Nov 2018
Family Secrets, Privacy, and Responsibility
For the July–September 2018 issue of NGS Magazine (volume 44, number 3), editor Deb Cyprych shaped an issue focused mainly on discovering family secrets and how to conduct research to find out more. Six of the magazine’s articles discuss Civil War desertion and courts-martial, divorces, the mentally ill, prostitutes, Civil War pension scams, and the 1880 […]
Oct 2018
How to Start Writing: the Overall Plan
What to do? What to do? Last month I wrote about the importance of writing for genealogists and family historians, particularly the importance of starting now rather than at some unspecified point in the future. I also wrote about some steps we can take to overcome whatever reasons we’ve given ourselves for postponing. In the […]
Oct 2018
Using Associates and Timelines to Prove Identity
When records in several places reveal persons of the same name, how can one determine whether those records were created by one individual or several?[1] It’s one of the most common problems we face as genealogists. The solution is generally found not by a single, magical record, but by thoughtful, methodical research and analysis. In […]
Sep 2018
When to Start Writing
Quick reminder: you are going to die. I forget that fact myself sometimes, thinking I have all the time in the world to do what I want to do. But I don’t. That bleak reminder has a follow-up truth for every genealogist: if we don’t record our work in some presentable format that can be […]
Sep 2018
Often Overlooked Resources: Marks and Brands
Though I was born in Georgia and raised throughout the southeast United States, I’ve lived in New York City since 1989. So I think I qualify as a bona fide city dweller at this point, thoroughly urban if only marginally urbane. My ancestors, on the other hand, are a different matter. With rare exceptions, they […]
Jul 2018
Your Ancestors’ Unmarried, Childless Siblings Could Be the Key
I was slow to learn. When I began genealogy, I was focused exclusively on my direct ancestors. Why would I care about anyone else? Why would anyone? After a while, and begrudgingly, I conceded that researching my ancestors’ siblings and their spouses could occasionally be helpful. Very big of me, frankly, because venturing back into […]
Jul 2018
The Bible Issue
In 2002, interim NGSQ editor Jane Fletcher Fiske designed the December issue to be a stand-alone publication centered around “that large body of records loosely gathered within the term ‘Family Bible,’ although some are found in account books, almanacs, and other places. All of these records share one characteristic—each was generated within a family about itself, […]
Jun 2018
Surname Shapes and Sounds: Circumnavigating Spelling Variations, Mistranscriptions, and Clerical Errors in Electronic Indexes
Most researchers are at least somewhat accustomed to thinking about surname spelling variations when conducting record searches. Thankfully, many search engine results automatically include some of the more basic spelling variations for us. Augustus and Mary Ann (Michell) Chevalier were French immigrants who arrived in New York City about 1822. Surprisingly, only about a third […]
Jun 2018
Business Records
In the March issue of NGS Monthly, “Occupations” reviewed some resources from NGSQ and the NGS Family History Conference for exploring how best to use your ancestors’ occupations as a research tool. In a posted comment on that article, member Sue Kratsch referred me to her NGSQ article from 2015: “James Wesley Mooney of Will County, Illinois: […]
Apr 2018
Genealogy: What Matters to You?
The New York Times recently published an opinion piece by author John Sedgwick with a title that refers to an old, familiar conflict: “The Historians Versus the Genealogists.”[1] Sedgwick begins by describing how historians typically view genealogists. At a time when history has been so widely and blissfully ignored, and not just by our president, […]