Feb 11, 2026

Birth records can feel like a modern invention because we usually meet them as government certificates, neatly formatted and easy to file. The truth is older and more uneven. People have always needed ways to preserve the fact of a birth, who a child belonged to, when that child arrived, and where the family stood...

Feb 9, 2026

Same name ancestors can fool even careful researchers because the records are close enough to look convincing. The county fits. The time period fits. The ages are close. The hints line up. It can feel like you have a match when you really have a blend.

This last article is about the step that keeps your work clean long...

Feb 6, 2026

Same name problems rarely get solved because you find one perfect record that settles everything. More often, the break comes when you stop staring at your ancestor’s name and start paying attention to the names surrounding it.

That’s because a name like John Smith or William Jones can appear dozens of times in the...

Feb 4, 2026

Same-name problems are one of the biggest sources of bad trees. You find a record for a name that fits the right county and the right time period, you attach it, and then hints do the rest. A spouse appears. Parents appear. Children appear. In five minutes, a whole family is “built.”

Then a year later, you notice...

Feb 2, 2026

I’m Done Being Mad

I didn’t wake up calm.
I woke up tired.

Tired of being irritated at ink.
Tired of being annoyed at paper.
Tired of holding grudges against people who have been dead longer than electricity has existed.

That’s what this is about.

Not traffic. Not politics. Not people on the internet...

Podcast...