Learning about your female ancestors and their families of origin requires knowing their maiden names. Unfortunately, women were often listed by their married names only and their maiden names were simply not recorded. In this online lecture, Chief Genealogist David Allen Lambert will share strategies and sources for finding your female ancestors’ original surnames. Learn More
New Database
Louisiana: Slave Manifests of Coastwise Vessels Filed at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1807-1860
This new database adds 115,507 records and 114,426 names to the 10 Million Names Project. This collection of “slave manifest” documents was originally microfilmed by the National Archives and Records Administration. FamilySearch digitized and indexed the microfilm rolls and shared the images and index with American Ancestors. Search Now
The Weekly Genealogist Survey
This Week's Survey:
Using AI Tools Such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini in Your Research
Share your story! Each week in our Readers Respond column, we publish a selection of reader-submitted stories related to our most recent survey. Submissions must be 150 words or fewer and include your full name, city, and state. Published responses will be edited for clarity and length.
Family Historians in Previous Generations of Your Family
Total: 2,858 Responses
24%, Yes, my mother and/or father were family historians.
26%, Yes, at least one of my aunts or uncles was (or is) a family historian.
26%, Yes, at least one of my grandparents was (or is) a family historian.
24%, Yes, at least one of my great-aunts or great-uncles was (or is) a family historian.
22%, Yes, at least one of my earlier ancestors was a family historian.
32%, Yes, at least one of my other relatives was a family historian.
17%, No, I believe I am the first family historian in my family.
4%, I’m not sure.
Readers Respond
Martha Rheaume, Franklin, New Hampshire: In 1941, my maternal great-uncle Wade Powers Kennedy (1868-1953) published a forty-seven-page booklet of facts and anecdotes entitled The Name and Family of Kennedy and Powers. The booklet was dedicated to future generations, who he hoped would expand upon his work. Wade's nieces Ginger and Louise and his nephew Doyle were inspired to further document family relationships and preserve family artifacts. With the benefit of the internet, two grandnieces (one being myself) and a grandnephew have expanded and corrected some of Wade's findings. The Kennedy-Powers booklet and related research are available through Ancestry.com.
Thomas Melody, Baltimore, Maryland: My grandfather Charles N. Rollings, Sr. (1891-1980) compiled a genealogical record dating back to a relative born in Maine in 1808. His main sources were a family Bible, cemetery records, and articles clipped from contemporary newspapers. His record provided a road map when I started looking into my family history in detail some years back. I have since expanded on my grandfather’s research.
Stephen Gerritson, Kirkland, Washington: My great-uncle William Curtis, born in 1870, began researching his family history in his twenties and kept at it for his entire life. He was a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (now American Ancestors) and wrote a column on genealogy for the Boston Evening Transcript. William’s work inspired me to take up the cause.
Joan MacKinnon, Gananoque, Ontario, Canada: My aunt Eileen MacKinnon Oulton (1911-1978) was born in Prince Edward Island, Canada, and moved with her husband and three sons to Montreal in 1950. After the family returned to Prince Edward Island in 1962, Eileen began researching her MacKinnon family as well as other families in the western part of Prince County, creating hand-drawn family trees in her tiny handwriting. Her research and photographs are preserved in the Alberton Museum and Genealogy Centre, which she founded. Using her research as a starting point, I traced family that had moved across Canada, the United States, and New Zealand.
The First E-Sports? Chess by Telegraph “Telegraph cables let chess clubs stage matches across continents, linking players and spectators in a new kind of long-distance competition.”
The city of Johnstown is located in Cambria County in central Pennsylvania. Johnstown’s Grandview Cemetery, established in 1885, has made an interment database available on its website. Search by surname; for common surnames, you will be prompted to include a given name. The data fields in the initial search results include full name, dates for birth and death, and age. Click the “view” link to access additional information. The detailed results include interment number, grave location, interment date, and places of birth and death. Search Now
Recently on Vita Brevis
End of an Era: The Providence Journal
One year after The Providence Journal moved its print operations from Rhode Island to New Jersey, Sarah Dery reflects on the paper’s legacy by exploring her family’s connection to the newspaper and how it shaped her life in ways that still resonate today.
As a family historian, you know that wills are important in your research—but have you created a will for yourself? Free Will, an easy and free online will creation tool, will guide you step-by-step through identifying beneficiaries for your assets, supporting the causes that are important to you, and planning for the preservation of your research. Learn More
