I invite you to catch the spirit of genealogy. Join me to find inspiration and motivation to pursue your family history research. Learn about the effective tools I employ to further my clients' genealogical research. Contact me for a free project assessment.
In addition to research services, I am a genealogy coach. Check out a growing collection of YouTube videos that will provide visual examples of research in action. When you are ready for more advanced topics you can register for more in-depth coaching videos.
Online Genealogy Search Service I love working with folks just getting started with their family history research. This tool is perfect for DIYers. It provides curated genealogical search results that also grows a researchers' skill set.
One hour of individualized Genealogy Coaching is broken into 2 half-hour sessions for $25.00. Bring your questions and we work through possible solutions. Both in-person meetings or video conferencing options are available.
Access expert advice with Genealogy Coaching. Upgrade your research skills with this affordable and customized opportunity. Researching in a new area? Working with a new record type? Getting started with DNA evidence? Hit a brick wall? These are just some of the questions we can tackle during a Genealogy Coaching session.
Enter your email address and your general questions into the comments box when purchasing. You will be contacted within 3 business days (usually sooner) to set up your appointment.
If you would like to preview your question and my schedule please email me at tiffany@tiffanydunngenealogist.com.
The Online Genealogy Search Report is great for genealogy DIYers. Are you up against a brick wall in your research? Just getting started with your family history project? Need a nudge in the right direction? Have you exhausted the records available on the major genealogy websites?
I meet folks all the time that want to learn more about their ancestors but three major obstacles stand in their way. The expense, the learning curve, and the time investment hold family historians back.
The Online Genealogy Search Report addresses all three of these concerns.
For $25.00 you receive a PDF report of professionally curated search results. The report is derived from expertly crafted genealogical online searches and based on the information you provide. The best of these results are compiled into one simple-to-work-with PDF report. These searches are built in English.
Each report produces different results for different ancestors. (Some folks have quite a bit about them published online while others have very little.) Some of the online links will be about your ancestor and some won’t. That is the exciting part of this service; you still get to build your detective skills by following the links and determining who belongs in your family tree.
Each Online Genealogy Search Report is conducted for a single ancestor. More life details help to build the best final results, so please include the name of the spouse, children and or parents. Also, include any relevant dates and locations. When you complete your payment, enter in your email address into the comments field and I will email you to get your ancestor’s information. You receive your personalized PDF report listing the online links for you to “hunt” for your own ancestors within five business days.
The Online Genealogy Search Report presents what can be expected from online sources, saves time and reduces your financial investment.
Although one document may answer your specific question, continue looking for additional records. The first document you identify may not have an accurate answer, it may not offer a complete answer, or it may not answer the question at all. Following is a case study that illustrates how analyzing numerous records helped answer the birthdate question and the parentage question for Mary Elizabeth Weightman. The two research questions were then consolidated into the case study.
A daughter was born to George Weightman and Annie Elizabeth Evans on 3 October 1866 in Brooklyn, Kings, New York.
This digital image of a microfilmed original record noted the child’s date of birth, the child’s gender, and her parent’s names, but not a first name. The birth was at 14th Street near 6th Avenue. The doctor attending the birth was Dr. Geo. A. Ostrander. George Weightman provided his signature as the informant for this birth record.
A marriage announcement was published on 2 March 1890 in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper that documented the wedding of Mary Elizabeth Weightman to Henry M. Edwards. A transcription of the article follows.
tion, in the presence of the immediate relatives.
Mr. and Mrs. George Weightman, the Misses A.
ton, Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Tooker, Mr. and Mrs.
Julia J. Jones, William Evans, Jacob Evans, Mrs.
Alburtus, Miss Emma A. Halsted, Mr. and Mrs.
Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Weightman, W. L. Stroud, Jr.
The wedding was at Mary Elizabeth’s home at 120 Hancock Street in Brooklyn, Kings, New York. The Reverend J.G. Bacchus performed the ceremony. The article stated that the wedding was on a Thursday and the newspaper was published on a Sunday, so the couple was married on 27 February 1890. Doctor George A. Ostrander attended Mary Elizabeth Weightman’s marriage. He was the same doctor who attended the female Weightman’s birth on 3 October 1866.
