Ancestral Findings

By the time you reach this stage in your research, your family tree should have a solid structure. You have used census records to follow families across time. You have used vital records to confirm k...

13 Maj 8min

Every family history begins close to home. Before you search old courthouse books, census pages, ship lists, military files, or newspaper archives, you begin with the people you already know. You begi...

7 Maj 18min

Have you ever wondered where your inner strength developed? Have you wondered about the people who may have passed you your intelligence, your fighting skills, and your survival instinct? Do you feel ...

4 Maj 22min

If you had to choose one record set to build a family history, the United States census would be it. No other source tracks families so consistently over time. Taken every ten years, the census create...

1 Maj 8min

DNA testing has changed family history in a way few people could have imagined even twenty years ago. It used to be that most people built a family tree with census records, obituaries, marriage licen...

25 Apr 17min

DNA genealogy is one of the most misunderstood parts of family history research. A lot of people buy a test thinking it will hand them a finished family tree, point to every ancestor they ever had, an...

23 Apr 15min

Are you looking for some productive genealogy projects to do in April? As the first full month of spring, April offers some interesting and unique genealogy opportunities that just don't fit in as wel...

13 Apr 8min

Last month was one of those good, steady months in family history where I didn't uncover some huge surprise, but I still got a lot done. I didn't add a long line of new names just to make the tree big...

9 Apr 19min