It’s fine to have a list of family history questions to ask a relative. But do not remain rigid and insist on asking all the questions on your list. Try and actually listen to what your relative is saying so you can ask follow up questions based on what they say and not insist on asking the next random question on your list. Have a conversation with them about the past. Instead of asking when they got married, ask them who they remember being at their wedding and where it took place. Instead of asking them when their child was born, ask them who was there for the birth, who visited later, etc. Instead of asking them when they started working, ask them how they got their first […]
When considering newspapers to search for ancestral references, it is important to remember how far away the newspaper was instead of where the county line was at. Newspapers in the nearest “big town” may have published items from the outlying area, including obituaries, death notices, and the occasional “locals” or gossip column. In researching my own ancestors in southern Hancock County, Illinois, I’ve had success locating them in newspapers published in the Iowa town across the Mississippi River, the county seat paper in the county to the south, and a few weekly papers published in the county to the south as well. There’s no doubt that the closer the newspaper’s location to your ancestor’s location, the more items it could contain about them. But ignoring nearby papers “across […]
Recent Comments