Was 1849 A Leap Year?

The answer is no.

Why does it matter?

Well the tombstone of Rebecca Mullin, discussed in a previous post, indicates she died on 29  February 1849. That date did not exist in 1849.

The question remains: "When did she die?" Now that I know the date is incorrect, I'm really curious about her age. In the grand scheme of things, the spelling of her name is a minor issue.

The tombstone would be considered a original source for her date of death and would contain primary information--assuming it was carved relatively close to when she died. But because the date is clearly incorrect, it raises a slight shadow over the accuracy of other information contained on the stone.

Was Her Name Too Long for the Stone?

Rebecca Mullen of Delaware County, Ohio, made out a deposition in 1848 in the Revolutionary War pension application of Catharine Blain, widow of Elam Blain. I'm researching Rebecca for an upcoming Casefile Clues article as I'm hoping she has some connection to the Blain family.

But her tombstone on FindaGrave in Delaware County's Hope Cemetery got me to thinking:

Did they spell her name "Rebeca" on the stone because there was not enough room for two c's?

Makes a person wonder.

NBC Doesn't Pick Up WDYTYA

I'll be honest, I've never been a fan of the WDYTYA series which was recently not picked up for another season by NBC. Some have almost told me that I should be kicked out of the "genealogy club" for not liking the show--that every genealogist likes it or at least should like it.

Fortunately, I've never been one to follow what everyone else was doing and occasionally have a dissenting opinion which probably explains a great deal of things.

I finally was able to figure out what I really didn't like about WDYTYA today though. Perhaps my frustration with the show (aside from the "instant" research) is one reason that the show failed to resonate with enough viewers to stay on. If the show had drawn enough of an audience, it would not have been cancelled--that's the stark reality of all television, reality or otherwise.

I never really cared how the actor reacted to learning about his ancestor. I didn't give one whit if some singer cried when she learned about her forebear, had an emotional awakening upon viewing a document, or did the happy dance when having a discovery laid in her hands. Actors reactions don't mean too much to me--they are actors, after all and how am I to tell they simply aren't acting yet again? What I would have liked to have seen was more focus on the actual story of the ancestors, what probably motivated them to do what they did, how they lived, how historical events might have impacted their lives.

Watching someone research and see them have an emotional reaction upon making a discovery is not all that interesting to me and apparently not to the masses either. If I want to see people research I can do that at the Family History Library.

The only difference there is that they don't like it if you yell (@#&$(@*#& when you have a major find.

Is That Really Great Great Grandma?

Provenance means knowing how a record, document, or picture came down to the present time. Do you know how authentic that picture of great-great-grandma you got off the Internet is? Did you simply assume it was a picture of the ancestor because some unknown compiler who refuses to communicate with you said so?

Sharing on the internet is great. Communication is great. But I sometimes have to wonder:

"Is that document, picture, or item really what someone thinks it is? And do they have any clue at all that they really know it is what it is supposed to be?"

I'm tempted to do a really dirty trick. Take an image of an "old" picture off some obscure website and claim it is some ancestor of mine from the same time period. An ancestor for whom I have no picture so that comparisons cannot be made. The image and some text indicating who "it is" would be posted to my website and blog. I might even connect the image to that ancestor's file in public trees on several of the popular websites. All this would be done while I was fully aware that the picture was not of the person I said it was.

And how long would it take before others had linked that picture to their file of the same person? Not long I bet. How many would ask me where I got the picture or how I knew who the picture actually was?

And before you know it, people would be claiming to have a "picture" of this person that really wasn't the person at all. It would be difficult to totally undo the hoax once it had been started which is the reason I'm not doing it.

When you incorporate that picture of an ancestor into your tree do you have any idea how the person who compiled it came to know that the picture actually is the ancestor that's being claimed?

In the "old days" of research we were reliant upon someone's memory to identify people in pictures. And today we still are.

Mother's Day Webinar Special

In honor of Mother's Day, I have bundled four of my genealogical webinars together at a discount rate.

• Researching Female Ancestors--techniques and approaches for searching for female ancestors, keeping in mind that laws and customs sometimes make searching for females slightly more difficult.
• Susannah and Sarah: Two Virginia Women and Their Property--a discussion of how research was conducted on two 18th century Virginia women. This focuses on their property rights, inheritance, etc. 
• Preparing for Mother's Death--a late 19th century inheritance leads to the denial of the widow's will fifteen years later. Several problem-solving techniques are discussed in this presentation. 
• Barbara's Beaus and Gesche's Girls--two mid-19th century German immigrant women who were slightly difficult to trace. See how the research was conducted and organized.

