This year, get the whole family involved with your research! You may be your family's most determined historian, but there are ways for everyone to get involved. Learn how to conduct interviews and obtain stories, have relatives help sort through documents and photographs, and much more with help from American Ancestors. Learn More
Recently on Vita Brevis
When You Have Touched Those Records
For expert genealogist Rhonda McClure, nothing brings history to life like handling physical records yourself at an archive or repository. In-person research can lead to unexpected discoveries and help you feel closer to the events of the past. Read More
Upcoming Online Seminar
Demystifying DNA: Getting Started with Genetic Genealogy
Advances in DNA research have had huge implications for the field of genealogy. In this three-week online seminar, Senior Genealogist Melanie McComb will review the types of tests available, the problems that DNA testing can and cannot assist with, how to choose the right test for the results you want, and how to interpret your findings. February 7–21 (Wednesdays). Register Now
Share your thoughts about the survey! Please limit submissions to 150 words or fewer. Your submission may be featured in an upcoming newsletter or shared on social media; please note in your email if you do not want your story to be shared. Published responses may be edited for clarity and length.
Last Week's Survey:
Ancestors Who Volunteered Post-1900
Total: 2,717 Responses
40%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors volunteered for a school, a library, a literacy effort, or another educational cause.
17%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors volunteered for a historical and/or genealogical organization.
53%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors volunteered for a religious organization or cause.
14%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors volunteered for a cause related to child welfare.
11%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors volunteered for a cause related to senior welfare.
8%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors volunteered for a cause related to people with disabilities.
23%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors volunteered at a hospital or for a healthcare-related organization.
4%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors volunteered for a cause related to addiction or sobriety.
10%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors volunteered for a cause related to alleviating hunger or poverty.
3%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors volunteered for a cause related to unhoused people.
24%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors volunteered for a political candidate or a political cause.
11%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors volunteered for a cause related to civil or voting rights.
6%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors volunteered for an environmental cause.
5%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors volunteered for a cause related to animal welfare.
20%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors volunteered for a cause not listed above.
16%, No, I am not aware of my ancestors volunteering.
68%, I am currently a volunteer or have previously volunteered.
Readers Respond
Elizabeth Ekström Richards, Durham, North Carolina: After retiring from a long career of teaching blind children, my legally blind grandfather, Fayette Franklin Allee, volunteered for eighteen years at the Tucson [Arizona] Association for the Blind. He taught chair caning to adults. His work was featured in newspaper articles and on television.
Julie Gardner, Perry, Utah: My granny, Nancy Bleakley, and her mother, Kathleen Hadow, volunteered for the Northern Ireland fundraising arm of Barnardo's children's charity. My granny was the secretary for more than fifty years and served on the board until her death in 2003. She attended Barnardo's meetings in London and met Princess Diana several times. To this day, I tear up when I see a Barnardo's thrift shop.
Ann Carroll, New York, New York: My grandmother Ann Gorry Willett (b. 1902) loved to iron. She visited our family daily and did all our ironing. In the 1960s, Ann volunteered at a Jesuit retreat house community in a nearby town. She ironed the priests’ vestments, which required considerable skill. Ann’s mother, an Irish immigrant who was widowed in the late 1880s and again in the early 1900s, worked as a laundress. My grandmother probably learned this skill by assisting her mother.
Denise Hill, Santa Rosa, California: My great-grandmother Eva Miriam (Cleveland) Webb volunteered for the suffrage movement in the early 1900s. In 1919, her group of suffragettes met with California Governor William Stephens to urge him to ratify the “Susan B. Anthony Amendment” to the federal constitution. Governor Stephens refused. Undeterred, my grandmother and her fellow activists vowed to work with “their utmost energy” to rally the public to their cause. Their efforts were successful: a month later, the governor called for a special session of the legislature. The 19th amendment was ratified by California on November 1, 1919.
Lucy Allen, Barre, Massachusetts: My mother, Elinor Allen, filled many volunteer roles in her long life (1917-2016). As a young woman, she taught Sunday School. During World War II, she volunteered for the American Red Cross and served as a local spotter for the Army Air Forces Aircraft Warning Service. She was a Girl Scout leader and regional Girl Scout Council director. Later in life, she volunteered for the Barre (Mass.) Historical Society, the Barre Library Association, and the Woods Memorial Library. She was honored for more than 70 years of mostly volunteer service to the library. Following in her footsteps. I am a volunteer director of the Barre Historical Society and the Barre Library Association.
What We’re Reading
How Many Books Did You Read in 2023? See How You Stack Up! “Of 1,500 Americans surveyed, a less-than-ideal 46 percent finished zero books last year and 5 percent read just one. So, if you read more than two books in 2023, congratulations! You’re in the top half of U.S. adults.”
Something Old, Something Pneu “Pneumatic tubes offered a leap forward in business and communications, in the office and across the city.”
Spotlight: Newspaper Database, Hayes County, Texas
by Valerie Beaudrault
Hayes County is located in central Texas and seated in San Marcos. The San Marcos Public Library Community History Archive is an online database containing 727,000 pages from thirty-one local newspapers, including the San Marcos Daily Record (1975-2021), San Marcos Record (1919-1977), Daily Record (1973-2016), The Free Press (1996-2006), The Hays County Citizen (1957-1978), Wimberley View (2008-2018), Hays Free Press (1993-2020), Onion Creek Free Press (1982-1991), San Marcos Free Press (1877-1890), and The Hays County Times And Farmers' Journal (1886-1912). Search by keyword or browse individual issues. Search Now
Submission Deadline: March 1, 2024
Calling All Students! Enter the Young Family Historians Essay Contest
The 2024 American Ancestors Young Family Historians Essay Contest is open for students enrolled in grades 4-12 in public, private, parochial, and home schools across the nation and US territories. This year's contest invites each student to share a story from their personal family history and explain how lessons from that story can apply to their life today. Learn More
Non-probate assets such as an IRA, 401(k), or life insurance policy are not covered in your will or trust—you must name beneficiaries for these assets separately. Our friends at FreeWill.com have provided a free and secure online tool to help you plan out your beneficiaries for each of your non-probate assets. Learn More
