In the following excerpt from her acclaimed book, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace. 3rd Edition Revised, Elizabeth Shown Mills explains that the terms proof, source, and evidence have different and distinct meanings. Moreover, a proof argument in genealogy must consist of a number of demonstrable components. Whether we are reading Ms.[…]Read more
Originally published in 1977, Finding Our Fathers: A Guidebook to Jewish Genealogy, by Dan Rottenberg, was a groundbreaking publication. Although we reprinted it in 1995 with a new Preface, Finding Our Fathers was an ambitious product of the pre-Internet era. While Jewish researchers have far greater access to Jewish sources than Mr. Rottenberg did in[…]Read more
Royalty and titled nobility in America? Not exactly. No titles of duke, marquess, earl, viscount or baron are bestowed on men, nor titles of duchess, marchioness, countess, viscountess and baroness are granted to women in the United States of America. Nevertheless, hundreds of our seventeenth-century immigrants shed their noble titles for freedom from religious persecution or economic restrictions. Most of these[…]Read more
By Judy Jacobson Finally! A history book written expressly for family sleuths–History for Genealogists, Using Chronological Time Lines to find and Understand Your Ancestors. With this book, accomplished author Judy Jacobson returns with a vast array of historical time lines that are guaranteed to inform your family history. Consider the following illustrations: If you have[…]Read more
When Americans recall the Irish Potato Famine, they immediately think of the hundreds of thousands who emigrated to the U.S. between 1846 and 1851. But during that famine and at other times, Irish emigrants ventured to many other parts of the world, notably the British Isles, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, elsewhere in Europe, and Latin[…]Read more
In recent years Americans have come to understand the plight of 19th– and early 20th-century “orphan train riders.” If you’ve read Christina Baker Kline’s best-selling novel, among others, you know that these children were transported by rail from the Eastern United States (especially New York) for adoption/apprenticeship by families in the Midwest. Kline’s novel captures[…]Read more
Excerpted from Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace,3d ed. rev. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2017), pp. 18–19, §1.5. “Modern family history (aka genealogy) draws heavily from law in its handling of evidence. However, family-history standards require a higher level of proof than does most litigation. The justice system demands that a date[…]Read more
By Laura Murphy DeGrazia, CG Excerpted from Laura Murphy DeGrazia, “Problem Analyses & Research Plans,” Elizabeth Shown Mills, ed., Professional Genealogy: Preparation, Practice & Standards (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2018), 295–316. Publisher’s Note: Last week we ran an excerpt from Laura Murphy DeGrazia’s chapter, “Problem Analyses & Research Plans,” published in Professional Genealogy: Preparation, Practice &[…]Read more
Do you know that most civil records for Mexico prior to 1821 are found in Spain? Hispanic naming traditions make it easier to trace female ancestors than in many other cultures—do you know why? If you have Mexican ancestry but cannot read original documents in Spanish, do you know where to find a tutorial for[…]Read more
Over the course of the last few months, we’ve published a number of excerpts from J. Michael Cleverley’s intriguing book, Family Stories . . . and How I found Mine. We’ve followed the Cleverley ancestors from the court of William the Conqueror, to the intrigues of the British nobility on the eve of the War[…]Read more
In the September 15 issue of “Genealogy Pointers,” we traced author J. Michael Cleveley’s ancestors to Rhode Island on the eve of the American Revolution, as they attempt to organize a militia company to support the Patriot cause. Nearly a century later, we learn that those Rhode Islanders’ descendants are struggling to establish themselves on[…]Read more
By Laura Murphy DeGrazia, CG Excerpted from: Laura Murphy DeGrazia, “Problem Analyses & Research Plans,” Elizabeth Shown Mills, ed., Professional Genealogy: Preparation, Practice & Standards(Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2018), 295–316. “Effective problem analysis requires a thorough understanding of three key issues. First, we must know the available sources for that problem—their accessibility, arrangement, content, and varying[…]Read more
