Category: General Research
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The “final” accounting of our Loss in Devon
I’ve finally finished entering the stubs of the estate documents that miraculously remain after the Nazi Bombing which is known as the “Exeter Blitz” of 1942. This was perhaps the most discouraging task I’ve tried to accomplish in my 20+ years of Genealogy. To have a fragment of information of the lost records, but not…
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Old English is not just a Furniture Polish
I’ve begun to locate some of the original Babb documents on file through the Court of Chancery in England. I was immediately struck by how much harder to read they were than the will I recently translated. In some the penmanship is so poor that some words are barely a scribble. These records are significantly…
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The Arms Race is Over!
As quickly as it began our Arms Race has ended with the report from the Chester Herald of the College of Arms in London, England. The letter covers 4 different Babbs, news about the known crest, etc. The report is only a few pages in length, but contains a number of revelations. I’m still working…
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William & Grace (Halls) Babb and the Power of Color Correction
This is a simple little post with some powerful advice. I received this picture of William & Grace (Halls) Babb who are also members of DNA-10: The Celts of Cornwall & Cornwall Pedigree 02. The image I received had a deep green hue, which makes it stand out. At first I believed that it was…
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Too Big For Our Britches
We have outstripped the capabilities of Family Tree Maker 2019 (FTM) and now find it necessary to split the trees up into 3 separate trees. This move comes with mixed emotions for me and I’ve struggled against it for the last several years. In 2001 I started converting Jean A. Sargent’s book Babb Families of…
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New York Adoption Records to finally be opened
The Governor of New York State recently signed a bill into law that allows adoptees to gain access to their original Birth Certificates once they reach the age of 18 years old. The Bill becomes Law on January 15, 2020 and I plan to place an order that very day to help a friend who…
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I’m About to Bust!
I’ve been holding this secret for almost 10 months now and as I believe the event is fast approaching I just can’t hold it in any longer! In January, I was contacted by the research team for Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. I must admit that as I read the message and…
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Naming Private Ryan
A co-worker took a flight recently and knowing my passion for all things genealogy (seriously, it’s pretty hard to miss) snapped a picture of this article in American Way Magazine. The website has a very noble mission to bring the voices back to the millions of people in the photos from the Civil War. This…
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Most American Adoptees Can’t Access Their Birth Certificates. That Could Be About to Change.
For anyone whose family has been touched by adoption, you likely already know how it is often almost impossible to understand your family history. Over the last few years I’ve spent an extraordinary amount of time trying to help adoptees locate information on their Ancestry. This often comes with mixed results and DNA research often…
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Bobs your Uncle
I’ve been heads down the last two weeks trying to update captions for the roughly 10,000 images that will become part of the second edition of my book series. About half of those are new since the first edition and often lack consistency. I get tickled at the information people attach to their photos. Some…