By Jayne McGarvey Do you remember those old research notes you took way back in the year dot when you first began researching your family history? Those very early notes, the ones you jotted down in a hurry while visiting relatives or in the early stages of your research when your family tree was in…
By Julia Joy Dumas Family history research is one of the most fulfilling hobbies because it is a personal journey through the past. It’s often difficult to become passionate about the history of strangers; but, when it comes to your relatives, interest often peaks quickly. Personally, I never enjoyed history until I was able to…
By Rachel Silverman When we hear “GPS,” we tend to think of the Global Positioning System: a worldwide navigation system made possible by a network of satellites which orbit the Earth. GPS helps mapping websites create driving routes and allows our cell phones to know where we are on the planet at all times. In…
By Jayne McGarvey A small seemingly insignificant story that passed down the family to me was of my second great grandfather who well into late life would set off early of a morning to walk about 6 miles cross country to see his family on the other side of the high hills, and how, if…
By Lori Samuelson Like you, there are many family mysteries I’d love to solve. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have just five minutes with an ancestor to have your questions answered? Since that’s not an option, we must rely on other methods to find the information we seek. In our fast paced world, tweets, texts, and emails are…
By Jeanne Rollberg Social and consumer-to-consumer media like Facebook, Pinterest, eBay, and Google are woven into the fabric of our everyday lives across the world. As you use social media and also pursue family history, are you aware of the many genealogy discoveries hidden in social media themselves, or for your own opportunity to share…
By Jayne McGarvey Do you sometimes look at your family tree and wonder why it can be so difficult to find out any information about your female ancestors? Once married they often simply disappear until a small death notice is discovered. On many occasions this only refers to them as “the wife of …”. Changes…
By Nydia Hanna The surnames in Spanish families are tied to traditions of land, wealth, social status and religion. For a Spanish person, their whole name, including two surnames, correctly identifies them and their parents. This identity is deeply rooted in the histories of their ancestors and the names they carried. Spaniards believe that the…
By Anne Sherman A little time spent now can save hours of work later. Imagine the scene – you have been researching your family history for years, and you finally share it with a member of your family, who turns around and says “but John did not marry Jane, he married Elizabeth!” OK so now…
By Jeanne Rollberg Boo! The commercialized Halloween holiday in the United States reminds us of costume parties, spooks, goblins, spiders’ webs, witches, skeletons and cemeteries. Usually shortly after Halloween, countries all over the world – from Germany to Sweden to Latin American countries’ Dia de los Muertos – celebrate ancestors’ lives with multiple-day events, many…