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5 Things to Tell New Genealogists
Have you ever helped a friend start a family tree? Starting out with a blank tree, and beginning to fill it, is always a joy. I have done this a few times and have come up with some hints to tell people who are completely new to all of it. 1) Start with yourself and work backwards. When you work backward, you are sure to construct a solid trail to a family that you can be sure is yours. 2) No, really, start with yourself. Collect and scan all the documents that prove you and your relationships. Think about what you would...
read moreWorld War I Dawn Patrol
While in the High Desert of California, I had a chance to catch up with an old friend, Steven Rainey from Ridgecrest, California. He has been involved in WWI reenactments for twenty years. Steven Rainey is shown here as an Army Air Corps Captain rank, working on the Flight Line as a Flight Safety Officer. One of the reenactments Steven attends is the WWI Dawn Patrol Rendezvous held every two years at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, in Dayton, OH. The Dawn Patrol is an early morning reconnaissance mission intended to...
read moreWWI in the Passenger Lists of the U.S. Army Transport Service (Part II)
To France and Back: All of the 51st Pioneer Infantry In part 1 of this series, you learned how to locate an individual in the U.S. Army Transport records on Ancestry.com. In these records, you may find family members or foreign personnel that were transported by the Army. These are from the Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985, Record Group 92, held at NARA in College Park. In this post, you will learn how to find records for a specific military organization. In a previous post , I wrote about Joseph McMahon’s...
read moreRootsMagic + Ancestry = Great News
So, the time RootsMagic users have been waiting for has finally come! TreeShare for Ancestry is included in Rootsmagic version 7.5, which is a free update to RootsMagic 7. TreeShare for Ancestry allows you to move data between your RootsMagic and your personal Ancestry online trees. The free version of RootsMagic, RootsMagic Essentials includes TreeShare for Ancestry! If you use RootsMagic 7 or RootsMagic Essentials 7, you can directly download the update, or you can the “Check for Updates” feature within RootsMagic. To read more about...
read moreWWI in the Passenger Lists of the U.S. Army Transport Service (Part I)
In my lectures, I recommend searching for Ancestry.com’s military records from the Military Records Landing Page. When you search from the regular search page, the results are from the most popular 10% of all their databases. Searching from the Military Landing Page, I came across records from: U.S., Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939. The record in this database give you the name of the person traveling on U.S. Army Transport plus the military organization, the military serial number and whom to notify in...
read moreAncestry.com Landing Pages
Did you know that searching from the home page or the search page only includes the top 10% of the databases on Ancestry.com. To dig into the rest, you are going to need to find them! One way is through a landing page. The landing pages have usually been created for special promotions, such as one during free access weekends. From the landing pages you can search the set of databases related to the topic. In my lectures about ancestors in U.S. military, I recommend searching for military records from the Military Records Landing...
read moreFamily History Outing: National Museum of the Marine Corps
Have you ever wondered what it was like to land on Iwo Jima? Maybe you have wanted to look at the larger, second flag to be raised by the Marines on Mt. Suribachi. Do you want to see a combat helicopter up close or exit from its inside into a combat area? The National Museum of the Marine Corps http://www.usmcmuseum.com/ is located in Quantico, VA. The Museum is a terrific place to visit with your family whether or not you have Marines in your family history. But if you have ancestors or family members in the Marine Corps, this will be a...
read moreTake a Tour: NARA WWI Page
For the centennial of the U.S. entering WWI, NARA launched a new portal page for WWI Research. The Genealogy Resources takes you to a page where you can start Researching Individuals in WWI Records. (Keep that in mind, and return to it after your tour of this page.) Keep scrolling to find a section where you can choose from several World War I Topics. Scroll even farther down for a World War I Timeline, and More Resources. Explore the page and resources. When you are ready to start your own research, a good place to...
read more3 Mother’s Day Things To Do
No matter how many mothers you study about in history, to you the most famous Mother will probably be your own. There is no time like the present to tap her repository of genealogical information. If that is not possible, tap into your and other’s store of genealogical memories about her. 1. Take this time to interview your Mother Bring a recorder, or use your iPhone, to record a chat with your Mom this Mother’s Day. Alternately, if you live too far away for a visit, record your phone call. (Always make sure Mom agrees to...
read more5 Ancestry.com Databases for WWI Research
Among Ancestry.com’s databases, are some really interesting ones that will help you to research your WWI ancestors. This post covers five of the United States databases. 1. Whether or not your ancestor fought in World War I, this is a go-to database for finding men between 18 and 45 years old. The information includes a man’s birth date and place, occupation, address, physical description, and the name and address of the next of kin. The information on these cards will not tell you if the ancestor served, but can help you to...
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