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When genealogists are challenged by their ancestors, they are often told to research the associates of the ancestors–including ancestral friends and neighbors. If you are stuck on a person and have tried this approach, how thoroughly have you researched these associates. An hour or two online probably isn’t sufficient. If your problem ancestor is in a place and time that’s difficult to research in general, it may take some time to really research those associates thoroughly enough to locate all potential clues.
Always indicate when a date, name, or a relationship is conjecture. Make it crystal clear to anyone reading the information later that the information was a hunch. Be careful making hunches. Be careful sharing hunches. Have a reason for your hunch. Include that reason with your hunch. Cite your reason if you have a document. Think one more time about the reasonableness of your hunch. Once someone spreads them as fact it can be impossible to prevent the spread. =
Who attends an estate sale? Generally speaking (with some exceptions), it tends to be relatives and neighbors. Looking at the list of buyers can provide some insight into your deceased relative’s family, social connections, and neighbors. This is an incomplete chart of the purchasers of property from the estate of Thomas Rampley in Coshocton County, Ohio, in 1823. There’s no guarantee that a chart will answer your specific questions about an ancestor, but doing some initial work on the purchasers may make something stick out that was not noticeable before. Purchaser Known Relationship 1820 Census 1830 Census comments Randles, Abraham Miller, John H. Gilliam, Samuel Huffman, James Tuscarawas, Coshocton Jackson, Coshocton Thomas’s son John married a Huffman Rampley, James Son Courtright, Jacob Son-in-law Jackson, Coshocton Barkhurst, William Markley, […]
Mary Puffer, widow of Ephraim Puffer is referred to as Mary Puffer many times in the estate record of her husband from the 1700s. However there is one signed document where she is referred to as the widow and signed as Mary Brown. Subsequent marriages of the widow can be indirectly mentioned in an estate file. Make certain to look through all the documents–even the boring ones.
A few quick reminders from this recent Ebay purchase: Sometimes things are not titled based upon the name you have for something. This was “Lincoln School” to me. It was Grade School on the postcard. Have you tried to locate pictures of places of employment for your relatives? Pictures of schools, work sites, etc. can be great ways to get someone’s memories to start flowing. Genealogy Tip of the Day is sponsored by GenealogyBank –give them a try today.
This 1920 census enumeration contains significant errors. The husband and wife were not married and he was not the father of her children. The “wife” was not divorced from the father of these children until 1921 and she did not marry the man shown here until 1922.
The best way to get new insight into a problem is to get away from it. Put that “brick wall” away and do something totally unrelated to your genealogy for a while. Sometimes the mind simply needs to let things stew for a while. If you just can’t put your brick wall away, then work on another problem. Personally I have the best breakthroughs when I walk the dog and discuss my problem with him. He never interrupts or criticizes and it gives me time to really think. Sometimes criticism is good, but one needs time to organize your thoughts and put them in order. Constantly researching non-stop does not allow that to happen. Riley is one of the best brick wall breakers I have.
In 1858 a patron of my relative’s bar was killed in an altercation with a tenant who lived in an apartment next door. For years, I referred to the incident as a “murder.” The reference to the incident was inaccurate. I should have referred to it as a “killing,” a “shooting,” or something similar. Are you using the right word when referring to something? Are you using a word that may be conveying a message that’s not entirely accurate? And I actually need to review what charges were brought up against the shooter. Just because a newspaper called it murder does not mean that a court did.
A relative is married in 1843 in St. Louis, Missouri. He is married again in Illinois in 1848. The most likely scenario is that she died. It is possible that the couple actually divorced or separated and never bothered to divorce. The divorce would have generated a court record. A separation that never resulted in divorce may not have generated any records at all. But I should not assume the first wife died unless there is some additional evidence other than simply the subsequent marriage.
Do you only look for relatives in college yearbooks when you know they graduated? Is it possible they attended but were unable to graduate? Finances or “real life” may have prevented your relative from graduating college, but they may still appear in college yearbooks as my aunt does in the 1934 yearbook for what is now known as Western Illinois University. Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here. Learn more about it..
I’ve been working on the ancestry of a Mary Dingman, born in Canada (probably Ontario) in the early 1810s. There are online trees taking her family back generations. The only problem is that there’s not really anything solid on her connection to her parents. That needs to be solved before I put all those earlier ancestors in my file. Since information on Mary herself is coming up short (she died in the 1850s in Illinois), I could trace her purported parents and siblings (and maybe even purported grandparents and cousins) in hopes of something turning up on her, but I need to wait to put them in her actual tree until I have a more solid connection. Genealogy Tip of the Day is proudly sponsored by GenealogyBank. Try their […]
Our goals here at Genealogy Tip of the Day are simple for the most part. They are generally to get readers thinking about: the research process what they find analyzing what they find their assumptions about research and their ancestors terminology and language used in records the history, culture, and environment in which their ancestors lived And we try to be short—that’s sometimes the difficult part. Tips are not meant to be verbose or lengthy discussions. The intent is to make people aware or to remind them of a topic, concept, term, etc. Longer discussions are posted on my Rootdig blog. We also appreciate those who purchase a webinar, one of the recommended how-to books on my virtual shelf, or a GenealogyBank subscription through our affiliate link. Those things help support […]
Transcriptions are not necessarily unreliable, but one needs to be aware if one is using the original record or a transcription of it. These town records from Marlborough, New Hampshire are actually transcriptions of the original records. The “first page” of the book indicates that it is a copy and the handwriting is too consistent throughout the volume to have been done contemporaneously. Transcriptions can always contain errors–after all, transcriptionists are human. It may not be possible to get the original and it’s not always necessary. But it’s always worth knowing what you are using.
Your ancestor’s name may not appear in the city directory or directories may not be available. Classified ads in the newspaper may tell you where the person lived or had a business establishment. They may also help you confirm addresses for people who moved around quite a bit–sometimes one step ahead of the rent collector.
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