Staats Place

I am always looking for parallels between legal research and genealogical research. In my evidence and torts class this week, we studied Ohio’s Rules of Evidence regarding the admissibility of hearsay evidence. It was a loooong stretch of class, and then suddenly we got to what I mentally labeled the[…]

The Russell Index. Just mentioning the name causes some to shudder. The skeleton key symbol emblazoned with its cryptic “l-m-n-r-t” message. The dreaded columns and rows.  Letters and numbers all over the page. Noooooo! If you do research in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, among others, you are going to have to[…]

Each time I post about this subject, I wrestle with whether or not I should be airing the family laundry here in cyberspace. However, as genealogists, we are most interested in the truth. Sometimes the truth is not what we would like it to be. It’s perhaps not like we[…]

Husbands, we know we are all on a tight schedule while traveling hither and yon, and those arrival times must be kept. Even though we might be interested, we simply can’t stop for every “LOOK, a historical marker” demand. Ask my wife and she’ll claim I actually speed up. Sometimes[…]

“Legalese” is an oft-cited reason researchers give for their aversion to using deeds. I won’t waste time on my soapbox, preaching about the miracles to be found in the Book of Deeds – just trust me that those miracles are in there, waiting to be discovered. To be sure, the[…]

Most of you ( perhaps, “both of you” might be more correct) who regularly read my blog know that I am a bit of a goofball. If you happened upon this post via some random search terms, just understand this is so. For me,  like many who use the same[…]

…and I didn’t even get the shepherd’s crook like performers sometimes do in the cartoons. Yesterday, I gave my very first genealogical presentation at the Ohio Genealogical Society’s Library in Bellville, Ohio. I’d like to thank Margaret Cheney for taking a chance on a newbie speaker such as myself. Hopefully,[…]

Well, kids – the clock is counting down. In just a little over twelve hours, I’ll be on the road to Bellville, Ohio to speak at the Ohio Genealogical Society’s new library tomorrow morning at 10am. My topic is “Using Deeds In Your Genealogical Research.” I get to share some[…]

Hopefully none of you are reading this on your iPhone at a red light (or worse, on the road) Harold Henderson posed the following analogy for consideration on the Transitional Genealogists Forum: “One thing that sometimes causes difficulties for professional genealogistsis that there are a lot more amateurs (or hobbyists)[…]