Last year we looked at Brick Walls from A to Z. Unfortunately most of us still have brick walls. In recognition of the many attempts we make to break them down, this week we include an additional list.

A is for Assumptions
While it is necessary to make assumptions in order to begin work on some problems, there often comes a time when the assumption must be put aside. The search for a marriage record may begin in the location where the first child was born, but if records are available and no marriage can be located, then it may be time to let go of that assumption. Always state assumptions as such. Once an assumption becomes confused with fact, it is difficult for it to return to the land of assumptions.

B is for Boundaries
An incorrect knowledge of the county boundary, the state boundary, or the national boundary can cause a researcher to search in the wrong location. Political boundaries may be precise, but they may also be in constant flux. Linguistic boundaries are much more fluid and rarely clearly defined. Continue reading →

Some of you will be traveling this summer in order to do some family history research. Of course, we should check the websites of the libraries, archives, cities, counties, and states we will be visiting. But also, well in advance of your trip, do some online reading of the newspaper for that area. There might be a festival or other event you wish to attend. Perhaps the event is so large there will not be any motel rooms available unless you make reservations well in advance.
Maybe you are going to a seminar, conference, or Elderhostel. Read the newspapers for that area, too. Most of these newspaper sites request that you register to read it online, but rarely is there a cost for current news. Some of these places still have more than one newspaper. The quickest way is to type the city name and the word “newspaper” into a search engine. Some examples from places you may be traveling this summer:

• Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, Utah)
• Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah)
• London Times (London, England)
• Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
• FGS Conference (Fort Wayne, Indiana)
• Journal Gazette and News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 
• New York Times (New York City, New York) 
• Montreal Gazette (Montreal, Canada)
• Union County Advocate (Morganfield, Kentucky)
• Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts)

Click here for a printer friendly version of this article.

Trenton, New Jersey Police Website
I very much enjoyed your article about police ancestors in the Ancestry Weekly Journal. For an example of a really well-crafted historical police department website, go to:
http://tpdmuseum.com/
This is the website of the Trenton, N.J., online police museum. For historical information, I click on the period 1900-1919, when my great-grandfather was a patrolman. As I read, the site plays ragtime music of the era! I learned that my ancestor’s salary was $950 per year. For people with roots in Trenton, it’s an amazing site.

Thanks for calling attention to this important segment of the population.

Sincerely,
Beth Kennedy Continue reading →

The year was 1870 and it marked the start of the Franco-Prussian War. Following a devastating defeat at Sedan in September, in which Emperor Louis Napoleon surrendered himself to the Prussian army, the siege of Paris began. Through the siege, Parisians used hot air balloons and carrier pigeons to communicate with the outside world.

The Franco-Prussian War had repercussions in Italy as well. While much of Italy had been unified, Rome had been under the protection of France. The French troops had to be put into service against Prussia, leaving Rome to the Italian troops. And in October, Rome joined the Kingdom of Italy, and would become the capital the following year.  

The U.S. was still recovering from the Civil War and in 1870 Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, and Georgia rejoined the Union;  Georgia being the last of the former Confederate States to be readmitted.  Continue reading →

Contributed by Sandra Shepheard
This is a picture of my grandmother, Edna Leona (Grimes) Crosby, 1897-1983. It was probably taken about 1900 in Boston, MA. It is one of my favorite pictures of her.

Contributed by Patti
The woman in the back is my great-great grandmother, Flossie Fern (nee Millhouse) Warner, and the man is my great-great grandfather, Willard Warner, 1917 in Michigan. The younger gal is my grandmother, Helen Nan Corliss, and her little brother Robert Warner.

And last, but not least, in honor of Mother’s Day, here’s a photograph of four generations of mothers.

This is a photograph of my mother and aunt (twins), my grandmother, great grandmother, and great, great grandmother taken in March 1919 in Syracuse, New York. The twin infants are Rita Barrett Wiesnet (1919 – 2005) and Ruth Barrett Lord (1919 – Living). Holding them is their mother, Mary Salsbury Barrett Russell Meisner (1897-2002) yes, lived to 105 yrs! Behind her is Mary’s mother, Sarah (Sadie) Hanley Salsbury Petch (1875-1934), and on the right, Mary Gillen Hanley (1855-1922)

Tim Wiesnet

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

Juliana