| 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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WDC FHC News
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Thursday Night Workshops
Skill Workshops will continue on Thursday nights at 7:30 with one-on-one assistance in using genealogy tools (i.e., websites, databases).
Saturday Classes
Saturday, June 20, 9:30 a.m.
Linda White, Co-Author: Back There, Then, a Historical and Genealogical Memoir
Linda will share her insights into composing a family narrative and organizing the myriads of pieces of information into a meaningful and well-written memoir.
Saturday, July 18, 9:30 a.m.
Rebecca Koford: Land Records: Rich Resources for your Research
Rebecca will explain indepth the type information in land records, where to find them, and how to use the data to further your research.
No Classes in August
We invite you to join us! No registration is required. For further information, call the FHC at 301-587-0042 or email: info@wdcfhc.org
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WDC FHC Focus Group Schedule
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Join a Focus Group to Enhance Your Research Skills
African-American: weekly on Monday mornings at 10:00.
Beginning Genealogy: weekly on Tuesday mornings at 10:00. Contact Lorraine Minor at ldgene@verizon.net for further information.
DNA Group: Now on summer break; meetings will resume in September, bi-weekly the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at 7:00. Next meetings will be September 9 and 23.
Eastern European Group: Meetings are monthly on the 4th Saturday at noon; focus countries: Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovenia, Ukraine, and Belarus.
Irish Group: bi-weekly meetings on the 1st, 3rd & 5th Tuesday evenings at 7:00.
RootsMagic Users Group: Monthly meetings on the 2nd Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
All are welcome - no registration needed.
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Land Records for Genealogists: Deeds, Patents and Grants. What's the Difference?
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Land records are a gold mine for genealogists. They should be one of the standard record groups to search along with census records, vital records, probate, etc. Among the many documents you will run across during land and property research are deeds, patents, and grants. Understanding the difference between them is crucial for genealogists. Let's take a quick look at what each term means so we understand what we are looking at when we find one of these documents.
Deeds, patents, and grants are documents which officially transfer ownership, or title, of property. Who is originating the transfer of ownership determines whether the document is a deed, patent, or grant.
Patents and Grants
The originator of a patent or grant is either the federal government or a proprietor (think William Penn). The initial transfer of title from the federal government is usually called a patent. Generally transfers from proprietors are called grants. But depending on the time period and locality, they may be called patents. They're both the same thing just a different word....
Deeds
A deed is also a document which transfers title or ownership of property from one person (or entity) to another. These are always transfers of ownership after the initial transfer from the federal government....
Click here to read the full article.
Source: The Indepth Genealogist
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by Jim Bartlett, DNA Specialist
[Note: To help readers better understand the use of DNA in genealogy research, this newsletter will feature extracts of monthly posts from Jim Bartlett's new blog, Segment-ology.]
Segments: Bottom-Up
This blog post looks at the segments you got from your ancestors. It will be an effort to outline what you should expect from various ancestors - to give you an overview of how you got your segments, and how they are arranged. Your DNA is like a big jigsaw puzzle, with many different and unique pieces - this will let you see a picture that might help you solve the puzzle. Of course, your picture will be somewhat different. DNA is very random, and there is wide variation in what you actually got. Nevertheless, there are averages, and there are some rules. I hope this post will give you an understanding of the big picture, as well as some detail, and help you work with atDNA segments.
There are two ways to look at your DNA: Top-Down and Bottom-Up.
Top-Down is the way you got your DNA segments - from your distant ancestors (from thetop of your Tree), down to you (at the bottom of your Tree). This Top-Down explanation often includes many ancestors and DNA segments (lots of colors in the diagrams), and can get quite complex after a very few generations. I'll attempt a simple version of the Top-Down look in a separate blog post.
Bottom-Up tends to be the way we look at our DNA - we start with all of our own DNA and divide it into maternal and paternal sides; and then determine the segments from grandparents and Great grandparents, etc. We work from ourselves (at the bottom of our Tree), up the Tree as far as we can go.
This is the "look" that will be described below [click here to read the full article.]
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7 Tips on Finding Elusive Ancestors in Newspapers
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by Mary Harrell-Sesniak
Forebears who didn't hold public office, own property, or were married in churches or synagogues with lost or private records, are difficult to document. These elusive ancestors can also be difficult to find in historical newspapers, but sometimes they can be found in creative ways. This article gives seven search tips to help find those tricky ancestors in old newspapers.
