​Iceland seems to have been a common thread this past week.  Relatives are planning a trip there late this fall, a fellow genealogist was telling me about Icelandic heritage and another friend has talked about their yearly celebration of all things Icelandic.  Plus the volcanic eruption in Iceland in the news. All of this made me curious to know more about what is involved in researching your Icelandic roots.  Sadly, I do not have Icelandic ancestors and so do not have firsthand knowledge, but research is what I do!  Here is information that I have discovered about researching Icelandic family history.  Let’s look.

​Hope Spring has returned to your part of the world.  Here is has been up and down as far as temperatures and the weather.  Today is one of the beautiful spring days with little wind, bright sunshine and temperatures in the 70s.  Perfect in my book!  A recent email from my internet provider has sparked this week’s topic.  They are discontinuing their email service.  With so many memberships, online accounts and friends and family to contact this is a huge task.  Why am I bringing it up with genealogy?  We all have many emails and contacts over the years with our family history research.  How are we saving and protecting this data?  Let’s look at some things we can do.

One of the reasons that many of us love genealogy is we are truly sleuths at heart.  We love a good puzzle, a tantalizing clue or missing ancestor.  One of the other things that I love in genealogy is finding the unexpected when doing family research.  Let’s look.

​This week seemed like an appropriate time to discuss taxes.  As I write this on the day that in a normal year, personal taxes would be due.   We can use tax records to discover more about our ancestors.  Taxes can be a surprisingly useful resource to fill in the blanks between census years, church records and civil records.  Let’s look at what is available.

​Libraries have been doing a juggling act with this pandemic.  Some are open, others closed and still others are balancing being open with restrictions while providing additional online resources.  People who use library versions of popular genealogy databases may have felt the lack of access.  Some libraries are making their library edition of genealogy databases available for at home use during the pandemic.  Let’s look.

Wishing you all time with family and friends this Easter.  it's a great time to reflect and enjoy these moments with those we love.  Happy Easter!

​Continuing the theme of United States Genealogy resources, I thought we should explore resources closer to home.    More records become available each year so it’s good to revisit what is available. Let’s look at records in North Dakota

​We’ve been spending quite a bit of time exploring records across the pond so I thought it might be fun to look at records closer to home.  Many of our ancestors traveled west to settle in our Red River Valley area.  Some of them were immigrants from the old country while others were second and third generation Americans who came from other states east of the Mississippi.  Let’s look at sites that focus on Indiana Genealogy today.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  Hope you’re able to celebrate the day in a fun and safe way!  This time of the year makes me think of my Irish ancestors and how I wouldn’t be here but for their courage.  Here’s a review of Irish Resources to get you started.  Let’s explore.
 
I’ve covered a variety of Irish topics in previous blogs.  Hopefully, these will entice you to explore your Irish and Celtic roots.  
 
Griffiths Valuation  (October 2020)
Irish Resources  (March 2020)
Irish Blogs  (August 2020)
Irish Links  (March 2019)
In Ireland  (September 2018)
Irish Luck  (March 2018)
 
“For each petal on the shamrock, this brings a wish your way:  Good health, good luck, and happiness for today and every day.” –Irish Blessing

​A couple of years ago I published a blog article titled “Find Once, Read Twice”.  You can view it under April 2018 in the archives.  We explored the importance of reviewing data that we collected over the years.  You have a different perspective when you read a book as an adult that when you first read the same book as a child.  Perhaps that is why some childhood books are never reread, to preserve the magic and others are read repeatedly.  Our research data can be like that—a fresh look may help us see new things or information in a different way.  Let’s look.