In the 1850-1870 United States census, relationships to the head of household are not given. Remember that the “children” in the household may be children of both the oldest man and oldest woman, children of just the oldest man, children of just the oldest woman, or neither. What the census indicates is that a group of people were living in the same household. Try confirm conjectures regarding the family structure using other records.
The 1820 United States Census contains two age categories that overlap: males of 16 years but under 18 years males of 16 years but under 26 years
If your relative is selling a fractional interest in a piece of real estate, ask yourself: “How did my relative obtain partial ownership in this property?” The usual answer is that there was some type of inheritance. While it is possible there are other reasons, in the majority of cases fractional ownership results from an inheritance. Property tax records and land records may help you determine who the previous owner was. They may also help you determine who the other fractional owners of the property are besides your ancestor.
Never wait to write up research notes from your trip. Write up your temporary conclusions, things you notices, items you need to pursue further, etc. as soon as you can. You will forget why you looked up certain items and those unclear notations you made that you “would never forget” will be forgotten. Time spent writing up your notes is not wasted. Wasted time is what is spent later trying figure out why on Earth you did certain things or in spending an hour to reach the same conclusion you did earlier a week ago when you were actually researching.
We’ve updated our webinar schedule to reflect our rescheduled presentations. There’s still time to join me for one of the following presentations in June Irfanview for Genealogists Digital Media Organization American Court Records Research in Federal Land States Barbara’s Beaus and Gesche’s Girls Details are here.
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