In some locations, there may be a city, township, and county all with the same name. Make certain you know to which location someone or something is referring. In United States locations, a city and township with the same name are not necessarily the same place. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
I just wrapped up my webinar on the “Genealogical Proof Standard for the non-Professional” today. We discussed: exhaustive searches compilation and citation resolving conflicts and a variety of terms and definitions Quick easy examples were given–complex problems can’t be used as numerous illustrations in an hour session. My goal was to get concepts across–and I think we did that. I could have kept talking for another hour. The intent of the session was to make the point that all of can learn something from implementing the standards in our research–whether we intend to “publish” or not. The recording (video and audio) along with the handout, can be ordered securely here for $8.50. Download is immediate and you can view as many times as you want. ———————————— Check out […]
Proofreading your transcriptions of records and your research conclusions is always advised. Don’t proofread right after you finished something. Let it sit for a day or so if possible and go back to it. You’ll be surprised how many things you’ll catch when the material is cold. And that will help you with some of those research challenges that we sometimes create ourselves. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If you’ve got an estate settlement for your ancestor, look at the names of the people who owed him money. Any chance they are relatives? ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
We are supposed to cite our sources so that others can find the material we found, we can go back to it if necessary, and we know what version, image, etc. we used. Those are all good reasons for citing our genealogical sources. Personally I cite my sources because I learn about the sources when I do it. Thinking about how the copy/image came into my possession, who created it, where it was originally filed/stored makes me a better researcher. Citing makes me a better researcher–even if no one ever reads a thing I write or thing I’ve cited. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If an inventory of an estate lists appraised values of items, be careful in comparing them to prices today. Values are not easy to “translate” over several hundred years. Try and compare the value of the item in question to other items in the same inventory or to other inventories from the same time period. An 1865 estate inventory indicated the deceased had $200 in a “stock of groceries.” That seemed like quite a bit. In fact that same amount was the listed value for a frame building he owned. This made it seem like the “stock of groceries” was more than what a family would have on hand for their own consumption. It turns out he was a saloonkeeper and the stock might have been used in […]
Do not assume that every immigrant naturalized in his new country. If an immigrant was not interested in voting or running for political office, becoming a citizen might not have been high on his priority list before the early 20th century. Immigrants could often own land and sell and bequeath it without being a citizen–although those rights were governed by state statute. So if you can’t find any proof that your 1860 immigrant naturalized, consider the possibility that he never naturalized. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Today I presented “Proving Benjamin” discussing how 1850, 1870, and 1880 enumerations for a man in three different states were shown to be the same man. This New York native was born around 1820 in New York State and lived in Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, and possibly other states as well as Canada. Dealing with individuals with similar names, people who move all over, and conflicting information are discussed. Compounding the issue is that Benjamin is enumerated with a different name in 1880. This webinar (and handout) can be ordered for $8.00 for immediate download. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If there’s a website that has information you need, save the page to your hard drive or print it out for your own personal use again later. You never know when a website will go down forever. There was a website of cemetery inscriptions for one cemetery that after being up for ten years went “away.” And those inscriptions are not on any other cemetery website. Lesson learned. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
It’s no April Fool’s Day joke–the 1940 census is coming. Originally it will be unindexed–our webinar will discuss search strategies for those who want to search the census before the indexes go online. This webinar will be held on 1 April 2012 at 3:00 PM Central–4:00 PM Eastern—1:00 PM Pacific.Join us for “Searching the Unindexed 1940 Census.”Register online for $4. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Look carefully at the bondsman on an ancestor’s marriage bond. If he was not related himself, research him further–it could have been his wife who was a relative. And remember that marriage bonds were not required in all US states and generally fell out of favor by the Civil War. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Is there a first name in your family that gets passed down from generation to generation and is somewhat unusual? Was it possibly someone’s maiden name? While that’s possible, don’t hold to that theory too closely–it’s also possible that the unusual name came from a non-relative. Unusual names are clues to potential information about a relationship, not proof. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
Three of my blogs are available for delivery on your kindle: Daily Genealogy Transcriber–view blog—order kindle version Genealogy Tip of the Day–view blog-–order kindle version Rootdig —view blog—order kindle version ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
When your research crosses a border into a state where you have never done research, put the ancestor away. Learn something about research and records in the state. Visit the website for the state archives, state historical society, state historical library, etc. Learning something about the materials that may be available to you may help you more than immediately digging away using approaches that worked elsewhere. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
If your ancestor filed a homestead claim under the United states Homestead Act of 1862, he had to be a citizen of the United States. This might be a place to locate your ancestor’s naturalization record if he naturalized in some unknown location “back East” before moving west to homestead. ———————————— Check out GenealogyBank’s Offer for Tip of the Day Fans!
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