November 21, 2025 Genealogy used to mean frequent trips to libraries, archives, courthouses and cemeteries. All those trips to various repositories certainly were not free, but everyone knew that genealogy could be expensive. Trips to the homeland in Europe or week-long genealogy workshops often required months, or even years, of saving in advance. Nowadays, …
Vital Records Substitutes
November 14, 2025 As I discussed last week, birth and death certificates are among the most valuable genealogical records. However, these records are not available for many of our ancestors. If birth and death certificates don’t exist or are sealed, what can a genealogist use to fill in the blanks? Fortunately, substitutes for birth and …
Difficulties Accessing Birth and Death Certificates
November 7, 2025 Birth and death certificates are important genealogical records. Most genealogists strive to find them for everyone in their family tree and use them to solve genealogical puzzles. However, there are some difficulties with birth and death certificates. In many parts of the United States neither record type was kept until the …