| FHC Info | |
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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If you are planning to attend our annual Family History conference on Saturday, May 3, (9:00-3:15) please be sure to register soon. Seating is limited and we are almost full!
Choose from 20 classes which are grouped into ""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.
For class descriptions and registration information, see
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WDC FHC News
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Upcoming Classes
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 ldgene@verizon.net for further information.
DNA Group: Bi-weekly on Wednesday evenings at 7:00; next meetings are March 12 & March 26.
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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DNA Conference to Be Held in Maryland
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Thanks to Jim Bartlett, our WDCFHC DNA Specialist, who sent the following announcement. Jim will be presenting a session on Triangulation at this conference.
The Institute for Genetic Genealogy is pleased to announce the 2014 International Genetic Genealogy Conference, which will be held August 15-17 in Washington, DC at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center. An outstanding group of genetic genealogists and population geneticists have agreed to speak at this conference. Representatives from all of the major genetic genealogy companies have agreed to give presentations. Dr. Spencer Wells, who heads the National Geographic Genographic Project, will be the keynote speaker. We are grateful to these speakers who are willing to share their knowledge with the genetic genealogy community. The main portion of the conference will be held on August 16 and 17. Family Tree DNA will hold a workshop in the evening on August 15. Other genetic genealogy companies possibly will also be holding workshops on August 15 during the afternoon. See www.i4gg.org for details about the conference and to register for it. The registration is $85. Meals and lodging will be available at the conference center but must be purchased at least one month in advance. For a preliminary conference schedule see http://i4gg.org/conference-schedule. |
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Dangerous Pitfalls of Death Records
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Death records are one of the most commonly used sources for genealogists. They have been around, in one form or another, for centuries. But one must be careful to use them properly. There are some pitfalls in using them.
1. Records may have little identifying information.
During the early years of statewide registration of vital records, the information on death records is often quite thin. Parents' names are often not given, nor is information on place of birth. Often the name and date and place of death is the only information recorded. It is not until the twentieth century that you may get more information, and even then the information will vary from place to place.
2. Beware church and sexton's records.
Church records of burials and cemetery sexton's records are often a good substitute for death records, especially in times and places where death records are not available. Remember that these are usually dates of burial, not dates of death. Some cemetery records are not burial records, but transcriptions of grave markers. Dates carved into grave markers are usually dates of death, but they can be in error. There is no "Wite-Out" for stone, when a carver made a mistake, it was literally etched in stone.
3. Deaths at institutions often have less information.
Many of our ancestors died at almshouses or state hospitals. Unfortunately, the death records of those who died in such institutions often provide less information. The informant on such records is often the institution itself. If the patient or inmate did not provide extensive information upon admittance (or if the institution did not ask for it), then there will be less information on the death record.
4. Informant's information can be in error.
There can be issues with the data provided by an informant, especially when it comes to things like parents' names and places of birth. Informants are often in shock or suffering from grief. In their shock and grief, they may unintentionally give incorrect answers to the questions they are being asked.
5. There may be multiple "originals."
Once statewide vital records registration began, you will often find multiple "original" records. For example, in New England, vital records are recorded on the town level, and a copy is sent to the state. The town copies were created from the returns of death reported by physicians and undertakers. Sometimes both sent a return to the town. Thus, there may be as many as four "original" documents, and the information may not be the same on each document, so you must examine each.
Source: Mocavo Blog, February 20, 2014
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FamilySearch RootsTech 2014 Videos
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FamilySearch released several brief videos at the 2014 RootsTech conference. They can be accessed here.
 | | Every Family Has A Story: Discover Yours #RootsTech 2014 |
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Looking for Bonds
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by Judy G. Russell, The Legal Genealogist
Judy Russell recently presented a Legacy Family Tree webinar,
The Ties That Bond, which described various legal bonds (marriage bonds, bastardy bonds, official bonds, appearance and bail bonds) that can offer vital research clues which may not be found in other documents. In a follow-up blogpost, Judy explains further where such bonds can be located, and explains why they are among the very best genealogical records we might find and so very underused as resources. This post can be found here.
Source: The Legal Genealogist, February 20, 2014
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Where Are the Women in Naturalization Records?
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by Lisa Louise Cooke
...In 1855, a law was enacted establishing that women who weren't ineligible for other reasons (like race) were automatically made citizens when their husbands were naturalized. There was no extra paperwork or court costs. Their husbands' papers (in combination with their marriage records) served as proof of the women's citizenship, even though before 1906, you will not usually find the women's names even listed on their husbands' applications.
This represented a step forward for most married women, but not all. If a husband didn't naturalize, the wife couldn't naturalize without him. On the flip side, if a U.S.-born woman married a foreigner, she often lost her U.S. citizenship, whether or not she left the country....Naturalization laws were not applied evenly, and some women got their citizenship anyway.
The full article is found here.
Source: Lisa Louise Cooke's Genealogy Gems, February 25, 2014
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Family History in Sub-Saharan Africa
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In an age when it's difficult for many of us to imagine not having a cell phone, 40% of the people on earth have no written family history. Dr. Osei-Aguemang Bonsu of FamilySearch explained the challenges that statistic presents in his [RootsTech] address titled: Doing Family History in Sub Saharan Africa....The challenge of creating written family histories is time and time is running out. Dr. Bonsu is from Ghana but the problem for genealogists is the same in the other 36 countries that make up Sub Saharan Africa.
