FamilySearch Full Text Search is a gamechanger for those of us researching our family trees. Finally, we have another set of tireless eyes to read through millions of pages of documents in old handwriting to help find our ancestors' names! In this video, I talk about...
https://youtu.be/ZLIW2EOkQNE Have you ever wondered where your ancestors lived? Delving into historical land deeds can unlock a wealth of information about their property and lives. This guide — which has been put together to add written instructions to the techniques...
Traveling through New Bern on Martin Luther King Jr Blvd or to Chocowinity on Hwy 17 or Greenville on 43, we can take for granted how easy it is to get from one place to another — and in about a half hour or less to or from any of these places if Vanceboro is your...
I was thrilled this past week to receive in the mail a great big heavy package postmarked from Virginia. As soon as I saw the from address, I knew it was the book I ordered a couple of months ago, Beaufort County, North Carolina Ancestors by Roy Archbell, Jr. Before I...
https://youtu.be/Njxpxpbmjx4 I love technology and I'm always up for trying new things. Last month, I used ChatGPT — a site I have used many times since its launch — in an attempt to do some creative genealogy research. The results are nothing short of a bad trip by...
I was invited to give a presentation to the Craven County Genealogical Society about how to get more out of your Ancestry DNA, FamilyTreeDNA or any DNA results with some very useful tools, as well as some bonus content about how to find what you seek in the unindexed...
In March 2014, I wrote a lengthy post about the mystery of my 3rd great-grandmother Nancy Catherine WATSON, the last wife of Eli J. COX of Craven and Lenoir Counties. I had questions about so many things: Was she really 18 when she married 59 year old Eli, or was she...
A lot of people have all kinds of questions about DNA tests and family tree research. Genetic genealogy has exploded over the last 15 years or so. In this video, I talk about ethnicity reports and some of the different types of tests available to genealogy...
The best free genealogy resource online is FamilySearch.org, and in particular, their free online catalog. A lot of people get intimidated by it or they don't even know it's there. In this video, I explain how to get to the catalog and then how to drill down to find...
Do you happen to have a carpenter in your family tree? How about a blacksmith? A bricklayer? Or any of 127 different crafts practiced in the American South (coopers NOT included, more's the pity). This is your lucky day! I have just stumbled over this bit of...
If your family is from the Vanceboro area, you will certainly remember the paper that was produced by the Cannon family, West Craven Highlights. I'm not sure when this was done, but the whole project has now been digitized. You can browse all of the issues or search...
In the 21st century, if you're serious about genealogy, then let's face it: You will engage in DNA testing. In fact, if you're really serious, you'll get as many of your older relatives tested as possible. Why? Because their DNA will contain more lengthy segments...