No one is as familiar with personal ads placed in colonial newspapers as Joseph Lee Boyle. The retired head ranger at the Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, historic park, Mr. Boyle has spent a decade reading the classified ads that ran in 18th-century American newspapers from New England to Maryland. His findings have appeared in 20 indexed[…]Read more
Many persons living today have Quaker ancestors—even though these descendants are not themselves members of the Society of Friends. Quaker records are voluminous, but, owing to the structure and concerns of the Society, they require prior explanation. And this is precisely what Our Quaker Ancestors: Finding Them in Quaker Records, by the late Ellen and[…]Read more
Over the past month we received three positive reviews of the new consolidated, indexed edition of Scots-Irish Links, 1575-1900, by Dr. David Dobson. In the aggregate the reviewers appreciate that we went to the trouble and expense of having the books fully indexed, thereby identifying over 30,000 persons connected to the founding families of the[…]Read more
Originally published in 1987, Our Quaker Ancestors: Finding Them in Quaker Records, by Ellen and Thomas Berry, has served as the standard guidebook for persons with Quaker ancestors. Our Quaker Ancestors provides a comprehensive introduction to the rich yet sometimes confusing body of records, repositories, and publications devoted to the Society of Friends. We are[…]Read more
Earlier this month, the New England Historic Genealogical Society presented Elizabeth Shown Mills with its distinguished Coddington Award of Merit. The award is named after John Insley Coddington, who, after Donald Lines Jacobus, is considered the dean of 20th-century American genealogists. The Codington award recognizes significant accomplishments and contributions in the field. Elizabeth Shown Mills,[…]Read more
The American Society of Genealogists bestows its annual Jacobus Award upon the finest work of genealogical scholarship of the preceding year. It would be hard to find a more deserving winner of its coveted Jacobus Award than the 1988 selection, Pioneers of Old Monocacy: The Early Settlement of Frederick County, Maryland 1721-1743, by Grace L.[…]Read more
In the Fourth Edition of The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, author Val D. Greenwood devotes three full chapters (80 pages) to the subject of land records. One chapter covers national (colonial and U.S.) land, a second one covers local land, and the third explains the formats of land record abstracts. Land records, of course,[…]Read more
Do you have Welsh ancestry? If so, can you answer the following questions: Which centuries marked the greatest waves of emigration from Wales? What were the dominant religious denominations in Wales prior to 1900? Why is knowledge of a Welsh ancestor’s maiden name helpful in pinpointing a family’s location in Wales? When did civil registration[…]Read more
We are all smiles at Genealogical.com. Why? At its recently concluded annual conference held in Sacramento, California, the National Genealogical Society announced that the book, How To Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records by Sunny Jane Morton and Harold A. Henderson, had won the 2022 Award for Excellence: Methods & Sources Book Competition.[…]Read more
Northern Ireland native Chris Paton manages the popular blog, “Scottish Genes.” Mr. Paton has written textbooks on Scottish and Irish genealogy, and he is a highly regarded professional genealogist running his own research service out of the Scottish coastal town, Irvine, North Ayrshire. On May 5, Chris Paton posted a glowing review of Dr. David[…]Read more