The George Weightman household (and Mary Elizabeth as a small child) was not identified in the 1870 United States Census. Mary Elizabeth was enumerated in the 1880 United States Census with her family. In addition, she was noted as the wife of Henry M. Edwards in the 1900 and the 1910 United States Censuses. Mary Elizabeth was also enumerated in the State of New Jersey 1905 and 1915 Censuses.
The George Weightman household was enumerated in the 1880 United States census in Brooklyn, Kings, New York. The family lived at 259 Putnam Avenue. Both George and his wife Annie E. were thirty-seven. They had three daughters. Mamie E. was thirteen, Annie L. was ten, and Carrie E. was seven. All three daughters were born in New York. Their son, George E. was four and born in New York.
The 1880 United States Census established a birth order for the children of George Weightman and Annie Elizabeth Evans. Mamie was noted as thirteen which placed her birth year as 1866/1867. Mamie was a nickname for Mary and was used interchangeably. Mary Elizabeth’s siblings Annie L., Carrie E. and George E. match the names of those in attendance at her 27 February 1890 marriage.
The census data collected for Mary Elizabeth (Weightman) Edwards was consistent in all instances. She aged appropriately across all censuses and noted October 1866 as her birth whenever given the opportunity. She lived in Glen Ridge, Essex, New Jersey for the 1905 – 1915 censuses.
George Weightman’s probate record was examined. It was filed in Brooklyn, New York, New York and indicated that he died on 25 April 1913.
Annie Elizabeth (Evans) Weightman died on 1 September 1911 according to her probate records filed in Brooklyn, New York, New York. Annie Elizabeth’s heirs were noted on the first page of her probate record. Her husband, George Weightman is listed with his residence noted as 120 Hancock St. in Brooklyn, New York, New York. Annie Elizabeth’s children were listed as Mary Elizabeth Edwards of Glen Ridge, [Essex], New Jersey, Annie Louise Van Etten of Milford, [Pike], Penns [ylvania], and George Edwin Weightman of Brooklyn, New York, New York. Carrie was not listed.
Despite the lack of a first name for the female Weightman child born to George Weightman and Annie Elizabeth (Evans) Weightman on 3 October 1866, a relevant collection of documents survived to determine that Mary Elizabeth Weightman was that child.
Mary Elizabeth’s family life was documented in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper. Her wedding night celebration was at her parents’ house at 120 Hancock Street in Brooklyn, Kings, New York. The 1880 United States Census listed Mary Elizabeth’s siblings as Annie L., Carrie E. and George E. and their attendance at her wedding was noted in the marriage announcement. In addition, the doctor who attended her birth was also listed as attending her wedding.
Mary Elizabeth’s age was consistently accounted for across all censuses she was enumerated within. She clearly knew her birthdate and so did anyone else who answered the census questions.
Both of Mary Elizabeth’s parents had probate records filed in Brooklyn, New York, New York. Their address was still 120 Hancock Street at the time of their deaths. They both listed a Mary Edwards of Glen Ridge, Essex, New Jersey as their child. Their child was Mary Elizabeth Weightman, born on 3 October 1866, in Brooklyn, Kings, New York.
It is tempting to try to find out everything about an ancestor all at once. (Especially if there is nothing known.) But, when we start with little focus, it makes our research more difficult. It is harder to track what records have been searched and what the results are.
If we start with a specific question we can determine what types of records might best answer it. If we want to know when someone was born we would look for different records than if our question is where was someone married.
Is there an answer to the question?
Is it a complete answer?
Is it a partial answer?
Is there another document that also answers the question?
We repeat this process for all the documents we identify.
What a great time to work on our family histories! Have you reached a sticking point in your research? Could you use some help getting un-stuck? Not sure what ship your immigrant ancestor came to America in? Has your research landed in Europe and you can’t read the records? As a professional genealogist, I can help you find the answers to these and many other questions.
My name is Tiffany Dunn and I have been a family historian for 18 years. It has been my pleasure to be a co-chair for two local genealogy conferences, and I have been offering professional services since 2014. I continue to study Family History at Brigham Young University Idaho to make certain I am offering you the best research services possible.
