By Sharon Hall The King of Genealogical Fraud Swedish-born Gustave Anjou perhaps got off on the wrong foot in life, so to speak, as Gustaf Ludvig Jungberg, the illegitimate son of Carl Gustaf Jungberg and his family’s housekeeper Maria Lovisa Hagberg. After serving a prison term for forgery in 1886, he changed his name to…
By Sharon Hall Genealogy has become one of the world’s most popular hobbies. USA Today noted that genealogy was bested only by the number one hobby of gardening. In terms of Internet searches genealogy is second behind (regrettably) pornography. It’s no wonder genealogy research has become such a popular pursuit with popular television programming…
By Jayne McGarvey Saint Patrick’s Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, “the Day of the Festival of Patrick”), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (c. AD 385–461), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. This seems rather a good day to review some of the more recent collections that…
By Jayne McGarvey Researching Family History can open doors to information long hidden, and/or long forgotten by our families. Sometimes what we find can be shocking, tragic, or both. Each family handles death and bereavement differently, now a days we are encouraged to talk about our feelings, talk about the loved ones we have lost…
By Jayne McGarvey The terms Genealogy and Family History are often used interchangeably within the field of ancestor research, even by many professional researchers. They both involve seeking information about your ancestors so what is the difference? Genealogy is the study of ancestry and descent and refers more to the actual search for ancestors and…
By Anne Sherman A Brief Background: Unlike Scotland, the birth, marriage and death certificates for England and Wales have never been available online. After many years of campaigning the General Records Office (GRO) was given permission from the Government to produce PDF non-certified copies of these certificates in 2015. You can read more about Civil…
By Katarzyna Smalcerz, Your Roots in Poland Every August the 1st, Poles commemorate an anniversary of The Warsaw Uprising (Polish: Powstanie Warszawskie), which is considered one of the most significant events in modern Polish history. Due to its tragic consequences, in particular the enormous human and material losses, the question of the legitimacy of the…
By Jamie Drake Lately, genealogy has gotten a reputation for being an expensive hobby. Newbies don’t know where to start, how to start, or even if they want to, and advanced researchers are tired of paying the hundreds of dollars a year it costs for subscription sites. So, in honor of all of us broke…
By Rachel Silverman The status of Jews in pre-WWI eastern Europe is a rather disheartening subject, so I’d like to preface with this caveat: The history and causes of anti-Semitism in Europe – especially in the eastern bloc – span centuries, are vastly complex, and warrant deeper analysis than I offer in this modest blog post.…
By Kathrin Kweseleit Throughout Europe, there is generally no overall standard for the beginning of church records. However, in German history there are good historical markers that can help get us started. On one hand we have the Reformation (which started in Germany around 1517) and on the other hand the Council of Trent (which…