Checklist for French Research

If you are like me, you are a little intimidated about doing research in Europe.  I've recently decided that the only way to learn is to start small and learn as I go.  I have a few ancestors that lived in the area of Alsace-Lorraine which was considered France during some points in time and Germany in others.  In many of the census years, my Becker's reported themselves as French so I guess I need to learn something about both countries.  I feel more confident about my German research since I lived there for a few years, but the French is extremely intimidating.  Luckily, there is a lot of help out there so today I want to tell you about a great blog that will help with researching those family members who came from France.

The French Genealogy Blog has a lot of everything you need to begin your French research.  History, records, places, all sorts of things French are explained in easy terms.  In regards to my Alsace-Lorraine problems, all I had to do was click that category in the index and there were several blog postings for me to start my learning.

Today's posting on the blog offers readers the opportunity to receive via e-mail, a very helpful .pdf file titled Preparing to Research an Ancestor in France.  To get this free file, all you need to do is request it.  Send an email to  amerigen AT yahoo.com  Don't forget to change the AT to the @ symbol!  I requested mine this morning and it just arrived!  I know it is going to be an asset to my research!

The Big Splurge

Sometimes you just have to do something that goes against what you would normally do.  

I am what you might call frugal, or as some people put it, tight.  I cut and use coupons, shop the sales, do not buy frivolous things that I really don't need.  I try to watch my spending when it comes to genealogy even though we all know that this hobby can be quite expensive if you let it.  My one big expenditure is my subscription to Ancestry.com which has proven to be worth the money and I attempt justify the cost to myself in all ways imaginable.  

Up until now I have only looked at the online forms to purchase Social Security applications and military pension files, telling myself that I will not pay for those resources until all other sources have been squeezed and wrung out.  But...like I said, up until now.

After years and years of hunting for the correct Miller family in West Virginia, the genealogical Miller drought came to an end.  With one little birth record on the West Virginia archive website, the flood gates opened and I not only found my Millers, but the connected families of my ggg- and gggg-grandmothers who married into the Millers.  

Eli Seth McGuire was the father of Elizabeth McGuire, my ggg-grandmother who married William Alexander Miller.  I located him in a part of Virginia that is now West Virginia.  He, his wife, Mary Knapp, and their son, John all went to Bourbon County, Kansas by the mid-1800's.  In the 1885 Kansas census I discovered Eli was a Civil War veteran.  I guess my excitement at finding all these people caught up with me and, completely out of character, I sent off for Eli's complete military pension file at the cost of a whopping $75.00!

Do I regret this moment of insanity? Other than a few early twinges, no!  I just look forward to getting the file and seeing what I hope to be a treasure trove of information.  I'm like a child in October.  You know that Halloween ushers in the holidays and Christmas is on its way, but it is still so far away that it seems like it will never arrive.  The National Archives and Records Administration say to allow 42 to 102 days for the file to be sent.   In the online application, I included most of the information they need to hunt the file so I am hoping that it will not take the entire 102 days, but still, it will be a long wait.  Maybe now, I will send off for those Social Security applications that I have been eyeing and I'm sure there are more veterans that filed for a pension.  Will someone please come take my wallet before I lose complete control!

Cyndi's List

One of my favorite "go to" sites is Cyndi's List.  Cyndi's List is an index of genealogy resources for anything you could imagine needing!  Whether you are looking for locality resources or surnames, Cyndi has a link to it.  She has links that will help you learn how to climb your family tree or just add to your skills.  Do you need help choosing a software program or how to cite the sources you are using to prove the William Miller in Arbuckle is your grandfather?  Cyndi's List has the links you need!  

I have put a link to this great site on the right side bar of this blog or use the one in this post.  Try it today!  You will wonder how you ever did without it!