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When Sperm Donation Changes Kinship Terms

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Your ancestors had only one way of producing a child. Today, technology has enabled children to be produced by sperm donation. A married couple in the Netherlands are using donated sperm from the husband’s father so that the couple can have a baby. This greatly alters the kinship terms that would normally be applied to a family. Sperm donation is an option that a couple, or a woman who is single, can use in order to conceive a child. People choose this method for a variety of reasons. A woman who is single may want to become a mother without … Continue reading →

Family Visits Can Surprise You With Family History Goodies

I love visiting my parents. Every time I go, not only do my son and I have fun with them in the present time, I also learn a little more about my early years as well as my family history. I just returned from a two day visit to my parents’ house, during which we created some special memories for me and my son. This trip to visit my parents illustrates an important point – there really is no end to the amount of fun and interesting things that a person can discover about their family history even by making … Continue reading →

Weddings Change Kinship Terms

Weddings are special. This is one occasion where you can expect to see plenty of relatives. For genealogists, weddings are an opportunity to figure out the proper kinship terms for complex family relationships. How do all of these people relate to you? Less than a week ago, my sister, Mary, got married. She had a beautiful, somewhat traditional, ceremony, and I have never seen her happier. I hope that the happiness that she experienced on her wedding day continues to grow with every year of her marriage. Each couple will put together a wedding that is uniquely special to them. … Continue reading →

A Few More Genealogy Words You Don’t Know

It can be interesting to find out the meanings of obscure, rarely used, genealogy terms, words, and phrases. If you are someone who likes to play with language, or who loves doing crossword puzzles, then you probably find it fun to learn new words. I thought that every genealogy dictionary would hold pretty much the same words. To my surprise, this assumption is not true at all! So far I have wandered through the Genealogy Glossary on the Family Tree Magazine website, the ROOTS Genealogical Dictionary, and the Glossary of Terminology at Genealogy Quest. This time, I decided to see … Continue reading →

A Few More Genealogy Terms

Yesterday I had a lot of fun learning about two new genealogy terms. My thirst for knowledge was not quenched after learning jus those two words, so I have decided to find a few more genealogy terms that I did not know prior to now. Perhaps you know these terms, but maybe you don’t. Either way, genealogy terms are a handy part of your genealogist’s tool kit because if you can’t understand what a document says, it is very difficult to figure out how it fits into your research. If your research involves English and European marriage records and you … Continue reading →

A Couple of Genealogy Terms for You

Every so often, I like to add some new words to my vocabulary. I really enjoy having a big vocabulary because, let’s face it, words are a lot of fun. My son, who is nineteen months old, is adding a new word or two to his vocabulary every day or so. I am so pleased about that because he seems to like words just as much as I do. While these two words won’t be on the tip of his tongue any time soon, if you are into genealogy they just might come in handy for you. At the very … Continue reading →

Genealogy Glossary

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There are many words and phrases used in genealogy that we sometimes do not see or use in every day life. To succeed in genealogy, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with them. Listed here are just some of the many words and phrases you may come across during your genealogical research. There is also a list of sites that offer more comprehensive genealogy glossaries. Ahnentafal: A table of someone’s ancestors in which a numbering system is used. This word derives from the the German Ahnen meaning ancestor, and Tafel meaning table. Ancestor: Any person that someone is … Continue reading →

Bring A Pad And Pen To Thanksgiving Dinner

This year, why not bring along a pad and pen to Thanksgiving dinner. There are a couple of reasons why it could come in handy. With the whole family gathered around the table, there are bound to be some great family stories being told that you won’t want to forget. Also, there may be mention of bits and pieces of information here and there that could help you in your family history research. I often hear very interesting things at family gatherings, things that I want to remember later on so that I can follow up on them. Since I … Continue reading →

Does Kate Middleton Have Jewish Heritage?

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The internet is an excellent place for rumors, misunderstood facts, and flat out lies to spread exponentially. There have been some people questioning whether or not Kate Middleton had Jewish heritage. How much can you really determine from the surnames of a person’s ancestors? Kate Middleton is the woman whom Prince William married in a huge wedding ceremony earlier this year. She was a commoner, and her family didn’t have a coat of arms until shortly before the Royal Wedding was scheduled. After Prince William and Kate Middleton got married, the couple was given several new titles. She became Her … Continue reading →