Obituaries for a husband and wife couple to whom I am related mention their children who died as infants. The obituaries do not state where the children’s births and deaths took place. And yet, there are online trees that use the obituary as a “source” for the location of where vital events in the infant child’s life took place. The obituary of the parents is a source for the name of the child, their relationship to the child, and the fact that they died at a young age well before their parents died. That’s it. Don’t attribute something to a record that is not stated in the record.
Genealogists often visit cemeteries, but sometimes it pays to go deeper. I’m not talking about digging up the body but instead determining if there are cemetery records, sexton’s records, or other similar materials that document who is buried in specific lots within the cemetery. Knowing who else is buried on the same set of graves as your ancestor could be helpful. Not every grave has a stone and not every stone is still extant. It is important to remember that not every cemetery has such records, particularly cemeteries that are no longer in use or rural ones that are smaller and may have only been used by a handful of families. Local historical or genealogical societies may be able to help determine who has records of the cemetery […]
Witnesses on documents are names that should not be ignored. However, one should not assume that witnesses are always relatives. Sometimes witnesses are other people were also in the office of the person who created the document that your ancestor signed. Witnesses who appear on multiple documents of your ancestor are more likely to have had an association or affiliation with your ancestor–potentially through biology or marriage. Of course that witness who appears only once could still be a relative and witnesses who have the same last name as your ancestor (or their spouse) should definitely be investigated. Just don’t assume that a witness has to be related. They don’t.
That stone with the “wrong last name” in your family’s cemetery plot could easily be a relative of which you are unaware. A recent visit to Kansas located the graves of a relative, his wife, and their two grown children. Buried near them was an infant with a last name I did not recognize. The infant was the child of the relative’s married daughter and had been buried in the grandparents’ cemetery plot. A few years later, the daughter and her husband left the area and are buried elsewhere. Never neglect those stones with “wrong names” in your ancestor’s set of graves. They very well could be relatives of whom you are unaware.
When taking pictures of tombstones that have separate or other markers nearby, do not neglect to take photographs of those items as well. Those markers may indicate military, fraternal, or other organizations of which the deceased was a member. Neglecting to photograph them could mean leaving a clue behind. And if you do photograph them, make certain they are as viewable in the photograph as possible.
When any genealogy website “dishes up” an image of a genealogical record, determine exactly what you are looking at before quickly jumping off on your next research task. It can be easy to draw incorrect conclusions about a record with which you are unfamiliar. Marriage records are a great example of this. Are you looking at a list of marriage licenses that were issued? Are you looking at a book of marriage license returns? Are you looking at the actual marriage license? Are you looking at a marriage bond? Are you looking at a marriage register? Different locations required and kept different records. Some records indicate a marriage was intended (bonds and licenses) and some records indicate a marriage had actually been performed (marriage registers and returns). It’s […]
When visiting a remote research facility, it is advised, among other things, to look at any online inventories or catalogs of what materials they have that could be helpful in your research. That way you have an idea of what to ask for when you are there. But don’t be afraid to ask for help when you are there or let them offer to help you. It’s very possible the facility has materials that are not inventoried, cataloged, or even mentioned online. A local person familiar with the collection may be able to give you guidance that you cannot get any where else. It’s great to have a list of what you want to find and to search for it while you are at a facility, but it’s […]
Always take the time to double (or triple) check reference numbers and other citations details that are being manually transcribed. The best time to catch these mistakes is when the citation is being created or the source information is being manually copied. Recently while preparing to post an image to one of my Facebook groups, I inadvertently inserted the wrong image number into the citation. It was only when going back to grab an additional detail about the photograph that I realized the error. Fortunately at that point in time correcting the error was easily done. Sometimes it is not so easy to catch the error when time has elapsed. At least the image number was not buried under all the snow in the picture.
When using a record or source that is new to you, here are some things to think about to make the best use of it: What time period does the record cover? What was the purpose of the record? How did someone or something “get in” the record? How were the records originally organized and stored? If there is an index, is it a full-name index? Are there terms in the record that I don’t understand? There are other questions to ask about the record as you analyze the information it contains, but the answers to these questions will hopefully make your search easier.
If there are two witnesses to a marriage and you can “figure out” who one of the witnesses is, consider the possibility that the other witness was the significant other of the first witness. Or the other witness could just be a friend of the couple of which you are unaware.
It can be easy to forget that records are created at one point in time and often certain details reflect the reality of that moment. A probate settlement in 1871 lists the surviving sister of the deceased individual whose probate was being settled. The married name she is listed under in that record is one she had only for about the last fifteen years of her life and was not the last name of any of her children all of whom she had with her first husband. If you are stuck, could it be because you have taken a piece of information that was perhaps true for a short period time and assumed it was true for a much longer period?
When looking at images of any book or record, pay attention to page numbers to make certain that pages in the original record or publication have not been omitted. If you focus only on looking for your ancestor’s name without ever looking at how the pages progress, you may never realize that the set of images is incomplete.
Heirs-at-law are people who are legally entitled to inherit from someone upon that person’s death in the absence of a will. State statute usually dictates who qualifies as an heir-at-law. Clues can sometimes be determined if the relationship of one of the heirs-at-law to the deceased is known as they generally fall in the same class. A dies and has several heirs-at-law, including B who is known to have been a child of A. The other heirs-at-law are also likely children or other descendants of A. D dies and has several heirs-at-law, including E who is a known nephew. The other heirs-at-law are also nephews or nieces of D or the descendants of nephews and nieces. Heirs-at-law are different from individuals named specifically in a will to receive […]
You have found a person that you think is “yours” in a record. You are convinced the handwriting matches up. Have someone else look at it. Do they have a different interpretation of that handwriting?
If you have a new question about an ancestor, read through all those materials you have already read through before. There is a good probability that you do not remember every detail in records that were obtained some time ago and that clues that did not mean anything to you originally now do mean something. And the chance you remember everything stated in a pension affidavit or court record you viewed years ago is small. It is easy to overlook details or forget them as time passes.
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