Answers in Ancestry

Are you ever frustrated when searching old historical documents like newspapers or legal notices for female ancestors and all you find is Mrs. (husband's first and last name)? This can be irritating when you don't know your female ancestor's first name and/or maiden name, but at the same time, if you do an exact word search using your male ancestor's name, you may inadvertently find records for his wife that may be of interest to you. For example, in a lot of small town periodicals, they would write short little blurbs about so-and-so is visiting his/hers mother's in such-and-such city and will be there for a week or two. Oftentimes, you'll see the wives and children doing the traveling here, so it is fun to see how ancestors traveled about the region over a hundred years ago.

I haven't posted on here in awhile, but in case you haven't heard, as of about a year ago now, the 1950 US Census records are available online and should be fully indexed and searchable to general public! I've already found several ancestors, even some who are still living, in this great resource and would encourage everyone to check them out, if you're into family history.

Plus, they are free to access and search from a variety of sources! I'll paste the link to Ancestry in the first comment. It's free to search there, if you want.

I don't know about you, but I have a relatively small immediate family. Growing up, I had my grandparents, my parents, who each had two siblings, and then me and my three siblings. One of my uncles had children, two of them, so I have exactly two blood first cousins and that's it.

On top of that, my parents didn't have a whole lot of interaction with their aunts and uncles, so that means I barely knew any of my great aunts or great uncles. Our immediate family was who I knew, which was fine, but now that I'm older, I am especially interested in family history, and I have begun researching those more distant relatives, like second or third cousins or cousins who are once or twice removed from my generation.

Recently, I decided to be bold and search on Facebook for distant relations, and a few of them have even accepted my friend requests so far. I may not know them very well right now or at all, but I find that more often than not, if you take interest in knowing people in your family better, they will reciprocate. None of us is getting any younger so get out there and establish contact with family you may not even know yet or who you don't know that well. Who knows, maybe they will become a friend, in addition to being family.

For those of us who are spending a lot more time at home with family these days, it just might be a good time to start asking questions about your own family history.

Here are some questions you can ask your family members to hopefully spark some interesting conversations:

1. Where did you grow up?

2. What did you do for fun as a kid?

3. What was your first job?

4. What stories about your family were you told when you were growing up?

5. What major world events do you remember happening when you were growing up?

San Francisco, 1951-1952.

Shot on Kodachrome film.

Photo Credit: Roger F Merrill, Jr., my grandfather

Going to your local government center or county courthouse can be a useful tool if you're looking for property records of where your ancestors once lived. They may have paper copies or microfiche records in their databases, especially if your ancestors lived within the city. I was able to find property deeds for homes that my great-great grandparents owned in Minneapolis over 100 years ago!

Another helpful tool when performing family research is checking cemetery records. If you know for certain that a family member was buried in a certain cemetery, check the burial records online or onsite to see if other names were associated within the same plot. Cemeteries are often divided up into family plots so if you're looking for other possible family member matches, this is a good place start, especially if you're looking for records over 100 years old. Findagrave.com is a pretty good place to start but realize that their records are only as good and complete as their contributors.

You can become a member of Find a Grave and make photo or info requests of certain cemeteries or even offer to help other people searching for records right where you live.

Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records Find A Grave is a free resource for finding the final resting places of famous folks, friends and family members. With millions of names, it is an invaluable tool for genealogist and history buffs.

Answers in Ancestry The purpose of this page is to provide a platform for sharing stories, offering advice, and performi

Do you have a first or middle name in your family tree that has been passed down through the generations? Have you ever wondered where it came from or who the original namesake was?

My grandfather's middle name was Fowler, and when I found that out, I wondered where it came from. It seemed like an odd name for a middle name. He was also a "Jr.", so my great grandfather's middle name was also Fowler. So I checked out how he might have gotten that name.

It turns out that "Fowler" was my great-great-great grandmother's maiden name, which is where my great-great grandparents got the idea of using it as my great grandfather's middle name. He was born 3 years before my great-great-great grandmother passed away so it's possible that the name was used to honor her life.

Another popular name in my family tree is "Sherlock". I know of at least four consecutive generations where the first name Sherlock was used.

So, if you can follow all that, first off, great job!, but secondly, it's possible that if you have a unique name in your family, it's been passed down through the generations, and you should try to find out the story behind it.

