This week, an unexpected DNA hint suggests a possible answer to a long-standing brick wall in Jeff Record's family research. But DNA matches are not always conclusive—so how do you figure out if the story told by the data is really true? Read More
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Upcoming In-person Research Tour
Massachusetts Historical Society Day Trip
Join American Ancestors/NEHGS experts at Massachusetts Historical Society for a day of genealogical research, including a 30-minute consultation prior to the trip, a tour of the facility, and research assistance. May 12 at Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston, MA. Register Now
The Weekly Genealogist Survey
This Week's Survey:
Have You Experienced a “Genealogical Windfall” that Substantially Increased Your Family History Knowledge?
Share your thoughts about the survey at weeklygenealogist@nehgs.org. Responses may be edited for clarity and length and featured in a future newsletter.
Last Week's Survey:
Did Your Immigrant Ancestors Maintain Connections to Relatives in their Countries of Origin?
Total: 3,601 Responses
52%, Yes, I know that at least one of my immigrant ancestors corresponded with a relative or relatives in a country of origin.
29%, Yes, I have (or know of the existence of) a letter or letters sent to an immigrant ancestor from a relative in a country of origin.
24%, Yes, I have (or know of the existence of) a photograph or photographs sent to an immigrant ancestor from a relative in a country of origin.
12%, Yes, my immigrant ancestor named a relative or relatives living in a country of origin in probate, land, or other records and/or relatives in a country of origin named my immigrant ancestor(s) in land, probate, or other records.
41%, Yes, at least one of my immigrant ancestors returned to visit a country of origin.
11%, Yes, at least one of my immigrant ancestors returned permanently to a country of origin.
35%, No, I am not aware of any connections between my immigrant ancestors and their relatives in a country of origin.
Readers Respond
David Jay Webber, Princeton, Minnesota: My Slovak great-grandmother, who emigrated to New York State as a teenager, corresponded with her sister in their hometown of Košariská until the sister died in 1939. When I visited that village more than twenty years ago, I met an elderly woman who grew up next door to the sister. This neighbor recalled that the arrival of a letter from my great-grandmother was always an exciting community event, and the letter would be read aloud from the stoop. The community took great interest in the fact that one of their own had made it to America, the land of freedom and prosperity.
Sue Pochotko, Roseville, Michigan: My maternal grandfather, Pasquale Cerrone, and his brother Antonio came to the U.S. while their siblings stayed in Italy. My Aunt Phyllis told me that her father, Pasquale, wrote to his brother Eleuterio in Arce, Italy—she remembered hearing him pecking away on his typewriter. Many years later when I cleaned out my aunt's home, I found letters that Eleuterio had sent from Italy to Pasquale. She had also saved my grandfather's typewriter! I had the typewriter restored and it is now a special heirloom for my family.
Ronald Miller, Madison, Wisconsin: A few years ago, a cousin gave me two letters, dated 1883 and 1908, that were mailed from Biedebach, Germany, to my great-great-grandmother Catharina Hossfeld in New Memphis, Illinois. The first letter, from Catharina’s sister Anna Maria Fuchs, shared that their father had died. Anna Maria also thanked Catharina for the $20 she had sent “as it eased our burden.” The second letter, written by Catharina’s nephew Adam Fuchs, informed Catharina that Anna Maria had died. It also mentioned that Adam had a newborn named Johannes. Prior to these letters, I did not know where in Germany my ancestors lived. I traveled to Biedebach and asked the first person I saw if there were any Fuchs in the area. We were directed to an “old man Fuchs,” who turned out to be baby Johannes in the 1908 letter!
Joe Porter, Jacksonville, Florida: I have letters from a 1740s immigrant ancestor. He came from Westbury, Wiltshire, England, to Bensalem, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The dozen pieces of correspondence include letters from him, his son, and grandson to family in England, and from the family in England to the family in America. The topics include family news, family business dealings, and the exchange of portraits. By the 1820s, the correspondence had trailed off. The original portraits and legal documents are held by the Philadelphia Historical Society, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Mercer Museum in Doylestown.
Editors' Note: In response to last week’s survey question, a few readers reminded us that some families had no relatives with whom they could maintain contact, for terrible historical reasons such as the Holocaust or enslavement. Here is one such response from Carole Rittenberg, whose relatives were killed in the Holocaust: "I am 84 years old; World War II ended when I was seven years old. My mother told me that there was correspondence that went back and forth between my maternal grandparents and relatives in Poland then it abruptly stopped.” We know that studying family history can bring pain as well as joy. We regret that this question brought up sensitive and painful history.
Boys in Dresses: The Tradition “It’s difficult to read the gender of children in many old photos. That’s because coding American children via clothing didn’t begin until the 1920s.”
Uncle Sam Wants You to Donate Books! “During World War I, the American Library Association built libraries on military training camps in a project that championed patriotism, literacy, and self-improvement.”
Colorado Is Not a Rectangle—It Has 697 Sides Maps shown in this article “magnify some of the most egregious surveying inaccuracies, where the difference between the boundaries delineated by Congress and the border demarcated by the surveyors is greatest.”
Spotlight: Montana Newspapers
by Valerie Beaudrault
The Montana Historical Society offers a full-text searchable database of Montana newspapers on its website, comprising more than 820,000 pages from 140 town, county, school, and tribal newspapers published between 1873 and 2018. You may browse newspapers by title, location, or date, or search across all titles by keyword. Searches can also be limited by location. Click the thumbnail image in the search results to see the full page. Search Now
Join Us at the National Genealogical Society 2023 Family History Conference!
The theme of this year's conference is Deep Roots of a Nation, and it will take place in Virginia from May 31–June 3, 2023. Visit our booth to speak with expert genealogists David Lambert and Melanie McComb, and receive special discounts! Learn More
Free Video from American Ancestors
Discovering the Past through Digitized Archival Material
Learn how to use AM Explorer, a resource available to American Ancestors members, to search across 120 collections of digitized archival material and locate archival sub-collections relevant to your research. Watch Now
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