Search Results for: blog were your ancestors undocumented

Did Your Ancestors Move Often?

If you think that families change residences more often today than ever before, you may only be partially correct. While it is not uncommon for families to move quite a few times these days, you may not know that families also moved frequently during the 1800s and early 1900s. When I learned this, I was surprised. I tended to think of ancestors from that time period as fairly attached to one place, having a homestead and passing on the family place from generation to generation. While this may have been true for some families, it certainly was not the case … Continue reading →

Occupations of Our Ancestors

One of my favorite things about genealogy is the language. I am a self-professed lover of words, and I’m always looking to increase my vocabulary. Today I came across some fun words that come from occupations that our ancestors may have had back in the day. You just don’t run into many chiffoniers these days, and even those people who do make wigs for a living may not call themselves that anymore. Do you work in an office that employs an amanuensis? If the secretary greets you as you walk in the door, then you most certainly do. Just today, … Continue reading →

Were Your Ancestors Undocumented

Sometimes genealogists encounter difficulties locating vital records for their ancestors. The reasons why some records can be elusive are numerous. Today I would like to talk about one possible reason that you may be having difficulty finding a birth certificate for one or more of your ancestors. It is possible that the ancestor whose birth certificate you seek is one of millions of undocumented Americans. Undocumented Americans are people who were born in the United States and do not have a birth certificate or other means of proving their citizenship. Some undocumented Americans come from immigrant families who may or … Continue reading →

There Will Not Be a Family Tree Maker 2013

Genealogists who use Ancestry.com might be wondering when the next version of the Family Tree Maker software will come out. The short answer is that you can stop waiting. Instead of creating a Family Tree Maker 2013, there will be periodic updates to Family Tree Maker 2012. On July 13 of this year, there was a big problem with the Mac version of the Family Tree Maker software. Ancestry.com noted on their blog that they were were aware of the issue and were “working hard to resolve the issue as quickly as possible”. Whatever the issue was, it was not … Continue reading →

Don’t Know The Date? Estimate.

While genealogists often strive to obtain the exact dates of events such as births, marriages, and deaths, sometimes an exact date is elusive and you have to do the best that you can to estimate the date on which an event likely took place. It is worth trying to estimate dates, as it will serve as a reminder that you are still looking for clues as to an exact date. It will also notify future family history researchers that you tries to locate the exact date but you could not. Perhaps they can pick up where you left off and … Continue reading →