Always Get to the Before and After Ones

When any index takes you to an image in a set of images or a page in a record book, look at images and pages before for additional images or additional pages.

Ancestry.com’s index to Missouri probate records indicated that there were a few pages for a man named George Trask who died in St. Louis in the 1860s. Scrolling beyond the initial ones indicated there were well over 100 images.

Whenever I locate a land record for a relative in the local office’s land record books, I look at the deeds recorded before and after the one I found in case the person recorded multiple deeds at the same time.

When you find any record for a person, make certain you have the whole item or set of images. Browsing before and after what you found is a good way to do that when the record is digitized or contained in a record book.

I’ll be taking a group to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City this summer. Our trip is no-frills, focused on research, and not full of “forced group” activities–and our price is reasonable. Check it out.

Or join me in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, at the Allen County Public Library for a somewhat shorter trip with the same focus.