Category: Research

Avoiding the “Same Name Trap”

Note: This article by Kathryn Grant was published previously in the Hearts Linked Together blog site and is used with the author’s permission. Picture this scenario: You’re working in the Family Tree on FamilySearch.org when you see a possible duplicate for John Chambers. And both of them have a wife named Elizabeth. Are these two John Chambers the same person?...

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...

A Wealth of Military Records

We just celebrated Veteran’s Day on November 11, commemorating the service and sacrifice of so many of our U.S. military servicemen and women. What we may not realize is that there is a huge variety of military records available for research. Many of these records include vital information, such as birth and death dates, as well as names of relatives....

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...

Finding Value in Land Records

Land records might seem not to have any value to genealogical research, especially with the emphasis on vital and census records for most upcoming genealogists. However, they can be extremely helpful in locating where a family may have lived, especially when census and vital records are not available in that area for one reason or another. One reason is that...

Using DNA Results for Family History

Several weeks ago, Debbie Weaver, an expert in genealogy research with DNA, presented an excellent online class at the Sandy Granite family history center: “Using  DNA Results for Family History”. In the video, Debbie discusses what DNA testing and results can do for you, such as Provide clues for your research Verify traditional paper trail research Validate or disprove family...

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...

Going through Town Records

When you think of doing local family history, you probably think of records held at the county level. This is especially true for many of the Midwestern and Western states, where records are kept in county and state archives. However, in other parts of the United States, such as the New England area, local records were originally kept at the...

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...

Exploring the DPLA (Digital Public Library of America)

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is an all-digital library that collects information (metadata) from libraries, museums and institutions around the country. It enables you to search millions of records from partner libraries and organizations at once. The DPLA is free and does not require a library card, so the possibilities for online family history research are extensive. Here...