Immersion Genealogy: Walking in Your Ancestor’s Footsteps

Family history is so much more than charts, documents, names, and boxes of old photos. With access to online family research websites, it’s easy to limit your research to census records, yearbook photos and marriage certificates. But what you are missing is the context by which to interpret your research. Historical context is the political,

Finding Immigrants: Port of New York Passengers

Our immigrant ancestor’s journey to America is one of the most important parts of our family history. Some people can trace their immigrant family history back generations to the founding of the original colonies. While others have a relative who came as a crew member, servant, indentured laborer, or enslaved person— and don’t appear on

Mining for Genealogy Gold: U.S. Passport Applications

Have you seen one of those old westerns where the miner is panning for gold and then shouts “I’m rich” and dances around like a kid on Christmas morning? Well, the modern-day version of that thrill can happen to you when you mine the U.S. passport applications.  For years, the name of my third-great grandfather

George A. Tann: The Black Man Who Saved the Ingalls Family

This historical account about a consequential black pioneer doctor takes place during the summer of 1870 in the Osage Diminished Indian Reserve in Kansas, near modern day Independence. Many pioneer groups trekked through this uncharted frontier either heading West to Oregon or California, or stopping to start a new life. That year, homesteaders from all

6 Tips for Planning an Epic Ancestral Trip

Some people prefer to limit their family research to searches of online genealogy databases, while others become so inspired by their discoveries that they begin making plans to visit their ancestral homeland. While birth certificates and marriage licenses begin to tell a story, one of the best ways to truly understand your ancestry is to

Central Iowa Norwegians: Book Series Review

Family researchers, genealogists and Find A Grave volunteers often bump into each other— in person, at historical society meetings, via webinars or social media, or through connections made during their research work. Through my encounters, I had the pleasure of virtually bumping into researcher and author Arlen Twedt. Arlen is a lecturer and author of

Finding Records of Relatives Who Died at Sea

The months long journeys by early ocean seafarers were often perilous and harrowing experiences. Shipping laws were lax and ships of all types of construction, seaworthiness, and size sailed the oceans. Millions died at sea. Death was ever present in the minds of voyagers. Huddled below deck were hundreds of men, women and children with