In this online lecture, Senior Genealogist Rhonda R. McClure will introduce you to the best methods for untangling common names and adding people to your family tree with confidence and accuracy. Learn More
New From the Bookstore at American Ancestors
The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1640—A Concise Compendium, 2nd Edition
The new 10th-annivarsary edition of The Great Migration Directory contains 82 new immigrants, for a total of 5,700 sketches. Many new English or European origins have been discovered, sketches have been greatly expanded by research published in the last 10 years, and errors from the 1st edition have been corrected. This new volume also includes an appendix of eleven 1st-edition sketches retired by the author, along with his reasoning. Purchase Today
The Weekly Genealogist Survey
This Week's Survey:
Ancestors or Relatives Who Worked for a Postal Service
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.
10%, I often work closely with others on my genealogical research.
47%, I sometimes work with others on my genealogical research.
43%, I rarely work with others on my genealogical research.
Readers Respond
Margaret Anderson, Dallas, Texas: I am the chapter registrar for a lineage society and have been a registrar for several other lineage societies in the past. That role entails a lot of interaction with applicants. I help them understand the value of the supporting documentation and make sure we have the information needed by the society they wish to join. It is rewarding to help someone succeed!
Glenn R. Trezza, Boston, Massachusetts: Two British distant cousins (now also good friends), Ms. Janet Kirk and Ms. Rosemary Lockie, have mentored me in my family history research. We each bring different strengths to our collaborations. Ms. Lockie is our data-monger and historian. She is a genius at gathering and collating data and setting it in a context of local history and culture. Ms. Kirk is brilliant at evaluating evidence, generating hypotheses, and asking insightful questions about thorny problems. I am the connection-maker and narrative writer, pulling stories together from disparate data. We all do better work from interacting with each other.
Austin Spencer, Alexandria, Virginia: I have contributed to the Register nine times, and on two occasions I shared the byline with others. In the first case, it began with a previous article by me. Another subscriber emailed me to point out that one of my statements contradicted others in the literature. We ended up collaborating on a three-generation study. Another time, I submitted a lengthy manuscript only to later discover that research on the same family had been conducted by Register Associate Editor David Curtis Dearborn and his wife, Maureen Markt Dearborn. We agreed to combine our research into one longer article that was published in 2024.
The city of Lake Geneva is located in Walworth County, in southeastern Wisconsin. The Lake Geneva Public Library has made resources available on its local history webpage. These resources include an obituary index with over 20,000 records. Data fields are full name, husband, maiden name, birth and death dates, and publication information. There is also a birth announcement index with nearly 9,000 records. The data fields are first and last name, gender, birth date, and parents’ names, plus announcement publication information. Other resources include a history of the library written in 1944 and a finding aid for the library’s local history collection. Search Now
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
