The 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes by France’s King Louis XIV, prompted a mass exodus of between 400,000 and 2 million French Protestants, i.e., Huguenots. Fearing for their lives, the Huguenots dispersed to the Dutch Republic, Prussia, Denmark, England, South Africa, and the French and English colonies of the New World. The Huguenot diaspora[…]Read more
Category: Genealogy Pointers
African American News in the Baltimore Sun, 1870-1927, by Margaret D. Pagan, Draws High Praise from University Archivist
Dr. Ida Jones is University Archivist at Morgan State University. She recently prepared the following review of Margaret D. Pagan’s new book, African American News in the Baltimore Sun, 1870-1927. The review not only summarizes and appraises Mrs. Pagan’s publication but also describes the context for news about African Americans in what had been the[…]Read more
Mitochondrial DNA Tests Disclose Ancient and Modern Indigenous Ancestry
For decades, archeologists and anthropologists have posited that migrants from East Asia populated the Americas by navigating seaworthy crafts in the Pacific Ocean or by crossing over the Bering Sea land bridge that used to connect Asia and Alaska. In recent years genetic testing has confirmed these theories by revealing the existence of haplogroups that[…]Read more
DNA for Native American Genealogy: Comprehensive Guide to Indigenous Roots
Did you know that the Navajo and related tribes migrated from Northwest Canada and present-day Alaska to present-day Arizona and New Mexico, and ultimately southeastern Utah, roughly 600 years ago? Would it surprise you to learn that the indigenous people of Hawaii are closely related to indigenous people of the Pacific Islands, Polynesia, Australia, and[…]Read more
7th Edition of IVRH Guides Researchers to Online Databases
Now in its 7th Edition, the International Vital Records Handbook (IVRH) has always provided researchers with a convenient, current source of application forms for ordering birth, marriage, death, and divorce certificates for decades. The 7th Edition has all the forms and/or addresses researchers need, but it also has been expanded to include information available in[…]Read more
The American (Loyalist), by Peter Wilson Coldham
The following article was adapted from the Introduction to Mr. Coldham’s definitive account of the claims awarded to American colonists by the British crown following the Revolutionary War. For more information about events leading to the establishment of the American Claims Commission, as well as thousands of Loyalist sketches of the claimants themselves, see Mr.[…]Read more
Women Who Served in the American Revolution
According to Jack Darrell Crowder, author of Strange, Amazing, and Funny Events that Happened during the Revolutionary War, many females served in that conflict. Some of them were camp followers accompanying their husbands or other family members; however, others were hoping to support themselves or were simply out for adventure. In a few recorded instances,[…]Read more
New Book Identifies African American Patriots of Revolutionary War
Genealogists and historians will be eager to examine Paul Heinegg’s third major contribution to the literature of African American history and genealogy of 2021: List of Free African Americans in the American Revolution: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, and Delaware (Followed by French and Indian Wars and Colonial Militias) In this new book, Mr.[…]Read more
First Nations in Canada and DNA Testing
Roberta Estes, author of DNA for Native American Genealogy, has written the following about Canada’s “First Nations.” “The Canadian government recognizes 634 First Nations bands who are similar to tribes in the United States, although the membership criteria is different. These bands comprise more than 2% of Canadian residents. “Like in the United States, benefits[…]Read more
Guide to Ontario, Canada, by Lorine McGinnis Schulze
The settlement of the Canadian Province of Ontario began in earnest following the American Revolutionary War. As most U.S. genealogists know, thousands of Loyalists left our new nation after the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781, for the shores of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River in Canada. Until that time, and the with[…]Read more
More African American Patriots of the Revolutionary War
As we reported in December, Paul Heinegg’s new book, List of Free African Americans in the American Revolution: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, and Delaware (Followed by French and Indian Wars and Colonial Militias), presents the service or pension records of nearly 1,000 free African Americans who served in the War for Independence from[…]Read more
Tracing Your Roots in Eighteenth Century Newspapers, by Robert Barnes
The earliest newspapers in the United States were published starting in 1720. Printing presses were heavy and had to be imported from England. Happy was the colony that could have its own newspaper. Newspapers printed local news, news from other colonies, but news from Europe often occupied the front page. Marriages and deaths of local[…]Read more