genealogy

Heads-up for those using Ancestry.com’s App for iPhone and iPad

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

UPDATE: Ancestry.com’s App version 3.0.1 released 20 Nov 2011 has fixed the problem reported here. After having some problems with Ancestry.com’s App on my iPad 2 a few days ago, I called their support. After their support representative talked to the App developers, she got back to me later that day that she was informed that the App “broke” under Apple’s new iOS 5. She said that “the programmers upstairs are working on it and you should be getting an update right on your phone” or iPad. No ETA given. Quick background: I recently started using Family Tree Maker 2012 … Read more

New and more interactive version of the Historical U.S. County Boundary Maps tool released!

June 8, 2023 by Randy Majors

Check out the new and more interactive version of the Historical US County Boundary Maps tool! Here’s a quick run-down on what’s new: Show me the answer now please! Now, when you type a Place and a Year* and click the Go button, you will be zoomed to that place and an information panel will automatically appear above the map, as highlighted here: I want the details. The information panel above the map shows the year, county name, full place name, and details about the latest evolution of your county of interest’s boundaries as of the year you chose. Source … Read more

Undocumented tricks for surfacing buried ancestors using the AncestorSearch Google Custom Search tool

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

OK, maybe you won’t surface any actual ancestors with these tricks, but you very well may surface a number of buried web pages about them! By using these tricks, I’ve found many additional web pages that were buried deep in the far recesses of the internet that mentioned my ancestors. First for some brief background. As you can see, AncestorSearch has input boxes for First Name, Last name, as well as Alternate Last Name. This is useful if you want to check alternate spellings for a surname, as in the example below where I’m looking for an association between two … Read more

Are you sure you’re looking in the right county for those records?

June 8, 2023 by Randy Majors

Example of county boundaries changing over time

When doing genealogical or historical research, it’s helpful (if not essential) to know what counties to search for the timeframe you’re interested in. And as we all know, boundaries shift over time. So you may think you know what counties to search, but is there a chance you’re missing something? Take a look at this example. Let’s assume you’re looking for records for your homesteading ancestors who settled in the region between Albuquerque, Los Alamos, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. This animation shows the boundaries by decade from 1850 to 1950. Those county boundaries were anything but stable. Take for … Read more

If at first you don’t succeed… try AncestorSearch

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

The latest newsletter from UK webssite LostCousins.com contained the following story. It’s such a great example of a success story using my AncestorSearch tool that I just have to share it. It’s an important reminder that exactly how you format your Google search really does make a huge difference in the results you get; AncestorSearch helps format your Google search to achieve more focused and successful genealogical search results. See here and here for more background info, and give it a try — even for those ancestors you’ve searched for hundreds of times before to no avail. Here’s the story: … Read more

New and simple online tool uses Google Maps to show historical county boundaries

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

THIS POST CONTAINS UPDATES FROM 06 JUN 2011: Thanks so much for all of the interest in this tool, and for your positive comments and constructive feedback! I’ve incorporated several enhancements into the current version. We all know the importance of county governments for maintaining various types of records that are useful for genealogical research. But how often have you tried searching for an ancestor’s historical records for a given county, only to realize that you were searching in the right place but the wrong county? In fact, according to John H. Long, the director of the Atlas of Historical … Read more

Triangulate to find more meaningful matches using both Family Tree DNA and 23andMe

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

Updated May 8, 2013 with new 23andMe website navigation and match figures: The allure and potential of the latest generation of autosomal DNA testing is great for genealogists. It instantly builds your family tree for you! Uh, just joking. But there are several real benefits of this type of DNA test: it helps you confirm genealogical paper trails across ALL of your family lines (not just the paternal and maternal lines as yDNA and mtDNA tests do) it helps you expand your family trees by finding “genetic cousins” and other relatives (for the sake of simplicity, I’ll call these people … Read more

Updated: AncestorSearch using Google Custom Search, version 1.1

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

This is an update to my original post, “Does this Google Custom Search help find records about your ancestors?“ You may recall that I built the AncestorSearch form as a timesaver for my own genealogical web searches, and I decided to share it on my website in case others find it useful too. (As a reminder, the AncestorSearch form performs a Google search that is optimized for finding web pages mentioning ancestors by making use of Google search techniques including quoted phrases, checking both firstname lastname, and lastname firstname order, placing the “OR” statements and parenthesis in the right places, and so on.) … Read more

Does this Google Custom Search help find records about your ancestors?

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

[I’ve added an update to this original post here: https://www.randymajors.org/2011/06/new-ancestorsearch-version-15-see] I hesitate posting this prematurely, but I welcome some initial feedback from the genealogy community on a search form that I’ve built. I’ve built an “AncestorSearch” Google Custom Search form on my blog that I’ve been using to find records on my own ancestors, and it’s worked pretty well for me so far over the last several weeks. I’m choosing to share it now in case others find it useful as well. Basically, this AncestorSearch search form attempts to filter through much of the irrelevant noise on the web and return … Read more

First day of 23andMe test results, and already a breakthrough!

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

I’ve been a FamilyTreeDNA customer for a couple of years, and I’ve had great success with using DNA testing combined with traditional genealogical research to break through one brick wall so far (see here https://www.randymajors.org/2010/12/man-who-wasnt-john-charles-brown). I recently became a 23andMe customer as well…their holiday special was just too good to pass up! Well, I started receiving my test results a couple of days ago for the Health Edition, and yesterday for the Ancestry Edition of 23andMe. I’m excited to say that I already have lots of matches to explore, and have already received about a half dozen requests to make contact, … Read more