My services are flexible. Would you like a one on one consultation to identify any gaps in your existing research? we can do that. If your database has run amok, we can fix that. Are you clueless but would like to know about your ancestors? we can start there. If you have the desire, we can be a great team.
Simply send me an email at tiffany@tiffanydunngenealogist.com for a fee fact sheet.
Family history research makes a great gift all year round. A Family History research report makes a wonderful birthday gift, Mothers’ Day/Fathers’ Day present, or even a thoughtful wedding gift.
Today I am adding sources to my online family trees. I focused on my Revolutionary War ancestors. I enjoy collecting as many sources as possible. There is no such thing as too many sources. When a holiday comes around I often interrupt my major research projects by re-looking for sources online for a specific family, brick wall ancestors, or those who participated in a specific military campaign.
Today, I was delighted to add more sources to Ebenezer Coe, Jr, my 5th Great Grandfather. He was born on July 24, 1735, in Stratford, Connecticut. He served in the 1st Stratford company in the 4th regiment of the Connecticut militia. He had been taken a prisoner in the battle of Long Island but escaped to Harlem Hills on September 25, 1776. He was on the path to be alerted about the advancing British by the famous Sybil Ludington. On April 21, 1777, in the Battle at Ridgefield, he suffered a musket shot through his head. He lost part of his ear and his right eye. He was also stabbed in the side. He survived and lived to be 85 years old. He wasn’t able to serve on the field after these injuries, though. I found some of this information in the invalid pension files on ancestry.com. I found all of the census records for Ebenezer on familysearh.org.
Not only I am thankful for his service, I am thankful that I can find records that help detail his life. When I can find sources about my ancestors, I am able to picture what their lives were like. Don’t forget to attach sources to everyone in your family tree. Happy Ancestor Finding!
FamilySearch Upgrade: What to Do While Site is Down?
On Monday June 27th, FamilySearch will be down for up to 24 hours due to a technical update. I am thankful for the heads-up because it gives me a chance to plan my online family history research when one of my most used websites won’t be available. Hmmm… what to do?
I will explore the Chrome browser extension called RootsSearch. Don’t use Chrome or don’t like extensions? Check out the web version of RootsSearch. I typically compose my own Google and site specific search queries but this tool might pick up something I’ve missed.
On Monday, I will run all of my end-of-line ancestors through RootsSearch to see if I locate any new leads. How does RootsSearch work? First, select an ancestor from an online family tree. I selected George T. Rice from my werelate.org family tree (in view mode). Click on the RootsSearch extension icon in your Chrome Browser. If not using the extension, go to the RootsSearch website and copy and paste the life details into the appropriate fields. I opted for a google search. RootsSearch opens a new tab with your results. One thing I noted while searching for George T. Rice is that RootsSearch added the middle initial T to the surname. Instead of Rice the search results returned the last name, Trice. So I deleted the middle initial. There is a reason that George is an end-of-line ancestor. I tried all of the search options included on RootsSearch except for the NLA Trove and didn’t get any leads.
I know it isn’t the 27th yet, but I am going to try another ancestor. I selected Henry Moore Edwards from my Ancestry.com online tree. First thing I noticed is that RootsSearch extracts more data from the Ancestry profile page than it did from the Werelate profile page. When I choose the Google search the query was built with “~genealogy” and this is too restrictive. I basically found my other online trees.
I don’t give up on a tool easily, so I will keep checking all of my end-of-line ancestors with RootsSearch. It will be worth it if I came up with just one new lead. Let me know how you will do research while FamilySearch is down.
I don’t like to lose things. The most frustrating things I lose track of are keys, important papers, and women in my family tree. To be fair, the women in my ancestry aren’t things, but they are so easy to lose track of, they sometimes seem to be as elusive as those misplaced keys. As I honor the special women in my ancestry, I like to take time to look for “new” details about the women in my family tree. It is so easy to “misplace” the stories of the women in our ancestry. I say “misplace” because there is a wealth of information to be found online.
Today, I researched my paternal grandmother. I only knew her as a grandmother, I never knew much about her childhood or her early marriage. We called her “GrandMommy.” Her birth name was Mary Carolyn Edwards. She went by Carol more often than Mary. She married Eugene Cornelius Reed, Jr. in 1946 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. These are facts I already knew.
