Genealogy Gold Podcast: AF-088: Site of Salem Witch Trial Hangings Discovered: Why It’s Important to Genealogists

The location of the 1692 Salem witch trial hangings has been located by researchers. On today’s episode of the Ancestral Findings Podcast, I’ll talk about why this discovery is significant to genealogists. http://www.GenealogyGold.com

Subscribe via iTunes
http://www.ancestralfindings.com/itunes

Free Genealogy Weekly Drawing
http://www.ancestralfindings.com/drawing

Free Genealogy eBooks
http://www.ancestralfindings.com/ebooks

English Settlers in Barbados

Barbados is a Caribbean island that is part of the British colonial network. It was an actual colony from 1625 to 1966. It is now a self-governing constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as the titular head of state. It has a long history with humans, going possibly back as far as three thousand years ago, with definite evidence of human habitation existing back to around 1,500 years ago.

The original settlers of the island came from the South American continent and seem to have come in three groups. The first group were known as the Saladoid-Barrancoid, which were followed about 1,200 years ago by the Arawaks, and finally, the Caribs, who came about 600 years ago. The Caribs were the most politically organized among these groups, and they eventually became the rulers of the island until the Europeans discovered it...

Learn More

Genealogy Gold Podcast: AF-087: Early Photography and the Elderly

On today’s Ancestral Findings Podcast, I’ll talk about the invention of photography that lead indirectly to the modern world of genealogy, starting with getting photos done of older relatives. http://www.GenealogyGold.com

Subscribe via iTunes
http://www.ancestralfindings.com/itunes

Free Genealogy Weekly Drawing
http://www.ancestralfindings.com/drawing

Free Genealogy eBooks
http://www.ancestralfindings.com/ebooks

It’s the Keyboard’s Fault! The Keys Weren’t in the Right Place (Genetoons #49)

Genetoons is a simple, one-panel, Genealogy cartoons for the whole family to enjoy. Using a Genealogical idea or fact, I want the reader to laugh! I hope you enjoy them.

View More Cartoons

Historical Foods: The Pepperoni Roll and Its Origins

The foods our ancestors ate are an important part of our family histories. They tell a lot about a family, such as occupation, income, region in which they lived, and the time period in which they lived. If you put all these things together, you get a pretty detailed picture of our ancestors based on the foods that were common to their diets. Even archaeologists use the study of foods to place people in their proper historical contexts. When they dig up unusually well-preserved remains, such as the old Medieval burial of a royal or noble in lead, or mummies, they often examine the contents of their stomachs to see what was in their last meal. The foods they find tell them so much about how that person lived, where they originated, what their health was like, what their social class was, and more. The history of food is intimately tied into the study of genealogy...

Learn More

Genealogy Gold Podcast: AF-086: The American Orphan Trains

What were the Orphan Trains and what did they do for children? It's an intriguing story. And you don’t want to miss today’s Ancestral Findings Podcast... http://www.GenealogyGold.com

Subscribe via iTunes:
http://www.ancestralfindings.com/itunes

Free Genealogy Weekly Drawing:
http://www.ancestralfindings.com/drawing

Free Genealogy eBooks:
http://www.ancestralfindings.com/ebooks

Free Genealogy eBooks

With Genealogy Helps ebooks you can learn about research basics, read interesting stories about historical locations and international searches and immerse yourself in historical lessons from the past. Whether you’re a beginner looking to start researching a single person in your family or want to know where your family originated. The tips and tricks in these ebooks can help you get started and on the path to understanding more about your ancestry.

Learn More

How To Solve The Biggest Problems In Your Genealogy Research

Every genealogist will eventually encounter a particularly troublesome problem in their research. In genealogical circles, this is called the brick wall. It is when you reach a point in your research where you are out of available or known records to search, you’ve made all of the reasonable assumptions about your problem that you can with the information you have available, and you still can’t come up with even a theoretical solution that would pass the genealogical proof standard test. Brick walls are the nemeses of genealogists. However, they can be as challenging and exciting as they are frustrating, because one thing we genealogists love is solving a good mystery. Most genealogists can’t stand to just sit there staring at the brick wall. They’re determined to bring it down one way or the other, even if it takes decades (and sometimes it does!).

If you are facing a genealogy brick wall that seems unscalable, here are some tips to get you around, over, or through it more quickly than you imagined possible...

Read More

Adams and the Alien and Sedition Act

John Adams is known to history as many things–the nation’s first vice-president, the nation’s second president, the most vocal supporter of independence from Great Britain at the Continental Congress, and as the father of our nation’s sixth president, John Quincy Adams. He is also the first president to not win a bid for re-election to a second term in office. That loss was partially due to his imperial attitude and acts of questionable constitutionality while in office. The one that made the biggest negative impact on his presidency was his passage of the Alien and Sedition Act.

The Alien and Sedition Act essentially made any criticism of the government illegal, and seriously impinged upon the First Amendment. Adams received a lot of negative publicity for this act, and it was at least partially responsible for his defeat to Thomas Jefferson in his re-election bid (and the end of their close friendship for the next couple of decades)...

