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Newspapers are terrific!
Newspapers are terrific! They give us the real details of our ancestor’s lives. This week I found an article about the estate sale for my first cousin, Thomas Huse (1742/43-1816). It was published in...
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Join us to celebrate Halvor Moorshead’s retirement
Halvor Moorshead after a lifetime of publishing in the genealogy industry is retiring. Join us in person, by e-mail or blog to honor Halvor Moorshead on his retirement. Dinner 7 pm Thursday, 15 May...
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Wild Bill Obama
May 27th was Wild Bill Hickok’s day – I wrote about how easy it is to find newspaper articles about him in GenealogyBank. Wild Bill Hickok is in the news again – when Barack Obama mentioned his family...
View ArticleObituary key to finding missing heir – Tulsa, OK man receives $200,000
Nicholas Grod of Portland, Oregon used an online obituary to track down the rightful heir to a fortune in US Government bonds that he found hidden in his basement. KATU-TV (Portland, OR) reports that...
View ArticleAlex Haley’s family tree grows via DNA study
USA Today (7 April 2009) is reporting that a DNA study has extended the branches of Alex Haley’s family tree. The clue came when a “78-year-old man in Scotland named Thomas Baff, … took the DNA test to...
View Article‘Great American Success Story’– William & James Ledford
We receive “fan mail” every day – this letter was so good I wanted to share it. _____________________________________________ Tom,I’ve been working, several months, on an ‘Great American Success...
View ArticlePatriot’s Day – Read the news as they read it.
“Bloody News – This town has been in a Continental Alarm since Mid-day ….. the attack began at Lexington (about 12 miles from Boston) by the regular troops, the 18th Infantry before sunrise…From thence...
View ArticleGenealogist, Mary Sue Green Smith (1933-2009)
Prominent Nashville, TN genealogist, Mary Sue Green Smith (1933-2009) has passed away. She was President of the Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society. She published eight books between 1994 and 2006;...
View ArticleIndex to Early Philadelphia Obituaries – Public Ledger 1836
These early Philadelphia (PA) deaths were recorded in the Public Ledger, an early Philadelphia newspaper. Click on the links in the index citations to read each person’s obituary.Public Ledger. 25 Mar...
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Disciples of Christ Historical Society sustains severe water damage
DeciplesWorld is reporting that “the Nashville-based Disciples of Christ Historical Society suffered severe water damage the last weekend of April when what the organization believes was a faulty valve...
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Funeral Sermons – a core genealogical resource
GenealogyBank.com has over 7,000 funeral sermons – full text digital copies and excerpts. These are a core source for genealogists searching for the details of their ancestor’s lives in Colonial...
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32 Million immigrants will see their record status changed to permanent in...
Signing Ceremony Permits 32 Million Alien Files to Become Permanent Records at the National Archives – A Genealogy Goldmine. Adrienne Thomas, Acting Archivist of the United States and Gregory Smith,...
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Largest Genealogy in the World to be Presented to Library of Congress
The 80 volume family history of Confucius – spanning 83 generations – will be presented to the Library of Congress in special ceremonies in September.The event will be a ceremony marking a special...
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How to Find Ancestor’s Legal Name Change Records with Newspapers
Sometimes when researching your family history, it is difficult to find a relative—they just seem to have fallen off the face of the earth. Did they go into the witness protection program?Were they...
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The Story of Perkins Swain: A Genealogist’s Online Research Discoveries
Online genealogy research is endlessly fascinating—you never know what you will find. I was doing some family history research in GenealogyBank’s newspaper archive when this double obituary caught my...
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GenealogyBank Adds Irish Vital Records to Historical Newspaper Archive
Wow – I have found something I never noticed before in my genealogy research. A U.S. newspaper, the Irish American (New York City, New York), routinely published thousands of Irish marriage and death...
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Today in History: Bizarre Yet Brilliant Inventor Nikola Tesla Born
Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla! When most people think about an electrical genius who was a master inventor, they think of Thomas Edison. However, when Edison was working his magic in the late 19th and...
