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Author: James Tanner

February 8, 2021

The Family History Guide Association Receives Guidestar Approval

Note: This article by James Tanner was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission. The Family History Guide Association, a 501(c)(3) public charity organization, is the funding organization behind The Family History Guide website. I am the Chairman of the Board of The Family History Guide Association. GuideStar by Candid is a vetting organization that investigates...

The Family History Guide Association/What is new at The FHG
January 24, 2021

Don’t Get Obsessed with One Ancestor

Note: This article by James Tanner was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission.     The reality is that you have thousands upon thousands of ancestors and millions of relatives. Too often, I am approached for help in finding one ancestor’s parents. Also too often, I hear the same story about...

Research/U.S. Research
January 11, 2021

Finding Your Ancestors in Private Sources

Note: This article by James Tanner was published previously in the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission.   To some people, this pile of old suitcases and trunks would be a nightmare. To a seasoned genealogist, this is a dream come true. I don’t think we talk enough about relying on the records that may...

Memories/Records
December 20, 2020

Finding Your Ancestors in Poor House or Poor Farm Records

Note: This article was published by James Tanner on the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission.   Frederick County Poor Farm in Virginia, United States, By AgnosticPreachersKid – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48996373Poor houses and poor farms, which go by many different names, have a long history in English speaking countries. Quoting from the History.com article,...

Country Research/Research/U.S. Research
November 29, 2020

Finding Your Ancestors Using Land and Property Records

Note: This article by James Tanner was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission.   For genealogical research, there are two main components of land and property records: maps and documents. Using both, when they are available, is a great benefit to research. This is especially true because often the documents, especially...

Records/Research/U.S. Research
November 14, 2020

Finding Your Ancestors Using Employment Records

Note: This article by James Tanner appeared previously in the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission. You may never have thought of using employment records to find an ancestor or relative but there is a huge untapped reservoir of records out there around the world. The challenge is that employment records are only rarely classified...

Research/U.S. Research
November 1, 2020

Finding Your Ancestors using Death and Cemetery Records — Part One: Lost and No Recovery

Note: This article by James Tanner was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission.   Death and cemetery records go way beyond death certificates and grave marker inscriptions. To begin to understand all of these genealogically valuable records we need to focus on what happens and what records are created when a...

Research/U.S. Research
October 18, 2020

Finding Your Ancestors Using Court Records

Note: This article by James Tanner was published previously in the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission. Palace of Justice, Brussels, Belgium Genealogists rely on a variety of court records for research beyond the popular census and vital record sets. Attorneys who practice law in the court system take years of study to master the...

U.S. Research
October 12, 2020

Underused Genealogically Important Websites: ArchiveGrid

Note: This article by James Tanner was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission.   https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/ Quoting from the OCLC Research webpage, ArchiveGrid is a collection of over four million archival material descriptions, including MARC records from WorldCat and finding aids harvested from the web. It is supported by OCLC Research as the...

Country Research/Research
October 5, 2020

Genealogists! Free Yourselves from the Paper Prison

Note: This article by James Tanner was previously published on the Genealogy’s Start blog site and is used with the author’s permission.   Regardless of how tech-savvy genealogists may be,  collectively, we seem to acquire huge piles of paper. We can scan the documents, letters, certificates, photos, and other important paper-based items but we feel duty-bound to keep everything. Granted,...

Country Research/Records/Research
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