0 My file
Skill paths

Learn step by step

Short steps in a sensible order. Each one takes a few minutes, and what you read goes into My file.

Reading the census, 1850 to 1950

  1. Lesson: how to read an 1850 census page
  2. Guide: the 1850 census
  3. Guide: the 1880 census, the first with relationships
  4. Tool: birth year from a census age
  5. Game: the census taker's ear (Soundex)

Old handwriting and abbreviations

  1. Lesson: superscript abbreviations (Jno, Wm, yr)
  2. Lesson: the long s and how to spot it
  3. Tool: Old Style to New Style dates
  4. Game: abbreviations round

Cemeteries and death records

  1. Guide: reading gravestones
  2. Tool: birth date from "aged 64 y. 3 m. 12 d."
  3. Game: old causes of death
  4. Case: which William Barnes died?