We at The Handwritten Past are excited to announce our very first FREE GIVEAWAY! The winner of this giveaway will receive FIVE free hours of US family history research. This research will be conducted by one of our Professional Genealogists, Mary Koeven.Continue reading “Free Professional Genealogy Research Giveaway!”
I often run into interesting articles and videos on genealogy research while perusing the web. I like to share them with you here on the blog from time to time. For more links, check my Pinterest and Youtube pages.Continue reading “Genealogy Links: Closet Skeletons and Untold Stories”
(This post is the second in a series about the different places you can find records. See Part I here.)
In my last post in this series I discussed some of the more obvious and easy to find records that contain genealogical information. In this post we will dig a little bit deeper, looking at records that are not only unorganized but hidden, forgotten, or far away. It may take more effort to find some of these records, but if you are really struggling to find information on your ancestor, the answer may be in one of these.Continue reading “The Record Exists! Part II: Families, Collectors, and Everything Else”
(This post is the first in a multi-part series that will outline how to research your Civil War ancestors.)
No war in US history caused more American deaths than the Civil War. Hardly a family survived it without being touched by it in a profound and painful way. I have a number of ancestors who fought in the Civil War on both sides (and one who died in it; more on him later). If your family immigrated to the United States prior to the 1850s, you probably do, too. And it has never been easier to find out about them–the battles in which they fought, the sufferings they endured, and the wounds they received–than it is today.Continue reading “Researching Civil War Ancestors, Part I: Did Any of Your Ancestors Fight?”
(This post is the first in a multi-part series about the different places you can find records.)
I teach an online genealogy class for BYU-Idaho. I grade a lot of genealogy research papers. One thing that new students often write in their research papers is the phrase, “all the records were searched, but nothing was found,” or “the record does not exist.” I realize for a beginner, this is an automatic assumption. The students are writing this without really thinking about it. But if you actually do stop to think about it, there is a very good chance that no, you did not search all the records, and yes, the record does exist, you just haven’t found it yet.Continue reading “The Record Exists! Part I: The Internet and Repositories”
I have ancestors on both sides of my family tree who fought against each other in the American Civil War. My Dad’s family was from the South, my mom’s family was from the North. My ancestors fought against each other in this gruesome, brutal war. Stories about wars often paint one side as heroes and the other as villains. In reality, the people on both sides are just people with good traits and bad traits just like everyone else.Continue reading “Healing Through Stories”
The existence of online family tree sharing sites such as Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org has made family history research easier than it has ever been before. I wrote a post earlier about how sharing your family tree online can help you find your ancestors. Online family tree sharing sites have helped many people make amazing discoveries and break down brick walls. However, they have also caused the spread of false information in people’s family trees, and many users don’t even realize they are partially responsible for this confusion. Many users of these sites spend so much time copying information from other trees that they don’t make use of the other amazing tools and resources these sites offer. Here are some tips that any beginner genealogist should use to make better use of your online family tree.Continue reading “5 Tips for Using Online Family Tree Sites”
First flight, 120 feet in 12 seconds, 10:35 a.m.; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Source: Library of Congress
On this day in 1903, the Wright brothers successfully flew an airplane for the first time in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The following year, after repairing their airplane, they conducted flight tests in Huffman Prairie, just outside their hometown of Dayton, Ohio that involved flying the craft in a complete circle – a significant achievement that proved that they had created a machine that could actually fly, not a simple glider.
Amos Ives Root, a resident of Medina, Ohio, had heard about the first flight and wanted to see the Wright brothers’ work for himself. He traveled to Dayton and introduced himself to the Wright brothers. They allowed him to watch their flights on Huffman Prairie. With their permission, Mr. Root published an article describing what he saw in his magazine, Gleanings in Bee Culture. His was the first accurate article about the Wright brothers’ success.Continue reading “When Your Family History Connects with History”
Today is my first in a series of monthly posts that will list several interesting genealogy-related links I have found recently. I hope you enjoy! Want more genealogy links? Take a look at my Pinterest Boards.Continue reading “Mary’s Links for August”
This is my great-great grandmother, Caroline Jane Webber Gile, as a new mother with her first child, as an old widow with her grandson, and a scrapbook with poems and jokes she collected from newspapers, no doubt to help her smile and carry on in her widowhood and old age. She experienced much tragedy in her life and outlived most of her children and her husband, but she also experienced much joy, as you can see in her face as she sits for a picture with her grandson. In the poem “Where is Home?” you can feel her faith in God. She believed she would see her family again.
