Photos and comments from Arizona and around the world
We recently noticed that all of the French records had disappeared from the FamilySearch.org Historical Record Collections (look under the Search link on the new startup page). This may be old news, but it was new to me. The links to the Historical Records...
Large corporations with huge budgets and lots of advertising can make major mistakes in promoting new products. In 1958, the Ford Motor Company produced a new line of cars called the Edsel. This model was expected to compete with Chrysler and GM in the...
You may be able to guess what goose I am talking about. The one that laid golden eggs. Here in this genealogy blog the analogy should be transparent. The genealogical resources such as the FamilySearch.org Research Wiki, the Community Trees and the Historical...
Thankful Tefft Tanner is the mother of my well-known ancestor, John Tanner (b. 15 August 1778, d. 13 April 1850). She is mostly remembered by my family as a descendent of three of the passengers on the Mayflower, who arrived in North America in what would...
The number of participating libraries is growing for the soon-to-be released online Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). If you haven't noticed, many public libraries have opened up collections of eBooks and Audio books that can be checked out of...
I just spent five days at the Family History Library. I did do some personal research, but a lot of my time was spent helping others with their genealogy and teaching a few classes. I can report that the library is extremely busy and some areas are crowded...
There is a marked tendency in the genealogical community to view death certificates and gravemarkers as the beginning and end of death records. This is far from the truth and is really quite unfortunate. There are a wealth of death related records that...
The common rule for citing geographic locations in genealogy is to record the place as it was at the time the event occurred. Are there exceptions? What if the political jurisdiction or name of the place no longer exists? How do you record places that...
Searching for a long lost ancestor? Trying to connect with family members who are still presumed living? Have a genealogical service or product to buy or sell? Did you know that you can advertise your genealogically related service or product with a...
In preparation for a series of classes I am teaching in May at the Mesa FamilySearch Library, I have been re-reading and studying Val D. Greenwood's book. Greenwood, Val D. The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub....
The newly implemented Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is one of hundreds of digital libraries and digital library portals popping up all over the Web. One of the significant partners of the DPLA is the Mountain West Digital Library described...
Question: How do I find an obituary of a person who died in 1945 in the Ft. Bayard VA Hospital, Grant county, New Mexico? Answer: Finding an obituary can be a frustrating experience. It would be simple if all of the obituaries were collected in one place...
Yesterday, 18 April 2013, the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) went online. What I would say is that finally the United States is catching up with Europe and Australia in providing a portal for their major digital collections. In some ways, I...
I was helping one of my friends with some research recently, who was looking for some record of a birth in Pennsylvania. The problem was that the ancestor was supposedly born in 1822, long before birth records were consistently maintained. Of course,...
I recently asked the question, "What is Genealogy?" Now I ask a more difficult and important question, "What is Research?" I think it is easier to think of activities that are not genealogical research than the other way around. Let me start with a hypothetical...
Genealogists are really quite a conservative bunch, but in some areas their conservatism runs to a fault. As a community, genealogists seem to resist computer program updates. Yesterday, I was telling a friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, about...
I am pleased to pass this along from MyHeritage.com: * MyHeritage has launched a special campaign offering deep discounts on DNA tests to mark the first anniversary of the availability of DNA tests on MyHeritage. These tests are offered in partnership...
A commonly used analogy of ineffective research is a dog chasing its tail. How do we stop endless repetition? The solution is to record every place we search so that we don't repeat our searches in some sort of Research Log. But this very common advice...
We never have enough time at RootsTech to see everyone we would like to see and talk to everyone we would like to talk to. For me the highlight of the Conference was, of course, being invited to give part of a Keynote Address. But I had many other very...
Yes, there is a vague resemblance to the old Everly Brothers tune, but the truth is that Google is shutting down some of their most useful programs. I am sure they have some grand design that will propel them into the next great thing. It also seems they...
The title of this post is really quite sarcastic. I don't think I have found the genealogical fast lane yet, in fact, I really doubt there is one. Maybe I just shuffle faster than the other folks. But there are a lot of genealogical conferences and I...
Once upon a time, a long time ago, genealogists used printed forms for pedigree charts and family group records. Because of inherent limitations of those forms, they were forced to use abbreviations and other such conventions to accommodate the tiny spaces...
Alligators are a metaphor for many of the problems in life. They simply lie there, waiting to happen, until the right minute and then bite you. You may think things are going along quite well, thank you. But little do you know that the alligators of life...
Microtek ScanMaker 3840 flatbed scanner. Mamun2a 09:50, 4 September 2006 (UTC) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scaner.jpg With the advent of document and photo file sharing on many genealogy programs both for online and or individuals, where actual...
I love the color and variety of plants and animals in a swamp, but I cannot truthfully say that I am a swamp fan. I guess I contrast the difficulty of moving around and the number of things in a swamp that want to bite or eat you, with the open world...
