As a genealogist, I see records everyday of births, marriages, deaths, and of other significant events in the lives of the people I research. Yet, it was not until recently that I started thinking about how significant of an event death can and perhaps even should be.
I had not thought about it much before, because I [...]

For all those of you out there doing New York City research, you have no doubt probably found the online vital record indexes on sites like ItalianGen (www.italiangen.org) or GermanGen (www.germangenalogygroup.com) most valuable. I use these sites on a regular basis because I generally find references to such records as marriage, death, birth and naturalization fairly quickly. [...]

While doing some research yesterday someone pointed out this poem located in the preface to a U.S. Census Book. It was found in the newspaper The Portis Patriot, printed in Portis, Kansas, 20 April 1882. I got a giggle out of it and thought you might as well.
The Puzzled Census-Taker
by John G. Saxe
“Got any boys?” the [...]

This New Year’s weekend I had the opportunity to help a friend with Polish research.  He was visiting a brother in Utah and, just before his trip, was entrusted with his family’s records while he was near the largest genealogical repository in the world, The Family History Library in Salt Lake City. He was anxious to get some [...]

In the hustle and bustle of the holiday, my birthday is sometimes over-looked. I guess it’s my fault for deciding to be born six weeks early, on Christmas Eve. Fortunately, there is one tradition that is never forgotten. Every year for my birthday dinner, we have Chowder. I grew up in Maine and am a [...]