Genealogy Rocks! Columns

In mid-July, my sister in Houston was impacted by Hurricane Beryl. She lost electricity and air conditioning for more than a week. Have you encountered any stories of natural disasters that affected one of your ancestors? Hurricanes and tornados must have been terrifying when they appeared without warning on the horizon. Were your ancestors near … (read more…)

I am celebrating my 25th year as a genealogist. How time flies when you’re having fun! So I am often stopped in the midst of the happy dance when someone asks me, “Are you finished with your genealogy?” The short answer is, “No.” When I started I did not know the names of any of my great-grandparents. So I had lots of work to do. I spent … (read more…)

Sometimes new genealogy researchers complain when there are gaps in records or digitized documents that are hard to read. As an official “old-timer,” I want to point out that for genealogists, this is the best of times. In 2002, the 1930 U.S. census was released to branches of the National Archives and was accessible only at those locations. … (read more…)

Focus, focus, focus. That is my mantra for ancestor searchers. Pick one of your grandparents, calculate when they were born, and think about where they were living in 1950 – the latest census available to us. Enter that information into Ancestry.com. One new quirk on Ancestry: you need to click the “Exact” box under the location.

That … (read more…)

1924: The Colorado Genealogical Society was organized years 10 before the opening of the National Archives and Records Administration opened in Washington, D.C., giving researchers their first access to census records.

1976: Publication of Roots: The Saga of An American Family reignited interest in genealogy and family history research. Several … (read more…)

Genealogists come in all shapes and sizes. Genealogy is a fascinating hobby because it combines logical thinking and detective work to unpuzzle a twisted family tree. Some have been “doing genealogy” for more than 30 years. Some of us started by writing letters to various court clerks to ask for marriage records. Some of us started by writing … (read more…)

The local library in the town or county where your ancestors lived (for 10-100 years) is an excellent place to start your research. This is the place where your ancestors lived and died, married, had children, paid taxes, bought and sold land. Other researchers are also interested in your family and may have deposited information about your … (read more…)

It’s think time to about making New Year’s Resolutions which usually involve fixing some fault you see in yourself. May
be a better idea is to make New Year’s Plans – positive ideas to make your life happier and more productive. In genealogy, there are three main ways to do this: Focus, Organize, Share.

Focus: It’s easy to get … (read more…)

Where were you in ’92? 1492, that is. There are so many genealogy websites by now, along with books on every aspect of colonization, that with time and effort you can actually answer that question. But I over- simplify. You don’t have to pick 1492. Pick any date in your family history that attracts you and explore other, perhaps lesser -known … (read more…)

When I first started looking at the 1950 U.S. census, I was searching for 110 N. 19th Street in Philadelphia. That was the address for my family that I had diligently researched. It was the address on my sister’s birth certificate. But they were not there.

I knew they had moved to a new house by January 1951 but I did not think they had moved … (read more…)

Is your computer your enemy or your friend? Do you use your computer just for reading e-books, watching movies and sending emails? I want to take this opportunity to tell you that you live in amazing times. You have the world of information at your fingertips – and that includes for genealogy research. Even if you limit yourself to free sites … (read more…)

Genealogy is often called only a “hobby,” but in actuality, we genealogists structure the skeleton of a scholarly view of our migrant ancestors. What held communities together? Marital relationships, finances, religion, politics? According to anthropology scholar and genealogist, Carolyn Earle Billingsley, in her book Communities of Kinship, … (read more…)