Category Archives: Tip of the Week

Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week Free Education Series from the National Archives

by Charles Hansen
TIP OF THE WEEK –
FREE EDUCATIONAL SERIES FROM THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES  The National Archives has loads of fantastic records that can help your research, but did you know they also host seminars as well? Every year, the National Archives hosts  a free, educational genealogy event broadcast on YouTube. The sessions offer family history research tools on federal records for all skill levels. Join thousands of family historians participating during the live broadcast event. Presentations are pre-recorded, but viewers may ask questions during each session’s YouTube video premiere. The presenter will respond in real time. After the initial showing, the video and handouts will remain available on this web page and YouTube.

There are still three broadcasts coming, one is today. June 4 at 1 p.m. ET — Captured German Records Related to American Prisoners of War During World War II June 18 at 1 p.m. ET — Alien Files (A-Files): Researching Immigrant Ancestors at the National Archives June 25 at 1 p.m. ET — World War II Enemy Alien Records Related to Japanese Americans at the National Archives Three previous sessions are still available on the NARA YouTube channel.
June 4, 2024

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Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week Diagram your Tree in Different Ways

by Charles Hansen
TIP OF THE WEEK –
DIAGRAM YOUR TREE IN DIFFERENT WAYS GAR fillable formTry visualizing your tree in new ways. Diagram what state or country each person was born in, or what church or religious community they joined. You may find trends. Did one line of your families move more often than others? Did one line of your family have more people die young? Did your ancestors in one line gravitate to similar jobs? What does that tell you about your family today? Get as broad or as granular as needed. For example, this circle tree chart shows the birth state of each ancestor, not just the country. May 1, 2024

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Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week New Content on Newspapers.com

by Charles Hansen

TIP OF THE WEEK –
NEW CONTENT ON NEWSPAPERS.COM Newspapers.com has added over 150 new papers from the US, Canada and Panama. Included are new US papers from Alabama, California, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. New papers have also been added for Ontario and Panama City.
April 1, 2024

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Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Day New Content in Fold3

by Charles Hansen
  TIP OF THE WEEK –
NEW CONTENT ON FOLD3  During the Civil War, many benevolent and philanthropic groups ran homes where disabled soldiers could live and receive care on a short-term basis. In 1865, Congress approved the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. Later, the name was changed to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.

Fold3 recently added records for soldiers who resided in these homes covering 1866-1938. The collection contains records for twelve National Homes where disabled soldiers and sailors could live following the Civil War.

In addition to Fold3, Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com (full access), American Ancestors and Historygeo.com are available on the library’s computers. SGS is also a FamilySearch affiliate library which allows access to some locked records when logged on to the library’s Wi-Fi.
February 1, 2024

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Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week Civil War Regiment Research Tip

by Charles Hansen
 TIP OF THE WEEK –
FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT
AN ANCESTOR’S CIVIL WAR REGIMENT Do a national search in newspapers for the name of an American ancestor’s Civil War regiment. Letters from other soldiers in the regiment were often printed by their various hometown papers. Coverage of what the regiments were doing is often surprisingly detailed, if a bit profuse in the descriptions of their heroics. This can give you a greater picture of what your ancestors’ experiences in the war may have been like. Remember to compare them against other sources.

Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week Unique Family Gifts

by Charles Hansen

TIP OF THE WEEK –
CREATE UNIQUE FAMILY GIFTS FROM FREE PRINTABLES

Need an inexpensive, but personal gift idea? The Library of Congress has dozens of blank and adaptable antique family record sheets. The images are in the public domain. You can print them off on good paper, paste in photos and create a memorable gift for each family member. Search for “family record” on the Library of Congress website. Here are a couple examples.

Images courtesy the Library of Congress

Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week Legalese Got You Down? Ask AI to Help

by Charles Hansen

TIP OF THE WEEK –
LEGALESE GOT YOU DOWN? ASK AI TO HELP Use AI to help you understand legal language in older document. If you are getting confused by the complex language of a legal document ask Chat GBT to help. Ask the AI to “summarize the following text” and type the text of the document and paste it into the chat GBT. This can’t account for specific legal rules of the past, but it should at least help you understand what the document actually says.
November 1, 2023

Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week Registrar’s Records

by Charles Hansen
TIP OF THE WEEK –
REGISTRAR’S RECORDS …MORE THAN JUST DEEDS
The county deed record books sometimes have record topics other than land. Be sure to check any miscellaneous books held by the office. I once found my great grandfather’s school graduation exam results in one.
October 1, 2023

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Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week School Records

by Charles Hansen
TIP OF THE WEEK –
SEEK SCHOOL RECORDS
Records kept by schools often list all the students attending the school and ages over time, as well as the parents names of each child. If you have a child in your tree whose death you can’t confirm — maybe they show up in one census and disappear in the next. You may be able to narrow down a likely year of death in school records. When did they disappear from the school attendance sheet? That may be the answer. These records can also paint a colorful picture of what the conditions in the school were like. If the teacher answered an annual survey question, ”What means of ventilation — good or bad?” by triple underlining her answer of “bad” year after year, that tells you a lot about your ancestor’s learning environment.
September 1, 2023

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Seattle Genealogical Society Tip of the Week Need Context? Try a Newspaper

by Charles Hansen

TIP OF THE WEEK –
NEED CONTEXT? TRY A NEWSPAPER

When you run into a word or term you don’t understand that you believe is related to the time and place your ancestors lived, but you can’t tell the meaning, try searching their local newspaper if it is available. Often some local terms, expressions and even details about policies don’t make it into history books or even Google. Here are a few examples of things that provide context that you can find in the local paper that may not be available elsewhere: the details of the state pension rules, usages of local expressions, when a community opened their poor farm, or the name of a school or church and when it opened.