Assumed Names

If you are tracing your ancestors from around the time of World War I or World War II, you might find it difficult if they were from German or Japanese descent. Many people who immigrated to the United States from shortly before World War I to several years after World War II often tried to disguise their country of origin. They might have claimed to be from Austria if they came from Germany, or they might have claimed they were from China or Korea if they were from Japan. So take careful consideration, and check other countries from which they may have immigrated.

Towns and Industry

During the Industrial Revolution (and even a little bit today), the town/city your ancestor lived in could give a clue as to what his profession was. Some occupations have been associated with certain towns such as Abilene with cattle or Philadelphia with the steel industry. This is also helpful if you know what type of work in which your ancestor was skilled. You could have an educated guess as to which city he/she might have moved to.

Family History Breakthroughs

Many years ago, my mother's aunt had four children. With every child she had their picture taken and within months of their picture being taken, each child passed away. A few years ago, my father found the names of two of her children through findagrave.com. After years of searching, he never had any more success finding the names of the other two children. Recently he was searching on findagrave.com again and this time there was an email address connected with a picture of a few headstones in the cemetery where he believed all the children were buried. He contacted the lady through her email, explained the situation, a few days later he got an email with a link to a new picture on findagrave.com. She had found a third child. Genealogists and historians understand the quest and the desire to know the facts. We're helpful because we understand how that makes us feel. We share a bond together because we all want to finish the quest. --Gayla Mendenhall

English Hospital Records

English law requires that hospital records be sealed from the public for 100 years, so the first available records will be from 2011. These records would indicate if your ancestor was born in a hospital or spent any time in a hospital. These records will also show if your ancestor spent any time in a mental institution. The next of kin will be listed along with the malady. Check carefully because you could learn more about your family history than just names and dates!

Internet Toolbar for Genealogists

www.geanealogyintime.com has a wonderful new toolbar that works with Internet explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome. It tells you new records that are available, articles from the Genealogy in Time magazine, a search engine, and an RSS feed of articles from the Top 100 websites in Genealogy. See what it is all about. I really think that you'll enjoy it.

Where Did THAT Wife Come From?

Does it appear that an ancestor was married to one woman when his marriage to his first wife was not dissolved, he wasn't widowed, and there is no record of anything other than a second marriage? Be not dismayed! Believe it or not, bigamy was not uncommon years ago. This is especially true if your ancestor had a job that required him to travel a great deal. If they went repeatedly to the same city, is wasn't that odd to have a wife in two different cities. So if this is a possibility, check to see if you can find his occupation. If he was a farmer, there is a good chance that there is a mistake somewhere, but if your ancestor was a tin peddler, you might want to give credence to him having two wives.

How to Find a Foundling

A foundling was a newborn that was abandoned at a safe location, usually a church. The parents were complete unknowns. These children were often given a Christian name plus a surname that was usually the day of the week on which the child was found. These children would also not be found in the records the normal way. Even if they were given the surname Monday, they would be listed in the birth registers after the letter Z.

The Beginnings of Child Support

Illegitimate children often did not have a father listed on the birth certificate making family history difficult. But in 1844 the Poor Law Amendment Act introduced child support. Of course, in those days it was not called affiliation orders. The allowed the mother to apply for maintenance payments (aka child support) from the father of her illegitimate children. So if there is no father listed on the birth certificate, you might check the Poor Law records in Great Britain. At first the law required it to be within the first year of the newborn's life. This was later amended to be the first 3 years of life.

Common Name Changes

So we all know that names get changed and anglicized or by mistakes in the census. Another common one is when ancestor's moved over from Great Britain, they may have immigrated from Scotland. If you are having trouble locating an ancestor you know was born in Great Britain, try adding a "Mac" to the front of the surname, such as Arthur becomes MacArthur and Grey becomes MacGrey. Give it a try, it might help.

Two Time Immigrator

Border guards between the Unites States and Canada were not started until May of 1924. Therefore it was simple to cross the border to the other country. Your ancestor's final destination might have been Boston, but they could have easily traveled to Montreal and made their way to Boston from there. In those days the most important factors would have been cost, convenience, and accessibility since the number of ships with passage may have been limited. So start checking the ship manifestos for entries in the other country to see if you can find your ancestor there!

Hardwicke's Marriage Act

Hardwicke's Marriage Act made it easier for genealogists to trace marriages in England and Wales when it came into effect in 1754. After this date clandestine marriages (marriages that take place outside of a church) were illegal, a marriage license or banns were required, they had to be properly recorded and signed by both parties. Members of the Jewish and Quakers faiths were exempt from these provisions in the Marriage Act, as was the British Royal Family (this exemption still remains today). All other religions and noncomformists were not exempt but had a strong financial incentive to be married in the Anglican church. This mostly is because an Anglican marriage was necessary for children from the union to be recognized as legitimate. Many people got around this Marriage Act because if did not apply to Scotland. There were villages in Scotland that catered who wanted to elope such as Paxton Toll, Lamberton, and the especially famous Gretna Green.

Artistic Ancestry Status

Our dear friends, We have recently discovered a problem with the webhosting for ArtisticAncestry.com. This will temporarily postpone the website going LIVE as we had planned. While we appreciate you support, we do want the website to be fully functional, so our friends and family will be happy with the product we are offering. Please continue to follow us on Facebook and Twitter or at artisticancestry.blogspot.com for further genealogy hints and news for the release date of ArtisticAncestry.com. With Deep Appreciation, Cristina and Gayla

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Sometimes it is difficult to know exactly how to trace ancestral records when you don't know what all of the terms mean. Scotland, Wales, and England are Kingdoms, which just means they are realms that are ruled by a king. In 1707, Great Britain was formed when the Kingdoms of England and Wales merged with the Kingdom of Scotland and Scotland adopted many approaches to the English government record systems. But the real confusion comes understanding the difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom. In 1800, the United Kingdom came into effect when Ireland joined with Scotland, Wales, and England. However in 1921, Ireland split into two factions Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, with Northern Ireland staying with England, Wales, and Scotland. Today the proper title is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Dreams Coming True

It's been a dream and an adventure. ArtisticAncestry.com is about to go LIVE and available to the public. Artistic Ancestry is an online tool for your genealogy files. it's different than most genealogy websites though. It gives you the opportunity to expand on your GEDCOM file. You are able to upload pictures, document scans, audio files, and video files. We'll store you files for you. Then you can take those files and create e-books to share with family and friends. We are so proud it's almost time to share our dream and adventure with you. We hope that you enjoy being able to tell the stories behind the names on your family tree as much as we do.

What Is Soundex?

Soundex is an online tool that takes a surname that you input from your family tree (I usually use it if I am having trouble find a particular branch of the family). It then takes that name and gives you a list of possible names from which it could be derived. Especially popular names that got changed were last names that begin with an H. Either the H was dropped on the census and Illier became Hillier or the opposite and the H was added. It's like the game played in elementary schools when one child whispers a word or phrase to the child next to them. You might start out with, "white lights are really bright" and end up with "hot pots hold tots." You never really know what your family's surname might have begun as.