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All Blog Posts Tagged 'research' (101)

Find your ancestors in diaries and journals!

Brigham Young University is working on a new website (currently in Beta) called Historic Journals (http://journals.byu.edu) where historic journals are being digitized and posted online. If you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and have registered for the New FamilySearch program, you can sign in to the website, and automatically, your pedigree chart from NewFamilySearch is compared to the names that… Continue

Added by tami osmer glatz on August 5, 2009 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Genealogy Wise Chats!

I just attended my first chat session at Genealogy Wise. If you weren't there, you missed a great chat. The chat started at 8:00 pm MST and was called GENTREK-Genealogy Research & Resource Notebooks, Part 1. The chat was presented by Jayne McCormick and Dae Powell. The Genealogy Wise chatroom is available for chats 24 hours a day. GenWise Chats is a group on GW which has begun scheduled chats to educate members on different topics. This is a terrific resource for members and I encourage all… Continue

Added by Jennifer Eklund, PLCGS on August 3, 2009 at 9:10pm — 1 Comment

Location, Location, Location!

As I mentioned in response to "Too Many Groups," most of my greatest progress in research has come as a result of focusing on location more than surnames in general. This approach has helped me make connections that I really am sure I couldn't have made otherwise. It has also enriched my appreciation for different communities in the United States and Canada, and what makes them unique. I've learned more about their geographies, histories, cultures, etc. It has made genealogy more meaningful to… Continue

Added by Jeanie DiLeonardo on July 30, 2009 at 5:18pm — 1 Comment

Know When to Walk Away...

All genealogists ultimately hit the proverbial brick wall. We just can't seem to find a birth date for our great great grandfather that would help us distinguish him from another individual with his same name. We research for hours through microfilm hoping to find the piece of the puzzle that will suddenly flood our family tree with new branches. As genealogists we strive to not just get past the proverbial brick wall, but to tear it down. Not brick by brick, but all at once with one piece of… Continue

Added by Jennifer Eklund, PLCGS on July 30, 2009 at 12:41pm — 3 Comments

Proper Etiquette Makes for Happy Genealogists

We all have different views about the right and wrong ways to do genealogy. Some genealogists are working toward making genealogy an actual academic discipline, which means stressing the importance of methodology and sources. Other genealogists are more traditional and do not care to bother with the academics of it all and just want to follow their line as far back as possible and not worry about "proving" through sources or multiple sources who relates to who. On mailing lists, through blogs,… Continue

Added by Jennifer Eklund, PLCGS on July 20, 2009 at 3:33pm — 8 Comments

Ellis Island

The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. is an incredible resource for genealogists who have ancestors who immigrated to America through Ellis Island. The Foundation’s website in particular is an incredible resource for genealogists. http://www.ellisisland.org/

At the above website, you can search the Ellis Island/Port of New York records for your ancestors. No payment is required to search these records. The website also offers in-depth information on the history of Ellis… Continue

Added by Jennifer Eklund, PLCGS on July 20, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Paying Dues Pays Off -- Another Brick Wall In Ruins

One of the things that I always tell people in my lectures, is to always try to take advantage of local resources that are available to you. I can't believe I took so long to heed my own advice on this one! I've been looking under every stone I could find for information on the parentage of my 4th great grandfather, David Stevens. I know lots about him, his wives, his divorce in 1817, his kids, and all the descendants. But not knowing who his parents were has plagued me for the past several… Continue

Added by tami osmer glatz on July 18, 2009 at 9:30am — 4 Comments

Genealogy Wise: My New Home

When you first get the keys to a new home you are overcome with cognitive dissonance. The uncomfortable tension of feeling elated that you have purchased a house, but overcome with fear regarding the enormity of the responsibility. On a smaller scale, signing up for a new social networking site can have the same feelings of cognitive dissonance. A new member is excited about the possibilities of meeting new people, networking and learning with and from other members, and excited to share their… Continue

Added by Jennifer Eklund, PLCGS on July 17, 2009 at 1:59pm — 3 Comments

An Under-Utilized Resource: The Godfrey Memorial Library

The Godfrey Memorial Library is a private genealogy library in Connecticut, that has an online subscription website full of great databases and useful links. Memberships are quite reasonable, and if you want to "test drive" the website, you can get full access for free at any LDS Family History Center. The website can be just a bit confusing, but with a brief "tour", you can figure out the resources quite easily, and be navigating with ease in no time.

I'd like to start by… Continue

Added by tami osmer glatz on July 15, 2009 at 1:30pm — No Comments

My passion to join the DAR

My paternal grandmother loved to tell stories about our ancestors. She loved history and she loved genealogy. She did not live long enough to know what the Internet is or the amount of resources now available over said Internet to conduct family research. She didn't know what the genealogical proof standard was or what methodology meant or own one book on genealogy. She just loved to tell the stories that had been past down to her and tell the stories she had lived through. Like my maternal… Continue

Added by Jennifer Eklund, PLCGS on July 15, 2009 at 12:04pm — 1 Comment

Genealogy Simple & Fun

I have been in the Genealogy field for over 11 years now. Here are Articles to help you in your research, News information plus Items to make your Genealogy Adventure Fun! Check back often for up-dates!

