We’re excited about our May 2016 webinar schedule: Irfanview for Genealogists Digital Media Organization American Court Records Federal Land State Property Descriptions: Sections, Townships, Base Lines and Meridians Barbara’s Beaus and Gesche’s Girls Visit our announcement page for specific schedule.
I first worked on my children’s Belgian ancestors years ago. When using the vital records from the 19th century, I used them the way I had other European records from the same time span. I looked in the “book” for and read through the entries for the years I thought included the person’s birth date. Then, if I had the correct person and had the names of the parents, I scanned the years before and after the birth to locate siblings. Imagine my surprise when I found indexes interspersed in the records. I had never encountered those before. While indexes are not perfect, they would have saved me a great deal of time. Moral-the first time you use any “new” record, familiarize yourself with the whole thing first, […]
If you’ve located an entry in local marriage records that a license was issued for your ancestor, have you determined if the license was returned? The issuance of a license means only that a license was issued and that a couple was intending to get married. Usually cancelled licenses are returned and “cancelled” is written somewhere on or near the entry in the record indicating the license was issued. But not always. Sometimes they are just not returned. Sometimes licenses that are used are not returned by the officiant, even if the marriage took place. ——————— Genealogy Tip of the Day is sponsored by GenealogyBank—search for your ancestors.
If you can’t find your relative in a database, consider switching the first and last names. These kinds of errors are not all that unusual, particularly with individuals with non-English names. ——————— Genealogy Tip of the Day is sponsored by GenealogyBank—search for your ancestors in their newspaper collection.
Join us for the following events this April/May (registration is limited): US land records class–discussion starts 1 May US probate records class-discussion starts 8 May Organizing Genealogical Information– discussion starts 9 May
If your ancestor was a landowning farmer and migrated from Point A to Point B, see from whom he purchased that first piece of property when he arrived in Point B. It might have been a relative or former associate, neighbor, etc. The owner of that property in Point B might have been looking to sell it and heard that his relative or former neighbor was thinking of moving. Or the seller could have been totally unrelated. But you won’t know until you look. ——————— Genealogy Tip of the Day is sponsored by GenealogyBank—search for your ancestors in their newspaper collection.
The man’s name was Mel Verslius. His World War 2 draft card accidentally listed him as Melver Sluis before they made the correction. Any chance your ancestor’s name “got split” in the wrong place? ——————— Genealogy Tip of the Day is sponsored by GenealogyBank—search for your ancestors in their newspaper collection.
Just because your ancestor uses the phrase “my now wife” in his will, it does not mean he had to have been married twice. A man might use the phrase to make it clear to whom a bequest was being made. If his will said “to my now wife I leave my farm for her life and at her demise it to go to my children” that meant his wife at the time he wrote his will. He might have been concerned that if he remarried and his “then wife” married again that his real property might fall out of his family’s hands. ——————— Genealogy Tip of the Day is sponsored by GenealogyBank—search for your ancestors in their newspaper collection.
Genealogy Tip of the Day is proudly sponsored by GenealogyBank. They are currently offering a special for Tip of the Day fans, followers, etc. GenealogyBank‘s collection focuses on newspapers, but there are additional materials in their collection as well. Their April offer equates to an annual rate of $4.67 a month–and a free “Getting Started” guide. We appreciate the support of GenealogyBank.
If you are using information that you transcribed or manually copied, always double check it for accuracy before completing your analysis or constructing online searches. It can be very easy to transcribe something incorrectly or transpose digits in an age or year of birth. Doublechecking may save you time and frustration. ——————— Genealogy Tip of the Day is sponsored by GenealogyBank—search for your ancestors in their newspaper collection.
We have one more presentation coming up this month and have released recorded copies of our other new presentations. Join us for our last session in April or order one of our newpresentations. Topics are: Female Ancestors 25 Brick Wall Strategies More From Ancestry.com Creating Those Color Charts and Citing Images Creating Families from Pre-1850 Census Records Bureau of Land Management Tract Books and Patents Details are here.
Don’t neglect digitizing the reverse side of your photographs. Some will have identifying information on the reverse and it’s good to preserve not just the identifying information, but also the handwriting in which it was written. ——————— Our Genealogy Tip of the Day book is available by mail-in order, credit card payment from me, or through Amazon.com.
When you have finished analyzing the materials in a court case file, make note of the dates of any court action. Then search local newspapers for possible mention of the case. The court record may only give part of the story. What is in the newspaper may be unsubstantiated, but it may give you a different perspective than what was in the court record. The 1892 illustration is from a lengthy newspaper account of a estate squabble from Adams County, Illinois. The newspaper’s rendition provided significant background that is not mentioned in the court records. ———————
Without other information, do not immediately conclude that the person referenced as a “junior” is necessarily the son of the “senior.” The references could indicate the two men are father and son, but they could be uncle and nephew as well. It is also possible that the relationship is more distant (or nonexistent) and that the use of junior/senior is simply to indicate which man is which–by using their age.
Local court cases usually only index the name of one defendant and one plaintiff, regardless of how many people are involved in the case as defendants and plaintiffs. Witnesses and others who may be mentioned in testimony and other court cases will not appear in indexes either. For this reason it is important to search for names of relatives of your direct line ancestor in defendants’ and plaintiffs’ index to court cases. Otherwise you may easily overlook something involving your ancestor, especially if he and his siblings were sued and the name of his sibling is the one under which the case is indexed.
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