Tips, tricks, and ideas about recording the past so future generations can understand their family history. Learn about great preservation methods, web links, and how to have fun creating your family’s history.
Gathering stories from close and extended family members is vital to finding missing links, or just to understanding an ancestor’s life. However, anything but firsthand or secondhand sources should be taken with a grain of salt.
Stories are the best way to make a piece of history relatable. Here are our tips for sharing those stories with the whole family.
Before, we have talked about finding our ancestors in the American Revolution. But that’s hardly the only major event in the early history of the United States! The American Civil War affected much of the young country, even affecting places as far west as California. This means you may be tied to this massive conflict, even if your family wasn’t in the typical eastern North and South. If you have ancestors who lived in the United States or its territories during this time period, it’s likely they were affected by the war or by its aftermath.
The first step to finding whether you had ancestors involved in the Civil War or any of the activities going on at the time is to build your tree. Finding an ancestor who lived in Pennsylvania or Virginia in the 1860s won’t be your only clue, but this is an excellent start. It gives you the names you’ll need to look for!
If you have a name already, like from stories handed down in your family, it’s great to start there, too!
Conflicts that later led to the Civil War began in 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was elected president and seven Southern states seceded over the issue of slavery. The war itself started on April 12, 1861, at Fort Sumter. However, real battles got underway in 1862, with the Union and Confederate armies battling from Tennessee to Maryland.
States in the Union:
States in the Confederacy:
Border States:
Once you’ve found likely names, head on over to Ancestry.com to search their Civil War database. Ancestry.com has over 18 million names on both sides of the war. No matter which side, you’ll be able to determine if your ancestors were involved. Most records will be sorted by place first, and then unit.
It’s also not just for white people and those with white ancestors. Ancestry.com has service records specifically for black troops who served with the Union.
If you’re on-site at a family history library, record building, or other archive, you can also search microfilms for the necessary information. Start with the area in which they lived to get you closer to your goal!
You will also want to seek out pension records. Information on service records may not always be as detailed as we would like. But many veterans, their widows, and their families applied for pensions after the war. The applications required all the military information you might have been missing! Ancestry.com often provides these as hints.
If your ancestor survived the war, and was alive sometime between 1907 and 1933, this index may help you locate their pension request.
The Civil War has long ended, and much has changed in the years since. Those of us with ancestors taking part in these historic conflicts not only carry the war’s legacy, but the ability to shape the future. Share what you have learned and will learn on your ancestors’ journey to make our nation a better place with freedom for all.
No one wants to spend their reunion stressed-out! MyCanvas has provided tips for creating a successful family reunion for all ages!
If you want to write better family histories, check out these tips to polish your prose and tell the best story you can.
Family history should be engaging–after all, these are our family members! They have such rich lives and beautiful stories to tell that they deserve more than only bare facts.
RootsTech is a can’t-miss opportunity for many genealogists. But the size of the conference or the importance of that weekend doesn’t have to cause you any stress! Here is our guide to preparing for RootsTech 2018!
We’re just 19 days away from RootsTech 2018! Will you be there? And, will you be ready?
Your ancestors have a love story, every one of them. If you access these love letters, you can learn these stories for yourself. And better yet, you can tell them to others!