A significant number of World War II US draft registration cards from what is referred to as the “young men’s draft” have been published on FamilySearch. A list of the currently available states has been published on our Genealogy Search Tip of the Day and a few quick tips to using these cards has been posted on Genealogy Tip […]

The abbreviation for Kankakee, Illinois, on this change of address card for a World War II draft card struck me as funny. Abbreviations are faster for the clerk, but they may confuse the researcher.

Investigative Case Files of the Bureau of Investigation 1908-1922 (located on Fold3.com) are not just about anti-American activities during the time period around World War I. While many of the files do center around German natives living in the United States, there are materials on other individuals and other types of actions. This screen shot […]

A Facebook follower asked for additional clarification about the entry for the Smith-Kile family’s 1870 census entry that was discussed in “What Did Ancestry.com Add and Automate to this 1870 Census Entry?” and wondered if somewhere on the census page there was a notation that Ancestry.com used to “break” the census entry apart. Nope. The entire […]

It’s the automation of the research process that can create confusion. If records were completely standardized, families always lived in the same structure, and no one “colored outside the lines,” research would be easier. But they didn’t color in the lines all the time. Records are not always standardized. Families can live in more than […]

Sometimes that which we find is not pleasant. I first learned of the 1811 slave murder when searching for references to my Sledd family on  Genealogybank. The vast majority of  Sledd references before 1850 in  Genealogybank refer to this murder–which was not what I was actually looking for. A search of GoogleBooks located the reference below.  Unfortunately none of the online […]

There are many depositions in the Clagg-Sledd Court case from Bedford County,  Virginia, which came to a head in 1827. We’ve written about the case before focusing on the origination of the debt. But the origination of the debt is only the tip of the iceberg and I’m still trying to figure it out. The […]

I maintain the following genealogy blogs. The blogs are all free to subscribe to: Rootdig.com—Michael’s thoughts, research problems, suggestions, and whatever else crosses his desk Genealogy Tip of the Day—one genealogy research tip every day–short and to the point Genealogy Search Tip—websites I’ve discovered and the occasional online research tip–short and to the point Casefile […]

Individuals give their ages in a variety of records before 1900 in the United States. How many times were they asked for “proof” or “evidence” of their age? And how many times were they simply asked? If it seemed reasonable to the clerk or official, that’s probably what got written down. That potential for variability […]

One of the families I wanted to work on with a new set of AncestryDNA results has the last name of Smith. While the trees of submitters can contain errors, they can also contain clues and suggestions. Only being able to search by surnames is a serious limitation, particularly when the last name is common.  It does not […]