March, 2014 Electronic Magazine – Genealogy Tuesday, May 20 2014 

Basic facts about ancestors found in many obituaries and death notices:

  1. Date of death, name of cemetery, date and place of funeral and burial
  2. Name, place and year of birth
  3. Names of children, where they lived, and their position in the family’s birth order
  4. Names of towns and how long they lived in each one
  5. Age of spouse at death and how along ago that was
  6. Details on the longevity of parents and grandparents
  7. count of descendants, by generation
  8. Much, Much, MORE!

Adapted from GenealogyBank’s 10-24-2012 e-newsletter

Advertisement

E-Magazine Volume 12 Issue 4: Genealogy Monday, Apr 1 2013 

It is actually not uncommon to run across ancestors, of various faiths, not to to take vows. Read more about this in reference specifically to Quakers: http://www.genealogybank.com/static/newsletter/1302/prospects/article.html

June 2009, V8#6: Genealogy Friday, May 29 2009 

Newspapers Reveal Towns And Ancestors’ Past

The hometown newspaper offers valuable and unique insight into the life of a community.  Within its pages, the story of the town and its citizens is revealed.  The citizens are our ancestors.

Details of an ancestor’s life are often found only in the newspaper.  Besides obituaries, birth and marriage announcements, peruse the gossip columns, society and lodge news, letters to the editor, legal notices and sports page.

Small towns and weekly newspapers are often the best.  They contain more personal local news and less state and national.  This is great for the genealogist.

Newspapers are also an excellent source for local history.  Sometimes, they are the only source.  Editors tend to have “their ear to the ground” and know what is happening.  Their articles on local events, politics and news may be the only record available or maybe the articles will suggest avenues for further research.

The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) maintains the largest collection of Oklahoma newspapers.  The collection is not only the largest but also the most complete collection in the state.  It is estimated that they own over 90% of all newspapers published in Oklahoma.  The collection consists of over 4,000 different newspapers.  The newspapers are on 35,000 rolls of microfilm.

To learn if the society owns a particular newspaper consult the newspaper database found on the society’s web site —http://www.okhistory.org/research/collections/newspapers.html.

In 1998 a paper listing of the collection was published.  Titled Index of Oklahoma Newspapers, the newspapers are alphabetized by title and by county.  The Family History Room at the Lawton Public Library owns a copy of this index.  These newspapers are not available through interlibrary loan.

Copies of articles from the newspaper collection are available.  The fee is $10 for Oklahoma residents.  OHS members receive a 10% discount of copy costs.  To order, the “Newspaper Order Form” must be completed and submitted.  Download the form at www.okhistory.org/research/forms/newspaperform.html.

(This information was taken from Paul Follett’s column Tree Tracers published in the Lawton Constitution on May 19, 2008.)

October 2006, V5 #10: Genealogy Friday, Mar 20 2009 

Part of a genealogy or history related service or social organization? Consider having an ancestor round table. Everyone bring their knowledge and an ancestor. In turn, each give a brief case study of the ancestor and ask for suggestions of your fellows. If you have enough members interested, it could even be open to the public as a membership event, or fund raiser.

October 2006, V5#10: Genealogy Tuesday, Jan 6 2009 

Part of a genealogy or history related service or social organization? Consider having an ancestor round table. Everyone bring their knowledge and an ancestor. In turn, each give a brief case study of the ancestor and ask for suggestions of your fellows. If you have enough members interested, it could even be open to the public as a membership event, or fund raiser.

July 2005, V4#7: Genealogy Monday, Jan 5 2009 

Don’t overlook your local and regional genealogy events, retreats, genealogy, ancestor or book fairs!  While networking and finding hot leads are traditionally considered when attending ancestor fairs, you never know when you’ll meet someone researching one or more of your lines at any genealogy or family event.  When preparing to go consider having a name badge or ribbon (or even a shirt) made that details at least your main research lines.  Some events provide bulletin boards, chat areas, etc. – but it never hurts to increase your chances to “go above and beyond” planned activities to search out other researchers on your line.

May 2005, V4#5: Genealogy Monday, Jan 5 2009 

Still looking for that lost ancestor?  When you run across the right surname in a general area at the correct time, never discard this information.  This data may be the same family (yea!) or different (boo!), but one can rarely tell when finding the data originally.  Likewise, a group that appears not to be related when the information is found, may be related and you uncover the link ten years later.  Don’t rely on research data sheets to go back and find information you uncovered 20 years ago: records get misplaced, misfiled, moved, go through natural deterioration, in some cases are discarded or destroyed, not to mention acts of God or vandalism.

September 2004, V3#9: Genealogy Sunday, Jan 4 2009 

Many people when researching forget to use reference materials in concert.  While this sounds strange, sometimes it doesn’t even cross their minds.  Example: Found the ancestor in the census but that year doesn’t have everything you want (or you prefer more than one documented source) – look in other state, county, and local records as well as local newspapers.  Could they have belonged to a local church or (fraternal) organization?  Don’t leave these out of the search!

June 2004, V3#6: Genealogy Sunday, Jan 4 2009 

Have an “ancestor swap”.  Have a pre-determined time period that you and a fellow researcher (or group) works on your line while you work on theirs.  This can sometimes produce better results than just “picking their brain” for helpful suggestions on a problem you have.

July 2003, V2#7: Genealogy Saturday, Jan 3 2009 

While becoming that student of history we have already suggested, is your lost ancestor in America during the time the US was giving out free land to it’s citizens?  If so, your next stop should be the homestead records!  This little utilized collection of documents and information is housed at the national archives and has not been reproduced or indexed in any wide reaching way.  The Homestead National Monument has begun exploring the best way to augment NARA general paper preservation process by replicating them in Nebraska.

Next Page »