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. [...]

Sometimes it takes hours to find a little bit of information. Recently I was looking for a possible death of a child that possibly immigrated in 1884 to New York City. The name of the child was Boruch but may have been changed to a more English sounding name. The last name of this family [...]

In our fourth installment of Genesis of our Genealogists, meet Neil D. Holden, our only full-time genealogist who hails from another continent. His specialities include English, Irish, Canadian, Immigration, and British Empire research. 
Interview with Neil D. Holden

Where did you grow up?
 
Hastings, England – the murder capital of Europe. It is not a large town, but it does have a [...]

When I was very young, Thanksgiving meant lots of food, visits with grandparents, dressing up like a Pilgrim, and making hand turkeys with multi-colored construction paper at school. Things were certainly simpler as a child. I enjoy those fond Thanksgiving memories.
As I’ve grown and as life has become more complicated, Thanksgiving means quite a bit more. I started [...]

In our third installment of Genesis of our Genealogists, meet Ray Wright, one of our Case Managers who specializes in Eastern European, French, Scandinavian, German, and Italian/Dual Citizenship research.
Interview with Raymond S. Wright

Where did you grow up?
 
I was born in Ogden, Utah where I lived until age 14.  After that my parents moved to Reno, [...]

One of my colleagues introduced me to the finding aids created by Stephen P. Morse. His website offers a number of tools that make searching various online databases easier. I frequently use his Ellis Island Gold Form when I’m having a hard time finding a passenger list, and I’ve recently discovered his handy tool to [...]

Research always becomes more real to me when I’m able to get a better idea of the context surrounding a particular event in an ancestor’s life.  As we all know, immigration is a key event that can help link an ancestor to the old country as well as provide other information vital to our research.  [...]

Just in case you weren’t aware– the 1899 Nashville City Directory offers some astute advice for researchers:

This advice is true on, oh, so many levels. I have had people tell me quite forcefully that they could not possibly be related to a certain individual because the other person’s surname was spelled differently. I’ve had the [...]

In our second installment of Genesis of our Genealogists, meet Lorraine Bourne, one of our Case Managers who, among other things, specializes in Southern United States, African American, and Native American research.
INTERVIEW WITH LORRAINE BOURNE
1. Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Granger, Utah (now called West Valley), when there were wheat fields and farms [...]

A close loved one of mine recently passed away. At the time of the death a treasure trove of documents pertaining to the family was created though the estate was very small. There are more death records than the modern death certificate provided by a county or state government agency:

The assisted living facility, nursing home, [...]