Riley is sitting on my lap as I review some recent discoveries. His advice is related to taking appropriate breaks, not losing your leash, and remembering boundaries (his are limited to the limits of our yard,  but there’s a point there as well). Just a few quick reminders from me–apparently I need them as much […]

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The problem was simple–“My ancestors were married in Kentucky in 1820 and I have no idea how to find their parents.” Unfortunately, there was no straightforward answer. Pre-1850 research in states that were not recording births and deaths can be challenging, particularly if the area was still a “frontier.” This week we look at some […]

ArchiveGrid searches materials inventoried and cataloged in special collections across the United States. It is a wonderful way to locate unique materials that one can’t necessarily find online in Google and other internet searches. It is important to remember that letters or family ephemera may be located hundreds or thousands of miles from where the […]

  If you have one of the tests done–despite which one you do, time spent waiting to get the test and time spent waiting to get the results is not time that should be wasted. Think about your goals for the autosomal test. Think about the individuals and families you are hoping to make discoveries […]

I’ve written about this before, but sometimes I am still amazed that livestock pedigrees as far back as 1938 are online at the American Angus Association’s website. Searching them is not so easy. The image shown was for “Barbara 41 of Greenview” a cow born in November of 1938 and owned by my paternal grandfather. Non-members can’t […]

It’s apparently in progress, but for now it is just a big tease. There is a link on Ancestry.com‘s “U.S., Evangelical Covenant Church, Swedish American Church Records, 1868-1970” for records of the Swedish American Church. The link has not worked in over a week as of this post. Apparently it is in the pipeline to be […]

I’m still not certain what was meant by “not of this country” in an 1830 legal notice from a Lynchburg, Virginia, newspaper. But I know more than I did and have an additional idea on the “not of this country” phrase. Knowing more about the court that heard this case is necessary to locate the […]

Years ago I obtained the will of a relative in Chicago from 1947. All I got was the will because it answered my immediate question. In reviewing my materials, I realized that the will was all that I had and that there might be more information. A search of the entire probate file is underway–we’ll […]

Legal notices that appear in newspapers can be a great genealogical source. They can make researchers aware of cases they were not aware of–particularly if the newspapers are available online and full-text searchable. While legal notices do not name everyone who is mentioned in the actual court record (only the actual parties to the suit […]