(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 wasContinue reading “The Record Exists! Part I: The Internet and Repositories”
Category Archives: Tips
5 Tips for Using Online Family Tree Sites
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 discoveriesContinue reading “5 Tips for Using Online Family Tree Sites”
Mary’s Links for August
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.
Caroline Gile’s Scrapbook
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 inContinue reading “Caroline Gile’s Scrapbook”
Organizing Research Digitally
Here’s one thing I am doing to organize my research: I used TreeSeek.com to generate two 9-generation PDF pedigree charts. One chart is from my FamilySearch Tree, the other is from my RootsMagic file, which originated from my Ancestry tree. Both trees are large with plenty of errors, so I highlighted where there are discrepanciesContinue reading “Organizing Research Digitally”
3 Ways to Preserve Old Family Artifacts
A while back I wrote a post about what you should not do with old family artifacts such as photos, documents, and heirlooms. Today I will tell you three things you can do with them instead to preserve them.
Some Notes on Chinese Genealogy
To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right. – Confucius (551 BCContinue reading “Some Notes on Chinese Genealogy”
Using Historical Place Names
A good question came up on my favorite genealogy Facebook group, Genealogy! Just Ask! yesterday. I tried to answer it as best I could on the original post, and others gave some good input as well, but I thought it would be helpful to some if I answered it more in depth here on myContinue reading “Using Historical Place Names”
Can Census Records be Wrong?
Featured Image: Taking the Census. Illustration in Harper’s Weekly, 1870. Found in Library of Congress Digital Collection. A few decades ago, it was very difficult to find one’s ancestor in a census record. You had to go to an archive or library and really know what you were looking for to find the record. Today,Continue reading “Can Census Records be Wrong?”
3 Tips for Merging Duplicates on FamilySearch
My original intention for this blog was to publish to a general amateur genealogist audience, but I realize that many individuals in my audience are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so I will on occasion do a post mainly for that portion of my audience. That being said, this informationContinue reading “3 Tips for Merging Duplicates on FamilySearch”