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Hi! I'm Denyse Allen, Founder of PA Ancestors L.L.C.

PA Ancestors Discoveries: Getting Vital Records for Free and Top 5 Changes to Genealogy

Published over 1 year ago • 2 min read

Getting Vital Records for Free and Top 5 Changes to Genealogy

Hello friends,

Hope you had a great Independence Day weekend. Holidays have me reflect, and I thought a perspective from a legendary genealogist on the changes to genealogy over the last 50 years would be interesting. And this week's podcast offers some ways to get free records for your ancestors. Good if you want to pause online subscriptions.

🗺 History Highlight

The history focus today is on genealogy itself. Elizabeth Shown Mills is one of the greatest genealogists today. She was awarded the 2022 Coddington Award last month from the New England Historical and Genealogical Society for her lifetime achievements. In her acceptance speech, she spoke of the four biggest changes she has seen, and her advice to genealogists:

1. Explosion of online resources available for free or cheap.

Genealogists have more records available online now than they can use in lifetime. Too many people get swept up in trying to find the one document that will answer their research question. Stop yourself from this.

2. Development of research methods and strategies.

Instead of continuing to search of all available records, genealogists would do better to use research strategies. Advanced research methodology courses can teach you how to make use of the records you already have.

3. DNA and genetic genealogy.

DNA testing is not a substitute for documentary research. Reasonably exhaustive research still applies. Its easy to misinterpret DNA evidence. When you think you solved a research problem using DNA, write a proof argument and have peers review it.

4. Development of standards for genealogy.

There’s no difference in standards between hobby genealogists and professional genealogists. The publishing of bad data on genealogy websites hurts everyone.

You can watch the full award presentation here.

🔖 Featured Genealogy Records

The three essential vital records for genealogists are birth certificates, death certificates, and marriage licenses. Birth and death certificates begin in 1906 in Pennsylvania. The publicly available copies have been digitized by Ancestry and Pennsylvania residents can get free access to them through this link.

Marriage licenses are created at the county level and are not sent or stored in the state capitol. You’ll always find the originals in the county where the license was issued. Most of the time a couple applied for a license in the county where the marriage took place. (This might have been different than the county where they lived.) Some marriage licenses are available online at Ancestry and FamilySearch, but you can always check the county courthouse if you don’t find them online. I check FamilySearch first for marriage licenses, and the bonus is they are free to access!

🎙 What’s New on the Podcast

We can get the vital records we want on our ancestors for free. I give three ways to do this in this week's podcast episode. (Some of the links up above!)

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You can also listen to the audio podcast here.​

😳 What Happened to Your Website?

I discovered last week that in order to get the Inner Circle Members site to start working correctly again, I need to update to a new WordPress theme. If you visit PAancestors.com, you'll see its *completely* changed. The blog articles are not in the new format yet, but will be soon. The member site should be working now and I'll be linking and adding more over the next week. Hope you enjoy the changes!

Hi! I'm Denyse Allen, Founder of PA Ancestors L.L.C.

I help genealogists research their ancestors in Pennsylvania through books, workshops, and webinars.

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