July - August 2020

Family Tree

The Leading Family History Magazine

Family Tree1 min read
Family Tree
Editor Andrew Koch Art Director Katharine Van Itallie Photo Editor Heather Marcus Digital Editor Courtney Henderson New Media Editor Rachel Fountain eLearning Specialist Amanda Epperson Contributing Editors Lisa A. Alzo, Rick Crume, David A. Fryxell,
Family Tree1 min readMedical
Out On A Limb
Hello from my guest room. I’m writing to you during week seven of quarantine. Life as we know it has ended thanks to COVID-19. Businesses are closed, concerts and sporting events canceled, and social gatherings limited to FaceTime calls. Genealogy so
Family Tree1 min read
Tree Talk
ANCESTRY BECAUSE YOUR TREE IS YOUR TREE. FamilySearch is great, just well-meaning people have really messed up my tree. So Ancestry all the way. Donna Cooke via Facebook LEGACY FAMILY TREE. But those who cited only an online tree such as Ancestry, wh
Family Tree1 min read
Everything’s Relative
“IF A CHILD KNOWS THEIR FAMILY STORIES, they know better how to recover from mistakes, how to bear through problems, how to be patient, how to plan for the future. A child armed with their history might still get stage fright, but they can see their
Family Tree2 min read
Family History in Color
With summer upon us, I’m reminded of days spent canning—capturing the jewels of the field in hot, clean jars. I treasure the tools of the trade that I inherited from my maternal grandmother: canning lids and rings still in their boxes, melon ballers,
Family Tree1 min read
RootsTech Postpones London Event
ROOTSTECH ORGANIZERS POSTPONED THE London conference scheduled to take place in Fall 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns. (The event will now take place in Fall 2021; follow updates at .) The event was meant to follow from the suc
Family Tree1 min read
Record Release Updates
US WWII draft cards: Ancestry.com has finished publishing color images of all 36 million available WWII young men’s draft registration cards. State-by-state collections are also gradually being published on FamilySearch, who partne
Family Tree1 min readTechnology & Engineering
Myheritage In Color
Subscription website MyHeritage launched a new tool in February 2020 that quickly went viral. The site calls its MyHeritage In Color tool “the world’s most advanced technology for [automatic] photo colorization.” Within five days of the tool’s launch
Family Tree1 min read
FamilySearch Tree Adds Support for Same-Sex Couples
THE WORLD’S LARGEST unified family tree platform, FamilySearch’s Family Tree , has added the ability to document a more inclusive set of family relationships, including gay and lesbian couples. Users can now add a spouse/pa
Family Tree1 min read
Billiongraves Launches Quality Check
Popular website BillionGraves implemented a new feature in March 2020 to improve accuracy of its searchable cemetery headstone transcriptions. A new “2nd pass” transcription option takes “a second look at the records that have
Family Tree2 min readFashion
Caring for Wedding Finery
1 Wear white cotton gloves. When handling any textile, wash your hands and remove any rings or jewelry that might snag fragile fibers. 2 Inspect the garment for damage and deterioration. Cover a flat surface with a clean cotton sheet and carefully sp
Family Tree3 min read
Slings and Arrows
IF YOU’VE BEEN INTRIGUED by archery after watching Hawkeye in the Avengers movies or Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games series, you’re in good company. As Fred Bear, a forefather of American bowhunting (who might be a tad biased), put it, “The hist
Family Tree2 min read
God and Country
Like many genealogists, Alexis Maurer of Bountiful, Utah, researches her spouse’s family history as well as her own. The FamilySearch Family Tree revealed an intriguing “dead end” in his family’s shared knowledge. Accordin
Family Tree1 min read
Relationship Chart
1. Identify the most recent common ancestor of the two individuals with the unknown relationship. 2. Determine the common ancestor’s relationship to each person (for example, grandparent or great-grandparent). 3. In the topmost row of the chart, find
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Branching Out
“FIND OUT WHAT YOU LIKE DOING BEST, AND GET SOMEONE TO PAY YOU FOR DOING IT.” British journalist Katharine Whitehorn shared this advice in “The Ten-Hour Week is Here to Stay,” a piece that appeared in the 19 January 1975 edition of The (London) Obser
Family Tree14 min read
Good as GOLD
IF YOU WERE LOOKING FORWARD to watching the Olympics this summer, you’ll have to wait until next year. But “going for the gold” in your genealogy research can help fill the gap left by the postponement. The cheering crowds may be only in your head—an
Family Tree4 min read
Maker’s Mark
has long been the standardbearer for desktop genealogy software programs. Indeed, our very first issue—January 2000—included an article on using Family Tree Maker 6.0. But when Ancestry.com announced it was di
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4 Tools for Filling in Your Family Tree
If you’ve linked your Family Tree Maker software to Ancestry.com and/or FamilySearch, online record hints will appear in your tree as little green leaves (for Ancestry.com) or little blue squares (for FamilySearch). The FamilySync function synchroniz
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Genealogy Software Roundup
www.ancquest.com/index.htm • Manufacturer: Incline Software• Cost: $34.95 for PC; $44.95 for Mac• Notes: Offers free Basics version www.myheritage.com/family-tree-builder • Manufacturer: MyHeritage• Cost: Free• Notes: Syncs with MyHeritage family tre
Family Tree5 min read
Maryland
TO MANY TOURISTS, Maryland conjures up visions of fine dining on blue crabs from the Chesapeake Bay, which nearly bisects this Mid-Atlantic state. Others think of the Baltimore Orioles or the US Naval Academy at the state capital, Annapolis. But for
Family Tree5 min read
Oklahoma
OKLAHOMA’S CITIES SPRANG up in rather dramatic fashions. On April 22, 1889, an estimated 50,000 settlers lined up at the edge of the 2-million-acre “Unassigned Lands,” now in central Oklahoma. At noon, a shotgun blast sent them racing to claim land p
Family Tree7 min read
