Whenever a document is located, you should quickly ask: Why was this document recorded where it was? Why is it in the location where it is? Many times the question is quickly answered and the answer is obvious. James died where he lived and the death certificate was recorded in that county. But if you find an obituary for an ancestor in a newspaper that you do not expect it to be in, try and determine the reason. If you find your ancestor enumerated in one census in a location that’s unexpected, try and determine why she was there (first make certain it’s really the same person). Usually the “why” is easy. It’s those few times when it is not that could lead to more genealogical discoveries. Genealogy […]
A new DNA match appeared to be descended from one of my Irish immigrants, based on their surname and the handful of shared matches we had that were known to descend from that immigrant. Their tree had two names: their name and that of a maternal great-grandmother. There was no other data. A quick search for the great-grandmother’s name was inconclusive with no location to aid in the search and it turned out the name was more common than I originally thought. So I reached out to the match with a very short, cordial email. Fortunately, I received a response that, while brief, gave me the name of their paternal grandfather and great-grandfather. That was enough for me to flesh out the connection. Then I realized that their […]
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