It’s possible that your ancestor did not even really know how old she was. A deposition in a Civil War pension file I’m using for an upcoming issue of Casefile Clues begins with the individual stating that they aren’t really certain how old they are. Did your ancestor know when they were born? Are you assuming that they did? A partial copy of the deposition can be seen on the Casefile Clues blog. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
While there are aspects of genealogical research that are the same across time periods, certain things are different. Different time periods and locations require different approaches despite what some “experts” may think. Researching a European immigrant ancestor to an urban area in the late 1800s is different from researching an immigrant to upstate New York in the early 1700s. If you are approaching both problems the same way, that might be adding to the confusion. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Discuss your genealogical problem with someone else with an interest in genealogy. They might have a different idea, see a hole in your research, or know of someone else who might be able to help. And sometimes just discussing something makes new ideas and errors easier to see than they were before. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If you don’t know when someone died, have you gone through every document on them in order to determine the last date they were listed as alive? It might be when they witnessed a document, appeared in a biography, wrote their will, signed a bond, etc. Any one of a number of records might tell you “how late you can go?” ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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