Your ancestor’s death certificate names a cemetery, so you’ve found the burial place. Case closed? Not necessarily. The cemetery recorded on a death certificate may tell you where burial was planned or reported at the time—but it does not always prove where the person’s remains ultimately rested. The Myth If a death certificate names a […]
Author: Kenneth R Marks
Kenneth R Marks was born and educated in the San Francisco Bay Area, receiving a BS in Mathematics in 1968. His career was in Information Technology; with the last 20 Years as a software executive with Boeing, Pearson, and NASA. His genealogy career began in 2004. He is an expert in newspaper research for genealogy, as well as additional genealogy topics. He regularly conducts webinars on the subject and has authored three genealogy books. See the About page for more details.
The Ancestor Hunt, founded in 2008, is focused on helping genealogy and family history researchers of all skill levels to achieve their goals, by providing links to free online genealogy collections, and search tips and techniques, largely via easy-to-understand Quick Reference Guides.
One incorrect census age can send your family history searching in the wrong decade. Census records are among the most valuable resources available to genealogists. They provide names, relationships, occupations, birthplaces, and estimated ages that help reconstruct an ancestor’s life. But census ages are estimates—not guarantees. Many researchers unknowingly treat a census age as an […]
Found an ancestor listed as an inmate of an asylum? Don’t assume that means the person had a mental illness. Historically, “asylum” described many kinds of institutions offering shelter, care, or protection—and discovering what kind of asylum it was can completely change the story. The Myth An asylum was a mental hospital, so a person […]
Are you doing North Dakota genealogy research and looking for Free Online North Dakota Genealogy Records? Click on a link for your desired category’s free collection links: NewspapersYearbooksBirthsMarriagesDeathsBMD RecordsAlumni RecordsCemetery RecordsChurch RecordsCoroner RecordsCriminal RecordsDigital ArchivesDirectoriesDivorce RecordsImmigration RecordsInstitutional RecordsMilitary RecordsMortuary RecordsNaturalizationsObituariesPhotosProbate and WillsSchool RecordsTax RecordsVoter Records Good Luck and Happy Hunting! Want All of the North […]
That long, confusing property description in an old deed may look like something to skip—but buried inside it can be the names of neighbors, relatives, previous owners, and landmarks that connect your ancestor to an entire community. Land records are among genealogy’s richest resources, but researchers often concentrate on the obvious information: Who bought the […]
GenealogyBank, a subscription newspaper site, has announced its updates for last month. There are 17 New Titles and 12 Titles that have had issues added in the previous month. From GenealogyBank: Here are some of the details about our most recent U.S. newspaper additions: To see our newspaper archives’ entire title list of more than […]
That little newspaper item saying your ancestor was “visiting relatives” may be much more than social news. The names and places mentioned in travel and visiting notices can reveal married daughters, siblings, cousins, former hometowns, migration connections, and relatives you didn’t know existed. Old newspapers were filled with ordinary comings and goings. “Mrs. Johnson is […]
The Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection regularly adds or updates newspaper titles to the collection. Last month, 15 titles were added or updated (Information provided by Veridian Software, which powers the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection website). Here is the list of titles: To access the site, go to Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection
Veridian Software has many clients with collections of digitized newspapers that can be searched for free. Over 250 million pages currently. They power the newspaper collections of California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. And country-wide collections, such as Estonia, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, and Switzerland. Veridian is the name of […]
Found your ancestor described as an “inmate” in a census or other historical record? Don’t immediately start looking for the crime. Historically, an inmate could simply be someone residing in an institution—and that institution might have been an almshouse, hospital, orphanage, asylum, soldiers’ home, or other facility rather than a prison. The Myth If a […]