Author: James Tanner

The Sixth Rule of Genealogy

Note: This article was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site. Rule Number Six is “Records Move.”  Upon reflection, it is quite easy for even experienced genealogical researchers to find themselves in a situation where they ignore and are trapped by one of these basic rules of genealogy.  One common situation addressed by Rule Six while researching in the...

Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence on Findmypast.com

Note: This article appeared previously in the Genealogy’s Star blog site. Findmypast.com has added about 18,000 records documenting the descendants of the fifty-six men who signed the United States Declaration of Independence. Quoting from the website, These records document the descendants of these 56 men and offer a standardized lineage, which allows family historians to determine any possible connection to the...

RootsTech 2023 Will Include Online and In-Person Events

Note: This article appeared previously in the Genealogy’s Star blog site. We kept hearing rumors that RootsTech 2023 would be a hybrid conference with both online and in-person components and we finally got the following announcement from FamilySearch. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH—RootsTech, the world’s largest family history gathering is back in 2023 with an in-person event in Salt Lake City...

MyHeritage Census Helper™ Gets a Major Upgrade

Note: This article was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site. MyHeritage Census Helper™ Quoting from a press release: Just before the release of the 1950 U.S. Census in April 2022, we released the Census Helper™, a tool that scans your family tree and compiles a list of your relatives who are very likely to be found in census records....

Goldie May Subway Map Now Works with Ancestry.com

Note: This article was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site.   https://youtu.be/9K2E6ZPWxfY Goldie May’s timeline tool, called the Subway Map, now works with Ancestry. You can watch the short demo above to see how this works. You can also view all of the current and future videos from GoldieMay.com on the Goldie May YouTube Channel. See https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDuk8GVz6D_jiyvEFSGJnKw/featured   New...

1950 U.S. Census Project Moving Rapidly Forward

Note: This article was published previously in the Genealogy’s Star blog site. If you go to the FamilySearch 1950 U.S. Census Project page at https://www.familysearch.org/getinvolved/1950 you will see that four states have been completed and that only two more are open right now (as of the date of this post). Checking handwriting recognition from Ancestry.com is a different experience from indexing. The...

Changes to Ancestry.com: More than Cosmetic

Note: This article appeared previously in the Genealogy’s Star blog site.   Around the time of RootsTech 2022, Ancestry.com introduced some substantial changes to their website without much publicity. Here is an article that gives an overview of the changes. “The New Look and Feel of the Ancestry® Website.” One improvement includes putting a link to your family tree right at the...

Revisiting Proof and Truth in Genealogy

Note: This article was published previously in the Genealogy’s Star blog site. Can you prove it? Is what you post in your family tree the truth? In the context of genealogical research, do either of these terms have any meaning? Can these questions even be answered? Genealogical research focuses on a limited part of the world’s history; that part pertaining...

If you don’t share it, you lose it! – Part One

Note: This article was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site. I am writing about losing all the genealogical work you have done during your lifetime. Literally, if you do not share your work with others, particularly those in your family, you will lose it all when you die. I may have written about this before, but it bears...

About Accuracy in Genealogical Research

Note: This article was published previously in the Genealogy’s Star blog site.   The fundamental issue with historical research (including genealogical research) is accuracy. How do you establish trust in the conclusions of a historical (i.e. genealogical) researcher? For the purposes of this post and from this point on, I will focus on genealogical research as a subset of historical...