Today is Veteran's Day. Previous posts have honored the veterans in my tree: 2015 - Honoring the Veterans in My Family 2019 - Honoring the Veterans in My Family 2021 - Veterans in My Genealogy Files 2023 - List of Blog Posts - Veterans in my Tree 2023 - Revolutionary Ancestors 2024 - Honoring Veterans I have also participated in the…

Scores of genealogy and family history bloggers write hundreds of posts every week about their research, their families, and their int...

Today’s find from my BRILES folder is a Randolph County, North Carolina deed where my third great-grandfather, Alexander Briles, sold land in 1857—just before his move to Kansas. Along with the original deed, I have a summary that I compiled and a hand-drawn plat of the property created by my father. This particular record holds a special place in my collection.

Calling all Genea-Musings fans! It’s Saturday night again — time for some more Genealogy Fun! Hey boys and girls, are you ready for this week’s challenge? Here is your assignment, should you choose to accept it (you are reading this, so I’m guessing you really do want to play along — cue the Mission Impossible music!): You were born and given a forename (first name and maybe a middle name) and a surname on your birth certificate.

Some of the bijoux I discovered this week. Blog postsTheGenealogist releases 1 million First World War casualty record by Chris Paton on Scottish GENES. Expanded Links on FamilySearch.org by James Tan...

Herbert Wells Mentzer (1900–1977) Early Life and Family Herbert Wells Mentzer was born on July 20, 1900, on a farm northwest of Yates Center in Woodson County, Kansas. He was the son of Charles O. Mentzer and Minnie Wells Mentzer, and one of several children raised in a family that valued hard work and education. By 1905, the family was living in…

Today’s find comes from a photocopy of page one of the Homer Index (Homer, Michigan). The 2 March 1933 issue included the obituary of William O. Wells, a respected longtime resident and Civil War veteran whose life and service were well remembered in the community. WILLIAM O. WELLSFORMER HOMER BUSINESS MAN DIES IN MILWAUKEE The death of William O. Wells, aged 88 years and a much beloved man in Homer, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs.

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Peter Gervac Cei (1909–1981) Early Life and Education Peter Gervac Cei was born on June 19, 1909, in Germany to Italian parentsNarrative Report for Lt. Col.He immigrated to the United States as a young man and pursued higher education at the School of Mines and Metallurgy in Lexington, Missouri, graduating in May 1934 with a degree in mine engineering.

When researching a family’s story, pension files often provide a unique glimpse into their struggles, relationships, and resilience. The pension file for Albert Hutchinson, a Civil War veteran, is no exception. Using a full transcription of Albert’s file, along with a narrative report about his second wife, Honore Eliza Van Valkenberg, I prompted Google Notebook LM to create an audio overview of their intertwined stories.

I participated in Robin McCarthy's Genealogy Tech Talk class for the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society on Sunday.  One of her tips ...

Have you ever worked with a military pension file? When I first requested the Civil War military and pension records for my 2nd great-grandfather, I received only partial files. Recently, thanks to a generous researcher, I obtained a complete copy of Albert Hutchinson’s full pension file. At first glance, I considered it a jumbled mess—documents out of order, affidavits contradicting earlier ones, and handwriting that ranged from elegant to almost illegible.

For me, the Shared Segment Spreadsheet is a critical tool, which evolves through four incarnations. 1. It starts as a collection of all your shared DNA segments – from each company. This also means…

Scores of genealogy and family history bloggers write hundreds of posts every week about their research, their families, and their int...

It is a fact of life that all your ancestral lines ultimately end. You can call these a "brick wall" if you are actively trying to extend ...

Today’s record from my Briles folder is an 1846 deed from Randolph County, North Carolina, in which John Briles and his wife, Priscilla, sold a tract of land. John was the great-grandson of my ancestor, Conrad Briles, making him my third great-granduncle. This document offers another glimpse into the Briles family’s presence and property transactions in mid-19th-century Randolph County.

Calling All Genea-Musings Fans! It’s Saturday Night again — time for some Genealogy Fun! Hey boys and girls, it’s the day after Halloween, and that means it’s time for another round of Saturday Night Genealogy Fun! Here’s your assignment, should you choose to accept it (and since you’re reading this, I’m guessing you do — cue the Mission Impossible music!):

Some of the bijoux I discovered this week. Blog postsArchives of Ontario RG 1-100 Patent Plans Update by Ken McKinlay on Family Tree Knots. What’s new in the FamilySearch Full Text Search collection, ...

Discover your family history with Ancestral Findings. Get free lookups, explore genealogy research guides, and uncover the past one ancestor at a time.

Some of the bijoux I discovered this week. Blog postsArchives of Ontario RG 1-100 Patent Plans Update by Ken McKinlay on Family Tree Knots. What’s new in the FamilySearch Full Text Search collection, ...

Biography of Leslie George Mentzer (1898–1988) Early Life and Family Leslie George Mentzer was born on August 23, 1898, in Woodson County, Kansas, the son of Charles Oliver Mentzer and Nettie Adell Wells. He spent his early years in rural eastern Kansas. The 1900 U.S. Census lists him as a two-year-old living in North Township, Woodson County…

Today’s find from my WELLS notebook is the marriage record for William O. Wells and Ellen O. Andrews in Calhoun County, Michigan. State of Michigan  Calhoun County  Wm O. Wells  and Ellen O. Andrews This certifies that on the 3d day of July A.D.  1866 at Eckford in the County aforesaid , I joined  in Matrimony , William O. Wells 

In a recent post, I described my “experiment” to identify the Sellers matches in my DNA tree. While some might consider my method a bit unconventional (or even slightly daring), it led to some exciting results. Not only did I locate descendants of Mary and Sarah Crawford, who each married a Sellers brother, but I also found matches descending from their brother…

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