On Christmas Eve in 1914, troops on both sides of the war suddenly stopped fighting each other in a small town in Belgium. They sang Christmas carols to each other, then ventured from their fox holes...
Layout B (with load more)
The Fifteenth Amendment: The Constitutional Amendments
The Fifteenth Amendment to the US Constitution gave African American men, including those who had been former slaves, the right to vote. While the amendment seemed simple, the US Supreme Court has...
President Johnson Pardons the Confederate Troops: Famous Christmases in History #4
On Christmas Day in 1868, US President Andrew Johnson issued a general pardon to anyone who had fought for or supported the Confederacy in the Civil War, which had ended three years previously. This...
Common-Law Marriages: A Closer Look at Marriage Records #4
What do you do if you can’t find a marriage record, bond, or banns, no matter where you look? Fortunately, there are alternative ways to find a marriage date, or record that a marriage took place...
The Treaty of Ghent: Famous Christmases in History #3
The Treaty of Ghent is the treaty that ended the War of 1812. It was signed in the city of Ghent, Belgium, over Christmas of 1814. Americans and the British were both quite happy to put the war...
Marriage Banns: A Closer Look at Marriage Records #3
Marriage banns were the way marriages were legalized for centuries in most of the western world. There are records of the Roman Catholic church requiring them as early as eight hundred years ago in...