DNA Testing for Adoptees: Searching for Biological Roots
DNA testing for adoptees (and others with unknown parentage) isn't a last resort--use it along with other strategies to discover biological roots. Genetic genealogists CeCe Moore and Diahan Southard share five tips for getting started. Not long ago, I chatted with...
Welsh Genealogy and More: New Genealogy Records Online
A new Welsh genealogy resource has been launched by the National Library of Wales! Other new genealogy records online: Canadian military bounty applications, English and Scottish newspapers, Peru civil registration, Swiss census, a WWI online exhibit, Massachusetts...
Episode 204
The Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode #204 with Lisa Louise Cooke Canadian expert Dave Obee shares the story of the Canadian home children tips on newspaper research. Also in this episode: New site features at MyHeritage, including improved DNA ethnicity analysis (it's...
How to Use Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for Family History
Sanborn fire insurance maps help genealogists map out their ancestors' neighborhoods and everyday lives. Nearly 25,000 digitized Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps are now on the Library of Congress website--and more are coming. Here's what they are and how to use them for...
What To Do When Technological Changes Get You Down
Feeling frustrated by changing technology? Here's a look back at a post I originally wrote in 2013 that addresses the mayhem tech changes can cause, and how a visit to a fast food restaurant changed my perspective on a particularly rough day. The "Mayhem" commercials...
Is an Archive Really What You Think It Is?
A lot of the best information about our ancestors' lives is buried in an archive--NOT indexed online! Melissa Barker explains what an archive is and how to find one that might reveal secrets from your family history. International Archives Day is Friday, June 9!...
New UK Genealogy Records Online: 1939 Register Updates and More
Got ancestors from England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Island? Check out these new UK genealogy records online: 1939 Register updates; newspapers; Scottish postal directories and local resources for Derbyshire and the city of York. Featured Update: Additions to the...
New DNA Ethnicity Chart: Display Your Heritage
Just in time for Father's Day! This new DNA ethnicity chart design is a classy and cutting-edge way to share your family history. As wall displays, this is the perfect conversation-starter for your home or heritage gift for a loved one. There's a gorgeous new way to...
Learn about Homestead Land Records with Lisa Louise Cooke
Homestead land records tell us more about our forebears who settled the western U.S. Learn more with Lisa Louise Cooke at the Land Records and Genealogy Symposium July 14-15, 2017 in Beatrice, Nebraska. Lisa Louise Cooke will be a featured speaker at the Land Records...
Remembering Dad with a Family History Interview Video
Here's how to make a family history interview video. We'll walk you through an easy and quick process that will result in a professional quality video that you'll be proud to share with your family and generations to come. My husband Bill does not enjoy being on...
English Parish Records: Finding English Ancestors Before 1837
English Parish records are a rich genealogical resource. England's earliest useful census is from 1841, and civil records only go back to 1837. Let us help you trace your English family history before that time. English parish records might hold the key, and we've got...
Sanborn Maps and Other U.S. Resources: New Genealogy Records Online
Thousands of Sanborn Fire Insurance maps and a national Civil War burial database are among new genealogy records online. Also: newspapers in Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania; vital records for Idaho, Utah, and Washington; Catholic parish records...
Atlas of Historical County Boundaries is Full-Service Again
The Newberry Library's online Atlas of Historical County Boundaries is finally fully updated and interactive! Read the good news here--and my preference for using the powerful geographic data that drives the Atlas. The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries at The...
Reviving a Memorial Day Tradition: Paper Flowers
Have you ever brought back a favorite family tradition from your childhood? I did that with a favorite Memorial Day tradition--revived with a little help from YouTube. Deep in the hollows of Virginia lived ‘Big Grandma’ with her nine children. She was a mountain...
3 Top Uses for the New MyHeritage Collection Catalog
The new MyHeritage Collection Catalog is making the site even easier to use. Read our 3 favorite uses for the new MyHeritage Collection Catalog, and a description of how MyHeritage counts its records. The new MyHeritage Collection Catalog has just been released, and...
Discover Your Scandinavian Ancestors in New and Updated Genealogy Records Online
Look for your Scandinavian ancestors in new and updated online Swedish marriage records, as well as population registers and vital records indexes for the Netherlands. Also: English parish registers, an Israeli collection for the Six Day War, and several U.S....
How to Write Family History More Powerfully: Tips from a Master Storyteller
Wish you could write family history like a master storyteller? Take a page from best-selling novelist Fannie Flagg's fiction-writing. These three steps will help you bring your ancestors' stories to life, so that their stories become as compelling to your relatives as...
Genealogy Mystery Series to Die For: Genealogy Gems Book Club
May is Mystery Month, so the Genealogy Gems Book Club is spotlighting a favorite genealogical mystery series writer: Nathan Dylan Goodwin. In his latest, forensic researcher Morton Farrier finally confronts his own past. We first met British novelist Nathan Dylan...
