Death records can be treasure troves, especially if the deceased is someone about whom we have little information. Official death records vary widely in their details, but often provide names of parents, spouses, and/or other family members who may be informants; dates..

I recently came across an older—but nonetheless fascinating—article about German surnames that paired nicely with my past article on Tools for German Origins. The article, Jürgen Eichhoff's "Types of German Surname Changes in America," was originally published in The..

If you are ever in Essex County, Massachusetts, there is an interesting cemetery within the Maudslay State Park in Newburyport. It is a pet cemetery and features seven gravestones of beloved pets that once belonged to the wealthy Moseley family. 

Please, I'm in a bit of trouble.

I sure hope you won't rat me out. I know I haven't been around the Vita Brevis in a while, but I had to tell someone. You see, I've fallen in with a bad crowd. I've become something of a (gasp)…genealogical heretic. Recently, while..

In the course of their research, genealogists often need to identify an ancestor’s origins before they arrived in the United States. There are many types of records that can be used for this research, with varying degrees of usefulness. Naturalization records are an..

A father attempts to enumerate his household for the census-taker while a few of his children hide from view, foiling his efforts. Painting from 1854, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Many researchers assume that state and territorial census records are of limited value..

I hardly remember the experience of using a card catalog—those clunky piece of furniture which were once an inescapable aspect of research. When I came of age, libraries were already phasing out physical card catalogs in favor of digital databases. I do have a small..

Those of us researching our Irish roots are always hoping to discover our family’s place of origin in Ireland. But even after searching diligently for every scrap of information possible in U.S. records, we are often left frustrated. Too many U.S. records simply list..

We can use DNA as another source in our genealogical research toolbox to help discover family connections and break down brick walls. DNA evidence and traditional documentation, like vitals and census records, should be used to help prove relationships between two..

I wrote about Margaret (Mulligan) Kelleher and her infant son John Cornelius Kelleher a few months ago in a previous Vita Brevis post. While I thought the trail had..