Researching Civil War Ancestors, Part II: What Was Your Ancestor’s Military Unit?

This is Part II of a series on finding and researching your Civil War ancestors. See “Part I: Did Any of Your Ancestors Fight?” here. Once you have set aside ancestors of yours who are likely to have fought in the Civil War, the next step is to discover their military unit. When you haveContinue reading “Researching Civil War Ancestors, Part II: What Was Your Ancestor’s Military Unit?”

The Record Exists! Part I: The Internet and Repositories

(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”

The Cliffords, Part 2: Family Scandal

This is a continuation of my account on the Clifford family. For more information, see Part 1. In 1878, Sophia Clifford sold the land that she and Lewis had bought in Iowa. Apparently her sons (Fred was 20 and Charles was 15) wanted to seek more opportunities out west rather than stay and work theContinue reading “The Cliffords, Part 2: Family Scandal”

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?”

Discovering Allen and my Slave Owner Ancestor

My brother recently uncovered the will for my ancestor, William Calvin Ray in Murray County, Georgia. In it he mentions “my yellow boy slave Allen.” this is my first encounter with a slave owner ancestor. I have a lot of ancestors in the South, so I figured a slave owner would turn up, but thisContinue reading “Discovering Allen and my Slave Owner Ancestor”

Finding Families in Testate and Intestate Probate Records

It can be easy to find ancestors in the United States from 1850 on because of the availability of Census Records on the internet. However, before 1850, only the heads of households were listed on the census. This makes it difficult to find all the members of a family and trace your family back for multipleContinue reading “Finding Families in Testate and Intestate Probate Records”