In today’s “How I Solved It” guest post, Diane Gould Hall (Michigan Family Trails) shares her methodology for tracking her great grandmother Catherine Dorsey Thorp from Ireland to New York to Michigan. Her search illustrates the importance of examining records for the whole family, working backwards, forwards, and sideways to identify family, friends, associates, and…
Category: How I Solved It
How I Solved It: Award for Greatest Distance and Time-Lapse for a Birth Registration
Next time you’re hunting for a birth registration, consider the case of Eizik Fuchs. Lara Diamond (larasgenealogy.blogspot.com) shares this story for our “How I Solved It Series” giving Eizik a [posthumous] award for going through the most difficulty (and time…and distance…) to get his birth registered. ___________________________________________ And the award for going through the most…
How I Solved It: It was all in the letter…
In today’s “How I Solved It” post, guest blogger Maggie Stevenson from Kin Histories shows how DNA research can point you in the right direction, but must be accompanied with a solid paper trail to prove relationships. By sharing her tree, Maggie connected with someone who held the answer to her mystery. Here’s what happened:…
How I Solved It: Mary Houts Colton Cox
I take a particular joy in traveling to my ancestral homes to stand where my people once stood and see the earth from their perspective. Along with cemeteries, local libraries are on the top of my list of places I *must* stop while traveling because even though I live near the largest genealogical library in…
How I Solved It: Brick Walls Post #3–Rev. Isaac C. Hunter 1798-1842
Sometimes you search high and low and you find lots of information about your ancestor, but no proof about their ancestry. Such is the case—so far—of Rev. Isaac C. Hunter for Diane Gould Hall at Michigan Family Trails. The Reverend was a traveling preacher in the emerging Ohio and Michigan territories. He left traces of his…
How I Solved It: Back to the Basics with Probate Records – Part 1
When someone dies, governments tend to be extremely interested in the dispersal of possessions and real estate the deceased may have had. The resulting legal process is called probate, and it can yield a gold mine of clues buried in the paperwork. In today’s “How I Solved It” guest blog series, professional genealogist Diana Elder AGⓇ…
How I Solved It: Broaden those search terms
In genealogy, we quickly come to learn that we must use wildcards and some pretty creative spelling when searching for our ancestors. But today’s guest blogger Janine Adams from Organize Your Family History (organizeyourfamilyhistory.com) shares an experience reminding us to widen our thinking about *all* of our search terms, not just names! Here’s her experience:…
How I Solved It: The Micro-Biography of an Obituary
Jacqi Stevens, author of A Family Tapestry, finds abandoned old photographs and follows their story, hoping to reconnect the photos with their lost families. Here, Jacqi shares a few tricks and sources she uses for finding stories in digital obituaries and historical newspapers as part of RootsFinder’s “How I Solved It” guest blog series. _________________…
How I Solved It: Old electrical tower leads the way to family graves
Vera Miller from Find Lost Russian & Ukrainian Family had given up hope on finding her great-grandparents’ graves due to the extreme difficulties in geography and bureaucracy in the former Soviet Empire. But a tiny clue from a treasured family photograph made all the difference for her. Here’s her story in today’s “How I Solved It”…
How I Solved It: Can DNA Help You Strike Genealogy Gold?
Entering the world of genetic genealogy can be overwhelming for many people and it can be difficult to collaborate with others across all the various tools. In today’s “How I Solved It” guest blog post, Patricia Greber (My Genealogy Life) shows us how she uses DNA tools at Ancestry to help her chase genealogy gold by…
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