Genealogy Blog Family History

Family history treasure trove out of the bluePosted by Administrator on November 17th, 2009

From out of the blue, I have happened upon a treasure trove of family information from my father’s side. Last night, I just happened to be talking to my little brother about learning more about our genealogy. We know our father’s family comes from England, Scotland, and Prussia. We know some of them immigrated to America aboard the Mayflower. But as far as names and dates, we were clueless. There was a Cherokee princess in there somewhere, but that was about it.

As result of our conversation, my little brother happened to bring it up when he was talking to our father this weekend. That’s when my father, who has done a substantial amount of family history, passed him a file of hundreds of names and dates. In one fell swoop, we were able to get better acquainted with several generations, where they were born, where they were married, and where they died. There are uncles and aunts in there, too. 

Sometimes, to get started, I guess all you need to do is talk about it. Parents and grandparents can be an invaluable resource in getting started. Sometimes your questions can spur something they had forgotten. Something is bound to come up. Pretty cool, huh?

WWII POW records go online, fill in the storyPosted by Administrator on September 4th, 2009

For family history buffs interested in more than birthdates and death dates, ancestry.co.uk now lists the records of over 100,000 British POWs captured during World War II, allowing genealogists to learn where their ancestors were held and any escape attempts.

Were your relatives involved in a real-life "Great Escape"? You can find out at this site, thanks to lists compiled by German authorities under the 1929 Geneva Convention. You can also find out if a relative died while a POW and how they died.

This is just the latest in a multitude of online tools that help family history buffs piece together who their ancestor’s were and what they lived through.

Vital Records – A Brief Overview – Part 1Posted by Administrator on August 4th, 2005

Birth, Death and Marriage Records

The foundation of genealogy or family history research is birth, death and marriage records. It is these vital records of life’s significant events that we turn to when we begin to seek out the knowledge of our ancestry. These public records and others such as the Social Security Death Index (SSDI), offer access to genealogical information that may not be available from any other source.

The Social Security Death Records constitute a data base of around 65/70 million names, most of which belong to the period from 1962 to 1988. This library of archived data is being constantly added to.

Using these family search tools you should be able to:

• Distinguish between people with the same name
• Identify your ancestors
• Establish birth, death and marriage data, such as dates and places
• Learn the occupation and place of residence of ancestors
• Prove/disprove the validity of other records
• Find subtle clues to assist your research

If family history (genealogical research) is something that you are just becoming interested in, then the best place to start is with yourself. Write your own name on a piece of paper with your birth date and place, and now add what you know about your parents and grandparents, and so on, until you have exhausted your immediate knowledge.

Next, if your parents are alive and you can meet with them face to face, take a piece of paper with you and have them exhaust their knowledge of names, dates and places. Repeat this with all living relatives. Write to those you cannot visit.