The Family History Guide Blog – Page 57 – … See the latest news about your free learning and training site for family history!

September 6, 2020

When Is a Brick Wall Not a Brick Wall?

Note: This article by James Tanner was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission. As I have written and presented previously, the concept of a “brick wall” in genealogical research is not very helpful. Here is a video I did a couple of years ago about how to resolve the problem....

Country Research/Records/Research

August 30, 2020

A Mayflower Story

This coming November marks the 400th anniversary of the voyage of the Mayflower ship. There are many noteworthy stories of Mayflower passengers and history; a notable recounting is on the Mayflower Story website. I have several friends who are direct descendants of William Brewster, a passenger who became the leader of the Plymouth Colony. However, my Mayflower ancestors, John Howland and...

Memories/Research/Stories

August 30, 2020

Indexing, Handwriting, and Google

Over the past few months I have been indexing FamilySearch death records from South Africa. It has been an interesting experience, and I have gained a new appreciation for the culture and people of that country. Indexing gives you a brief glimpse into the lives of people whom you otherwise never would have known. One of the educational benefits of...

Research

August 30, 2020

The Genealogical Overburden of Duplicate Work

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 definition of “overburden” that I am using here refers to the “rock or soil overlying a mineral deposit, archaeological site, or other underground feature.” Google Dictionary. In doing genealogical research it is necessary to remove the “overburden”...

FamilySearch/Research

August 23, 2020

The Value of Case Studies in Family History

“Could I have an example, please?” This is one of the most common questions we all have, about almost any subject, whether or not we ask it out loud. Good examples help us connect the dots in our learning. They help us see relationships between pieces of information, how cause and effect works, and how we can apply principles in...

Case Studies/Research/U.S. Research

August 23, 2020

What’s New in The Family History Guide

Here’s a brief review of some of the latest updates to The Family History Guide website. Some of them have been mentioned in previous blog posts, so the links to those articles are also included. Get Started We’ve changed the focus of the Get Started page. It was previously a group of alternatives to choose from; now it’s driven by...

What is new at The FHG

August 23, 2020

Blinded by a Pedigree Chart

Note: This article by James Tanner was published previously in the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission. This is an example of the “standard” or traditional pedigree chart used by genealogists in this format and many other similar formats for hundreds of years, primarily, in Western European countries. Here is an example of one from...

Research/Training

August 16, 2020

More Countries, More to Discover

The Countries page in The Family History Guide is divided into two basic sections. At the top is the familiar list of countries that have their own pages or groups of pages. Below that is a “More” link that opens up a list of the “smaller” countries in the world, or those that don’t have sufficient genealogy information for a...

Country Research/What is new at The FHG

August 16, 2020

Virtual Family History Escape Rooms

Note: This article by Miles Meyer was originally published in the Miles’ Genealogy Tips blog site and is used with the author’s permission. Hello everyone. We have been preparing for Hurricane Isaias this weekend and now it is a tropical storm. So what do you do when you are waiting on a storm that doesn’t come? You catch up on...

Family History Activities/Research/U.S. Research

August 16, 2020

Spotting and Correcting Errors in an Online Family Tree

Note: This article by James Tanner was originally published on the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission. In this post, I will give an example from the FamilySearch.org Family Tree, of an entry that has some basic problems. I will then show how those problems can be identified and, if possible, resolved. This process of talking...

Case Studies/FamilySearch/U.S. Research