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RootsTech 2020 Videos
Rootstech 2020 is over and if you did not make it, you can still be inspired by viewing some of the videos and all of the handouts at the link below. It is great that Rootstech lets us all be a part of it. The video archives is here. To get right to the videos for some sessions go...
read moreResearching Alabama WWI Ancestors
WWI service summaries are incredibly useful when researching our military ancestors. For Alabama, we have two choices to access these online: The Alabama Department of Archives and History and FamilySearch. For the centennial of WWI, the Alabama Department of Archives and History conducted a crowdsourcing effort to transcribe the records of Alabamians who served in the military during WWI. These records can be browsed by county here. Click on a county to view the list of WWI service cards in alphabetical order. From the...
read moreBook Review: “How To Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records”
I was excited at the opportunity to review “How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records: A Genealogist’s Guide” by Sunny Jane Morton and Harold A. Henderson, CG. The book contains specific resources for researching ancestors in major Christian Denominations before 1900 in the United States. That excitement lasted throughout the whole book. While censuses are great for providing us with a backbone of an individual’s or family’s timeline, Church records can help us learn the web of connections...
read moreCemetery Research: Interview with Tina Simmons
We recently had a chance to catch up with researcher and author, Tina Simmons, about her work in cemetery research and in cemetery preservation. How did you become involved with the field of cemetery research? Long before I understood genealogy terms I would attempt to determine connections between family members fueled by knowledge that her mother had a number of unknown relatives. I joined the Anne Arundel Genealogical Society to research my family history and took on a project working with cemetery records. I have been...
read moreRootsTech London 2019 Videos and Handouts
Rootstech London 2019 is over, but we can still enjoy it. You can download the syllabi from the presentation list here. Click on the arrow next to the name of the presentation to see the description and a link to the syllabus (if there is one). There are links for RootsTech London 2019 Keynotes & General Sessions and some selected Sessions here. More videos from past RootsTech presentations can also be found on that page....
read moreNational Archives Virtual Genealogy Fair 2019
Are you looking for an easy way to learn about using the National Archives? Would you like to know more about researching your genealogy at NARA? The 2019 National Archives Virtual Genealogy Fair has come and gone, but the videos have been posted on YouTube, and the handouts are still available. You can learn directly from NARA personnel in the videos and have the handouts for reference. This year’s topics are the History Hub, Preserving Personal Collections, Immigration Records, WWI Navy and Marine Corps Records, Indian Affairs School...
read moreResearching Washington WWI Ancestors
As you may know from my lectures and book, it is important to find your WWI ancestor’s military organization to unlock learning about his military service. An online way to find out about your Washington WWI Ancestors is to search the Washington State Archives – Digital Archives website. If you have Washington ancestors, check out all the online collections. In the Search by Name box, look at the dropdown menu for Collections dropdown menu on the left. You can certainly search from the homepage, but I wanted to narrow down my search to...
read moreResearching Tennessee WWI Ancestors
More than 130,000 Tennesseans served in WWI. If you are researching one of them, then check out the extensive collection of online WWI resources from the Tennessee State Archives. This archive contains items ranging from the compiled service records that are such an important starting place for WWI research, to a very special and personal collection of digitized items shared by descendants. They are hosted by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), which is a global library cooperative. The compiled service records of the WWI soldiers...
read moreCivil War Pensions
(This is Part 1 of the blog post. Part 2 appears on the Twisted Twigs for Genealogy Blog.) So many people ask us in person, or post in Facebook groups: “Where do I go to find more about my ancestor’s military service?”. The short answer is that the records you need are at branches of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), but how you get access to them can make a difference. In this blog post, we outline the process of requesting a Civil War Pension, and what to do if NARA replies that the Pension file is...
read moreWhere Do I Find Out About My Ancestor’s Military Service? The OMPF!
(This is Part 1 of the blog post. Part 2 appears on the Twisted Twigs for Genealogy Blog.) So many people ask me in person, or post in Facebook groups: “Where do I go to find more about my ancestor’s military service?”. The short answer is that the records you need are at branches of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), but how you get access to them can make a difference. Undoubtedly you have seen the military records offered on Ancestry or Fold3. These may be rosters, muster rolls or ship’s manifests...
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