Journal
32 articles on finding ancestors, reading records, and keeping the story with the evidence.
August 10, 2023 · Tracy Hall
Do you have a family picture that no one knows who the guy in the back on the left is? While it may not be a guy or in the back row, we all have a picture or pictures where we have no idea who that one person is. Actually, have you ever had a picture where you only knew your r...
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July 30, 2023 · Christopher Hall
This is the third installment in our on-going series about Robert Austin Shearn - A Criminal in the Family.
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July 20, 2023 · Tracy Hall
Have you heard of the Ghost Army of WWII? Have you heard of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops? If you have not it is not surprising because these special troops were kept a secret for 50 years. The 1100 men of this troop were put together as a deception unit that created fa...
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July 10, 2023 · Tracy Hall
What do you know about the people who went from Scotland to Ireland and then ended up in America? What started the immigration? Why are there at least three different names these people go by? With all these changes it is no wonder it is a task to find your ancestors from thes...
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June 30, 2023 · Christopher Hall
Last time we provided a short introduction to Robert Austin Shearn (1877-1940). He lived a troubled life and got into quite a bit of mischief. In that post, I wrote that Robert’s mother, Arabella Cowley, was Robert’s father, Charles Hall Shearn’s, first wife. She was Charles’...
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June 20, 2023 · Tracy Hall
Do you have a brick wall that you cannot seem to break down? What steps have you taken to break it down? I know personally that brick walls can be a lot harder to break down than we can even contemplate sometimes. Both my husband and I have had brick walls that have not been e...
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June 10, 2023 · Tracy Hall
It has been estimated that “50 to 90 percent” of people in west Scotland have some Irish ancestry
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April 11, 2023 · Tracy Hall
Did you attend RootsTech 2023? There were so many different options for sessions and classes. Like "Using DNA to Determine Relationships in 2023," "How to Filter and Sort Your DNA Matches," and many more. While I was not able to catch as many sessions as I had hoped, I was ver...
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March 21, 2023 · Tracy Hall
What do you know about your Archaic Human DNA? Before Homo sapiens became the dominant and only surviving human species there were also archaic human species. The period of time for these species dates back as far as 400,000 years and as recently as 15,000 years. As more and m...
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March 10, 2023 · Tracy Hall
Vikings! What comes to mind when you think of Vikings? People who inhabited Scandinavia, spoke the same language, similar craft styles and traditions, one people. Yet, the Vikings that lived around 800 AD were not a single population. They ruled through local kingdoms and lord...
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February 19, 2023 · Tracy Hall
Have you used naming traditions while trying to break down your brick walls? Have they worked out for you? If you have brick walls that are back in the 1800s or before, I suggest you try using these traditions. Of course, not every family used them, or they used them and then...
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February 10, 2023 · Tracy Hall
In my almost 50 years of life butter has gone through many phases of is it good for you or is it bad. My grandma, who was raised making her family’s butter, always said, don’t listen to these news people, hard work will kill you before butter will. While visiting Ireland it di...
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