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Author: James Tanner

August 1, 2021

Update on the Digital Public Library of America

Note: This article was previously published on the Genealogy’s Star blog site. From time to time in the past, I have written about the Digital Public Library of America. As you can see from this screenshot, the DPLA now has well over 44 million images, texts, videos, and sounds from across the United States. If you visit the website, you will...

Technology
July 4, 2021

Strategies for Searching Church Records

Note: This article was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site.     Church records are some of the most valuable genealogically significant records for tracing your ancestors in predominantly Christian-based countries. In order to understand and use these records, it is helpful to understand how and why these records were created. Parish registers are records created by small...

Country Research/Research
June 27, 2021

As Genealogists, What Should We Do about Place Names?

Note: This article was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site.   For some time now, FamilySearch.org has been encouraging users to “standardize” place names. This effort has been moderately successful and is continuing to evolve. The suggested standard place names rely on a large database of worldwide names. More recently, FamilySearch has been adding a time-frame to the suggested standard...

Records/Research
June 7, 2021

What Are the Locations of Events in Your Ancestors’ Lives?

Note: This article was published previously in the Genealogy’s Star blog site.     The most important element in accurate genealogical research is determining an accurate and specific location for an event in an ancestor’s life. Here is an example of a place that is not specific enough to be useful for research copied from the FamilySearch.org Family Tree. This entry is...

Records/Research
May 30, 2021

Introducing Photo Repair on MyHeritage: Fix Your Scratched or Damaged Photos

Note: This article was published previously in the Genealogy’s Star blog site. Please see Introducing Photo Repair: New Feature to Automagically Fix Scratched and Damaged Photos On top of being able to Colorize, Enhance, and Animate photos, now MyHeritage has added the ability to repair some types of damaged photos. Here is an example from one of my damaged photos. You...

Memories/MyHeritage
May 24, 2021

What is in a name? Taking Your Genealogical Research to a Higher Level

Note: This article appeared previously in the Genealogy’s Star blog site.     My Great-great-grandfather’s name was David Thomas b. 1820, d. 1888. He was born in Wales. Sometime, probably after he died, he “acquired” a middle name and became “David Nathan Thomas.” Here is a photo of his grave marker with his name as “David N. Thomas.” However, every...

Ancestry/Country Research/Records/Research
May 16, 2021

The Family History Guide Online Tracker

Note: This article was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site.   The Family History Guide website is a free, educational, structured training and reference website. No matter what level of genealogical research you have obtained during your lifetime from beginner to expert, The Family History Guide website can help you increase your knowledge and skills. I have been working...

Learning
May 2, 2021

What Is Genealogical Research?

Note: This article was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site. A quote attributed to Confucius says: “To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge.” A common genealogical saying similarly states that you should always begin your research by proceeding from what you know to what you do not know. I find...

Research
April 19, 2021

Expanding the Scope of Your Genealogical Research

Note: This article by James Tanner was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission.   One of the most common genealogical research issues I am asked to help with involves help with finding the date of one particular event in an ancestor’s or relative’s life. Most commonly, the goal is to find...

Records/Research/U.S. Research
March 22, 2021

Genealogy in a Zoom World

Note: This article by James Tanner was published previously in the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission.   During the recent RootsTech Connect 2021 Conference, I participated in an outreach program sponsored by the Salt Lake City, Utah Family History Library. The Family History Library has an extensive system of online consultations. Here is a screenshot...

Research/RootsTech/Technology/Training
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