Red~Handed
If you have McAlpines, Hamiltons or Leslies in your family tree, you may have studied Scottish records and dreamed of finding them and their cozy cottages or stately homes. But in reality, you’ve maybe looked in the wrong place—or, more accurately, i
Family Tree2 min read
Hanging Your Shingle
If you’ve ever seen an AG or CG after a genealogy lecturer’s name, you may wonder what those acronyms mean. Or perhaps you’re considering hiring a professional researcher and want some assurance that they have the proper training. Or—just maybe—you w
Family Tree4 min read
Earning Accredited Genealogist (ag)
The AG credential is awarded by ICAPGen, a nonprofit organization. Its website provides information about the organization, maintains a directory of AG professionals, and details the process of becoming accredited. To begin, you fir
Family Tree1 min read
Passing Your Boards
• Identify your strengths and weaknesses, then set educational goals using genealogy books, conferences, study groups and institutes. • Earn a genealogical research certificate through an online course at Boston University’s Genealogy Studies Program
Family Tree1 min readMedical
A History Of Credentials
When did professional genealogy credentialing begin? The need for a formal credential was recognized as early as 1942. According to The American Genealogist journal, researcher Milton Rubincam presented a paper at the second annual meeting of the Ame
Family Tree4 min read
Earning Certified Genealogist (cg)
Like ICAPGen, the Board of Certification of Genealogists (BCG) is a not-for-profit organization that maintains a set of professional standards and offers a credential: Certified Genealogist (CG). And, like ICAPGen, BCG requires its credentialed membe
Family Tree1 min read
Alternate Roots
Have you ever daydreamed about doing genealogy all day long—and getting paid for it? Some people do make a living as traditional genealogists, whether working for a firm or independently. (We talk about one way to make that happen on page 48.) But I’
Family Tree2 min read
Private Investigator
Amy Urman of Tucson, Ariz., can trace her love of mysteries to childhood. “I think it all started with Harriet the Spy in fourth grade, which led me to Nancy Drew,” she says. “I always have to know why.” She has been a private investigator since 2003
Family Tree2 min read
Investigative Genetic Genealogist
In 2014, Jennifer Moore’s husband, an adoptee, began searching for his birth family through DNA testing. Already a genealogist, Moore learned how to do unknown parentage research so she could help him. Hundreds of cases later, she paired this satisfy
Family Tree2 min read
Historic Preservationist
A few years ago, professional genealogist LaDonna Garner went back to school. “I wanted to do something that would support genealogy, and I’m a hands-on person,” she says. “So I got a master’s in historic preservation.” From her rural farm near Frenc
Family Tree2 min read
Military Repatriation Expert
Over the years, professional genealogist Debbie Mieszala of Libertyville, Ill., has worked on a lot of fascinating projects, including adoption cases. Nowadays, however, she almost exclusively focuses on one type of work: repatriating military remain
Family Tree2 min readCrime & Violence
Heir Searcher
In the early 1990s, Michael Strauss was a full-time truck driver and amateur genealogist. Then his career took a dramatic U-turn. “A prestigious law firm contacted me and asked me to, essentially, do genealogy,” he says
Family Tree2 min read
Citizenship Reclamation Specialist
New York resident Caitlin Hollander co-owns a firm that specializes in Jewish genealogy and heritage research. Many of her clients need heir-searching or traditional genealogical research services. Beyond this, she and her pa
Family Tree1 min read
Tree Tips
GENEALOGISTS LOVE TOMBSTONES, but they aren’t the only kind of cemetery records. If you’re traipsing through graveyards this summer, be on the lookout for other documents that can tell you about the deceased: plot records, plat maps, burial permits a
Family Tree1 min read
Cemetery Interment Ledgers
1 Interment ledgers, or “day books,” are a valuable, often-overlooked cemetery record. Details in these ledgers, such as name, were provided by the funeral home or a family member of the deceased. 2 The age listed here can be a clue to date of birth.
Family Tree2 min read
Now What?
Q My great-great-aunt was imprisoned at Fulham Refuge (a prison for women in Middlesex, England). Is it possible to determine how long she was there and why she was imprisoned? A It’s likely that your relative’s only “crime” was being poor or in debt
Family Tree1 min read
Find a Family History Center
1 Thousands of free satellite branches of the Family History Library (Salt Lake City, Utah) offer enhanced access to millions of digitized record images on FamilySearch. To find a facility near you, go to . 2 Enter an
Family Tree2 min read
Note-Taking Software
If you use an iPhone or iPad, the Notes app is already installed; you can access it through iCloud, too. The app is a handy place to gather and access info on the go. You can type or draw, create checklists, scan documents, att
Family Tree1 min readTechnology & Engineering
WEBSITE Cyndi’s List
A Start exploring topics using the Categories menu, which is organized alphabetically. Click a letter to see more options that begin with that letter, or scroll down to see the entire category list. B Click on a category to see either individual list
Family Tree2 min read
DNA and Privacy
Q How can I keep my DNA information private? A This is a big question, and it needs to be asked more. The best answer is simple, if unsatisfactory: If you want to keep your DNA information private, don’t take a DNA test. Oh, and don’t leave your hous
Family Tree1 min read
The Rest Is History
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, adopted July 9, 1868, extended citizensh
Family Tree5 min read
Us Census Genealogy
1 Search online census collections (the chart in this guide tells you where to find them). Enter at least a name, birth year, and a place. To account for unexpected spellings and other details, use year ranges for birth dates and don’t mark search te

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