Ancestral Discovery

Ancestral Discovery

Noncomputer-based genealogical resources

Mark Fearer -
A guide to non-digital educational resources.
Ancestral Discovery

If — make that when — you hit the brick wall

Mark Fearer -
In the genealogy world, we use the term “brick wall” when we seem to go as far as we can in finding a particular ancestor or branch. I hope this isn’t too controversial a statement, but most of the brick walls we hit are ones that we inadvertently create.
Ancestral Discovery

The database with the most records is free

Mark Fearer -
FamilySearch has many features, but this column will only deal with the database, since it’s the most popular one.
Ancestral Discovery

Genealogy databases

Mark Fearer -
The major genealogy databases are Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage and FindMyPast. All have international record sets and are overlapping, but all have some unique collections.
Ancestral Discovery

Genealogical conferences

Mark Fearer -
An important part of finding your ancestors (and not someone else’s with the same name) is developing your genealogical skills.
Ancestral Discovery

Trust, but verify

Mark Fearer -
I want to share some other genealogical databases that are more general.
Ancestral Discovery

Our ancestors in the news

Mark Fearer -
Here, we’re going to look at the value of newspapers. This insightful record set can give us details of our ancestors not found elsewhere.
Ancestral Discovery

Ancestral given (first) names

Mark Fearer -
When doing family research, first — or given — names can also be perplexing.
Ancestral Discovery

Name that ancestor

Mark Fearer -
For Jewish genealogists, names are one of the most challenging aspects of finding our ancestors.
Ancestral Discovery

Genealogy software helps organize your work

Mark Fearer -
About creating online family trees: genealogy software can be a tremendous help in keeping your work organized.
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Latest News

FeaturesJNS -

When a sukkah is on an elephant

The Talmud, in tractate Sukkah, discusses constructing a sukkah on an elephant. The Biblical Museum of Natural History in Israel made it happen. “It’s hard to avoid talking about the elephant in the room, which is literally the elephant in the room,” said Rabbi Natan Slifkin, the museum director known as the “zoo rabbi.”