As I was chasing down a few leads on a user-submitted brick wall ancestor yesterday, I ran across an interesting marriage notice from the New York Times. Published 19 October 1938 under the title "Evelyn N. Purcell Married to Jurist," the marriage notice reads, in part:

"Miss Evelyn Norma Purcell of this city, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Marcus Purcell, was married yesterday morning to Judge Samuel Jordan Graham of Washington, D.C., onetime Assistant Attorney General of the United States, in the chapel of S. Bartholomew's Church... . Mrs. Graham is a member of an English family of long residence near Belfast, Ireland. Her father, who was a well-known member of the Dublin bar, died some years ago in California. The bride's two brothers, Major William Purcell and Lieutenant Edward Purcell of the British Army, were killed in the Battle of the Somme during the World War..."

Some parts of this marriage announcement are true. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Marcus Purcell and they were both deceased. That part about the brothers, though... Read more...

A Tale of Three Brothers - AKA Don't Always Believe What You Read in the Newspaper originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at 14:09:45.

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Ancestry.com launched a new collection today of more than 1,700 recorded oral histories from immigrants who arrived in the United States through Ellis Island. To celebrate the new addition, Ancestry.com is making its entire U.S. Immigration Collection free through Labor Day.

The Ellis Island Oral Histories were captured by the National Park Service starting in the 1970s and are full of first-hand accounts recalling the lives these immigrants left behind, their often trying journey to America, and their reason for leaving their homeland. The original recordings are housed at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum - this is the first time they are available online.

One thing I find interesting is just how many of these interviews were conducted with individuals who were just children when they came to America - many as young as age 3. I wonder how many of the memories are really their own, and how many come from family stories they grew up with over the dinner table. I'm sure a lot of the information in these first-hand accounts is second-hand that way, but the interviews are still wonderful to have. If you can't find an ancestor of your own in the database, try searching for individuals who came over from the same country or town, or someone who was about the same age, or may have had the same type of experience (such as a WWII war bride).

Even better, if you're not an Ancestry.com subscriber, these Ellis Island oral history recordings, along with passenger lists, naturalization records and the rest of the Ancestry.com U.S. Immigration Collection, can be accessed for free online from now through Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 6, 2010.

Ellis Island Oral Histories Online originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 at 14:48:04.

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As genealogists we begin our research with what we know and work backwards. That, and the fact that privacy is not as much of an issue, make death records one of the best places to begin an online search for information. Whether it's a death certificate, obituary notice, or tombstone photo, death records offer a decent chance for locating  information about our ancestor and/or the people he associated with. To get you started, here are 10 Places to Start Your Search for Online Death Records - some of them free, and some pay-per-view or subscription.

I often get asked "Why should I look for a death record? I already know when my ancestor died."  There are so many other things you can learn from death records beyond the date of death. Names are a big one - the name of the spouse, parents, informant (often a family member, such as a child or son/daughter-in-law), undertaker, doctor, etc. These are all new people we can research in our quest for information. There's also the occupation, and the place of burial which can lead to new avenues of research as well.

Do you have death information for all of the individuals in your family tree? Especially the more recent generations? We often first locate information about an ancestor in a census, or similar record, and then excitedly start working backward from there to the previous generation. Just don't so excited that you forget to research his entire life - from birth to death.

Begin with Death Records originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Friday, August 27th, 2010 at 07:26:23.

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Family Tree Magazine announced new Family Tree University Independent Study Courses at the FGS Conference this week. Available for download or on CD, you'll have unlimited access to the lessons and exercises and can work completely at your own pace. Courses cover a variety of topics, from Find Your German Roots with Jim Beidler to Land Records 101 with Diana Crisman Smith. They are even offering a 20% discount at the moment - enter offer code SFT120 when you purchase before August 31, 2010.

New Family Tree University Independent Study Courses originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Saturday, August 21st, 2010 at 13:57:15.

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At the FGS Conference in Knoxville, TN, this week, FamilySearch announced the addition of over 200 million new searchable historic records online representing 18 countries. If you visit FamilySearch Record Search (they will soon be available under "Historical Records" on the new FamilySearch Beta site as well), you'll find 53 new or updated collections from the United States, and over 100 million new records from Europe, Scandinavia, and Mexico. The United States collections include the 1910 U.S. Census, as well as birth, marriage, and death records from a number of states (including 10 million new records for New Jersey and Michigan respectively, 4 million from Tennessee, 41 million from Massachusetts, and more from other states). For Canada, there are new vital records (including some death certificates) for New Brunswick and Newfoundland. Not all of these new records are indexed yet, so in some cases expect to have to browse the images to find what you need.

There are also more than 100 million collective genealogy records (primarily vital records) from Read more...

200 Million New Genealogy Records on FamilySearch originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Friday, August 20th, 2010 at 11:30:16.

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Genealogists with roots in the New England states are familiar with the great online databases, library and journal of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. As the nation's largest genealogical society (more than 26,000 members), they are now expanding their scope and have launched a new Web site at AmericanAncestors.org.

Here's the press release from D. Brenton Simons, President and CEO of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS): Read more...

NEHGS Debuts New Site, AmericanAncestors.org originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Thursday, August 19th, 2010 at 11:06:14.

