Innehållsförteckning för May/June 2023 från Family Tree

As I’m writing this, the NCAA college basketball tournaments are underway. Schools of all different sizes compete in high-stakes, single-elimination games that are as heart-breaking as they are entertaining. Being a college basketball fan is great because, although there are nuances to each team’s playing style, the rules are consistent. No matter which teams are playing or where the game is held, the fundamentals are the same. Family history is not that way. All genealogists operate using the same basic principles: Start with the most-recent generation and move backward in time, look for original records, and so on. But just about everything else in research is specific to the time and place your ancestors lived. Records differ between places and time periods not just in format and language, but also…

Family history book publisher Genealogical Publishing Company launched a new subscription program <www.genealogical.com/subscriptions> that gives customers access to a large library of nearly 800 ebooks. The subscription includes classic titles such as The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy by Val D. Greenwood and Professional Genealogy by Elizabeth Shown Mills. You can search eligible titles by clicking the eBooks tab from the home page. A one-year subscription costs $135; six- and three-month options are also available.…

I decided to write a history about my grandfather, who immigrated to the United States from Lemnos, Greece. As I outlined his life story, a central theme emerged: how his life was akin to Greek mythology. That helped me decide how I wanted to structure the work: as a collection of short stories related to a topic, not one single, comprehensive narrative. Here are three different formats my outline took. ALPHANUMERIC OUTLINE SENTENCE OUTLINE MIND MAP…

Millions of people in the United States have French Canadian ancestry. French settlements stretched down what is today the United States in the 17th and 18th centuries, and a century-long diaspora of Québécois further spread French-speaking culture throughout the continent. My grandparents were part of that diaspora, as either immigrants themselves or the children of immigrants. I and other researchers have to learn about the history of Canada, contemporary record systems, and an often-unfamiliar language. But with time and practice, you can discover the rich history of your French Canadian ancestry. Here are some of the most-important records for finding French Canadian ancestors, and how you can use them. Note: This article covers the history and records of ethnically French settlers who lived in what became the British colony of…

Not all libraries require payment for their lookup services. If they don’t, a monetary donation to the library can help you compensate them for their time and resources. Some libraries also accept other kinds of donations: your own family history items. This can be a great option if you’re looking to downsize or estate-plan, ensuring your research is preserved for future generations. Take stock of what’s in your collection, and what library(ies) might be interested in having it. Note that materials should be of historical significance and relevant to a wider area, perhaps records of a family with a long-rooted history in the town. Carefully read any donation guidelines that a library might have. The Sarasota County Public Libraries in Florida <www.scgov.net/government/departments/libraries>, for example, specify that an archive might be…

Every year in courts across the United States, immigrants promise to renounce foreign allegiances and support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States. The oath of allegiance is the culmination of a path that begins years earlier—applicants must meet certain residency requirements, demonstrate they can read and write English, complete an interview, pass a civics test and file a series of forms with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services <www.uscis.gov>. Our ancestors, while perhaps not having to supply quite as much documentation, also had to meet a set of requirements in order to become citizens. The naturalization documents filed in various courts throughout the process can help you track down family history clues. In this guide, we’ll cover the historical citizenship process and how to find naturalization records.…

Q What is the best DNA test for Native American heritage? A To determine which is the best DNA test for any particular heritage, you’ll need to ask yourself two basic questions: What do I have to offer, and what does the testing company have to offer? The first question considers how far back in time you’re researching. Due to the random nature of DNA inheritance, you receive pretty weak genetic signals from distant ancestors. You receive about 50% of your DNA from each parent, but that number drops by half every generation: You receive only about 6% of your DNA from each great-great-grandparent. And that 6% is about the smallest percentage that autosomal DNA can provide reliable results for. To put it another way: An autosomal DNA test can’t…

Start basic, with a broad search for a relative’s name: Robert Ward You’ll discover this is a common name, and ward has other uses (such as a voting ward). Use quotation marks to limit results to pages where the words appear side by side: “robert ward”. Hits might include others of that name, such as Sen. Robert Ward Johnson and the author Robert Ward. Exclude those words from your search: “robert ward” -writer -johnson. Bring family history-related results to the top by adding the keyword genealogy: “robert ward” genealogy -writer -johnson. Places an ancestor lived can help narrow results. Insert Robert Ward’s state, county and/or city: “robert ward” genealogy -writer -johnson Louisville, Kentucky. Narrow the results further by putting the city and state in quotation marks: “robert ward” genealogy -writer…

