Ancestral Findings

Same-name problems are one of the biggest sources of bad trees. You find a record for a name that fits the right county and the right time period, you attach it, and then hints do the rest. A spouse a...

4 Feb 19min

I'm Done Being Mad I didn't wake up calm. I woke up tired. Tired of being irritated at ink. Tired of being annoyed at paper. Tired of holding grudges against people who have been dead longer than elec...

2 Feb 5min

Every family tree is built as much from absence as it is from presence. Names, dates, places, and relationships draw most of our attention, but they are not the whole structure. What often shapes a tr...

30 Jan 6min

Divorce Records Are a Genealogy Goldmine Divorce records are one of the most overlooked sources in family history research. Many people assume their ancestors never divorced, or they assume that if a ...

28 Jan 7min

Before welfare offices and Social Security checks, there was something older and far more personal. There was each other. When I look at my own ancestors, this shows up clearly. They lived on farms wh...

27 Jan 8min

There comes a point in genealogy when you sit back, stare at the screen, and realize you are not moving forward anymore. You are still working, still searching, still opening records, but nothing new ...

23 Jan 7min

There is a moment in almost every genealogy project when temptation shows up. It does not usually sound reckless. It sounds reasonable. It sounds efficient. It often arrives as one simple sentence, "T...

19 Jan 7min

Coming Back to the Paper Trail Last time, we stood inside a gap, ten years of a man's life with no clear paper trail. No neat answers. No satisfying explanation. Just silence, the kind that shows up i...

16 Jan 4min