Our ancestors did it. The census takers did it. The transcribers did it. So we have to as well. It's a rare thing to find an ancestor whose name appears ... Read More

Cabinet cards, popular in the late 1800s, are easy to recognize because they are mounted on cardstock, often with an imprint of the photographer and location just below the photo. ... Read More

The old days when families got together every Sunday for dinner, or chatted over the fence, seem to have disappeared in a whirlwind of the commitments and distances of life ... Read More

Found primarily in France, New France (French-Canada, Louisiana, etc.), and Scotland, dit names are essentially an alias tacked on to a family name or surname. Dit in French is a ... Read More

Have you ever wandered through a cemetery and wondered about the meanings of the designs carved on old gravestones? While we can only speculate what our ancestors were trying to ... Read More

On July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, two of America's founding fathers died. Former president Thomas Jefferson died at his Monticello estate ... Read More