Presentations are geared towards advanced beginner and intermediate researchers. Downloads include PDF handouts and media files. 

Order all four for $12 now through 11:59 PM CST on 13 May 2012. 

No Answers

So far, no real answers to several things about various websites that I personally find either frustrating or confusing.

• FamilySearch database confusing "of" with place of birth  http://rootdig.blogspot.com/2012/05/that-of-makes-big-difference.html
• FamilySearch not clearly indicating what is in an Ohio records database  http://rootdig.blogspot.com/2012/05/what-am-i-searching-when-i-search-ohio.html
• Ancestry.com's "leaves" leaving me confused  http://rootdig.blogspot.com/2012/05/what-are-you-missing-by-relying-on.html

When NGS is over, maybe I'll start working a little more to find out the answers to these questions. Ancestry.com is working on an answer per a private email conversation I had. 

Employment Records Provide an Unexpected Clue

There's a reason why genealogists recommend that an exhaustive search be conducted. This employment card from the Chicago, Illinois, area Pullman Car Company for Thomas Frame is one of those reasons.

Where it lists "relatives" in the company's employ, a Frank Frame is listed as an adopted son. This is the only record that indicates Frank was adopted. While it could easily be incorrect, it does warrant additional research on Frank.

This is not the sort of clue one expects to get from an employment record. But it makes the point that one never knows.

That "of" Makes a Big Difference

One always has to take transcriptions with a grain of salt. In readying myself for a presentation in a few weeks, I was reviewing information on a family from the Chicago area. In looking at the database of Cook County, Illinois marriages from 1871 to 1920 on FamilySearch, I found an entry that looked a little strange.

This screen shot is the results page on FamilySearch for Ralph Watson Frame. I knew that Cook County marriages in 1884 did not provide places of birth for the bride and groom.

Sure enough a look at the marriage license indicated that Frame was "of Kensington," not that he was born there. That little "of" makes a big difference.

It always pays to go to the original. Always.

What Am I Searching When I Search ""Ohio County Birth Records" at FamilySearch

I am glad for the databases that FamilySearch makes available to the public at no charge. However, I do like to know what I am searching.

The "Ohio, County Births, 1856-1909" confuses me. It is apparently a work in progress although I could be wrong. The search page says that the "time period and type of record vary by county." That's not really helpful when I search the database. I could not find specifics of which records were included for which counties on the search page or the wiki page.

This is frustrating. Not knowing what I am searching is a problem that I hope FamilySearch addresses. The ability to use the site effectively within the constrains of sound genealogy methodology requires that I have a specific idea of what I am searching.

I'm happy for indexes and grateful for what FamilySearch makes available. I just wish I had a little better idea of what I am searching. And if I'm overlooking that description, hopefully someone points it out to me.

Cleaning House on Webinars-$5 offer

My webinar hosting service has a sliding scale and to keep my hosting fees down I'm going to be culling the items for sale.

I'm offering several of the more more popular (and a few not-so-popular) recordings for $5 each. Additional details are here http://blog.casefileclues.com/p/5-webinar-sale.html.

What Are You Missing By Relying on Those Ancestry.com Leaves?

Sometimes I wish I understood the leaves on Ancestry.com.

In getting ready for a seminar, I was using Ancestry.com's tree to save and organize some images on a few families that I'm going to be using as illustrations. In so doing, I came upon a person for whom Ancestry.com had several suggestions--via their leaves. Elizabeth (Watson) Frame was born ca. 1845 in England and was living in Chicago by the 1870s.

Ancestry.com pulled up several hints for Elizabeth--some under her maiden name and some under her married name as shown below.

What I did not understand was why Ancestry.com didn't pull up hints for Elizabeth in United States Census records. Her 1870 enumeration clearly matches the birth parameters I have for her in the database.

The birth year and place matched exactly what was in the Ancestry.com Tree match. It seems odd to me that the 1870 census match didn't appear on the list of potential matches for Elizabeth.

My information for Elizabeth originally didn't have any death place information entered. I put in a death place of Chicago, Cook, Illinois, thinking that the "matches" might include other records. Sure enough, two more suggestions appeared--both from Illinois death records.