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Thomas Hill—American Revolutionary War Minuteman Hero Gone
“Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year.” —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow In searching through early 19th Century newspapers, time and again we find historical obituaries about...
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Genealogy Help: Two Captain Elisha Smiths—Which Is My Ancestor?
I was recently doing some family history research, looking for information about my ancestor Captain Elisha Smith—when I ran into a dilemma that genealogists occasionally face: two men with the same...
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Genealogy Search Tips for Ancestors’ Names: Less Is More
Beginning genealogists sometimes write us and say: “I put in the correct information for my search—full name including middle name, birth date, last known place of residence, etc.—everything I know...
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The 1876 Centennial Exhibition Celebrated 100 Years of American Freedom
Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this guest blog post, Gena writes about the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition that...
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Firsthand Stories of the Civil War’s 1864 Battle of Nashville
This decisive battle of the Civil War was fought in and around Nashville, Tennessee, 148 years ago, on 15-16 December 1864. Union General George H. Thomas, the “Rock of Chickamauga,” commanded the...
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Understanding Terms Found in Historical Newspapers
Introduction: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary explains some of the unusual or archaic terms often found in...
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Tracing My Unknown Ancestor in the Martin Family
Introduction: Scott Phillips is a genealogical historian and owner of Onward To Our Past® genealogy services. In this guest blog post, Scott discovers the name of an ancestor he never knew about—and...
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In Search of Our Early American Ancestors’ Patents on Inventions
Introduction: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary explains that some of your ancestors may have patented...
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2013 Family History Expo Conference in St. George a Great Success
Over 700 genealogists packed the lecture halls at the Dixie Center in St. George, Utah, this past weekend to get training and sharpen their genealogy research skills at the 2013 Family History Expo....
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Help Solve a Genealogy Mystery: Who Is Uncle L in My Old Photo?
Introduction: Scott Phillips is a genealogical historian and owner of Onward To Our Past® genealogy services. In this guest blog post, Scott asks our readers for help in deciphering the writing on the...
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Find Your Female Ancestors This Women’s History Month
Introduction: Gena Philibert-Ortega is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.” In this guest blog post, Gena helps celebrate Women’s History Month by providing search tips to...
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Case Study: Using Old Newspaper Articles to Learn about Your Ancestors
Old newspapers provide the stories of our ancestors’ lives, helping to flesh out the names and dates on our family trees. What kind of family history can be found in historical newspapers? Let’s pick a...
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Case Study Part 3: Finding Old Newspaper Articles about Family
Continuing my search in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives for the history of the Crofoot family (see: “Case Study: Using Old Newspaper Articles to Learn about Your Ancestors” & “Case...
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History of Trains & Railroads: Locomotives, Steam Engines & More
Introduction: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary searches old newspapers for articles and ads about trains and...
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Top Genealogy Websites, Pt. 6: Search Cemeteries Online
A few weeks ago I wrote about online cemetery records (See: Top Genealogy Websites, Pt. 3: Burial & Cemetery Records). In that article I wrote about the U.S. Veterans Administration’s Nationwide...
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What Can I Find in GenealogyBank about My Cousin Maid Marion?
No, I don’t mean Robin Hood’s love interest from the 16th century. I’m referring to my cousin Marion Morgan Kemp (1862-1963) who owned villas in France, New York and Rome. Years ago I contacted the...
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Major Historical Fires in the U.S.—Save Your Genealogy!
Introduction: Scott Phillips is a genealogical historian and owner of Onward To Our Past® genealogy services. In this blog post, Scott searches old newspapers to learn more about some of the major...
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Thurgood Marshall Nominated: First Black Supreme Court Justice
This past weekend marked the anniversary of an important event in American history: on 13 June 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced his historic nomination of Thurgood Marshall, whose...
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Researching Contested & Special Military Pension Applications
From its earliest days, the U.S. government has granted pensions to soldiers or their surviving relatives in cases where the soldier was killed or “disabled by known wounds in the…war.” Those early...
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Newspaper Archives of Grandma & Grandpa’s Tips from 100 Years Ago
Introduction: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this blog article, Mary searches old newspapers for glimpses into the lives our ancestors...
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