Essentially, there are two methods to search Chronicling America for historical newspapers. Basic Search, available from the Home Page as well as the “Search Pages” tab, allows you to enter your search criteria, and restrict results to a single state and to a range of years. The Advanced Search, which I highly recommend that you […]
Category: QuickSheets
Are you trying to find Obituaries for a relative, friend, or ancestor? People will tell you that it is easy – just look in old newspapers, or if it is a recent death, just Google the person’s name to see if there is an online obituary, tribute, or memorial. Here are several questions that you […]
Non-population schedules were census schedules that were created as an adjunct to the “normal census” that was gathered every ten years and still is. Essentially they were gathered to obtain information on special subsets of the population in order for the government to determine what resources needed to be applied to these special subsets and […]
Finding information and articles in newspapers about your ancestors is incredibly rewarding. And the amount of information about your ancestors in old newspapers is likely more than we can find. But if you are not careful you can make assumptions about what is in the ink on the newsprint and foul up your research because […]
The 1890 United States Federal Census was almost completely destroyed in 1921 by fire and water damage. Only fragments remain. But there are alternative collections that will help us with finding ancestors in the 1880 to 1900 time period between federal censuses. I have put together a Quick Reference Guide that has links to alternative […]
Do you like to search for genealogy records for your ancestors for Free? Duh. I have about 60 websites that I use, some frequently, some infrequent. Some have digitized records in their collections. Some have links to collections that can be searched or browsed. Some include transcribed records. And some have useful genealogical educational information. […]
Did you know that about 20% of deaths in the United States are investigated by a Coroner or a Medical Examiner? I first got interested when I accidentally found a Coroner’s Report for my Great Aunt, who died in 1911. Her cause of death was accidental and very sad. So I began researching Coroner Reports […]
One of the first databases new family history researchers use is the Social Security Death Index (SSDI). Why? Because it is online and it is free. However, the SSDI has some distinct drawbacks because of some of its inconsistencies. This Quicksheet explains the background of the SSDI, what data is in it, the inconsistencies, and […]
One of the best documents for information about your ancestor is an Alien Registration Affidavit. It only was completed by about 500,000 people starting in November 1917. It was to identify German people in the U.S. who were not naturalized and hence may have allegiance to Germany rather than the U.S. It was required of […]
This is going to be a different kind list of items for new (and newish) genealogy researchers and family historians. I am not going to try to suggest how or what to research. There are tons of places for you to find information about researching. But hopefully, this list will help you in a different […]