You’ve seen the headlines or article titles online that are misleading or highly inaccurate. They tend to be similar to articles such as “Grandma Finds Shocking Surprise in Medical File Ten Years in Making” and it turns out she left a box of insurance claims in the closet where the ten-year old cat has started napping. While titles of genealogy databases are not quite that extreme, they can suggest that the database includes regions or time periods that it does not. Make certain that the database of Oklahoma marriages between 1900 and 1925 includes the county and time period that you need. Make certain that set of digital images of newspapers includes all issues during the time frame in which you are searching and not just images of […]
We never used the terms “Grandaunt” or “Granduncle” in my family. Uncles of my parents were almost always just referred to as “aunt” or “uncle” with “Great-aunt” or “Great-Uncle” being reserved as greetings on thank you notes or some sort of formal occasion. I knew many of my grandparents’ siblings and I never referred to them as anything other than aunt or uncle. We always knew to whom we were referring–with the exception of Aunt Ruth. There was my Auth Ruth Ufkes (my grandfather’s sister), my aunt Ruth Newman (my grandmother’s sister), and my Aunt Ruthie Ufkes (my grandfather’s sister-in-law). Of course there are technically correct uses of these terms: aunt/uncle for siblings of your parents, grandaunt/granduncle for siblings of your grandparents, and great-grand aunt/uncle for siblings of […]
I’m not exactly certain what name Grandma used to refer to her sister-in-law, but it always sounded to me like “See Dee Yuh” or something very close to that with the second syllable merged into the final one. There are some key concepts there: what Grandma actually said and what I actually heard. My interpretation of what she said may have been incorrect. The fact that Grandma only had a lower set of teeth might have made an impact as well. In hindsight I should have asked Grandma how to spell it. She would have known and she would have told me. I never did ask, but that would have answered the question then and there. In some families the answer might have been “I don’t know, I […]
Years ago, when I asked my great-aunt to identify some pictures for me, she indicated that she was surprised that two of the siblings were in the same picture with each other–let alone sitting next to each other. Documenting those things is a good idea. Even if you do not know the reason, the fact that there was a falling out between two individuals may be helpful to someone later. And if you are needing a reason to go through your old photographs, looking for pictures to see “who is in a picture together when I’m surprised they were in the same room” might get your genealogy gears turning. Genealogy Tip of the Day book is here and it’s not written to help you research your “famous ancestors.” It’s […]
When you have dates of birth for children of a couple, make certain they are listed in that order on all charts and reports where children are listed. That makes it easier to see gaps in the birth of children. Those gaps could be due generally to the fact that there was a time period where no pregnancies took place, children who died young, children who have been overlooked (because they lived with other families, moved away at a young age, etc.) or the mother having miscarriages. If you do not have dates of births or good estimates of the year of birth, determine if there are records that can allow you to determine anything about the order in which the children were born: year of first marriage, […]
Legally a last will and testament is to serve as a directive to transfer property (real and personal) that a person owns upon their death. Sometimes a testator may leave an item to a relative along with a mention of why. Sometimes a testator may indicate why a certain person was left no money or property in their will. The testator may mention a child and give them a token amount so that it is clear they were not left out. They may mention earlier amounts that were given or loaned to a specific heir and how those amounts are to be handled after the testator died. But a will is not a list of the heirs that the testator loved and the ones that the testator hated. […]
The title of the database is “YourFavoriteState Marriage Records 1820-1900.” Don’t assume the entire state or province is covered for the entire time period listed in the title. That range of years may start with the earliest record included and end with the last year of one record. There may be counties or areas whose records are extant and completely included in the database for the entire 1820-1900 time period. There may be counties whose records cover the entire 1820-1900 time period but where there are significant gaps. There may be counties whose records in the database only include 1830-1870. There may be counties that have no records included at all. It’s up to you to find out. That may be in the “more about” or Frequently Asked […]
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