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Research Tips
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Pennington Research Association
Research Tips
Here are some quick tips to help you get started with your Pennington genealogical research. If you have a website or a favorite research tip you would like to see posted here, please send it to Gene Pennington, Research Director.
Please Note: Some of the links will take you to another part of this same web page while other links will take you to another web page or website.
Some of the links on this page may not work as websites change often. If you find a link that does not work, please let us know. Contact Gene Pennington and send him the page and the link that is not working.
Encyclopedia of GenealogyThe Encyclopedia of Genealogy, a free-content encyclopedia created by its readers, people like you. The Encyclopedia of Genealogy is available to everyone, free of charge. Everyone can also contribute information, again free of charge. The Encyclopedia of Genealogy serves as a compendium of genealogical tools and techniques. It provides reference information about everything in genealogy except people. Look to the Encyclopedia of Genealogy to provide explanations of how to look up your family tree, explanations of terms found in genealogy research, including obsolete medical and legal terms. It will describe locations where records may be found. It also will describe how to research Italian, German, Polish, French-Canadian, Jewish, Black, Indian and other ancestors. In short, the Encyclopedia of Genealogy will serve as your standard genealogy reference manual. |
| Copyright and Genealogy Research A MUST for all genealogy researchers. |
Eastman's Online Genealogy NewsletterA newsletter for genealogy consumers, packed with straight talk, hold the sugar coating - whether the vendors like it or not! Available in a Standard Edition and a Plus Edition. |
One -Step Webpages by Dr. Stephen P. MorseOne of my favorites! You should visit this great website as one of your first stops to help you with your research. It is outstanding! The website has many, many valuable tools to help you search hundreds of online databases and websites. Don't wait too long to visit this website. |
Costumes (for dating Photographs)An excellent site to help you identify the year a picture was taken by comparing the clothes worn in the picture to those found on this website. |
Library of VirginiaAn outstanding research website! The Library of Virginia has some wonderful resources as well as thousands of scanned original documents. |
Daughters of the American RevolutionMany research resources to help you trace your ancestors to the American Revolution. |
Sons of the American RevolutionMany research resources to help you trace your ancestors to the American Revolution. |
PRA Mail ListYou can use the PRA Mail list to post your queries or to reply to any query. Click here to learn how to do this. The PRA Mail list also has an extensive archive of messages that are searchable. |
Pennington Message Boards on Ancestry.comSearch and/or post messages on the Pennington message boards hosted by Ancestry.com. The message boards are divided into several categories. The categories include wills, bible records, queries, pension records, marriage and obituaries. The Pennington message boards on Ancestry.com also maintains an extensive archive of messages that are searchable. You can also asked to be notified by e-mail when a new message is posted to any one, or all, of the message boards. Click here to go to the message boards on Ancestry.com. You can read ALL of the posted messages for ALL categories by selecting "All" in the category box or you can specify which category you want to read the posted messages and for which time period. You can also find your way to the message board by going to Ancestry.com and then enter "Pennington" in the "Find a Message Board" box. You can also get there by going to Rootsweb then scroll down to "Message Boards" and then click on "Message Boards Home Page" which will take you to Ancestry.com again. You have to login to post a message and/or to reply to a posted message. However, Ancestry.com does have a very good privacy policy (sharing your personal information) and I felt comfortable with providing my information. You should read their privacy policy before deciding for yourself. By creating a login for yourself, you are able to search and use more features within Ancestry.com. If you are already a member of Ancestry.com, you can use your current login name, etc. |
Submissions
Submit a genealogical report, articles, picture/s and/or data to the Pennington Research Association. Have your genealogy report, article and/or data published on our Members-only blog on our primary website at www.PenningtonResearch.org or on our public blog at http://praresearch.blogspot.com, or on our FaceBook page our Twitter page or on our newest Members-only website hosted by MyHeritage. Click here to go to our Submissions web page for more information. |
Donate Your Pennington Genealogical Material to the PRA ArchivesDonate a genealogical report, articles, picture/s and/or data to the Pennington Research Association's Archives/Library. You can donate it to the PRA Archives/Library in Earlham College, Richmond, IN. Click here to learn more. |
Where to Look on the WebHere are a number of websites that have general guides to genealogy research and information about research in specific areas. |
Native American ResearchWebsites for researching Native American genealogical information. |
Civil WarFind a soldier in the Civil War, Confederate or Union; visit websites for prisons; learn about Confederate Regiments in Arkansas; look up historical locations and search for pension records for soldiers and widows. Please note the websites listed are limited at this time to research in Arkansas and Tennessee and primarily Confederate soldiers and widows. This list is not meant to be exclusive of other States or armies. This has been my primary area of research to date (with little success I might add). If you have other websites you would like added, please send their information to Gene Pennington, Research Director. |
Start a Research LogHere is a quick guide to starting that all important research log. |
Genealogy Research Sites
Notice: Links to Third Party Sites
The links in this area will let you leave the Pennington Research Association's site. The linked sites are not under the control of Pennington Research Association and Pennington Research Association is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site, or any changes or updates to such sites. Pennington Research Association is not responsible for webcasting or any other form of transmission received from any linked site. Pennington Research Association is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by Pennington Research Association of the site.
