There is no date listed for the estate sale of Thomas J. Rampley in Coshocton County, Ohio. However, a review of other materials recorded with that estate sale suggested the date of the sale was August or September of 1823. The precise date was not crucial to my personal research, but if it had contained the last reference to Christianna Rampley, Thomas’ wife, then it would have been. Because I inferred the date of the sale from other records, I need to include that reasoning somewhere when I use it. That’s what was done on the image that is a part of this post. My citation is not perfect (it’s missing the date I downloaded the image), but other key elements are there even if the format and […]
Say you have a DNA match that you cannot figure out your connection with. You determine some of this match’s ancestry and some of their relatives. You just can’t see where it connects to you, but you put these people in your database. They are all connected to each other, but the genealogical connection to you (evidenced by DNA) has not yet been determined. That match and their relatives are called by some a “floating branch.” Basically it’s relatives in your database whose connection to you has not been yet determined even though they share DNA with you.
Do you have data or genealogical information on old floppy disks? Have you tried to get that information off those disks into a more modern media format? As time goes on, there is an increased chance of data deterioration or equipment failure. These diskettes of my mom are at least twelve years old and probably older. Convert them while you still can. Local libraries may have readers you can use and they can be purchased relatively inexpensively online as well. Don’t wait. We’ll have an update after my reader arrives. Hopefully these diskettes are still readable.
For those on the distribution list, Casefile Clues issue 5-12 is out. Email me if you are a subscriber and did not get it. More information on our website at http://casefileclues.genealogytipoftheday.com
If your relative was an immigrant who naturalized, who witnessed that naturalization? Witnesses typically indicated they knew the applicant for a specific amount of time before the naturalization. However, sometimes they may have been less than honest when making such statements. The assumption is that they are reasonably telling the truth until it can be shown that they are not. The witnesses were typically other citizens (native-born or naturalized) who were of the legal age of majority at the time they vouched for the applicant. It’s very possible that the naturalization witnesses were fellow immigrants, former neighbors, or perhaps relatives of the applicant for citizenship. It is also possible that they were not. Research the witnesses of your ancestor’s naturalization until you have learned enough about their life […]
Join me for one of these research trips in 2025: Library of Virginia FamilySearch Library Allen County Public Library
It’s minor’s naturalization not miner’s naturalization. We’re not talking about immigrant coal miners in this post. During the 1824-1906 time period, individuals who had arrived in the United States as minors and were over the age of majority could complete a one-step naturalization process (there was no separate declaration of intention required) as long as they had resided in the United States for five years (including three years before they reached the age of majority). Typically they had to reside for one year in the state in which they were being naturalized. Pay close attention on these documents as to what the witnesses were witnessing as it may suggest how long they had known the individual being naturalized.
When your relative appears on a legal document in any capacity, determine who was eligible to act in that capacity and who was ineligible to act in that capacity. There could be significant genealogical details in those requirements. Typically someone who witnesses a will must be a disinterested party–this usually means they are not an heir-at-law of the testator or a beneficiary of the will the testator is signing. Witnesses to homestead claims under the US Homestead Act of 1862 typically were not to be relatives of the claimant. Guardians of a child’s estate typically had to be of the age of majority and meet other requirements set by state statute. Children over the age of 14 typically could choose their guardian–with approval of the court. Individuals serving […]
I recently read someone post that they had digitized all the census photocopies they had made early in their research. Preservation is good and we all digitize what we have, but if you’ve got a great quantity of material, there are some things to preserve digital images or records of first: Federal census records are readily available digitally in a variety of places. An old family history published in the 1880s may already be online on multiple websites. Those letters from great-grandma? Those pictures from that 1920 family reunion? They may only exist in your collection. Preservation and digitization should initially concentrate on what you have that’s unique. I have a copy of a family history of one of my families published in the early 1980s. I could […]
Keep a document that has a listing of the various ways your various ancestral names can actually be pronounced. A list of spellings is not a bad idea either but knowing various ways a name could have been said can be helpful as well.
How many of your ancestral homes are still standing? How many do you have pictures of? For those whose ancestors were very mobile or were renters, this may be difficult to answer unless those specific residential addresses are known. For those whose ancestors tended to stay put and were landowners or homeowners, the question may be easier to answer. A follow-up question is how many of those homes were you in? For me, the home I grew up in is still standing. The home my father grew up in is not. I’m not exactly certain where the rental farm was my mother grew up in, but I’m guessing it’s no longer standing. My maternal grandmother’s childhood home is still standing and owned by a family member. Both homes […]
In many record sets an ancestor’s name should appear only once, but there are exceptions. People get “double counted” in census records regularly–sometimes because they moved and other times because they had two residences. Sometimes it’s because a couple is really living apart and one spouse does not want to admit it to the census taker. In some cases amended birth or death certificates may be filed. This is sometimes done with birth certificates in the case of an adoption and with death certificates if the cause of death needs to be changed. People can easily be listed on property tax rolls in more than one location if they own property in more than one location. And individuals (or even couples) can appear as a bride or groom […]
Land records generally record the acquisition and disposition of land. While document recorded in the “land records” of county or jurisdiction are typically deeds transferring title to property, occasionally they are other documents that are related to the title of a piece of property. It’s not just land records that may may provide information about your ancestor and their land ownership. Property tax records (often maintained at the same jurisdictional level as land records) may indicate that the owner is deceased or that the widow or someone else is paying the taxes on the property. There may not be a deed transferring the ownership from the estate of the deceased to the heirs until years after their death. If you need to estimate a date of death for […]
When digitizing photographs, it can be temping to just focus on the humans. That can be a mistake. There can be clues to the time and place of the photograph in those non-human details. A church (or other building) in the background may help to identify the location or when the photograph was taken. Don’t remove the surrounding structures from the individuals in a photograph. Clouds and sky are usually fine to crop away.
My Aunt Adolphina, who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Illinois, occasionally went by the name of Phena (or Feeny, Pheenie, Feenie, etc.). There’s one reference to her as Josephine. In over other record, she’s listed as Adolphina (or Adolphena) or one of the variants of Phena. And it got me to wondering about the Josephine. Did she tell the clerk her name was Phena (since that’s apparently when she was referred to by most relatives and friends) and the clerk assumed that her name was actually Josephine? I’m not certain, but the one reference to Josephine when all other references are to Adolphena or Feenie have me wondering. Sometimes variant spellings or names are because someone in the records office made an assumption.
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