Quit Claim Deeds

A quit claim deed is one where the grantor is giving up his interest in a piece of real estate. Technically the grantor is giving up his potential interest and may not have a deed specifically him ownership. These types of deeds are frequently drawn up in inheritances, divorces, and property line disputes.

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Learn more about US land records in my upcoming class.

More than One Dude With an Atypical Name

My personal research has reminded me that one always needs to remember that just because the same atypical name appears in different places does not mean it is they are the same person. There were two men named Christian Trautvetter who were German natives living in Illinois in the 1870s/1880s. They are different men. One is in Kansas in the late 1880s until his death and the one in this image remained in Peoria until he died. If you think you’ve found your guy–track down that “new person” in later records in that area. Thats a good way to reduce the chance you assume that people who are the same are not.sametrautvetterdude

You Can’t Close Newspapers

Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, records of a birth or a court case may be closed. Remember that sometimes that birth may be listed in the newspaper or there may be a reference to the court action in the newspaper as well.

It’s hard to restrict information once it appears in print.

Do You Know What Is On Your Screen?

When a digital image of a record appears on a website, do you try and find who created the original record, where that original is housed? There are several reasons for trying to make this discovery, one of which is so that you don’t pay another site or record office for a copy of a record you already have.

Read the Entire Record

Never reach a conclusion from reading part of a record. A relative claimed in his initial homestead application that he was a citizen at the time his entry was filed. Additional documentation in the file indicated that he actually was not naturalized until shortly before his homestead paperwork was completed.

Always read the entire item before concluding.

And read it again just to be certain.

Start Small

If researching the life of your ancestor seems like too large of a task, focus on one aspect of his life–perhaps his military career, all of his land records, all of his court records, the last twenty years of his life, etc.

Sometimes it’s best to pick a narrow part of your puzzle on which to focus.

Don’t Assume they Never Went to Court

Have you searched local court records for your ancestor? More individuals appeared as either defendants or plaintiffs than people think. Court records can contain a wide variety of personal details in testimony and affidavits. Most of these records are kept at the county level in the United States.

Revolutionary War Pensions Can Contain Later Names

US Revolutionary War pensions can contain names of individuals born well after the war, including:

  • names of children of the patriot
  • names of witnesses
  • names of justices of the peace, county clerks, etc.
  • names of descendants who inquired about the patriot, etc.

This blog post contains a letter from the great-grandson of the man who supposedly married the veteran and his wife in Virginia shortly after the war.

How Did Grandpa Say It?

It was a major revelation on one of my ancestral families when I discovered how the last name was actually pronounced by a native low-German speaker. Variant spellings made much more sense and I was better equipped to see other ways the name could have been rendered in records by someone who did not know how to spell the name. If the last name you are researching is not English, see if you can find someone who knows the language to help you out.

Even native English speakers may say their name in a way that you don’t expect and that too can create unexpected spelling variants.