May 2012
22 posts
6 tags
Ask Ancestry Anne: Search Tip #6 - City...
We’ve made a lot of updates to our City Directories, and we have launched a new index for them at: U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 (Beta)
Don’t let the name fool you, this is ready for prime time. You can read more at our original post on City Directories.
But don’t give up even if you don’t find what you are looking for with a search. Check out browse on the right...
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Ask Ancestry Anne: Search Tip #5 - Surname...
These are a bit more rare to find on the site, though you will find in various places on the web and in libraries.
Just like you did for Local Histories, you can type the surname you are looking for into the Keyword(s) field:
You can also add a state in to try and limit the possibilities. A search for Wallace Virginia will require both the words to be in the description or title.
Look for...
Ask Ancestry Anne: Search Tip #4 - Local Histories
Local histories can be a goldmine of information, not just about who might be in your family tree, but what life was like during your ancestor’s life.
There are two ways to find them on Ancestry.com. First, in the Card Catalog and second in Place Pages.
Card Catalog
To find a local history in the card catalog, type in the county or city name and the state into Keyword(s). Don’t...
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Ask Ancestry Anne: Search Tip #3 - Card Catalog
It’s easy enough to lose yourself in the Census and Vital records, but with 30,000+ data collections out there, you are most likely missing some great bits of information.
The Ancestry.com Card Catalog is a great place to start discovering those hidden treasures.
If you mouse over the Search tab in the header, you’ll see a list of options with Card Catalog at the bottom:
On the...
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Ask Ancestry Anne: Favorite Search Tip #2 - Place...
When you start researching a new area, or if you are just trying to find something new and different for a place you are familiar with, Place Pages is a great place to start looking.
Go to our Search Home Page and go down to the bottom of the page. You’ll see the map which is where you begin.
Click on the link of whatever state you are interested in. Or if you are not interested in the...
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Three Days, Three New Classes
I hope you’ll join me and several of my Ancestry.com colleagues for three days of free online classes.
Wednesday, 23 May 2012, 8 PM ET Ancestry.com Searches: A Behind the Scenes Look John Bacus
(Note: This class was last night but will be archived soon in the Learning Center. John gave a very good presentation on some of the inner workings of Ancestry.com search and some great tips.)
Learn...
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Ask-Ancestry-Anne: Favorite Search Tip #1 - Shaky...
Search Tip #1: Have Ancestry.com do the work for you
Ancestry.com won’t find everything that’s out there, but if someone can deliver records about ancestors to you, why not take advantage of it? That leaves you more time to understand the record and then find more!
In the header, you’ll see the hint notification leaf:
If you click on it, we will show your most recent...
The 1945 Yalta Conference, WWII
My mother, born outside Boston in 1897 would on occasion refer to her cousin Julia, and what a world traveler she was. Thru Ancestry.com, I have connected to two of my cousins, sisters, who were able to help me fill in the story of our Julia. Using their recollections and Ancestry.com tools, the story of Julia, who never married and never had a child, is none-the-less revealed and woven into our...
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Kris Williams: Genealogy & Your DNA
Just recently I received my AncestryDNA kit results and I can honestly say I was pretty shocked by them. For the most part, on my father’s side, my family has been in this country since the Mayflower - or came on ships that followed soon after. Others came down through Canada from Nova Scotia. Everything I knew about my Dad’s side of the family brought me back to England and Scotland. My mother’s...
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Happy Ending
Ancestry.com is not just for tracing family roots. It can also be a medium to connect with missing family. For 30 years, we were aware of the existence of my husband’s biological brother and sister but had no place to look.
My mother did all the genealogy work for me before she passed away so I joined Ancestry.com to put it all into one place. It has been several years now and I have lots...
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Family and Friends
My sister’s and I inherited several boxes when my mother past away full of family goodies from the mid 1800 to 2001. But one funeral card we found in one of the boxes had an unfamiliar name. We searched looking for a connection, thinking and brain storming who could it be. Finally looking through the 1940 census, the man on the funeral card was my grandfather’s next door neighbor. ...
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Check "The Line" on the 1940 Census
I remember my mother and friend gossiping about “the line” which referred to the supplemental questions that appeared twice on each 1940 census page. “Did you know that so-and-so was ‘on the line’ when the enumerator arrived?” To my surprise, it was my mother who was “on the line.” The info at the bottom of the page didn’t add much to what I...
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Great Stories from the 1940 Census
I was able to work on the 1940 census with my Mom. She turns 80 this coming Jan. We not only found Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. We found the doctor that delivered my and the doctor that delivered my father 81 years ago. My father was the first C-section done in Murphysboro, Ill. One doctor read the instructions from a book while the other preformed the operation.
Just going...
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Ask Ancestry Anne: Elusive Relatives in...
Question: My Grand Parents names are Bion (Bert) Egbert & Florence Edna Waldo and they lived at 237 S. Hayes Bakersfield California. I found this information in the U.S. Directory. Also My Great Grand Parents Henry Dobbs & Julia Dobbs lived at 49 S. Hayes in Bakersfield Ca There were other family members that were living on that street. I have looked through about 400 pages...
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A Hero Connected
I posted a military page in my Kelly Family Tree for a second cousin, twice removed—Sylvester Milas Bolick. He was not in my direct line but I was fascinated by him because he was killed in World War II, is buried in Belgium and had received a Purple Heart.
In February, I got an e-mail out of the blue from a man in Belgium who had found the public military page I had set up for Sylvester last...
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My Aunt Was a Census Enumerator!
I discovered one of my aunts, her husband and three children at the start of a census district I thought my grandparents would be in. (I haven’t been able to find them yet.) After searching through the E.D., I went back and started at the beginning again. When I did, I noticed that the listed enumerator was Clara B. McCord, my aunt and one of my mother’s older sisters. This was a...
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1940 Eye-Opener
Like many other family genealogists, I anxiously awaited the arrival of the 1940 US Federal Census. It was going to answer so much about not only my family, but my husband’s family as well.
The Guam census was one of the first to be downloaded and as soon as all districts were in, I began combing through every last page beginning with district one, page one. I already knew that the...
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The Lost Months of 1940
In February of 1940, my father walked out on his wife and eight-month old son in California, never to be heard from again by them or anyone in his family. He re-surfaced six months later in New Jersey using a different last name, and shortly thereafter met my mother. They dated, married, and raised my brother and me. It wasn’t until 37 years after his death that I discovered this on...
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1940 Census brings a family stories to life...and...
Early in their marriage my grandparents lived in Washington, D.C., having moved there from Philadelphia as newlyweds. Growing up in nearby Maryland, I remember listening to stories of their time in the capital. They both had fond memories of going to the National Zoo, and poignant recollections of being at stadium watching the Redskins play the Eagles at Griffiths Stadium on Pearl Harbor Day.
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