It is wonderful that there are so many genealogical databases on the Internet! Each database has different content. Therefore, the information in each is also accessed differently depending on what the search engine allows. I have learned that it is important not to give up on your search, and I’ve learned that I can be smarter than the [...]

One of my favorite things about being a genealogist is knowing how to find information. I’ve found that because of the variety of research tasks our clients present to us, I have learned how to find a lot more than just genealogical information. I don’t watch much TV, but one show that I have caught [...]

During college football season this year, I got to see the following commercial quite a lot.

And I always thought after it was over that the father and son should have hired us before embarking on a European journey to discover their ancestral lands.

Beginning in 1907, the Roman Catholic Church worldwide required that a Catholic person’s marriage be reported to his or her place of baptism. The 1907 decree Ne Temere required that marriages be noted on one’s baptismal record. They are usually noted on the side of the baptism record. Compliance with this decree varied, especially in [...]

With the holiday season in full-swing, I thought it would be fun to use various holiday words and phrases and see if I could find people in historical records that carried these words and phrases as actual names. Here are a few that I found:
1. Mary Christmas
There are many instances of this name appearing, but [...]

Do you ever find wonderful information in a book on the Google Books website, only to quickly become discouraged because you can’t figure out how to print a page of the book and you don’t want to spend a lot of time transcribing the information in it? I have, and I’m guessing many others feel [...]

Most people upon hearing the term “vital record” instantly assign it a credibility that it may not deserve.  For example, Massachusetts has a series of vital records books affectionately called “the tan books” also known as Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850. The books are organized by town and as one would expect, they list births, [...]

One overlooked genealogical treasure when researching modern ancestors is modern day pension benefits. Recently, I was put in a position to place my mother, who had lived with me many years, in an assisted living facility. My husband had sustained an injury that needed my additional care and attention.
As I went about arranging my mother’s situation, [...]

Most genealogists are aware of and familiar with Find A Grave. It’s essentially a site that helps you find the graves of people, as the name might suggest. For a website that was not originally created with genealogy in mind, it is incredibly useful for genealogical purposes.
I discovered it about two years ago, and I [...]

My husband and I are currently moving and he is, unfortunately, often traveling for business. This presents some challenges as there are many things to do and he is only here occasionally to help. In a recent late night conversation over the phone he asked if I had put up Christmas lights yet. Silly me–all [...]