Become a new member today and save $30. An American Ancestors membership offers access to billions of searchable names on our website, a subscription to American Ancestors magazine, discounts on books and research for hire, and more! Use code CM2025 at checkout. Sale ends December 6. Join Now
Give the Gift of Family History
Give the gift of genealogy this holiday season! Purchase a consultation with our experts for the family historian in your life. This unique experience is currently available in person or virtually. Learn More
20% Off A British Country House Alphabet: A Historical & Pictorial Journey, Volume 1
A British Country House Alphabet: A Historical & Pictorial Journey by Curt DiCamillo is a series of three high-quality hardback volumes that will enchant readers. The series uses the alphabet to frame an astonishing variety of material, with the first available volume covering letters “A” through “H.” A wonderful gift for the holidays, this volume contains fascinating content and beautiful illustrations, presenting famous historical events and cultural innovations associated with specific British country houses. Receive 20% off with code AlphabetHol25. Shop Now
The Weekly Genealogist Survey
This Week's Survey:
Ancestors or Relatives Who Worked Underground
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.
64%, At least one of my ancestors was an amateur piano player.
14%, At least one of my ancestors played the piano professionally.
31%, I play the piano.
63%, I grew up with a piano in my house.
30%, I currently have a piano in my house.
32%, My family has or had a piano that was passed down through more than one generation.
42%, My family had a piano that was eventually given away to a non-family member or an institution or discarded.
12%, My ancestor was a piano tuner, teacher, or craftsperson.
1%, I am a piano tuner, teacher, or craftsperson.
11%, I have some other connection to pianos not mentioned above.
9%, I don’t think anyone in my family ever played or owned a piano.
Readers Respond
Susan Killam, Atkinson, New Hampshire: In 1938, while living in Port Jefferson, Long Island, New York, my parents purchased a piano from their landlord. A beautiful Weber upright, the piano was made with rosewood veneer and real ivory keys. Over the following years, they raised six kids and moved from New York to Massachusetts, to California, and back to Massachusetts—and the piano moved with them. I inherited the piano in 1987 and installed it in my New Hampshire home. In 2023, I hired a mover to take it to Maine, where it is now a cherished instrument belonging to a fourth-generation great-grandchild. The piano is much loved by everyone in our family.
Susan Bingler, Jeffersonton, Virginia: In 1821, my great-great-great-grandfather Robert Nunns emigrated from England to New York City, where he established a pianoforte manufacturing company. In the 1840s, the company relocated to Long Island, where they opened a factory. Several museums in the New York City area feature Nunns pianofortes in their collections.
Laurie Sisson, Alexandria, Virginia: My parents had an orchestrion, a type of player piano consisting of a tall cabinet with a piano on the bottom and band instruments in the top. A “music roll” of perforated paper is loaded into the bottom; as the paper runs through the piano, a “tracker bar” reads the perforations and the piano interprets the data musically. The orchestrion passed from my parents to me and then on to my son and his family. In my own home, I have a baby grand that has been adapted into a player piano that uses discs instead of paper rolls.
Deborah Allard, Kingsland, Texas: My grandmother Annie May (Everett) Smith of Farmington, New Mexico, played an organ at her church's services and also accompanied silent movies.
Patti Bowerman Jobe, Delaware, Oklahoma: In 1965, my father sold an 1850s Sharp's rifle in order to buy a piano. The piano was primarily for me, as my four brothers played other instruments. Mom promised that I would be given the piano when I married. But after my wedding in 1982, she said I would get the piano when I owned a home because my husband and I moved often for his career. Finally, in 2002, my mother agreed to give me the piano. It was shipped with great care from Missouri to Oklahoma. I played it often, and whenever my husband or sons passed by me sitting at the piano, they muttered, “Should have kept the gun.” They were deeply offended that they could have had an historic rifle in our home instead!
Database News
New Database: Kentucky Enslaved Church Records Project
We are excited to announce a new 10 Million Names database: Kentucky: Kentucky Enslaved Church Records Project. These valuable records were provided by Reckoning, Inc., a nonprofit organization whose mission is to examine the legacy of slavery in America and to create ways for communities to engage with this information. This database includes both antebellum and post-slavery baptismal records, birth records, marriage records for each spouse, and death records. Search Now
John B. Cade’s Project to Document the Stories of the Formerly Enslaved These 229 interviews were conducted with elderly survivors of slavery and veer from pedestrian details about things such as lack of shoes to sharp memories of torture, accounts of Ku Klux Klan activity and, almost always, the pain of family separation.
“Trinity College Dublin’s Old Library will close for restoration and construction in 2027. What does that mean for the medieval manuscripts and books housed there?”
Friends Find Common Ancestral Ground “Andre Schnabl connected the dots with his non-Jewish financial advisor after a relationship over decades to discover that they were cousins.”
Spotlight: Resources of the Cornerstone Genealogical Society, Pennsylvania
by Valerie Beaudrault
The Cornerstone Genealogical Society is located in Greene County, in the southwestern corner of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Waynesburg. The genealogical society has made a number of resources available on its website. Click the Catalog of Holdings link to access them. The resources include alphabetical indexes to Greene County Memorial Park, Greene County funeral homes (over 17,000 records), and newspaper obituaries on microfilm and in books. In addition, the society has data sheets on approximately 150 First Settlers of Greene County contributed to the library by their descendants. Search Now
Do You Have Any Revolutionary Roots?
Perhaps you have a family story or are just curious to learn if you have an ancestor who fought in the American Revolution. Get started researching your revolutionary ancestors with resources from American Ancestors! Learn More
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