Learn More

Simple Tips for Reading Old Genealogy Documents

One of the really exciting things about genealogy research is coming across an ancient document pertaining to your ancestor, especially if it is one that no one else appears to have discovered. There are plenty of places across the country that keep original documents dating back two and three hundred years (and sometimes more!). You can often access these documents directly, or see copies of them on microfilm or microfiche, depending on the repository you’re using, their policies, and the condition of the documents. Sometimes, you will come across scans of these documents online. Unless they have been transcribed by others, and a transcription is available, you will need to read them yourself. With some ancient documents, this is easier said than done...

Read More

Free Genealogy Book Giveaway

For the next several weeks I’ll be giving away copies of the book, “1-2-3 Family Tree: The Fastest Way to Create and Grow Your Family Tree“. 

Learn More 

10 “Must Do” Genealogy Projects for August

August is an excellent month to tackle certain genealogy projects. It’s too hot to do much outside, the kids are out of school, and the holiday season with its cooler weather is approaching. These things open up a world of opportunities to do some interesting and important things with your genealogy research. Do yourself and your loved ones a favor and use August to work on these ten “must-do” genealogy projects. You’ll be so glad you did, and you will be so much farther ahead with your research when you’re done with them...

Read More

Drawing Those Hesitant Relatives into Your Family Tree Research

Once you’ve become hooked on genealogy research, it makes sense that you would want to share your discoveries with other family members. In fact, you may be dying to know if they have any tidbits of family history that they can share with you. Unfortunately, many family researchers run into an obstacle on their journey to create their tree: the hesitant family members.

We all have one of them (or five, but who’s counting?). They are disinterested at best or – at worst – think the entire process is silly or a waste of time. It can be difficult to understand, especially once you are caught up in the fun of solving your family’s historical mysteries, why or how anyone wouldn’t be excited by knowing more about their roots. There are strategies to help you bring them into the fold so that you can share and exchange information with them and perhaps even turn their interest in the process up a notch...

Read More

Genealogy Gold Podcast: AF-085: Every Family Historian Should Focus On These Three Things

Join me today as we talked about how to become a better genealogist. Whether you’re a beginner or a veteran, your research will improve if you focus on these three things. http://www.genealogygold.com

Subscribe via iTunes   |   Subscribe via YouTube

This Week’s Free Genealogy Lookups

• African Americans in the 1870 Census Index
• Mayflower Vital Records, Deeds and Wills, 1600s-1900s
• Cemetery Records: Salt Lake City, 1848-1992
• Genealogies of Mayflower Families, 1500s-1800s
• Pennsylvania Vital Records, 1700s-1800s
• 
  

Confessions from a Family Historian (What I Should Have Done Right from the Beginning)

Hindsight is 20/20 in most things in life, and genealogy research is no exception. I’ve been doing genealogy research for 20 years and have reached the level of knowledge where I now consider myself a good genealogist (though, make no mistake, even good genealogists still have things to learn, and we discover new things in genealogy all the time). I’m proud of the research I’ve done and continue to do, for myself and others. Yet, there are so many things from my early work I could have done differently if I’d known better then…. things which would make my genealogy research even more rich, detailed, and rewarding today. My family tree would be more solid and more like the historical narrative I now aim for it to be.

We all make mistakes when we’re beginning with something, before we’ve truly learned the craft. It’s true for anything you learn. However, if I can help some beginning genealogists avoid some of the early mistakes I made when I was learning the basics of this wonderful hobby, I am happy to do so. Here are some things I would have done differently when I began with genealogy if I’d known better. Maybe, by learning from my mistakes, you can get a better start on your family tree and turn it into something wonderful much sooner than I did...

Read More

Genealogy Gold Podcast: AF-084: Women in the Civil War

Did you know women played large and important roles in the Civil War? They did. And it wasn’t just by keeping the home fires burning. They were real soldiers. Join me today to learn more. http://www.GenealogyGold.com

Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes.
Click Here to Subscribe via RSS feed.

Things You Should Know Before Using Someone Else’s Research

If you have been doing genealogy for a while, you will no doubt have come across the work of other genealogists. There are user-submitted online family trees on many different well-known genealogy websites. Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org are the sites where you will find the most user-submitted trees, but they are everywhere in smaller numbers. Places like GenWeb, Fold3, American Ancestors, and most of the DNA testing websites have user-submitted trees, too. You may be tempted to take the information on these trees and use it as your own, if these trees are talking about your ancestors. However, take a moment before you copy that information. Here are some things you should consider before using someone else’s research...

Read More

Genealogy Gold Podcast: AF-083: Why Some Genealogy Family Tree Websites Don’t Work

Do family tree websites work? The vast majority of them do, if you know how to use them the right way. On today’s Ancestral Findings Podcast, I’ll show you what you need to know to get them to work for you.

Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes.
Click Here to Subscribe via RSS feed.