If you’ve researched your family history for some time or had a semi-serious interest in it for a while it is easy to forget that others do not. If you’ve been involved with research for a while, you could probably easily (with some exceptions) give complete information for the death certificate for most close relatives. But you are not typical. Your knowledge is based upon interest you may not share with others and your own research. Your cousin who gives information on a death certificate in 1930 when her mother dies does not remember all that information–if they ever even knew it. Sometimes when we’ve known information for years it can be easy to forget that others simply do not know and to assume that everyone knows what […]
If you are looking for photographs or other family ephemera, keep in mind that some materials might have “left the family” at some point. Divorce or death of your ancestor’s spouse may have resulted in the relatives of a subsequent spouse of that ancestor settling up the effects of their household. Depending upon the dynamics of the time items from the home may have ended up anywhere–perhaps in a basement, attic, or storage unit of someone related to your ancestor through that subsequent marriage.
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