Here are the best Family History Finds this week:
Family Stories
Death by Chloroform by Dr. Angela Buckley on The Detective’s Notebook
Renée Desloges (c1570-1627/1632), Fragments of Life in Montreuil-Bellay – 52 Ancestors #454 by Roberta Estes on DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy
My Schönlaub Ancestors of Minfeld, Germany. A Censor, A Mayor, A Collector (and Murder Victim), A Lawyer/Court Judge, and an Innkeeper. by Anna Kasper on Anna’s Musings & Writings
Remarkable Ellen by Jeff Record on The Last Aha
The Greenbrier Ghost by Aryn Youngless on Genealogy by Aryn
Research Resources
Hidden in Plain Sight: The City Directory Advantage by Kirsten M. Max-Douglas on Our Growing Family Tree
Exploring the Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) by Jennifer Holik on Soul Traveler
NJSA Digital Treasures by Michelle Tucker Chubenko on jerseyrootsgenealogy
Ten Things I Learned Researching at the National Archives in D.C. and MD by Brenda Leyndyke on Journey to the Past
Tech News
Experimenting with Gemini AI’s New Image Editing Features by Mel on Mel’s Genealogy Research Journal
My ChatGPT Obituary Experiment by Doris Kenney on A Tree With No Name
FamilySearch’s Full-Text Search Exploration Revisited by Wayne Shepheard on Discover Genealogy
These Two New Features Cement Google’s NotebookLM As One of My Favorite Study Apps by Lindsey Ellefson on Lifehacker
Genetic Genealogy
When Ancestry.com’s Pro Tools Fail: A Professional Genealogist’s Experience with Ancestry’s Tree Checker Part 1 by Lori on Genealogy at Heart
Methodology
Save All Those Photographs! by Janice Sellers on Ancestral Discoveries
Appealing the VA’s Skinny Extract of Dad’s Claims File by Marian B. Wood on Climbing My Family Tree
How I Write a Blog Post by Nancy Gilbride Casey on Leaves on the Tree
Revisiting My Roots: My Basic Process by Cari Taplin on Genealogy Pants
Education Is for Everyone
Education: It’s More Than Just a Report Card by Kirsten M. Max-Douglas on Our Growing Family Tree
Don’t Stop Believin’ by Lisa Rogak on Rooting Around
More International Institute of Genealogical Studies Videos on YouTube by Gail Dever on Genealogy a la Carte
Framing the Childhood Jewelry of Mom and Her Twin by Marian B. Wood on Climbing My Family Tree
Keeping Up with the Times
Elephind Is on Its Way Back! by Kenneth R. Marks on The Ancestor Hunt
Thank you for the mention, Linda. I appreciate it so much.
Many thanks for including my post in your finds this week! Enjoy your weekend.
A full list of goodies to tuck into!!!
I’d hoped to publish this week and almost made it, but life got in the way…
Thank you for the mention!
Thanks so much for the mention of my recent blog post. 🙂 Anna
I am so happy to have found your posts on the Lewis family. Here is what I have found- a family letter discussing Thomas Lindsey Lewis’s upbringing in Platte County Missouri. In the letter, he discusses hi father, Ezekiel Lewis, who is said to be the son of Jesse ( or Jessie) Lewis. I can find Ezekiel and Thomas in the 1850 census along with Victoria, Ezekiel’s wife. I also found Jesse Lewis in the Census records. Unfortunately, there are a TON of James’s, Jesse’s a J Lewis’s so without Bible records or other things, it is hard to connect Ezekiel to Jesse and Jesse to a parent. If I could do that, I would have the line back to Colonial Virginia, I believe. The 1850 census says Jesse was born in Virginia The 1860 and 1870 censuses say the same. So I may have the wrong Jesse. However, that letter says that Ezekiel married in North Carolina and then rode by horseback to Platte County Missouri. I did find a marriage record for Ezekiel and Victoria Turner in Pike County, Indiana. Anyway, I do have documented records for the rest of the Lewis line down to my own children. Ezekiel remarried after the War and moved to Kansas, but a lot of the clan went all the way to Oregon- around the Salem area. Thomas Lindsey Lewis became a preacher in Montana. This branch is known as “hard shell” Baptists – or fundamentalist Baptists. Researching the North Carolina and Virginia and Kentucky Lewis lines. It doesn’t help that they reuse names. I do believe there are connections to Martha Lewis Custis Washington and to Daniel Boone, but until we can connect these generations it is difficult to prove out.