Some database search interfaces allow users to search on other fields besides names. If the site you are using allows this, consider searching on ages, places of birth, father’s place of birth, etc. I’ve made some interesting discoveries without entering in any nanes on a set of search boxes. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Before you spend hours searching an online database, determine how complete the database is. Some sets of data include all records in a specific series. Others may be in progress, only including part of the time span the title covers. The webpage title may say the materials are from 1850 to 1950, with 1850-1855, 1870-1880, and 1940-1950 being included. Always read the details. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Take a look at a perpetual calendar and see what day of the week your ancestor was married, died, etc. People might have avoided getting married on a certain day of the week or having a funeral on a certain day, but being born and dying are different. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
While state statute usually defines these terms, it is generally true that an heir of a deceased person is someone who inherits from the deceased based upon their biological relationship to the deceased. A legatee is typically someone whom the deceased has mentioned in their will. Heirs are related. Legatees may be related. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Don’t forget if you have found that will in the packet of probate papers for your ancestor that there might be a “will record” contained with the probate records as well. Not all jurisdictions kept these records, but many did. Perhaps if the will has a difficult to read portion, is partially missing, or open to interpretation, the transcription in the “will record,” done at the time the will was proved, will answer your questions. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Repeated names can be clues to names of earlier family members. Repeated names are not guaranteed to mean that any given ancestor had a particular name, but names used over and over may mean something. I was looking over a list of heirs of Barbara Haase who died in 1903 and realized that out of her twentysome grandchildren, two were named Kate. I had never noticed that before. Does it mean anything? At this point, I’m not certain. However, if I eventually get “candidates” parents of Barbara, I’ll work first on any couple where the wife is named Katherine or the name Katherine appears frequently. Don’t just look in your direct line of descent for name clues. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Genealogy Tip of the Day has been nominated for one of the Family Tree Top 40 blogs. Remember that Tip of the Day is not about being long-winded, selling stuff, or dreaming up things we’ve never done or used. Just quick tips. Give us a vote–and pretend you’re from Chicago–vote often. That’s it for the plug–now back to the tips! Thanks for the nomination. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
It does not matter how “odd” the name is, even if one detail fits. A very distant relative of mine claimed online that my aunt died in Chicago in 1935, because he found someone with her same name dying there. Problem is that the Chicago person isn’t the relative he thinks it is. If he had done research in the local records where the family actually lived (a distance from Chicago), he would have located the person’s probate file which indicated she died in the 1950s. The same’s the same doesn’t mean the person is. When in doubt, check it out. And if you aren’t in doubt, get that way. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
While tracking a relative through census records, it appears that she left Missouri shortly before her first marriage. Forty years later, after a divorce, she appears in that county in one census record. If I had not known where her family was from, her residence there would have seemed pretty random. Now I’m reminded that occasionally when a residence seems “random” that there might just be something I don’t know. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Keep in mind that if your ancestor “translated” his or her name they might have used conventional translations others from their ethnic area used or they might have made up their own. Some non-English names had common translations (Jans and Johann for John, for example) and others did not (the Greek Panagiotis, for example). Some individuals just might take an English name that had the first letter as their original name. I have relatives whose names were actually Trientje. Some used Tena because it had part of the same sound. Others used Katherine as the names have the same original root. It just depends. People had options of what name they could use if they chose to translate. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day […]
Remember that Grandma is not considered someone who can provide primary information about her own date and place of birth. It’s not that she is necessarily wrong, but that most people are not typically considered to be firsthand witnesses of their own birth. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
We often suggest to researchers that people move in groups and settle where they know someone. And most of the time people do. Keep in mind that once in a while people move where they know absolutely no one. One ancestral couple could not be located. They simply evaporated. They were not near any of their chidlren, any of his siblings, or any of her siblings. They migrated to an area of Missouri where no one they knew lived. Sometimes it does happen. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Have you contacted the local library in the town/county where your ancestors lived? Is it possible they have access to resources that aren’t available elsewhere or aren’t online? Or do they know of any unique suggestions for research in their local area? ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Don’t assume that just because the names are “close” that they have to be a match. I was looking for information on a William Bell who married a Martha Sargent in Iowa. Turns out there was another William Bell in the same part of Iowa who married a Lorinda Sargent. Totally two separate couples from two separate families. How many William Bells can marry a Sargent and live a few counties away from each other? Apparently two. Two distinct ones.Remember that sometimes there is a relationship and sometimes there is not. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Are you really reading, thinking about, and interpreting the information you have found? Or are your eyes merely passing over the words, looking for that obvious clue? Sometimes the biggest clues are not “obvious.” Go back and re-read and think about what a document says. Are there clues you bypassed the first time you “sped read” that record? ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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