1. Pay Attention to "Please Copy" Notices
2. Understand the Differences between Newspapers
3. Name Variations
4. Spelling Variations and Name Changes
5. Overcoming Foreign Language Barriers
6. Social Notices Provide Many Clues
7. Broaden Your Searches
To read the full article with samples, click here.
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Information Overload
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If you are looking for a way to manage all the "hints" and "shaky leaves" on your family trees, this session presented at the WDCHFC annual conference on May 5, 2015 by "Cousin Russ" Worthington and DearMYRTLE can give you some new and helpful ideas. |
| 5 Tips for Researching Females in Your Tree | | |
by Anne Gillespie Mitchell
...Women can be harder to track because they didn't leave as many records behind. I have a few things I try with every female in my tree when I get stuck on maiden names and finding parents:
- Search for her married name in other people's obituaries. You might find her in a sibling's obituary that has that maiden name you are looking for. Even if you don't find the name you are looking for, make sure you research the names in the obituary. You never know what you might find.
- Look at other surnames in the household. When reviewing census records, look for unexpected surnames in the household. And if you find the family in a city directory, search for other names at the same address to see if you find in-laws or people you didn't expect.
- Look at neighbors, especially right after the wedding. Often after a couple is first married, they don't move far from home. Check the families nearby and see if they might be likely candidates for the family of the female you are researching. Then look to see if she is in the household in the previous census.
- Look through local and family histories. Family and local histories are full of names and relationships. Search for local histories in the county in our card catalog or on the place pages for that state and county.
- Check death certificates for all of a woman's children to see if her maiden name is listed. The death certificates of her children may hold a clue to the mother's maiden name. Also, look at the obituaries of the children. Some are written with a lot of detail.
Source: Ancestry.com Blog, May 1, 2015
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A Double Win (Military Naturalizations)
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by Judy G. Russell, The Legal Genealogist
It's a single volume in the records of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Volume 122, it is, of the naturalization records of the court....
[There is an amended statute that reads]...if you served in the American Army or Navy or Philippine Constabulary during World War I and you were honorably discharged, you could be naturalized without first filing a declaration of intent to become a citizen and without proving that you'd lived in the United States for five years.
It was, then, a way for military veterans to get to become citizens faster and with fewer prerequisites and less paperwork than anyone else.
So... did anybody actually take advantage of this law?
About 150 or so, in just this one district (and every district should have its own records of these)...
Each of the records, then, tells a double story: a story, first, of an immigrant, with the usual wonderful genealogical information about date and place of birth, arrival in the U.S. and the like; but a story as well of military service, often with specifics about the unit and the time frame - for soldiers whose records may have been lost in the 1973 fire at the Federal Records Center in St. Louis....
With this kind of detail on an ancestor's service, we can get a unit history and perhaps fill in some of the gaps despite the fire.
Not to mention having the genealogical data that a naturalization document produces all by itself.
A double win, in a thin volume of court records.
The full article can be read here.
[Note: This is image #29 is from Volume 122 referenced in this article. Volume 122 can be found at FamilySearch here. The Volume begins with an alphabetical name index, with the records following.]
Source: The Legal Genealogist, May 20, 2015
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Conclusion or Confusion?
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by Elizabeth Shown Mills
What, exactly, is a valid conclusion for students of history? Are hypotheses legitimate? Do our theories have to meet the scientific standard?1 Is it enough for a conclusion to be "more likely than not" (aka, a preponderance of the evidence) or believable beyond a shadow of a doubt, to borrow standards used by courts of law?
Every assertion we make as history researchers must be supported by proof. However, proof is not synonymous with a source. Reliable proof is a composite of information drawn from multiple sources-all being quality materials,independently created, and accurately representing the original circumstances.
In historical research, there is no such thing as proof that can never be rebutted. We were not there when history happened, and the eyewitness accounts of those who were-if and when those accounts exist-may not be reliable. Every conclusion we reach about circumstances, events, identities, or kinships is simply a decision we base upon the weight of the evidence we have assembled. Our challenge is to research our topic thoroughly, accumulate the best information possible and to train ourselves to skillfully analyze and interpret what it has to say.
