As regular readers of this blog know, newspapers are a key historical resource for me, especially those from the 19th and early 20th centuries. FindMyPast is my go-to for newspapers from the British Isles and recently, the company introduced a new feature to its newspaper database: Collections. I find them a step above the saved… Continue reading Genealogy – did you know…FindMyPast’s Newspaper Clipping Collections
I’m easing back into blogging after the Christmas break with Randy’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge: 1) Ellen Thompson-Jennings posted an interesting question last week in Best Genealogy Find of 2023. 2) What was your very best genealogy finds in 2023? Elusive ancestors? Hard-to-find records? Family photographs? Family stories? Family artifacts? New cousins? Here are mine:… Continue reading Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Very Best Genealogy Finds in 2023
I am the first to admit that in terms of workflow, consistency isn’t necessarily my strength. If I look for a very specific record, in general I will follow the appropriate steps – download the image, add it to my database, and cite it accordingly. However, if I get on a roll of adding a… Continue reading Developing a new workflow…
Last week I wrote about how a new piece of evidence completely turned my theory about the parents of my 3rd great-grandmother, Elizabeth Morris, upside down. For those of you who missed it, that document was the will of David Sidney, appointing his niece, Elizabeth, wife of George Sinkins, 2 Tower Street, St Giles, as… Continue reading A second Will makes the connection…
First, an update on our kitty. She has responded well to treatment, but her long term prognosis is still unclear – we’re seeing the vet again this week to discuss options. Fortunately, my family history work provided me with a new lead that has seen me throw out yet another set of parents for my… Continue reading When new information comes to light…and changes everything…
A few months ago some of you might recall I embarked on a project to discover the parentage of my 3rd great-grandmother, Elizabeth Morris, by investigating her nephew James, who was in her household in the 1861 census. After finishing my Emma Spong rewrite, I ignored all the other bright shiny objects that had fallen… Continue reading Connecting the Morris family siblings by cross-referencing census returns and vital records
As I mentioned last week, I’m now working on updating my 2018 post about my 2nd great-aunt, Emma Spong. As it turns out, there’s more to the process than I had considered. First, I had to rewrite all the citations, as I’ve learned a lot about how to write a good and complete citation over… Continue reading The rewriting process – updating the story of Emma Spong…
First, thanks to all of you who answered my question about using pencil and paper in the course of your work – it’s good to know I’m not alone. Part of my wonders if it’s because most of us grew up writing that way – body memory, so to speak. Either way, if it works,… Continue reading Extrapolating from a collateral Part 2 …
As genealogists, we are eager to trace our direct line, moving back generation by generation, so that when we look at our pedigree chart, we see all those boxes filled out. It’s a wonderful sight. However, the collateral lines are just as important and, in many instances, can help us to fill out that pedigree… Continue reading Extrapolating from a collateral line…Part 1…
After having had a crazy week at work and a bad bout of insomnia on Thursday night, my plan for this weekend was to do a fun post, creating an Ancestor Landing page for my 3rd great-grandfather, George Mustin Sinkins. So I opened up Family Historian and navigated to his profile. After scanning it I… Continue reading Cleaning up my database…
writing my past 