Guides, strategies, and practical approaches for researching family history. This section explores how genealogists use records, archives, maps, DNA, local history, and critical thinking to reconstruct the lives of past generations.
Genealogy Definition What Are Land and Property Records? Land and property records help place ancestors in real physical locations, often revealing where they lived, worked, inherited, rented, farmed, or built their lives. Short Definition Land and property records are documents created to track ownership, occupancy, transfer, taxation, leasing, and inheritance of land or buildings. Put … Read more
Genealogy Definition What Are Military Records? Military records help document how ancestors experienced war, migration, military service, community life, and some of history’s largest historical events. Short Definition Military records are documents created to track a person’s service in the armed forces. In genealogy, military records are extremely valuable because they can reveal personal details, … Read more
Genealogy Definition What Are Immigration and Naturalization Papers? Immigration and naturalization papers help document how ancestors moved between countries, crossed borders, built new lives, and in many cases became citizens of entirely new homelands. Short Definition Immigration and naturalization papers are records created when people moved to a new country and, in some cases, later … Read more
Genealogy Definition What Are Voter Lists? Voter lists help genealogists track where ancestors lived, how communities changed, and who was considered eligible to participate in public life during different periods of history. Short Definition Voter lists, also called electoral rolls or voters’ lists, are records of people eligible to vote in elections within a specific … Read more
Genealogy Definition What Are Passenger Lists? Passenger lists help genealogists trace migration journeys, immigration stories, and the moments ancestors crossed oceans and borders to begin entirely new chapters of life. Short Definition Passenger lists are records created to document people travelling on ships, and later airplanes, between countries or ports. In genealogy, passenger lists are … Read more
Genealogy Definition What Is an Obituary? Obituaries help genealogists understand not only when someone died, but how they were remembered by their family, community, and the people around them. Short Definition An obituary is a published notice announcing a person’s death, often including details about their life, family, occupation, community involvement, and funeral arrangements. In … Read more
Genealogy Definition What Is a Witness or Sponsor? Witnesses and sponsors help genealogists uncover the wider family, friendship, and community networks surrounding ancestors in historical records. Short Definition In genealogy records, a witness or sponsor was a person who officially observed, supported, or participated in an important life event such as a baptism, marriage, burial, … Read more
Genealogy Definition What Is a Beneficiary? Beneficiary records help genealogists uncover inheritance patterns, family relationships, social connections, and the ways people chose to provide for those closest to them after death. Short Definition A beneficiary is a person or organization who receives money, property, possessions, or other assets from someone’s estate, will, trust, insurance policy, … Read more
Genealogy Definition What Is an Executor? Executors help genealogists uncover family relationships, inheritance practices, trusted social connections, and the people responsible for carrying out someone’s final wishes after death. Short Definition An executor is the person legally responsible for carrying out the instructions written in someone’s will after they die. In genealogy records, executors are … Read more
Genealogy Definition What Is an Estate? Estate records help genealogists understand inheritance, family relationships, property ownership, social status, and the everyday possessions and responsibilities people left behind after death. Short Definition In genealogy and legal records, an estate refers to everything a person owned at the time of their death, including property, money, possessions, land, … Read more