Still no 1870 census (or any other US census, for that matter--and Elizabeth is in the 1880, 1900, and 1910 federal census living in Chicago).

Makes no sense to me. I doubt I get an answer from Ancestry.com on WHY the search works the way it does.

Personally I don't use the leaves very often. My concern is that many people DO rely on them. I wonder what they are missing.

And now on those few times I use the leaves I wonder what I am MISSING.

Aiming for Alaim Blain's Muster Roll

I'll admit that I did not know what a dragoon was.

The first image in this post is the heading from the roll from Captain John Heard's troops in the 4th Regiment of Light Dragoons, Continental Troops.

This is a great example where cutting too much from the image can create problems. The date in Alaim's entry is when he enlisted, the number 3 is for the number of years and the last "Do" is the state he was from.

Looking at the entries above Alaim, it's clear that he enlisted on 12 June 1778 and that he was from New Jersey. There were several enlistments on the same day from New Jersey--possible they knew each other. I need those name as well. Of course I would have had all this if I had just copied and saved the whole image. But if I had not really thought about it, it could have been overlooked.

If I didn't know where Alaim was from in New Jersey, the names of these fellow enlistments could have been helpful.

Sometimes it's better if I look at the page in pieces---more clues are sometimes obtained that way.

Revolutionary War Rolls, compiled 1894 - 1913, documenting the period 1775 - 1783, NARA microfilm publication M246, roll 0115, folder 14 (Fold3.com image 8).  

Four New Webinars--Sale Price--Save $11.00

We have just released our latest series of webinars:

• Charts, Charts and More Charts
• Google Docs
• Proving Ellen
• What Is Unwritten

You can order all four for $20.00--just put "florence" as the coupon code at checkout.
That's a savings of $11.00!

Charts, Charts, and More Charts Charts, Charts, and More Charts discusses a variety of charts that can be used to organize your research. No family group or pedigree charts here--I discuss a variety of customized charts that I've used for years in my own research. Whenever I'm confused or something doesn't make sense, I make a chart as readers of Casefile Clues already know. This webinar is geared towards advanced beginners or intermediate researchers. $8.50.
Google Docs This webinar discussed using Google Docs, particularly sharing, collaborating, and publishing your content on your blog, website, etc. We discussed the various types of documents that can be created and how to use those documents for genealogy and interact with others using those documents. The handout and presentation can be downloaded here for $8.50.
Proving Florence This short--25 minutes--webinar was a part of our fundamental genealogy series and concentrated on how "proof" of a father was constructed for a women born in the 1850s in either Iowa or Missouri. Methodology and process were discussed--clearly and concisely with a detailed handout.  The handout and presentation can be downloaded here for $2.50.
What is Not Written This hour-long presentation discusses why what "is not written" is just as important as what is written in a document. Geared towards intermediate level researchers, it discusses ways to see what might have "really been going" on in a document or series of records. The importance of state statute, culture, local customs, and more are discussed through specific examples. This presentation sells for $8.50.

Charts, Charts, and More Charts Webinar Released

Charts, Charts, and More Charts discusses a variety of charts that can be used to organize your research. No family group or pedigree charts here--I discuss a variety of customized charts that I've used for years in my own research. Whenever I'm confused or something doesn't make sense, I make a chart as readers of Casefile Clues already know. This webinar is geared towards advanced beginners or intermediate researchers. You can order the media file and handouts here for $8.50.

Google Docs and Proving Florence Webinars Released

Google Docs


This webinar discussed using Google Docs, particularly sharing, collaborating, and publishing your content on your blog, website, etc. We discussed the various types of documents that can be created and how to use those documents for genealogy and interact with others using those documents. The handout and presentation can be downloaded here for $8.50. 

Proving Florence
This short--25 minutes--webinar was a part of our fundamental genealogy series and concentrated on how "proof" of a father was constructed for a women born in the 1850s in either Iowa or Missouri. Methodology and process were discussed--clearly and concisely with a detailed handout.  The handout and presentation can be downloaded here for $2.50.


Remember that downloads have to be downloaded within 24 hours. You can view the files whenever you want, but the download links expire in 24 hours. 

Questions? Email me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com

Thanks!

