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Hours of Operation:
Mon: Closed
Fri: 9:30 am-1:00 pm
Saturday:
9:30 am-4:30 pm
Tues, Wed, Thurs:
9:30am-4:30pm, & 7-9:30 pm
Directors: Linda & Kurt Christensen Washington DC Stake Carol & Gary Petranek, Silver Spring MDStake |
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WDCFHC Conference Registration
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The Washington DC Family History Center will sponsor its 8th annual Family History Conference on Saturday, May 3, 2013 from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. at 10000 Stoneybrook Drive, Kensington, MD 20895.
The conference is free of charge. This year, our 20 classes are grouped into specific ""tracks": Immigration; Technology & Genealogy; Beginning Genealogy; FamilySearch Family Tree; Intermediate/Advanced Research. Attendees can attend their class of choice, or follow all the sessions in a specific track.
The keynote speaker will be Tad Hogan, Honorary Board Member of the Baltimore Immigration Memorial Foundation, addressing the topic, Baltimore Immigration: The Port, The People, The Story. Seating is limited and registration is required. For class descriptions and registration information, see
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WDC FHC News
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Upcoming Classes
Saturday, February 22, 10:00-noon
Seminar to Commemorate Black History Month
Presenters: African-American Focus Group
This seminar is being held in conjunction with the Temple Visitors' Center commemoration of Black History Month. Please note that these topics are inclusive and pertinent to all researchers:
Session 1: "I'm Not Who I Think I Am!" - How DNA testing has changed my research strategies and my understanding of my heritage.
Session 2: "Sharing My History" - Presentations on how to share what we learn in our research.
Session 3: "Gathering My History" - Research tips.
NOTE: This seminar will be held at the Temple Visitors' Center at 9900 Stoneybrook Drive, Kensington, MD 20895 (2 driveways away from our FHC).
Saturday, March 15, 9:30-10:30
Birth, Marriages, Deaths, and Alternative Records
Presenter: Rebecca Koford
What to do when the vital record doesn't exist? Join Rebecca Koford to explore alternative sources which may hold the information you are seeking.
Saturday, April 26, 9:30-10:30
DAR Library: Research in Person and Online
Presenter: Julia Coldren-Walker
The DAR Library is a treasure trove of genealogical information,and it is in our backyard! This informative session will explain what resources are available at the Library, those which can be accessed online and those available at the library.
Saturday, May. 17,9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
Strategies for Discovering Your Enslaved Ancestors
Presenter: Aaron Dorsey
Discover effective research techniques and strategies for identifying the last slave holding family of your ancestor.
All classes are free of charge, but registration is requested.
* Join a Focus Group to Enhance Your Research Skills *
Beginning Genealogy: weekly on Tuesday mornings at 10:00. Contact Lorraine Minor at [email protected] for further information.
DNA Group: No meetings in February.
RootsMagic Users Group: Meetings are monthly, on the 2nd Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
Irish Group: bi-weekly meetings on the 1st, 3rd & 5th Tuesday evenings at 7:00.
African-American Group: weekly on Monday mornings, 9:30.
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Uncover Hidden Clues in Obituaries
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by Gena Philibert-Ortega & Michael J. Neill
- Analyze Obituaries for Genealogy Clues
- There's More to Death than Just an Obituary
- Don't Just Research That One Day
For the full article with newspaper examples, click here.
Source: GenealogyBank.com blog, January 29, 2014
For a link to Obituary Central, an obituary database for finding obituaries and performing cemetery searches, click here.
Tips from Michael J. Neill:
The next time you read an old obituary that you think is not helpful, stop at the end of every sentence. Ask yourself:
- would this fact have generated a record?
- have I looked for those records generated by the facts in this obituary?
- how would the informant have known this detail?
- is there a chance this statement is correct?
- are the details in chronological order?
- would one person have had first hand knowledge of all this information?
- are there any details in this obituary that are inconsistent?
Source: Genealogy Tip of the Day, January 14, 2014
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Facebook for Genealogy: Posts aka Queries
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There are now several thousand genealogy groups on Facebook. Some are for commercial enterprises and some are for researching in a specific locale or for a specific topic or surname. They are all community forums in which we can participate and help one another with our research. Social networking on Facebook is a great way to meet others, to teach others, and to help others.
