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Most people don't realize how much of their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers are making millions, pulling details about you from public records and the Internet, then packaging and selling it, usually without your consent. That's how your information lands in the hands of scammers, spammers, even stalkers. It's why you get endless robocalls and why ads seem to follow you everywhere. That's where Aura comes in. Aura actively removes your data from broker sites and keeps it off. They also instantly alert you if your information shows up in a breach or on the dark web. But Aura goes beyond data protection. With one app you get a vpn, antivirus, password manager, spam call protection, dark web monitoring, and even up to $5 million in identity theft insurance, all backed by 24. 7 US based fraud support. Other companies might just sell credit, monitoring or just a vpn. Aura gives you all of it together at the same price. Competitors charge for just one service. Start your free trial today at aura.com hidden protect yourself now at aura.com/hidden welcome
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back to the Ancestral Findings Podcast. I want to talk about something a little different today. As genealogists, we we spend a lot of time looking for records. We search census records, birth records, marriage records, death certificates, military records, newspapers, church records, probate files, land records, and just about anything else that can help us learn more about our ancestors. And that's exactly what we should be doing. But what if some of the clues we're looking for aren't sitting in a courthouse, archive, library, or online database? What if they're already sitting in our homes? That thought came to mind while I was reading a book that I'm giving away this month called Tracing youg Ancestors Using what They Left A Guide for Family Historians by Simon Wills. I had actually planned to offer this book a few weeks ago, but life got in the way for a bit. Looking back, that delay turned out to be a good thing because it gave me more time to spend with the book. The more I read it, the more I enjoyed it. What caught my attention right away is that Simon approaches genealogy from a slightly different angle than many books do. Most genealogy books focus on records, research methods, and sources. This book certainly touches on research, but its focus is on something many of us already have sitting around us every day. The things our ancestors left behind. As I was reading, I found myself looking around the room and thinking about some of the items I've collected over the years. Old photographs, family keepsakes, letters, books, documents. Little things that have survived from one Generation to the next. Most of us have something like that tucked away somewhere. Maybe it's a Bible that belonged to a grandparent. Maybe it's a photograph with no names written on the back. Maybe it's an old postcard, a diary, a military medal, a piece of jewelry, or a box of letters nobody has opened in years. We often keep these things because we know they belong to someone in the family. But how often do we stop and ask what they might still have to tell us? That is really what this book is about. Simon takes ordinary objects and shows how they can become starting points for family history research. A prayer book, a postcard, a journal, a bookmark, a portrait. Things that might appear ordinary at first glance. Then he follows the clues and begins connecting those items to real people, real places, and real stories. What I enjoyed most was not necessarily the objects themselves. It was the way the book encourages us to think. Instead of simply looking at an old family item and saying that belonged to somebody, Simon teaches us to ask better. Who owned it? Or why was it saved? Where did it come from? Is there a name written somewhere? A date? An address? A dedication? A clue that has been overlooked for years? Those questions can completely change how we look at family heirlooms. One chapter that especially caught my attention dealt with postcards. I think many of us have postcards somewhere in our family collections. At first glance, they can seem pretty ordinary. But think about what a postcard can tell us. It can provide a date, a location, a handwriting sample, a family connection, a travel clue, a glimpse into what somebody was doing or thinking at a particular moment in their life. Suddenly, that little postcard becomes much more than a postcard. It becomes evidence. It becomes a story. And that idea applies to so many of the things we inherit from previous generations. A handwritten note tucked inside a book. An inscription inside a Bible. A bookmark, an old photograph, a simple keepsake. Sometimes those little things can point us toward records and stories we may never have discovered otherwise. One thing I appreciated about the book is that Simon doesn't just tell interesting stories. He shows how the research was done. That's important because it helps us apply those same ideas to our own family treasures. As I worked through the book, I found myself thinking about some of the things I've saved over the years. I suspect many of you have experienced the same thing. Maybe you have an item sitting in a drawer right now that you've looked at dozens of times. Maybe after hearing this, you'll take another look, and maybe you'll notice something you've never noticed. Before a name, a date, a place, a clue. Sometimes family history breakthroughs happen that way. Before I wrap up, I wanted to mention something about the author. Whenever I read a genealogy book I enjoy, I usually end up looking up the person who wrote it. After spending time with this book, I found myself curious about Simon Wills and what led him to write it. The more I learned, the more I understood why this book feels different. Dr. Simon Wills was a genealogist, historian, journalist, speaker, photographer, and researcher. He spent years helping people uncover family stories and understand the lives of those who came before them. What stood out to me was that he seemed genuinely interested in people. Not just names, not just dates, not just documents, people. And I think that comes through clearly in this book. Sadly, Simon passed away in October of 2024. The genealogy community lost a talented researcher and storyteller, but his books continue help family historians see their ancestors as more than names on a chart. After learning more about his life, I appreciated this book even more because in many ways, the book serves as a reminder of something we sometimes forget. Genealogy isn't really about records. Records are tools. Genealogy is about people. It's about understanding who they were, how they lived, what mattered to them, and how their stories connect to ours. Records help us find those stories. The things our ancestors left behind often help us understand them. That's why I think many of you will enjoy this book. Whether you're just getting started in family history or you've been researching for decades, it offers a fresh perspective and may encourage you to look at your own family treasures in a new way. And who knows, the next clue you've been searching for might not be sitting in an archive somewhere. It might already be sitting in a box, a drawer, a bookshelf, or an album in your own home. If you would like a chance to win a copy of Tracing youg Ancestors Using what They Left A Guide for family historians, visit ancestralfindings.com to learn more. The giveaway closes on July 4th at midnight, and one winner will be selected at random. Take a look around your home. After you're done listening, you might discover that one of your family's greatest genealogy clues has been hiding in plain sight all along. If you've got a hard to find ancestor you're stuck on, I'd love to hear about it. Just head over to ancestralfindings.com and click on Contact to send me a message. While you're there, take advantage of our free weekly genealogy lookups, explore thousands of articles, and enjoy hundreds of podcast episodes. We've been helping family history researchers since 1995. And if you're looking for even more, check out our Genealogy Gold Q and A series over on Patreon. Thanks for listening, and as always, happy searching.