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I'm writing this from a conference room in Knoxville, Tennessee, where I'm thrilled to be attending the Association of Professional Genealogists Professional Management Conference as well as the Federation of Genealogical Societies national conference. Both are part of my goal/focus to continue my genealogical education this year. In addition I'm reading more scholarly genealogical journals, and was also honored to attend Elizabeth Shown Mill's outstanding Advanced Methodology class at the Institute for Genealogical and Historical Research this past June.

Given finances, three busy children, time off of work and my husband's busy work schedule as well, I know it is not always easy to attend conferences, workshops, institutes and the like. But I listened this year to the wisdom of certified genealogist Elissa Scalise Powell who has the same challenges and has said many times on various genealogical mailing lists that making the commitment, no matter how much juggling is required, is always worth it. and boy, is she right!

Many options for professional development exist in addition to national conferences. A number of onsite and online offerings exist for genealogy classes and certificate programs. A genealogical society near you likely has an upcoming regional or local conference, workshop or seminar. Even if you can't make the conferences, you can often purchase taped recordings of the lectures. Most professional genealogists regularly read peer-reviewed research and case studies in scholarly genealogical journals, such as NGSQ, TAG, NEHGR, etc. Similar journals exist in countries around the world. If you're interested in pursuing a career in genealogy, then a free mentored study group called ProGen may be the answer for you. Networking with other genealogists through mailing lists, Facebook, Twitter and Second Life offer additional opportunities for professional growth.

No matter your financial and time constraints, I challenge you to make a commitment to your continued genealogy education. You won't be sorry!

Continuing Genealogy Education originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 at 09:52:55.

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A brand new genealogy conference is in the works, announced today by FamilySearch. The first annual RootsTech Conference, hosted by FamilySearch and sponsored by several leading genealogical organizations, will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, February 10-12, 2011. The goal is to bring technologists and genealogists together to help deepen understanding of current technologies and foster innovation in applying technology to genealogy.
 
"When the users and creators of technology come together, innovation occurs," said Jay Verkler, president and CEO of FamilySearch. "The RootsTech Conference will accelerate that innovation through panels, discussion groups, and interactive demonstrations."
 
Josh Taylor, Director of Education and Programs for the New England Historic Genealogical Society, says the time is right for such a conference.  
 
"The collection of technologies present at the last National Genealogical Society Conference in Salt Lake City was so impressive that we see a need and opportunity for a strong annual technology genealogy conference to pursue solutions for the unique challenges facing genealogists," Taylor said.
 
Genealogists who attend the RootsTech Conference will be able to experience "technology prototype demonstrations, interactive workshops, and opportunities to test innovative new product and service concepts," according to the press release from FamilySearch. The conference also offers the opportunity for technology providers to demonstrate product concepts face-to-face to genealogists in order to better create products that meet their needs. Topics covered may include anything from search techniques, to smartphone apps, to social networking -- anything which covers an area where technology can be applied to facilitate and enhance genealogical research.
 
The RootsTech 2011 conference will be hosted by FamilySearch and sponsored by Ancestry.com, New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), Brigham Young University, and other leaders in the genealogy community. You can learn more on the new RootsTech Conference Web site. Lecture proposals are now being accepted.

A New Genealogy & Technology Conference originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Friday, August 13th, 2010 at 18:12:21.

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How often have you run into a brick wall in your family history research? Silly question, I bet. Which brings me to one of my absolutely favorite uses for online genealogy - the backdoor approach. Cluster genealogy on steroids is the way I like to think of it, although many of you probably use this backdoor technique on a regular basis. Basically, you utilize the power of searchable online databases to investigate all possible family connections for your ancestor, including relatives that you may not already know about. The ability to search across the records of an entire state (or even country) at once, plus search on fields such as occupation or parents' names not present in a traditional index, offers unique research options that just aren't practical in the world of genealogy archives, libraries and microfilm. Read more...

Backdoor Genealogy originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 at 11:02:20.

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One of my favorite female ancestors, Henrietta Meares, left little behind to mark her time on this earth. She was the second of three wives of Mack Crisp in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, but only for a short time. Henrietta died of typhoid fever at the tender age of 24, along with a new infant child, only a few short years after her marriage. She left behind two children, born before vital records were enacted in North Carolina, along with several step-children from Mack's previous marriage. She wasn't really married long enough to end up mentioned in land and court records. Her tombstone only reads "Henrietta, wife of M. M. Crisp."

Despite few records, Henrietta was easy to identify as a second wife. I was lucky in that regard. I had her first name (although not her maiden name) from my great grandmother (her daughter). She married in 1897 and the county has a record of that marriage. She died in 1901 so she appears with her husband, daughter, and step-children in the 1900 U.S. federal census. She is buried in the Crisp family cemetery among other Crisp family members, although her husband is buried elsewhere - and her tombstone gives her dates of birth and death.

Whenever you uncover a wife's name in your research, it is prudent to question whether she was the only wife - not all are as easy to identify and document as Henrietta. The wife that you have discovered may or may not be the mother of any or all of your ancestor's children. This is especially true in the time before census records listed family members by name, or identified family relationships.

Census records, especially, are full of clues to a potential second (or third) marriage: Read more...

The Second (or Third or...) Wife originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 at 06:23:11.

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