Author Archives: David Moberly

Five Famous Historical Mysteries Solved With Genetic Genealogy

Lately, solved genetic genealogy mysteries appear in the news very often. This made it easy to miss some of the biggest historical discoveries of genealogical DNA research in the past few years. An increasing number of breakthroughs owe quite a bit to DNA testing and genetic genealogy techniques. Check out our list below for fiveContinue reading “Five Famous Historical Mysteries Solved With Genetic Genealogy”

Interpreting Your Ancestor’s Civil War Pension File: The Pension Certificate

We’ve talked generally about the laws behind Civil War Pension records, and outlined how to order copies of them. Once you receive your ancestor’s pension file, a new challenge arises. Many at this point find themselves sitting before a large, intimidating stack of papers all shuffled together, unorganized and difficult to decipher. The next fewContinue reading “Interpreting Your Ancestor’s Civil War Pension File: The Pension Certificate”

How to Order Your Ancestor’s Civil War Pension File (Union Side)

We’ve talked about how to find out whether or not your ancestor fought in the Civil War. We’ve also talked about how to discover their military unit, and even how to find their card in a pension index. We’ve even talked a bit about what pensions are and what you might expect to find inContinue reading “How to Order Your Ancestor’s Civil War Pension File (Union Side)”

Researching Your Civil War Ancestor, Part IV: Understanding Civil War Pensions

The next section of our series on researching your Civil War ancestor will focus on pension files: what they are, how to get them, why you want them, and what they will tell you. We’re going to be pretty thorough in this section, so buckle up. The rewards for investigating your ancestor’s pension file canContinue reading “Researching Your Civil War Ancestor, Part IV: Understanding Civil War Pensions”

Spooky Genealogy Stories: My Ancestors Were Ghostbusters

Two of my great, great uncles, Marion Oma Gano Tucker and Riley “Bud” Mayo, were ghostbusters in Texas and Oklahoma during the great depression.  According to stories passed down by the family, times were tough, so for work they traveled from town to town and asked locals if there were any haunted houses or buildingsContinue reading “Spooky Genealogy Stories: My Ancestors Were Ghostbusters”

Finding Your Luxembourgish Ancestor: Civil Birth Records

Luxembourg genealogy research recently became much easier, thanks to large numbers of records being made available online. The bulk of Luxembourg birth records come in two different types: civil registration records (zivilstandsregisters) and Catholic church records. Because of these records, my wife’s family has finally been able to trace their Luxembourgish-American ancestor, Mathias Groos, backContinue reading “Finding Your Luxembourgish Ancestor: Civil Birth Records”

5 Ways to Get the Most for your Money out of Genealogy DNA Testing

So you shelled out $60 – $200 dollars on a genealogical DNA test. You’ve looked at your DNA ethnicity pie chart. It gave you something interesting to bring up at the dinner table. But now what? The number of things you can do with your DNA to help solve mysteries on your family tree areContinue reading “5 Ways to Get the Most for your Money out of Genealogy DNA Testing”

Using Reddit in Your Genealogy Research: Getting Help Online

Reddit has become a powerful place on the web for genealogists, though it remains unknown to many. If you are looking for help with your genealogy research, a brief translation of a record, or identification of someone in a photograph, Reddit may be the place to go for answers. Reddit is organized into “subreddits,” or pagesContinue reading “Using Reddit in Your Genealogy Research: Getting Help Online”