Wondering how common a last name is? Whether you’re in the process of researching your surname because you’re building your family tree, or are just curious how popular your name is, you’re in luck. Every year, the US Census Bureau gets numerous inquiries about the frequency of names, first and last, and has been kind …
OK, OK, we promise this article is all in good fun. After all, we genealogists are usually fairly easy-going folks, and goodness knows we’re patient — after all, we’ve waited ten whole years for the 1950 census! But, alas, sometimes even the best of us let things get under our skin (even if we know we shouldn’t).
If you’ve never taken the time to track down offline vital records about your ancestors you might be asking yourself two questions right now: “Vital Records? What are those?” and “Offline? Why would I need a quick guide to finding Vital Records offline when it’s so easy to surf for everything online?” But you’ll soon discover that adding these offline records to your research is an integral step in understanding your ancestors’ lives and building a quality family tree.
Years ago, as a beginner genealogist, I held many misplaced beliefs that wasted my time and valuable resources. Looking back, I wish I had known that these ideas were hindering my career as a family historian. Here are four mistakes that have limited my genealogy research over the years.
The Ellis Island records website has long been a great place to find free ancestry information. Providing instant access to more than 50 million immigration records, it’s a vital resource for anyone with US immigrant ancestry from the late 19th and early 20th centuries (earlier records can be found here). A couple of years ago Ellis …
Did Your Ancestors Come Through Ellis Island? Here’s How to Find Out Read More »
By Lisa Lisson “No one is interested in my story.” — “Me? I was just a housewife.” — “Our family did not do anything special.” — “Our family never had much.” These are some of the responses I received when I began asking my grandmother (at the time in her late 80s) about her life and family history. So, …
The Vital Genealogy Research Step You May Have Missed Read More »
There are few things more frustrating or discouraging than spending days, weeks or even years looking for a specific detail about an ancestor and coming up with nothing. And while it is certainly possible that what you are looking for simply does not exist, it’s also possible that a few changes to the way you …
Can’t Find Your Ancestor? 6 Tips for More Effective Genealogy Searches Read More »
Researching ancestors from England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland? Here’s a list of free genealogy sites for the UK and Ireland where you can find everything from census returns and military service records to birth, marriage and death indexes.
Well, rules might be a bit strict, but we do have some pretty tight guidelines that we like to follow when we’re doing genealogy research. We promise we use them most of the time. You likely have your own set of rules and we’d love to hear them. What would you add to this list? Want to keep this …
Do You Follow These “Rules” of Genealogy Research? Read More »
Genealogy reference books have long been a valuable part of family history research. Providing help and how-to on a huge range of topics, the best selections will take any genealogist on a journey of discovery. But with an ever-growing assortment of online reference information for family historians it is easy to overlook the many fascinating …
Genealogy Books: 7 Top Family History Reads to Inform and Inspire Read More »