Top Resources for Finding Your Scottish Ancestors

Where to Find Your Scottish Ancestors – Guest Article by Christine Woodcock, Director of Genealogy Tours of Scotland   Photo Credit: postaletrice via Compfight cc For those of us fortunate enough to have ancestors with Scottish heritage, researching is a fairly easy task. Knowing where to look is usually where we get tied up. Following these hints should help. Remember: If you ever…

Finding Aids

Much has been said about the majority of historical and genealogical records being unavailable online. FamilySearch estimates that at least 90% of records are not available in a digital format. So how does a genealogist find and take advantage of the vast collections of paper records? One way is through the use of Genealogists.com to…

Buried Treasure in Land Records

While land records are not an obvious source of family history, they can provide valuable clues to an ancestor’s wealth and status, military service, migration patterns, family inheritances, and direct relationships. Owning land was a good indication of an ancestor’s wealth. Many immigrants came to America with the dream of achieving this goal. The more…

Reading Old Handwriting

National Handwriting Day, celebrated since 23 January 1977, promotes the importance of penmanship and its ability to express the personality of an individual.  In the ensuing years, our use of computers and typewriters has led many to bemoan the loss of penmanship skills.  Would the signature of John Hancock, who was born on this day…

Most Read blog posts of 2014, top blogs of 2014

Top 7 Blogs of 2014

Before we get too far into 2015, we thought it would be helpful to highlight the most read Genealogists.com blogs in 2014. Each post has had thousands of readers and ideally helped you with your research. Be sure to visit the blog often in 2015 to see our latest tips and suggestions. 1. Anatomy of a Social…