“A DREAM DELIVERED: The Lost Letters of Hawkins Wilson” was nominated for a 2022 Silicon Slopes Hall of Fame award in the Media & Entertainment category. The short film released by genealogy giant Ancestry <www.ancestry.com> follows the quest of Kelley Dixon-Tealer and her mother, Alva Marie Jenkins, as they try to find and connect with other descendants of siblings separated by slavery over 150 years ago. An historical letter at the center of Kelley and Alva’s journey was among the digitized Freedmen’s Bureau records added to Ancestry.com last year. The inspiring story captures both the difficulties and rewards of tracing African American family history. Film credits include Rashidi Harper (director), actor Anthony Anderson (host), Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (historical commentator), and Nicka Sewell-Smith (genealogist). Watch it at <www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg99_BdeSYw>.…

It’s easy to forget that the United States’ Colonial history spans almost 170 years before the Revolutionary War. In fact, the years of post-Colonial US history didn’t surpass those of the Colonial era until the Truman administration (1945–1953). If you have deep roots in the United States, you likely have ancestors who lived in the often-overlooked time period between the founding of Jamestown (1607) and the Battles of Lexington and Concord (1775). Fortunately, researching their lives in Colonial America has never been easier. Whether they were among the earliest colonists—at Jamestown or Plymouth—or came later to less-storied destinations, your pre-Revolution ancestors live on in a boatload of online resources. Many records once accessible only on microfilm or dusty library shelves have been digitized. And you can still access records that…

Like other genealogists, I couldn’t wait to see what ancestors I could find in the 1950 US census when it came online in April 2022. I eventually received a “hint” from that collection on a major record website, an image of a possible match for my maternal grandmother. But when I clicked to review the details, something else caught my eye: the right side of the page, where a dozen “suggested records” waited for me. Among the snippets were census entries from 1930 and 1940, marriage records, and an extract from a collection of Slovakian church books. All piqued my interest, so I started clicking links. Two hours later, I was so far down a research rabbit hole that I’d forgotten all about the 1950 census. Does this sound familiar?…

What is now Canada was first colonized by France. “New France” (in French, Nouvelle France) was the collective term for the French colonies in North America, which comprised five principal areas by the early 18th century: • Acadia: Modern New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island• Canada: Modern Quebec and Ontario• Hudson Bay• Louisiana: Vast territory from the Great Lakes to New Orleans• Newfoundland Canada the colony had the largest population in New France, with numerous settlements all along the St. Lawrence River Valley. In 1763, as a result of the French and Indian War, France surrendered Canada to Great Britain, which administered it as the “Province of Quebec.” (France ceded its claims to its other colonies north of the Great Lakes—Acadia, Newfoundland and territory around Hudson Bay—to Great…

DETERMINE AN ANCESTOR’S HOMETOWN OF ORIGIN, and be as specific as you can. Precision will help you research your ancestors in the old country, and give you a better idea of what their lives were like there. Rich Venezia shared 16 records for finding hometown information in the September/October 2022 issue of Family Tree Magazine <www.familytreemagazine.com/records/immigration/records-identifying-immigrant-ancestor-hometown>. This issue covers two of them: naturalization records (page 60) and passenger lists (Ellis Island website tutorial, page 64). Once you’ve found your ancestral hometown, you can use the worksheet on page 72 to study and track its history.…

GOOGLE SEARCH TIPS 1 Save time. Type search terms into your web browser’s URL field, instead of going to Google’s home page. Most major browsers use Google by default, and will treat any text that isn’t a URL as a search term. 2 Disregard punctuation. Google ignores symbols that aren’t part of search operators, such as ?, !, ., %, ^, *, ( ), [], \ when searching, so feel free to leave them off. 3 Disregard capitalization. No need to capitalize names of people and places. Except for the OR search operator, capitalization doesn’t matter when searching. 4 Don’t stress spelling. Google automatically uses the most-common spelling of a word, even if you spell it incorrectly. If you do want to search on a misspelling, add quotation marks around…

