Newspapers can be a genealogical wildcard. This advertisement from  the 15 April 1764 Philadelphia Gazette shows […]
FamilySearch has digitized cancelled homestead files for selected land offices in Kansas and Nebraska (“United States, […]
The Bureau of Land Management Office tract books are a good source for additional information on […]
Reading legal documents can be difficult for some  genealogists who are not lawyers. They can occasionally […]
The final accounting for the estate of Thomas Rampley was located in the estate records of […]
I quit claiming I could stop searching for deeds when I realized I had not located […]
Women were not frequent bidders at estate auctions in the early 1820s. There was only one […]
There are not many places besides the farm where my ancestors worked for any length of […]
This 1860 letter from Samuel Casey, warden at the Illinois prison in Joliet, was written to […]
We all have them: someone who appears to have lived on Earth for only a few […]
I asked a colleague to recommend a researcher in a specific area that’s too far for […]
FamilySearch is indicating that it’s 1860 census has been “last updated” on 24 March 2017. The question […]
The Ancestry.com DNA submission kit has arrived.  Before I send back the sample, it would be […]
How much it will help my writing is yet to be determined and I probably should […]
Determining the origin of pieces of information that have been shared and reproduced endlessly can be […]
To get me up to speed, I’ve purchased The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and […]
The FamilySearch database  contains more than the vital records that were extracted to make the index to these […]
[Note: these church pews were written about on the old blog, but we’ve updated the post] […]
After years of hemming and hawing, I’ve finally decided to have the DNA work done at […]
There is always a little more to the story. In an earlier post, “Focke Returns to […]
This hour-long presentation (aimed at advanced beginner and intermediate researchers) focuses on research approaches to get […]
One did not always just leave Europe and head off to America without paperwork, particularly as […]
Library of Virginia Land Patents This hour-long presentation provides a very broad and quick overview of […]
What was the last thing you learned about research or the area where your ancestors lived? […]
We still have room on my two research trips coming up later this year. Join me […]
All of us have research habits based upon previous experience. Those habits often stem from where […]
Genealogy Tip of the Day Book