OK, so the online databases I’m writing about aren’t brand new; they were just new to me. Finding them recently reminds me to check online from time to time for records of interest.Here’s the back story: In June of 2018, I visited Finland for the annual gathering of Finnish Americans known as FinnFest. It was
Read on »Ethnic Research
My Genealogy Beginnings Happened in Salt Lake City
Nearly 25 years ago, I was on a business trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. At the end of the day’s scheduled activities, my business colleague announced that he wanted to visit the LDS Family History Library (www.familysearch.org/locations/saltlakecity-library) to do some research. Since I had nothing planned for the evening, I decided to tag along.
Read on »More About My Revolutionary War Ancestor: Matthias Flaugh
Earilier, I posted about my ancestor Matthias Flaugh, who served in the German Regiment under General George Washington in the American Revolutionary War. In that posting, I included some information gleaned from a German newspaper article. Here is the link to that earlier post: http://www.collectingancestors.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=296&action=edit Today, I will post a transcription of the entire article
Read on »Taking Yet Another DNA Test
Yesterday I gave myself a belated Christmas present: yet another DNA test. To date, I had tested my DNA with AncestryDNA, FamilyTreeDNA, and MyHeritage DNA. I tried testing with Living DNA, but in three separate swab sampling attempts, that DNA testing service was unable to get meaningful results from my samples so they refunded my
Read on »Making Sense of My DNA Test Results
I have tested with AncestryDNA, MyHeritageDNA, and FamilyTreeDNA, so I have a lot of results to study and work with. Today, I discovered two YouTube videos by Crista Cowen at Ancestry.com. In them she explains two key aspects of my DNA test results: 1.You Received Your Results. Now What? (Part One) | AncestryDNA 2.You Received
Read on »Finnish Research Strategies and Records
I get my start in genealogy during a visit to the Family History Library in Salt Lake in 1992. It was during a business trip and the colleague that I was traveling with said that he was visiting the Library in the evening. He agreed to take me along. While there, I did some checking
Read on »Evert Huskonen – Laborer, Farm Operator, Farm Owner, Retired Farmer
When my grandfather, Evert Huuskonen, emigrated from Finland in 1902, he left his occupation as a farmer. In America, he worked as a laborer in a railroad car shop, as reported in the 1910 census. The 1908 and 1912 Ashtabula City Directories listed Evert and Ida as living at 11 Bell St. in Ashtabula, presumably
Read on »Grandpa Evert Huuskonen’s Journey to America
On Oct 6, 2011, I posted an article about how my grandmother and her four children traveled from Finland to America. It involved some records research, some detective work with maps, and some speculation about details. I also wrote an article about the details of my grandfather’s journey to America but hadn’t posted it until
Read on »Evert and Ida Huuskonen from Vesanto and Rautalampi, Finland
For years, we wondered about why Grandpa Evert Huuskonen moved from Rautalampi to Vesanto in Finland. The two towns are about 45 km apart. After learning the history of Rautalampi Parish and its daughter parish, Vesanto, we concluded that the Huuskonens did not move at all, but that Evert Huuskonen and his wife Ida simply
Read on »Logging In To Ellis Island Database
I received a call from a fellow member of the Cuyahoga Valley Genealogical Society (http://www.cuyahogagenealogy.org/CVGS/) inquiring how to access Ellis Island records these days. A few years ago, when the Ellis Island records were first made available online, I created an account to look up ancestors who might have come to America through Ellis Island.
Read on »GeneaBloggers
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