Chapter Five of The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy. 4th Edition, by Val Greenwood, is entitled “Libraries and the National Archives (NARA).” In a way the chapter title is understated because many libraries have digitized their family history holdings (e.g., personal papers, published family histories, military records, etc.) and made them available for free on[…]Read more
The Russian war in Ukraine has caused much worry about the loss of archival records. A small portion of records were scanned before the war started in February. Soon after the war began in February, staff from FamilySearch International stopped scanning Ukrainian archive records. Their work only had started in late spring 2021. Meanwhile Ukrainian[…]Read more
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
Like their present-day counterparts, old newspapers are a great source of marriage and obituary notices. In fact, early newspapers are sometimes the ONLY source of genealogical information for a specific locality at a particular point in time. Since 18th- and 19th-century newspapers have not come down to us with their own indexes, it’s daunting to[…]Read more
From its beginnings in 1893 until the 1950s, the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography devoted considerable space to the publication of genealogical source material. In all, the Magazine published nearly 5,000 pages of compiled genealogies and related source material. In 1981, Genealogical Publishing Company (Genealogical.com) re-arranged the genealogies, so that each is complete in[…]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
Engaging in genealogical research requires a commitment of time, energy, and resources. Along the way, we may invest in travel, subscribe to web sites, buy books, establish relationships and more, as we devote ourselves to unraveling the mysteries and connections of our families. One aspect of genealogy that many hobbyists do not make a serious[…]Read more
The system of primogeniture, the medieval practice of passing down a title and its holdings to one’s eldest son (or daughter), accounts for the fact that many Americans have royal or noble ancestors. For example, the millions of descendants of the 970 immigrant ancestors discussed in the 2018 edition of Gary Boyd Roberts’ book, The[…]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
