Jumping Over the Border

Tonight I attended a presentation at the Morris County Library hosted by the Morris Area Genealogical Society.  The topic was Researching Common Surnames and the speaker was Vince Smith.  Most of us who study American ancestry have common surnames to deal with:  Smith, Miller, Jones, Johnson.  I have all of these surnames in different branches of my tree.  The offered tip is to narrow your search as much as possible by limiting the time period and geographical area.  There may be thousands of men named John Miller in New Jersey, but very few John Millers in a particular town born in a certain year.

Another helpful tidbit for those of us researching people in the New England states:  check Canadian records.  New Brunswick is next door to Maine.  A free index is online for you to check for records of life events.

If you had ancestors in the New England states, you may wish to check Canadian records as well.
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Thank you, Mr Smith, for a wonderful and informative presentation.

October is Family History Month

October is National Family History Month!  You'll find more seminars and activities to assist you in your research at this time of year, so take advantage and aim to work on your genealogy every day.

DNA Testing Sale

DNA testing kits at Family Tree DNA are on sale!  If you were waiting to test your DNA, a sale is the perfect time to order.  The sale ends tomorrow, so hurry.

Family Finder Testing for $199 is autosomal DNA testing.  All of your ancestral lines are captured- half from your mother, half from your father.  This is the same testing that 23andMe offers, called Relative Finder.  Their current, non-sale price is $299.