Archives: January 2015

Researching in City Directories on Ancestry.com

City directories are valuable resources for learning about ancestors–and collateral relatives–in the late 19th and 20th centuries. When I started out in genealogy almost 20 years ago, I had to visit archives and libraries that held printed copies of city directories in their collections to do this type of research. One repository, the Cuyahoga County

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Eastman Online Genealogy News (EOGN) Is 19

This is a somewhat belated birthday congratulations to Dick Eastman on the 19th birthday of his e-newsletter: Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter (EOGN), which is available at http://blog.eogn.com/. Here is a quote from Dick’s first newsletter published on January 15, 1996: Well, it’s started. This newsletter is something that I have been considering for a long time, but

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Generational Suffixes: When Junior and II Are–and Were–Used in Families

Today, I was double checking my “Dingmans of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio” family tree on Ancestry.com (it actually has a URL, which is http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/70859843/family), and I noted that the Junior suffix was used after the name of a son of Jacob (b 1788 in Schodack, Rennselaer, New York). The son, however, was Peter Jr, not

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WRHS Library Open for Martin Luther King Day Monday Jan 19

For this year’s University Circle celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the WRHS History Center (http://www.wrhs.org/) will offer free admission and hands-on activities for visitors in attendance. The main purpose, of course, is to celebrate the life of MLK and his achievements. While displays will be mounted throughout the History Center, the Research Library will

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Learning How to Find Your Ancestors Migration Routes

My maternal ancestors came from various points in Colonial America to Western Pennsylvania and Ohio. Many probably used the Erie Canal (opening in 1825) in New York State for part of their travels. Others came by overland routes across Pennsylvania. Needless to say, I am always interested in learning more about migration routes. Such an

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Genealogy Roadshow Starts Season Two Tonight. Episode Set in New Orleans

PBS kicks off the second season of Genealogy Roadshow (http://www.pbs.org/genealogy-roadshow/home/) tonight, Tuesday, 13 Jan 2015. In the Greater Cleveland (Ohio) area, it will be aired on Channel WVIZ (http://www.ideastream.org/) at 8 pm. It also will be available at the same broadcast time on Channel WEAO (http://westernreservepublicmedia.org/). The setting for this episode is the Cabildo, the present-day

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Ancestry Looks Ahead to 2015

When I opened Ancestry.com today, I was greeted with this letter from Tim Sullivan, president of the subscription database providers: To the Ancestry community, You had an incredible year in 2014, showing more commitment and passion than ever for discovering your family story. Here at Ancestry, we worked hard this past year to make our

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Two-for-One Registration Offered for Genealogy Beginner’s Class at WRHS

Jump-start your family research in the New Year by signing up for a beginning genealogy class coming up this Saturday, Jan 10, 2015, at Western Reserve Historical Society. With the theme “Opening the Door to Family History”, the three-hour class is sponsored by the Genealogical Committee, an auxiliary of WRHS. It will run from from noon

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