It appears that three of the celebrities that will be featured in the new season of “Who Do You Think You Are?” have been revealed. More will be announced at a later date. Previous seasons have had seven episodes each. “Who Do You Think You Are?” is probably the most popular genealogy television program that exists. There is an American version of the show, as well as a UK version. Each version has episodes that feature a famous person who would be easily recognized by the target audience. This series has been credited with making people much more aware of … Continue reading →

Is your favorite Ben & Jerry’s flavor lurking in the Flavor Graveyard? Genealogists can visit an online, somewhat animated, version of this graveyard (that actually does exist outside of the internet). It can be fun to explore the “family history” of some of the flavors that have “passed away”. Sometimes, it’s good to have a bit of fun with genealogy. Halloween is in October, and this holiday makes a lot of people think about graveyards, ghosts, and scary stories. Genealogists who cannot get their family to accompany them to a cemetery might be able to talk them into a tour … Continue reading →

Genealogists might be able to rattle off a list of the countries that their ancestors came from before they immigrated to America. An interesting Halloween costume could come from the traditional outfits that are from those parts of your heritage. What if you don’t know where your ancestors came from? In that case, you could choose a Halloween costume that reflects your American heritage. One American Halloween costume idea that immediately comes to mind is Uncle Sam. Most people don’t realize that the iconic Uncle Sam, (who wants YOU to join the United States Army), was inspired by an actual … Continue reading →

What are you going to be for Halloween this year? If you don’t know the answer to that question, you might want to look to your ancestors for inspiration. Genealogists who know their heritage can turn to their family tree in order to decide on a meaningful costume to wear this Halloween. It is going to take some planning in order to create a costume that reflects your heritage, or that resembles one of your ancestors. You may want to start now on creating your costume, so that you can get all the details just right. If you don’t want … Continue reading →

Halloween might be the holiday that fits best with the study of genealogy. Genealogists spend hours looking for information about dead ancestors. Halloween is when people dress up as ghosts, zombies, vampires, and other “dead” creatures. Genealogists who have a good sense of humor can find some really fun ways to celebrate Halloween, and genealogy, at the same time. Halloween might be the perfect holiday for genealogists to celebrate. After all, genealogy is the study of ancestors who have been dead for generations. Genealogists tend to be interested in visiting old graveyards. Many genealogists get more excited about “meeting” their … Continue reading →

Fans of Tolkien celebrate September 22 as the birthday of two of his most famous characters. By “Shire Reckoning”, both Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins would be celebrating their birthdays today. Hobbit Day has been celebrated for around thirty years now. Here is a brief look into the Baggins family tree. J.R.R. Tolkien is the author who wrote “The Hobbit”, and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. If you haven’t read at least one of those books yourself, then you probably saw the movies. I can remember watching the animated version of “The Hobbit” when I was a kid. Fans … Continue reading →

There are plenty of occupations that no longer exist. Genealogists who have family trees that include ancestors from the Victorian era in London may not understand what, exactly, that person did for a living. Either we no longer have a need for that job, or, we call it something different today. What were your ancestors employed as? It might have been a job that has disappeared between when your ancestor was alive and today. Or, it could be possible that the job still exists, but has been given a new title. Some of these terms relate to health care. An … Continue reading →

What did your ancestors do for a living? Times have probably changed quite a bit between now and and when your ancestors were alive. There are job titles that exist today that were never even dreamed of several generations ago. Conversely, there are some jobs that have ceased to exist. Genealogists spend a great deal of time digging into the past. This means there is a good chance that you will come across a word or two that you are unfamiliar with. Some of these words relate directly to the types of occupations that your ancestors held. If you cannot … Continue reading →

There are quite a few terms of measurement that once were commonly used, but no longer are. Genealogists might come across some of these mysterious words or phrases while looking at old documents that regard the purchase of, or sale of, land. Other terms relate to the money that was paid for property. Do you know what an “arpent” is? There are two definitions for this word that can be found in the ROOTS Genealogical Dictionary. The first one is “a unit of land measure, sometimes used in parts of French North America, such as Quebec and Louisiana, and in … Continue reading →

It can be interesting to find out the meanings of obscure, rarely used, genealogy terms, words, and phrases. If you are someone who likes to play with language, or who loves doing crossword puzzles, then you probably find it fun to learn new words. I thought that every genealogy dictionary would hold pretty much the same words. To my surprise, this assumption is not true at all! So far I have wandered through the Genealogy Glossary on the Family Tree Magazine website, the ROOTS Genealogical Dictionary, and the Glossary of Terminology at Genealogy Quest. This time, I decided to see … Continue reading →