Added by Tammy Evans on July 14, 2009 at 1:20pm — No Comments

Who will continue your research?

Every genealogist wonders who will continue their research when they were gone. My paternal grandmother died knowing that her oldest granddaughter and oldest daughter were serious genealogy hobbists. However, once my cousin had a family of her own, her genealogy obsession waivered. My aunt has not done any serious research in years. And neither of them are the generous types in sharing the research they have. Information they collected on a trip to England three decades ago is something they… Continue

Added by Jennifer Eklund, PLCGS on July 13, 2009 at 9:26am — 1 Comment

Understanding the Use of Sources

Not having sources to document where you found information on your ancestors in genealogy is like Superman wearing his alter ego Clark Kent's glasses, useless. Without the use of sources, information in a genealogical report is nothing more than hearsay. The more sources a genealogy report presents, the more credible the report. Many beginning genealogists do not understand sources though. The more a genealogist understands the differences between sources and the information derived from… Continue

Added by Jennifer Eklund, PLCGS on July 12, 2009 at 9:47am — 3 Comments

10 Hard Truths About Genealogy

1. There is no "A" in Cemetery.

2. The census takers, more often than not, didn't really care when your relative was born, or how your relative's name was spelled. They spelled it like it sounded. They also didn't really care if the two year old hanging off of the Polish woman they were questioning was a boy or a girl, and they couldn't understand Polish anyway. Thats why your great uncle is a girl in 1900 and a boy in 1912. Its still the same person.

3. There are occasionally errors… Continue

Added by tami osmer glatz on July 11, 2009 at 6:30pm — 4 Comments

Chicago research - on the internet

I already told you about the very cool Historical County Map Boundary tool at the website for the Newberry Library. Now to more great stuff available at the Newberry's website!. If you're doing research in Chicago, Cook County, there's no better site than the ChicagoAncestors site from Newberry Library, which you can find in the Genealogy Collection Guides and Research Tools page of the Newberry's site, under the tab "Research Chicago". You can also get there directly by… Continue

Added by tami osmer glatz on July 11, 2009 at 6:00pm — No Comments

Genealogy Research at the Spy Museum?????

Yearly, I make a trek to Washington, DC to do some family history research at the National Archives. On one trip, I decided to spend an afternoon visiting the new Spy Museum in D.C..

So, I'm walking around listening to the audiocassette, and I come to an area about terrorist attacks on American soil. The first display explained that 9/11 was NOT the first attack we've had on American soil. Rather, there was an attack during World War I which was also in the New York City area. There… Continue

Added by Just Judy on July 11, 2009 at 5:05pm — 1 Comment

Is GenealogyWise in fact, Wise?

I have touched slightly in other blog postings about GenealogyWise, specifically my review of the site. Today, I have not been able to really use the site for its intended purpose because I have been working on a tutorial for the "Professional/Technical Communication" course I am currently in. (I received my bachelor of science in psychology in May and will begin a master's program in psychology with a specialization in psychology of culture in September. My career goal is to be an online… Continue

Added by Jennifer Eklund, PLCGS on July 11, 2009 at 4:01pm — 2 Comments

Hugged by Ancestors

I made a reference in a previous blog about feeling hugged by my ancestors when sitting among my grandparents scrapbooks, photo albums, journals, etc., when I was 16 years old. A new found friend on GenealogyWise emailed me and said he liked that phrase, "hugged by ancestors." A few of the back and forth emails had the subject line "Hugged by ancestors," and I have not been able to get this phrase out of my head since.

As I pulled a few different genealogy files out today to look up… Continue

Added by Jennifer Eklund, PLCGS on July 11, 2009 at 12:00am — 2 Comments

Spelling can be misleading...

Several years ago I sent out an S.O.S. on a message board to find information on an ancestor. A man who's first name was spelled Frances. A member of the board who happened to be an English teacher replied to me with a lecture about how I was spelling the man's name wrong. Frances with an "e" is the feminine. Francis with an "i" is the masculine. She told me I needed to change the spelling because I was spelling his name wrong.

What the English teacher did not understand was that… Continue

Added by Jennifer Eklund, PLCGS on July 10, 2009 at 12:39pm — 6 Comments

Preparing to Research Your Family Tree

Researching your family tree can be a rewarding experience, not just for you, but also for other living members of your family and those members yet to be born. The first step in preparing to research your family tree is to write down all the information about your family that you know. Include names, birth, marriage, divorce, and death dates and locations. Occupations, residences, schools attended, medical information, and anything else you find pertinent to your family tree should also be… Continue

Added by Jennifer Eklund, PLCGS on July 8, 2009 at 5:53pm — No Comments