BOOKS <books.google.com> Google Books lets you search 40 billion books and journals published around the world. If a book’s copyright has expired or the publisher allows it, you can view and save the entire book to your computer. Otherwise, you can read only a snippet (or nothing at all). Search Tips 1 Start with the Advanced Book Search (shown at right) <books.google.com/advanced_book_search>. Type a person’s name or last name in the Exact Phrase box, and type genealogy OR family OR history in the Title box. 2 Try running three separate searches with the name in the Exact Phrase box, plus genealogy or family or history in the Subject box (you can’t use OR in the Subject box). 3 Add a year range to the “all of the words” box to…

4 Google Tools for Organizing Research Let these Google tools serve as your virtual administrative assistants. You’ll need a free Google account to use them. 1 Bookmarks: When you’re using Chrome and logged in to your Google account, bookmark a genealogy website you want to revisit. You’ll be able to access it from Chrome on other devices. 2 Calendar: Keep your personal datebook or go a step further by creating community calendars for your family, genealogical society, or reunion committee. 3 Gmail: An email address that never changes is useful for family history correspondence. Gmail is often praised for its sorting and searching features, and its spam filter. 4 Play Store: Research on the go using your Android-based smartphone or tablet. The Google Play Store offers scores of apps that…

Genealogy is a bit like real estate: Your mantra should be “Location, location, location.” Local historical events, laws and socioeconomic forces all shaped your ancestors’ lives and the records they left behind. Knowing those factors—from border changes to wars to major record-loss events—is key to success. At RootsTech 2023, Contributing Editor Sunny Jane Morton presented a lecture called “Help! There’s No Class on Researching My Ancestral Homeland.” In it, she outlined resources you can use to research even often-overlooked places. We asked her a few questions about the subject: 1 What specific details about a place or time period are useful to know before you start research? Learn how the region or locale was governed, and whether any government jurisdiction kept records about everyday people. Were there newspapers? Did religious…

You might approach writing with a mixture of caution, excitement and dread. On one hand, you look forward to sharing sweeping tales about your ancestors, the journeys they’ve taken, and the triumphs and trials they’ve faced. On the other hand, though, writing can be downright hard. The pen (or, in our digital world, the laptop or other electronic device) may be mightier than the sword. But when you struggle to find the right words to describe a person who means a great deal to you, the pen might feel like little more than a blunt stick. In fact, because family stories are so personal, writing about them can be harder than writing about something more scientific or technical. You may know more about Grandma Ethel and her childhood than anyone…

Each state-by-state guide includes: • How-to tutorials for finding records Notes on how and when key documents were kept in the state, including vital records, state censuses and land records • Historical summaries and timelines Narrative history with special emphasis on events that affected your ancestors, including year of statehood, large migrations, and major border changes • Links to key resources Websites, books, and archives and organizations for further research 1 VIEW ONLINE FOR FREE <www.familytreemagazine.com/explore-by-state> New states added each month. 2 PURCHASE & DOWNLOAD PDFS <store.familytreemagazine.com/genealogy-research-state-guides> Purchase ($9.99 per guide; $49.95 for full collection) includes access to the most recent guides as they’re updated. 3 READ AS PART OF FAMILY TREE MAGAZINE Each issue contains two newly updated guides on a rolling basis. Subscribers collect all 52 guides. RESEARCH GUIDE…

As a family history enthusiast, you’re probably familiar with powerhouse genealogy-focused libraries. Perhaps you’ve visited the FamilySearch Library (formerly the Family History Library) in Salt Lake City <www.familysearch.org/en/library/visit>. Or maybe you’ve found valuable information at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne <www.acpl.lib.in.us>, which has an incredible genealogy center with global records, or the Library of Congress in Washington, DC <www.loc.gov>, with its US-focused archives. But large repositories don’t always have the specific records you need, especially if your family hails from a small town. Fortunately, that’s where local libraries come in. Focusing on localized resources—those elusive puzzle pieces specific to your ancestor’s hometown—can be the answer to your most pressing genealogy questions. You might be surprised by what you find in local libraries: historical information, vintage photographs, and…

