Before welfare offices and Social Security checks, there was something older and far more personal. There was each other. When I look at my own ancestors, this shows up clearly. They lived on farms...
Latest Articles
When to Call It Quits
There comes a point in genealogy when you sit back, stare at the screen, and realize you are not moving forward anymore. You are still working, still searching, still opening records, but nothing new...
The Temptation to Assume in Genealogy
There is a moment in almost every genealogy project when temptation shows up. It does not usually sound reckless. It sounds reasonable. It sounds efficient. It often arrives as a single sentence:...
When the Records Begin Speaking Again
Coming Back to the Paper Trail Last time, we stood inside a gap, ten years of a man’s life with no clear paper trail. No neat answers. No satisfying explanation. Just silence, the kind that shows up...
The Years the Records Forgot
There are times in genealogy when the records speak clearly. Names line up, dates behave, and places make sense. You can follow a life forward with little resistance. Then there are times when the...
Genealogy Helps, Vol. 12 (Free eBook)
Get Genealogy Helps Vol. 12, a free eBook about newspaper research, DNA matches, surname origins, and finding hidden family history records.
Genealogy Helps, Vol. 11 (Free eBook)
Download Genealogy Helps Vol. 11, a free eBook about local societies, census records, DNA matches, old documents, and family history research.
Confessions of a Genealogist: Why I Cannot Stop Digging
Genealogy has ruined me in the best way. I can be perfectly content all day, and then I see a hint, a record index, a cemetery photo, or a single line in a probate packet, and my brain flips a switch...
Homestead Files, Hidden Stories
Federal homestead records sit in a sweet spot between law and lived experience. They were created to document a legal transfer of public land into private hands, yet they often preserve day-to-day...
No Records, No Problem
When you first start researching your family, it is easy to believe every question has a record waiting somewhere. A birth certificate, a marriage entry, a census line, a grave marker, a neat little...