Each website and/or page linked below is owned by the a third party who has the copyright to their site and/or page. These links are provided to help you with your research.
| RootsWeb | Perhaps the best single genealogical website to help you. It has a number of general and specific files, links and resources. In addition, there are a number of mail lists for surnames, locations, societies and many other genealogical related subjects. |
| National Genealogical Society | An excellent starting place for beginning and advanced genealogy researchers. For beginning researchers, look for the link on the left side of the page titled "Getting Started". |
| Cyndi's List | Thousands of links to genealogy websites and resources. A must visit site. |
| Robert Bickham's 26 Tips | 26 Tips to get you started with genealogy. |
| Serendipity | Mystical Discoveries in Genealogy accepts interesting stories of serendipitous discoveries. |
| LDS Family Search Site | The LDS Family Search Site. A great site and getting better every day. Lots of links as well. |
| USGS Mapping Service | This is a mapping service. You enter the name of a place (town, cemetery, etc.) and the state. Other information is optional. Choose the search or submit button. |
| United States Digital Map Library | The United States Digital Map Library is a USGenWeb Archives project, developed in April, 1999. Includes, State, County, United States and Indian Land Concessions to the United States Treaty maps. An excellent research tool as well as providing excellent graphics for your genealogy web pages and books. |
| 1895 U.S. Atlas | A website with maps from the 1895 U.S. Atlas. Great research site as well as providing graphics for your genealogy web pages and books. |
| BLM's Land Patent Records | This link lets you look up records of land patents that were issued. You can enter the name of a person, for whom you are searching. It will give the location by county where this person owned land. |
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Beneath the Underground: The Flight to Freedom
A website by the Maryland State Archives |
This link takes you to one of many web pages created and maintained by the Maryland State Archives. This specific web page is for Cecil Co., Maryland and has material with Pennington surnames on it. For example, you can go to Veazey Cove and Point on the Chesapeake, and you can kook at Noble Pennington's actual land holdings as well as the names of all the other land holders on the map nearby. |
| DAR's Website | Daughter's of the American Revolution website. There is a wealth of both general guides to genealogy research and information about research in specific areas. |
| National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution | This website contains many links to useful resources on the American Revolutionary War. |
| Genealogical Library Master Catalog (TM) | Like a national library catalog just for genealogists, the Genealogical Library Master Catalog will help you locate over 300,000 family histories, local histories and genealogical sources at libraries and archives across the country. |
| New River Note | A great website to research historical resource pages for the Upper New River Valley of North Carolina and Virginia. (Ashe, Allegheny, Watagua and Wilkes County, North Carolina and Grayson County, and Southwest Virginia). |
| Lancashire Family History and Heraldry Society |
The Lancashire Family History and Heraldry Society can help you research your Lancashire ancestors.
