BillionGraves is one of the only cemetery databases that captures GPS coordinates for every headstone image, creating precise spatial data not available in most genealogy sources. Beyond simple grave lookups, the GPS features allow genealogists to identify family clusters, reconstruct burial patterns, distinguish same-name individuals, and map migration or community ties within a cemetery. This […]
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.
The Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection regularly adds or updates newspaper titles to the collection. Last month, 19 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
Have you ever been deep into old court records, probate files, land documents, or early newspaper notices and wondered, “What on earth does this legal term mean?” Many expressions that were once common in legal proceedings have disappeared from modern usage, leaving genealogists puzzled when they encounter them. This list provides clear, concise definitions of […]
Jury lists—whether for petit (trial) juries, grand juries, or venire panels—capture everyday citizens drawn for civic duty. While they rarely appear in typical genealogy searches, these lists reveal residence, occupation, property ownership, race, social standing, and FAN-club networks. Because jury pools were drawn from eligible citizens in a specific time and place, they provide strong […]
Online Newspaper Database Updates for November/December Over 1,000 New titles were added by various Free and Subscription databases in the last month. Here are links to all the updates: Chronicling America – https://theancestorhunt.com/blog/chronicling-america-updates-november-2025/ Advantage Archives – Not Yet Published Veridian – https://theancestorhunt.com/blog/veridian-adds-updates-395-titles-december-2025/ Newspapers dot com – Not Yet Published GenealogyBank – https://theancestorhunt.com/blog/genealogybank-adds-updates-18-titles-december-2025/ NewspaperARCHIVE – https://theancestorhunt.com/blog/newspaperarchive-update-november-2025/ […]
GenealogyBank, a subscription newspaper site, has announced its updates for December 2025. There are 10 New Titles and 8 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 […]
Veridian Software has many clients with collections of digitized newspapers that can be searched for free. Over 200 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 […]
Introduction: Ever wondered where your ancestors’ financial ups and downs were recorded? When property changed hands—whether through foreclosure, debt, estate settlement, tax delinquency, or court-ordered seizure—local newspapers documented the process in remarkable detail. Auction and Sheriff’s Sale notices weren’t just legal advertisements; they were public announcements describing land, belongings, economic hardship, and community change. These […]
County plat maps and landowner atlases provide a snapshot of who owned or occupied land at a specific moment in time. Published by county surveyors, mapmakers, and commercial atlas companies—especially during the mid-1800s to early 1900s—these maps show property lines, landowners’ names, acreage, transportation routes, churches, schools, cemeteries, mills, and neighboring families. For genealogists, these […]
In addition to the familiar federal population schedules, many communities, states, and federal agencies created local and special censuses that captured details not found in regular decennial counts. These include school censuses, veterans schedules, agricultural and industrial schedules, and other specialized enumerations designed for taxation, education, military pensions, economic surveys, or local administrative needs. Because […]