| Dear Fellow Genealogist,
If you have ancestors who lived in the Midwest, you owe a debt of gratitude to an unlikely person: Napoleon Bonaparte, who was born on this day in 1769.
Preparing to launch a conquest of Europe, Napoleon needed cash—and to get rid of France’s expensive North American colonies. The United States was happy to help with both. The result was the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, which reshaped both America’s map and its history.
That’s not where Napoleon’s influence stopped: Today’s feature article highlights this and other ways the general still affects modern genealogists. For someone remembered (incorrectly) as being so short, Napoleon cast quite a long shadow.
Like many prominent figures of his time, Napoleon was a prolific writer. According to the Foundation Napoleón (which has digitized 15 volumes of his correspondence), he wrote some 40,000 letters.
Your ancestors almost certainly left behind some correspondence, too—but they don’t have professional archivists to help preserve it today. That’s up to you, which is why we’ve also included an article on safely storing old letters.
We close with “timely” tips for organizing your genealogy. Consider that a reminder that while some things change over time, other things remain the same.
Your obedient servant,
— Andrew, Editor of Family Tree Magazine
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