3 Reasons Why Women in the 19th Century had such a low life Expectancy

Today, it the average life expectancy of a woman is expected to reach is about 83 years of age. However, before the 20th Century this life expectancy was much lower. Often in researching your family history, you may discover a … Continued

9 Reasons Children Died Before Adulthood

While researching, I’ve come across family members who had numerous children.  However, out of the twelve children born to this family only three lived to adulthood. Today this seems very odd, but before all of the medical advances of the … Continued

7 Reasons to Revisit Brick Walls

No one likes to run across brick walls in their family history, but let’s be honest we all probably run across one or more at some point in our research. I’ve shared tips on breaking the brick walls and one … Continued

9 Way to Find Missing Family Members

Would you like to host a family reunion, but don’t know where the descendants for a given ancestor are living?  When I was hosting the McKee Family Reunion, I ran into this issue on over half of the still living … Continued

Many with my surname live in the same area but I can’t prove we are related

If they are all in the same area, than more than likely there is a common ancestor somewhere in the mix. However, finding that connection is not easy. Now, let me clarify.  If the surname is a common one such … Continued

Why does my Ancestor Appear Out of Nowhere?

Question: It seems as though for my situation my 2nd great grandfather Robert, who was the one born in 1818, just appeared one day. This is more common than we may think at first. I understand your pain about Robert … Continued

When Ancestors Share Same Name

Question:  How Can I Tell Which Person I Am Researching When My Ancestors All Have the Same Name? This is a hard one! When you have John Williams {1790-1830}; John Williams {1815-1875}; John J.  Williams {1828-1903} and John R.  Williams … Continued

Am I Related to Royalty?

Last week we discussed discovering our relationship to the Presidents of the United States.   Research has proven that all the Presidents are related to one another and share a common ancestor in Eleanor of Aquitaine, with the majority of the … Continued