9 May Deadline for BigWill Seminar in Richmond, IL

BIGWILL is sponsoring an all-day seminar with Michael John Neill two weeks from today. We need to charge a small fee ($10 for BIGWILL members) for attending this seminar; we are also offering a noon meal for $10. Because the leaders organizing this seminar need to know how many to plan for--especially for the meal, a registration deadline of Thursday 10 May has been set. Walk-ins will be accepted, but no lunches can be ordered after 10 May. The seminar is being held in the Richmond-Burton Community High School, located just south of Richmond.

The theme of the seminar will be Courting Your English Ancestors. It will provide a mix of general genealogical guidance and discussion of ways to research the history of immigrants from the British Isles to the United States. The four lectures, listed here with brief descriptions of the material to be discusses, will be:

Thomas and Elizabeth Frame – 19th Century English Immigrants to Chicago. 

Coming to Chicago about 1867, the Frames settled in the Pullman area. We’ll look at how they were traced back to England using US records and how we’ve started working on their English roots using UK census, civil, and church records. Thomas was from a poor working-class English family and Elizabeth was from a family of merchants and landowners. 

Court Records Besides Probate 

Court records are more than probates and wills. This presentation will provide a quick, broad overview to court records in the United States and discuss search strategies for locating those records most likely to contain genealogical clues. See how to get more out of one of the most underutilized records in the United States. 

The American Naturalization Process Before 1920 

Naturalization procedures were “loose” in the United States before the early 20th century making locating those records somewhat difficult. The occasionally ambiguous process created confusion for some of our ancestors and occasionally more so for researchers. We will look at the naturalization process, what records were created, what those records likely contain, and how to access them. 

Problem-Solving Approaches and Techniques. 

Organizing your information is just as important as obtaining it. This presentation looks at ways to organize data that you have found in hopes of noticing patterns, trends, and overlooked opportunities for research. This lecture is not about organizing the piles/files you’ve stacked but instead focuses on the pieces of information you’ve got buried in those piles. 

Visit the society's website for more information  http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wiilbig/ 

Brick Walls From A to Z-The First One-Slides

The presentation below contains the slides from my first "Brick Walls from A to Z" webinar which was presented last year. There's more information about the presentation below the slides.


Brick Walls from A to Z--This lecture is based upon my article "Brick Walls From A to Z" and is geared towards the somewhat experienced beginner to intermediate researcher. The recording includes discussion--it's not just me reading the slides--most of you can already do that. Ideas to get beyond your brick walls discussed alphabetically. Handout included. Purchase the handout and hour long presentation here for immediate download. 

Proving Florence Power Points

These is a rough draft of the slides that went with the Proving Florence Webinar today. This was uploaded as "practice" during our Google Docs webinar (order and download it here). The handout and presentation can be downloaded here for $2.50.

Google Docs (webinar download) allows you to easily collaborate with other people in real time. I worked on the content of the presentation in my office at work and my daughter added the images and illustrations remotely from home.

Survey Plats

The settling of estates frequently requires surveys and metes and bounds descriptions of property, regardless of whether the property is in a state where sections and townships are used. The image at the top of this post  is from a survey conducted in 1940 apparently to settle up the estate of John Habben. The survey also includes a metes and bounds description of the property which is not included here.

This plat was recorded in April of 1940 in Hancock County, Illinois, for property in sections 21 and 22 of Prairie Township (Township 5-7). John Habben owned the southeast quarter of section 21 (which is where Mimka Habben's property was located) and the southwest quarter of section 22 (which is where Louis Habben's property was located).

John Habben, the father of these three men, actually owned an additional 80 acres in Prairie Township. The 1908 Hancock County plat book shows the Habben property--80 acres in Section 20 (J. Habben), 155 acres in section 21 (J. M. Habben), and 155 acres in section 22 (J. M. Habben).

The 80 acres in section 20 was given to John's son Henry and the 310 acres in sections 21 and 22 was split among the Mimka, Louis, and George as shown in the first illustration.

The 1908 plat book is not entirely accurate--as they often aren't. The highway running along the southern part of the farm in section 22 is the problem. The survey plat indicates that the Habbens actually owned a tiny sliver of land in section 27 which is to the south of section 22. This triangular piece of property is indicated in brown on the image below which was enlarged from the survey map.

It is simply too small for the county atlas to show correctly. In fact the survey simply refers to it as "strip off the north west quarter of section 27 about one rod wide and lying north of the hedge fence."

There's a few more neat little things about this survey that we'll discuss in a future blog post.

