Key in a door; public domain. Courtesy of Picryl. In genealogy and family history, context is "the examination of individual lives within the framework of a broader history" [1]. Context is Key Context is key because  context unlocks meaning in the records we uncover , and leads us to more (and better) records and collections. For instance, finding a land description and platting it is step one, then when the plat is on a map along with the neighbors, we can see who the ancestor knew, worked alongside, attended church with, and who the singles might have married. Learning the geology of the area leads to understanding what crops were grown, and so how the land shaped the daily lives of those living and working on it. Life on the Great Plains is very different from the hollers of Kentucky or the coastal plains of the East. People often migrated in groups, and in general chose to move to an area where their skills and knowledge would be useful.  Context for land acquisitio...

[Valorie] In our research, we're always seeking to establish identity, relationships, locality, occupations, and most of all, to understand the lives of our forebears. WHO includes everyone, not just our "direct" ancestors , but their families, friends, enemies, neighbors, fellow congregants and club members, colleagues, competitors, fellow travelers and "kin," however they defined that. We know where to find them—census (including agriculture and manufacturing schedules), tax lists, newspaper articles, city directories, club rosters, church records, family photos, scrapbooks, county histories and so on. Critical, specific information was the plot of land where they made a living, alongside neighbors and relatives.   Where? MAPS How about maps as a tool to help ? In preparation for today's workshop on platting , I watched a very old Legacy webinar by Mark Lowe of Kentucky and Tennessee, about how to use the plats to learn more about our ancestors than I thou...

 Summer is a great time to travel to the old home places and distant repositories. What's your first step?  Create Your Plan The longer your trip and farther away your destination, the more preparation you will need. Are passport, visa, special vaccinations required? Early on, write away for maps; some are available for free but arrive by mail; good local maps will help in the planning process. How about connections with researchers in the localities you will visit? Join some local societies, and start conversations with the local history groups, libraries, colleges, courthouses, archives and museums. Create a spreadsheet or table to gather names, contact information, closed dates, hours of operation. Before you leave, print your itinerary and the info sheet. Leave a copy at home with friends and family, too.  Prepare short biographies of ancestors who lived locally to leave in vertical files in libraries and archives. Ensure that each bio has your contact information; if...

City Vectors by Vecteezy How are city directories useful to us researchers? Aren't they just boring lines with a few names and sometimes, addresses?  They can be so much more, but even just the name and address, and sometimes job description and place of employment is by *year* and so if you have two people of the same name, you can follow them annually, and usually sort them out once you cross-check that data with census and other records. And don't forget to search for maps of the time so you can correlate the addresses to the house or apartment, and perhaps note the place of employment as well. Sanborn maps are particularly wonderful for this since it shows the layout of the house on the lot, and indicates how large it was, and how it was constructed.  However, noting just the bare minimum information misses the real value of city directories. After you gather all the information and write your citation, scan up and down the page, whether it is organized by address or alpha...

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from pixabay.com/ We've had more favorite tools submitted this past week; we hope you find these useful! One Note, Evernote Darlene Steffens :   My favorite tool is One Note (Evernote also works) where I keep handy, just a mouse click away, a variety of research things including:  web links sorted by (1) location (state & country) and (2) generic subject matter; a list of contact persons sorted by family line with email address links, phone, numbers, etc.; a list of source citation formats that I frequently use for copy/pasting into my tree's database; a log of correspondence exchanged sorted by family line, date, who, why, results; a To Do list by state/country where I can "park" those cemetery photos I need to take or the library facility I need to visit and what is needed there (you never know when a visit there is possible); and ever so much more. I like the convenience of all things collected into one place that will open on ...

Screenshot shows the default view of the new "Exploring Chronicling America Newspapers" interactive map and timeline [1] Somehow this week I received a copy of the Library of Congress blog, The Signal, in which I found the news about this new feature at Chronicling America. I had not subscribed to this blog before but I certainly will now!  Perhaps you might find it useful as well:    https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/ Interactive Map and Timeline This interactive map of newspapers in the Chronicling America digital library will be a tremendous help in finding the newspapers in your neck of the woods.  Just click on a dot near the area in which you are searching and you get a pop-up with the name of the town and newspapers published in that area.  Neat! Clicking on the underlined text will take you directly to the issues where you may browse or, with the title of the available newspapers, you can do a search by name or phrase.  Not all states are included; th...