5 articles

What do you do when you just can't seem to get past a family history hurdle? First off, don't worry, you're not alone. It happens to all of us. Overcoming the issue may take some clever thinking but more often than not, you'll get there.To help, we've compiled some of the most common genealogy problems and ways to solve them. With a little determination and ingenuity, your family discoveries should be back on track in no time. 1. Re-examine everything:…

If you've made any progress in tracing your Irish ancestors, there are certain road bumps you've undoubtedly met on your journey. Let's take a look at the most common issues and help you get past them. 1. Missing Irish census records: The vast majority of Ireland's 19th-century census records were destroyed in a fire at the Public Records Office of Ireland in 1922. Only fragments survive. So, unlike in the UK or USA, you can't keep track of your 19th century Irish…

Misspelt first names, incorrect transcriptions, evolving surnames... the list of possible name-related issues when searching online family history records goes on and on.It's an understandable problem. Many documents we're working with were written at a time when literacy was not common, and in almost all cases, the record keeper didn't realise how careful they needed to be. Who would have thought that hundreds of years later, people would be using something called 'the internet' to judge a poor scribe's…

With over 30 years of experience as a genealogist, Else Churchill knows a thing or two about searching online indexes. Follow her expert advice and you'll soon be filling your family tree with detail-rich discoveries and stories. 1. Less is more when you're getting started: This is one of the most important tips to remember if you're having trouble finding your family members in genealogy resources. You may not need to complete all the boxes or narrow your search.If you enter…

We've all been new to family history at some stage, and we'd be lying if we said we hadn't made (and continue to make) a few mistakes here and there. Luckily, genealogy is a marathon, not a sprint, and so there's time to learn from our errors and become better researchers along the way. Here are a few of the mistakes we made when we started out that we are sharing in the hope you'll avoid making the same ones.…