Family (genealogy, family history, research methodology)

If it wasn’t for the fact that Find A Grave provides an unparalleled service to the genealogical community, their website’s design and functionality would be laughed right off the internet! After 3 months of tinkering with the new ‘purple monster’ here are 4 annoying problems with Find A Grave’s new website. First, let’s start with […]

I think there is something valuable we can learn from our traditional core American values, a mode of thought that seems lost on today’s society and that’s the “hell or high water” attitude in knowing what you want and getting it! Maybe it’s the Texas roots in me but I believe we can learn a

The aim of every family historian or genealogist should be to get kids, youth, and young people into family history. You may not think you have a story to tell, but I bet you do! The history of our country and people need to be preserved and the only way to do that is to

Here’s where to find the millions of records that are offline and not available on Ancestry, Family Search, or any other digital clearinghouse. You literally have to go old school and try your hand at some next-level researching, that is to say, find out where the original repositories of genealogical information are and then get

The Find A Grave new and improved website, it’s what the users have been waiting for. Finally a new look from the dingy, cringy old interface to a fresh, modern styling. The front page has a slider-style scroll page which is clean and very visible where you can easily access any of the menu features

Here’s 10 tips for researching city directories and street guides, as well as censuses, to absolutely nail it when it comes to finding where your ancestors lived and even find other relatives you never knew you had! It comes down to knowing how to utilize a Federal Census, City Directories, and Street Guides. Follow these

Have you ever looked at a City Directory, seen an “r” or an “h” and just assumed it meant ‘rented’ or ‘home?’ Well they don’t! You are missing out on a great deal of genealogical information if you do not understand what lies beneath City Directory Abbreviations and their meanings. Before you begin, if you

There’s one simple trick you should do to customize your Ancestry homepage, and if you’re not doing it you’re wasting time. It’s a simple way to unlock the power of your Ancestry homepage in your favor and remove the clutter of unwanted blips and blobs overwhelming you every time you log on. So what is

In considering “Nature versus Nurture” and adoption, we find a GENEALOGY PARADOX. From the perspective of an adoptee I have found that NATURE outweighs NURTURE by some degree! The paradox comes in the fact that while our adoptive parents raise us, our biological ancestry does play a significant and inescapable role in who we are.

It’s a matter of trust! Should I make my Ancestry tree public or private? Below are 3 PERSPECTIVES that will help you decide how you control access to your family information. Ancestry’s tree settings are basically like a light switch: it’s either ON or OFF. Wouldn’t it be nice to have more control over who