4. Revisiting “The Stowaway”: New Evidence, New Conclusion

   In a previous article, “The Stowaway,” I explored the possibility that my husband’s ancestor, Karl Kowallis, may have entered the United States as a stowaway. The assumption had always been that he was a stowaway across the Atlantic. However, evidence shows that this could not have been the case.

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5. The Lost Ledger: Evidence Ellis Island Kept Its Own Arrival Records

   I have always heard that no records were created at Ellis Island, that the only records used were the passenger lists created by the ship company, and that Ellis Island officials merely inspected immigrants and marked the manifests. In my recent research, in preparation for a presentation, I uncovered multiple sources suggesting that this statement was not entirely true.

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6. The 1921 UK Census is Available on Ancestry

   I can’t believe three years have already passed since the release of the 1921 UK Census! These records were recently released on Ancestry.com!

   Just like the 1911 Census, the census used a separate sheet for each household. The head of the household was required to fill out the form and members of the household were required by law to either give the head …

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7. Astrological Symbols in Genealogical Documents

   I was recently working on a project and I came across baptism records that had multiple symbols. At first, I didn’t pay much attention, but the one for Jacob caught my eye because under Jacob’s name, there was the symbol for Venus ♀, which is typically used as a symbol for females. I looked through the pages, and each name had a symbol under …

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8. Guess that Name Written in Old German Script

   I recently saw one of my ancestor’s signatures from 1874. The image below shows his surname. Can you figure it out? It is a very common German surname. Had I not known what it was, I never would have figured it out.

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