If at first you don’t succeed, search, search again. That’s why it’s called re-search!

Genealogical research involves a lot of documents: birth certificates, marriage certificates, censuses, land plats, veteran’s pensions, newspaper birth, marriage and obituary notices, military draft cards, service records, city directories and death certificates. Each of these tell a story about where and what your ancestor was doing at a particular time of their life and who was with them at that time.

Many newspapers have digitized and indexed their issues. Correspondingly, you can search for birth announcements, engagement congratulations, feature stories detailing marriages, sometimes articles mentioning your ancestor, obituaries and/or funeral notices. Service records can tell you in which battles or skirmishes your ancestor may have fought and if they were awarded any medals. Death certificates may give birth details, age, and the name of the informant, often a family member.

Join the Genealogy Club of Happy Trails to learn more about searching and share your discoveries. We meet every week for discussion, help and suggestions in the Chaparral Room.