The Library of Congress has an expansive collection of historical images available online. Many show the daily lives of our ancestors and reveal exciting glimpses into our collective past. Thanks to efforts by the US government to document America’s people and cultural movements, many of these image descriptions retain names, ages, dates and other details about …
Family Gatherings: Images From Our Collective Past Read More »
Image at left: These do look comfortable, but 200?? My mom’s love of collecting things made her incredibly easy to shop for. Every Christmas and birthday my brother and I could rotate between the champagne flute/candlestick/mini pitcher/teapot/padded coat hanger obsessions. Actually, my brother stopped at padded coat hangers. That’s all he bought her for about …
Fantastic free sites for genealogists and history buffs are popping up every day. Here are a few of our recent favorites that you may have missed. Have other cool new family history sites to recommend? Share them in the comments! StoryWorth This new website dedicated to helping anyone record their family stories was mentioned in …
4 Free Genealogy and History Sites You May Have Missed Read More »
I’ve loved cemeteries as long as I can remember. I think I became a genealogist just so I would have a good explanation for how often I visited them. While I go mainly to take photos for Find A Grave or Billion Graves, I find other reasons as well; the calm, the time to think, …
Spring is in the air and lazy days of summer are in the immediate future. My thoughts wander as I view fresh flowers sprouting and buds appearing on the trees. In genealogy lessons, instructions are to create a research plan, stay focused and be diligent. While I agree, when spring fever arrives I find it …
Images of our ancestors bring so much life to a person previously only known through census records and cemeteries. But for many we simply don’t have the coveted photograph. Our imagination does the heavy lifting. I don’t know about you, but I tend to conjure up all farmers about the same! Sad really. You’d think …
Thoughts of a Family Bible usually portray an image of a large heavy leather-covered book. They were sold in stores, available from mail order catalogs and offered by door-to-door salesmen. Even non-religious families may have owned a family Bible. The major selling factor was the “Records” or “Register” section, usually located in the center or …
The Importance of Family Bibles in Genealogy Research Read More »
The student of genealogy sooner or later has to understand the importance of “the great awakening” in the United Sates. This was a time of religious fervor that had not been present before in the American conscience of the 1730’s and 1740’s. As the idea of becoming American grew the idea of personal religious experience …
The Great Awakening: Migration & Ministers of the Gospel Read More »
Photo Caption: Jodi’s recent class photo purchases (stop her before she buys again!) I have a problem. That’s the first step to recovery right? I am addicted to purchasing old class photos. To help myself I have given up eBay for Lent (I can hear the share price dropping as I type this.) This picture …
Appreciating Our Ancestor’s Education & Controlling an eBay Habit Read More »
This is the story of my grandma Wallin’s oldest sister, Anna Marie Peterson Genoways (1887-1928). She was a schoolteacher, like I used to be; and she found love later in life, like I did. Anna was the oldest of eight children, born to Swedish immigrants who farmed on the plains of Nebraska, near the Platte …