Using History to Place Your Ancestors in the Context of Their Times

Last week I was a guest on Geneabloggers Blog Talk Radio show with host Thomas MacEntee. Our topic was using history to place our ancestors in the context of their times.

I had a ball on the show. I got to talk about what I love to do–finding out about the stories of the lives of our  ancestors and giving context to their lives with their politics, religion, society, occupations, and locations.  As a historian and genealogist, I do this all the time with my ancestors and for my clients’ ancestors.

There are a number of ways to go about doing this. Looking at their communities and their churches, using city directories, census records and maps in conjunction with each other, walking the land where a particular ancestor lived, using wills and estate inventories, and using your intuition–or listening quietly for the insights that often come.

Hear the whole show here.