RootsTech 2018 Pass Giveaway (and More Exciting RootsTech News)
Our RootsTech 2018 pass giveaway is underway! Enter by November 15, 2017 to win a chance to attend the world's biggest genealogy event for FREE. Meanwhile, there's more RootsTech news: the class schedule is posted and two keynote speakers have been announced. We think...
Boston Catholic Records Now at Ancestry.com, and Other New Collections
New at Ancestry.com are Boston Catholic records, thanks to a partnership with the New England Historical Genealogical Society. Also new this week are big updates for the Big Apple with lots of new and updated collections for New York. Additional new collections for...
Episode 211
The Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode #211 with Lisa Louise Cooke In this episode, host and producer Lisa Louise Cooke talks with Barry Moreno, Historian at Ellis Island. Hear about the life cycle of this busy U.S. immigration station (1892-1954) and Barry's...
Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast Episode 152: DNA, Genealogy Website Hints, Old Audio Recordings and More
Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast episode 152 is ready for our Premium members to enjoy. Hear about a DNA "total surprise," Google Translate and its limits, how to tell German from Dutch, hinting technologies at the giant genealogy websites, and a fabulous old audio...
Home Archiving for the Genealogist: 5 Ways to Think Like an Archivist
You may be doing some "home archiving" without even realizing it, if you're the keeper of any family photos, documents, heirlooms, or artifacts. Professional archivist and genealogist Melissa Barker offers these tips for the family historian and keeper of the family...
9 Unique Family Trees That Will Take Your Breath Away
These unique family tree designs--some hundreds of years old--are creative and artistically stunning. Some are about actual families, and others re-create the family tree of an entire culture or empire. Which ones inspire you? These 9...
Historic U.S. Newspapers & More in New & Updated Records
Historic U.S. newspapers are featured in this week's new and updated records collections, including Hawaii, Colorado, Georgia, and North Carolina. Also new this week are updated New York passenger lists, vital records for England, Welsh newspapers, military and census...
Flour Sack Dresses: Thrifty Fashions from the Great Depression
Flour sack dresses show how resourceful housewives of the past "made do" with whatever was at hand. But they weren't the only clever ones--see how savvy flour and feed companies responded to their customers' desires for cuter sacking. The History of Flour Sack...
National Archives Citizen Archivist Program: Calling all Genealogy Volunteers!
The National Archives Citizen Archivist program is recruiting help to tag, transcribe, and comment on records in the U.S. National Archives catalog. This is a great way for genealogy volunteers to help others discover their family history in the National Archives and...
Getting Started on Ancestry.com
Getting started on Ancestry.com can be a little daunting. As one of the world's top genealogy websites, it's packed with information about millions of people--perhaps including your ancestors. These step-by-step instructions will help you start building...
New Records Include Irish Genealogical Abstracts
Explore new Irish Genealogical Abstracts that have become available this week. They are a great alternative to records destroyed in the 1922 Dublin fire! Also new are church and burial records for England, poorhouse records for Scotland, German military recruitment,...
Found in an Archive: 10 Unexpected Discoveries
What we expect to be found in an archive is documents, photos, memorabilia and other paper-based items. But the Archive Lady Melissa Barker's list of "most unusual discoveries" reminds us to expect the unexpected in archival collections! Read about her top ten unique...
Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 210
with Lisa Louise Cooke In this episode: You've heard of "burned counties," a phrase used to describe places where courthouse fires or other disasters have destroyed key genealogy records? In this episode, a listener presents the problem of her burned city?Chicago....
What’s a CentiMorgan, Anyway? How DNA Tests for Family History Measure Genetic Relationships
If you're doing DNA tests for family history, you may see lots of predicted cousin matches: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.....But what does that predicted genetic relationship actually mean? Learn about centimorgans, the powerful genetic genealogy unit of measure, and how it...
Polish Genealogy: 4 Steps to Find Your Family History
Researching your Polish genealogy may seem a little intimidating at the start. Read these get-started tips from a Polish genealogy veteran at Legacy Tree Genealogists. Then you'll know how to dive right into your Polish family history--and where to turn if you need a...
Millions of global records now at FamilySearch.org
Millions of records from around the world are new at FamilySearch this week, and are completely free! These new collections include Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, and South Africa. PERSI also got a big update this week at Findmypast, as well as new and...
When to Use Google Translate for Genealogy–And Best Translation Websites for When You Don’t
You can often use Google Translate for genealogy to help you translate single words or phrases. But what if you need to translate an entire passage or document? Here's why you might want to use a different web tool--and a list of top translation websites from...
Join the Crowd: Help Make History with FamilySearch Indexing Event Oct 20-22
You're invited to participate in a global FamilySearch indexing event! Join thousands of volunteers worldwide October 20-22, 2017 as they index historical records that will help genealogists (maybe you) climb your family tree. If you can index in another language, you...