Identifying the Unidentifiable: How You Can Identify Family Members in Unlabeled Photographs
It is exciting and excruciating at the same time: discovering that unmarked family photograph in the attic. Nothing is more…
“To Get What I Want When I Want It”
My great-grandmother, Helen, left nothing up to interpretation in her high school yearbook. Portland High School asked the senior class…
Genealogical Treasures… In Your Wall?
Are any letters written during the Civil War hidden in your home’s walls?
In the 1990s, the Gill family renovated their home in rural Maine. It happened to be the house that my great-great-grandfather was born in and grew up in from 1854 to 1880. The Gills tore down a wall and found something shocking.
An Honor, An Announcement, and A Thank You
An Honor, An Announcement, and A Thank You: Yesterday, Vita Brevis, the blog of the oldest genealogical library in the country, published an article I wrote about going there when I was ten years old! I am humbled and excited to share it with you. You can see the full article here: https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2023/07/becoming-a-genealogist-at-age-10/.
In other news, Genealogy-Jack.com launched today!
Thank you for your support.
The Catanachs: From Gardeners in Scotland to Pioneers of New Mexico
Tracing how the Catanach name made it from Scotland to New Mexico in the 1800s.
A-B-C Is Not As Easy As a 1-2-3: An Ancestry Mystery
At first, I thought I had two different families. But, no! The ages lined up and the location was the same. Frank’s daughter Anna appeared in both censuses, and he had the same occupation. It was the same family. So, why were there two Franks?
The Da Vinci of the NBA: MVP Edition
Nikola Jokić, the Serbian superstar center who had just been named finals MVP, was nowhere to be found. The broadcast caught some of his teammates passing around his MVP trophy with confused looks, searching for him in the crowd.
5 Things Obituaries Could Reveal About Your Ancestry
5 Things Obituaries Could Reveal About Your Ancestry—A genealogy goldmine. Obituaries going back centuries can reveal intimate details about your ancestors!
Kids Taking the Battlefield: Did Your Underage Ancestors Serve in the Civil War?
About 700,000 children under 18 fought in the Civil War: 20% of all soldiers. Though difficult to specify, an estimated 100,000 soldiers were under 15. Did your great-great-grandfather enlist in the Civil War? Did a great-great-great-granduncle run away and join the American Revolutionary War in 1775? Some American children even fought in WWI and WWII. There are ways to find out if your ancestors fought in the U.S. Military or during the Civil War even if underage.
Mental Health | Stories | Tips
Mental Illness: A Crucial Part of Everybody’s Ancestry Journey
I have found clues that my ancestors might have suffered from mental illnesses. Take this newspaper clipping, for example. Mental illness almost certainly affected your ancestors. But they might be hard to detect. People did not know how to identify mental illnesses until recently. So, records are not always accurate. Mental illness almost certainly affected your ancestors. But they might be hard to detect. Why is the history of mental illness such an important topic? Why should we pay special attention to mental illness in genealogy research?