For those of you with Minnesota ancestors, I highly recommend this website for birth, death, and state census records. You can search for free, and if you're local, you can go onsite to MNHS and get copies of death records/certificates for about 10 cents/page, if interested. You can also peruse their family library online or in person. I've been there a few times and their Minnesota newspaper microfiche collection is quite large and the family library has some very unique collections.

http://www.mnhs.org/research

Research Whether you're conducting research online or using the History Center's renowned Gale Family Library, these essential tools, materials and services will provide information and guidance. Records & Indexes | Research Help Records & Indexes Historical data and primary source materials.

Another great research resource tip:

Check out online or in-person your local historical societies. Many counties have their own historical societies, and again, if you know the county or general area in which your ancestors lived, there's a decent chance they will have information on them.

One thing I have realized: even though we live in a digital age and so many records are instantly at our fingertips online, so many records have not been digitized and are only available in print at a physical location.

So, if you really want to dig in, go to historical society in person, go to the history center or family history libraries. Most of these organizations are nonprofit and would be encouraged to see visitors, as well as, any potential donors. :)

One great location for me has been the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul near the Capitol. They have a family history library that has some unique items and stories, and you have the ability to do some index searches online to give you an indication if an in-person visit would be useful.

Another great resource of which I have yet to take full advantage is the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison.

So, if you have some vacation weekdays left at the end of the year, I recommend taking a trip to one of these societies or centers to really dig into the research. For me and my journey, this was the key for igniting my passion for family history research.

Helpful research tip:

If you know the county or township that a lot of your ancestors lived in for a number of years, a helpful resource may be waiting for you online with Google Books. I've done a lot of researching on there, and it would seem that just about every county in every state has a history book out there, many of which have free previews or even the whole book digitized.

Who knows, maybe your ancestor was a well-known farmer or minister in that county and there could be a paragraph or two about him or her in that book. I've found several helpful nuggets that way.

One fun benefit of studying family records is looking at old photographs of buildings or scenery and then going to those places yourself to see if they still exist today and what they look like now. Enjoy these "then and now" photos!

recently updated my ethnicity estimate! From what I have researched and have determined from my own family tree research, I believe these percentage estimates are somewhat reasonable, although the Germanic Europe percentage should likely be higher. (In fact, the details behind the Germanic Europe estimate indicate that its percentage could be as high as 68%).

If I go back four generations and classify my sixteen great-great grandparents' surnames: nine are German, five are English, one is Irish, and one is Swedish.

One of the first questions I had when I started my genealogical journey was this:

Where do I start?

Well, it started with me, obviously, and then led to my parents and grandparents. Thankfully, and by the grace of God, I grew up in a home where I knew both my parents, and they have been in my life from the beginning. Not everyone has that blessing, so for some of you, these first few steps may prove difficult. Some of you may not ever want to know where you come from, but that's your choice.

For me, growing up in a family where life seemed pretty simple and straightforward, I became guilty of taking it for granted, which, again, is a big reason why I feel so passionate about this subject today.

So, if you're looking for the place to start in your own journey, start with you, extend out to your parents, get to know them and ask questions, if they are still living, and then ask them about their parents, and see what they can tell you, if your parents' parents are still alive, then you are especially fortunate, and I would highly recommend you to reach out to them and ask them questions about their lives.

Ask questions about where they grew up, what life was like when they were young, what their first job/occupation was. Ask them how they met your other parent or grandparent.

Asking these questions to the older generations, more often than not, usually exhibits a positive and engaging response and opens the door for future conversations because you have made it clear to your relatives that you value their presence in your life and are interested in them as a person.

Now, go out and start the conversation!

A little bit about my own genealogical journey:

Growing up, I was never really all that interested in my family's history. I wasn't even that interested in my family. Whenever we had family get togethers for birthdays or holidays, I usually kept to myself or stayed quiet; not engaging in conversations or asking questions about our family's history. Even when the older generations began to pass away, it didn't really dawn on me that these times were few and precious and that they should be treasured.

It wasn't until a few years ago that I really became interested in family history and genealogy.

It all started on what seemed like a benign, innocent trip to Kansas City to watch some baseball with my brother and to try out some good bbq. As we were leaving town, a sign caught my eye. It was for the Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, MO. It was basically on our way home and was about to open its doors for the day so we decided to go check it out.

I figured we would stay there for an hour or so, see a few online records, and then take off. Before I knew it, they were telling us it was closing time and that we had to wrap things up.

This seemingly random stop at this center in Missouri whet an insatiable appetite for answers.

Answers in Ancestry.

I decided to create a page for the purpose of sharing stories, offering advice, and performing research on all things related to ancestry, family history, and genealogy. What types of things would you like to see on this page and what would you like to discuss?