Between 1785 and 1825, Americans of European descent began to document their familial rela­tionships, which had been gradually developing in a colonial and post-colonial setting. Some calligraphic and genealogical artists found ways to memorial­ize and celebrate these ties for current and future generations and began to advertise their talents. Decorated watercolor and embroidered registers started to appear in everyday households and were occasionally listed in probate inventories. Many were made by school children.

This ground-breaking work traces 1,500 descendants of four families from St. Mary’s County, Maryland, 800 of whom are progeny of three Georgetown Memory Project slaves sold in 1838 but who remained in Maryland for more than 200 years. After another 150 years, many are still there, but most who migrated after 1900 remain in the greater Chesapeake Bay area.

This new full-color edition is an extensive update of an indispensable resource for those researching in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Research basics, unique resources, repository locations, and county and town information (maps, dates established, parent counties, parent and daughter towns, other names, and more) are now uniformly presented for each state. This user-friendly redesign also restores useful information from the 4th edition such as earlier probate districts in Connecticut.

Edited by Rhonda R. McClure

Virginia was not only the largest and most populous of the American colonies, but its population was also highly migratory within Virginia’s borders and beyond. Little wonder then that so many family historians need to research Virginian ancestors. In this webinar, Senior Genealogist Kyle Hurst shares her go-to Virginia-based resources within five categories: genealogies, journals, land, taxation, and history.

Created by David Allen Lambert,  Chief Genealogist

Published: October 2022

PDF Download, 9 pages

Created by David Allen Lambert,  Chief Genealogist

Published: October 2022

PDF Download, 8 pages

Unclear as to what date “21 1mo 1708/9” refers to? What about “4 Mary”? While dates are foundational to your family history research, they’re not always straightforward in the record or follow a modern calendar system. This online lecture covers common calendar systems that you may encounter in your research, discuss how to interpret and record them, and suggest several online conversion tools to understand these dates in familiar terms.

Settlement houses first appeared in the United States in the late 1880s, modeled after London’s Toynbee Hall. Located in neighborhoods largely comprised of poor and immigrant populations, the purpose of these houses was to help improve the condition of area residents, both young and old, by offering educational programs and assisting with social services. Settlement houses quickly became a vital resource for members of these communities in the late 19th and early 20th century.

By the end of the War of 1812, nearly 35,000 American Regulars and 458,000 militia had served on land and sea. In this syllabus, Chief Genealogist David Allen Lambert provides a quick guide to essential records for researching War of 1812 veterans, links to resources (both in print and online), and more.

By the conclusion of the American Civil War, an estimated 179,000 Black men had served in the U.S. Army and another 19,000 in the Navy.