I drove past this house as a child; just to see it. Carol lived here while she attended Glen Ridge High School in Essex County New Jersey.
On Ancestry.com I found yearbook photos of Carol. In her senior yearbook each senior was asked questions and her answers were good for a few giggles. She was a story-teller and it was fun to find that story telling was already a gift in high school. I love this high school portrait, I found.
Here’s hoping you don’t have to look for your keys. That time would be better used on growing your family tree.
Select the image you would like to make and then you will be prompted to sign in. Once you sign in you will be brought to the page titled: “Create Your Family Tree Keepsake.” Your family names will be placed on the artwork you selected.
I selected the apple green tree. It will go nicely with my curtains. There are a few options to choose from. You have the option to include a pre-determined background or not. I decided to go without and let the white of my paper be a high contrast. The background offered is a tint of off white.
You may also choose to include just your ancestors or both you and your spouse’s ancestors. The same goes for including children or not. These options make it easier to customize for gift-giving.
The FamilySearch Keepsakes Option would be great to use to create a decorative family tree to include on a family photo wall. If your Family Tree is already built then this would be a super quick craft. If you are handy with a photo editor, you could adjust the colors a bit to coordinate with your home and perhaps add a surname or date.
Comment below when you get a chance to decorate your home with this new tool from FamilySearch. I would love to hear how it goes. I hope this brightens your day. I love to combine family history and creativity.
esented by Amy Crow I encourage you to try: www.historypin.org and www.whatwasthere.com.
I love to find historical photos of the houses and neighborhoods that my ancestors lived in. I often use google maps and street view to see if a house or church are still standing but these sites aim to connect the past to the current. You can actually upload a historical photo and pin it to google maps. Both sites are totally worth a visit and I hope after today’s session at RootsTech they will get a lot more use.
I had fun on www.whatwasthere.com because one of my ancestral hometowns already had photos pinned to google maps. The website actually shows the historical photo lined up on top of the google map and you can use a slider to adjust the fade and compare the past to today.
On www.whatwasthere.com I entered Crystal Falls, Michigan and found several photos that I could overlap with google maps and fade in and out to see what changes had taken place since the photos were taken. Now, Crystal Falls has a population of 1,342 and is off the beaten path on the upper peninsula of Michigan so I get excited any time I can find photos of this beautiful small town. I have photos to upload to this site and am excited to get going. I just joined the site and am happy to have pictures to contribute.
Genealogists are often big on family traditions. Nine years ago my little family started our family history Christmas ornament tradition. It was born out of a need to have non-breakable ornaments on the tree. Our daughter’s first Christmas was heavy on taking the ornaments off the tree and depositing them around the house. Every year we have talked about doing different ornaments but have never been able to do it.
Each year we add photos from the current year. We print the photos, add a caption and sometimes laminate (instant Christmas ornaments). It just depends on what phone and which printer we have during any given December. We tie them on with whatever ribbon is handy. This isn’t fussy or perfect but neither are we. One year features scribbles, another showcases newly acquired cutting skills, and all are filled with love.
We often highlight the funny or the goofy moments and anyone that visted us/we visited during the year makes it to tree status. It is fun to see pictures of my husband who has taught my daughter how to make all of the important silly faces required to make it through life.
May you have fun with your December traditions.
When my future husband and I were dating I wanted to make him a unique birthday gift. I was already spending a large percentage of my time researching my family history and I knew I wanted to make something celebrating his family. I enjoyed cross stitch since I was a young girl and decided to document his immediate family with stitchery.
I took a wonderful picture of the framed cross stitch and then realized that it had living folks’ birthdays stitched on it. Well, as family historians we go to great efforts to not include living people’s information in our shared trees or online at all. So, I cropped in on parts of the sampler that wouldn’t show any of those details.
The piece was stitched in 1999 and signed and framed in 2000. It measures 12″ by 16″. You can see that I included the state and state flowers where applicable. I also included icons of things that were important to my husband such as a cd because he loved listening to and making music.
I encourage you to combine your interests. Perhaps paint a watercolor of a photograpgh from your family history. Or, make a quilt with “signature blocks” of your ancestors’ names. Whatever you decide to make to celebrate your family history don’t forget to “sign it” in some way for future family historians.