Research Category
Write What You Know: Research What You Don’t & Beware of Artificial Intelligence Generated Answers.
Posted on February 15, 2024 5 Comments
If you are a follower you know I encourage you to turn your family trees into stories. But sometimes it is hard to know how to do that. Well you start with what you know about an ancestor or family. That is where tools like Family Group Sheets, Individual Research Checklists and Timelines come in […]
German Immigrants to North Carolina: Pioneer Georg “Frederick” MOSER (1722-1800) Part Two
Posted on January 29, 2024 Leave a Comment
TROUBLE IN ORANGE COUNTY While we read in the last post that settlers were lured to North Carolina with advertisements of inexpensive land and no taxes, the speculators had other ideas. The settlers came, cleared the land and made improvements: cabins, fences, pastures and fruit orchards. They raised rye, barley, oats, hemp and flax as […]
German Immigrants to North Carolina: Pioneer Georg “Frederick” MOSER (1722-1800) Part One
Posted on January 25, 2024 Leave a Comment
The Lure of Cheap Land Notices like the one below appeared in Pennsylvania newspapers. One might ask why did the MOSER’s move from Pennsylvania to North Carolina? “Lands are so very cheap,” one Carolina resident wrote, “that . . . Six Hundred and Forty Acres . . . will cost three or four pounds Sterling […]
German Immigrants to Pennsylvania: Pioneer Georg “Frederick” MOSER (1722-1800)
Posted on January 23, 2024 Leave a Comment
The earlier parts of this story can be found here. This is a common German immigrant story so perhaps you will find some connections to your own story. BRIETENAU, BAVARIA Our Frederick MOSER had a very interesting life. He was baptized Georg Frederic MOSER in the small village of Breitenau, Bavaria, Germany the 3rd of […]
BAVARIAN Hans MOSER c1623-1696 was from Austria, not Switzerland
Posted on January 15, 2024 13 Comments
Please excuse my rant. You can’t do proper genealogy without historical context. You shouldn’t go connecting people to your tree willy-nilly without evidence. A few years back my friend Paul Chiddwicks had a blog post Are you a Genealogist or Family Historian? As I go about teaching genealogy and writing about family history I would […]
German Migration to America: Johan Martin MOSER 1693-c.1743 Part Four
Posted on January 13, 2024 5 Comments
There are No coincidences!!! At least in this case, it is all connected. Back in Chapter One, remember that it was Daniel Falckner who wrote Accurate Tidings from Pennsylvania published in 1703. It was part travel information and part advertisement for Germans to immigrate to Pennsylvania. It may also be one of the “missives” referred […]
German Migration to America: Johan Martin MOSER 1693-c.1743 Part Three
Posted on January 11, 2024 2 Comments
Please read the following Preamble and Part One and Part Two before reading this one. If you have been following this saga we left the Martin and Magaretha MOSER family in Rotterdam about to board a ship to America. The year is 1728. Martin is 35 and Margaretha 37. I failed to mention that Martin’s […]
German Migration to America: Johan Martin MOSER 1693-c.1743 Part One
Posted on January 6, 2024 3 Comments
This is the story of one of my many German ancestors. If he isn’t one of your ancestors this may not be of interest to you on it’s face. But if you have German ancestors who immigrated in the first half of the 18th century, there may be some things that you will want to […]
The Three Brothers Story, Retold: Johan Martin MOSER
Posted on January 5, 2024 8 Comments
The “Three Brothers Story” is so prevalent in Family History Circles that it is often recounted smugly by experienced genealogists as a sign of family mythology. Some of you know my contrarian nature causes me to poke holes in establishment edicts. Nowhere is that more fun than with my own “Three Brothers Story.” More on […]
STARTING FROM SCRATCH: You
Posted on January 3, 2024 2 Comments
It is a New Year and I have promised my Genealogy class some beginner’s lessons. This one is an adaptation of one I did many years ago. It is a lesson in context and social history and it is about searching things you think you know but maybe don’t. Once you do this exercise for […]
Wheaton Wood 