Non-Traditional Family Trees: Adoption in FamilySearch

This tutorial is about adoption. In this case, adoption refers to when a child is raised by someone other than their parents, whether or not their last name was changed or any official adoption process was carried out in the court system. (In many cases, especially going back to the 19th century and before, officialContinue reading “Non-Traditional Family Trees: Adoption in FamilySearch”

Non-traditional Family Trees: Homosexual Relationships

Non-traditional family trees are increasingly common. No matter how unusual or un-traditional, genealogists should record all family events and relationships accurately. In this series, you will learn how to record these complex family situations clearly in your family tree. In this post, you will learn about recording homosexual relationships. Regardless of whether you believe thatContinue reading “Non-traditional Family Trees: Homosexual Relationships”

Non-Traditional Family Trees: Step Families on Ancestry

Non-traditional family trees are not uncommon. Although many of us wish for a traditional family, divorce, death, out-of-wedlock births and other circumstances happen to many families. No matter how you feel about what happened or how you feel about the people involved in these events, they belong in your family tree. Your step family genealogyContinue reading “Non-Traditional Family Trees: Step Families on Ancestry”

Non-Traditional Family Trees: Step Families on FamilySearch

Non-traditional family trees are not uncommon. Although many of us wish for a traditional family, divorce, death, out-of-wedlock births and other circumstances happen to many families. No matter how you feel about what happened or how you feel about the people involved in these events, they belong in your family tree. Your step family genealogyContinue reading “Non-Traditional Family Trees: Step Families on FamilySearch”

Protecting Your Privacy on GEDmatch

See also our blog post Protecting Your Privacy on Ancestry GEDmatch has been in the news a great deal lately. Last week, authorities in California announced the arrest of alleged serial burglar, rapist, and murderer known as the “Golden State Killer,” Joseph James DeAngelo, Jr. Officials on the case stated that investigators used GEDmatch toContinue reading “Protecting Your Privacy on GEDmatch”

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”

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”

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”

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”