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How To Start Researching Your African American Female Ancestors
How to start your genealogy research into your African American female ancestors. Researching female ancestors is challenging, but possible! Genealogy research comes with many challenges, especially with regard to researching certain subsets of our ancestors. Once such group is women. Researching our female ancestors can require even more effort when it comes to those who are of African descent. In this post, I’ll offer a few suggestions for documenting the lives of our African American female ancestors. Like researching any female of days gone by, we often begin with learning everything we can about the men in their lives. Often, women will be mentioned in the records of their husbands,…
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Photographing Cemeteries: Telling the Story of Your Ancestors
Cemeteries tell stories of your ancestors you may be missing. Learn how photograph a cemetery to capture and preserve your family’s history. Welcome Diane Evans of PhotoFluent as our Guest Poster today! Diane is a photographer extraordinaire sharing the best way to to capture photographs in the cemetery where you ancestors are buried. I’ve always been fascinated by cemeteries. If you’re reading this then you probably understand that fascination, and might even have it yourself. There’s something so…eerie, beautiful, sad, and somehow comforting. There’s this connection to those who have gone before us that literally lies beneath us, as we wander around observing the markers of our ancestors. I’m also…
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7 Steps for Using DNA to Find Birth Parents of Adoptees & Others with Unknown Parents
Trying to find birth parents? DNA and genetic genealogy along with good detective work and plain old fashioned genealogy research can yield results. I am thrilled to have Mary Eberle, JD of DNA Hunters as a guest writer today! Welcome, Mary! Many adoptees and others looking with unknown parents use DNA in their searches. There are techniques and resources for this work that can be broken down into 7 steps, which are discussed below. Before jumping into DNA, it’s important to consider what non-DNA resources might help in searching for a birth parent. Non-DNA Resources To Find Birth Parents Original Birth Certificates State laws govern adoptees’ rights to access to…
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Seeking Connection: The Importance of Family History
Seeking connection through family history is the goal of genealogy researchers. Learn how to get started finding your ancestors. Family can mean different things to different people. For some, it means to be with people who understand and accept you unconditionally. For others, it is strictly those to whom they have a biological connection. Some of us don’t have ideal families, while others couldn’t imagine their life without family. Most often, though, it’s a mixture of each of these types of relationships. When I think about my most ideal family relationships, I think of my dad’s Germans-from-Russia Mennonite cousins, double cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents… you get the idea. It’s…