Formed in 1973 as the Rossendale Society for Genealogy and Heraldry (Lancashire), the Society now has twelve centers in Lancashire, together with one in London where members meet regularly. There is also an Irish Ancestry section . The society also has a worldwide community of family historians with roots in Lancashire. |
| LibrarySpot | LibrarySpot is a free virtual library resource center for educators and students, librarians and their patrons, families, businesses and just about anyone exploring the Web for valuable research information. |
| WorldCat - Window to the World's Libraries | WorldCat is the world's largest bibliographic database, the merged catalogs of thousands of OCLC member libraries. Built and maintained collectively by librarians, WorldCat itself is not an OCLC service that is purchased, but rather provides the foundation for many OCLC services and the benefits they provide. |
| National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections - Library of Congress | A free-of-charge cooperative cataloging program operated by the Library of Congress, the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) creates online records in the RLG Union Catalog on behalf of eligible archival repositories throughout the United States. On the basis of information decribing manuscript collections, NUCMC catalogers create bibliographic records in MARC21 (Machine-readable Cataloging) format describing the collection and establishing pertinent name and subject authority headings. |
Copyright and Genealogy Research
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"Who Owns Genealogy?" by Gary B. Hoffman
"Horror On The Web" by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G. "Copyrights & Wrongs" by Mark Howells Resources on Blog Copyright and Content Theft (Note: Many of the links in this useful blog apply to general copyright issues dealing with genealogy. - A great blog posting from Geneabloggers blog. This list of resources will help you better understand copyright and how it applies to genealogy research. |
Websites and blogs to help you better understand copyright and how it applies to genealogy. |
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"10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained" By Brad Templeton
"Copyright & Fair use" by Stanford University Libraries "Copyright and Fair Use in the Digital Age: Q&A with Peter Lyman" by the Educom Review Staff |
Websites which may not be specific to genealogy but they do help by providing more information that applies to all areas of copyright law. |
Native American Research
| Cherokee Nation Heritage Center | Great website with tips and information |
| Overview of Native American Research | A great article on Ancestry.com titled "Overview of Native American Research". |
| The Official Home Page for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma | This link has some excellent resources for those researchers looking for help with their Native American Indian ancestors. |
| Cherokee Trails Website | Links to Cherokee information - The Cherokee/TNGenWeb page. |
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The Mysterious Melungeons*
An article by Mary A. Kirby published in the Pennington Pedigrees, Vol. 21, No. 1, pgs. 24 - 26. *Note: You will need Adobe Reader to view this file. If you don't have it, go to www.Abobe.com and download the free Adobe Reader. The Melungeon Heritage Association Melungeons and Other Mestee Groups Avoiding Pitfalls in Melungeon Research The Melungeon Health Education and Support Network The Melungeon Historical Society Blog
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The People of the MistWho Are The Melungeons?Like the mists that envelop the mountains the Melungeons are a people whose ancestry has been shrouded in mystery. However, through the efforts of Brent Kennedy and others, the veil of secrecy surrounding these proud people is being lifted and their unique heritage is being revealed. The Melungeons are most likely the descendants of the late 16th century Turks and Portuguese stranded on the Carolina shores when the settlement of Santa Elena, South Carolina was abandoned by the Spanish. They later intermarried with the Powhatan, Pamunkey, Chickahominy, and Catawba Indians. After being abandoned in the outlying Spanish forts, they settled in the Appalachians and further intermarried, with the Cherokees and much later with the northern European settlers; primarily the Scotch-Irish, becoming part of the American Melting Pot. The word Melungeon is both Portuguese, meaning "white person" and Turkish, meaning "cursed soul". Today, Melungeon descendants can be found among all racial and ethnic groups. Abraham Lincoln and Elvis Presley have probably Melungeon heritage through their maternal lines. There are many names in the AR 1850 Census, especially in the NW AR area that are common Melungeon surnames. The Melungeons are a fascinating people; if you’ve been told there is Black Dutch in your ancestry, you should check it out. |
| Native American Resources | A USGenWeb Project. Perhaps the best single website for help with your Native American research. |
| Native American Indian Records on Microfilm | The best and most complete Native American Indian records on microfilm. This is the NARA site located in Ft. Worth, Texas. |
| "Joining Your Family's Native American Tribe" by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. | A great article published on the HuffPost Live blog by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. |
Civil War Research
Start a Research Log
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Start a research log for all your research, including your Internet searches. Many of the newer versions of the popular genealogy software programs provide research logs or similar tools to help you track your research. Whether you use a computer, a preprinted form or just a pad and pencil, the sooner you start your research log, the better. Create a simple system for recording the information in your research log. Make a legend for any abbreviations or symbols you use so you don't forget what they represent! Include information such as the name, address and contact telephone number of any libraries, historical societies or public record agency. When searching the Internet, record the address (URL) of websites you have visited and the results of those visits and the date you found the information. Remember that you should return often to your research sites to see if anything new has been added. If you know the last time you visited, it makes it easier to determine if anything new has been added. Don't fill your research log with too much detail. It is not intended to record everything you find. |