There’s Warren, Illinois, and it is not in Warren County, Illinois. There are numerous examples throughout the United States were a state has a county and a town with same name and the town is not located within that same-named county. Not to mention townships that may have the same name that could be in other counties only confusing the issue. When you have a place name, make certain as best you can to what type of place it is referring. Is it a town/city, township, county, etc.? If your research is areas that have hundreds, townlands, parishes, etc. make certain you know what that name refers to as sometimes people were not creative and reused names. Just to confuse us later.
When using local indexes to records (court, deed, probate, etc.), familiarize yourself with the index format and layout. Different locations may use slightly different systems. Sometimes the differences are obvious and other times they are not. This index from Coshocton County, Ohio, indexes land records by the first letter of both the person’s first and last names. Other locations use the last name only. Other locations use the position of the first name within a column as a sorting guide. Don’t just jump right away to the section of the index that includes the last name you want. Scan the entire index to make certain you are not overlooking portions of it.
It can be difficult to think of a “totally new” tip every day, so we’re reminding readers of the importance of looking at the original document. It may provide more details than the index or the index’s transcription may be incorrect. Remember that indexes are only a means to get you to the original. A look at the Ancestry.com “story” for my own ancestor is a good example of how using incomplete transcriptions and erroneous ones (apparently) can make for a story that’s just not quite what it should be.
Many events in our ancestors’ lives were governed by the laws of the time. A few quick things to remember: There is state law and there is federal law (in addition to local ordinances) that usually impact the “big things” (marriage, estate settlements, inheritance, adoptions, etc.). Things governed by state law can vary from one state to another. That’s true today (eg. “legal marijuana”) and was true in 1850 as well. Laws change over time. What was true in 1800 was not necessarily true in 1920. Many old state statute books are online (start at books.google.com to search). The takeaway? Don’t forget that laws vary based on location and time–even if you don’t cross an international border in the process.
Many “adoptions” in the United States, especially in the 19th century and before, were informal. There was no legal paperwork or documentation created. Family members (close or extended) or neighbors may have taken a child in to raise–perhaps because the parents were deceased or because they had too many children. Children may simply have lived with other family members long-term for one reason or another. My great-great-grandmother, born in the 1860s, lived with her maternal grandparents for most of her childhood–evidenced by census records. She also received a bequest in the will of her maternal grandfather where her other siblings did not. The reason? I’m not certain, but I do know that her own parents had quite a few children and, for a time, her grandparents had her […]
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