Years ago, on my Rootdig blog a list of things that relatives do that seem to make research more difficult. That list is reproduced here. These are a little tongue-in-cheek. Well, at least some of them. It’s also not meant to be complete either and is based upon personal frustrations. Your frustrations may be different. Genealogy would be easier if: Brothers would not marry women who shared the same first and last name before marriage. Expand previous rule to state that anyone cannot marry someone with the same first name as the spouse of a sibling. Individuals marrying more than once could not have a second spouse with the same first name as their previous spouse. All name changes were required to be recorded with a local court. […]
We’ve set the dates for our annual trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City-in August of 2022. Details are posted on our announcement page.
An excellent place to learn your ancestor’s unique (or not so unique) migration path across the country is from his or her pension record. Nancy Rampley’s pension record documents her parents’ migration from Kentucky into Indiana into Illinois into Missouri. And it was her husband who was actually in the Civil War. Revolutionary War era pensions for two of my wife’s ancestors shows their migration across several states from the time of the Revolution until the 1830s. Remember that a pension on a sibling or a cousin of an ancestor might provide clues about that ancestor’s migrations as well. Get ready for the release of the 1950 census with my webinar–special offer!
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