Articles by Juliana Smith
Mysteries and Other Good Stories in the Family Tree Mysteries and other good stories in the family tree
Marissa Tomei’s journey into the past on last night’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? (Fridays 8/7c on NBC) centered on the untimely death of her great-grandfather. At the start, he was little more than a name in the family tree and the subject of speculation—of the shadiest type. But his reputation got… Read more
Twists of fate in the family tree on Who Do You Think You Are?
When you start down a road in your family’s history, you never know whose paths may have crossed in the past. Actor Martin Sheen found that out on the first episode of this season of Who Do You Think You Are?. In a mind-bending twist of fate, he learned that a great-great-great-great-grandfather on his grandmother’s… Read more
Irish Baptism, Marriage and Burial Records on Ancestry.com
This week was a happy dance week for those of us with Irish roots. Ancestry.com has posted indexes to Irish Civil Registrations which began in 1864 for births, marriages, and deaths (1845 for non-Catholic marriages). In addition there is an index to births and baptisms that dates back to 1620, extracted from a variety of records.
Three… Read more
Q&A from Finding Your Irish Ancestors in America … and Ireland
Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig! (St. Patrick’s Day Blessings!) Thanks to everyone who attended our Irish webinar last night. We had two wonderful presenters and a fantastic audience with lots of great questions. If you weren’t able to attend the class, it’s now available in the Learning Center archive here.
Since it wasn’t possible to answer every… Read more
Find Your Immigrant Ancestors–Free Online Class
Coming to America: Finding Your Immigrant Ancestors
Wednesday, 01 September 2010, 8:00 PM Eastern (New York)
Your immigrant ancestor’s trip to America is among the most compelling chapters in your family history. Join me September 1st for a free online class to learn what you need to know to identify your ancestor in passenger arrival records. We’ll… Read more
Searching for Hospital Records
I received the following question this week and thought I’d share what I found here on the blog.
My husband’s grandmother died in Central Islip State Hospital in New York City in 1925. The hospital is now closed and the records apparently have been move to Pilgrim Psychiatric Center. We would like to get more information… Read more
The Card Catalog: What’s in it for me?
Last week I was fortunate to be one of the hundreds of family historians who descended on Little Rock, Arkansas for the 2009 Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) annual conference. I want to thank everyone who stopped by the Ancestry.com booth to chat with us. It was great to see so many first-time attendees.
I spent… Read more
Tips for Researching in City Directories
I received the following e-mail from an Ancestry Weekly Discovery reader and since the answer could be useful to many of you, I thought I’d answer it here.
I have done extensive New York City directory research. Sometimes addresses appear with an h. for house, particularly if the person also has a business address. But sometimes… Read more
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