brick wall

  • Ancestry.com, brick wall, family, family tree

    Ancestry.com DNA Kit

    Your DNA has a story: It’s time to discover it at Ancestry.com! Have you ever wondered where your family is from? I know that with our family some say that we are part Scottish, while others say that we have Irish in us. And then there is the rumor from some in the family that our family has Cherokee. Now with the Ancestry.com DNA kit we can get some real answers. I do know that my father’s side was from Germany, and most of my mothers side had migrated from Scotland and settled in New York as Quakers. Finding out more is going to be a lot of fun.

    Free Shipping with DNA Kit Purchase at Ancestry.com! Use Code: FREESHIPDNA


     

    Discover the NEW Family Tree Maker and Save 20% at Ancestry!

  • Ancestry.com, brick wall, digital photos, digital print, digital scrapbooking, family historian, family tree, Genealogy

    Who Do You Think You Are?

    I just finished watching Who Do You Think You Are on TLC with Christina Applegate. As a Genealogist it was fun watching her go through the processes of researching her Grandparents. During the 40’s just at the peak of the Depression, and beginning of WWII, life was so difficult for families. Right now through September 12, you can Watch Who Do You Think You Are? On TLC Tuesdays at 9/8 Central and get 14 days FREE on Ancestry.com!

    What family secrets or photos will you find? I found this photo of Mary Agnes Cunningham with her family. She is the  wife of Enos Akin, Mother of Gip Akin, my Great Great Grandfather.

    mary agnes Cunningham3 parents siblings

     


  • Ancestry.com, brick wall, family, family historian, family reunions, family tree, free, Genealogy

    Census Research


     

    I really learned a lot last year while I volunteered transcribed the 1940’s US Census. It was very fun and educational at the same time.

    Right now this month’s value pack at Shop Family Tree is  the Census Research Value pack. This pack will help you find websites with census records and dates. What to expect when using the 1940 census and how to access online census records for free. How to use the major online census collections at Ancestry.com, HeritageQuest Online and other sites. How the different sites’ records and indexes compare to each other. Teach you search strategies for finding elusive ancestors and why you may not be able to find a certain census record.  These tips for becoming a smarter and more efficient census searcher will help in your research.

    Here is a great video from Youtube on the 1940’s US Census from National Archives.

     

     

  • Ancestry.com, brick wall, family tree, Genealogy

    More on Andrew…

    My cousin has been researching our brick wall to Great Great Grandfather, Andrew E. Tryon. This gentlemen seems to be a tricky person to find information on. She did find a relative that shed some some light to us and he may have had a family prior to my Great Grandfather Joseph E. Tryon and his siblings, time line here.

    She shared that the story she has, is that Andrew Tryon and Wife Martha S Williams, married on January 17, 1871 (Source Citation: Greene Co Indiana; Index to Marriage Record 1821 – 1920 [Lacking 1828, W. P. A.; Book: L; Page: 142.) in Greene Co Indiana. According to her, he had two sons, Tell and Ancil Andrew Tryon. On our paperwork we had my Great Great Grandfather and siblings being the children of Martha S. Williams. So the mystery continues. Did he have two families and leaving one to think he had died on the Wasbach River? Trying to find documentation on this Ancestor has been very entertaining. May just have to make a trip to Provo Family History Library to research microfilm documents.

     

     

     

  • Ancestry.com, brick wall, family historian, family tree, Genealogy

    RootsTech Conference

    This weekend is the RootsTech Genealogy Conference. If you can’t attend the conference they are offering some fun streaming classes online, here is the list and times that these will be streaming.

    Thursday
    8:30 a.m. Keynote speakers
    11:00 a.m. The Future of Genealogy – panel
    1:45 p.m. Tell it Again – Kim Weitkamp
    3:00 p.m. The Genealogists Gadget Bag – Jill Ball and panel
    4:15 p.m. Finding the Obscure and Elusive…- James Tanner

    Friday
    8:30 a.m. Keynote speakers
    9:45 a.m. Researching Ancestors Online – Laura Prescott
    11:00 a.m. FamilySearch Family Tree – Ron Tanner
    1:45 p.m. Google Search…and Beyond – Dave Barney
    3:00 p.m. From Paper Piles to Digital Files – Valerie Elkins

    Saturday
    8:30 a.m. Keynote speakers
    9:45 a.m. Using Technology to Solve Research… – Karen Clifford
    11:000 a.m. Digital Storytelling: More than Bullet Points – Denise Olson

    All streaming sessions will be at Mountain Standard Time. You can see descriptions on the class links on the schedule page of the website.

