Randy's challenge this week sent me digging and while this isn't the oldest confirmed document I have, it's certainly, to me, more interesting than many of the earlier ones: 1) What is "Your Oldest Confirmed Record?" What is one of the oldest documents you've personally found for any ancestor? 2) Share your oldest confirmed record: what it is, where it came from, and what it revealed.

Find essential free resources that provide information and education to help you succeed in your personal and professional life.

The 1997 Dedication Ceremony at the Old Palace School Site

Family history website Ancestry is offering free access to major records collections, including Second World War service records

Over the last couple of months, when I've had time, I've studied more about writing proof arguments and looked at some other examples. One thing that struck me is the depth of detail about the subjects of these documents, which made me realise I needed to learn more about Sarah Larkin and her family before I began writing. While I am certain I know the names of her parents, I also have to build them out a little more, though with Sarah's mother, Mary, it's proven to be quite a challenge:

For this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge, Randy asked us the following: 1) Do you have any records of your ancestors' schooling, such as report cards, yearbooks, or photos? 2) If so, please share one of them and what you learned about your ancestor(s) from the article. As long-time readers of this blog might remember, I inherited a sizeable collection from my paternal grandmother, Maria Hilferding Basińska.

More than four decades ago, somewhere amid the bustling streets of Mumbai, India, two baby girls were born. Adopted by different families in the Netherlands, Meena Geltink and Minal Tijssen grew up me...

I've been working on this post for more than a week (a difficult one during which we said goodbye to our beloved cat, Cleo), but I've just realized it also fits into Randy's most recent Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge - An Unusual Newspaper Article About Your Ancestors - though mine comes with a twist: 1) Have you found an unusual, chilling, amazing, or fascinating newspaper article about your ancestors?

In this week’s roundup, the family stories hidden within a 160-year-old house, a vacation book recommendation, the growing challenges of accessing public records, and more!

A Times analysis found dozens of areas across the pool's new liner that showed tears, bubbles and peeling.

My 8th great-grandmother, Sarah Larkin (mother of Mary Mount who married Robert Beake in November 1689), presents a fascinating case study, as there is no direct evidence for her birth or baptism, and even the names of her parents. Having been born about 1649, during a turbulent period in English history in which church records ceased being kept in many parishes, she's one of many for whom key parish register entries are missing, including marriages, baptisms and burials.

Whenever possible, always work from original records rather than transcriptions or indexes, because transcribed records can contain errors such as - Misread handwriting (eg 'Ann' transcribed as 'Amy') Incorrect dates or ages Misspelled surnames Omitted notes or marginal annotations Misinterpreted occupations or places Indexing mistakes that make records difficult to find Original documents can also provide important context that a transcription often leaves out, such as -

I'm baack! It's been a busy few weeks leaving me little time (or energy) to do any serious writing. First up, in late June, was our older niece's wedding in Vancouver. It was a beautiful day (despite the forecast) and a wonderful celebration. a few days later, Sean and I set out on a road trip to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to celebrate my mum's 90th birthday.

In a recent Substack post, genealogist Paul K Graham reminded us that "Yes, Online Family Trees are Sources", referring us at one point to Thomas W Jones BCG article "Perils of Source Snobbery”. In a similar vein, I want to "talk" about the source hints generated by the major online genealogy repositories, the hints so many online forum users tell others NEVER to use, because "they're never right" or "it's lazy".

In my in-depth research into my 8th great-grandmother, Sarah Larkin, I came across a relationship that took me completely by surprise. The discovery itself was quite by accident as the surname in question isn't an unusual one in the area I'm researching, so I hadn't even considered a family connection to be a possibility. Serendipity indeed. What was this discovery? Sarah Larkin's older sister, Mary (my 9th great-aunt), married my 8th great-grandfather, Richard Knowler (click image to enlarge):

Dirt, sex and faeces abound in 18-century literature.

Thirteen other medical groups have already endorsed the independent schedule.

New citizenship rules have many Americans rushing to prove they have Canadian ancestors — leaving Canadian archivists scrambling

Just a quick post this week as I've had lots going on, including some mostly sleepless nights because of our elderly kitty. It's good news, however - the WikiTree Sourcer now creates citations from FindMyPast's newspaper clipping sharing pages, like this one I clipped for an article I recently found: WikiTree is a world tree, similar to the FamilySearch Family Tree.

Historians like the Pulitzer Prize winner David Blight have tried to raise awareness of freed slaves who decorated soldiers' graves in 1865

Following on from my previous post about my Sarah Larkin project and my decision to write a proof argument, I've spent time each evening working on building Sarah's timeline on Ancestry and entering information into Family Historian. Given Sarah lived close to 80 years, married twice, had 8 children, and was mentioned in a variety of family documents, it's painstaking work.

My research into Mary Mount's mother, Sarah, has become even more complicated that I first thought. In building out Sarah's family, I uncovered an unexpected connection, a sister who married four times, and a raft of wills and administrations which helped me put it all together. There are so many moving parts that I have to remember Annie Lamott's advice (actually, her father's) to take them…

This is the latest and recently updated biography of my great-grandfather, John Edwin Barnes. It’s always good practise to periodically review and revisit your work and I have included here s…

Some of the bijoux I discovered this week. Blog postsDigitize New York Milestone: One Million Scans on New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Blog. Irish Land Commission’s Keane Index Cards No...

Randy has us looking at a male ancestor this week: 1) Who Is Ancestor #50 in your Ahnentafel list? What were his birth date and place, his parents, death date and place, spouse's name, marriage date and place, and how many children they had, and which of his children do you descend from? 2) Share your information about #50 (or other) ancestor…

Thanks for this resource. I'm putting together my own blog post about transcription and will include this one in the list of resources.

As I hinted in my last post, ascertaining the full identity of Mary Mount's mother became a project all its own. While I was fairly certain her name was Sarah Larkin, I knew little else about her and, just last autumn, I included her in a Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post about "Your Most Recent Ancestors With No-Known-Name Parents": "Another of my eighth great-grandmothers, Sarah Larkin’s parentage has met a similar fate as that of Ann Redwood.

My Beake-related research has sent me deep into a series of wills for the family of Mary Mount, who married Robert Beake at Canterbury in 1689. While researching her parents I found the tree growing in unexpected ways, due to the early deaths of her father and maternal grandfather and subsequent remarriages of her mother and maternal grandmother (click image to enlarge):

This week in the post I received a wonderful gift from via my mum from my cousin in England: a copy of Ancestral trails : the complete guide to British Genealogy and Family History by Mark Herber. It has long been on my wish list, but as it's over 20 years old, published by The History Press in the UK, and still greatly prized by genealogists, it's difficult to find a second-hand copy and very dear to buy new.