RIP RBG
The loss of a legal champion From a Rutgers Law alum to a Rutgers Law prof, thank you for your tireless efforts on behalf of the rule of law. To quote Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.: "Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have...
Newspapers and their images
Another new tool, for finding news images If there's a genealogist alive who doesn't love newspapers, The Legal Genealogist hasn't encountered such. And if there's a newspaper-loving genealogist alive in the United States who doesn't love Chronicling America, well,...
Nope, not me…
But maybe you...? The Legal Genealogist is not a Mayflower descendant. In fact, as far as I can tell, I have no ancestors -- none -- not even a single one -- even born north of the Mason-Dixon line, much less linked to New England. My German-born father and his...
Cool new research tool
NARA launches explorer for Presidential Libraries One of the most underutilized elements of the National Archives system in the United States is its network of 14 Presidential libraries. From Herbert Hoover to Barack Obama, Presidential Libraries hold a wide variety...
Permissions and the tombstone photo
Things to consider before publishing Reader Robert is writing a book on his family history that will be self-published. “I seriously doubt if I will sell more than 100 copies - there's only so many family, friends and neighbors,” he writes. But he has a concern: “Can...
In 2020, still not soup…
Estimates! They're only estimates! Yes, The Legal Genealogist got the same update in the admixture estimates at Ancestry as everyone else this week. Yes, my estimates changed. No, I'm not going to lose my mind over the fact that I now have no Swedish, compared to 7%...
Apologies to the cousins…
And a pension file to be ordered The Legal Genealogist owes an apology to cousins Lydia and Jacob. For years, I've been saying that my mother's family was so deeply embedded in the American south that I had to go out to a second cousin, five times removed, to find a...
Year 19… never forget…
19 years later... There was a moment when it appeared that it wouldn't happen. That, for the first time in all these years, the lights wouldn't shine. In mid-August, it sure looked like the COVID-19 crisis would cancel the Tribute of Lights: the twin columns of light...
Patently fascinating
A patent war anniversary He was a journeyman machinist in poor health, whose wife was taking in sewing to help support the family. And he wanted to make things easier for her. So Elias Howe, Jr., of Cambridge, Massachusetts, came up with a design that was the first...
In this centennial year
... records of women at work We all know -- or we should -- that 2020 is the centennial year for women's suffrage here in the United States. So what better to work on and highlight on Labor Day 2020 than some terrific options for researching our women ancestors on the...
Subscribe by Email
