Most of us have used Cyndi's list at one time or another. It would be difficult not to hear of the website when doing this sort of work. This year the website turned 15 and performed some major upgrades. There are over 300,000 links now on the site including yours truly. Cyndi Ingle Howells started the website and has maintained it since 1996. This huge website must be run on a commercial server which costs her around $300 a month. Some of that cost is taken care of from advertisers and donations but not all of it. If you have benefited from the resource, consider donating what you can to keep...


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There are three major divisions in time when we think about passenger lists. Before 1820, there was no law that a ship's captain had to keep any type of passenger list. Many of the ones that were filled out were lost or destroyed. This explains many of the trips your ancestors took that cannot be located. The great migration between 1820 and 1890 comprises a lot of the passenger lists that are out there. During this time period, the laws were very lenient regarding what had to be recorded. Often times you will see only a name, approximate age of a passenger, and where they came from. By 1890,...


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If you have ancestors that were in Iowa in 1925, you should check out the 1925 Iowa State census. The census is available on ancestry.com. It's not clear to everyone, but there is a second page to the census that contains a wealth of information. That second page lists parents full names, ages, birth locations, and marriage locations. The census can be found at the following link... http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1084. This is one case where a State census can contain more useful information than the national census. Todd White Founder and Principal Researcher Family History...


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Performing searches for ancestors on google can be frustrating and tedious. You usually end up with more results than you can possibly review. The goal is to get fewer results and have them be more relevant. Every search engine is designed differently. It is important to understand how each one works and be able to master it. Google is of course the granddaddy of all search engines. There are a few tips and tricks that I will outline here. Some of them are not so well known. These are in no particular order... 1. Using "site:" followed by a URL, followed by a keyword, will search for that...


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For the ultimate database on New York research, you should consult italiangen.org. Don't let the name fool you. Although they specialize in Italian ancestry, this website has vital records for all New Yorkers. The database includes naturalization records, birth, marriage and death records. The site also includes a searchable surname database. A good number of these records cannot be found at ancestry.com or any other online database. That is what makes this a valuable resource. You can become a member and they are always looking for volunteers to add to their ever expanding database. italiangen.org...


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One helpful tool on ancestry.com that is often overlooked is the suggested records section. When you have found your ancestor in a record such as a census report. ancestry will show you a summary of what is in that record. To the right of the summary is a list of what ancestry.com suggests as related records. Now this list of possible related records is generated by two things. First of all, ancestry is using your search keywords in order to find what they think may be more records of the same person. Secondly, the site is taking into account other users who have saved that document. This...


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Ever wonder what those numbers are that are written over your ancestors name on a passenger list? You may have some mysterious numbers that are written over your ancestors information. They seem as though they were written in as an afterthought. When your ancestor filed for their Declaration of Intent, the Courts would have pulled his or her passenger list to make sure that they entered the Country legally and to verify the information. They sometimes will write the Date that they pulled the passenger list and write in the certificate of arrival number. These numbers and Dates can be used...


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We have census records that tell us where our ancestors were living every ten years. What about the time in between? Understanding what happened to our ancestors is like reconstructing a movie. The census records are frames of that movie with a lot of missing frames in between. If they lived in a major City, it is possible to locate them in the City Directories. These will list the address and most of the time an occupation. This is a great way of keeping track of them and narrowing the time frame down of when they moved around. If you google the City name and the word directory, you may find...


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Can’t find what you’re looking for on ancestry.com? This can be frustrating when you know that the ancestor is out there but you can’t locate the record. Ancestry.com has a powerful search engine that allows everyone to link to millions of records. This article is aimed at some techniques that will help you utilize that search engine to its fullest extent. 1. Performing a basic search. First of all, you may not know that you are automatically directed to a newer version of the search engine on ancestry. You have the option to access the old search engine that still exists. Most professional...


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