It is that time of year when all things holiday take center stage. For families with children, Santa Claus may be a topic of daily or almost daily discussion. Leave it to the youngsters to come up with endless questions about the mysterious jolly old man in the red suit. What is his favorite food? How does he fit down the chimney? What does he do at houses where there is no chimney? Don’t the reindeer get tired flying all that way? All these questions and more are probably familiar to parents, and they may even remember asking those questions … Continue reading →

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel back in time? I often daydream about what life was like in the 1930’s and 1940’s. I don’t know why I do that, but I do. While I have not found a time machine to transport me there yet, I did find a fun and very addictive program on the Ancestry.com website. In celebration of the release of the 1940 Census, the folks at Ancestry.com know that many researchers likely have the 1940’s on their minds as they sift through census data, digging for new clues about ancestors from … Continue reading →

Many genealogists use Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, and possibly a few other genealogy websites. There are plenty of smaller, lesser known, resources out there that pop up from time to time. Here is a random collection of resources for genealogists that I found today. See if any of them are useful to your genealogy research. A few blogs ago, I pointed out the Human Prehistory 101 course that 23andMe created. If you took the course, and the quiz that followed it, you might be wondering what the correct answers were. There is a resource that will help! 23AndMe has posted a blog … Continue reading →

Did you know that there may be bits and pieces of genealogical information hiding amongst things in your home? What about the homes of your relatives, do you think that there could be new clues that you could find not by going to a library or archive but into their basement or attic? There are quite a few places where important information could be hidden in plain sight. Why not take a look at this list and see whether there are some places that you could look for new information today. Check bookshelves for yearbooks, bibles, autograph books, and even … Continue reading →

You don’t necessarily have to be Catholic in order to have at least some familiarity with St. Patrick. Not everything you may have heard about his life can be taken as fact. What is certain is that St. Patrick was an actual person, (and not merely a legend). Here is a very brief look into St. Patrick’s family tree. St. Patrick was born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland somewhere between the year 385 and 387. This means that the saint that is most closely identified with Ireland wasn’t actually Irish at all. He was Scottish. Or, maybe he wasn’t … Continue reading →

Helen Radkey is not a professional genealogist, but her research has gotten quite a bit of attention anyway. She has been keeping track of the names that are entered into the LDS proxy database, and making some of those names public – particularly the names of Holocaust victims. She has also taken an interest in the ancestry of Mitt Romney. There is a controversy involving the LDS church, and the proxy baptisms of people who were Jewish, and who were Holocaust victims. This is definitely a situation where the practice of genealogy, and religious beliefs, collide. The Church of Jesus … Continue reading →

People who are of the LDS faith have specific religious reasons why they do genealogy. One reason is so a posthumous baptism can be preformed on an ancestor who was not baptized when he or she was alive. Recently, someone did a proxy baptism for the parents of Simon Wiesenthal. He was Jewish, and a Holocaust survivor. This has led to controversy. Genealogy is the study of family. Everyone who wants to learn more about their ancestors, or to fill in missing pieces of their family tree, is welcome to partake in this hobby. One doesn’t necessarily need to be … Continue reading →

It is time for the weekly Genealogy Podcast Roundup. This is where you can find new episodes of your favorite genealogy podcasts. This week, a few of the episodes focus on “New Year’s” genealogy topics. GeneaBloggers released an episode on January 6, 2012. This episode is called “Genealogy New Year’s Resolutions for 2012”. There are several special guests included in this episode. DearMYRTLE, (from DearMYRTLE.com), gives tips on how to keep your genealogy data and materials organized. Amy Coffin, (from the We Tree genealogy blog), talks about setting genealogy goals and resolutions for 2012. Jan Meisels Allen, (Vice President of … Continue reading →

Did you change your last name when you got married? This used to be a very common practice, but not everyone understands why people do this tradition. Today, not every bride chooses to change her surname. When I got married, I decided to change my maiden name to my husband’s surname. This is what traditionally happens for brides. I know some women who chose to keep their original surname after they got married. This is a rather new trend, but, is a choice that is considered to be socially acceptable today. Some women chose to do a bit of both: … Continue reading →

MyHeritage, the well known genealogy website, has acquired BackupMyTree, a digital storage service. What does this merger mean for genealogists who use one, or both, of these services? As far as I can tell, there is nothing to worry about, and much to be gained, for genealogists. MyHeritage is a genealogy website that you can use for free. You can start working on your family tree, and placing it online, immediately. If you want access to more than the basic services that the website provides, then you have to become a member, (which does cost something). Not too long ago, … Continue reading →