By Jayne McGarvey My Maternal Grandmother’s sisters both had families. Over the decades those families have grown. I have many second cousins, some of whom I occasionally met, usually en masse as a child, their names and faces often merging into one another, as months or even years would pass between meetings. My cousins have…
By Marge Bitetti In the United States there are over 300 religions practiced. Christianity is the largest religion practiced in the US composed mainly of Protestants, Catholics and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). Many people choose religious practices of their parents or relatives. Many of our ancestors, when migrating…
By Janice Blackhurst Jesse Ginn was motivated to leave North Carolina for Georgia due to the lure of free land under Georgia’s headright and bounty land grant system. He and his family received 283 acres in 1793 and then 200 acres in Elbert County in 1795. Georgia was trying to encourage settlement by farmers in…
By Ericka Grizzard Lineage societies such as Daughters/Sons of the American Revolution, The General Society of Mayflower Descendants, and many others serve as notable distinctions and sources of tremendous pride – the certified stamp on your family’s presence at certain points on the timeline of history. Today’s societies, while rooted in specific heritage, are largely…
By Laura Pinhey On the 1880 Federal Census record for my three-times great-grandfather there is a mark in the “Insane” column of the “Health” section. When I first saw the mark, I assumed it was a stray or a flaw in the microfilm. It seemed impossible to me that the census taker could have deliberately…
By Jayne McGarvey You are researching your own family history – right! So why spend time reading up or researching genealogy for other families not connected to yours? There are several advantages of joining a One Name Study Group if one exists for the surname you are researching. The most obvious of course is the…
By Lori Samuelson Are you in need of new ways to climb over your genealogical brick wall? Scaffolding can be a beneficial tool to help you reach new heights. When you think of scaffolding, you probably visualize the movable structure workers use to safely access high areas. In the education world, scaffolding means breaking learning…
By Ericka Grizzard In recent years the use of genetic or DNA testing has become more prevalent as a resource in genealogy research, but often when I speak with other people about their experiences with DNA testing they seem disappointed in the lack of connections it provided or don’t know how to interpret the results.…
By Rachel Silverman We’ve all been there: A certain census reveals your family living in a particular city, then the next census finds them halfway across the state. Or continent. Now you’re thinking, How did that happen? Or–even worse–they are nowhere to be found in the next census. Now what? Between censuses, my most valuable…
By Jayne McGarvey Visiting the homeland of your ancestor can be extremely rewarding, and even more so if you wish to combine a holiday with some research and or meet living relatives. We love to have you here, to show you our beautiful island and connect with the descendants of those who left so long…