Ever had an expert look at your tree? Professional genealogists often run family trees through a set of standard diagnostic tests and tweaks to improve them. We have created a list of the most important ones so you can apply them yourself. Use this list to examine your own research and see where you can make big improvements.
Every family has one great champion, and mine was Minnie Doyle. Had it not been for her story my family history might still be a mystery. Yet, Minnie was not my great-grandmother…she was my great-aunt.
Genealogy is a lot of things. It’s fun. It’s addictive. It’s time-consuming, engaging, and irresistible. It exercises your sleuthing skills, introduces you to new people and places, and occasionally gives you the satisfaction of really hard work paying off. But it can also lead you astray if you don’t keep your goals in mind.
Having a hard time finding an ancestor, or two, or three? Some individuals can be nearly impossible to locate, but there are strategies that will make your job easier. Expert Bridget Sunderlin shares her ten favorites.
When you are new to family history research, it’s easy to imagine that every ancestor will fit neatly into a perfect family group: married father and mother – and their children. It doesn’t take long to discover, however, that our ancestors’ lives were as complicated as ours are today.
No matter how many years you’ve spent building your family tree on Ancestry, there’s always something new to learn. Whether it’s a brand new feature that’s just been introduced or a hidden gem you’ve never noticed, there are plenty of ways to improve your searches. Here are 7 tactics the experts use to get the most out of Ancestry.com.
Do you have Mexican heritage? If so, this simple guide will help you begin to search for your ancestors online and locate quality resources where you can find additional help.
In this guide we’re going to learn how to harness one of the most underused genealogical resources of the late 18th and early 19th centuries: the U.S. Censuses of 1790 to 1830. These gems can be a bit daunting with their tick marks and handwritten surnames, but they can contain some very helpful information when used correctly.
Old photos are a treasure indeed and, if you have one (or more), you want to be sure you keep your collection in the best possible condition for future generations to enjoy. We’ve gathered our ten best tips of what NOT to do with your old photographs so they survive to be treasured by your family’s next designated historian.
If you’re lucky enough to have an original letter written by one of your ancestors, it’s most likely one of your most treasured belongings. But there’s more to discover than just letters when it comes to postal records. See if you can find your ancestors in these unique collections.