Digging History

The first in a series of articles in the coming weeks leading up to America's 250th birthday . . .

Celebrating America 250: Declaring Independence (May 20, 1775 or July 4, 1776?) – Part 1 In honor of the celebration of America’s 250th birthday, this is the first in a series of articles in the coming weeks which are related to this momentous occasion. First up is a two-part ar…

Historically, wartime has inspired renewed patriotism. It also inspired "unique" baby names . . .

What’s In a Name: Wartime Baby Names American humorist Evan Esar once said, “a signature always reveals a man’s character – and sometimes even his name”. In the case of those highlighted in this article, their names more likely spoke…

The latest blog post . . .

Pedigree Collapse: Are We All Cousins? Have you ever thought about how many ancestors one person could possibly have? Mathematically speaking, taking one’s family tree out thirty generations would result in about a BILLION ancesto…

The latest issue of Digging History is out, featuring the "Hawkeye State" of Iowa. Lots of fascinating history, plus tips for finding the best historical and genealogical records.

March-April 2026 Iowa, Iowa history, Hawkeye State, effigy mounds, Ioway, Sauk, Fox, Winnebago, Iowa Territory, Black Hawk, The Honey War, Mormon migration, Mormon winter quarters, Mormon handcarts, Amana colonies, Spirit Lake Massacre, Iowa in the Civil War, Vida Moreland Wade, Iowa disasters

This week's blog article is a bit of local (Lubbock) history . . . .

History Twisters: (Naming Our Fair City: Lubbock . . . . or Willis?) I wrote this article several years ago as newsletter editor of the South Plains Genealogical Society (SPGS), and presented it as a “theory”. We simply don’t know for sure, as you will see. By the w…

My latest blog post . . . a real "head-scratcher" . . . .

A Genealogical “Head-Scratcher”: Stumbling Across Hidden Cousins After years of learning the ins-and-outs of family history research (and still learning!), I’ve come to the conclusion that “genealogy is not for the faint-of-heart.” Just when you think you’ve bus…

If you think you have your family history all figured out, think again if you happened to use these fraudsters' "research", unaware of where it came from . . . .

Don’t Be Duped: The King of Genealogical Fraud Being Aware of Past Incidences of Genealogical Fraud Not intending to throw a “monkey wrench” into anyone’s long and relentless pursuit of family history, but I draw attention to another impo…

I like to say, "genealogy is not for the faint of heart". It's a challenge to find the records which prove the existence of our ancestors. It's tempting to copy information off someone else's tree, but what if their tree has been infected with inaccurate, and in many cases, dubious or phony, "research". Dubious research comes in several forms . . . . ever try researching a "Cherokee princess"?

Genealogical Fraud: Don’t Be Duped If you have been researching your family history for any length of time, you very well may have spent time in what I call the “rabbit hole”, à la Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. “Going down t…

Such an unusual name ... I just had to research it!

Genealogically Speaking: Bigger Head Bigger Head (1812-1912) I came across this most unusual family name while researching a friend’s Head family line. I found multiple instances of a “Bigger” forename or middle name. First of all, I’…

The latest "Curious Kin" blog article . . .

Genealogically Speaking: Curious Kin (Thomas Jefferson Roach and His “Sister Wives”) Thomas Jefferson Roach and His “Sister Wives” I don’t mean to imply “Sister Wives” (as in the TLC reality show of the same name) meant Thomas Jefferson (“T.J.”) Roach was a polygamist. Quite the co…