Several prominent groups of genealogists have created a petition to stop the federal government from removing the information that is on the Social Security Death Index from public view. They feel that genealogists are not to blame for the SSDI being used to commit tax fraud, and have suggestions about how the government can use the SSDI to prevent tax fraud from happening. The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) was originally created in 1980. It has the names, birth dates, and social security numbers of more than 90 million deceased Americans. The information in the SSDI became available under the … Continue reading →

There are many different ways in which genealogists can track down the facts that they need in order to create an accurate record of their family’s history. The variety of record sources that genealogists use can sometimes take genealogy newcomers by surprise. For example, you may not be aware of just how much information you can find in old newspapers. Obituaries, birth notices, and marriage and engagement announcements are just the beginning of what you can find. Newspapers contain many stories about the lives of the people in the area where they are published. If you are fortunate enough to … Continue reading →

I like free stuff, and I am sure that many of you do too. From time to time, genealogy giant Ancestry.com invites non – members to access specific record collections for free for limited periods of time. The site also has many helpful resources and learning tools that are free, but the records are what genealogists need for their research and that is why many genealogy researchers have memberships to Ancestry.com. This weekend, those of us who do not have memberships to Ancestry.com can access the 1930 Census for free from February 16 until midnight on February 20. Census records … Continue reading →

Genealogists know that even though each family’s history is unique, reading or hearing stories of how other people found family history information that they were looking for can give you new clues or helpful hints for your own research. One place where you can go to read about how other people found information about their ancestors is Ancestry.com. More specifically, there is a section of the Ancestry.com blog called “Ask Ancestry Anne”. Not only are the stories in the “Ask Ancestry Anne” column fun to read, they really showcase the immense variety of types of records that genealogists can use … Continue reading →