I understand the FAN concept of genealogical research (research the friends, associates, and neighbors of your ancestors–great idea!). But I think that researching the 4th cousin of your 2nd cousin’s great-grandmother (on the other side of the family) is a bit much. The same thing goes for the guy who tells me he “knows everything […]

My little attempt to create a funny response to Ancestry.com‘s “Do you come from royal blood?” question.

There was a reason why ThruLines at AncestryDNA gave me Ellosif Lowy as a potential mother for Florence Ellen Butler (born in the 1850s, probably in Missouri). Florence Ellen Butler is in my tree as the daughter of a Benjamin Butler. And a little further digging did indicate that a woman named Ellosif Lowry married […]

Anecdotal evidence that ThruLines at AncestryDNA is still in the beta stage. It suggests that the mother of my ancestor Florence E. Butler is a woman named Ellosif “Ella” Lowry. Fine. But then it goes on to tell me that none of the trees linked to my DNA matches have this relationship and that no […]

[reprinted from June of 2003]from the Ancestry Daily News  Michael John Neill – 6/4/2003 Interviewing GrandmaSummer, along with family trips and reunions, is quickly approaching. This week we take a short look at obtaining oral information from relatives. While its accuracy is sometimes questionable, for most of us oral history is a great starting point to […]

I was trained as a mathematician, so on one level the title of this post really bothers me. On the other hand, it is true-at least partially. It is also true that mathematics is an art as well. An art, grounded with rules, laws, theorems, and postulates. But even “art” has rules, rules of color, […]

I know that I’m supposed to do it. I really do. But, like probably everyone else who is honest, I don’t always take notes as I research. That wastes time later. While at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, I worked on the extended family of a woman named Mary Parker who was […]

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then the Family Tree Historical Atlas of Germany by James Beidler is worth approximately 120,000. The book contains approximately 120 historical maps of Germany and environs (particularly to the east of present-day Germany) showing political boundaries, changes in those boundaries, concentrations of various religious denominations, and a few […]

Compiled military service records should be a lead in to other records and sources–they should not be an end in and of themselves. That’s particularly true with Illinois resident George Trautvetter who served in the 15th Missouri Infantry in the Civil War. The cover sheet for his compiled military service record indicated a book mark […]

Online searches go better when they are organized. Organized searches increase the chance the the person of interest is found in the database and that, if they are not located, effective alternate search strategies can be conducted and the researcher can more easily problem-solve in an attempt to improve their results. Searching willy-nilly without keeping […]