Time is the problem because young men are moving to the cities. The old men of the villages, the only source of family and village history, have no one to transfer history to. When they die the history will be lost. There is a saying in Africa: "When and old man dies, a library burns down."
Read what FamilySearch is doing to collect and preserve African histories and genealogical information in Africa here.
Source: FamilySearch Blog, January 13, 2014
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Creativity Required: Surnames
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When we think of tracing our family tree, we often envision following our surname back thousands of years to the first bearer of the name....Even tracing your ancestors back to the point where they first acquired surnames can be a challenge as surname spelling and pronunciation has evolved over centuries, making it unlikely that your present surname is the same as the original surname bestowed on your distant ancestor. You may have a slight spelling variation of the original name, an anglicized version, or even a completely different surname.
This may have occurred for such reasons as:
- Illiteracy
- Simplification
- Necessity
- Mispronunciation
- Desire to Fit In
- Desire to Break with the Past
- Dislike of Surname
- Fear of Discrimination
To read the full article, click here.
Source: About.com: Genealogy
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5 Things to Do With Every Record
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So you find a record. It could be through a hint or a search or something is sent to you in the mail. You attach it to your tree. Are you done? No, of course not! So what do you do before you move onto the next record?
- Source the record.
- Examine the image, not just the index.
- List all points of genealogical importance.
- What questions do you have?
- File it so you can find it again later.
Each of these five tips is explained in detail here.
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Tracing Ancestors' Trails Using Deed Records
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by William Dollarhide
To demonstrate the power of deeds in retracing the trail of an ancestor, I will present a case study of one of my own ancestors. This is a real example of the use of deeds to solve a difficult genealogical problem. If you have the problem of knowing that an ancestor was from Virginia, but do not know in which county he lived, then this example may give you an idea of how deeds can help you locate the right county. Remember, we are basing this research on the fact that there is a ninety percent chance that your ancestor owned land. Let's see if we can solve a "needle in the haystack" search for an ancestor when all we know is that he was born in Virginia in about 1788.
Source: GenealogyBlog.com
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Genealogy "Tips of the Day"
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by Michael John Neill
Collaborate with Non-Relatives. When looking for others with whom to collaborate on your research, keep in mind that there may be researchers "outside of your biological family" who may be able to assist you. Descendants of step-ancestors, in-laws, and close neighbors may have information directly related to your research or have information about sources that you have not yet accessed.
Most Adoptions Were Unofficial. Genealogists love records. But adoptions are one of those situations that present problems. Throughout much of American history adoptions were "informal" with couples simply taking the child in with no "paperwork." And when there was legal paperwork, those records are often closed. But don't be surprised if there's no "documentation" to provide evidence of an adoption. Many before the World War I era fall into the category of "unofficial."
That Preacher Was No Preacher. Parson Baker married a relative of mine in Missouri in the late 1870s. In an attempt to learn the name of the church, I decided to search for the minister in the 1880 census. After some searching, I found him, listed a a farmer. In many rural areas preachers or ministers may have had another "real" occupation and not even be listed as a "minister" in a census. That preacher you are looking for may have marrid a lot of couples and given a lot of sermons, but the census taker may have written down "farmer," "carpenter," or something else as his occupation in the censs.
Did the Country Change? If census and other records indicate your ancestor was born in more than one country, determine how stable the borders were. If national boundaries changed during your ancestor's lifetime, your ancestor may have given different places of birth depending upon when they were asking the questions.
Did Your Ancestor Look Older Than He Was?
If your ancestor's ages are inconsistent consider that he (or she) may have looked older than he actually was. It may be that he provided his age for certain records and the census taker or records clerk guessed his age for others. That's one reason ages may be inconsistent--the informants may be different and one informant may have been better informed than another. Your ancestor may have known exactly how old he was--it could be that others who did not know his age were providing information on him. Even when he was alive.
Beneficiaries Can't... Witnesses to a will cannot be beneficiaries of that will or heirs to the estate. So if your conclusion rests upon the witness to a will being the son of the person who wrote it, your conclusion probably needs some revision. Witnesses can be relatives--just not beneficiaries or heirs. A brother or brother-in-law could witness a will as long as they did not stand to inherit.
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Research Tips & Resources
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10 Databases for Slave Research
Slavery presents a huge obstacle for anyone tracing African American lineages. These online slave databases and record collections are a great resource for anyone navigating the challenge of slavery research. Click here.
Source: About: Genealogy
ScotlandsPeople - 1885 Valuation Rolls
The Valuation Rolls (VRs) for 1885 have just been added to the ScotlandsPeople website.
The new records comprise 1,441,484 indexed names/addresses and 77,238 digital images (taken from 144 volumes), and cover every kind of property that was assessed in 1885 as having a rateable value. With the addition of these latest records, ScotlandsPeople now has Valuation Rolls for 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915 and 1920. Click here.
Naturalization Index for Canada Online
This index is online and broken into naturalization records from 1915 to 1939 and another section going from 1939 to 1951. To access, click here.
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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 info@wdcfhc.org
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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