After a brief fright in recent medical examinations I have learned the importance of knowing your health family history! Knowing about your family’s medical past truly can lead you to a healthier and more prepared future. It is an important factor in your family history that can literally change the way you live your daily [...]

Genealogy-enthusiasts will oftentimes be approached by budding researchers and asked to give lessons, crash-courses, or a few tips on tracing family trees. While there’s no official guideline for research, the following brief outline can be very helpful in introducing newbies to genealogy. It goes over a few of the basic record-categories (census, immigration, and vital records) and discusses free websites to get [...]

Most people know more about their family history than they think they do. I often run into clients who assure me that the minimal information they’ve provided is ALL they know. Usually after a brief review of their information, I come up with several questions that I think they can probably answer. They usually can.
I [...]

The records of fraternal orders and other societies are a relatively untapped source for genealogy, with great promise. I was delighted to see that the Kansas Historical Society is hosting a database of Fraternal Order Death Notices from several orders. Over 50,000 individuals are included in the time period 1873-1970. Both men and women (in [...]

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, [...]

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 spent a lot of time poring over probate records. One particular entry caught my eye. It was a receipt turned in to the court by a guardian for items he had purchased for a child. Among the shoes and the gloves was “a pair of plaid pantaloons!” Can’t you just picture them? Bear [...]

Searching for a birth or death record in Arizona? The Arizona Department of Health Services has made it very easy with their online “Arizona Genealogy Birth and Death Certificates” website.  This site allows access to the digitized images of county or state issued birth and death certificates. You can search the database for births that [...]

Generally in Mexican research, Catholic parish records are consulted first because people were more consistent in baptizing their children within a few months of the child’s birth than they were in registering their children’s births with the civil authorities. However, when doing research in big cities, plowing through the hundreds and even thousands of baptismal [...]

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, [...]