Do You Always Look at the Right Hand Page in 1840?

All of have probably forgotten to do this at one time or another--look at the right hand side of the census page for the 1840 enumeration. Sometimes it can contain a big clue.

This is part of the 1840 census enumeration for Elam Blain, Junior, in Harlem Township, Delaware County, Ohio, in 1840. And yes, it's spelled Elam Blain on the left hand side of the page and Alam on the right hand side.

I've been analyzing Alam's Revolutionary War pension file for an upcoming series in Casefile Clues. I won't repeat all that analysis here, but thought the 1840 census listing of Revolutionary War pensioners might be a good reminder.

The Will Means I Need to Look at Deeds

Sections 4 and 5 of the will of Mimken[sic] L. Habben, written in Hancock County, Illinois on 12 September 1876 and admitted to probate in February of 1877.

This part of Mimka Habben's will discusses what is to happen to his real estate after the death of his wife, Antje. Ten acres on the east side of the 160 acres Mimka owns (the southeast quarter of section 21 in Prairie Township) was to go his son Johann. Based upon the current location of the home on the Habben property, built around 1900, and the location of the home as indicated on the 1874 Hancock County, Illinois, atlas, the intent of this devise was to give Johann the family home upon his mother's death.

Mimke Habben's farm in Prairie Township, section 21. Notice the "dot" for the home in the extreme southeast corner.

Mimke's will and the fact that Johann by 1900 (when his mother died) was living in another township on a farm of his own where he remained until his death, makes it clear that all deed records for this property after Mimke's will should be referenced.  I've seen some of the deeds before, but now that I've gone back and read the clause to Johann more closely, it appears that I need to see just what land record were executed on the property.

Of course, this is all the more necessary because I know that my great-great-grandfather John (Jann) Habben, lived on the farm from 1900 until my great-grandfather began farming it after John retired.

Stay tuned.

Genealogy Typos

Anyone have any genealogy typos that are especially funny? When wrapping up the next issue of Casefile Clues, I made the mortality census the morality census.

And once upon a time I converted the cavalry to Calvary. (There was even a joke there..."converted").

Any other funny genealogy typos?

Elam Blain's Revolutionary War Pension-Getting Organized

October 4th 1847
Elam Blain
Galena
Delaware County
Ohio

"Dear Sir

I take this Opportunity to inform you that Some time Last June I under took to get my mothers pension Catharine Blain the widow of Alam Blain deceased a Pensions of the united States who draw a Pension under act of 18th march 1848 of ninety Six dollars and died on the 22th Day of November 1846 the above Stated old Lady is A Live and..."

--------------------------------------
I've decided it is time to revisit the 60 page Revolutionary War pension file for Alam/Elam Blain and his wife Catharine. This image is just one of many documents that appears in the file which was obtained digitally on Fold3. Blain served in a New Jersey regiment and was living in Ohio at the time he filed his pension.

Fortunately in this letter, the writer indicates that Catharine is his mother and one could reasonably infer that Elam Blain, the writer, is the son of Elam Blain, the veteran, although this relationship is not directly stated. It has been some time since I have gone through the various pages in the file although I downloaded the entire set of images several years ago.

My first goal is to create a chart summarizing each of the documents.  I have started that chart here. The citations are blank as of right now, but I'm going to create a separate citation for each document, using what appears to be its title or purpose as part of the citation. The image numbers are simply an internal reference for me--based upon the file names that they were given as I saved them (which correlate to the image numbers used for them on Fold3.

Image Number	Document	Abstract and summary of key elements	Miscellaneous comments	Citation
1	Cover packet or cover sheet	“Ohio res[ident] in 1818.
2	4 October 1847 letter from Elam Blain	Mentions father’s death on 22 November 1846. Clearly refers to Catharine Blain as “mother.” Discusses difficulty of proving mother’s marriage.	Letter is addressed directly to President Polk.
3	Apparent reverse side of 4 Oct 1847 letter that is image 2
4	Pension summary from 1819-1820	Alam Blain on roll of Ohio at rate of $8 per month, commencing 1 May 1818.
5	Pension summary card from 1848-1852	Catharine Blair, widow of Alam Blair, pension at rate of $96 annually commencing on 1 July 1848. Pension certificate issued 10 February 1852	“The name is Blain” is written on the the side.
6
7
8	Alam Blain Statement dated 1 May 1818	Enlisted in a Pennsylvania Unit—Capt. Jno. Heard’s Company 4th Regiment of Light Dragoons, commanded by Col. Anthony White. Received back rations and clothing amount after the war for $70. Blain is in his 60th year of age.
9	Apparent back side of Alam Blain 1 May 1818 Statement		Statement was made in front of Daniel Stillwell, associate Judge of Court of Common Pleas. David Chambers, Clerk of the Common Pleas Court testified to Stillwell’s position.

