AF-878: Do You Have Good Genealogy Days? | Ancestral Findings Podcast
Ancestral Findings - Genealogy Podcast
Release Date: 04/03/2024
AF-1224: How to Find Marriage Records | Ancestral Findings Podcast
Ancestral Findings - Genealogy Podcast
Marriage records are one of the three core types of vital records every family historian should learn to use. Birth, marriage, and death records often work together like a three legged stool. If you are missing one leg, the whole picture feels shaky. A marriage record can connect a woman’s maiden name to her married name, link parents to children, confirm relationships you only guessed at, and point you toward a new place to search. Even better, a marriage record often answers questions you did not know to ask. It may tell you where the bride and groom were living at the time, how old they...
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AF-1223: 10 “Must-Do” Genealogy Projects for January | Ancestral Findings Podcast
Ancestral Findings - Genealogy Podcast
January is basically the genealogist’s secret power month. The holidays are over, the calendar is wide open, and you can finally hear yourself think. While winter does its quiet thing outside, you get a fresh start indoors, with coffee, a cozy chair, and a brand new excuse to chase down ancestors. These “10 Must-Do Genealogy Projects for January” are built to kick your research back into gear, tame the paper and digital chaos, and pull you closer to the real stories hiding behind names and dates. Think of each project as one more clue, one more upgrade, and one more step toward turning...
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AF-1222: How To Check Your Family Tree For Errors | Ancestral Findings Podcast
Ancestral Findings - Genealogy Podcast
Genealogy has a built-in problem that never goes away. You are trying to rebuild real lives from records that real people created, and people get things wrong. Sometimes the mistake is innocent, like a clerk mishearing a name or a census taker writing down a guess. Sometimes the mistake is intentional, like someone shaving off years, changing a birthplace, or hiding a first marriage. Even permanent things like headstones can be wrong, because the person ordering it may not have known the exact date, or the stone cutter may have carved it incorrectly. Indexes and transcriptions help us find...
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AF-1221: Every Mistake I Made in 2025 | Ancestral Findings Podcast
Ancestral Findings - Genealogy Podcast
Genealogy teaches you something early. The record is rarely clean. Ink blots. Misspelled names. Ages that shift from census to census. People who appear, disappear, then show up again decades later with no explanation. When you study the past long enough, you stop expecting perfection. You start expecting the truth to arrive a little sideways. 2025 worked the same way. Some mistakes were loud. Others were quiet enough that I did not notice them until later. Most were not dramatic disasters. They were small choices repeated often enough to leave a mark. When you lay them out in order, they read...
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AF-1220: The Christmas Story | Ancestral Findings Podcast
Ancestral Findings - Genealogy Podcast
All month, we have looked at how different places celebrate the season, with food, songs, family gatherings, church services, and small customs that show up year after year. Today, we are going to close the series by going straight to the center of it. I am going to read the Christmas story. Before I start, here is the simple thought I want to leave with you. Traditions can be beautiful and vary from home to home, but the reason for Christmas does not change. It is the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. Podcast Notes: Ancestral Findings Podcast: This Week's Free Genealogy Lookups: ...
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AF-1219: So why December 25? | Ancestral Findings Podcast
Ancestral Findings - Genealogy Podcast
Well, two big reasons show up in the history. One reason is a theological calculation that shows up early. A Christian writer named Sextus Julius Africanus (early 200s) argued that Jesus was conceived on March 25 and was born nine months later on December 25. Another reason is the Roman winter season. By late December, the empire already had major celebrations, including solstice-related festivals such as Sol Invictus on December 25. Some historians think placing Christmas then helped the church speak into a season people already treated...
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AF-1218: Christmas Traditions in Poland | Ancestral Findings Podcast
Ancestral Findings - Genealogy Podcast
In Poland, Christmas takes a different form than in many places. The most significant family moment often happens on Christmas Eve, not Christmas morning. That Christmas Eve gathering is called Wigilia, and in many homes it is the main event of the season. Even people who are not very religious still keep Wigilia traditions because they are tied to home, family, and the feeling that this night matters... Podcast Notes: Ancestral Findings Podcast: This Week's Free Genealogy Lookups: Genealogy Giveaway: Genealogy eBooks: Follow Along: Support Ancestral Findings: #Genealogy...
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AF-1217: Christmas Traditions in Mexico | Ancestral Findings Podcast
Ancestral Findings - Genealogy Podcast
Christmas in Mexico is not usually treated like one neat day on a calendar. It feels more like a long build that gets louder, brighter, and more crowded as it moves toward Christmas Eve. In many places, the season spills into the street. Neighbors join in. Kids play a role. Food shows up in big batches. Music follows you around like it owns the place. A lot of Mexican Christmas customs come from Christian tradition, especially Catholic life. At the same time, many parts of the season are also community habits, local folk practices, and playful traditions that people keep because they are fun,...
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AF-1216: Christmas Traditions in South Africa | Ancestral Findings Podcast
Ancestral Findings - Genealogy Podcast
December in South Africa does not whisper in with cold nights and frosted windows. It arrives with heat, long afternoons, and bright skies that can still be blue well into the evening. In many homes, Christmas planning is not about keeping warm. It is about finding shade, keeping food cool, and deciding whether the family gathering will happen inside, outside, or both. The season is still Christmas, centered on the birth of Jesus Christ for many believers, but the setting changes how the day feels. South Africa is also a country of many cultures, languages, and church traditions. That means...
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AF-1215: Christmas Traditions in Brazil | Ancestral Findings Podcast
Ancestral Findings - Genealogy Podcast
Welcome back to the Christmas traditions series. Today, we’re looking at Christmas in Brazil. In Brazil, Christmas often starts late. The house is full, the table is covered, and people are still arriving long after the sun has gone down. Outside, the air is warm because it is summer. Inside, the kitchen has been busy for hours. Someone checks the clock, not because the day is rushed, but because the meal is usually timed to build toward midnight. This is one of the easiest ways to understand Christmas in Brazil. It is a holiday built for togetherness at night. It is centered on a long...
info_outlinePodcast Notes: https://ancestralfindings.com/good-genealogy-days
The good days in genealogy are those moments of discovery and connection that remind us of the enduring power of family history to unite us. These moments are treasures, gifts from the past illuminating our present and connecting us in profound and meaningful ways. So, here's to more good days in genealogy and the breakthroughs and connections yet to come. May your journey through your family's past be filled with many such moments of joy and discovery. Thank you for joining us on this celebration of genealogy's good days. Keep exploring, keep connecting, and until next time, happy researching!