Beginner's guide to genealogy and finding roots today
Genealogy has become the people’s science with libraries and societies expanding help for newcomers. Start with known relatives, interview elders, gather names and dates, and use county records, obituaries, and guides from libraries and genealogical societies to build your family history.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Alex Haley
James Jeffries
Denver Public Library
Eleanor Gehres
Jeffrey
Denver
U.S
Charles Edward Huston
Halifax
Kansas
Ira Wolfman
Harriet Stryker-Rodda
Val D. Greenberg
Gilbert Doane
Ralph Crandall
Arlene Eakie
Johni Cerny
Emily Anne Croom
Names that may open doors in school and work
A Redbook piece argues first names shape impressions and success. Studies find names influence perceptions of ambition, intelligence, and warmth, with executives like Alma or Doris seen as potential leaders while others trigger bias. Names affect grades and dating appeal, shaping outcomes in school and career.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Susan V. Seligson
Redbook
Albert Mehrabian
University of Calfornia At
Los Angeles
Mary
Cleveland Kent Evans
Bellevue University
Nebraska
Huran
Helen Petrie
Lucy
Rose
Petrie
Mehrabian
Jacqueline
Katherine
Samantha
Brooke
Kim
Jessica
Tonya
Lolly
Olive
Trixie
Beth
Ann
Hope
Emma
Stacy
Mandy
Julie
Holly
DeeDee
Alma
Doris
Mildred
Heather
Jennifer
Cheryl
Dawn
Linda Rosenkrantz
Pamela Redmond Satran
Jason
Kay
Louise
Ruth
Madeline
Vivian
Natalie
Nell
Faith
Alice
Julia
Martha
Tess
Claire
Virginia
Tulane University
New Orleans
Ancestral Homecoming Reunites Hall Roots in Frederick
Janice Laster, a Georgia native now in Frederick for 18 months, returns to Frederick’s Hall lineage after 115 years and unc overs a family archive tracing free Black ancestors from 1782 through Jim Crow. Her great grandfather Lewis Emory Hall kept a devotional diary and collected Church programs, school bells, and letters, revealing a religious, eloquent voice amid segregation as the Hall family supported African Methodist Episcopal Church work in Georgia and Georgia’s Morris Brown College.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Janice Laster
Georgia
Frederick
Lewis Emory Hall
Halls
South
Cedartown
Atlanta
Rev RA Hall
Eliza Black
Petersburg
Macon
Morris Brown College
Richard A. Hall
Frederick roots bound to Cedartown educator and Cedar Hill legacy
Georgia native Rev LE Hall founded Cedartown Colored Public School in 1888 and Cedar Hill High. His family, including wife Nannie Mignon and 12 children, shaped Black education and culture in Cedartown and Frederick. Mrs Laster preserves heirlooms linking Virginia to Frederick, urging museum care for African American heritage on Frederick’s 250th birthday.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
LE Hall
Howard University
Washington, D.C
Rev. Hall
Cedartown
Nannie Mignon
Cedar Hill
Hall
Polk County
Georgia
R A. Hall
Frederick
Laster
Also Mentioned on This Page
Scripps Howard News Service
Kay McDowell
Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies
Hearst Magazine
Gertrude
Wena Nen Raphy Fos
Bill Green
This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!