Month: March 2019

Standards Manual is Food for Thought

My copy of the second edition of the  Genealogy Standards Manual written by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) has arrived. The most significant changes center around the use of DNA evidence in genealogical research. The standards are meant to be a general guideline. They aren’t meant to give specific suggestions for specific problems. If you […]

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San Mateo County Genealogical Society Seminar-4 May 2019

I’m excited to be presenting at the May 2019 seminar of the San Mateo County Genealogical Society in Menlo Park California. I’ll be presenting four topics: Problem Solving Applied to Genealogy Organizing Online Research Researching the Entire Family and Beyond Finding Barbara’s Beaus and Gesche’s Girls The last session is about two 19th century German […]

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Separation Safeguards

Page 9 of the second edition of the Standards Manual written by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) mentions “separation safeguards.” They aren’t talking about records regarding the early stages of a divorce. It’s about keeping citation information as a part of the statements, images, and other extractions or reproductions made from that source. In other […]

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Two New Books On the Way

I’ve purchased two new books: Advanced Genetic Genealogy: Techniques and Case Studies, edited by Debbie Parker Wayne. Family Tree Historical Atlas of Germany, by James Beidler. We’ll have an update when they have arrived. The Family Tree Historical Atlas of Germany does not have a ship date until late May.  

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Just Letting the Government Know about that “Pension:” Part II

The Pension Department in 1914 appreciated neighbors who took the initiative to inform them that pension fraud was possibly taking place. Charles Stewart received a response to his letter of December of 1914 which indicated that he had evidence that Sarah Graves was not qualified to receive a widow’s Civil War pension based upon the […]

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What Name Do You Use and Why?

Do you use your “real” name? Or do you use a diminutive based upon your first or middle name? Do you use a nickname? In the notes section of your genealogy software indicate why you used the name you did. Future genealogists and relatives might like to know why you used it. I have always […]

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Just Letting the Government Know about that “Pension:” Part I

One document rarely tells the entire story and that appears to be the case with this December of 1914 letter written by Charles M. Stewart of North Liberty, Iowa. There is more going on than just what is stated in this one letter from a veteran interested in preventing a fraud that he thought was […]

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