If person A is the sister-in-law of person B, then in common usage, person A could be person B’s: Don’t assume which relationship it is and don’t assume that the “in-law” is in in-law through the current marriage. It could have been from a former one–particularly if that marriage ended due to the death of a previous spouses. In some families, the use of the term “in-law” will continue even if marriage ended in divorce. This 1950-era newspaper clipping indicated that Mrs. Mundy and Mrs. Wetzel are sisters-in-law. Mrs. Wetzel’s first husband, Herman Trautvetter, was a brother to Mrs. Mundy.
This series of National Archives microfilm provides information on US post office locations. Verbal descriptions of locations are included as well as maps. Time period actually covered varies from one location to another. The 683 rolls of microfilm were originally published as Microfilm M1126, Post Office Department Records of Site Locations, 1837–1955. Thanks to DL , a member of our Tip of the Day group on Facebook, for reminding me of this wonderful series.
“Cousin” is one of those words that people sometimes use in a variety of ways. It may mean first cousin (where two individuals have parents that were siblings), it may mean a more distant cousin relationship, it may be a cousin-by-marriage, someone who is related in an unknown way, or someone who may not even be related at all. Genealogists are sometimes precise in their use of cousin relationships. Other people often are not and sometimes genealogists find it easier to use the word “cousin” instead of the precise term for the relationship. Don’t assume the precise nature of the relationship when someone is referred to as a “cousin.” Research it to try and determine what it is. And remember that there’s always the chance that the person’s […]
We all have information, records, or other bits of genealogical data that we have not analyzed, put in our organized materials, shared with others, etc.? Do you have a pile of papers in your genealogical work area that you have let accumulate over time without doing anything with? Do you have images of family history materials in your downloads folder that you saved ages ago with the intent of working on–but are still sitting there accumulating age? It’s fun to make discoveries, but working with what we’ve had for some time may result in the best discovery of all–that the answer to our problem was already in our files or piles. Or at the very least we’re preserving something that may have other eventually died at the bottom […]
Applications for US military pensions often mention the act under which the veteran (or his widow) applied. The details of that act may explain why the veteran waited until then–and that reason could be a clue. Men or women who applied for federal property usually did so under a certain act. If you have records of your ancestor having “applied” for anything, look to see if the act under which the application was made is referenced. Learning about that act may tell you something about your ancestor that is not stated in the application.
We released a new and updated recording of my FamilySearch Full Text Search webinar–including presentation and handout. More details are on our announcement page.
From tips of the past… It has been about ten [now twenty-five] years, but there used to be a local band named “DOS GUYS.” There were three ways one could take this: DOS Guys meaning 2 guys from “dos,” Spanish for two. DOS Guys as a way of saying “those” guys, “dos” as a slang way of saying “those.” DOS Guys, meaning guys who were still using the DOS operating system on their computer. Is there something that could be interpreted more than one way? Have you “jumped” on one interpretation that may be the wrong one? It may be that you are creating your own brick wall by doing so.
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