General Family History Articles

• Justices of the Peace
  The Justice of the Peace (JP), or magistrate, evolved from a thirteenth century official known as the Keeper of the Peace. The term Justice of the Peace was in use by the late fourteenth century...
  
  
• Thanksgiving - Why Turkey?
  Turkey is an important part of the Thanksgiving Dinner, but what do we know about them, and why is a very American bird named after a country where eastern Europe meets western Asia?
  
  
• Old Books
  All my old books, nice dry ones and musty ones, are about local history - whether parishes, or towns or counties. A few books are well over 100 years old...
  
  
• Search Tools: Using Origins Network Features Part I
  January is a good time to look back at your research of the previous 12 months. You can consider whether or not to continue with the same lines of research, assess new information found in recent work and set objectives for the months ahead...
  
  
• Sorting and Storing Tools: Using Origins Network Features Part II
  The sorting and storing tools provide useful options for working with search results. When you look at the results for a single set of data they appear in alphabetical order by surname. You can alter the way the results are sorted and you can also decide to store the search...
  
  
• Pitfalls Old and New: Part I
  All the wonders of online databases cannot eliminate pitfalls. That is understandable when you consider that the root of any pitfall is human error. Sloppiness, inattention and inaccuracy are problems that never go away...
  
  
• Pitfalls Old and New: Part II
  Human nature being what it is, we all find it difficult to spot the dangers in our own work. It is easy to miss an inaccuracy in base information, or to neglect to calculate carefully the best date range and location for a search...