I saved all the images in a folder just for this pension file. 

I created a blank Word document and imported all the images (at one time, using select all when importing an image). This way the page numbers of the Word document corresponded to the image numbers. The printed out Word document is making the transcription and analysis process much easier.

I've read through much of the pages before, but in creating this blog post I noticed where in Elam's original affidavit he indicates he was 60 years of age. Somehow that was something I had not noticed originally, or if I did, it was never entered into my files as an approximate year of birth for Elam.

We're working on completing the chart and the citations and will have an updated post. 

Nothing Here to See--Move Along

I'd probably have a lot more traffic and followers on this site if I:

• Wrote about every new website, book, blog, etc. that came out.
• Commented on every new trend in genealogy.
• Did what other popular genealogy blogs do.
• Looked at my blog statistics and really gave a care.

That's not going to happen.  I only write about my own research and the ancestors of my children. While there are ads on this site, I gave up the notion of making any "real" money on this site years ago. I don't want to change the site in ways I think I would have to in order to really make money. 

Unless you are distantly related to me, your family is not going to mentioned on this blog. I haven't taken clients in over 25 years and I have no intention of doing so now. While I do voice opinion, it's likely on things that are personally frustrating me at the time the piece is written--not my unique spin on something everyone else is writing about at the same point in time. Except for the 1940 census items, I'm not overly concerned with being timely. I'm too involved in my own research and projects to comment on something I'm not using or working on.

Some ideas may even be incomplete. I've got some thoughts on evidence, citations, and the ways that we define things in genealogy that I'm still working out.  I also have a few ideas about "professional" genealogy as well--whatever that really means. 

However you probably won't see the press releases here that other sites may use--I'm not trying to get the "latest" genealogy story. I'm not running a genealogy new site. And I like content to be original and fresh....

I also think that much of the "hurry" in genealogy is artificial and contrived and really only serves to market something. Haste makes waste. But that's just my opinion.Maybe I'm a little cynical. 

See? There wasn't too much to this post. 

Last Set of $5 Webinars-Land, Naturalization, and More

Now through 9 AM Central Standard Time (US) 27 April 2012, we're offering our $5 rate on our last set of discount genealogy webinars. Mac users should wait to order unless you have had NO difficulty viewing webinars in the past.


Presentations are based upon nearly 30 years of research experience and are informal, practical and geared towards helping your research. 

Research in Illinois-- -Geared towards advanced beginners and intermediate researchers, it focuses on local records, what makes Illinois different, and larger statewide facilities. Download the recording and handout for the sale price of $5 (save $3.50).
The Probate Process—An Overview. Geared towards the advanced beginner or intermediate researcher, it covered an overview of the process and looked at selected documents from two probate settlements with a discussion of the pitfalls to watch out for along the way. Probate records are an excellent genealogical source--regardless of the time period in which you are researching and may contain clues about your ancestor, where he lived, his occupation, etc. Download the recording and handout for the sale price of $5 (save $3.50).
United States Naturalization Records pre-1920 - This presentation is an overview of naturalization records in the United States prior to 1920, focusing on locating and understanding the records. Women's citizenship and derivative citizenship are also included. Download the recording and handout for the sale price of $5 (save $3.50).
Local Land Records in Public Domain States--This lecture discusses obtaining, using, and interpreting local land records in areas of the United States from Ohio westward where land was originally in the public domain. This lecture is geared towards those who have some experience with land records--advanced beginning and intermediate researchers. Download the recording and handout for the sale price of $5 (save $3.50).
Newspaper Research -Aimed at advanced beginners and intermediate level researchers, this webinar discusses research techniques for searching newspapers in digital, microfilm, and original formats. Pitfalls of using digital newspapers are discussed, along with manual search techniques and what types of materials to look for besides obituaries and death notices.  This presentation is not merely a list of online sites or an attempt to get subscribers to any specific database. Download the recording and handout for the sale price of $5 (save $3.50).