Genealogy Blog Family History

Family History BlitzPosted by Administrator on November 20th, 2009

 As I mentioned in my last post, our family just came into a huge list of names and dates. And it seems like the subject of compiling everything in one place has been in the air every time my cousins and I get together. People have records here and records there, stuff shoved into shoe boxes or old photo albums. Because we can’t shake the nagging feeling that we need to make an inventory of all the records we have, we are getting together this Saturday for a family history blitz.

This means we’re going to go online and see what we have already. Then we’re going to take all the loose bits of paper and notes on the backs of photos and make sure everything is accounted for. At the end, we’ll know where we’re missing information, where our efforts should placed. 

Has anyone out there ever done this? Did it work? Let me know.

Check Social Columns in Newspapers – by Karen KrugmanPosted by Administrator on October 8th, 2005

Most people search for obituaries and death notices but never think to look in the social columns. Many of the older newspapers, pre-1940 in particular, carried in their social columns all sorts of things that were going on the community. Many times, family relationships can be defined through these columns. Birth announcements, marriage write ups, photos, and much more can be found. I’ve found death/funeral write-ups in the old social columns, even though there was no obituary or death notice.

Many newspapers carried columns called Vital Records, listings of marriage applications, births, and deaths. This section may not be found on the same page as the obituaries or death notices. I’ve found the columns as early as the early 1900′s in the Detroit papers.