Reminder: Get the Original

We’ve said it before, but it definitely is worth a repeat.

Whether you have a complete transcription, an abstract, a one sentence quote, or something somewhere in between, it always pays to get a copy of the record that was used.

Transcriptions, while they are supposed to be complete, can contain errors or the occasional omission. Abstracts are supposed to contain “all important details,” but things get overlooked and what may appear unimportant to someone else may be germane to your research problems. Sentences or phrases lifted from a document may have been taken out of context and may have been incorrectly interpreted by the user of the quote.

And always look a few pages before and after any original document in a record book for others that may have been recorded at the same time as the document of interest.

And…remember that record copies of deeds, wills, and other documents in a local courthouse are record copies of those documents. There’s always a slight chance something was copied incorrectly–especially when those record copies were created by hand or by typewriter.

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A Spouse at the very End

If your relative had a marriage at the end of their life that did not last long (due to their age) and may have resulted in no children, have you researched that marriage and spouse completely?

Depending on the place and time period, that marriage record may tell you more about your ancestor than their earlier marriage record. Your ancestor may have actually known the spouse for decades before the marriage (or at least been aware of them) and the spouse’s migration path may help you learn more about your own ancestor.

Family heirlooms, family Bibles, etc. may have passed to the family of this final, short-term spouse. In the case of female ancestors in the United States and many other countries, knowing the last name of that last spouse is crucial to finding out information about the female’s death, estate settlement, etc.

That spouse your ancestor had at the very end of their life could be crucial to locating more about them. Your ancestor apparently didn’t ignore them. You shouldn’t either.

A Little Bit Closer?

Autosomal DNA results are only helpful with a limited number of generations beyond the testee. As an example AncestryDNA’s ThruLines only includes suggested ancestors back through 5th great-grandparents. The reason for the limit is simple: the further back you go the less autosomal DNA you have from a specific ancestor in that generation.

If you’re thinking of getting a relative DNA tested to help with your research and you are using autosomal DNA–which most of the testing companies do–see if there is a relative who is closer to your problem ancestor than you are.

A relative and I are both descended from a man named Rufus D. Stephens. He is my 4th great-grandfather. He is her 5th great-grandfather. That means there’s a chance I have more of his DNA than she does. Of course, given how the passing of DNA works, there’s a very reasonable probability that she has more of his DNA than I do. But the theoretical odds suggest that I have more because I’m one generation closer. The difference in this case is that my line of descent from Rufus comes in several cases from children who were born later in that descendant’s life.

Look around. My own great-grandmother has great-grandchildren and third great-grandchildren who are about seven years apart in age.

Think Before You Put Online

This is not a warning about posting personal information online for your own financial safety.

It’s about contemplating before you post a place of birth for an ancestor if it is speculation. It’s about thinking twice before posting a maiden name for an ancestor online if your only evidence is a gut feeling you had at three in the morning right before the caffeine wore off.

Once a genealogical “fact” gets posted online, it can be impossible to get it removed from all the online trees and other locations where it gets spread. The same thing has always been true about items published in print. A researcher in the 1930s included a maiden name for 18th century Virginia ancestor of mine. Ten years later, she realized the maiden name was wrong. She published a correction in a subsequent publication.

But that first family history she published with the wrong maiden name. It’s the name that appears in about half the online trees that include that relative.

Think before you share genealogical speculation online. And when you are done thinking, think about whether you are really done thinking or not.

A New 4th Great-grandfather

Rufus D. Stevens in the 1850 census
St. Clair County, Michigan

After years of work and some false starts, I was able to add the names of a new-to-me fourth-great-grandfather and his parents to my family tree. It’s been many years since I had a new name to add and it’s time for me to go back and do some of those beginning things when I’ve located a new ancestor.

Briefly those things are:

  • familiarize myself with the geographic area in which the families lived, the history, and the extant sources.
  • search the genealogical literature for articles on these families.
  • review my autosomal DNA matches to see if there are trees that include these families.
  • evaluate information on these “new” ancestors to make certain that the information makes sense, is consistent, and does not have gaps in logic or reasoning.
  • update my genealogical files to include the new information.

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Read In Context and Do a Manual Search

When we mention “issues” with transcription of records for indexes and other finding aids, there are responses that “you should read the whole page,” “learn how to read the individual clerk’s handwriting,” etc.

Completely agree. The problem is that many of us rely on indexes and databases created by others in order for us to locate specific records. Being aware of transcription issues and challenges is one way to make more effective use of those databases.

We also hear that “manual searches are necessary.” There is no doubt that a line by line search or a document by document search is the best way to make certain that no item or entry is overlooked. The problem with that approach is that some records are too voluminous for a page by page search (1940 census for the City of Los Angeles, etc.) or access to records does not allow an item by item search (certain vital records). In those cases, concerns about transcription and other data entry errors are integral to searching effectively and locating the desired item.

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Did the “Mc” Get Dropped?

Did the “c” in your ancestor’s “Mc” name get dropped? Peter McLane is transcribed as Peter M Lane in at least one record. It is possible he is transcribed with that name in additional databases. Did your relative’s “Mc” surname get “altered” when an item was transcribed or indexed?

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The Unaligned Images

It sure looked like the person of interest–with the 4 year sentence–was from Georgia.

Lines and alignment matter and in today’s tip we are reminded of the importance of viewing an entire image–not just what we want.

The convict entry for William Kile, convicted of larceny in Mercer County, Illinois, and admitted to the Joliet penitentiary in May of 1860, seemed to indicate he was born in Georgia. Part of his entry is shown in this post and is underlined. But the digital image of the ledger was misleading. It had not been created from one image made from the open book unaltered. Two images had been spliced together to create the image of the pages I was looking at.

Viewing the top of the ledger made it clear that the right hand side of the ledger image was one life off from the left hand side. The person of interest was not a forty year old native of Georgia. He was instead a sixty year old native of Ohio.

It always pays to view the entire image.

Organize those Digital Images

This is your periodic reminder to organize your digital images as you find them. Do not just dump them in one or two folders called “genealogy downloads” or something equally vague.

There are a variety of organizational techniques. Pick one and stick with it. Many people use the name of the person from the record as part of the file name–usually the first part. One approach is to have folders for different surnames and then images and folders within that folder for individuals of that surname. If I put every image on a Rampley relative in one folder for that last name, it is overwhelming. My Rampley folder contains numerous folders to separate the images.

How to organize folders really depends on the structure of your family, where they lived and how long, how many different families lived in the exact same place and are mentioned in the same record, etc. Sometimes I have folders for specific individuals and other times have folders for certain counties where various branches of the family lived.

I tend to use lengthy file and folder names to help me find things that can only be put in one place but actually belong in quite a few because of the different families mentioned.

The time it took me to re-find this unorganized image was time I could have spent locating a new image of a new record.

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Read the Entire Thing

This may seem obvious, but based upon my emails, messages I get in a variety of places, and comments I see to various postings, a reminder would not hurt.

Read the entire question, document, etc. when analyzing it, asking questions about it, answering questions about it, etc. Genealogy is about details. Skimming leads to missed references that often are key to further research.

And maybe as a suggestion after reading the entire thing: let any new conclusion based on a single document sit for a few minutes before follow up work starts. Consider reading the document again.

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