  • Ancestry.com, brick wall, family historian, Genealogy

    ICAPGen Conference

    This weekend is the ICAPGen.org Genealogy Conference. ICAPGen.org is where Genealogists can obtain their Accreditation in Genealogy. There are Genealogists for Hobby, Accredited Genealogists, and Certified Genealogists. My overall goal is to become a Certified Genealogist through the Board of Certified Genealogists.  When I made this decision there were three books I bought to help me along with the studying process:Becoming an Accredited Genealogist: Plus 100 Tips to Ensure Your Success, Revised Edition,  The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual and  Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians. These books were hard to find at the library. However, most of the books you’ll need while studying are available at most libraries.

    You can also take many of these classes from ICAPGen.org online free. Hope this helps some who want to learn more about the process of becoming a professional Genealogist.

  • Ancestry.com, brick wall, family historian, family reunions, family tree, free, Genealogy

    Research made easier

    Researching your family history can be challenging at times. When I first was learning to do research with my Grandma, it meant contacting record departments, and visiting libraries. Now you can connect almost instantly with relatives via the internet. Ancestry.com and other sites has made sharing information much easier. You can Try Ancestry.ca FREE for 14 days!  Ancestry.ca is the Canadian resource for family history research. They have recently released their Canada Voters Lists collection this last week containing over 80 million records and by far the largest Canadian collection.

     

     

  • Ancestry.com, brick wall, digital photos, family historian

    Cemeteries going Digital

    For the past few years I have been volunteering for digital online Cemetery organizations such as Findagrave.com, and Namesinstone.com. Both places work with volunteers to preserve data and photograph headstones of cemeteries. Preserving these burial spots are very difficult  at times. Records change, information is lost, and headstones do not last forever. When my Grandma passed away 3 years ago, we placed in her Obituary states that ashes would be scattered. Instead the family has keepsake urns with her ashes. I personally placed that on her page on Findagrave.com, along with photos of her memorial in our home. This didn’t cost anything to create and maintain.

    However, now there is a new expensive process to track loved ones headstones. The little QR code you see on merchandise is now being offered on headstones at a Pennsylvania company called Digital Legacy  will link a QR code to a website to preserve your loved ones memories. But this is not a free feature like Findagrave or Namesinstone, this one is very pricey at $99.00 a year.

     

    QR codes look like this.

     

    For me there are so many ways to preserve your memories of your loved ones and share that information with family members for free. I do not see the need for another expense when the loss of loved ones have already cost so much emotionally and financially.

     

  • Ancestry.com, brick wall, family historian, Genealogy

    October is Family History Month

    Happy Monday, it is amazing that the year is nearly over. October is Family History Month, and with the Holidays around the corner there will be plenty of time to share memories, both past and present with family. This year I met a distant relative through my Grandfather Tryon’s side. We have been exchanging information about Andrew E. Tryon, when some of the information sounded very familiar. It was familiar, but not because it was the same person, but because a relative on my Grandma’s side was in the same location as Andrew’s father Jeremiah Tryon was during the Civil War.

    Great,Great Grandfather Jeremiah Tryon  died in Shelby Co. TN during the Civil War, d. Oct 20, 1863. 10 months prior to  Great Great Grandfather( Augustus Williams) on Dec 19, 1862. Both these gentlemen were the Great Great Grandfathers of Elmer(June) Tryon and Ola Mae Durbin(Tryon).  If my cousin and I hadn’t started sharing information we would have never connected that our families had possibly known each other during the Civil War. I am looking forward to visiting with more family and discovering more about our family.

     

    Here are some helpful tools to preserve and share your family history. How to Archive Family Keepsakes and my favorite the Flip pal.