Month: August 2016

Medical Reports in Military Pension Files

Some United States Civil War pension files are chock full of medical reports. Many times these reports are repetitive and full of more details about your ancestor’s height, weight, temperature, and body functions than a person needs or wants to know. But there are times when those reports do have information helpful to your research. […]

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My Blogs and Newsletters

To reduce confusion, we are posting a summary of my blogs and newsletters. The blogs are published on the following websites. Any of these blogs can be received daily in your email for free by subscribing using the links on the individual blogs. Genealogy Tip of the Day—http://www.genealogytipoftheday.com–every day Search Tip of the Day–http://searchtip.genealogytipoftheday.com–most days […]

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Talking About What Does Not Work

Books and journals are full of “finished” research articles with laid-out evidence and analysis that clearly makes the author’s case. It the author is “fortunate,” someone has edited out the process, the things that don’t work, and the struggle along the way to that final research goal. After all, it is the finished product that matters most. It […]

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My Politics are Why I’m Not Getting a Square Deal

County biographies and obituaries are places where the political persuasion of an ancestor can sometimes be located.  They are probably one of the first places a researcher who is interested in such information should look. Voter’s registration rolls may also provide the political affiliation, but these records are not always easy to access. Pension files […]

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Casefile Clues is Back

After a hiatus, Casefile Clues, my easy-to-follow how-to genealogy newsletter focusing on the research process and analysis is back. To celebrate our return, we’re offering new subscribers a rate of $17 for 52 issues. Your subscription will begin with issue 3-51 and run through issue 4-52. That’s 54 issues. Our normal subscription rate is $20. This offer ends […]

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Citing a Pedigree Chart

Pedigree charts. Years ago genealogists compiled them on a regular basis, usually with nary a source. There were companies that sold blank forms and, because photocopies were not all that great, the repetitive typing of certain pieces of information is probably why I have certain ancestor’s dates of vital events memorized better than I do […]

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George A. Trautvetter’s Civil War Desertion-Part IV

In part III of this series we saw that George A. Trautvetter was not the only man to desert his Civil War infantry unit in July of 1865. According to the “National Archives and Record Administration’s Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900,” (NARA microfilm publication T289–available with images on Fold3 as […]

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