In order to make it a productive and helpful tool for our research, there are several things we should all put into regular practice. Writing a well-crafted post or query is important in order to receive a well-crafted answer. If the question is important enough to you to ask in the first place, it should be important enough to ask it well.
Types of Posts and Queries
- About an individual
- About a family group
- About research in a specific locality
- About research with a specific record type
- About research for a specific topic
- About research for an ethnic group
- About research for a religion
- About research methodology
- About help with technology for genealogy
- About help with photos, letters, diaries, Bibles, and other mementos
- And many more
For the full article, including how to write an effective post, click here.
Source: Cyndi's List Blog, January 27. 2014
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Approach Your Research Like a Pro
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 | | Approach Your Family History Research Like A Pro |
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Understanding Military Terms
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by Beth Foulk
If you've attempted military research or genealogy no doubt you've run headlong into the many descriptive names of military units. And maybe you, like me, have come away scratching your head.
I know I had to take a big step back from my research to first understand what the different types of units were and what that meant for my ancestor's experience in the war.
Today I offer a brief description of some of the key terms you'll find in hopes of making your journey through this vocabulary and your research a little easier.
- Militias vs. "state guards" and "home guards"
- Volunteers
- Draftees
- Regular Army
In this article, each of these units is fully described, and Make sure additional references are listed at the end, click here.
Source: Genealogy Decoded, January 27, 2014
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2014 Tech Trends for Genealogy
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by Thomas MacEntee
Many of the emerging technologies you could expect to see in 2014 will most likely have some impact on us as genealogists:
- Tablets and Mobile Devices
- DNA Testing
- Big Data and Predictive Data
- Privacy
- Lifestreaming
- Life Consolidation
- Storytelling
- Beacon Technology
- Wearables
- Handwriting Recognition
- Innovator Summit - RootsTech
Read the details of this very forward-thinking article here.
Source: Geneabloggers, January 21, 2014
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DNA Testing & Finding Ancestors
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Do you want to know if others with the same surname as you share a common ancestor? Do you have an uncertain family paper trail or a personal history mystery? Genealogical DNA testing is becoming a popular choice for those who are interested in their family histories, their ancestral make-up or their historic country of origin.
Read the full article, which describes various DNA tests and provides links to testing companies, here. Source: FamilySearch Blog, January 13, 2014
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My Ancestors Changed Their Names - Now What?
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by Anne Gillespie Mitchell
What happens when you have relatives that came to America in the early 1900s, but through immigration their names were changed to sound/appear more "American?" Records become hard to find, before and after.
This article describes in detail the following 10 tips for researching immigrant names, and provides links to additional articles.
- Use the Internet to help you determine the ethnic equivalent of an ancestor's name.
- Study the alphabet of the country of origin.
- Look for literal translations.
- Lengthen and shorten names.
- Try a wildcard search in which you use asterisks to replace some of the letters in a name.
- Search by criteria.
- Follow your ancestor backwards by address in a city directory - you may get lucky and discover that, while the name changed, the residence remained the same.
- Check immigration records and passports carefully - at times they may include notations indicating a previous name change.
- Try maiden names.
- Listen for stories.
Read the full article here.
Source: Ancestry.com Blog, January 14, 2014
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Wikipedia + Google Translate = New Information Sources
| | by Miriam J. Robbins
I found my ancestor Wijbren Jelles DOUMA's death certificate on AlleFriezen.... Wommels was a location unfamiliar to me in my research, so I looked it up on Wikipedia. There wasn't a lot of information, about Wommels so I did a Google search to find out more about that village.
In my results, it appeared in the Dutch version of Wikipedia, and there was a lot more information available there. As I looked at the Dutch Wikipedia page, Google Translate started translating it. Google Translate is available automatically on your Chrome Browser. If you don't use Chrome, you can go to the Google Translate page and enter the URL of the page you wish to translate, and it will do so.
For the full article, including screen shots of this search process, click here.
Source: AnceStories, January 21, 2014
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From Mouth to Ear...
