Michael John Neill's Genealogy Website
I’m not retiring from genealogy. But do you track when your ancestor retired from their regular job? I realize that not everyone lives long enough to retire or is financially able to retire, but some people do. Is that retirement date something you try and find out? My Mom taught for forty years and I […]
For a variety of reasons, my posts here have withered away to few and far between on this blog. I’m contemplating bringing this blog back much like it was before with perhaps a few more informal and conversational posts related to genealogy and my research. If you’d like to see it return, please let me […]
(this appeared in the Ancestry Daily News in 2000 and I thought it worth repeating for those who might not have seen it. Bits and pieces are dated, but there is still some good food for thought.) ============================================================“HAVE YOU . . . ? I WONDER,” by Michael John Neill============================================================Genealogists ask questions of relatives, record keepers, librarians, family members, […]
I’m always tentatively excited when I get a new match that appears to fit into my family of my great-great-grandparents, Samuel and Annie (Murphy) Neill. The key word is “tentative.” I’m always hoping it will help to to connect back to earlier generations of my Irish heritage. This match, “S,” was noticed because it was […]
A “reasonably exhaustive search” in the genealogical lexicon means, generally, to look at everything that could reasonably answer a genealogy problem or question. That’s a good approach, but sometimes “brute force,” or looking at everything and anything works as well. And, “brute force” may give you answers to questions you did not even know you […]
In performing a manual search of naturalization records for Hancock County, Illinois, I discovered a large number of naturalizations that took place on 12 October of 1858. There were a total of twenty-two men who became United States citizens on that date. Given the location and the population of the county, that seemed like a […]
The Library of Virginia Chancery Court records website has added images of court records for Orange County, Virginia, to their website. Counties are being added on a continual basis. This is an excellent way to preserve these records and make them available to researchers. There is one court case in which I’m particularly interested: one […]
The photograph of my Mother pushing a doll in a stroller was taken in the 1940s. That I’m sure of. What I am less certain of is the location. Given where Mom and her grandparents lived, I’m reasonably certain the photograph was taken in Hancock County, Illinois. But where within the county I am not […]
