Are you planning to vote by mail in the Natural State this year? The historic United States Postal Service has been much in the news recently, and it’s a good time to check to see if you had respected community members as postmasters in your own family tree. There are lists at Ancestry.com and other online resources…
As we make new discoveries about Natural State ancestors, we sometimes get lucky when newly published works yield fascinating information and general context about their lives. There’s a new book this month by David Hill, The Vapors: A Southern Family, the New York Mob, and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs, America’s Forgotten Capital…
It has been written that family history is “part therapy” and “part thriller,” and both aspects may be beguiling during a time of change in The Natural State like an ongoing pandemic. Has the isolation period encouraged you to work creatively on your family history during free time? Filmmaker Bronson Crabtree, 22, of Little…
Have you ever used census records to explore your genealogy? Arkansas family history enthusiasts “enjoy” the census because we learn so much about beloved ancestors. The 2020 Census now gives us a chance to pay it forward so that children and grandchildren may learn more about us someday. As of the second week of April,…
When family history hobbyists think of Valentine’s Day, they often look to their family trees for February 14 engagements or marriages. It’s heartwarming to think about the romance of our great-grandparents’ eras and even to travel to the places in Arkansas where they married and lived. Cupid and Invitation Day But in terms of…
by Jeanne Rollberg Arkansas World War II veteran Marvin Hill, will become 105 years old this month in Hot Springs. Hill was with an army engineering batallion that built airfields and bridges as America, Germany, and Japan were at war. Think of all that he (and his family) have experienced in the last 150…
by Jeanne Rollberg As Arkansas cooks prepare feasts that bring families together this holiday season, we’re reminded that the holidays offer an excellent time to travel, to enjoy family fellowship and learn from stories to discover more about our heritage. Let’s also make a family portrait on Thanksgiving and express gratitude for the family food traditions that are…
Arkansas is celebrating October’s Family History Month with a variety of related activities, presentations, and a music festival that showcase the state’s diverse heritage and inspire us to research genealogy. Starting early in the month, Queen Wilhelmina State Park was the location for a genealogy seminar hosted by the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives (SARA).…
Two recent events – the appearance of “rock star” Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Arkansas, and Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas and United States – remind us about the challenges our forebears in America faced and their options for handling them. How much do we know of what befell our…
It’s 2019 and the 200th anniversary of Arkansas Territory. Has your family’s story been fully appreciated and told as part of the reweaving of the American family history tapestry? If not, it’s time to tell it, and interesting new resources are available. A wonderful development is that genealogy now embraces telling everyone’s family story, as…
