Genealogy Ancestry HeritageQuest and Sanborn Maps

1. Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be dead to be listed in AncestryLibrary and can frequently find useful information in the U.S. Phone and Address Directories, 1993-2002. You may even find your marriage license. Search for your own name in AncestryLibrary and report the results.

I found my previous address in 1988, but it had an incorrect birthdate for me. When I used the feature "tell a little more about" and tried to put in my birthplace Huron, SD it came up with Huron, Pennington, USA. However Huron is in Beadle county. This brought up the previous correct address with incorrect birthdate. I tried adding my father's name, and again my father and mother's name. Neither of these brought up me.

2.  In AncestryLibrary, search for a grandparent or great-grandparent and see if you can locate them in the census.  Report your findings.

I used my paternal grandfather and added my grandmother's name and it brought up a census report listing the names and ages of his children which were correct.

I also tried my father-in-law and got far more information on him, such as christening records, social security number, record of his grave, etc.

3.  In AncestryLibrary, perform a search under the "Photos and Maps" tab for "South Dakota" as the keyword.  Report your findings. 

I don't think that I am doing this correctly. I used my name and didn't find any correct information. But it did bring up a high school cheerleading yearbook photo of my cousin. Since I actually know what she looked like I can believe that this is really an old photo, but if you were trying to find out information that you didn't know how would you be sure that it was really about the person you were researching?

4. In HeritageQuest, there are over 28,000 family and local histories in their online historical books.  Search for a place or browse the publications.  Report back on something that interested you.

At first I tried Wisconsin places because that is where my grandfather was born. I quickly switched to Iroquois, SD because I grew up there and thought I might recognize some information. There was an interesting book that I could read page by page, but I did not find anything about Iroquois in it, without reading the entire book. The other 13 items appeared to have nothing to do with Iroquois, South Dakota.

Kingsbury, George W. [View Citation] [Table of Contents] [Page Numbers]
History of Dakota Territory Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1915, 5625 pgs.

5. In Sanborn Maps, select South Dakota. Then select your town or a town with which you are familiar. Choose a date. Look at the first page containing the Index. Then navigate around the pages and see what you discover. Try to find a building on the map that is still in use today. Report your findings.

I chose Iroquois South Dakota and then switched to Huron, SD. I could find the railroad tracks, and the state fairgrounds which are both still there. I used a couple different years in my search.