Time Travel Thru Genealogy with Ebay

•      Discovering your 18th and 19th century ancestor is possible when you Time Travel Thru Genealogy with Ebay.  Your great grandfather and what he did, how he lived and where he lived can be discovered as you search for pieces of your lost family history on Ebay by searching in Genealogy, Postcards, Yearbooks and Photos, etc.  Remember that the main topic of Genealogy is located in the category of "Everything Else" but genealogical and historical information can also be found in other categories.

 

•      First decide which ancestors you might be looking for and where did they live. Do searches for these names and enter these names into your "Favorite Searches." For example, search for Obadiah Campbell or Mrs. Green and perhaps you will get lucky. I found a postcard written to my grandparents by searching for Mr. and Mrs. and their surname. I also found B&O train passes by searching on a first and last name of a relative! Sometimes you will need to email the seller and ask what is written on the back of the postcard or who the postcard is addressed to in order to find out if at one time it belonged to your relative.

 

•      Perhaps you would like to see picture postcards of where your ancestor lived? Search for postcards from his/her city and state. You will find these postcards may have pictures of your ancestor's school, the main street in their town or even their house! You might even find a postcard that has an identified picture of one of your relatives on the front! For example, search for "Ohio photo" or "Ohio photos" or "Muncie Indiana photo" or CDV (carte de vis) and see the variety of buildings and people that might be of interest! Id'd (identified) photo is also a useful term to search when looking for a particular surname!

 

•          I would recommend that you also search for "school souvenir" or "school souvenier" which will bring up paper memorabilia given out in the early 1900s that usually had a picture of the teacher and a list of the pupils in a one room school house. I found one that listed both my grandfather and his sisters and brother!

 

•  Of course, you can also find original intact paper city & town telephone books and yearbooks that might list your ancestor. Search your city and state of interest or "yearbook" or browse in the category of yearbooks for your coveted hometown high school yearbook.  Or seach by city & state for telephone books to find the addresses of your ancestors. These phone books sometimes have maps and advertisements for area businesses.

•  If your ancestor fought  in the War Between the States, you can find books and Civil War memorabilia that will help you in researching your ancestors' military experiences. What kind of outfit he wore, might be found while browsing thru pictures of Civil War soldiers. Searching in photos, uniform items, and reunion articles might further pull you back into Civil War times!

 

• If you are very lucky, you might even discover a Family Bible of one of your ancestors on Ebay. Search on Family Bible or search by your Surname and Family Bible. In the middle of these Bibles, can often be found Family Tree information with births and deaths of family members!

 

• Autograph books were a popular fad among teenagers in the 1900s and can also be found on Ebay. Sometimes these Autograph Books had personal comments, poetry and classmate's pictures. I found an autograph book with names and pictures from my grandmother's hometown.

 

•      Don't forget church and club records in which your relative might have had membership. I found a postcard that had a picture of my great great great grandmother's church on the front of it. There are also cookbooks put together by the ladies of the church and church history books for almost any church in existence. Some of the church history books not only contain pictures of the preachers but also the members. Organizations such as the Eagles, Elks and Knights of Columbus and other organizations also had history books with names of members.

     

•     Old newspapers are always great resource for any reseach! Many Ebay sellers offer complete original antique newspapers that have an abundance of local news articles. Among the headlines of the day, can be found marriage, divorces, births, obituaries and court cases! Search for "Ohio newspaper" as an example.

 

• If you get "stuck in a ditch" or "running into a brick wall" with your family tree research, try Time Travel thru Genealogy with Ebay and discover a treasure tove of ancestral data!.