Ancestor Video Introduction Project

Here is an example of what should be covered in your ancestor blog post video introduction. Further instructions are below.

Patrick Harwood's introduction to his research post about his late grandfather Frank Gomez. It was trimmed in Adobe Premiere Pro then uploaded to my YouTube channel, then downloaded to this post.

Click here to read my research on Frank Gomez. 

Personal Ancestor Research Project Guidelines

Own Ancestor Research Projects

Students will have the chance to conduct genealogical research on one of their own long-ago family members with this upcoming project. 

An assignment sheet will be distributed in class and students need to turn in topics the next class. The blog posts will be due the class after Spring Break.  During this class, each student will bring up his or her ancestor blog post and briefly discuss it and the person written about. 

Dates:  Topic Submission- Feb. 24 
             Posts and Presentations:  March 23

See this post for additional information on this assignment and examples of past student ancestor research. 

Ancestor Research Project/Post Guidelines

Antonio Millo: A Simple Man with a Big Heart

Hey bloggers! My name is Kevin and I would like to invite you all to come check out my newest blog post where I talked about my great-grandfather, Antonio Millo.

Antonio on his 92nd Birthday- the year he died. 

My great-grandfather died when I was eleven years old and I barely knew him.

 I remember going to visit him in NJ when I was little and I remember just how much of a sweet old man he was.

Antonio was a very simple man, who worked as a doorman in Manhattan for most of his life.

 He was very healthy and always watched what he ate, which is why he lived to be 92.

In order to find details about him, I used ancestry.com and I also talked to my mother Michelle and grandmother Nicoletta to find details about his life.

I was surprised to find out that he was born in Naples, Italy and came to America through Ellis Island when he was 8 years old.

Ellis Island Naturalization Papers 

 I also found out that before he truly retired, he worked in his 80's as a golf-cart driver in Las Vegas airports.

Antonio died in 2011 from pneumonia from a heart condition called A-FIB. He is buried in St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx, and shares a headstone with his ex-wife Irene.

If you are interested in reading more about this wonderful man, make sure to check out my blog post!

Digging Into Your Own Family's Roots

One of the favorite assignments my "Beyond the Grave" students undertake is to research one of their own ancestors. The relative must be a distant one, a great-grandparent or older- cannot be anyone living.

This, after all, is a class about cemeteries!

Kristina Broome's Great-Grandfather

I see the project as a good one that can help the young people in the class learn more about their own heritage and connections with the past. The task involves talking with parents and/or grandparents to see who might be a good subject for this project. Other research can involve digging into old family albums and other documents, going to local libraries, historical societies and cemeteries, perhaps.
Online resources such as ancestry.com, familysearch.org, and findagrave can also be tapped.  The last two sites are free. The Charleston County Public Library on Calhoun Street has free access to ancestry.com.

The students will present their findings to the class, which is another beneficial part of the assignment, I feel.

Bri Ingram's Great Great Grandmother

I have been very impressed with some of the memorable reports students have given and written about their ancestors.  They have included a Union Civil War general, an FBI agent who hunted down gangsters in the 1930s, a "Calamity Jane" type American Wild West woman, an immigrant who began a successful chain of pizza restaurants, and a member of the ill-fated Titanic crew.

To give current students an idea of what I'm looking for with this project, I am attaching links to a few past ancestor blog posts.


Kristina Broome, Spring 2018
Bri Ingram, Spring 2017
Rei Maloy, Spring 2018
Becker West, Fall 2018

Mr. Harwood's research on his grandfather 

Each of these students received an A for this ancestor research blog post and presentation. So current students can look at these stories for guidance and maybe some inspiration.