Who owned the cemetery plot where your ancestor was buried? The answer might reveal a family connection you never knew existed. Cemetery plot ownership records document the purchase, ownership, and sometimes the transfer of burial rights. They may identify the original purchaser, other individuals authorized to use the plot, and family members involved in later […]
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.
Ancestry.com continues to add or update its record collections at a fast pace for us to search. For the period of October 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!
FamilySearch continues to add or update its record collections at a fast pace for us to search. For the period of October 1-31, 2026, the added/updated collections are: For a complete list of all added/updated collections, go to https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list I hope that some of these are what you have been waiting for! Good Luck and […]
What happens when an ancestor’s death wasn’t officially recorded until years after it occurred? Not every death was registered promptly. Some were recorded months, years, or even decades later, often because an official death record was needed for legal or administrative purposes. These delayed registrations can be particularly valuable to genealogists because they may contain […]
A death certificate records the end of a life. But it can also reveal clues about the life that came before it. Beyond the date and place of death, a death certificate may identify an ancestor’s parents, birthplace, spouse, occupation, residence, and burial location. But there’s a catch: Not everything on a death certificate is […]
Before governments routinely recorded deaths, churches were often keeping track of who died in their communities. A church death register might reveal an ancestor’s death date, burial location, age, family relationships, or religious affiliation. Some even contain details about the circumstances of death. These records can be especially valuable when civil death certificates don’t exist, […]
Not every marriage that ended was dissolved through divorce. Some were annulled—and the records explaining why may reveal surprising family history. Marriage Annulment Records may contain information about previous marriages, ages, parental consent, family relationships, residences, and circumstances that called a marriage’s validity into question. Some proceedings include sworn testimony, birth records, earlier marriage documents, […]
A divorce may have ended an ancestor’s marriage, but the records documenting it can reveal an entirely new chapter of family history. Divorce and Dissolution Records may identify children, previous residences, occupations, relatives, property, and details about a marriage that never appeared in a marriage certificate. Some files contain sworn testimony, correspondence, and other documents […]
A marriage record may be written in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Turkish, or another language—and contain family information that never appeared in a civil marriage certificate. In many Muslim communities, a Nikah Record documents a marriage conducted according to Islamic traditions. Depending on the time, place, and form of the record, it may identify the bride […]
Your ancestors may have sworn they were free to marry—and left behind a document identifying their ages, residences, marital status, and sometimes family connections. A Marriage Allegation was a sworn statement used in the historical marriage licensing process, particularly in England and Wales. Although the word allegation may sound like an accusation today, these documents […]