I’ve recently started reading a book by my great-grandfather. It is a biographical book about how the events in his life brought him to his rather liberal political ideas. As I’ve read the book, I’ve let out a few sighs at how little family history information the book includes. I have to keep reminding myself [...]

Recently I’ve rediscovered the joys of city directories. A city directory makes a wonderful census substitute in non-census years. Bear in mind however, that directories, like most records we find for our ancestors, are male oriented. The person usually listed is only the head of household and as you know more often than not that [...]

Some of the oldest existing vital records for Southern States research are marriage records. Laws and customs regarding marriage records and vital statistics for many of the states of the Mid-South region have roots in the Commonwealth of Virginia or North Carolina. Bordering areas of North Carolina and Virginia both influenced each other. West Virginia [...]

My colleagues and I at ProGenealogists share some core values that make working together a particularly rewarding experience for us and our clients. I think it comes down to two aspects mainly – our work is very scholarly, and our genealogists communicate directly and often with our clients.
We are expert problem-solvers and family tree-builders who [...]

“I found this great book (or online family tree). It pushed my family tree back five more generations!!” How many times have you heard that and wished, “Where is the book like that about my family?” Well maybe you should think twice about that wish. How reliable is that book?
Oh the joys and frustrations of compiled [...]

Family Tree Magazine has just released their annual list of “101 Best Websites” for 2010 with a bit of a twist. Having published ten such lists over the past decade, the magazine’s editors always provide interesting selections, often with some theme. This year they decided to dispense with references to subscription sites as a nod [...]

Last week I noticed that some records I used to be able to access on the FamilySearch Record Search website were no longer available. There was a note that stated they might be available through FamilySearch Beta.  Today I discovered how to access the images on FamilySearch Beta. I am not sure why certain collections [...]

This post has been a few months in the making, but I finally have the time to sit back and let the words flow. Do you ever stop and marvel about the widespread interest in genealogy not just in the United States, but also in other countries? Sometimes I am amazed by the connections we [...]

Some of my colleagues love ordering certificates through VitalChek.com. I have had several unpleasant experiences with it in the past, but I have not given up on the idea because it really is amazing when you can get the certificate you need in just a few days rather than the weeks or months it might take to [...]

Sometimes in research we are so focused on the ancestral line that we neglect some of the collateral lines. It’s really a shame, too, because these collateral lines can sometimes provide excellent gems of information.
I was recently researching in the Ohio death records available on the New FamilySearch Pilot. (I’ve already gone into my thoughts [...]