Private Business Records

Records of a private business, such as a funeral home, are private records which do not have to be made available to the public. Yes, they may have provided funeral services for your great-grandparents, but they are under no obligation to tell you who paid the bill, what biographical information was provided, or anything else. So be courteous and polite when requesting these records, or any records that are not public records. This includes church records as well.

Are You Recording Your Thought Process?

An 1870 estate settlement lists your male ancestor as an heir of their grandfather. The estate settlement enver indicates your male ancestor is a minor, so you (reasonably) conclude they are “of age.” Based upon this you conclude that your ancestor was born by about  1849. Did you list the estate settlement as the “source” of the approximate year of birth? Did you include in the notes HOW you reached this conclusion. The estate settlement doesn’t provide direct evidence of age and the indirect nature of it (which includes your reasoning) should be discussed in your notes on the specific ancestor.

Genealogy Webinars in September and October

We won’t be offering our September and October topics for a while and because of hosting and other costs, the registrations for future webinars will be higher.

Topics:

  • Court records
  • Land records
  • Establishing migration trails
  • Barbara’s Beaus and Gesche’s Girls

The schedule, registration information, and download information (if you cannot attend) is here http://www.casefileclues.com/webinars_neill.htm

Take A List With You

If there are key terms that confuse you, consider taking a short list with you when going to a courthouse to research onsite. If you cannot remember the difference between grantor and grantee, quitclaim and warantee, executor and administrator, etc. having a list might be very helpful. It could prevent you from misinterpreting something and wasting time.

What Part Can Heirs Play?

Remember that heirs to an estate are typically prevented from performing certain roles in the settlement of an estate. Heirs usually are not allowed to appraise an estate or to witness the will of a person from whom they are   inheriting. Relatives can witness a will or appraise an estate, they just cannot be heirs. And remember that relatives of a deceased person may not necessarily be their heirs.

Does Music Help Jog the Mind?

If you are having difficulty getting a family member to remember things from their youth instead of getting aggravated at them, considering using names of music, music itself, names of movies, etc. as a way to get their memories started flowing. Who won the presidential election the first year they were allowed to vote? These and other things might get them started remembering.

Every Word In Context

Every word in a document, record, or newspaper account needs to be kept in context. The precise meaning of a word may have been different in 1800 than it is today. A word being used in a legal document may have a meaning that is more specific than when used by a layman and may have a slightly different meaning than in common conversation.

Is there a word or phrase that you could be interpreting in a 21st century way–and not the way it was meant when it was used in the document?

What Last Name Did She Use?

While it was unusual, some women who divorced in the 1800s did revert to a previous married name. This should be stated in the divorce decree and it was not common, but it did happen. However, it is more typical for the divorced female to use the last name of her most recent husband.

And divorce in the 1800s was not as common as in the twentieth century, but it did happen.