It can be tempting to rely on one website for all our genealogical information. That is a mistake. While it’s not financially expedient to subscribe to all the various fee-based sites, there are a variety of free sites that can be used for genealogical information. Don’t focus on just one site. There are others. And don’t believe any fee-based site that tells you the information it has isn’t available elsewhere. It usually is. You may need to ask around and get advice from others in order to find where the information is located, but your research will benefit from you having made the effort.
Chances are that I’m not going to patent what I jokingly referred to as a “grass height detector” on my Facebook page. But there is a chance that your relative developed an actual invention and received a patent for it. If the product didn’t make your relative’s life, there may have been no mention of it to later family members. US patent applications can be searched on Google Patents. Older applications may give your ancestor’s state and county of residence and indicate whether or not the applicant was a United States citizen. There may be grass height detectors listed, but none of them are mine.
Recent Comments