1 This group portrait depicts the descendants of Atilano Hernandez Llerena and Agustina Sanchez Batista (born possibly in the 1860s), including at least some of their 11 children. Comparing the subjects to those in other photos and lining up birthdates can help identify who’s who. A later picture of Agustina suggests she’s the one standing here in the back, center. Another image of her daughter Matilde (born 1901) suggests Matilde is standing in the back row, left of the man in the hat. 2 Stamped faintly into the lower right-hand corner is the photographer’s name and location: Jimenez, Guines Habana (Havana). (It’s difficult to learn more about the photographer, given that common surname.) The Cuban Heritage Collection at the University of Miami <digitalcollections.library.miami.edu/digital/custom/cuban-photographs-guide> reports that all types of image formats…

The Ellis Island Passenger Search database <www.statueofliberty.org/discover/passenger-ship-search> is a free resource for finding about 65 million immigrants and other passengers who arrived in the port of New York between 1820 and 1957 (including Castle Garden, Ellis Island, and even airborne arrivals). Records include passenger manifests, customs lists, and even detention records. Were your ancestors among them? Sign up for a free account and start exploring. 1 Under the Discover tab, click Genealogy Tips page to learn how to interpret these records. You can download a “Tips and Tricks” guide that’s really excellent. 2 Click Start Your Search to begin a passenger search <heritage.statueofliberty.org/passenger>. I’m looking for Sara Santos, so I’ll enter her name in the appropriate fields. Remember that your ancestor’s name may be spelled in different ways: Spelling wasn’t…

1 Cyndi’s List: Ships and Passengers Lists <www.cyndislist.com/ships> This free portal to records and resources will help you research passengers, crew, ships and shipwrecks, repositories and topics related to ancestral migration and travel. 2 Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild <www.immigrantships.net> Volunteers at this website transcribe ship passenger lists to make them searchable for free. Find additional resources for researching global migration, naturalization, ethnic research, ships and more. 3 German Roots: German Genealogy <www.germanroots.com> Under “Emigration and Immigration Records,” find resources for the United States, European ports, Canada and elsewhere. Most records apply to all nationalities: Use the “Germans to America” resources to explore German arrivals (1840s–1897). 4 One-Step Webpages by Stephen P. Morse <www.stevemorse.org> Popular search tools developed by Steve Morse help you perform “one-step” deep dives into immigration records (and…

Search operators are words or symbols you can include with a Google search to help narrow your results. If you don’t want to worry about search operators, use Google’s Advanced Search <www.google.com/advanced_search>, which offers a search form that offers “exact word or phrase,” “none of these words” and other fields that function like search operators. Google Quick Links • Account Settings <myaccount.google.com> • Advanced Search <www.google.com/advanced_search> • Alerts <www.google.com/alerts> • Book Search <books.google.com> • Calendar <www.google.com/calendar> • Chat (formerly Hangouts) <mail.google.com/chat> • Chrome <www.google.com/chrome> • Drive <drive.google.com> • Earth <earth.google.com/web> • Gmail <mail.google.com> • Help <support.google.com> • Image Search <images.google.com> • Maps <www.google.com/maps> • News Archive Search <news.google.com/newspapers> • Patent Search <patents.google.com> • Photos <photos.google.com> • Play Store <play.google.com> • Products <about.google/products> • Translate <translate.google.com> • Voice <google.com/voice>…

Google Translate <translate.google.com> helps you research the records of your ancestral homeland by translating text in 130 languages from records, books, websites, and even entire documents. You also can use it to translate research requests that you’re writing to overseas archives. Keep in mind that the translation you get may be somewhat rough. TRANSLATE A PHRASE OR PASSAGE Type or paste text to be translated in the left (input) box. Google will auto-detect the language, or you can specify it. The text will be translated in the right (output) box. QUICKLY TRANSLATE WEB PAGES Copy a URL into Google Translate, and the tool will generate a new version of that page in your desired language. If you’re using Google Chrome, you can ask the browser to automatically translate web pages…