Typically, our research results in a conclusion that is one of three types, each of which carries a different weight: Hypothesis, Theory, Proof.
To read the full article, click here.
Source: Quick Tips: The Blog at Evidence Explained, May 28, 2015
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| Tips for Finding Those Who Died in Military Service | | by Michael J. Leclerc
Since the American Revolution started in 1775, it is estimated that the United States has lost almost 665,000 men and women in military conflicts. Here are some tips to help you find information about your ancestors who died in military conflicts.
1. Pension Files
2. Service Records
3. National Personnel Records Center
4. American Battle Monuments Commission
5. Newspapers
To access the post with links and detailed information, click here.
Source: Mocavo Blog, Michael J. Leclerc's Genealogy News, 22 May 2015 |
Directories: Time Stands Still
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The use of city directories is invaluable for all family history researchers. They offer a moment in time of the businesses, careers, shops, professionals in any given community. Besides a person's name and address will be their occupation. If they paid for an advertisement in the city directory, even better, since it offers even more details.
Each city directory is different over the years and where it was produced. Some cover not only business people, but the wives, and listing of associates for that business. Home and business addresses can be listed. Remember, that information is for that year of the directory. Of course the information would most likely have been gathered from the year before, since most city directories came out in the early part of each new year.
The online site: United States Historical Online Directories has each state listed. Click on the state of ancestral interest, and available counties with city directories is listed. Not every county has a listing of directories. Use then the listings on the left side for that state of state-wide directories. These will cover all the medium to large sized towns and cities with complete directory.
To read the full article, click here.
Source: FamilyTree.com
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Genealogy Tip of the Day
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Served from a Nearby State.
Many men who served in the United States Civil War did not enlist in the state where they resided. For a variety of reasons a man may have enlisted in a unit from a neighboring state. Usually it was to help the state where he enlisted meet it's quota.
But don't dismiss a potential reference to your soldier ancestor simply because he's from the "wrong" state.
Names Out of Order
If your ancestor had a first, middle, and last name, keep in mind that it is possible that those names could be in the wrong order in a record. If the names are in the wrong order on the record, then the ancestor will appear in the index under the wrong "last name." If the index does not include the last name of interest, consider searching for that relative with their first or middle name as their last name.
No Relationships Before 1880
In pre-1880 United States census records, the relationship of each person to the head of household is not given. Do not assume that the census entry is husband, wife, and their joint biological children. The family structure may not be that straightforward.
Unfinished Stones
When encountering stones with incomplete inscriptions, don't automatically assume that the person with the incomplete inscription is actually buried there. It could be that they were buried somewhere else after the stone was set. They may even have remarried. Or they could be buried underneath the incomplete tombstone and the inscription was simply never completed.
Recorded Where It Happened
Vital records are recorded in the location where the event took place, not where the person was living. If the nearest hospital was in an adjacent county or state, that's where the birth will be recorded. If a parent was visiting a child out of state and passed away while travelling, that location is where the death certificate will be recorded. If you can't find a certificate for an even where the person was living at the time, consider that the event might have taken place elsewhere-at a hospital, nursing home, care facility, etc.
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Research Tips & Resources
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RootsBid
is a community-driven site allowing participants to submit and bid on family history projects around the globe, especially in specific locations that are inaccessible to the individual requesting assistance, or research skills and resources are lacking. RootsBid is a FamilySearch certified application.
Canadiana
Search digital collections of archives, libraries and museums:
http://search.canadiana.ca/
OldNYC: Mapping Historical Photos
This website is a map of New York City, with historical photos embedded: http://www.oldnyc.org/#
French Genealogy Books
A new series of books has been published: click here.
Poznan Project
A research online site for the former Posen / Poznan Province - part of Prussia is titled The Poznan Project. It covers the transcribed marriage records for the area from 1800 to 1899 (the 19th century). There are over 1.2 million marriage records in the database to search. These records cover the parishes of Posen. It is figured that approximately 75% of the known or available marriage records have been transcribed.
Commonly Used Nicknames
Ancestry is publishing a very helpful series of posts reviewing commonly-used nicknames. Completing the series:
A-C is here
D-F is here
G-K is here
L-P is here
Q-Z is here
Source: Ancestry.com Blog
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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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