"Getting Started with the 17th-Century Great Migration to New England" Guide
“Getting Started in Family History with American Ancestors” is a series of free downloads and short videos that covers the basic research methods genealogists use to find and verify information. Download our free “Getting Started with the 17th-Century Great Migration to New England” guide for essential help on this sometimes complicated topic. Download Now
Upcoming Online Author Event, September 19
Edward L. Ayers with American Visions: The United States, 1800-1860
In the early decades of the nineteenth century, remarkable individuals and communities charted new paths for America in the realms of art, nature, belief, and technology. Edward L. Ayers has come to understand these changemakers and their impact through decades of award-winning scholarship on the Civil War. In American Visions he brings them and their times to life. Register Now
The Weekly Genealogist Survey
This Week's Survey:
Your Ancestors' Grade School and High School Experiences
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.
44%, Yes, I remember one or more of my great-grandparents.
55%, No, I cannot remember any of my great-grandparents.
1%, I'm not sure
Readers Respond
Frankie Keller Ewing, Albuquerque, New Mexico: I remember my great-grandfather George Garner Oliver, whom my siblings and I called “Great Oliver.” He often sat in his large rocking chair smoking a pipe. He would take one of us children on his knee and sing “One little, two little three little bears, four little, five little, six little bears.” Great Oliver lived to be 97.
Elizabeth Ekström Richards, Durham, North Carolina: Including my parents' stepfamilies, I had twelve great-grandparents, with four living when I was born. I had my photo taken with two of them, but I remember only one. Laura Ann Pryor Allee was the beloved mother of my adoptive grandfather. We visited her in Pueblo, Colorado, during occasional summer vacations. I still remember the devastating phone call when she died during my sophomore year in college, almost 50 years ago.
Barbara MacMillen, Clayton, Idaho: I lived with one set of my great-grandparents. My parents divorced when I was 4, and my mother went back to school to become a nurse. While she was in nursing school, I lived with her mother's parents. I am very grateful that they were such a big part of my life as a child, and I remember many of their siblings as well.
Margaret Anderson, Garland, Texas: I remember only one of my great-grandparents, Nancy Jane Cox Campbell. She outlived her eldest son (my grandfather) and died at 95. She had very interesting stories about growing up in the 1860s and 70s in rural Texas. I remember visiting her as a child and being fascinated by her wood burning cook-stove—which she still used every day when she was in her eighties. I just could not conceive how hard it was for her to fix a cup of coffee, much less a meal!
Monta Salmon, Stirling, Alberta: Two of my eight great-grandparents were deceased by the time I was born, but I personally knew my remaining six great-grandparents. I am the eldest child and the eldest grandchild on both sides of my family. My Grade One teacher asked in class how many grandparents we had, and she thought I was lying when I said that including my parents, I had twelve living ancestors.
Diantha Howard, Grand Isle, Vermont: I remember two of my great-grandfathers. My fondest memories are of “Pa,” a great-grandfather whom I saw often. He lived until I was 17. He was a great storyteller. When I was young, he read me books and switched the names of the characters to my friends' names.
Sandra Kidd, Travelers Rest, South Carolina: When I was born in the late 1950s, I was fortunate to have five living great-grandparents, all of whom I remember and several of whom lived until I was in my teens. I also had one living great-great-grandmother, Sara Moser McGaha, who died when I was 4. I feel blessed to have known these elders, and my love of family history stems from the stories they told on front porches across Virginia and the Carolinas.
Labors of Love and Literature A class taught by Macalester College English professor Andrea Kaston Tange read Mary Barton, an 1840s novel set in England’s industrial north. A character in the novel had to sew four mourning dresses in roughly thirty-six hours. Tange made that task more real for her students by having them work together to sew mourning dresses for two dolls.
A Brief History of Leaf-Peeping “Nineteenth-century New England poets weren’t exaggerating the beauty of fall foliage—and pretty soon, other Americans wanted to see it for themselves.”
Postcard Delivered 121 Years Late Reunites Family A postcard sent by a 13-year-old boy to his sister in 1903 just arrived at its destination in Swansea, Wales. The resulting publicity has brought extended family members together for the first time.
Spotlight: Newspaper Database: Joe Barnhart Bee County Library, Texas
by Valerie Beaudrault
Bee County, seated in Beeville, is located in southern Texas. The Joe Barnhart Bee County Library has made a newspaper database available in its Community History Archive. The collection comprises more than 190,500 pages from six newspapers, including Beeville Bee Picayune (1901-2004), Bee Picayune (1928-2023), Beeville Bee (1886-1928), Beeville Picayune (1896-1928), Beeville Weekly Picayune (1892-1909), and The Bastrop Advertiser (1978-1978). A city directory database (1948-1959) is also part of the collection. The database can be searched by keyword or browsed. Search Now
Database News
New Sketches: Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784
We’ve added 20 new and updated sketches to Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784. The people profiled in these sketches lived in Vernon, Dummerston, Brattleboro, and Fort Dummer.
These sketches were created by Scott Andrew Bartley, who is researching heads of families who lived in Vermont prior to the Revolutionary War. This study project not only identifies those who sought better lives on the frontier but also illustrates major players on the political and religious fronts and illuminates regional migration patterns for this period. This database is available to Individual-level and above American Ancestors members only. Search Now
Young Family Historians Essay Contest
The 2025 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 students to share a story from their personal family history about an ancestor who faced a challenge, and how they overcame it. We encourage teachers to use this essay contest as a class project. Our Family History Curriculumhas everything you need to help students explore their roots, including inquiry-based lessons, teaching strategies, and editable student worksheets. 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
