Beginning Videos

A good beginning video
Genealogy on the Cheap

Beginning Videos

Need Some Guidance? Review a Video!

When I think I've reached a dead-end, at times I go back and review the basics. Below are several videos that I utilize when I need a boost.

Free Websites for Genealogy


Writing Your Family Memoirs


Finding a Lost Relative


Methodology for Genealogical Research


Have Fun!

Need Some Guidance? Review a Video!

Back to School Time

So, September is here and the kids are going back to school. My kids are having major difficulty adjusting to the regiment of their home-schooled day. I try to make them understand that being in school for 3 hours is way better then the 8 hours I had to endure growing up. They don't quite get it yet.

But, it made me think that maybe it is time for "us" genealogists to go back to school also. Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I just don't have the time to jump into my car, travel to the local Community College, and take a class. I also don't have the cash to fork out for the class or the books. What to do ... what to do??

Did a bit of searching and I found the answer. Free Online Classes in Genealogy! Yeah me!

Brigham Young University has an excellent selection of online courses. These aren't exactly the level 500 classes, but sometimes a refresher is what we need. These are some of the classes they have:

Family History/Genealogy - Introductory
FHGEN 69 — Providing Temple Ordinances for Your Ancestors
FHGEN 70 — Introduction to Family History Research
FHGEN 75 — Writing Family History
FHGEN 80 — Helping Children Love Your Family History

Family History/Genealogy - Record Type
FHREC 71 — Family Records
FHREC 73 — Vital Records
FHREC 76 — Military Records

Family History/Genealogy - Regional and Ethnic
FHFRA 71 — France: Immigrant Origins
FHFRA 72 — France: Vital Records
FHFRA 73 — France: Reading French Handwriting
FHFRA 74 — France: Genealogical Organizations and Periodicals
FHFRA 75 — France: The Internet and French Genealogy
FHFRA 76 — French Research: Paris
FHFRA 77 — French Research: Alsace-Lorraine
FHGER 71 — Germany: Immigrant Origins
FHGER 72 — Germany: U.S. Sources and Surname Changes
FHGER 73 — Germany: Jurisdictions, Gazetteers, and Maps
FHGER 74 — Germany: Reading German Handwriting
FHGER 75 — Germany: Calendars and Feast Days
FHGER 76 — Germany: Vital Records
FHHUG 71 — Huguenot Research
FHSCA 73 — Scandinavia: Jurisdictions, Gazetteers, and Maps
FHSCA 74 — Scandinavia: Reading Gothic Script
FHSCA 75 — Scandinavia: Church Records and Feast Days
FHSCA 76 — Scandinavia: Census Records
FHSCA 77 — Scandinavia: Probate and Other Records

You can find the class lists here.

Have fun and learn something!

Back to School Time

The Ultimate Reason for Genealogy

Who is genealogy for? For me? Sure, I love doing it for myself and for others. To discover the past, those persons who made me, those persons who contributed to my makeup ... it is a fantastic journey of "OMG I'm related to that person!?!".

But, ultimately, genealogy is for my kids. I mean that in the long run sense; in the short run their only response is to say "yeah, dad, whatever!". What I discover in my research is going to be passed along to them for their use. Maybe they will take it farther, maybe they will start a DNA bank and keep track of all markers. I don't know. Even if they don't take up the "genealogy" bug, they'll still have some information on where they came from.

My main job now, as a parent, is to put as many of my memories into archive now, so my children will have ready, available genealogical information on their father they can retrieve at a later date. How many of you have begun this task?

The Ultimate Reason for Genealogy

Massachusetts Database to help in finding Jewish Roots

From a recent Boston.com article:

Many people tracing Jewish roots find stories with heartbreaking gaps as families were split apart by immigration and the horrors of the Holocaust, and records of birth, marriage, and death are often missing or deliberately destroyed.

Now, three new databases compiled by Clingan, who lives in Dedham, and others with the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston are about to go public to help Jews all over the world track their Massachusetts roots.

In the lists, every synagogue in the state is inventoried, as well as all Jewish cemeteries and newspapers, rendering the search for family a little more manageable for those starting out.

Clingan’s labor of love, which included searching through dusty archives and tapping the foggy memories of strangers to trace her grandparents’ emigration, two to Chelsea and two to Burlington, Vt., honors basic Jewish principles, she said.

The 568-item database Clingan compiled contains a listing of every congregation in the state, past and present. It says when and by whom it was founded, the various locations it occupied, as well as when it closed and what happened to its records, and tracks the many mergers among congregations, to the last surviving one.

That list is cross-referenced to a cemetery database compiled by Groton resident Alex Woodle, and a third database prepared by David Rosen of Boston that lists the state’s Jewish newspapers. The plan is eventually to convert all the information into a database format and to make it accessible using a one-step search tool, but that may take time to implement.

Links to the databases are located at JGSGB.org

Massachusetts Database to help in finding Jewish Roots

How Do I Start?

I hear this question often from clients, "How do I start to create my family tree?"

Invariably, the answer is always the same .. "you start with YOU". You are the first step, as you are going to have some information that will be necessary to begin. You know your parents' names, birth dates, places where they've resided, siblings, their parents info, etc. With this information, you can being to develop your family tree.

Step 1 .. write it all down. Capture it in written form so that you can come back to it and review (you will often!). I like to start with pre-defined forms, but I know others who start with an Excel spreadsheet with simple headings. Whatever you use, make it simple, readable, and easy accessible.

Step 2 .. begin to work backwards. Talk with everyone in your family; brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. Ask them questions about their childhood, other family, places they lived, early family stories; pretty much everything you can think of. Write down the answers, or better yet, capture it on digital recorder that can be uploaded to a hard drive. Keep it handy, as you can use it to verify facts that you find later, or to expand your base of persons in your tree.

Step 3 .. expand your tree and facts. Keep track of the "family stories" that you've found and add it to their profile. If you write the "family history" later in life, you will utilize these facts to flesh it all out.

Once you have the family tree expanded, it's now time to start verifying the facts.

Next Blog ... finding and verifying facts.

How Do I Start?

MacArthur Genealogy Services

Come follow MacArthur Genealogy Services.  I am a Professional Genealogist who works on North American research, including immigration history from Europe.  I am based in Springfield, Hampden County, Western Massachusetts, and specialize in Massachusetts and Connecticut local history.

Come check out the array of Services that I can give you.

MacArthur Genealogy Services