Uncategorized Archive
31 May 2020
How to Find Passenger Lists for Databases without Images
By Aaron Goodwin On 31 May 2020 In Uncategorized
Sometimes we run into a simple problem. We find an index with data that does not link to an image that we can examine. As basic as that problem may be, surmounting it can be a significant
30 May 2020
Moving Beyond Published Abstracts
By Aaron Goodwin On 30 May 2020 In Uncategorized
For years, genealogists have depended on published abstracts of records to gather data they would otherwise have difficulty accessing. As we get greater access to digitized original records, however, the weaknesses of abstracts are becoming more apparent.
30 Apr 2020
Runaway Advertisements
By Aaron Goodwin On 30 April 2020 In Uncategorized
In colonial America’s earliest years, those with runaway slaves, indentured servants, apprentices, military deserters, escaped prisoners, husbands, wives, or children had to rely on broadsides or word of mouth to advertise a reward for their return. Unsurprisingly,
30 Apr 2020
The 1870 Federal Census’s Second Enumeration
By Aaron Goodwin On 30 April 2020 In Uncategorized
By all reports, the 1870 federal census was a mess. It was the last census for which U.S. Marshals were used as census takers. As there weren’t enough Marshals, a number of men were made Assistant Marshals
26 Mar 2020
Fee Tails and Entailment
By Aaron Goodwin On 26 March 2020 In Uncategorized
In her 1989 NGSQ article, “The Adeustone-Rogers Families of Virginia: Tracing a Colonial Lineage through Entailment and Naming Patterns,” the late Margaret Hickerson Emery provided a definition of the term that was key to solving her genealogical
26 Mar 2020
Taking Your First Steps Around the 1870 “Brick Wall” in African American Research
By Aaron Goodwin On 26 March 2020 In Uncategorized
For African Americans who were enslaved until the 13th Amendment was passed in 1865, the 1870 census was the first federal census to name them. Since the slave schedules of the 1850 and 1860 censuses only referred
29 Feb 2020
The Creation of Leap Year and Its Effects on Genealogy
By Aaron Goodwin On 29 February 2020 In Uncategorized
This Saturday is February 29th, a relatively uncommon occurrence as days go. It’s a leap day in a leap year. Unless you’re like Dinah Shore, Tony Robbins, or Ja Rule, all of whom share a birthday that
29 Feb 2020
Little-Used NGS Resources: The Book Loan Collection
By Aaron Goodwin On 29 February 2020 In Uncategorized
I don’t blame you. I really don’t. I’ve never used it myself. So who am I to point a finger? When the National Genealogical Society was founded in 1903 in Washington, DC, it established a library for
31 Jan 2020
Hearing Voices
By Aaron Goodwin On 31 January 2020 In Uncategorized
Former NGS board member B. Darrell Jackson had an unusual request for his birthday. He asked his three adult children to read one of the six books he has written on their family history and write about
31 Jan 2020
Three Updates at the National Archives
By Aaron Goodwin On 31 January 2020 In Uncategorized
Record Group Explorer The National Archives houses billions of pages of records, a volume so significant that researchers can easily be overwhelmed. A new tool released by the Archives makes it easier to browse those records by