Ancestry.com
Firefox 3.5.3 and Ancestry.com Clash Delaying Work
Ever since I installed Firefox 3.5.3 a few days ago, I’ve had mysterious problems with Ancestry.com. It loads very slowly and then doesn’t display any graphics. So far, this issue has appeared only on Ancestry.com. I tried my trusty old Netscape 7.2 browser and had the same problem. Then I tried Internet Explorer 7, which for various reasons I generally …
September 30, 2009 Wednesday at 7:55 am
Insomnia–The Genealogist’s Friend
A few nights ago, I was having difficulty falling asleep. Rather than fight the feeling, I thought I’d just get up and cruise the Internet for a little while. I went first to footnote.com and noticed that their Texas death certificate collection is now about 50% complete. So I just typed in the name Manson to see what would come …
May 1, 2009 Friday at 9:48 am
My DNA Adventure, Part 1
There’s much to be said about DNA testing in genealogy, but most of it is best said by Blaine Bettinger on his blog, The Genetic Genealogist, which I highly recommend. So please visit there soon. But for now, I’d like to describe my recent experience with Ancestry.com’s DNA offering. I got in on one of Ancestry’s DNA “sales” where the …
April 10, 2009 Friday at 11:55 am
I Love Ancestry’s Expanded, Updated City Directories
Last week, Ancestry.com updated and repackaged its U.S. Directories and U.S. Public information databases. These are now all a part of Ancestry’s “1940 Census Substitute.” Part of the upgrade was acquisition of what Ancestry VP for Content Gary Gibb called ” a huge collection of city directories.” I was excited about this from the outset. I’ve long understood the value …
March 22, 2009 Sunday at 6:45 pm
Ancestry.com Adds Lincoln & Civil War Docs
This announcement on the 24/7 Family History Circle blog today: PROVO, UTAH – Feb. 12, 2009 – Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online resource for family history, announced today it will commemorate the 200th birthday of one of the nation’s greatest Presidents – Abraham Lincoln – with the addition of five new databases to its Civil War Collection. This historically significant …
February 12, 2009 Thursday at 6:40 pm
Can’t find a Louisiana Relative or Ancestor? Try Looking in California!
What?! Yes, you heard right. If you’re having difficulty locating a Louisiana relative or ancestor from the 20th century, perhaps you should try looking in California . . . well, at least in some of the California databases on Ancestry.com. During and after World War II, there was a huge movement of people from the South to California. They were …
August 15, 2008 Friday at 7:44 pm
Research Tip: Slaves and Slavs in the U.S. Census (and how to tell the difference!)
“No census taken between 1790 and 1860 contains even one slave’s name.” Harriet C. Frazier, Runaway and Freed Missouri Slaves and Those Who Helped Them, 1763-1865, (McFarland & Company: 2004), p. 12. Most genealogists will not find this statement particularly surprising. We all know that, except for a very few free blacks, African-Americans were not enumerated by name in the …
June 14, 2008 Saturday at 1:05 am
UPDATE: Register of U.S. Army Enlistments
Well, I am both gratified and chastened! In the comments to the original post below, Chad Milliner points out what should been obvious to me. That is, essentially, that the Register of U.S. Army Enlistments includes only original federal enlistments. Chad reminds us that in the 18th and 19thcenturies, American wars were fought largely by troops raised by the States. …
May 6, 2008 Tuesday at 3:51 am
Research Resource: Register of Enlistments In U.S. Army
I got an e-mail from Ancestry.com recently that touted some new databases that had been added. Among these was “Registration of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798 –1914. So of course I was interested. I put in the search box a number of my family names, particularly the more unique ones, and turned up nothing. So then I tried the …
May 2, 2008 Friday at 1:17 pm
Missouri Marriages 1805-2002 at Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com has recently added a collection called “Missouri Marriages 1805-2002.” Frequently, Ancestry’s state collections have seemed to promise more than they deliver–being limited to just a few counties or even a few years though the title implies many more counties or years. But this collection seems to be the real deal. Easily searchable, it has many, many, actual images. And …
April 19, 2008 Saturday at 12:38 am
