Quite a few people read Genealogy Tip of the Day in one way, shape, or form. It’s impossible for every tip to be new to everyone every day as readers come from a variety of backgrounds and levels of research experience. However, we at least hope to: remind you of something you forgot; make you think of something slightly different that impacts your own research; remind you of the importance of being as accurate as humanly possible; remind you to think and analyze as you research; give you a tip you can share with your genealogy friends (just be certain to tell them you saw it on Genealogy Tip of the Day). Thanks for reading! We appreciate all those who support Genealogy Tip of the Day in one way or another.
Information on street changes and renumberings can be found in a variety of places and is often needed for census and other research work. Contacting locals familiar with the area is a good place to start, including local libraries, genealogical societies, historical societies, etc. This list of street changes came from maps of Davenport, Iowa, included in a plat book for Scott County, Iowa.
Seeing a new DNA match appear in your results list can be exciting. That excitement is only magnified when the match is a relatively close one on a family on which you are stuck. Start slow and don’t overwhelm the individual with details. They may be new to genealogy research completely. They may have taken the test because they got it as a gift. They may have taken the test to find out information about their biological parents. They may have discovered in their test results things about their parents or grandparents they didn’t know (like that a grandparent wasn’t a grandparent or that the testee had more siblings than they thought) and may be overwhelmed by emotion and not just confusing results. Start slow. Here’s one idea: […]
Print books may have an index, but not all indexes are created equally. I recently purchased a reprint of several landowner atlases for one Iowa county. The back contains an index which is very helpful. However that index only indexes the names of the landowners as shown on the property maps. It does not index the names in the biographies, photographs, or other lists that the book published. When using any print index, determine just what the index is indexing. Looking for your name in the index without knowing that key detail may cause you to overlook information.
When searching old newspapers after phones were popular, consider searching for a relative’s phone number. It can be a way to find references to the individual when their name is totally spelled incorrectly or omitted entirely. You may discover that your relative advertised something for sale in the classified ads without ever including their name–after all more words in an advertisement cost more money. That’s how I discovered a few ads my Grandmother placed selling farm fresh eggs in the early 1970s.
When I recently had to have a statement notarized, I remembered that my local bank had a notary public who could perform the task for me. When I called to see if she was available, she reminded me that she wasn’t testifying to the veracity of the facts in the statement I was signing. She was indicating that she knew who I was and that she saw me sign the statement that I had typed out. When you see someone’s name on a document in some sort of official capacity, determine what responsibilities go along with that title and what the person’s actual purpose is on the document. That will help you to correctly analyze what is in the document and reduce the chance you make incorrect inferences […]
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