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by Michael J. Neill
When using census records--both searching and interpreting--think about HOW that word got to your screen.
- Your ancestor said it.
- The census enumerator heard it.
- The enumerator thought about it.
- The enumerator wrote it down in his notes.
- The enumerator put it in his actual census report.
- It was microfilmed.
- It was digitized.
And maybe somewhere in there is was transcribed or indexed, in which case it was read. At any (or every) point in the process there could have been a misunderstanding. Multiple misunderstandings compound errors and result in entries that are a far cry from what was said by your ancestor.
Source: Genealogy Tip of the Day, January 30, 2014
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Genealogy "Tips of the Day"
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by Michael John Neill
A Really Short Marriage? Never discount the possibility that your ancestor was married more times than you think he was. An unknown (to you) spouse could have died very shortly after the marriage and, for any of a number of reasons, never have been mentioned. For women this usually means their last name changed or may not be what you think it should be. For men the marriage may be a little more difficult to locate. But never assume that there was "only one."
Was Their Last Name Fixed? There are regions of Europe where last names were not passed from father to child. In some regions, particularly Scandanavia and parts of northern Germany, children were given a last name (a patronym) that was based upon their father's name. Some men who went in the Swedish miltary had "military" last names. And in some regions, the family's last name "went" with the farm on which they lived. Usually in the United States, last names passed from father to child. But that's not always true when one crosses the pond.
Minor Children of Civil War Soldiers. Did your relative die in the Civil War and leave minor children behind? If so, the child (via his or her guardian) may have received a pension. That pension may provide solid evidence of the child's date of birth and some information about the widow. The pension records would be federal records. If a guardian was appointed, those records would have been created by a local court.
There Never Was a Stone. If you cannot find a tombstone for your ancestor in that cemetery where you know they are buried, ask yourself how certain you are of their burial in that cemetery. Then if you are absolutely positive the ancestor was buried there, consider: there may never have been a stone for financial or other reasons; there may have only been a wooden marker which has since deteriorated. Not everyone has a tombstone.
Local Railroad? If your genealogy "problem" is during a period when railroads were in operation, do you know where the nearest train station was for your ancestor? Do you know nearby stops along the way? People could hop a train to elope, look for work, or simply leave home and never come back.
Did Grandma Emigrate With Another Child? I almost failed to locate the immigration to the United States of a widowed ancestor. Nanke Albers Bruns "hopped on the boat" when her last child immigrated to the United States in the 1860s. I had not thought to even look for her and there she was, listed on the same manifest with her son (my uncle). If I hadn't bothered to look for the son, I might not have found her.
One more reason to look for those siblings, even when you think you don't need to.
Lines Over a Letter? If you see a single line over one letter in a name in a document, it usually means that the letter was actually used twice in the name and not just once. This notation was not used everywhere. Example: a "Fanny" written as "Fany" with a line over the "n."
Every Godparent, Every Sponsor. If your ancestral family were members of a denomination that practiced infant baptism, do you pay attention to the names of sponsors at the baptisms of family members? There's a good chance those sponsors are relatives. This can be a good technique when researching new immigrant families in the area of settlement.
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Research Tips & Resources
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Researching Ancestors in the Canadian Census, 1871-1921
C anadian census returns contain the official enumeration of the population of Canada, making them one of the most useful sources for genealogical research in Canada. Click for full article here.
A link to a French-Canadian genealogy podcast is here.
Just Google It!
Google is a great tool for genealogists to use. Here are just a few of the ways that using Google can help with your genealogy research. Click here.
Polish Archives
Archival resources online from Poland can be found here. The site has a few menu pages in English; all the images of original records are also in Polish. Use Google Translate for language help.
Source: Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, January 27, 2014
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Thank you for subscribing to Generations. We hope this publication will motivate you to successfully begin or continue your family history research. We would like to hear from you! Please submit your questions, research tips, and favorite websites to us at [email protected]
Sincerely,
Carol Petranek, Newsletter Editor
Linda & Kurt Christensen
Gary Petranek
Co-Directors, Washington DC Family History Center
10000 Stoneybrook Drive, PO Box 49
Kensington, MD 20895
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