stories about their ancestors, even if it’s just their parents or grandparents. Some families, though, have family legends that go back generations and have been told time and time again through a century or more. These family history stories are often like a game of “telephone.” Each generation that hears the story gets a slightly different version of it as details are embellished or forgotten through
the decades. By the time the story reaches you, it may be nothing like what really happened.
Even family legends that are vastly different from the real set of events that spawned them usually still have some tiny grain of truth in them, even if it is just the names of the people involved in the story. As a genealogist, those stories are naturally interesting to you. You also want to know the
real truth behind them, because being a genealogist means telling the true stories of your family. Here’s how to use your family legends as jumping off points for real research that can lead you to the truth behind the tale... Read More
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Latest Ancestral Findings Podcast
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Did you know that citing your sources is a crucial part of proper genealogical research? Here’s why you should do it, and how to do it correctly...
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Listen
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How to Read Old Handwriting: A Primer |
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When doing genealogical research, you will sometimes come across original documents from past centuries. Handwriting has changed a lot since colonial days. There are distinct differences from the 1600’s, 1700’s, and 1800’s, before handwriting became more recognizable as our modern handwriting in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s. Spelling is also an important part of reading old handwriting. You may come across words you do not
recognize, or that seem familiar, but are spelled differently than you remember. This is because there are words that were used in the past that are no longer used today. Also, there was no uniform way of spelling things until Webster’s Dictionary came out in the 1800’s. Before that, people spelled phonetically, which means some words would be spelled differently multiple times in the same document... Read More
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This Week's Free Genealogy Lookups |
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Most of the books reference early settlers of Alabama. Among them, you'll find a transcription of Alabama's only remaining 1820 census return, an index to thousands of wills, and a collection of courthouse records of important events (for example, births, marriages, land transactions, deaths, etc.). Some of the most unique resources include a series of newspaper articles published between 1880 and 1899 on Alabama's
earliest families. This unique collection is
comprehensive in its coverage of early Approximately 315,000 individuals referenced. Genealogically valuable because neither the State of Pennsylvania nor its individual counties had a centralized system of collecting vital information prior to late 1800s. Also valuable because you'll discover many hard to find and out-of-print volumes. Investigate your Ohio family's participation in the Great War. Because genealogical records for this time period are somewhat
limited, the excellent coverage provided in these books can be especially significant. Here you'll uncover information from all twenty-three volumes of The Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the World War, 1917-18. In all, the military records in these volumes reference approximately 250,000 individuals who served in World War I. A rare five-volume Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, spanning three centuries. Also note the two-volume Maryland and
Virginia Colonials, providing detailed, well-documented genealogies on 22 colonial families and hundreds of affiliated families. Within these books, you can find an incredible variety of genealogical source material, including private and public records - family Bibles, newspaper excerpts, parish notices, gravestone inscriptions, wills, inventories. Request a Free Lookup
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Latest Hard To Find Surnames |
Free Genealogical Lookups |
Here are some sources you should be using in your genealogical research. Some are free and some are fee-based. I’ll continue to make updates to this page so you may want to bookmark for future reference and convenience.       
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options, click here. Genealogy slideshows are a great way to preserve and share your family’s memories. Display them on your family’s website or play them at holidays and special
events! Learn More...
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