The most important clue in the record may never have been transcribed. Genealogy websites make it easy to search millions of historical records using transcriptions and indexes. These summaries are invaluable because they help researchers locate records in seconds. But a transcription is only a summary of the original document. It may omit important information, […]
In digitized newspapers, text doesn’t always stay in its proper place. When columns are close together—or when there are borders, rules, or advertisements—OCR software can mistakenly pull words from a neighboring column or ad and attach them to the wrong article. This creates “phantom” names: people who appear in a story but who were never […]
One missing record rarely means the answer is lost forever. Every genealogist eventually searches for a record that cannot be found. Perhaps a birth record is missing. A marriage record was never located. A census page appears to have disappeared. After enough unsuccessful searches, it is easy to believe that the missing record has brought […]
Not every newspaper distortion originates with the reporter, typesetter, or editor. Some occur decades later when historic newspapers are digitized and scanned. If a page is slightly tilted, folded, warped, or poorly aligned during scanning, OCR software may struggle to determine where one column ends and another begins. The result can be a jumbled reconstruction […]
When the timeline doesn’t make sense, your conclusion probably doesn’t either One of the most effective genealogy tools is also one of the most overlooked—a simple timeline. Researchers often collect records one at a time without arranging them in chronological order. As a result, impossible dates, conflicting events, and mistaken identities can go unnoticed. A […]
Sometimes a name is spelled correctly—almost. A single pair of letters may be reversed during typesetting, transcription, or OCR processing, creating a variation that looks obvious to the human eye but completely invisible to a search engine. These transposition errors occur when letters switch places within a word, producing names that appear legitimate at a […]
MyHeritage continues to add or update its record collections at a fast pace for us to search. For July 1-31 2026, there are 2 new and 15 updated collections. The new and updated collections are: I hope that some of these are what you have been waiting for! Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
The British Newspaper Archive, a subscription site owned by FindMyPast, has updated its website. They used to have the ability to list the titles added and updated in the last 30 days, which is what was used to create this monthly update. It remains to be seen how this list can be created in the future. […]
Find My Past is an underappreciated source for digitized newspapers. It is a subscription site that specializes in British and Irish newspapers. Currently, its collection numbers over 106 million pages and is growing rapidly. This month, Find My Past added 19 new titles and added to 116 existing titles. They are listed below: New Titles Updated […]
Ancestry.com continues to add or update its record collections at a fast pace for us to search. For the period of July 1-31, 2026, the new and updated collections are: I hope that some of these are what you have been waiting for! Good Luck and Happy Hunting!