Journal
38 articles on finding ancestors, reading records, and keeping the story with the evidence.
May 8, 2020 · Tracy Hall
In our last blog post we looked at some words that are used in place names of towns in Ireland. As a reminder during the Gaelic period Ireland was made up of "Little Kingdoms" with boundaries, and they were named after features of the landscape. So the place-names of these kin...
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May 1, 2020 · Tracy Hall
Do you plan to go to Ireland? Maybe you just want to visit to see the beautiful landscape and the friendly people. Maybe you are going to do some genealogy. We took a trip a few years ago, and I sure wish I had known some of these terms. So here are some things you should know...
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April 28, 2020 · Tracy Hall
Did you know that it takes 72 years after a census is taken for it to be released to the public? This is something I just recently learned from my husband who was taking a genealogy class. It works out to every 10 years a new census is released. So, in 2012 the 1940 census was...
Read articleApril 28, 2020 · Tracy Hall
Did you know that it takes 72 years after a census is taken for it to be released to the public? This is something I just recently learned from my husband who was taking a genealogy class. It works out to every 10 years a new census is released. So, in 2012 the 1940 census was...
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April 25, 2020 · Tracy Hall
Growing up in central Illinois, right in the middle of corn and soybean fields, I loved Spring when everything was green and in bloom. But when there were no crops, and it was just flat, I would often wonder, and out loud sometimes, why did people stop here to make this their...
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April 17, 2020 · Tracy Hall
For many, getting your DNA tested is fun to see where your ancestral lineage originates. There may be some surprise heritage you didn’t know you had. YouTube is full of videos about it. For others, they take these tests to see if they can find family members. Some because perh...
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April 14, 2020 · Tracy Hall
ALERT!!!! The kids are out of school and many of you are homeschooling!!! Sometimes to make learning different and fun, kids need a reason to want to learn it. How about mixing genealogy and social studies together? Help them learn geography and throw in a history lesson while...
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April 1, 2020 · Tracy Hall
One of the best things about working with genealogy today is that more and more records are online. We are also now able to use DNA in our searches along with all the new technologies that are out there for our use. An example is the way we can put headstones on memorials at F...
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April 1, 2020 · Tracy Hall
You have decided to start working on your family's genealogy but where do you start? There are so many websites that you can use to start putting in your family tree. Gone are the days of just using paper to keep track. Many may still have a family Bible they put information i...
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March 31, 2020 · Tracy Hall
Did you know that religion was an essential part of most of our ancestors’ lives? Did you know their religion or denomination is crucial to finding more records? Religious records are some of the most important family history records. Yet, in some cases they can be the hardest...
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March 31, 2020 · Tracy Hall
It is 2020 and COVID-19 is in full swing. Most everyone around the world is in a self quarantine. That is the perfect time to catch up on some genealogy work. You can use this time of isolation and quarantine to do some of those genealogical tasks you've been putting off. Most...
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March 31, 2020 · Tracy Hall
It seems that almost every person doing genealogy has that one area of their family tree where they hit a brick wall. They are just hunting for that one piece of information to be able to tear down the wall. Some people are lucky to stumble upon the piece they need. Others, li...
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