Identify More Than One Document that Answers a Specific Question

Although one document may answer your specific question, continue looking for additional records. The first document you identify may not have an accurate answer, it may not offer a complete answer, or it may not answer the question at all. Following is a case study that illustrates how analyzing numerous records helped answer the birthdate question and the parentage question for Mary Elizabeth Weightman. The two research questions were then consolidated into the case study.…

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Genealogy Tip: Work On One Research Question at a Time

It is tempting to try to find out everything about an ancestor all at once. (Especially if there is nothing known.) But, when we start with little focus, it makes our research more difficult. It is harder to track what records have been searched and what the results are. If we start with a specific question we can determine what types of records might best answer it. If we want to know when someone was…

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Family History Research in 2018

2018 is Right Around the Corner What a great time to work on our family histories! Have you reached a sticking point in your research? Could you use some help getting un-stuck? Not sure what ship your immigrant ancestor came to America in? Has your research landed in Europe and you can’t read the records? As a professional genealogist, I can help you find the answers to these and many other questions. My name is Tiffany…

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American Revolutionary War Ancestor Finding Day

Have Fun Researching Your Revolutionary War Ancestor Today I am adding sources to my online family trees. I focused on my Revolutionary War ancestors. I enjoy collecting as many sources as possible. There is no such thing as too many sources. When a holiday comes around I often interrupt my major research projects by re-looking for sources online for a specific family, brick wall ancestors, or those who participated in a specific military campaign. Today, I…

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FamilySearch Upgrade: What to Do While Site is Down?

On Monday June 27th, FamilySearch will be down for up to 24 hours due to a technical update. I am thankful for the heads-up because it gives me a chance to plan my online family history research when one of my most used websites won’t be available. Hmmm… what to do? Planning Family History Research I will explore the Chrome browser extension called RootsSearch. Don’t use Chrome or don’t like extensions? Check out the web version of…

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Painting Pictures of the Women in Our Family Tree

I don’t like to lose things. The most frustrating things I lose track of are keys, important papers, and women in my family tree. To be fair, the women in my ancestry aren’t things, but they are so easy to lose track of, they sometimes seem to be as elusive as those misplaced keys. As I honor the special women in my ancestry, I like to take time to look for “new” details about the women…

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FamilySearch Keepsakes: Genealogy & Creativity

Decorate with Your Family Tree Using FamilySearch FamilySearch has a new Keepsakes option. If you have a FamilySearch account and a Family Tree set up you can create a decorative work of “family art.”   Go to: https://familysearch.org/campaign/keepsakes?cid=email-CNU_030916_CTA5 Select the image you would like to make and then you will be prompted to sign in. Once you sign in you will be brought to the page titled: “Create Your Family Tree Keepsake.” Your family names will…

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RootsTech 2016 Thursday Fun

RootsTech 2016 is in full effect. I have been streaming content today and having a great time trying some new to me websites. After watching the session titled: Best Apps and Websites for Local History pr esented by Amy Crow I encourage you to try: www.historypin.org and www.whatwasthere.com. I love to find historical photos of the houses and neighborhoods that my ancestors lived in. I often use google maps and street view to see if a house or…

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Living Family History Christmas Ornaments

DIY Christmas Ornaments Genealogists are often big on family traditions. Nine years ago my little family started our family history Christmas ornament tradition. It was born out of a need to have non-breakable ornaments on the tree. Our daughter’s first Christmas was heavy on taking the ornaments off the tree and depositing them around the house. Every year we have talked about doing different ornaments but have never been able to do it. Each year…

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Cross Stitch Your Family History

When my future husband and I were dating I wanted to make him a unique birthday gift. I was already spending a large percentage of my time researching my family history and I knew I wanted to make something celebrating his family. I enjoyed cross stitch since I was a young girl and decided to document his immediate family with stitchery. I took a wonderful picture of the framed cross stitch and then realized that…

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Thanksgiving Family History

Why not invite an ancestor to your family’s Thanksgiving dinner this year? Set a special place either at your table or on a comfy sitting chair. Make a place card with their name. Gather any photos you may have around the house and place them on the chair. (You may want to use photocopies.) Let’s face it spills happen on Thanksgiving. Start a family history conversation. Think of some discussion prompts before your other guests arrive.…

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Milk Bottles on the Porch-Living Family History

You never know what a day of basement organizing will reveal. We found these great milk delivery bottles and of course there is a story behind them. As it turns out, my Father-in-law told us the story. He loves to tell a story. He worked for the Droughbay Dairy in Tooele, Utah in the late 1940’s. He ran out and placed the bottles on folks’ porches while the owner’s son was the truck driver.  He…

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