From working on a Mayflower lineage for someone: When using the Five Generation/Silver Books they may actually have a 6th and 7th generation in them for some lines. It sometimes took until those later generations to verify the 5th. When doing a person’s line we only had to submit proof for the last 4 or […]

Don’t forget probate is not just wills, estates and trusts. It’s also for name changes, adoptions, guardianships and more. Probate Court has had names such as Court of Protection, Poor Court, and Widows and Orphans Court.

From a suggestion by member Frances Heales: Hearth taxes (property tax) were collected in England and Wales from 1662-1689. Scotland’s was from 1691-1695 and Ireland’s into the early 1800s. The head of the household was noted, how many hearths, and whether they had paid or not. It also included those exempted from paying such as […]

Gleanings from the NEHGS e-newsletter

Onomastics is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. Etymology is the origin of a word and the historical development of its meaning. The Maine Genealogist of Feb. 2020 Vol. 42, No.1 has an article called A Quest For Roots page 22. This is a good case study using onomastics etc. […]

Eavesdroppers

Was the Term “Eavesdroppers” Coined From a Misunderstanding of Architecture? In Secrets of Henry VIII’s Palace: Hampton Court, it is claimed that little painted figures of human faces carved into the ornate ceiling beams of Hampton Palace as though surreptitiously observing the people below inspired the term “eavesdroppers” uninvited listeners to other people’s conversations whether […]

President’s Message, February 2020

My theme for everyone is to make use of the time when the weather is nasty and outside activities are at a stop. Use some of that time to update your various genealogy programs or to read some of the back issues of genealogical magazines that you have lying around the house. Once I finished […]