Are you wondering if your family record has already been extracted and available somewhere on the internet?  It just might be!  FamilySearch has announced that they have added 119 Million NEW FREE RECORDS!  Comprising over 64 million names, the foreign countries include China, Czech Republic, Canada, Costa Rica, Jamaica, etc.  There are many U.S. state [...]

If you had a birth record for a child that gives the date and place of birth and his parents’ names, would that be enough?  Would you stop there or would you look for other records?  I hope you said you’d look for other records and sources. If you had a birth record AND a [...]

Remember when I said that the only thing you can trust about a death certificate is that somebody died?  I was wrong.  Somebody might not have even died! Gordon L. Remington, professional genealogist, related the following to me: “Even in 1987 it took so long to order a death certificate from the State of New [...]

Thomas Francis Farrell died in 1920.  I obtained a copy of his death record from the Massachusetts State Archives.  The record reveals his father’s name was Michael Farrell, his mother Mary Havey.  When I compared Thomas’ death record with his marriage record, however, I found he reported his mother was Nancy, not Mary. Who can [...]

Have you looked for a death record and couldn’t find it, maybe because vital registration didn’t exist for that period of time, so you gave up?  There’s more than one way to skin a cat!  I’ve found records of deaths in probate records, obituaries, cemetery records, and even a state gazetteer! Trust me, you will [...]