I remember when I was in school and preparing term papers, I was required to prepare a bibliography of my source materials. I also had to include footnotes and endnotes for individual references to facts or quotes. Little did I know at the time, but that was great training for my genealogy research! It is however the scholarly way to document research, as it provides details that the reader or subsequent researchers can use to retrace your work. When you …
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Amazon released the first Kindle back in 2007, and the technology has made great strides since then. For those of you who might not know, a Kindle is an e-reader, originally designed for reading e-books. In 2011 Amazon released the Kindle Fire, an updated version of the Kindle that can run popular applications (Apps), stream music and movies, and of course be used to read books. Kindle Fire Uses for Genealogists For many family historians, the Kindle has become a …
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It’s 2013 and many of us have made our resolutions for the year and so far are sticking to them, right! This year I am making some genealogical resolutions, which you might want to consider as well. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the ancestor hunt that I forget about other important things. I have so many piles of notes strewn about, shoeboxes overflowing with photographs that aren’t labeled yet, and half finished courses that I haven’t seemed to …
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Adding aunts and uncles to a Family Tree Chart can prove both difficult and confusing.  There is a simple solution however, and the key is to choose the correct type of Family Tree Chart. Once you’ve collected all of the information on your family, it’s time to place your relatives in your family tree chart. Most people find it easy to begin, placing themselves, their parents, and grandparents in the chart, but get confused when it’s time to add aunt’s …
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Ellis Island officials estimate that approximately one in three Americans have ancestors who immigrated through the Ellis Islandsystem. There are however over two hundred million immigrants who arrived prior to and after Ellis island began operating or finally closed its doors. Because of this the Ellis Island Foundation is busily transforming itself into a more comprehensive National Museum of Immigration. Ellis Island falls under the authority of the National Park Service who is intent on publishing the fuller story of …
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It can be very frustrating searching census records and finding no correct entry for the person you seek. This can also be one of the hardest problems for a genealogist to solve. Patronymic names – a name based on that of a person’s father or grandfather such as Richards and Richardson – are very prone to spelling errors, and these types of name are notoriously unreliable. Other mistakes can be the result of human error. Consider the case of an …
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So many of us have Irish ancestors, yet because of the many Irish records that have been lost or destroyed over the years, it can be difficult to trace our Irish family line. As such, those tracing their Irish ancestry must often look to secondary sources and alternative records to trace their ancestry. One such option is directories. When you have a general knowledge of where your Irish ancestors lived, city and county directories from the area may help. They …
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Many beginning genealogists overlook biographies as a source as they figure their ancestor wasn’t famous or important enough to have one written about them. That may well be true, but if not the subject of a biography, your ancestor may have been mentioned in one, or even its writer. Furthermore, though not the subject of a full blown biography, there could be a biographical sketch of your ancestor somewhere; a shorter, more concise description of their life. County histories are …
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