Helpful Articles

to assist you with your family history research

By Connie Lenzen, CGSM

Click one of the links below to go to a category.
Beginning Cemetery Census & City Directories Courthouse Ethnic & Women
Historical & Social Reference Immigration & Naturalization Internet Resources Land & Tax Records Military
Oregon & Washington Research Strategies Vital Events; Birth, Death, Marriages Where Are the Records Hidden? Writing up the Research

Beginning

I'm Just Beginning; What Shall I Do?
Genealogy and the Internet; A Dynamic Duo
Genealogy Books; Where Do I Find Them?
Half A Relationship? How Are We Related?
Luck or Skill? Four Skill Areas for Genealogists
Organize Your Research
People Who Live in Glass Houses (organizing)
Talking About Names; the Origins of Names
What Are Family Papers?

Cemetery

Acid Rain and White Marble Tombstones; a Science Fair Project (pdf download)
Cemetery Records
Cemetery Symbolism
Civil War Graves
Gravestone Rubbings
Lone Fir Cemetery
Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Portland, Oregon
Persons Buried in Lone Fir Cemetery, Portland, Oregon, Who Were Sent Over From Dr. Hawthorne's Insane Asylum from 1867–1879
Portland's Earliest Cemeteries
The Search for an Ancestor's Tombstone

Census Records and City Directories

Ancestors on the Move in the Census
Census 101
City Directories—Find Your People Between Censuses
Instructions To The Census Enumerator
Look at the Neighbors; Someone Had to Watch The Children; They Are Probably Relatives
Oregon Poor Farms in the 1880 Census (large file)
Special Census Schedules
Use Censuses to Evaluate Family Traditions

Courthouse Research

Courthouse Research
Land Records in the Courthouse
Probate Records
Washington Court Records
Where to Find Probate Records

Ethnic & Women

A Little Bit Irish
African American Research
Boston Irish
Church Records and Women
English Research—Three Hints
Indians in the Oregon Census (large file)
Irish Place Names
Femme Covert
Native American Research
New York City Irish
Plantation Records
Potato Famine Irish
Quaker Records
The Invisible Woman
Tracking the Maternal Line—written for the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. Trace an ancestress when nothing is known about her parents by researching all known associates.
Women in the Military
Women's Property Rights

Historical & Social References

Calendars
Diseases
Family Secrets
Heraldry and Coats of Arms
Life on the Farm
Lineage Societies
Money and Our Ancestors
Oregon Poor Farms in the 1880 census
Poor Farms
Religious Calendars

Immigration

Alien Registrations
Canadian Border Crossings
Canadian Research Helps
Castle Garden
Ellis Island Database
Find the Ancestor's Naturalization File in Multnomah County, Oregon
Naturalization Records
Ship Pictures

Internet Resources

AAD, the National Archives' Index
A Baker's Dozen of My Favorite Websites for Family History
Begin Your Genealogy on the Internet
CIA World Fact Book and the Army's Area Handbooks
Copyright
Google Your Way to a Ship Photo
Online Newspapers at the Library of Congress
U.S. Newspaper Program

Land & Tax Records

American State Papers–Land Records
Civil War Taxes
Courthouse Research–Land
Deed Indexes
For Genealogists, Tax Records Are Good
Homestead Records
Grand Central Public Market in Portland; An Example of Tracing Land
Land Research in the Courthouse
Life on the Farm
Marriage Records with Deeds
Multnomah County, Oregon Tax Records
Oregon Poll Taxes
Using Tax Records to Locate an Ancestor
Women's Property Rights

Military

20th Century Military Records
Civil War Medicine
Civil War Resources
Civil War Tax Records
Confederate Deserters
Grand Army of the Republic
Revolutionary War Pension Records
Revolutionary War Service Records
Veteran's Administration Records
Veteran's Day
World War I Draft Registration
World War II Draft Registration
World War II Service Records

Oregon and Washington

1842 Oregon Census
1850 Oregon Census; Place of Birth for White and Free Colored Population
1850 Oregon Mortality Schedule
1843–1863 Portland History
1878 Portland, Oregon Deaths
1879 Portland, Oregon Deaths
1880 Multnomah County, Oregon Mortality Schedule
Early Catholic Records
Fort Vancouver in the 1820s and 1830s
Indians in the Oregon Census (Indians taxed)
Grand Central Public Market in Portland
Land, Free Land; The Oregon Provisional and Donation Land Claim Acts
Methodist Church Records in Oregon
Multnomah County, Oregon Naturalization Searches
Multnomah County, Oregon Tax Records
Multnomah County, Oregon Voter Records
Nineteenth Century Oregon Birth Records
Oregon Genealogy Libraries
Oregon Historical Society's Newspapers on Microfilm
Oregon Poor Farms and Indigents in 1880
Oregon Poll Taxes
Portland's Early Cemeteries: Stark, Caruthers, Beth Israel, Jefferson Street
Sauvie Island
Settlers on French Prairie, Oregon Territory, in 1836-1838
Stephen B. Coffin
Things to See In and Around Portland
Washington Court Records
What Oregon Vital Records are Available and Where Do I Find Them?

Research Strategies

Adoption Resources
Analysis–The proof of genealogical pudding is in the analysis
Cold Trail? It's All Relative Winner of the 2004 International Family History Writers & Editor's "Excellence in Writing" contest.
Consider the Source
DNA
Evidence Analysis
Family Papers
Family Traditions—written for the National Genealogical Society Quarterly
Find a Missing Relative
How to Determine Cousin Relationships
How to Organize
Interview Relatives
Lineage Societies
What does "Begin with what is known" mean?
On-site Research
NUCMC; the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections
One Bite at a Time–An Organizational Strategy
Reading Old Handwriting
Read Between the Lines
Rumors, Hoaxes, and Genealogy—Check Your Facts
Surnames
Tracking the Maternal Line—written for the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. Trace an ancestress when nothing is known about her parents by researching all known associates.
What does "Begin with what is known" mean?

Vital Events; Birth, Death, Marriage, and the records associated with them.

Death Certificates
Death Indexes
More About Social Security
Online Searchable Death Indexes
Probate Records
Social Security Applications
Social Security Death Index
What Oregon Vital Records are Available and How Do I Find Them?
Where to Find Probate Records

Where Are the Records Hidden.

Compiled Sources on the Internet
Family History Centers
 

Write Up the Research.

Lineage Applications
Writing—Get the Stories Out of Your Head
 The Maternal Line of Elizabeth (Niesz) Titus (an example of how to write up the family story)

 


© 2001–2011

Connie Lenzen, CG

CG, Certified Genealogist, is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by board certificants after periodic evaluation, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office.

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